illness and antibiotics

I have a sinus infection. A bad one. I don't want to go to a dr and get antibiotics. We are not always going to have those around and I feel that I need to learn to deal with being sick and find way to get over illness without medications. I am going to do some research but I wanted to throw this out there and see what everyone else thought. What are some of the ways you keep healthy? What do you do when you get sick? What are some natural remedies you rely on?

found in nature pain killers

I suffer from migranes, and am a big boob when it comes to pain. We do have some ibuprofin in our food storage but I think I would rather hold onto that in case of severe pain. I have books that talk about plants that are natural pain killers but I am a little scared to try them. Has anyone else had to resort to this? Or done it as an experiment? How effective was it? Any side effects?

Wow!

So my yahoo headlines had this story up. I read a few of the earlier stories and while I would treat my children medically, especially with the odds being so good with treatment I am not sure I could decide for someone else. Plus the trauma of forcing a child to undergo a treatment they don't want. I just have vivid images in my head of this boy being tied down as the chemo is forced. Not a pretty picture. I though don't agree with the mother fleeing. Add that they are claiming 2 religions as their reasoning and it seems a little hokey. I don't know, what do you guys think? Is it okay to force a medical treatment on a child to save the child's life regardless of the parents and child's wishes?

The joys of herbs!

So I am thinking once we make this long move of ours about setting up some herb boxes. I want the ones I use a lot, like basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and such but I think I also want some that are more medicinal. Like allspice is great for the common cold, or aloe that is used for many things besides sunburns. I think that knowing more about herbs and knowing different ways to use them medicinally is a good thing for any family working on preparedness.

What are your favorite herbs for food or for medicine?