The next time you’re feeling under the weather, try a home remedy before hitting the drugstore. For instance: Though inhaling steam to breathe easier may not be a medically tested way of decongesting (what drug company is going to pay for that trial?), it’s a tried and true method. Your grandmother did it, and so did her grandmother.

“In my experience, and in my patients’ experiences, these handed-down remedies work,” says Tracy W. Gaudet, M.D., director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine at Duke University and author of the just-released book The Duke Encyclopedia of New Medicine.

Here, how to treat what’s likely to ail you:

Colds

Tea, honey and lemon concoctions can be very soothing. James A. Duke, former USDA economic botanist and author of The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook, prefers honeysuckle tea, which is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat colds and other viral infections.

Duke also turns to garlic and echinacea to boost his immune system when cold and flu season arrives. They can be taken in capsule form, and the garlic can also be put in food, or eaten whole.

Headaches

The best way to ease a headache is to avoid getting one. How? Get in tune with your body. If you notice you’re so busy you’re “wearing your shoulders as earrings,” schedule a break, Dr. Gaudet suggests. “Take ten minutes, get in a quiet place, and do some relaxation techniques like slow breathing or a body scan — start at the top of your head and intentionally allow every muscle to be relaxed. You can actually reverse a headache if you catch it early enough.”

Squeezing specific acupressure points can also help — there are ones in the tips of all of your fingers just below the nail, or in that fleshy part between your thumb and index finger.

Dry Skin

Slathering yourself head to toe with store-bought creams can only go so far. Plug in your humidifier! Putting moisture into the air where you spend most of your time will keep you from looking like a crocodile. Dr. Gaudet suggests placing some essential oils into the mix for aromatherapy.

Allegeries

The next time any environmental allergies, like hay fever kick in, try stinging nettles instead of an antihistamine. They act just as quickly; Dr. Gaudet swears they work for her. They can be sipped as tea, or put in soups.

If you don’t happen to be growing them in your garden, like Duke does at his Maryland-based Green Farmacy Garden, they can also be bought in pill form. To find a good brand, check out consumerlab.com, an unaffiliated laboratory that tests different botanicals and guides consumers.

Stomach Woes

Ginger heals all bellyaches, from morning sickness to seasickness, but don’t turn to the soda aisle: Conventional ginger ale doesn’t actually have any (or very much) ginger in it! Grate or slice the real deal and steep in hot water for tea, or make a syrup with it and combine with seltzer for a homemade ginger ale that really helps.