Miracle Herbs

I was excited when we had our enrichment night to make an herbal pillow that is suppose to help the sinuses. I'd found a recipe on line for it and thought it would be fun to share with everyone. (we also made dream pillows that night)

Here is some of the history that intrigued me:
What does a sinus pillow do?
The refreshing aromatic fill of fresh Peppermint, Spearmint and Eucalyptus encourage the opening of the sinus passages and unencumbered breathing.
What is a dream pillow?
For hundreds of year people have used herb mixtures to effect their dreams. In the same way that certain fragrances (like baking bread or fresh roses) evoke a pleasant memory for you, herbs also evoke pleasant associations of memory. Our noses are said to be the most direct route to our minds and recollections. The subtle fragrances in the Dream Pillow blends are mixed to give you pleasant, interesting dreams and promote deeper sleep. Dream pillows have been around for many many years, it was common place for our grandmothers to stitch up a headache pillow to erase the pain of headaches or have a dream pillow on every bed filled with natures bountiful herbs and flowers. It was also common to see them in hospitals to help patients.

So although I was intrigued, did I really think it would work? Jacob has the worst sinus problems so, I was willing to try anything. We placed it next to him on a dresser at night while he slept. Day after day, Jacob would wake up and have no need to take all the medications he was given by the doctor. To me this was totally miraculous. (I mean how many doctors, how many medications...that weren't really working...and this simple thing helped?!) However, the reason for this post is because the story didn't stop there.

We only have one of these pillows. Ryan woke up several nights in a row, this week, and was screaming and crying. He wasn't totally awake but, he wasn't totally asleep either. This made it very difficult to talk and reason with him. After several nights and much cajoling, his chief complaints were: Eyes burning/itching, clear mucus stuck in his throat...causing choking, and not being able to breathe very well.

I was so upset watching him go through this that my first reaction was give him lots of Claritin, look into buying an air purifier, and take him to an allergist. I'm not saying that I have ruled all these things out (in fact we have a doctor's appointment) but, Jake suggested that I put the sinus pillow in his room for a couple of nights and see what happened.

Well, not only has he stopped waking up at night, he is sleeping more hours than he used to and seems generally happier during the day. Could this pillow really be helping? Well, my mind was still in doubt. However, while the pillow was out of our room at night I noticed that my nose was stuffy in the morning and I wasn't sleeping as deep for the entire time that the pillow was in Ryan's room. Is this just coincidence? Well, with a science background, I would say I have to allow for that possibillity but, does it feel like it could be helping? Yes! It feels like a miracle. I will be making more. If anyone makes them and has success please share and if anyone has had success with herbs in general let me know!

If anyone is interested in the recipes here they are:

NOTE: So that it was easier to do at enrichment night, clever girls came up with the idea of making the pillows longer so that you could fold the material down inside the bag and just tie the end shut. Also, to keep them fresh longer, keep them in a Ziploc bag when you are not using it. Also, because they were doing it for so many people they bought the ingredients online, in bulk, for very cheap. The pillows cost between $1 and $3 each.

HERBAL PILLOWS
By Karen Hegre

Sinus Headache Pillow

Cut two pieces of material 10 x 4 inches and sew together. Making a bag, leave one end open and stuff your bag with the following ingredients;

Mix together in a bowl;

1/2 cup of flax seeds
1 part crushed spearmint leaf
1 part crushed peppermint leaf
1 part lavender buds
1 part eucalyptus leaf
1 part rosemary leaf

Stuff the bag and sew the end!

Dream Pillow

Combine the following in a bowl;
1 cup mugwort
1/2 cup rose petals
1/2 cup german chamomile
1/2 cup sweet hops
1/3 cup lavender buds
1/3 cup crushed catnip
1/4 cup peppermint

Mix the ingredients together....make cloth bags from a 5 x 12 inch piece of material....fill the bag with your mixture....sew the top of the bag shut.