Remedies from the folk doctor’s medicine bag

• Homemade hydration aid

Sports drinks are full of electrolytes — the salts that need replenishing after the body sweats — and are very helpful for keeping athletes and runners hydrated. You can make your own for next to nothing. Dissolve 1 teaspoon salt and 4 teaspoons sugar in 1 litre water to make a drink that isn’t coloured or adorned with a fancy label but that will nonetheless maintain your electrolyte balance and keep you hydrated.

• Milk thistle for liver health

It was once thought that milk thistle could ‘clean the liver’. Silymarin, contained in the seeds, prevents toxins from penetrating the liver and stimulates the regeneration of liver cells —the reason milk thistle has been used in the treatment of hepatitis, cirrhosis and jaundice.

If you think you can just harvest milk thistle weed and use the seeds to make a therapeutic tea, it’s not the case. Teas are ineffective because the active principles in milk thistle seeds aren’t water-soluble. Instead, try milk-thistle capsules and liquid extracts, making sure they contain 200-400mg silymarin.

• Peanut butter for hiccups

Believe it or not, peanut butter may be able to cure an annoying case of hiccups. It’s not the peanut butter per se that works, but the physical effort that it takes to swallow it. Eat 1 heaped teaspoon of peanut butter (plain or crunchy) and take some time to swallow it. As you chew and use your tongue to clean it off the roof of your mouth and your teeth, your breathing patterns will be interrupted and may stop hiccups.

• Oil and vinegar remedies

Take some olive oil and vinegar from kitchen cupboard when you need a quick remedy. You can do a lot more than dress a salad with these staples, for example:

1. For an old-fashioned anti-dandruff remedy, pour 1 cup (250ml) vinegar through hair as a finishing rinse; do not wash out.
2. Adding 1/2 cup (125ml) cider vinegar to a bath has a tonic effect on tired muscles.
3. White vinegar dries up a cold sore when rubbed on the sore three to four times a day.
4. White and cider vinegar take the burn out of sunburn. They also take the itch out of skin rashes and insect bites.
5. Olive oil is a stand-in for shaving cream.
6.  Soaking in a bath to which you’ve added 1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil and 1 cup bicarb will stop skin from itching and soften it, too.
7. Add 2-3 drops warm (not hot) olive oil to the ear to soften earwax. Drain your ear after 5 minutes. Caution: never do this if you suspect you have a perforated eardrum.

• Fight herpes with lemon balm tea

The volatile oil in lemon balm contains two substances that fight herpes simplex type 1 virus (HSV1), which usually affects the lips, mouth and face and HSV2 or genital herpes — the reason that the herb is widely used in European over-the-counter herpes products. To make an infusion, pour 1 cup (250ml) just-boiled water over 2-3 teaspoons finely chopped lemon balm and let it steep for 10-12 minutes before straining into a jar. Soak a cotton wool ball in the solution and apply it to herpes blisters several times a day.

• Remove splinters with an onion

Here’s a pain-free (if rather smelly) way to get a splinter out of a finger or foot. Place a thin slice of onion over the splinter and wrap a bandage around the affected area to keep the onion in place. Leave this poultice on overnight and by morning the skin should have shrunk and allowed the splinter to work itself out.

• Cider vinegar for fatigue

Every morning before breakfast, whisk together 1 cup (250ml) warm water, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon honey. Sip the tea slowly until you’ve downed the last drop and within a week, with any luck, you’ll find yourself feeling more energized.

• Treat thrush with goldenseal

Thrush, or candidiasis — an infection of the mucous membranes of the mouth, vagina or digestive tract — shows up in a whitish, ‘furry’ tongue or a white discharge. The dried root of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) has a long history as a thrush treatment and clinical trials have confirmed its efficacy. To treat thrush, make goldenseal tea by pouring 1 cup (250ml) boiling water over 2 teaspoons powdered root; steep for 5-10 minutes. Let it cool before using as a gargle or douche, or drink as a hot tea. Caution: do not take goldenseal internally if you are pregnant or have high blood pressure.