That itching. Those vesicles. As the mother of three active boys I knew all too well what they meant. My boys were into the poison ivy again. Maybe your kids, like mine, have recently made the discovery of a little three-leafed plant that left them covered in blisters that itched and spread wherever they scratched.
Conventional medicine treats poison ivy, as it does most rashes, with oral or topical steroids. This removes the rash (a short-term solution) by blocking the body’s immune response. Homeopathic principles dictate that whenever symptoms are suppressed they are not resolved, but rather driven deeper into the body to reappear at a different time and perhaps in a more serious form. Keeping this in mind, I urge moms to treat their family’s itchy summer rash themselves, without harmful steroids.
When treating poison ivy, most people who are familiar with homeopathy automatically think of Rhus tox (the Latin name for poison ivy) because it is the remedy made from the poison ivy plant. Rhus tox is indeed a powerful treatment for poison ivy, but it must fit the symptoms in order to work. Actually, the most common remedy for poison ivy is Anacardium.
Keep the following list of remedies with their identifying features handy and you’ll be prepared whenever someone in your family accidentally comes in contact with this troublesome plant.
Pay special attention to the location of the rash, the type of pustules that form, and the general demeanor and preferences of the person when making your choice. As always, anything that seems peculiar is especially helpful in pointing to the correct remedy.
Remedies:
We can distinguish Crot-t from Anacardium by the presence of yellowish eruptions. In fact, Crot-t is known as the yellow remedy. The pustules can ooze yellowish matter, which then dries to form thick grayish/brownish scabs.
Light pressure ameliorates, but the person feels tight all over his body and mentally inflexible and rigid. Quite frankly, he cannot bear the rash.
Administer the chosen remedy in the 30th potency three to four times a day, reducing the frequency as symptoms improve. If a lower potency like 12X or 6X is all you have on hand, you can use it, but you may have to administer more frequently. If you don’t see even the tiniest bit of improvement after the second or third dose, try the remedy that seems to be the next most likely choice.
Prophylactic use
If you’re one of those people who always seems to get a rash if you’re anywhere near a poison ivy plant, I’ve seen excellent results with the following protocol. Use four doses of Rhus tox 30 in one day at the onset of the season to help minimize the intensity of the exposure. This is done one day a week for a month.
So although the suffering from this plant is noteworthy, the solution is always near at hand.
Is there anything more inviting than the smell of baking bread? Freshly-baked bread spread with rich butter seems like one of the most wholesome things we could feed our families until we read about the problems associated with gluten, refined flours, or unsoaked grains. Perhaps, like I was, you’re confused by all the conflicting messages you’ve heard about whole grains. Let me explain to you what I’ve learned from the nutritional research of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Sally Fallon’s marvelous cookbook Nourishing Traditions.
Let’s first tackle the subject of gluten, a protein found in many grains. Wheat, rye, barley, and oats all contain gluten, wild rice, millet, and buckwheat do not. Gluten can be difficult for some people to digest, leading to annoyances like flatulence, bloating, and intestinal discomfort. More seriously, those with Celiac disease have a severe gluten allergy that causes intestinal tract damage and nutritional deficiencies.
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I often encourage my clients to go gluten-free for at least a period of time to see whether the absence of this protein in their diets leads to physical improvement. Plus I’ve collected so many yummy gluten-free recipes! However, this doesn’t mean that I believe everyone needs to completely avoid wheat or rye products. In fact, those with gluten sensitivities may actually be able to tolerate some gluten-containing grains with proper preparation. One to try is spelt, an ancient member of the wheat family that may be easier to digest than modern varieties. The great thing about spelt is that it can usually be substituted for whole-wheat flour in recipes with similar results.
Maybe you’ve heard about soaking or sprouting grains before cooking, but are confused about why the process is beneficial. All grains contain some amount of phytic acid, an antinutrient that blocks the absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium in the intestines. Soaking flour or grains for at least seven hours in acidified water or cultured milk products like buttermilk or yogurt allows the enzyme phytase to begin breaking down phytic acid, neutralizing this potentially harmful compound and actually increasing nutrient availability. You can think of soaking as a type of predigestion. In fact, because gluten is partially broken down during soaking, soaked grains are generally more digestible for those with gluten sensitivity. You’ll find lots of great recipes using soaked grains in Nourishing Traditions.
Allow me to share one more delicious tip for making whole grains more digestible: eat your bread with a spread of raw honey. The pollen in raw honey contributes an enzyme called amylase (also found in saliva) that helps break down starch into sugar. In effect, you’re initiating the digestion process before you even start eating. How’s that for an easy –to-follow health suggestion?
Make it your goal to avoid commercial bread products, even those touted as healthy whole-grain options. They contain flours that have been stripped of their naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals then fortified with synthetic versions. If you love white bread, experiment with recipes using soaked whole wheat flour. The soaking process softens the wheat so much that it yields results very similar to refined white flour. If your schedule is such that bread making isn’t possible, look for artisan sourdough bread made with whole-grain flour. Fermenting also allows for the breakdown of phytic acid before consumption.
Then tear a piece of hearty bread and top it with a big chunk of cold raw butter. ‘Nothing like it!
In case you missed my free webinar, The Five Most Common Mistakes Parents Make in Their Children’s Health, I wanted to share an excerpt from the section on croup.
Croup is a respiratory infection accompanied by a harsh, barking cough. Most common in very young children, croup frightens parents because it sounds as if the child can’t catch his breath. This viral infection leads to swelling that constricts the respiratory passages causing very loud breathing sounds. Croup should be carefully watched, and emergency care sought if breathing is too labored, but a parent armed with a little homeopathic know-how and common horse sense can successfully treat croup at home.
First, bring your child into the bathroom and place him next to the running shower where he will be exposed to the steam. You should see a modicum of improvement in his breathing after half an hour or so of being exposed to this warm, moist air. The breathing passages will relax and the cough will diminish.
Next, select the best fit from the following three homeopathic remedies.
When choosing croup remedies, our main focus is time.
• If the cough begins just after midnight and your little one is fearful, then the remedy is Aconitum 30. As always, Aconitum is most useful at the beginning stages of an illness and for symptoms that come on suddenly. So if your child has had croup for over 24 hours, it’s unlikely that Aconitum will be of value.
• If instead, it’s closer to 2 AM or the cough sounds like a saw grinding through wood, then use Spongia 30. Cold drinks and talking make the cough worse when Spongia is the correct remedy.
• A croup cough that begins at 3 AM generally calls for Hepar sulph 30. The child is irritable and the cough rattling. Coldness and drafts make the cough worse.
Choose one of the above remedies and administer it every 30 minutes if the cough is severe and every 2 hours if it’s a milder version. As soon as improvement ensues, stop the remedy. One of the clearest signs that the baby is improving is if he falls asleep. If on waking the cough returns, continue treatment.
There you have it! You’ve just learned how to treat a cough that has frightened parents and baffled emergency room personnel for years. In just 3 minutes, you’ve become a mini expert. You can treat your child’s croup yourself.
_________________________________________________________________
Do you wish you could be the healer in your family? I know what it’s like. As a mom and homeopath, I’ve distilled my techniques into a system that will teach you how to take care of your family via homeopathy, common horse sense and just the right measure of nutrition. It’s called “How to Raise a Drug Free Family” and I teach you my methods, tips and tricks designed for mothers and others all wrapped up into one system. I promise you’ll love what you’ll be able to accomplish with this information.
http://homeopathyworks.net/offers/drugfree.html
Here’s a little exchange I had recently with a reader via our facebook site. I think it’s a helpful illustration of the safety of homeopathic remedies.
Q: Based on what I learned from your webinar, I recently used Chamomilla with great success on my grandson. My daughter was curious about the remedy so she looked it up on the internet. She read that Chamomilla is a blood thinner. Should we be concerned by this?
A: What your daughter likely found on the internet was information regarding chamomile, the herb. Homeopathic remedies can be made from herbs but utilize a special process that renders the original substance relatively safe. The potency or dilution process as well as the frequency of dosing is what determines the safety. When used in the common potencies such as 30x or 30c (available at health food stores and in our office) and when used as directed, homeopathic remedies are one of the safest forms of medicine on the market. The unique dilution process eliminates toxicity and brings forth the curative aspect of the original substance from which it's made. There is nothing in these 30th potencies that should cause any concern as long as they are used according to the directions.
Further, Chamomilla acts as a blood thinner only in those whose blood needs thinning. In the same way, it will only work for teething problems when teething problems are present. Remedies don’t force a pathology like drugs. They simply stimulate the body’s ability to make things right.
Remedies are prepared from benign as well as noxious substances. During the dilution and succession process, the toxicity is actually reversed and the substance becomes restorative. For example, if exposure to poison ivy causes a painful rash, poison ivy made into a homeopathically prepared remedy can help someone suffering with the same symptoms. Hence it would be considered for chicken pox.
Chemically speaking, once we move past a 12C dilution, there is only a nano amount of the original substance that remains in the remedy. Even if we begin with something toxic like poison ivy, once diluted and potentized, its toxicity is eliminated. That is the great mystery of chemistry.
In all of homeopathy’s 200-plus years of medical history, not a single remedy (all of which are regulated by the FDA, by the way) has been taken off the market. I’ll bet the drug companies wish they could say that!
Be bold in taking charge of your family’s health, but rest assured that homeopathic remedies are safe when administered properly. If you are already using homeopathy at home, you’re on the right track. I encourage you to take advantage of the resources we offer at homeopathyworks.net to help you develop confidence in your ability to treat the illness that are bound to come your way. Yearn to learn.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a parent, is there anything more frightening than a young child with a high fever? Even those of us who have decided to raise our children without the use of drugs could find our resolve weakening without proper preparation in the face of a thermometer reading north of 103⁰. Before you grab the Tylenol, take the time to memorize these three fever remedies.
This is the whole point of my recently introduced system How to Raise a Drug Free Family. We owe it to our families to learn this stuff now, before the fever hits or the flu appears.
Here’s my easy to remember ABC guide to treating fevers with homeopathy:
A) Aconitum 30: This remedy is useful for a fever with quick onset. In contrast to an illness that develops over several days, fevers that can be helped with Aconitum are suddenly high. However, if you don’t catch the fever within the first 12 hours of illness, don’t bother with this remedy. It won’t be the correct choice at that point.
B) Belladonna 30: If the fever is very high, think Belladonna. The child’s face might be flushed bright red from the heat and his eyes may be glassy with dilated pupils. He may even appear delirious.
C) Chamomilla 30: Chamomilla is an extremely useful remedy for fevers accompanying teething. The child who needs Chamomilla is fractious, unable to be comforted, and irritable. He may beg to be picked up, but then demand to be put down again. If you see a child arching his back in frustration while being held, this is a good indication that Chamomilla is the remedy required.
Give a dose of your chosen remedy every 3 hours up to 4 doses and stop as soon as there’s improvement. If your child falls asleep, that’s a great sign that you’ve probably selected the proper remedy. If the fever has returned when he awakens, then continue using that same remedy.
If you’ve selected correctly, you’ll witness a thing of beauty. Remember, we’re really not treating a fever; we’re just using the characteristics of it to help us determine the remedy that needs to be used to treat the child as a whole.
The fever will inadvertently melt away, but more importantly, the child will be well—most noticeably in his demeanor. If you don’t see this occur, then you've chosen incorrectly or not used the correct procedure because homeopathy ALWAYS works when the remedy is right on. There you have it! Now you’re a fever expert.
Just a gentle reminder that if you find this kind of information useful , then consider studying with a select group of mothers and others in my year long system; How to Raise a Drug Free Family. I promise you’ll love what you and your family will get out of this.
http://homeopathyworks.net/offers/drugfree.htm
Thanks to each of you who joined me on my first, free webinar called, “The 5 Most Common Mistakes Parents Make in Their Children’s Health.” We had a great turnout and I hope that many mothers (and others!) are encouraged to give homeopathy a try in their own homes.
In case you weren’t able to attend, I’d like to share some easy remedy suggestions that you can administer for popular pathologies, instead of resorting to over-the-counter meds, antibiotics and all the other drugs that you’re advised by the medical establishment to use.
THIS is how you set your purpose into motion. This is how you reclaim your God-given right to take care of your children.
This is how you can easily create a home setting where you’ll be prepared for anything. Don’t wait until it happens; learn this stuff now.
With the right tools, you’ll be well prepared for the typical illnesses that most families face.
Homeopathic remedies are the best tools we have; you and your family deserve nothing less!
If you’d like to learn more about raising your family without drugs, consider joining me and other moms throughout the world for my first, year-long webinar course, “The How to Raise a Drug Free Family System.” Check out more details here!
Photo courtesy of www.wopular.com
I can’t imagine what my life would be like without homeopathy. It has changed my life, and the lives of my entire family, too.
Years ago, I thought antibiotics were appropriate simply because my doctor said they were. I fell for immunotherapy and my allergies were driven to a deeper, more entrenched state. I firmly believed the falsehood that drugs, meds and medicaments were irrefutably valuable.
To think of the poor choices I made all of those years irritates me to this day. But, instead of getting caught up with my mistakes, let me share with you how I overcame them.
(By the way, if you’ve made similar blunders, you can overcome them, too!)
Instead of using drugs, my foremost medicines have long been homeopathy and nutrient dense foods. Thanks to this bold resolution, my family and I took a colossal leap into robust health. And we’ve never turned back.
I never doled out a single drug to my family; not a Tylenol capsule, not a spoonful of Benadryl and no antibiotics.
Zip, nada, zilch!
Does this sound impossible?
Well, it would be impossible without the correct tools, knowledge and motivation.
That’s why I have organized a FREE webinar called The 5 Most Common Mistakes Parents Make in Their Children’s Health.
Over the years, my clients and students have shared with me their mistakes and I’ve noted what the most popular errors have been. Many of them are made repeatedly by both parents and grandparents alike.
Some of these 5 blunders are grave, but others are minor.
Recognizing our mistakes is one thing – correcting them is another.
How did I correct my blunders? By using intelligent methods coupled with pig-headed determination.
And that’s what you can use, too. A knowledgeable mom can aptly deal with much of what faces her family’s health. There are methods you can employ today that will help you safely uproot illness instead of just covering it up with drugs. It takes perseverance and persistence, but really, what is more important than the health of our families?
I know you have the motivation already, so let me provide you with the correct tools and knowledge that took me decades to “get”.
I’ll get you started with my Free Webinar, The 5 Most Common Mistakes Parents Make in Their Children’s Health this Tuesday, April 10 at 8PM EST.
Let’s right the wrongs together.
I hope to see you there!
Note: If you can’t make my webinar, sign up anyway and you’ll receive instructions on how to hear/view the webinar later.
I designed it especially to provide a framework to guide you through your remedy choices. It is perfect for busy mothers and others who love curing their families themselves.
Deal with the flu without drugs and expensive commercial products.
The easiest, safest and most inexpensive way to treat your whole family.
Learn to choose the correct homeopathic remedy to give on the way to the emergency room or better yet,
avoid the trip altogether.
Homeopathy is inexpensive, non-invasive and profoundly curative.
Boost and maintain optimum health with simple foods, instead of vitamin pills.
New To Homeopathy?Quickstart Guide Contact
|
ServicesHomeopathic Consultations Shop |
Online CoursesTreating Chronic Illness |
ResourcesBlog Legal |
| Joette is not a physician and the relationship between Joette and her clients is not of prescriber and patient, but as educator and client. It is fully the client's choice whether or not to take advantage of the information Joette presents. Homeopathy doesn't "treat" an illness; it addresses the entire person as a matter of wholeness that is an educational process, not a medical one. In order to be treated or diagnosed, Joette believes that the advice of a holistic physician is in order. Disclaimer: Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated. 2009-2023 © Joette Calabrese – Practical Homeopathy® - HomeopathyWorks® - Health and Wellness
|
|||
