Viruses & Infections
Poliomyelitis
A viral infection of the spinal cord that can destroy nerve-muscle connections, causing paralysis — prevented chiefly by avoiding sugar and cola drinks.
Also known as: Polio, Infantile paralysis, nausea (definition: feeling of sickness or urge to vomit)
📝 At a glance
Likely root causes: Polio virus (poliovirus) infecting the spinal cord; Sugar-heavy diet depletes nerve-protecting calcium; Soft drinks destroy calcium (phosphoric acid).
First thing to try: CAUTION -- polio is a serious, vaccine-preventable viral infection that can cause paralysis and needs medical diagnosis and care; sudden weakness or breathing difficulty is a medical emergency. The nutrition and hydrotherapy measures below are general supportive-comfort ideas only, are unproven as a treatment, and must never replace medical care or vaccination.
See a doctor if: Any suspected polio symptoms: fever with stiff neck and muscle weakness
🔎 Start with the cause
Lasting relief rarely comes from covering a symptom. First find what is feeding the problem, change what you can, and then help the body do what it was designed to do — heal.
Likely root causes
- Polio virus (poliovirus) infecting the spinal cord
- Sugar-heavy diet depletes nerve-protecting calcium
- Soft drinks destroy calcium (phosphoric acid)
- Becoming chilled while fatigued from physical exertion
Change what you can
- CAUTION -- polio is a serious, vaccine-preventable viral infection that can cause paralysis and needs medical diagnosis and care; sudden weakness or breathing difficulty is a medical emergency. The nutrition and hydrotherapy measures below are general supportive-comfort ideas only, are unproven as a treatment, and must never replace medical care or vaccination.
- PREVENTION: Eliminate all cola drinks and soft drinks. Avoid sugar foods. Eat only nutritious whole food.
- If polio strikes: immediately place the patient in a warm full bathtub or give Kenny hot packs (covering affected body parts with hot, moist heat).
- During the infectious stage: maintain a high-protein, high-potassium diet.
- Increase fluid, caloric, and sodium intake because of fever.
- Antispasmodic tinctureA concentrated herbal extract made with alcohol. How to make a tincture → (8-15 drops in warm water, according to age).
- Helpful herbs: prickly ash berries, wild cherry bark, valerian root, skullcap, black cohosh.
🌿 Then assist nature: remedies & protocols
With the cause being addressed, these are the actual things people do for this — ranked by the community. Vote ▲ on what helped you and ▼ on what didn't, and open How to do it for the steps. Each shows two quick signals: Evidence (how much science backs it) and Gentleness (how safe and in keeping with whole, natural health).
★ Start here — our first-line pick, pinned for safety
Urgent professional care is essential; natural measures are supportive only. Vaccination prevents polio.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Acute polio can affect the muscles of breathing and swallowing; only prompt medical care can monitor and support these. Vaccination is what prevents polio in the first place.
- Seek urgent medical care for sudden muscle weakness or paralysis, especially with fever.
- Report any difficulty breathing or swallowing immediately.
- Keep the person resting and comfortable while help is arranged.
- Remember that polio vaccination is the proven prevention - keep immunizations current.
Immediate · Once - act promptly
Caution: No home remedy treats polio. Breathing or swallowing weakness is life-threatening.
When to get help: Difficulty breathing or swallowing, or rapidly spreading weakness, is an emergency - call for help now.
Source: Natural Remedies Encyclopedia 7th ed
Comments & experiences ▾
Also helps — ranked by the community (vote to reorder)
Supportive care alongside medical and rehabilitation treatment.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Rest spares the affected muscles, while good fluids and nourishment support the body's recovery - supportive care that works with medical treatment.
- Keep the person resting comfortably, with affected limbs well supported.
- Offer plenty of fluids, especially with fever.
- Provide nourishing, easy-to-eat whole foods.
- Follow the care team's plan for gradual, guided rehabilitation as recovery allows.
Ongoing through recovery · Daily
Caution: Rehabilitation should be guided by professionals to avoid overworking weak muscles.
When to get help: Any breathing or swallowing trouble is an emergency.
Source: Natural Remedies Encyclopedia 7th ed
Comments & experiences ▾
Supportive comfort for muscle pain - medical care manages the illness.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Warm moist heat relaxes painful, spasming muscles and improves comfort - the historic supportive approach used alongside, never instead of, medical care.
- Ensure medical care is in place.
- Warm a moist towel, wring it out, and lay it over the sore, tight muscles.
- Cover with a dry towel to hold warmth.
- Re-warm and reapply; keep the limb gently supported.
- Combine with rest and the care team's guidance.
15-20 minutes · Several times daily for comfort
Caution: Use warm, not hot, packs to avoid burns, especially where sensation is reduced. Comfort measure only.
When to get help: Breathing or swallowing difficulty is an emergency.
Source: Natural Remedies Encyclopedia 7th ed
Comments & experiences ▾
How the numbers work: a weighted voting system — trusted published sources cast endorsement votes for each protocol, and your ▲/▼ adds to them. Not medical advice.
🩺 When to see a doctor
- Any suspected polio symptoms: fever with stiff neck and muscle weakness
- Progressive weakness in any limb
- Difficulty breathing (bulbar polio — immediate emergency)
🌿 The seven pathways to health
Seven pathways for your poliomyelitis — tap the circle to check one off (saved on your device), or ask Remy for help.
“Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health... In case of sickness 1cause should be ascertained, 2go to work intelligently to remove the disease. 3Unhealthful conditions should be changed, 4wrong habits corrected. 5Then nature is to be assisted in her effort 6to expel impurities and 7to re-establish right conditions in the system.”
🌿 Overview
Polio is a viral infection of the spinal cord's gray matter that destroys the nerves controlling muscular movement. Sugar, soft drinks, and dietary weakness are the primary predisposing factors. Sister Kenny's hot pack hydrotherapy dramatically reversed paralysis.
Poliomyelitis is inflammationThe body's natural response to injury — like redness, swelling, or heat around a sore spot. More → of the gray matter of the spinal cord. The polio virus destroys the nerves that control muscle movement. Epidemics peak in summer. Dr. Benjamin Sandler proposed that avoiding sugar and soft drinks was linked to fewer polio cases in his research, reasoning that sugar and phosphoric acid in cola drinks deplete calcium, which the nerves need — a theory that has not been established by mainstream medicine.
Common signs
- Fever, nausea, diarrhea, headache, and irritability
- Stiff neck (a key warning sign)
- Muscle aches and weakness
- In paralytic cases: progressive muscle paralysis
🍃 Supporting foods & habits
The gentle, everyday foods and supports that help in the background — secondary to the active remedies above. Vote on what helped you.
Rest supports recovery, and physical therapy helps rebuild strength afterward.970
Warm compresses ease the muscle pain and spasms that come with polio.900
Garlic offers general immune support as a dietary measure (polio is prevented by vaccination).870
How the numbers work: this is a weighted voting system — every published book or article recommending a remedy counts as an endorsement vote, and your ▲/▼ counts too. Not medical advice. *Ties are broken by our editor score (sources, safety, simplicity, cost, lifestyle fit, eight-laws alignment).
🍽️ Eating to help
Food is one of the gentlest medicines — small, steady changes help most.
Favor these
- High-protein, high-potassium diet during infection
- Carrot juice and orange juice
- Nutrient-dense plant foods
- Abundant fluids
Go easy on
- Cola drinks and soft drinks (primary polio risk factor)
- Sugar foods of all kinds
- Junk food
The most important preventive measure is eliminating cola drinks and sugar from the diet.
⚖️ Good to know
- Any paralytic symptoms demand immediate medical attention.
- The paralytic stage of polio is a medical emergency.
⚕️ What a doctor may offerConventional treatments for this condition — for your information.Show ▾
RemedyRank's heart is natural healing — and honest information. Here is what conventional medical care commonly involves for this condition, listed to inform, never to promote. Decisions about treatment belong with you and your own physician.
Polio has no cure; vaccination prevents it, and care is supportive for those affected.
Commonly offered
- Supportive care: rest, pain relief, physical therapy–
- Breathing support for severe cases–
- Vaccination for prevention–
- Rehabilitation for lasting weakness–
Worth knowing
- For vaccine schedules and the official package inserts, see our neutral vaccine reference (/vaccines) to review with your physician.
- Sudden weakness or paralysis needs urgent medical care.
- Post-polio syndrome can appear years later.
👍/👎 shares whether a treatment helped you — community experience, not medical advice. For full professional details, see the sources under “Learn more” below.
📜 A note from history
Sister Kenny's hot-pack hydrotherapy achieved outstanding results in polio recovery in Australia. Dr. Sandler's sugar-avoidance research in the 1940s showed sugar as a major predisposing factor.
📚 Learn more
Sources for further reading. These open in a new tab.
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