‘Not being able to access self-care products in pharmacies is leading to more pressure for the NHS’
Today in the Guardian I read that there is a shortage of cold remedies on Supermarket and Pharmacy shelves. Items like throat lozenges, cough mixtures and other common cold and flu medicines. One paper reported a shortage of Calpol and Lemsip, and even added photographic evidence.
It was blamed on the Governments ‘lack of planning’.
To be fair, I don’t buy this stuff so I haven’t noticed. But, if it is any comfort to people worried about catching a cold, you may well have remedies in your kitchen just like your great grandmother did.
When I saw the photo of the shelves empty behind the Lemsip label, I wondered, ‘Does the shop not sell lemons, honey, onions and garlic?’
If you want to know how to mix up quick useful remedies for coughs and colds then google it, there are tons. There is a good [US] website called learningherbs.com which says;
‘We show you how to create healing herbal remedies in your own kitchen.’
And they do, go see…
If you want a reliable place to buy medicinal herbs try baldwins.co.uk [there is mountainroseherbs.com in the US]
If you prefer a book try;
Kitchen Medicine: Household Remedies for Common Ailments and Domestic Emergencies. By: Julie Bruton-Seal
Because I practise as a professional herbalist that means I have cupboards stuffed with dried herbs and tinctures, so when I caught a cold this week I made myself a tincture mix with Echinacea, Catnip, Grindelia and Elderberry. Just two days ill, then ‘job done’.
But if you only have a few simple herbs in your kitchen cupboard [like Thyme] and you have honey in your cupboard, lemons and garlic [for your cooking] then you can make up a healthier, more effective and cheaper solution that the one you can’t find in your local supermarket.
The shortage of Lemsip on shelves may be the government’s fault. But the fact that we are so dependent on stuff like this is ours…
