At about 2am this morning, Hannah woke up suddenly with fever, a stuffy nose that is dry, and a confusion that was scary to me. I think it was the high fever, exactly like the one Audrey had last weekend. (I'm disinfecting my entire house today. Yes.)
Today, I pulled out my trusty Family Guide to Homeopathy. I looked under colds, and here was an amazing entry:
If the nose is stuffed up and dry: sambucus nigra (all homeopathics have latin names).
Then I looked up this particular remedy.
Sambucus Nigra
Base Substance: black elder (which I was already giving her in tincture form)
Characteristic signs and symptoms: Child who wake suddenly at night with congestion, stridor, cough, and a great deal of perspiration.
Main clinical uses: Laryngeal stridor or false croup; coryza
Now, I haven't look up all those weird terms, but the part I do understand is exactly the problem. Now, if only I happened to have some sambucus nigra on hand...
Here's the homeopathic shpeal.
Homeopathics says "like cures like." It is the tiniest imaginable amount of something that would cause the same symptoms as the symptoms you're having. In fact, the smaller the amount of substance, the more powerful the dose is considered. The substance calls your body's attention to the problem, and your body fixes it. Since it's such a tiny amount, it's safe for pregnant women and tiny children. As dangerous as they have recently proven cold and flu medications to be to children, I don't even attempt using them. But with homeopathics, I have a way to help the kids feel better. They really do make a difference. Homeopathic doctors practice all over the world, and many people in Europe see them rather than medical doctors. Only in the U.S. are they labeled quacks, as far as I can tell.
The hardest/most important part is to find the right remedy. Strong flavors can also knock out the effectiveness of homeopathics (mint toothpaste, spicy foods, etc.) I highly recommend that book though. I use it all the time.
Questions? Homeopathic medicine stories?
Fizzy Apple Cider Switchel (VAD)
2 weeks ago
well for me it is all so foreign, so I think I am always leery of what I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteI have given the kids homeopathic teething tabs and sleeping tabs. But beyond that...it just makes me all so nervous.
I'm willing to try stuff on myself, but with my kids...not so much.
I think it's a good idea not to give your kids stuff you don't understand. But you could definitely try it on yourself. I think that's a good way to begin to understand what remedies to use. Is it a kali bichromicum stuffy nose, or a allium cepa runny nose? You know, stuff like that. :) Ha!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteI've been giving the girls things here and there, (like pulsatilla?) for their runny nose and pink eye out breaks.
Pulsatilla is another good one. As a general rule, Alium Cepa is for clear runny noses with sneezing. Pulsatilla is yellow-green runny noses with or without ear infections or eye infections. Kali Bichromicum is for green noses that crust on the inside of the nose. You have to pay attention to which kind of problem you are working with, and many times it changes, especially once you give the right remedy. So, there ya go.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle is an ND (a doctor of naturopathy) and he told me this about homeopathy; you can pretty much never overdose on a homeopathic remedy and there are absolutely no side effects, unless you don't dose it correctly and it's just ineffective.
ReplyDeleteBecause they are so gentle and completely natural, I never hesitate to give them to my kids. I"ve had great results with everything I"ve used.
The hardest part of using them is the dosing- you have to do small, frequent doses, separate from food or other supplements, herbs, etc. That kind of thing is sometimes very difficult to do with kids.
Oh, sorry Sara- I just realized I"m kind of writing this comment directed to Christina who commented at the top of the page! I guess you probably know all of this already! Oh well, I"ll just leave this in case she checks back in...