Garlic – Nature’s Fever Reducer

I have been using garlic for years to lower very high fevers in our family and to help with viruses.  But I had never used it on my children before one year of age until recently.  Our little baby a few weeks back developed a very high persistent fever that seemed to come and go after he visited me at work.  I am not sure if something there bothered him or he caught a bug from someone. At times I run unexplained fevers in my office that subside in the evening once I am home. In the process of figuring this all out as I am also experiencing other crazy symptoms I never had before.

Anyhow, my little one’s fever was almost at 104 F and it wasn’t budging.  So I whipped out the garlic and dropped a few cloves in the blender, along with a piece of potato and very little water.  If you don’t have a blender you can use a hand blender or food processor. Once the paste was ready, I grabbed the olive oil and set out for what was one of the Stinkiest nights of our life.  Because the baby was rooming with us, our room smelt like a scene from little Italy just after a few hours.  I was waiting for my Goombahs to come walking in asking for meatballs and Chianti. LOL.

Items needed to make a garlic poultice:
4-5 cloves of garlic (enough to make a paste)
1 tsp of shredded potato meat (eliminate this for adults)
Enough water to make a thick paste (mixture should not be watery)
Olive Oil
Gauze
Socks

So how do you use this remedy?  It is quite simple.  You coat the feet with Olive Oil and place gauze over both soles of each foot then apply sparingly the paste of Garlic on both feet.  Wrap each foot in gauze and put on some thin socks.  You want the body to be able to release heat when needed. This treatment is best when done overnight but should not be left on for more than 4 to 6 hours as garlic is very strong when applied topically and can burn the skin.  In some people after just a few minutes, their breath will smell like garlic, it’s amazing.

In our case with baby, the fever was down to 99.1 in no time and by the next morning baby was alert and happy again and the fever disappeared along with some congestion in the nasal passages.

So in our house when the fever has run its course for a few days and is still high and uncomfortable we run for the garlic, not the Tylenol.  But be warned your room will stink of garlic, so it’s best to isolate your garlic roll child and place a waterproof liner under the fitted sheet so that the smell does not get into the mattress.  Also, make sure the fever is not a sign of a more serious illness or viral infection.  In our case, we had the complete approval of our holistic pediatrician which is always a plus.

For more on garlic’s healing properties and an interesting book on the subject click here

To read a few more tips on reducing fever naturally click here.

**Please note that I have a little more experience in this area than the average person. Studying herbs and learning about plant medicine from my grandmother and father definitely help me feel confident about preparing and using remedies like the one mentioned above. If you have a concern you should always check with your practitioner or family doctor and get their approval before using herbal remedies at home.