101 Amazing Uses For Ginger by Susan Branson

Author:Susan Branson [Branson, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: 101 Amazing uses for Ginger
ISBN: 9781945547478
Publisher: Familius
Published: 2017-11-14T23:00:00+00:00

61. MASTITIS

Mastitis is a painful infection of the breast tissue that most often occurs in mothers that are breastfeeding their babies, although it has been known to occur in women who are not nursing. Mastitis tends to happen within the first three months of breastfeeding and usually in only one breast. If milk is not completely emptied from the milk ducts during feeding, the milk can block the duct, causing the milk to stagnate and become an inviting place for bacteria to breed. Bacteria from the mother’s skin or the baby’s mouth can also enter the milk ducts and cause an infection. The signs of mastitis can set in pretty quickly and cause pain, swelling, tenderness, warmth, redness, and fever. Because this is a bacterial infection, a course of antibiotics is prescribed. Over-the-counter pain relievers are often used in conjunction with the antibiotics.

The Kry people are a small ethnic group in Southeast Asia who have a long tradition of using medicinal plants for postpartum recovery. Unlike other ethnic groups living in the region, Kry women breastfeed their babies immediately after birth just like many women in our North American culture. It is not surprising, then, that Kry mothers sometimes suffer from mastitis. They don’t have access to the antibiotics and pain relievers we do, but they’ve come up with an effective way to overcome this infection. The leaves of ginger are made into a poultice and applied to the breasts to improve milk flow and reduce pain and inflammation.74 This lends support to studies that have demonstrated ginger’s anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, which can reduce swelling and alleviate pain. In fact, ginger should be considered as an alternative to anti-inflammatory drugs, as it has been proven to be as effective as ibuprofen in reducing swelling.75 Ginger also has antibacterial properties to fight the infection itself and provides a way to get rid of the bacteria in the breast while keeping the good bacteria in the gut that we need for a healthy digestive tract. Antibiotics destroy the helpful bacteria in the gut, and it can take some time for the body to recover.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.