Home remedies are not as harmless as you might think

Home remedies for various minor ailments are not always natural and good. Sometimes they can cause bigger problems than those that would be cured. Recently, a man was close to death after eating bicarbonate.

There are all kinds of natural home remedies for everything from warts and ear infections to heartburn. But they are not always as kind as you might think. This was experienced by a person who tried the well-known home remedy bicarbonate for heartburn.

After taking a tablespoon of bicarbonate, the man quickly fell ill with severe stomach pain, which turned out to be due to life-threatening injuries to the stomach, writes Läkartidningen. Probably the excessive intake of bicarbonate had led to a strong gas evolution which increased the pressure in the stomach so much that a rupture occurred.

Garlic in the ear

There are several similar cases where bicarbonate after a large meal has led to severe stomach pain and doctors therefore want to draw attention to the risks of the seemingly harmless home-made bicarbonate for heartburn.

– The problem with home remedies is that there is no proven, recommended dose. It is easy to think that “I take a little more” and it is when you experiment yourself that it can go wrong, says Gunilla Hasselgren, specialist in general medicine and honorary doctor of medicine at Uppsala University.

There are also reports of people getting skin damage from home remedies with garlic. A cleft in the ear is said to relieve ear infections because garlic can be antibacterial.

– It is not something I recommend. Garlic can irritate and in the worst case get stuck in the ear. Then it is better to go to the pharmacy and ask for help with an over-the-counter preparation.

Common in patients

Gunilla Hasselgren has so far not had to remove garlic cloves from her patients’ bodies.

– But I know that it is common for patients to try different home remedies. However, they do not always admit it to me. Many people think that naturally feels good and want to work on their own.

She thinks that there are limits to what to work with on your own, and for how long.

– I do not think it is dangerous to, for example, try yogurt in the abdomen if you have itching. But you should not hold on for too long, a maximum of a couple of days. There is a risk of having an infection. The problem can get worse and become more difficult to get rid of, says Gunilla Hasselgren.

Traps bacteria

The same goes for home-made cranberry juice for urinary tract infection. It is hardly dangerous but it does not cure an existing infection either.

– Possibly it can prevent a urinary tract infection that is going on because cranberries are acidic. If you feel ruffled and urinate barbed wire, do not wait to seek help. This applies if you also have a fever.

Another home remedy Gunilla Hasselgren advises against is to put plantain leaves on wounds.

– If it is a small scratch, it is certainly not dangerous, but if the wound is red and inflamed, you should not close the bacteria with a plantain leaf, she says.

There are alternatives

In the past, home remedies may have had a function because we did not have much else to choose from. Then plantain leaves may have fulfilled a function as a “patch”.

– Today there are alternatives that we know work better. It does not have to be a medicine prescribed by a doctor, over-the-counter self-care at the pharmacy is usually enough. Then you also get a dose that fits, says Gunilla Hasselgren.