Chamomile for cold and flu: teas, decoctions, infusions

Chamomile is one of the most popular herbal medicines in the people, the infusions and infusions of which have not only a pleasant aroma, but also a strong and at the same time mild healing effect, helping with a variety of diseases. Chamomile is used for colds, gastrointestinal pathologies, for the treatment of female diseases, as an antidote for snake bites, soothing and antipruritic for biting insects, etc. The area of application of this common in our edges of grass is so wide that the chamomile falls into the number of plants that are most often harvested for future use or purchased in pharmacies.

Beautiful and useful gift of nature

Mother Nature generously endowed us with plants that not only please the eye, but also help in the fight against various diseases. There are a lot of such plants, however, not everyone knows about their useful properties and can use vegetable raw materials for medicinal purposes.

If we talk about the daisy, then it refers to the number of herbs, the useful properties of which many know, because the mention of this plant can be found even in the treatises of ancient Greek scientists and doctors. Many centuries have passed, but the popularity of chamomile has not diminished, on the contrary, people have found more and more ways to use it, have discovered the benefits of plants in the treatment of various diseases.

We used to call a camomile a plant with tender flowers with white oblong petals and a bright yellow core. This flower spoils us with the aroma, which is a mixture of apple and honey notes. Most often it can be found in meadows and fields, along roads, along the edge of landings. It's about the daisy drug (or it's called pharmacy).

There are other varieties of chamomile that can be found in forests and front gardens, but they no longer have those properties that are characteristic of the field (fragrant) chamomile with small flowers and leaves resembling dill greenery. Essential oils of this wild annual plant have anti-inflammatory, soothing, antiseptic, weak diuretic, analgesic, anti-allergic action, it's not for nothing that the plant is so often used in the treatment of young children.

It is believed that the maximum of useful substances is concentrated in the flowers of chamomile, but other parts of the plant possess medicinal properties. For example, not everyone knows about the powerful healing properties of chamomile root, in which biologically active substances are contained in a concentration even greater than in other parts of the grass. Powder from the washed and dried root of chamomile is considered not just an anti-inflammatory agent. He is able to stop blood, remove painful spasms, activate regenerative processes in the tissues of the body.

Chamomile root is most often used to treat diseases of the genitourinary system and gallbladder, restore normal functioning of the nervous system, improve brain function, stimulate milk production in nursing mothers and treat mastitis, to increase sexual desire. Add the powder from the root of chamomile into medical and cosmetic means to combat flaking and irritation of sensitive skin, as well as for the treatment of boils, acne, acne, various lesions on the skin (including wounds with pus). Chamomile in the form of powder from the root of the plant can be used for colds, but it is much easier to use infusions and decoctions from the ground parts of the plant, which in this case will be no less effective.

People who are used to weaving beautiful daisy wreaths from the stems and flowers of chamomile, and rinse the hair with liquid compounds based on this medicinal plant, wipe the skin, perform inhalation procedures and douching, i.e. Use them for topical use, may ask whether it is possible to drink chamomile for a cold? If a person does not have increased sensitivity to chamomile ethers and the plant does not cause allergic reactions, drink decoctions, infusions and teas from chamomile is not only possible but necessary, because with cold diseases (and especially the infectious plan), only local treatment can not be limited . And chamomile is considered not only a wonderful antiseptic and anti-inflammatory drug, but also a natural medicine with a fortifying effect.

When asked if the chamomile helps with a cold, you can answer the question: would recipes based on chamomile would be so popular if it did not bring benefits? Are therapists and pediatricians, i.e. Representatives of traditional medicine, would recommend rinsing the throat with chamomile broth, inhaling the infusion of her flowers and taking in chamomile tea, if they were not sure of the effectiveness of these recipes?

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Indications Chamomiles for colds

As we have already said, chamomile is considered one of the most commonly used medicinal plants, the medicinal properties of which are recognized even by classical medicine. Not surprisingly, collected in ecologically clean areas, dried on the generally recognized technology and ready-to-use plant raw materials can be purchased in virtually any pharmacy. Usually such herbal preparations have the name "Camomile flowers".

In the instructions for preparations of various manufacturers it was noted that vegetable raw materials prepared in a certain way described in the section "Method of administration and dose" have many useful properties, therefore it can be used for the treatment of chronic gastritis, ulcerative gastrointestinal lesions (gastric ulcer, stomach ulcer and KDP, etc.), long-flowing enteritis and colitis. In gastrointestinal diseases, an internal chamomile infusion is recommended, which also helps with increased gas production and bloating, diarrhea, painful spasms in the intestines or intestinal colic.

The instructions do not say anything about the use of the drug based on chamomile flowers for the treatment of gynecological diseases. But female doctors, knowing the useful properties of the plant, often recommend their patients syringing with infusion or decoction of chamomile, as this procedure helps to destroy microbes in the vagina, removing them from the womb of the female body and helps to fight inflammatory processes on the mucosa.

But with chamomile chamomile, like pharmaceutical preparations, and self-harvested raw materials, has a variety of uses:

• ingestion of medicinal decoctions, infusions, teas (for various colds),
• gargling of the throat or nose in combination with compresses (for respiratory diseases: rhinitis, angina, laryngitis, etc.)
•  inhalation procedures (with nasal congestion, cough, bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia).

It must be said that in the instructions to the chemist's drug only local application of the herb in the form of a rinse of the throat, effective for various infectious and inflammatory diseases of the ENT organs and oral cavity, is noted. But many years of experience in the use of chamomile for the treatment of colds and flu shows that all of the above methods of treating such diseases are effective and affordable for all age groups of patients, because chamomile is a herb with a minimum of contraindications to use.

Internal reception of chamomile helps to normalize the activity of the nervous system and brain, biliary excretory function, improve potency. In the form of microclyster broth chamomile is used to treat hemorrhoids, spastic colitis and constipation in children. Baths with decoction or infusion of chamomile help in the treatment of skin diseases.

Based on the extract and camomile essential oil in Romania, the liquid preparation "Romazulon" is produced, which for colds can also be used to rinse the throat (1.5 tablespoons per liter of warm water) and internal intake (half a teaspoon of medicine per glass of water ).

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Pharmacodynamics

Farmakodinamika flowers and chamomile grass in the descriptions of pharmaceuticals looks rather meager. The instructions usually indicate that the plant has a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect, and also has a moderate antimicrobial and good antispasmodic effect. And all this thanks to the essential oils contained in the vegetable raw materials, coumarins, flavonoids.

The use of chamomile in the treatment of diseases of the digestive system is due to its ability to prevent fermentation processes in the intestine and to increase the secretion of digestive glands. In this case, the plant reduces the proteolytic activity of the enzyme of the gastric juice of pepsin, which not only helps to digest protein foods, converting it into peptides, but also causes fermentation in the stomach.

For the treatment of colds more relevant is the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antimicrobial activity of chamomile. In addition, this plant has an antioxidant property, useful for faster recovery.

Chamomile is used as in a common cold caused by exposure to cold, and bacterial or viral infections. There is no mention of the antiviral effect of chamomile in the instructions. But its ability to fight free radicals that are detrimental to cells in the body and immunity in general, is very useful when the body needs strength to fight infection. With bacterial infections, antimicrobial properties of chamomile in combination with antioxidant, which support the maintenance of immunity, will be useful. And with viral diseases, the well-coordinated work of the immune system is the main condition for effective treatment.

What else is not mentioned in the instructions to the herbal preparation? For example, that in catarrhal angina, rinsing the throat with infusion or decoction of chamomile flowers helps to prevent the reproduction of the infection that has entered the oral cavity, and when purulent, not only helps to deactivate pathogens, but also to wash out the "plugs" formed on the tonsils. Drinking chamomile tea, along with rinses and compresses on the neck, relieves sore throats that do not allow patients to eat normally (pain increases with swallowing).

Flushing the nose with a decoction or infusion of chamomile with a common cold that accompanies a cold, rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis and some other pathologies will help to remove the swelling of the nasal passages and to facilitate breathing. If at the same time in the "jungle" of the nose hiding infection, chamomile will not allow it to actively multiply and "show the way to the exit."

With ARVI and flu, tea with chamomile will have a calming and anti-inflammatory effect and contribute to strengthening the body's defenses necessary for fighting viruses. Warm tea also has a diaphoretic effect, which is necessary for normalizing body temperature and removing edema of the tissues of the ENT organs.

With colds and flu, patients often complain of pain in the head and joints. Curative compounds based on chamomile will help, and in this case, thanks to the anesthetic property of the plant. It is clear that the flower itself is not an analgesic and can not cope with severe migraine-like pains, but nevertheless, many patients who have experienced such an unpleasant event as a cold notice improvement in their general condition after using the chamomile formulations inside or applying compresses to the head and joint area .

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Pharmacokinetics

The pharmacokinetics of chamomile and compositions based on it were not studied by scientists. The fact is that herbal remedies with chamomile do not have a negative effect on the internal organs of a person, do not require dose adjustment in patients with liver and kidney disease, and do not cause dangerous side effects in case of an overdose.

Chamomile has no toxic or teratogenic effect. It can be used both for curative and preventive purposes. For example, in a situation when you come home all soaked and frozen, and warm chamomile tea in combination with honey and a warm plaid help to prevent a cold no worse than a hot bath that is not allowed by everyone.

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Dosing and administration

Chamomile tea, which is so often recalled in American films, is not really a medicine. After all, in order for the medicine to exert the necessary action, it is necessary that certain proportions of the components be observed, which will determine its dosage. The unmixed tea from chamomile will have a mild sedative effect and will prove to be a good preventive tool in case of danger of exacerbation of gastrointestinal diseases, flatulence, during the period of respiratory infections.

Such teas, rather dry extract of grass for their preparation, can be purchased at regular grocery stores. Usually they are already available in dosing in filter bags. And each packet is recommended to brew in a glass of boiling water for 15 minutes. In fact, it is an infusion made from dry grass and water.

But tea from chamomile for colds can be prepared and independently from the pharmacy or pre-harvested plant material. Let's consider 2 ways of preparation not only useful for nervous system, but also curative at catarrhal diseases of tea, possessing a diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and fortifying action:

• Tea without boiling. For its preparation, take 2 tablespoons. Dry flowers with a slide (about 10-20 g) and fill them with a pre-prepared glass of boiling water. We insist that the composition is covered for half an hour. Ready-made infusion should be filtered and diluted with warm boiled water in a ratio of 2: 1. Take it at least 3 times a day, with a daily dose of approximately 600-900 ml.

They drink tea in a warm state before eating 15-20 minutes before eating. The last reception is best done before bedtime, which will help the patient to have a good rest during the night.

Herbal drink has a pleasant enough taste, so it does not need to be sugared with sugar. But if you want, you can add honey and a slice of lemon, which will only enhance the therapeutic properties of tea from chamomile for colds.

• Tea based on decoction. To make chamomile tea on this recipe, you need to take vegetable raw materials and warm water in a proportion of 1:10. The composition is kept in a water bath with the lid closed for a quarter of an hour, and then leave to be infused for another hour. Before use, the decoction is filtered and diluted with water to obtain the initial volume of liquid.

This tea will be stronger than the previous one, so its daily dosage will be less - 300 ml. It will need to be divided again into 3 receptions and to drink, as written above.

Concentrated chamomile infusion for colds can be used to ingest and gargle. It is prepared according to the same recipe as chamomile tea from 1 tbsp. Dry flowers and chamomile herbs and a glass of boiling water, but no longer diluted with water after infusion. Take this infusion inside should be in a daily dosage of 200-250 ml, dividing the contents of the glass into 3 parts. Especially good is this infusion in the very beginning and the height of the disease.

With the first symptoms of a cold you can advise and such a recipe. Cooking infusion of 1 tsp. Dry grass and ½ cup of boiling water. When it cools down, filter and add half a glass of "Cahors" (or any good red wine). We give the drink a raspberry jam in the amount of 100 grams (half a glass) and drink at night, so as to wake up almost healthy in the morning.

Rinse the infusion of chamomile with a throat for any type of angina, pharyngitis, laryngitis, acute respiratory infections, influenza, i.e. In those cases where there is redness and swelling of his mucous, there is perspiration and pain when swallowing. Rinse with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory infusion of chamomile should be done several times a day with an interval of 2-3 hours. Only then will the pain and unpleasant sensations in the throat go away within the first two days.

The infusion for rinsing the throat can be either single-component or combined. So on a glass of boiling water you can take 1 tablespoon. With chamomile and 1-2 tsp. Flowers of lime or sage grass. After the infusion is infused and warm, it is filtered and used for the intended purpose.

To rinse your throat and wash your nose with a cold you can use infusion of chamomile from 1 tbsp. Dry raw materials and 150 ml of boiling water, which must be insisted closed for an hour. Treatment of the common cold can be done in a different way: first rinse the nasal passages with saline solution (1 spoonful per liter of water), and then drip into each nostril for 4-5 drops of chamomile infusion.

To treat angina to a barely warm infusion add boric acid powder (literally a few grains, lingered on the tip of the knife). This composition should gargle 3 times a day.

Chamomile broth for colds is usually used for gargling and inhalation, although it is also suitable for oral administration. With sore throat, you can moisten a soft tissue with a decoction and apply it on the throat area in the form of a compress, covered with a film on top and wrapped in a warm scarf. And with a cold from a warm broth, you can make applications on the nose bridge.

To flush the nose for a cold chamomile can go one of the components of a multicomponent collection, which will also include sage, string, calamus (roots), calendula (flowers), St. John's wort, eucalyptus. All plants must be taken in equal quantities. Take a glass of water 2 tsp. Collecting herbs and boiling for no more than 5 minutes. It is recommended to wash the nasal passages 3 times a day with a strained composition.

Decoction for inhalation is recommended to prepare from 1-2 tablespoons. Herbs and 500 ml of water. The mixture is boiled for 5-10 minutes, after which it is cooled to the desired temperature and filtered. Several times the filtered chamomile broth can be used in inhalers or used as a source of healing pat of their saucepans (in this case, even filtering is not necessary). With nasal congestion and runny nose you need to breathe through your nose, and when you cough, inhale with your mouth and breathe out with your nose.

For a cold, inhalation is very popular: chamomile with honey and soda. First, prepare a decoction of chamomile according to the above recipe, and when it is slightly cool, add 1 tbsp. Soda and honey. Such inhalation over the steam should be done with colds twice a day, covering the head with a dense tissue. BUT, the body temperature should not be above 37 degrees.

For inhalations for adults and children older than 3 years, you can use essential oil of chamomile flowers. 5-10 drops of oil will suffice for a glass of hot water. Breathe vapors for 10-15 minutes. Children enough 3-10 minutes.

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Use Chamomiles for colds during pregnancy

Chamomile in pregnancy also has a dubious benefit for colds, because this is a safe-looking plant gynecologists do not recommend taking inside future mothers because of the risk of miscarriage. The fact is that the plant, despite its antispasmodic properties, can provoke an increase in the tone of the uterus, which is a threat of miscarriage or premature birth. And the reason is that chamomile belongs to the category of plants containing phytoestrogens, identical in effect to female sex hormones. A high level of estrogen, in turn, can cause an increased tone of the uterus.

It must be said that special care should be taken in choosing the herbal and other medicines for women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Before you begin to treat a chamomile cold, you need to consult a doctor about the safety of such treatment. If the pregnancy is normal, and there is no threat of miscarriage, the doctor is unlikely to prohibit a woman from consuming healthy tea with chamomile. The only thing that a gynecologist can advise is to make the drink not strong, reducing the usual dosage of the herb by a factor of 1.5-2, and with a cold, limit it to 1 cup of chamomile tea a day.

Without a special need to drink chamomile formulations for future mothers is not recommended, and if any suspicious symptoms appear against the background of their use (for example, pulling pains and a feeling of pressure in the lower abdomen, the appearance of bloody discharge like menstrual), it is necessary to consult a doctor. But gargling and rinsing the nose with chamomile broth, as well as warm compresses on the neck and chest, will not harm even those mothers who have a risk of miscarriage, because the external application of chamomile, in which the absorption of medicinal components of grass into the blood is not high, is not capable of provoke an increase in uterine tone.

After the birth of a child, each caring mother wishes her child health, so she tries to breastfeed, because in this way she forms a strong immunity to the baby. But with breastfeeding, a woman has to limit herself to food, because some foods and herbs are capable of causing allergic reactions in a child with an unformed immune system.

Chamomile belongs to such plants, which rarely cause the appearance of allergic reactions. In addition, this plant can be seen in the composition of herbal supplies for nursing mothers, because his ability to increase lactation was known to our distant ancestors, who used this feature of chamomile. Infusion of chamomile flowers or chamomile tea helps a woman to fight postpartum depression.

Chamomile when breastfeeding can be prescribed not only for colds. Her reception will be useful and with increased excitability of the nervous system, leading to sleep disorders and impeding the full relaxation of a woman burdened with cares for the baby, with skin diseases, with chronic pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, usually worsening during pregnancy and lactation, with inflammation of the urogenital organs system, not infrequent in this period.

However, to abuse chamomile in this case, too, is not worth it. If you regularly take strong infusions, then there is the possibility of developing a reverse process, i.e. Decrease in lactation. Yes, and at the nursing mother, such a drink can cause deterioration of the condition, because in this case, we can already talk about an overdose, which, although not dangerous, but can feel noticeably on health.

Contraindications

Treatment with herbs is considered a safer way to combat colds than taking synthetic medicines. And even if you can not completely abandon them (for example, with purulent angina requiring antibiotics), then you can significantly reduce the number of medications used.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to take into account the fact that herbs containing essential oils and some other components that can irritate the respiratory tract mucosa are known allergens, which means that care must be taken with them. So, in the instruction for the collections of chamomile flowers as a contraindication to the use, the sensitivity of the organism to chamomile and some other fragrant medicinal plants (wormwood, yarrow, tansy, arnica) is noted.

Chamomile for cold, according to the opinion of doctors and patients, is considered an effective medicine. But still it is not recommended for people with hormonal disorders, if a person has elevated estrogen levels.

Unintended and internal reception of pure strong infusions, broths and teas with chamomile to patients who have an anacid gastritis (chamomile can be included in the composition of herbal preparations in small amounts as an anti-inflammatory drug). It is about inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach against the background of stagnant processes, caused by a lower production of hydrochloric acid (reduced acidity of gastric juice). The reason is the ability of chamomile to affect the acidity of the stomach, reducing it, which will only aggravate the condition of patients. But with gastritis with high acidity, such treatment will bring a double benefit: it will help with colds, and abdominal pain, caused by the irritating effect of hydrochloric acid on the stomach, calms down.

People with psychiatric disorders taking sedatives, can take chamomile preparations only with the permission of the doctor, because it can enhance the effect of sedatives, which is not always desirable.

Caution should be observed and women during menstruation. Reception of chamomile tea and syringing with a decoction of plant flowers on the eve of the month will help reduce painful spasms. But the abuse of compounds for internal admission during menstruation can make menstrual bleeding more abundant. This does not pose a threat to women with poor menstrual flow, but can lead to the development of iron deficiency anemia in those who already suffer from prolonged intense bleeding.

If a person takes homeopathic medicines, you need to consider that chamomile can reduce the effectiveness of some of them. Therefore, it is necessary to consult with a homeopath physician about such interactions.

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Side effects Chamomiles for colds

Look at American films and wonder how much local people have a craving for chamomile tea. They drink it themselves and treat them with a drink of neighbors or guests. And this is considered normal. There is a feeling that chamomile tea along with freshly squeezed juices is one of the main drinks on the American table. But perhaps this is the reason that they are much more relaxed about different stress situations than our compatriots, who used to use chamomile only for the treatment of diseases.

But is it possible to constantly drink chamomile tea and is it not dangerous for the body? I must say that in everything you need to know the measure, even if it comes to seemingly safe grass. A tea made from flowers of a fragrant medicinal plant, if it is consumed no more than 2 glasses a day, is unlikely to harm a healthy body. But chamomile, though infrequently, can cause allergic reactions, and in this case it is undesirable to apply it in case of a cold or in any other situation.

Compositions of chamomile for oral administration are considered relatively safe drinks with medicinal properties, if you observe a low dosage of grass in them. Do not also drink tea from chamomile daily in large quantities, especially people who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. So, patients with gastritis after consuming 200 ml of tea every day for a month can complain about nausea and the appearance of a feeling of heaviness in the stomach, regardless of food intake.

In people with hypotension or fluctuations in blood pressure when using strong tea, blood pressure may drop, dyspnoea and palpitations appear. Weak infusions and herbal decoctions do not affect the pressure.

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Overdose

Overdose can also suffer quite healthy people. Against the background of a long reception of drinks from chamomile with a high concentration of grass, some patients noted the occurrence of headaches and dizziness, increased irritability, weakness and fatigue. Nausea may also occur and appetite may worsen.

To prevent this from happening, chamomile should be drunk for a cold before the symptoms of the disease become less severe, and later limited to 1-2 glasses per day of a weak chamomile tea, which will prevent colds and stabilize the normal state of the nervous system.

Interactions with other drugs

Usually, when it comes to herbs, which are generally considered safe medicines, few people wonder whether it is possible to use a particular plant as part of complex therapy simultaneously with other herbs and medicines. Even in the instructions to plant collections, you can find very little information about the drug interaction with other drugs.

So acquiring chamomile for use in therapeutic purposes for colds in pharmacies, on the package, we can not find any such information at all or will meet with just one warning about the drug "Warfarin". This is an anticoagulant that is synthesized from coumarin. But in fact the composition of chamomile is also present coumarins, which means that it is likely that the effect of anticoagulant will increase if it is taken simultaneously with oral chamomile formulations. Than it can threaten? Increased risk of bleeding.

But practically all anticoagulants of indirect action are created on the basis of coumarin and are its derivatives. And this means that caution in the treatment of chamomile must be observed and those who regularly take "Sinkumar", "Marevan" and other drugs from this category.

Theoretically daisy may enhance anticoagulation properties and other drugs, which tend to this effect: indirect coagulants ( "Fenilin", "Fenidion"), heparins, "Aspirin" (acetylsalicylic acid), "Cardiomagnyl", "Kibernin" antithrombotic means of direct action. If the patient is taking such drugs, then the possibility of treating a chamomile cold, which additionally thinens the blood, is worth discussing with the attending physician.

Chamomile is considered an inhibitor of isozyme CYP1A2, produced in the liver and is involved in the metabolism of tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline, clomipramine, imipramine et al.), Neuroleptic (clozapine), bronchodilators (theophylline), muscle relaxants (tizanidine), drugs for the treatment of hypertension (propranolol) and dementia (tacrine). Metabolic disorders of the above drugs can lead to an increase in the concentration of their active substance in the blood and increase the toxic effect of drugs on the body. Taking drugs metabolized in the liver by CYP1A2 concomitantly with chamomile can be expected to increase the risk of side effects and amplification from the expression.

This is all theoretical reasoning, but it is still not worth rejecting the possibility of such interactions. So, before you start taking chamomile preparations or brewed herbs, you need to consult with your doctor how safe it is taking into account the medicines taken by the patient.

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Reviews

Chamomile with a cold is a method of fighting a disease that has been tested for efficacy already many dozens and hundreds of times. Chamomile was treated with colds of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, Vedas used to have no effective medications for flu, sore throat, ARVI and other colds. Today there are a lot of drugs, however, the treatment with chamomile has not lost its relevance.

There is nothing to be surprised at. After all, the camomile still helps to cope with the main symptoms of a cold no worse than in the old days. Many adults, in the absence of financial opportunities, are the only ones who are saved, because even pharmaceutical products containing dry flowers of the plant are not very expensive compared to other drugs prescribed in this situation.

One more plus many consider an opportunity to procure vegetable raw materials independently. Chamomile is a plant that is not fastidious, so it can be found even within the city limits. True, there is no reason to collect flowers for medicinal purposes, because along with the healing properties, they also acquire harmful ones, accumulating salts of heavy metals, toxic substances and other poisons. Procurement of plant raw materials should be carried out away from highways and large settlements with a developed industry.

It is best to do it in the morning of a dry June day (in the absence of dew), when plants are actively blooming and gaining a maximum of useful substances. You can collect only flowers or cut the whole plant (do not tear it!), Subsequently separating the flowers from the grass.

To dry flowers is recommended in the shade (in the sun it will lose some of the beneficial properties) with good ventilation and without access to moisture. Usually within a week the raw materials are ready for storage. If you use drying the flowers dryer, then you need to make sure that the temperature in it does not rise above 35-40 degrees.

It is important not only to properly prepare, but also to comply with the conditions of storage of plant raw materials. Desiccated flowers and grass properly should be stored in tissue bags or paper bags. If you store chamomile in a dry ventilated room at low temperatures, then the shelf life of such raw materials will be 2 years. Although it is believed that more efficient will still be raw materials, which was stored for not more than a year.

For those who do not want to bother themselves with the procurement of raw materials or do not have such an opportunity, pharmacy shelves have special herbal preparations in the form of herbs and "Chamomile Tea" from various manufacturers. Usually, raw materials for such collections and teas are collected in ecologically clean areas, and it meets all standards of harvesting, processing and storage. Very convenient form of drugs, where the plant raw materials are dosed in a filter bags, which simply need to be poured with boiling water and insist.

But not the point, where it was taken raw camomile, it is important that it helps with colds. According to reviews of those who have tried chamomile treatment on their own, and the internal reception of broths and infusions, and gargling, and inhalations with herbal formulations help to significantly reduce the manifestations of colds. Taking the formulations with chamomile before bed and washing the nose make it possible to have a full night rest, so necessary for the successful fight against the disease.

Inhalations of decoction or essential oil of chamomile help to facilitate breathing, contribute to a deeper penetration of useful substances in the composition of the plant into the respiratory tract.

Young mothers consider chamomile as the savior of their young children. After herbal treatment for mild forms of cold, you can even refuse to use synthetic drugs with all their dangerous side effects. With serious bacterial diseases, the camomile helps to stop the spread of the infection and reduce the unpleasant symptoms of the disease. In this case, without antibiotics, mucolytics, expectorants and some other drugs, it is difficult to manage, but the use of chamomile infection as part of complex therapy allows accelerating recovery and avoiding dangerous complications.

Chamomile will reduce the number of prescribed drugs, and therefore, the negative impact on the body will also be less, which is especially important when it comes to the health of our children.

Chamomile can be called a multifunctional medicinal plant, because it benefits from various diseases. Chamomile with cold helps fight inflammation and bacteria in the throat and respiratory tract, with GI diseases rescues from exacerbations and flatulence, with colic in children removes painful spasms, giving babies a lot of anxiety. With gynecological problems, decoctions and infusions of chamomile contribute to reducing the inflammatory process in the vagina, ovaries and mulk, help to remove pathogenic bacteria from the woman's body (during douching). And this is not all the application of this valuable medicinal plant. It turns out that chamomile is a universal medicine for adults and children, which is desirable to have in every home medicine cabinet.

How to drink chamomile for children for cold and flu?