How To Make And Use An Onion Poultice For Congestion by Sarah

How to Make and Use an Onion Poultice for Congestion

by Sarah

The Healthy Home Economist,  23 May 2914


Prior to the advent of antibiotics which came into widespread use by 1940, bacterial infections of any kind were always a serious matter.

 

My father, who was born in 1927, remembers when he was in elementary school that numerous children could be seen with scars behind one or both ears from surgery, called mastoidectomies, to relieve pressure and congestion from a simple ear infection that got out of hand. Today, mastoidectomies are rarely if ever performed as antibiotics take care of the infection in the majority of cases.

 

In another family tale, when my Mother-in-Law, Mary, was only 5 years old, her life was seriously threatened from a severe case of double pneumonia. With no antibiotics available, her father had resigned himself to the fact that he might lose his precious daughter.

 

Mary tells the story of how her desperate father consulted with a band of gypsies that lived not far from their small town in Wales about what to do to save her life.  The gypsy women told him to make an onion poultice and put it on her feet to draw the infection and congestion out of her lungs.

The onion poultice worked remarkably well and Mary, now a healthy Grandmum in her 70′s, is still alive and well to tell the tale.

Home remedies such as this are enjoying a resurgence in popularity in lockstep with the worrisome rise of antibiotic resistant infections. In addition, parents are increasingly hesitant to use routine antibiotics due to the growing body of research that antibiotic damage to intestinal health lasts at least a year or two and possibly longer and can increase the risk of autoimmune disease.

Certainly, antibiotics should always be used for life threatening infections such as pneumonia.  In less severe cases, however, a remedy such as an onion poultice can be used to draw out congestion from the lungs and facilitate healing instead of running to the doctor for meds.  Using a remedy like an onion poultice can also be used to prevent the situation from worsening to the point where antibiotics are mandatory.

How to Make an Onion Poultice

Making an onion poultice is incredibly simple. It takes just a few supplies to quickly prepare one to use for chest congestion.

Supplies:

Frying pan
Filtered water
Dishtowel
2 organic onions
1/4 cup grated organic ginger (optional)

Directions:

Chop and lightly saute the onions and ginger in a bit of filtered water. The onions should be lightly cooked, not browned or caramelized.

Carefully drain the cooked onions and optional ginger and spread them out in the center of the dishtowel. Wrap the mixture in the towel burrito style, that is, fold the longer sides over the onions first and then fold the ends.

The onion poultice is now ready to place on the chest of the person suffering from congestion. Make sure the poultice is not too hot before doing this.

Alternatively, the onion poultice can be placed on the soles of the feet to draw the congestion out of the lungs to facilitate normalized breathing.  It is normal for very productive coughing to occur shortly after using the poultice as mucous is expelled from the lungs.

Leave the onion poultice in place for 20 minutes.  It can be gently reheated in the microwave and reused as necessary throughout the day.

It is best to make a fresh onion poultice every 24 hours or so.

Below is a video by Dr. Seth Yates, a Naturopathic Doctor, that shows visually how to perform the steps above.

Source:

The Healthy Home Economist