Think beyond just Arnica...

My Alphabetized Drawers for Remedies

There are few homeopathic remedies that I keep with me everywhere I go to make sure we are ready for emergencies. If you are like me, Arnica montana is high on the list of must haves but if you are relying only on it, then you are selling homeopathy short. To really be prepared for the injuries that come as a natural part of life, you need to keep Acontium napellus on hand. We no longer have a homeopath covered by insurance and rely on my own reference, so I had not really considered the value of Acontium for injuries and kept it around for fevers until I read more about it in the Wise Traditions Journal. While Joette Calabrese, a homeopath who writes for the Wise Traditions Journal, wrote about it recently in her column in the Summer 2012 issue, she also wrote about it HERE. It is good advice I want to point out to make sure that you and I both keep it in mind to help care for ourselves.

Whereas most of us turn to Arnica immediately, this trained homeopath sees it as a secondary treatment after Acontium. Acontium is perfect for the shocked and confused feeling that accompanies injury and helps to alleviate the pain associated. In the case of her son's sprained ankle discussed in the article, she gave him 200c doses every thirty minutes until he was feeling better and then every hour until the pain was tolerable. In her article linked to above she does make mention that Arnica is useful in controlling pain, even better than morphine, but that the initial injury needs more than this. You need to help control that shock and that is why you should choose Acontium.

Recently my daughter broke her arm and in such a way that she required surgery. I wish I had paid more attention to these articles at that time! I did treat her with homeopathy but did not use Acontium to help control that shaky, distressed feeling that comes with injury and pain (you can read what I did do HERE). What is more is that on Joette's website right now she has helpful information on coping with surgery, see HERE. If you are planning a surgery or in helping a relative or friend recover from one, you might want to pack up some remedies to be ready.

But I was thinking about this remedy when my toddler shut her fingers in a drawer recently. She slammed it shut and her finger had that awful dent in it as well as a bleeding cut. I grabbed the Acontium first and applied to Arnica later, like 30 minutes later. Within a minute, my screaming, shaking and panicked daughter was calm and able to tell me what had happened and while she was not happy, the pain was greatly reduced. The next day her fingers were stiff but there was no bruising and no swelling and she was able to color without any apparent pain. I am so glad that when my oldest daughter reached for the Arnica, I knew to ask her to wait.

If you have young children you should also keep Ledum palustre handy because it is good for insect bites and stings as well as animal bites and puncture wounds, pretty much all injuries that young children are prone to getting. But not just children, in fact this past weekend I was at a church picnic when a friend was stung by a bee. In her mouth. It had made its way into her drink and as she sipped, she was stung. I gave her some and within fifteen minutes her swelling had completely subsided.

If you need more information on assembling your own homeopathic first aid kits, see my post HERE on mine.

What is your favorite remedy and why?

Linking up to Fat Tuesday!