REMEDY FOR NAUSEA:

Western researchers have found ginger to be an effective and safe preventative for various disorders. Ginger has been known as a remedy for motion sickness (2-4), postoperative nausea (5), pernicious vomiting in pregnancy(6) and seasickness (7,8)

WHEN IS IT THE RIGHT TIME TO USE GINGER?

In the West, people often use ginger as a single herb when one has a common cold. People typically think of the cold as one illness. However, TCM recognizes that the common cold manifests in many different forms. Ginger's effectiveness as a remedy will depend on the type of cold a person has.

WIND-COLD: Using fresh ginger is best suited when treating a common cold due to wind cold pattern. If the affected person has symptoms such as predominant chills with only a mild fever,headache, body and neck pain, absence of thirst and cough with expectoration of white sputum (9), she has a cold due to wind cold. (However, it should be noted that fresh ginger is less frequently used as a main herb in formulas to stop coughs.) According to the Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), fresh ginger is good for cold pattern disorders. Follow the instructions below to brew your own ginger tea.

WIND-HEAT: When the person afflicted with a cold has symptoms such as predominant fever with mild chills, sore throat and cough with expectoration of yellow sputum TCM practitioners call this wind heat pattern. One should be careful not to overdo the use of fresh ginger in treatments of wind heat patterns. If the person with a cold has any of the above symptoms (wind heat pattern), it is better to minimize the use of fresh ginger and combine it with other herbs (e.g., peppermint) to modify its warm, acrid quality.

APPLICATIONS AND TIPS ! COMMON COLD AND MILD INDIGESTION:

Indications: predominant chills with mild fever, no sweat, headaches, bodyaches, watery nasal discharge, cough with expectoration of thin white sputum, possible poor appetite, belching, nausea and mild abdominal pain.

Sweet Ginger Drink Ingredients: 3-4 moderate slices of fresh ginger, 2-3 teaspoons brown sugar, and one cup of water

Process: Wash the fresh ginger, cut into shreds, place in porcelain mug. Pour the boiling water over the ginger and leave it covered for 5 -10 minutes. Add brown sugar. Be careful not to add too much. For the best results, the patient

should sleep after drinking the tea, with her body well- covered in order to break a sweat.

KITCHEN BURN:

As a home remedy: Dr. Cai Liang-Ping suggests fresh ginger juice for treating kitchen burns. Liang- Ping states:

"Due to its pungent taste and warming properties, fresh ginger is normally used as a diaphoretic, antitussive or anti-emetic. Few people know about ginger's use in treating burns. Its effect in such a use far exceeds that of commonly used burn medicines. Fresh ginger is a common kitchen spice which is readily available and easily applied. During my more than 20 years of practice, I have used fresh ginger in treating 400 to 500 cases of burns without a single failure.

Method. Ginger is mashed to release juice that is soaked up in a ball of cotton and applied to burned area. Pain will be immediately relieved. Blisters and inflammation will subside. There will be no irritation even when blisters are broken. Due to ginger's antibiotic activities, no wound ulceration will occur.

In light cases, a single application sufficed. In severe cases, keeping the cotton moist periodically with fresh ginger juice for 36 hours accomplished the desired effect." (10)

ENJOY!

Ginger is not a wonderplant, but if you get to know its character, you may enjoy its many benefits. Use it in your cooking and as a home remedy.

A word of caution: Patients taking anticoagulant drugs or those with blood coagulation disorders should consult their physician prior to self-medication with ginger. Patients with gallstones should consult their physician before using ginger preparations (2) Also, patients with hypertension should see their physician and acupuncturist before using ginger products.(10)