My rule of thumb is to assess my symptoms or the patient’s symptoms and make my decision accordingly. How high is the fever? How bad was the fall? How intense is the sore throat? Unless the patient’s condition is critical enough to warrant immediate medical attention, I turn to the Remedy Box. If I notice obvious improvement after I administer the remedy, I might wait to call the doctor. But if after a few hours or a day, the symptoms worsen, I call. In the case of a mucousy cold, for example, if there is improvement yet the cold lingers for two or three weeks, I throw in the towel and schedule an appointment with an M.D. If antibiotics are prescribed, I take them. Common sense is the key. Again, there are times when an illness requires the attention of a qualified health care practitioner. Martyrdom serves no purpose in any discipline.
• CHAPTER TWO •
What Are My Remedy Choices?
FOLK MEDICINE
Folk medicine is not based on modem scientific methods. It is healing information passed down from generation to generation. Most remedies are cultural, adapted by people from a particular region or country where the substance necessary for the cure was plentiful. Also a culture's mores dictate the type of folk remedies that exist. The wise man or woman, or medicine man or woman, of the community held the secret cure. Most likely the people who derived these remedies did not know the chemical compounds within the substance that produced the cure. The cure just worked. That was enough science.
Primitive man probably became aware of the medicinal properties of various plants and vegetables by simply observing his environment. In his book, The Herb Bible, Earl Mindell states that “the practice of herbal medicine may predate the human race. Animal behaviorists have observed that many animals instinctively seek specific plants when they are sick.” Perhaps an injured fox rubbed its wound on a particular plant and primitive man mimicked the fox.
The folk remedies included in the Remedy Box use ingredients that are easy to find, for example, cranberries, basil, and honey, and easy to administer, for example, teas, compresses, and creams. I've included Western herbs in the folk remedy category. Although East and West may use the same herb, Eastern herbology ascribes more complex properties to each herb according to the specific Eastern philosophy.
HOMEOPATHY
Modem homeopathy was developed by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, in the 1800's. In 1810, Dr. Hahnemann published the Organon of Medicine, the philosophy and principles of homeopathy, and presented it to the medical profession. Homeopathy is formulated on the principle that “like is cured by like”—the Law of Similars. Scholars discovered that Hindu sages in the tenth century knew this law, as did Hippocrates in 400 b.c.
The Law of Similars states that a substance that will produce symptoms when given to a healthy person will cure those same symptoms when they are found in a sick person. For example, when we peel an onion, our eyes sting and start to tear and our nose runs: therefore we may use the homeopathic remedy, allium cepa., which is a homeopathically prepared onion, to treat these same symptoms in a person suffering from hay fever. Homeopathists believe that the symptom a person is experiencing is not the disease itself but the body’s signal that something is wrong. A homeopath takes into account the patient’s symptoms, emotional condition, and health history and uses this information to serve as a guide to, as Dana Ullman, co-author of Homeopathic Medicine explains, “the medicine that can best stimulate the person’s defenses.”
For the purposes of the Remedy Box, the remedies are listed according to symptom pictures, which are precise descriptions of the illness and corresponding remedy. These descriptions are used to treat illnesses symptomatically according to the Law of Similars. If further constitutional healing is necessary, contact a licensed homeopath.
The actual homeopathic remedy is derived from a minute dose of a plant, animal, or mineral substance. Dr. Hahnemann developed a process called potentization which, as Dana Ullman explains, “is a method of diluting substances that kept the toxic properties at a minimum while the potential to cure was magnified.”
CHINESE HERBAL REMEDIES
Chinese medicine differs from Western medicine by focusing on the body’s meridians, or connecting systems, and by viewing the body as a whole. The science of herbal medicine, which has been practiced in China for centuries, is based on sustaining or creating harmony within the patient by retaining the natural flow of “chi” or “qi”(pronounced chee)—vital energy—throughout each meridian.
Each herbal remedy is designed to return harmony to the diseased organ or unbalanced meridian. Every herb contains unique “hot” or “cold” as well as yin/yang properties designated to address a particular organ or meridian. The herbal medicine works through the bloodstream as well as the meridian. All of nature is utilized in the herbal formulas. Daniel P. Reid, in his book, Chinese Herbal Medicine, states that the discipline embraces “all the domains of nature—earth and sea, season and weather, plant and animals—and all the elements that constitute the universe.”
Chinese herbal medicine is a complex and fascinating subject too large to be explored here in depth. I have included basic herbal remedies according to symptom in the Remedy Box. As always, I encourage professional assistance.
•CHAPTER THREE •
Now What Do I Do
With The Remedy Box?
Let us say I wake up in the middle of the night feeling nauseated. The first thing I do is pick up the Remedy Box, which I remember I’ve left on the kitchen counter. I locate the heading STOMACH PROBLEMS and thumb through the cards until I find the one labeled “Nausea.” When I turn it over, I will find three categories listed—folk, homeopathic, and Chinese herbal—and can choose from peppermint tea, Nux Vomica or Ipecacuanha, or Pill Curing. I’ll try one remedy. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try another. For me, it’s always a case of what I have on hand.
Or when my son comes in screaming because he has fallen off his skateboard, and I see” blood oozing out of a gash on his leg, after a momentary panic, I’ll remember the Remedy Box. I’ll check behind the tab FIRST AID and immediately have three courses of treatment. My anxiety will fade, and I’ll be in control of the situation.
APPLICATIONS AND DOSAGES
FOLK REMEDIES
The dosages and means of administering the folk medicines referred to in the Remedy Box are explained on the individual Remedy Cards. Please consult with a qualified herbalist and your pediatrician regarding herbal remedies for young children.
HOMEOPATHICS
There are a few simple rules to follow when administering homeopathics:
1. Do not touch tablets with your hands. Tap or shake out the correct number of tablets from the bottle into the bottle cap. Open the mouth wide, lift up the tongue, and drop tablets under the tongue. Close the mouth and let the tablets dissolve. If they are hard tablets, after a few minutes chew and swallow. The homeopathic, medicine is absorbed most easily through the mucous membranes, and the mouth is the most obvious and convenient.
2. Do not wash down with water.