Sunday, July 20, 2008

Plantain again- This time with the bug bites

We went camping this weekend. I had forgotten my bug repellent oil I blended for camping (oops) because I had been showing it to my brother in law when he popped in for a visit, and, like a responsible person I had put it AWAY instead of back in the bag to go camping! So, we got to camp and I realized this. Thankfully I had some lavender essential oil and some bug buttons (they are plastic disks that pin to your clothes and are infused with plant oils). The bug buttons work pretty well, as long as you aren't SWARMED with mosquitoes! We, unfortunately were swarmed with mosquitoes at the camp site. So, I rubbed a little lavender oil on all of us and pinned on the bug buttons. I got 2 bites- one before I had the button on and one on my forehead by my hairline, which was rather far from the button. The one on my forehead was probably from a biting fly or something of that sort because the bite didn't swell but I ended up with a large bulbous spot on my head like a bonk on the head would produce. So, back to plantain. The first mosquito bite hurt, alerting me to the mosquito biting. After smacking the mosquito, I went and found some plantain, smashed a leaf really well to allow the juices to come out, and held it in place for a few minutes. I re-smashed the leaf to expose more juice and repeated. The itch was gone and the bite never really materialized. I got the second bite in the midst of feeding my kids and was unable to find some plantain right away so I ignored it. On my way home I realized what a lump I had on my head. After showering, I put some plantain ointment on my head and lo and behold, within a short time, the itch, warmth, and bump are gone. I love plantain!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Plantain !! I have some sort of mouth ulcer in my cheek. I was very swollen, I couldn't eat, drink, talk, my face hurt on the outside from my upper jaw bone to below my glands in my neck ! So I took some clean plantain, chewed it up, put I put it on the GIANT ulcer on my cheek. In less than a minute the pain was cut in half. I left it on for 1 hour, and decided to try and eat. I will put more on after I am done with my smoothie, BUT, the swelling is down, and the pain is down. I have also used this on spider bites and mosquito bites with fabulous results !