LifeStyle Revolution

Homeopathic First Aid to the Rescue!

Two things scare me. The first is getting hurt. But that's not as scary as the second, which is losing... Lance Armstrong

While slicing carrots the other day, my knife slipped and with it went a nice portion of the pad on my right middle finger. After doing the OUCH dance, washing the wound and applying pressure, it occurred to me that I needed some Calendula--and I needed to blog about Homeopathic FIrst Aid. So here I am, with a well-healed finger, able to type once again!

Homeopathic First Aid is a fantastic introduction to home prescribing. From bumps and bruises to sprained ankles, bee stings and burns, there are Homeopathic remedies that can ease pain, lessen swelling, minimize collateral damage and speed the overall healing process.

In assembling your Homeopathic First Aid Kit, there are a few remedies and tinctures that you don't want to be without:

Arnica is the workhorse of the Homeopathic arsenal. Arnica is the single most important remedy for bruises, contusions, shock and trauma. It is useful in dental procedures, sore muscles, sprains and even for labor and delivery. Arnica is commonly given both before and after surgeries to deal with the shock and trauma as well as to speed the healing process.

Rhus Tox is the most commonly indicated remedy for sprains and strains when there is pain upon initial motion that is relieved by continued motion. (I find that it is very common to start with Arnica for the bruising and swelling and then move on to Rhus Tox when the picture becomes clearer.) Rhus Tox can also be useful for certain skin conditions such as chicken pox, shingles and eczema, however, you'll want to seek further information before routinely giving Rhus Tox in skin affections.

Ledum is useful for deep cuts, puncture wounds and bug bites/stings. When Ledum is needed, the affected area may feel cold and will likely be relieved by a cold application or compress.

Hypericum is indicated for injuries to nerve-rich areas, such as fingers and toes, and for pains that are shooting, sharp, neuralgic or really sensitive to the touch. Think of Hypericum for a toothache with shooting pains or for fingers that get slammed in a car door. Ouch!

For more information about Homeopathic Remedies and how to take them, click on the "About the Remedies" button in the upper right corner of the web page.

Salves, Sprays, Gels, Creams and Tinctures

In addition to remedies that are taken orally, there are creams, salves and gels that can be applied topically. Tinctures are substances that are preserved in alcohol and thus come in a liquid form (as opposed to the remedies which are most commonly seen as little pellets or tablets). Using a tincture typically requires dilution of at least 2:1. For dilutions, I recommend distilled water or water that has been boiled and cooled.

Calendula tincture is absolutely necessary in the home kit. Used topically, Calendula will stop bleeding, reduce inflammation, act against infection and promote the healing of tissue by promoting healthy granulation and rapid healing.

Think of Calendula for skin abrasions (it is the best thing ever for skinned knees and "road rash" from falling off a bike), for cuts, bug bites and burns. It is also fab for canker sores.

It is important to note that you never want to use Calendula on a deep wound as it works so quickly in healing the skin that it can sometimes heal the outside skin before the tissue underneath is completely healed--thus creating a hospitable environment for infection.

For wound cleaning, I use about 10 drops of Calendula tincture in about 3-5 cups of water. Companies such as Hyland's also make a convenient Calendula spray that does the job quite nicely. 

For canker sores, dip a Q-tip into a 2:1 Calendula tincture dilution, apply directly and let the healing begin.

Calendula creams are great for diaper rash and dry skin patches. Weleda is my favorite brand as it uses all natural ingredients and is gentle and non-irritating. Calendula gel is a good choice as a second line of defense (after cleaning with a tincture dilution) for burns, sun burn and abrasions.

Arnica cream and gel work wonders on sore, tired muscles as well as pulls and sprains. These topical solutions are a good choice for when you need a little something but don't need to take a remedy...

Which brings up a very important point:

Homeopathic Remedies are Super Fantastic tools--but not every little scrape, bump and soreness warrants something Super Fantastic. 

In our culture of quick fixes and a-pill-for-everything, it's easy to jump in and give a remedy when it might be better to let the body "exercise its muscles of healing" and wind up stronger in the long run. Have confidence in your body and if you think everything will be just fine... it probably will.

Remedies are available in a variety of over-the-counter potencies. For a home first aid kit I recommend either 12c (if you are new at this) or 30c if you've gotten a little more confident or are working in tandem with a professional Homeopath.

You can find all the remedies I mentioned at health food stores, co-ops and at Whole Foods Markets. And if you are the mother of a small child (or if you are accident prone like me) you may want to get a second tube of Arnica to keep in your purse or in the car.

But this is just the beginning... If you are interested in learning more, I would recommend taking a class and getting a user-friendly book on first aid and home prescribing. There are a number of good books out there and my favorite is: Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines by Stephen Cummings M.D. and Dana Ullman MPH. 

In addition to first aid, the book also addresses common ailments such as sore throats, upset stomachs and allergies. It also provides practical information on how to use remedies and how and when to treat something at home. 

So anyway, what did I do when I lost that bit of finger? I opted for a soak in diluted Calendula tincture, a sterile gauze wrap, and a week without washing dishes.

 

Fresh. Farm. Food. Fantastic.

Holly:You know those days when you get the mean reds?

Paul:The mean reds, you mean like the blues?

Holly:No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Paul:Sure.

Holly:Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!

Tiffany's is good, but the Farmer's Market is that much better. Especially in August.

When there is this much fresh and delicious food it's hard to have the mean reds, blues or purples for that matter.

Last night I had a jones for roasted beet salad with goat cheese and walnuts. My fridge did not comply and as such I had to improvise. Beets? Check. Walnuts? No... OK, pistachios. Goat cheese? Nope, French feta will have to do... and so it goes.

The dish morphed from a side to a main course and became something more exciting and delicious than I could have imagined. Here's the low down:

Beets (red, white, yellow) from the Weaver's Way Co-op Farm got tossed with some olive oil and jumped into a 375 convection oven for about 40 minutes.

Cute little organic red potatoes were cut in half, tossed with olive oil and a little sea salt and roasted on a pan, in the oven, just downstairs from the beets.

Baby bok choi spent some time wilting in a skillet with a lot of slivered garlic, some olive oil and a splash of Tamari.

Tomatoes from MY GARDEN got a drizzle of olive oil and were tossed with a handful of herbs, also from MY GARDEN.

A teeny little red onion became teeny little circles, thinly sliced.

French feta got crumbly.

A small handful of pistachios got chopped and sprinkled.

The artful presentation satisfied my creative side, and a platter full of fresh, organic ingredients nourished my family.

What I loved most about this dish is that it was a bit of a surprise. Raw veggies were livin' it up with cooked veggies, and while each ingredient had its own individual flavor, the compound effect was more than could have been expected.

The lesson? Try something new. Inter-mix and inter-mingle. You might surprise yourself and eat something that makes you smile like Holly Golightly at a swanky party. Or, you might even decide to name your cat something odder than our cat: Emerto-iorama (pronounced with a very strong Italian accent)

Have you eaten your antibiotics today?

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius--and a lot of courage--to move in the opposite direction... Albert Einstein

I have pioneer woman fantasies.

Go ahead, yuck it up... especially if you saw my hair in the 80s, or my shoe collection for that matter... 

But there is something about being able to take care of your own business that really turns me on. Give me an off-the-grid geodesic dome and a pair of back-country skis and just let me be.

My fantasy life follows Arctic explorers like Anne and Liv and homesteaders like the Nearings. I roll a little more House on the Prairie and a lot less American Idol. I am a back-to-the-land geek.

What interests me about these folks is their self-sufficiency, adaptability and resiliency--traits that we are rapidly losing in our over-industrialized society. But as the world moves into a new reality, what is now considered quaint (canning your own food) or radical (using homeopathy) may become a necessity as things start to heat up (global warming reference intended).

Thanks to the end of cheap oil, Americans are finally facing the music about global climate change; yet getting people into action was not easy. Al Gore lectured until he was blue in the face, but until gas hit $4 a gallon, Americans just hopped into their SUVs and went to Walmart.

What will it take to wake people up to what's happening with our health and with the food supply?

Here's a simple thing to think about:

As we Americans go ga-ga over hand sanitizers, antibacterial cleaning products and medications, industrial meat producers are pumping barrels of the stuff into ruminating bovines to keep them from (literally) exploding after being fed a corn diet (for which they are not biologically suited) while packed in rows of their own feces... 

No wonder more than 84% of ALL antibiotics are being used in livestock.

This means that we are eating antibiotics every time we eat industrially-produced meat. Every hamburger, every steak, all the chicken fingers and pork chops and hot dogs, that are not certified otherwise, come with their own dose of antibiotics (not to mention hormones and preservatives). See this link for a very entertaining, and very informative series of short animated films called, "The Meatrix".

The net result is that 14,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections, and the National Academy of Sciences calculates that the increased health care costs associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria exceed at least $4 billion annually. (See this website for more interesting information) And I actually found a statistic that reported nearly 1 in 100 people worldwide is fighting a MRSA infection.

Will this be the "event" that gets us to take action?

And will we have the foresight to admit that the solution doesn't warrant more medicine and chemical cleaners?

Somehow we have forgotten what it is like to eat real food. And we stumble blindly about trying to take care of ourselves when we are not well. We've built huge infrastructures that help us to forget that real cows eat grass and every sniffle doesn't need an antibiotic.

So while we don't need to move into the yurt just yet (although I would if I could!), it is time to start using our pioneering mentality in order to become more self-sufficient and ultimately healthier.

Here are a few of my favorite books to get you thinking:

Country Wisdom and Know-how. Everything You Need to Know to Live off the Land

The Good Life

This Organic Life. Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

The Omnivore's Dilemma

And one more thing: Almost two years ago, The Husband contracted MRSA (very likely from his wetsuit; common in surfers). It was a nasty infection that landed him in the ER where they lanced, drained and packed the affected area. We were trying various Homeopathic remedies to no avail and things were getting scary--especially after hearing horror stories about other surfers who had serious recurrent infections that lasted several months. Finally, we hit on the right Homeopathic remedy and his fever immediately broke, the wound drained (pushing out the dressings and packing from the hospital) and the infection quickly cleared. Just thought I'd mention it...