We may spend millions of pounds a year on herbs and supplements but we haven't given up on conventional medicine. What most of us want is the best of both worlds-cutting-edge techniques of modern medicine and the natural home treatments that earlier generations depended on.

This approach, known as complementary medicine, makes sense. If you have heart disease or diabetes, for example, you want the most advanced care you can get. But there's a lot you can do yourself at the same time - not only to relieve symptoms and feel better, but also to give nature a hand and help your body to reverse the condition or recover more quickly.

Don't hesitate to talk to your doctor about the remedies you use at home. You may even discover that your GP has his or her own favourites, such as massaging away a headache or soothing a rash with an oatmeal bath.

After all, conventional medicine and home remedies aren't the adversaries they're sometimes made out to be. Each has strengths and weaknesses - and both work best when used together.

If you like the idea of 'natural' healing methods which involve non-suppression of symptoms and non-interference with the body's natural defence systems, consider seeing a naturopathic doctor.

The letters ND after a name mean that a naturopath has acquired a national diploma after a four-year degree course. Naturopaths have similarly rigorous training in diagnostic skills as conventional doctors.

The remedies: a final word

This site contains a huge number of remedies from a wide variety of sources, including traditional folk remedies. Many of the traditional 'recipes' we found for teas, elixirs and tonics called for specific measurements. One grandmother may have specified, for instance, 2 teaspoons of honey, 24 cloves of garlic or 3 handfuls of fresh parsley. But in many cases the exact amounts aren't critical to the success of the remedy.

So the quantities that you find in this book may differ somewhat from those in home remedies that you may have gleaned from your own family. For each 'recipe', however, we've included the ingredients that are most likely to provide some direct health benefits and left out those that are ineffective or that could cause problems.

Whenever possible, we recommend ingredients available from local sources such as supermarkets, pharmacies, health­food shops or medical supply stores. Many products are now available online. Of course, many of the remedies in this site don't require any special ingredients at all - just the right food, exercise or hands-on healing. Temporary relief, or even a cure, may be as near as your kitchen cupboard or medicine cabinet.

If one remedy doesn't work for you, try another. If it does work, make sure you pass it on to a loved one or friend so that they might one day benefit from it too. NHS direct offers advice and information online ­www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk - and by telephone, 24 hours a day. You can call the helpline - 0845 46 47 - at local call rates for advice from a nurse about what to do when 'you are ill, and both services can give information about specific health conditions and support organizations, as well as your local NHS services including doctors, dentists, opticians and pharmacies.

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