The Top Ten Natural Care Products–Part 2

As we move through the list of the Top Ten Natural Care Products, it is important to make clear the difference between acute and chronic illness.  Acute illness is an illness that is self limiting.  You either get over it or you die from it.  Fortunately, if we are generally healthy, we live. For most people, having an acute illness actually makes your immune system stronger.  There is another option, which is that your body can’t quite shake it and you develop some type of chronic illness that is related to the acute illness.  For example, getting respiratory influenza and then developing asthma as an outcome. Fortunately, homeopathy can help prevent or mitigate that situation.  A chronic illness is one which goes on and on and on.  The experience of a chronic illness is not to make you stronger.  Rather, the outcome is the body gets weaker.

The remedies and other products included in my list are, in most cases, on the list due to their ability to handle acute situations. They may be injuries or it could be a contagious dis-ease.  Most also have a long term use as well, but those uses won’t be discussed in this series of blogs.

On to the next items:

4.     Bryonia 30C

Bryonia is a homeopathic remedy for pain when the pain is worse from motion and better from being stabilized with an ace bandage or a hand. You can imagine that Bryonia is an excellent remedy in the process of healing an injury. But it also is a good cough remedy, especially if you are experiencing pain with the cough, which is better when you lay on the sore spot, or put your hand on it.   A lot of people think that Arnica is the remedy for over doing it when exercising, but Bryonia frequently is a better choice. Bryonia is better from heat, which is a frequent modality for overuse injuries. It is also better from being alone.  The people who need it tend to be pretty irritable as well.  Fear of motion due to the anticipation of potential pain is also a symptom of Bryonia.

5.    Rhus Tox 30C

Poison Ivy, with the smooth leaves. Leaves of three, let it be.

Rhus Tox is a homeopathic dose of Poison Ivy.  It is for injuries and illnesses that are worse for first motion and better from continued motion. This is in contrast to Bryonia, which is worse from all motion, not just first motion. People who need Rhus Tox are also chilly and are better from heat, often hot water or hot compresses, as opposed to warmth.  It is also a potential remedy for poison ivy, but generally you need several remedies in succession when exposed to poison ivy.

6.    Ledum 30c

Ledum is a homeopathic remedy made from the plant Ledum Palustre.  Ledum is useful for a number of things, but most especially, it is useful for puncture wounds.  Common examples of puncture wounds include biting your tongue, Getting an insect bite (yes, an insect bite is considered a puncture wound in homeopathy!), stepping on something sharp.

Stay tuned for more….

Kathryn

www.lotushomeopathy.com

651-748-1556

Was it the flu or not? Who Cares?

My son got sick last week.  Bless his heart.  He put up with a gym class at the end of the day rather than calling me to come and get him from middle school.

I was intending to bring him to the chiropractor after school, which I did.  I figured it could only help and certainly wouldn’t hurt.

We got home and I gave him a remedy that fit his stomach ache symptoms–Colocynthis.  Stomach cramps.  Better from bending double.  Crabby, irritable, thinks everyone else is stupid.

It helped, but a new symptom developed.  He couldn’t eat without developing a stomach ache.  And he was hungry.  Bummer.  Gave him a different remedy–this time it was Chamomilla. Finally he developed a fever.  He became absolutely freezing for awhile.  This is actually not a bad sign.  It is a signal that the immune system is ramping up and the cytokine’s are present.

At bedtime, I gave him a different remedy because the stomach ache had gone and now he had a headache.  Worse from moving.  Better from putting pressure on his head.  I gave him Bryonia, not only because of the motion symptoms, but also he developed some restlessness.  This meant that he wanted to move to get comfortable, but whenever he moved he felt worse.  This is the picture-perfect paradox of Bryonia.  A dose before bed.  He is 13, so I left him the bottle on his night stand so he could give himself a dose in the middle of the night if he happened to wake up.

The next morning, I let him sleep in.  He had a bit of a headache still in the morning.  I gave him a dose of Bryonia soon after waking.  By noon, he was much better.  Nearly recovered, except for a bit of remaining stomach sensitivity.

He played two basketball games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

What this demonstrates is what we frequently see with homeopathy.  That you don’t always avoid the illness, but homeopathic remedies can help you move through each stage of the illness much more rapidly.  Did he need all those remedies?  Would Bryonia have helped him from the start?  Not likely.  Bryonia isn’t even listed as a remedy for stomach pain helped by bending double.  But the rapid progression through three homeopathic remedy states indicates that he may have been sick for longer, had he not had the remedies.  When  you get the flu or flu-like symptoms, your state can change rapidly and frequently.  It isn’t enough to say take X number of doses of this remedy.  You must pay attention to the symptoms you are experiencing.  Call the homeopath if you aren’t sure what to do next.

Did he have the flu?  I actually don’t really care, nor does it really matter as far as homeopathy is concerned.  The important thing is that his flu-like symptoms were helped and he progressed through the illness rapidly, coming out stronger in the end.

Remedies to Bring Along When You Travel

People ask all the time what remedies they should bring along on a trip.  Obviously, it depends on the time of year, where you are traveling, what you are doing, etc.

The first thing I recommend is that you buy a remedy kit for traveling.  This may or may not be the same kit you keep at home.  If you can have them hand checked, that would be best.  Many people I know replace the kits after they have been through an x-ray machine 8 – 10 times or so.  On the other hand, I have used the same kit for many years and it still works.

Ledum can help puncture wounds, such as you may get from stepping on a sea urchin barb.

Limiting it today to domestic travel, think about what could happen that would really ruin a trip.  Injuries, colds, influenza to start with.  A nice Homeopathy First Aid kit would be handy.  Arnica would naturally be a remedy I would recommend you bring on a trip.  30C and 200C at a minimum.  If you were to sprain an ankle, or sustain some other injury, it could really make a difference.

One remedy you may not think to bring is Ledum.  Ledum is a remedy for puncture wounds.  If you splash in the waves in Hawaii in your bare feet, you may step on a Sea Urchin barb.  The first thing the locals recommend for this situation is to soak your foot in your urine.  If you can’t stand the thought of that, take Ledum 30c, and ice the point of entry.  You will probably have to take several doses of Ledum.  You can take it as needed.  Another handy use for Ledum is if you bite your tongue.  People don’t think that as a particularly burdensome injury, but it can spoil your meals for a few days.  Young children in a crabby mood because they can’t eat could hamper the merriment as well.

Sunny weather often equals sunburn.  Obviously, Sunscreen is the best prevention.  But if you forget to put some one or you miss a spot, there are a few good options.  Calendula creme or ointment can help a mild sunburn applied topically as needed.  If you get a serious sunburn, Causticum or Cantharis could also help.

I recommend that my clients bring along their constitutional remedy in a 30C.  If you feel you are coming down with something, a couple doses of  30C of your constitutional remedy can help ward off a bug.  If you don’t know what your constitutional remedy is, give me a call.

I would also recommend Bryonia and Rhus Tox as well.  They are great injury remedies to follow Arnica.  Bryonia is good for injuries worse from motion.  Rhus Tox can help injuries that are worse on first motion but better on continued motion.

This won’t cover all situations that may arise, but it is a start.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com