Home Remedies for Fever
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It's winter, season of 'flu and fevers. You might not know it, but your kitchen cabinet is full of herbal allies to support you during a fever. Alandi student Rachel Spillane offers some home remedies to help you care for yourself or family member with a fever.
Perhaps you’ve heard the old adage - feed a cold, starve a fever? Well your auntie, mother or granny was on to something! Fever is generally the body’s response to an infection. Often, the body is trying to burn off an excess of mucus or toxins which may have been brought on by cold, allergies or flu. “Of the utmost importance in the management of fever is fasting. The patient should abstain from solid food for the duration of the fever, until the temperature returns to normal and keen appetite arises”. (See Sinus Care blog). And while fasting is great, starving is not! Be sure to nourish yourself and hydrate with teas. “The vata person can fast on warm tea made from fresh ginger, which calms vata and relieves stuffy sinuses. The pitta person can fast on cool or lukewarm teas made from coriander, sandalwood, rose or fresh ginger, all of which are anti-infective and anti-febrile. The kapha person can fast on tea of dry ginger. Once keen appetite returns, the first meal should consist of a soup or gruel such as rice gruel, barley gruel, squash soup or mung bean gruel, cooked with digestive spices such as ginger, black pepper, cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, and bay. This preparation helps restore digestive fire”. If you’re ready to level up your fevercare (and level down your fever, try one of these home remedies.
- Drink 1 cup diluted Concord grape juice with ½ tsp. cumin powder, ½ tsp. fennel powder and ½ tsp. sandalwood powder
- Juice fresh bitter gourd and take 2 Tbsp 3 x daily. Don’t use this remedy if pregnant.
- Chop a clove of garlic, mix in a little ghee and take each morning until the fever subsides.
- Prepare a decoction with 20 grams of tamarind pulp and seeds in one liter of water, boil for 10 minutes and drink it as needed.
- Make a tea from equal parts fresh ginger, lemongrass and tulsi as diaphoretic to bring down fever. Use 1/3 tsp. of each herb per cup.
- CCF Tea: Mix one-third teaspoon each of cumin, coriander and fennel 'seeds' in a cup of water, boil until the seeds sink and strain. it will help bring down a fever.
- Coriander tea with cinnamon and ginger for fever: 1 tsp. ground coriander, 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon, 1⁄4 tsp ground ginger. Steep in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes, strain and drink.
- Coriander and rose tea for high fevers: Boil 1 tsp. coriander seeds in a cup of water until seeds sink; cool to room temperature, strain and drink to relieve high fever. Even better, after removing the infusion from the heat, add 1 tsp. organic rose petals and allow to steep while the tea is cooling.
- Bay leaves infusion promotes sweating, breaking fever, and flu symptoms.
- For fever and stomach ache: boil 2 tablespoons of fennel in 1 cup of water until it is reduced to half. Filter and take 1 tablespoon every morning and evening for few days.
- Kapha Fever: Black pepper 1⁄4 t, tulsi tea 1 cup.
This piece was written by a student of the Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder, Colorado. Learn more about studying ayurveda at our home school, or access your deep wellness with the support of our student practitioners in the Alandi Ayurveda Clinic.
