Kidney Stones - Home Remedy

Have you ever had a kidney stone? Do you know someone who has had them? If not, you may/will sooner or later. Would you know how to help them or yourself get rid of a kidney stone without losing your cool?  Sometimes a doctor will send the patient home with instructions to just wait it out until it passes or sometimes the doctor will schedule surgery to blast the thing to smithereens (costing you thousands of dollars.) Well, our experience has revealed that, often, neither scenario is necessary.

True story:
I've never had a kidney stone, but Goodman has had many kidney stones. The first one was a total shock as he thought he was going to die from the pain. He had no idea what was causing it, and we had insurance at the time so he went to the doctor and was sent home to wait it out. 4 or 5 days ensued before the stone passed. OUCH, but it was finally over.

Years passed happily by... then two years ago the dreadful thing happened again. This time I scanned my herbal remedy books and the internet to see what could be done. I thought it would probably take some kind of drastic measures to alleviate the situation, but I was sure those would be better than waiting for a jagged chunk of hard calcium to make it's way to the light of day. Sure enough, there's a natural solution that begins the dissolving process so that the stones pass within 24-48 hours.
 The solution:

Make LEMONADE with real lemons and have the patient drink a glassful every two or three hours until the stone passes. It's been our experience that the method does indeed work within 24-48 hrs, usually within 24 hours. How easy is that? But what about the pain, you ask. Pain means the stone is lodged in an uncomfortable spot. Try to get it to move by turning somersaults (ha ha) or some less strenuous exercise. I've witnessed this work, also.
Not only has this remedy worked for my husband several times, but it's worked for another family member, also.

Now, I'm not a physician, so if you need to, by all means, see a doctor.  If you are sure you have a stone and are willing to let it pass naturally... make some lemonade to expedite the process.

Linking to Deep Roots at Home, The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

Free Trees - We Love Free Trees, Y'all

   It's a beautiful start to the week here in the foothills with mild, sunny weather.

 Mr. Cardinal looking for sunflower seeds beneath the hanging feeder.

 

What a face.

 

Our neighbors have a pine tree in their backyard that over hangs part of our pasture behind their house. As is the way with nature, the pine cones fall and the cycle of renewal begins, again. I love nature the way God intended it. 

 So, I recently dug up 10 free pine trees in our pasture that started from their tree. I do love free trees. I'm going to keep them in pots until fall when I can set them out along our back fence line without having to carry water to them during a long, hot summer. I might share a few, also. ;) We are still hoping to sell our house, but if that doesn't happen we will probably have new neighbors behind us, eventually. A nice row of pine trees will soften that situation a bit for us, methinks.

Update 6/9/14:   I decided to leave the trees to winter in their pots since they were so small last year.  They would have been lost in the grass at the back of the pasture so here they are a year later with nearly a foot of spring growth.  I plan to set out them out in the fall this year for sure.  The 8 that survived our bitter winter, that is.

 Love these petunias on the front porch. Nothing says welcome home to me like pink petunias.

 

Authentic Indian Chai ... our youngest granddaughter says it tastes like a good donut. I say hold the milk down to a dribble and make it spicier, but you might like it as is. Anyhoo - give it a try, you just might like it. We added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top for a little added zip. Click the link, there's a cool story about this chai recipe that I like nearly as much as the tea itself.  And did you know that a cup of chai tea will help if you're having an asthma attack?  Yes, the spices help open the airways.  

Until next time ... hope there's plenty o' lilies in all of your valleys. :)

Linking with The BackYard Farming Connection, The Art of Home-Making Mondays