Head steam self-treatment
for sinusitis, bronchitis and related respiratory diseases
For acute as well as chronic sinusitis and bronchitis (cough, cold) and other respiratory diseases, the so-called "head steam" has proven very effective in my daily practice. Here you can learn how to use a head steam.
By a head steam is understood a water application,
with which, under the action of water in the form of hot steam, heating of a part of the body occurs. The effect on the blood circulation is based on a strong dilation of the vessels, with which the skin surface and organs experience an increased blood flow, the heart and central blood spaces (e.g. lungs) experience a relief.
However, it should be noted in the first place that vapors should not be taken so frequently. Vapors act in the mildest form and are therefore harmless and harmless. Absolutely to be considered:
Anyone who steps out into the open, into the cool air, immediately after a head steam without cooling down first, can not only become sicker, he can become deathly ill. However, this is not the fault of the head steam, but of unreasonableness.
The following description is based on the original text: "The great original Kneipp book from 1935" by Sebastian Kneipp. The unusual writing style is therefore largely preserved.
The application of the head steam
requires some minor preparations. For its performance are necessary
a small wooden vessel, more deep than wide, with ears on which one can comfortably rest one's hands, and a well-fitting lid; then two chairs, and for covering the person to be treated a larger woolen blanket. Of the chairs, the higher one serves for sitting, the second lower one as a base for the wooden vessel.
When all the above-mentioned objects are ready, the wooden vessel placed on the lower chair is filled with boiling water up to 3/4 parts and closed tightly with the lid, so that as little steam as possible escapes until use.
The patient has uncovered the entire upper body up to the leg clothes and put a dry cloth over them as a final bandage to stop the sweat running down and to prevent the leg clothes from getting wet. He sits down on the larger chair and rests the flat of his hands on the ears of the wooden vessel, his upper body leaning over the vessel. The upper body and the vessel are then loosely wrapped with the large woolen blanket, but on all sides in such a way that steam does not escape even through the smallest opening. Only now does the practitioner, facing the patient and lifting the blanket from below, remove the lid; the steam penetrates unhindered like a glowing stream onto the head, chest, back, and the entire upper body, and begins its dissolving work.
Whoever is assigned to supervise and serve, make sure that weaker patients, whose backs hurt easily, sit comfortably, have good support in their backs where it hurts, and so on.
On the other hand, he does not pay attention to the complaints and the most diverse exclamations such as: I can't stand it any longer, I'm in for a blow, and so on.
At the first moment, some may be frightened because of the unaccustomed glowing temperature; but soon he got used to the tropical, the hot climate and quickly found some minor advantages. At the first onslaught of the heated clouds, he seeks to assume a more upright position, raise his head, turn in different directions, and so on.
As he becomes accustomed and the heat subsides, the upper body returns to the prescribed stooped position.
There is absolutely nothing to fear. I do not know of a single case in which the head steam, applied exactly as prescribed, has done the slightest harm. I have applied the same to the most diverse persons in the most diverse diseases and have always achieved good results. The vapors have never done any harm, but those self-smart people have done harm to themselves, who without any caution or rule did what seemed good to them, not what was prescribed by the rules.
One treatment lasts 20-24 minutes. During the whole time, the patient should not only willingly hold his head, but also open his eyes, nose, mouth and let the steam flow in as much as he can bear.
After 20-24 minutes the blanket is removed and the whole body is washed with fresh water. The patient exercises indoors in winter and outdoors in summer until the skin has dried and reached its normal temperature.
At this point I owe some important and not to be overlooked remarks. I almost never use pure water vapor anymore, after I have convinced myself that if herbs are mixed with it, the smell is much better and also the effect is much greater.
The pure water vapor also affects some eyes, as well as when inhaled on the stomach at times not quite favorable. First of all, I recommend fennel, which has proved to be excellent. One spoon of ground fennel is enough for one application. Also herbs of sage, yarrow, mint, elderberry, ribwort, lime blossoms do excellent service. And if you run out of these too, take a handful of nettles or hay flowers and mix them in; the herb may be despised, but its service is still good.
For ordinary people the steam soon does its work; for most of them the drops of sweat run from the forehead after the first 5 minutes, and after 8 to 10 minutes they bead out from all pores.
However, there are patients - they are usually anemic individuals with little natural heat - for whom the steam does not have such an easy job. One helps by making a brick glowing in the stove and bringing the same into the steam bath about 10 minutes after the beginning of the application. The steam is roaring and the clouds are rising again more densely and more vividly.
Immediately after the end of the head steam, which, like the following cooling, should always be carried out in heated rooms in winter, one should never dare to go outdoors without first having a cold shower, which closes the pores opened by the steam. In winter, before going outdoors, stay in the heated room for about half an hour, walking up and down the room. Without this precaution, one could easily contract not only catarrh, but under certain circumstances a serious, fatal disease.
The aforementioned cold cast is possible in several ways. The simplest way, which I recommend especially for weaker persons who need help from others, is to wash the patient quickly with a towel and fresh water. In the case of head sores, rashes on the head, flowing ears, in general in the case of ailments which require large excretions from the head, this kind of pouring off, much more washing off, must take place at the first and second head steam. The consequences of omission, such as violent ringing in the ears and so on, would be, if not exactly dangerous, yet unpleasant. In the following applications, after major excretions from the head have already taken place, the second type of casting, the actual casting, can take the place of washing.
In the form of the top pour, one or two cans of cold water are poured slowly over the steamed areas, excluding the head, which is the hair; the chest is washed vigorously. The rest of the procedure is the same as after the watering, that is, after carefully drying the face and hair, without drying the rest of the body, one quickly puts on clothes and exercises or engages in manual labor until the body is completely dry and normally warmed. Whoever has the opportunity to quickly take a cold full bath of no more than one minute after the head steam, also does well by taking advantage of such an opportunity.
The effects of this application are significant; they extend to the entire skin surface of the upper body, whose pores they open; then to the interior of the body, dissolving and discharging in the nose, tracheas, lungs and so on. In colds caused by wetness or rapid changes of temperature, in headaches, ringing in the ears, rheumatic and spasmodic conditions in the neck and shoulders, in tightness of the chest, in mucous fever that has not yet advanced - all companions of the various catarrh - head steam does excellent service.
Two applications within 3 days usually bring complete healing.
Source: "The great original Kneipp book from 1935" by Sebastian Kneipp
Submitted by Dr. med. Maria Theresia Berkl, Baiern
§ This article deals with a health topic. It is not intended for self-diagnosis and does not replace a doctor's diagnosis.
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