HEADLINE homeopathy

  Do you have memories of just how nauseating an egg sandwich can smell when you're cooped up in a hot car winding down country lanes during the holiday season? Most of us tend to grow out of travel sickness but for those who haven't, here's a run down on useful homeopathic remedies to take before you travel. Bon Voyage!

Cocculus Indicus is the one to take if looking at moving objects or scenery from a car makes you feel worse. Even thinking of food brings on nausea while travelling. There might be a need to lie down if you are on board ship. People needing this remedy feel dizzy and disorientated for a while even after they've got out of the vehicle. They can look a bit like a drunken sailor as they try to walk around.  This is the remedy to think of if someone can feel travel sick on solid ground but are made nauseas just by looking at a ship on the sea or another moving object.

  Petroleum  is another remedy which, quite suitably, combats travel sickness. The smell of petrol fumes at a petrol station will make the sickness worse. Travelling may often bring on diarrhoea in people needing this remedy. They can feel dizzy if they lift up their eyes and can experience an uncomfortable empty feeling in their stomachs.

Homeopathic Masterclass

George Vithoulkas  is one of the most eminent living homeopaths. He teaches  at his academy on the idyllic Greek island of Alonissos.  His insight into remedies is legendary. Can't quite make it to the Aegean this summer for a crash course followed by a lunch at a taverna?  Never mind.  There's quite a bit of George strutting his stuff online.  If you "google" his name, the search engine will come up with  "Video Results for Vithoulkas." Click on this and you will be offered an array of video clips of the great man teaching various remedies. His Greek accent is a bit difficult to decipher at first but it's worth persevering.  And it's all useful for the lay-person.   For instance, there's a good ten minute clip on the remedy Pulsatilla in which he demonstrates the differences between the weeping of a patient needing Pulsatilla and the crying of someone needing Natrum Muriaticum.  There's also a part of a lecture on Arnica which usefully tells you why Arnica doesn't always work for bruising.  (He says Arnica will only work on a bruise if it is actually painful). Other remedy lectures are on Stramonium and Platina.  There's also useful stuff on vaccinations and using homeopathic prophylaxis.  Bring your own Retsina and enjoy!

   Flying Pigs

"I'm passionate about homeopathy," says former tennis player turned TV presenter, Annbel Croft.  In the Daily Mail in June she described how she sings the praises of homeopathy at dinner parties "where I find my audience is one half sceptical and one half increasingly curious."  

.Six years ago, Annabel was suffering from a pain in her left side which was so intense it caused her to faint.  An ultrasound detected an ovarian cyst. Cysts can be tremendously painful if they swell or burst. She decided to visit a local homeopath but left the consultation not expecting a miracle. However, the pain went away.  Now the whole family are converts. Game, set and match to the tiny white balls (and I don't mean tennis ones).

Be Prepared

Paul Herscu, who is an eminent homeopath from New England, has, over the past fifteen years, been studying annual 'flu epidemics.  He is determined that the homeopathic community should be ready to deal with potentially serious influenza pandemics like the one the world suffered in 1918.  The current swine 'flu epidemic, although widespread, seems to be relatively mild for most people. This will not, he thinks, turn out to be the devastating global pandemic that was once feared. 

However, given the potential for a much worse pandemic sometime in the future, he has been working to find a way in which both homeopaths and patients themselves can effectively determine the correct remedy to counteract the 'flu in the midst of a global crisis.  Homeopathy has always enjoyed great success during past epidemics.  In the 1918 Spanish flu' the mortality rate for homeopathic patients was about 1%.  In those treated conventionally it was nearer 60%.  Each 'flu has a genus epidemicus - a key remedy ( or group of remedies) which will combat the illness in most cases. Herscu has been working on a way to test patients to see if the genus epidemicus should be given. He has devised an electronic questionnaire which asks key questions about signs and symptoms .  Fill it in and it will tell you if your symptoms warrant a dose of the key remedy. He thinks this tool would be invaluable in a situation where homeopaths are overwhelmed by cases and where patients have to fall back on their own knowledge. (It is also useful for sick homeopaths; it is very difficult to self-diagnose when you're feeling vile!) Herscu thinks the genus epidemicus for the current swine 'flu might be Nux Vomica.   His questionnaire tests for this remedy.  Key symptoms to indicate Nux Vomica in the current pandemic are severe chills, a burning or raw throat and a cough.  He thinks that the 'flu virus is morphing as it spreads and he is asking homeopaths to send him examples of 'flu cases so that he can collate symptoms and  continue to assess the genus epidemicus. Mexican homeopaths also found Bryonia, Belladonna, Eupatorium Perfolatium, Gelsemium and Arsenicum to be useful during the initial outbreak.  If you would like a copy of Herscu's questionnaire email info@hersculaboratoryflu.org and ask for the Genus Epidemicus Tool.

  Healing Quotes  
  "When I was very small, I remember so well my grandmother having her wonderful leather pouch with all these homeopathic glass phials in it. It was such a feature of my life and as I got older I became more and more aware of the effectiveness of homeopathy .”  HRH Prince Charles.

Tabacum

is the remedy to choose if you experience a deathly nausea combined with an icy cold sweat. Not fun! People needing this remedy may feel better for keeping their eyes closed and, strangely, may feel the need to uncover their abdomen as they says it improves things for them. They feel much worse if they smell tobacco smoke. This is also the remedy to think of if your mouth fills with saliva during nausea.

Colchicum is a remedy made from Meadow Saffron.  Think of using this remedy if the person who is travel sick cannot bear the slightest smell or even the thought of food. The smell of eggs or fish are particularly nauseating to people needing this remedy.  In fact, their sense of smell is so acute, a whiff of most things will set them off. Colicky pains may accompany the nausea.

Nux Vomica is a great standby for all sorts of gastric upsets - travel sickness included. Think of this remedy if someone is having to travel after a spot of over-indulgence in food and wine the night before. They may seem irritable and over-sensitive until you get them safely home.

Sepia is useful for women who experience travel sickness mixed up with hormonal conditions like periods or pregnancy.  They will be very sensitive to smells and will feel better in the open air.  .

Dosage guidance: For travel sickness take one 30C pillule the night before travel and one before you get in the car, boat or plane. Hopefully this will do the trick! Repeat according to need.