It’s the final week of November, and only a few more weeks of school. Now is the time to get prepared before school ends, the silly season is upon us, and you can’t get the remedies you need over the Christmas and New Year period.
So let’s talk about some good remedies to have on hand. Here are brief notes on a few remedies you may like to consider having on hand.
Firstly, Sol Australis. The New Zealand sun is harsh, and without protection sun burn happens in minutes. Sol is a remedy I take throughout the day when outside, but can also be used after sun exposure for sun burn. The question I always get is how to take it – you need to do some experimentation. My family have a more olive skin tone, so we take it every 2-3 hours if we are going to be out in the sun all day, how often you need to take it will vary depending on your burn susceptibility.
If you do get sunburnt other remedy you can think of is Belladonna.
With Summer, we tend to be out and about more often, so the first aid remedies are invaluable:
Arnica for injuries, any trauma or bleeding. It is also useful for shock, particularly when they say things like “I’m fine” when they clearly aren’t, and don’t want to be touched. Remember oral only if the skin is broken.
Hypericum is our crush injury remedy, or when there is an injury to areas rich in nerves like fingers, or the tail bone. Pain that shoots along nerves and is intense, and deep wounds, puncture wounds, lacerations, and grazes.
Ledum for bites and puncture wounds – insect bites or other animal including dog bites. Puncture wounds that don’t bleed much – and tetanus risk. The area will be pale, puffy, and cold to touch, and feel better for cold applications. Bites can be itchy and are worse for scratching.
Apis is for bites, stings and allergic reactions. The area will be red, hot and swollen. They can have burning or stinging pains and be intensely itchy, but everything is better for cold applications.
Rhus Tox is useful for strained muscles or tendons, injuries from overdoing it (lifting things that are too heavy). They feel stiff, and will be worse when they start but feel better once they get going, unless they overdo it then they are sore again. Rhus Tox also has skin rashes that are intensely itchy, they may have little fluid filled blisters, or just be red and raised. Unlike Apis, Rhus Tox feels better for heat.
If you are driving a lot the motion sickness remedies may be useful. There are heaps but these are my favourites:
Cocculus – constant nausea, worse for any movement. They are also worse from a lack of sleep and worse from cold. They may have a headache or feel dizzy also.
Pulsatilla is a remedy for travel sickness from driving fast, especially when windy. They are much better riding up front and for fresh air. They may be weepy, clingy or whiny.
Tabacum will be nauseous with retching with every movement. They feel better having their abdomen uncovered.
Ipecac is a remedy for constant nausea, with no relief from vomiting. One strange thing about Ipecac is they have a clean tongue, even straight after vomiting.
The other summer complaint I think of is food poisoning. My most used remedies for this are Arsenicum Album and Podophyllum. Arsenicum is the classic food poisoning with nausea and vomiting, and can have diarrhoea. They can feel quite weak and tired from it. Podophyllum is a remedy for the diarrhoea stage, which is watery and can have abdominal cramps and a sulphurous smell.
For Christmas day overindulgence, and if you are a New Years partier you will probably find Nux Vomica helpful. Too much alcohol, with hangover symptoms like irritability, and nausea (if you could just vomit, you’d feel better, but you can’t!)
Carbo Veg is for eating too much Christmas Lunch and has you feeling bloated and gassy, burping a lot and needing fresh air/ grabbing the closest magazine to fan yourself.
Saccharum Officinale for too much sugar. There can be hyperactivity followed by a crash. They are restless, irritable, capricious and whining. They don’t want to eat a meal, just pick at snacks all day and particularly crave sweet things.
If you would like to order any of these, please pm me and I can send them out so you are all prepared for your summer adventures.