Treating wounds

Obviously you need to use common sense measures with wounds – if it is a deep wound, or contains a foreign body then seek medical help.

You can use the diluted lotions or creams to clean the wound, wash out any small debris, slow bleeding, act as a natural antiseptic and promote healing.  If you are using a dressing to cover a wound, then you can use the diluted lotion or cream to dampen the dressing before applying.

There are a number of creams and lotions which can be used to promote healing:

• Calendula - see the blog written by Elaine on this
• Hypericum – can be a lotion (tincture) which must be diluted. It can be used to heal wounds where nerves have also been injured.
• Hypercal (a combination of Hypercium and Calendula). This can be found as a cream or lotion (which must be diluted).
• Ledum – usually found as a lotion (tincture) which must be diliuted. It can be used to treat puncture wounds.
• Graphites – usually found as a cream and can be used to treat thickened skin

However, please never use Arnica cream on broken skin – even if it is bruised. Use Arnica 30/200c tablets to address the bruising. Choose a different cream for healing the wound.

You can also use homeopathic remedies to support healing.  Remember to use Arnica if there is shock and Hypericum if the wound has nerve involvement and Ledum for puncture wounds. If the wound becomes red, swollen and painful then take Hepar Sulph.

Treating impetigo with homeopathy

Impetigo

Impetigo is a very common skin condition which causes sores and blisters and is most commonly found in children. GPs may prescribe no treatment (as it usually resolves within 3 weeks), antibiotic cream or tablets.

It is caused by a bacteria entering the skin through a wound, bite or cut and typically causes raw, blistered skin which weeps and forms honey-coloured crusts.  It is common on the face in the children.

You can try treating it yourself – remember the rule:

• If there is no change within three days of taking the remedy, stop as its not working and you need a different one.
•  If the symptoms clear up – stop taking the remedy. 
• If the symptoms get worse, stop the remedy and wait as it is likely to work over the next 2-3 days.

There are lots of remedies which can help, but here are the top 3.  If you want to try one of these, you can buy these remedies from Helios Homeopathic Pharmacy online.

I have added pictures purely as a guide - these are not the absolutes of what the skin must look like to prescribe these remedies, but do illustrate how the rash/pustules can vary.

Ant-Crud

• Pustules with thick, hard, honey coloured scabs.
• The skin and pustules feel burning
• The skin feels worse for getting warm and also sensitive to cool baths
• The itching is worse when warm, sore when scratched and at night

Arum-t

• The skin rash is scarlet, raw, itching  and bleeding and is in patches on the body
• The skin can peel from around it
• The skin feels better for warmth

Merc

• The pustules become ulcerated with yellowish-brown crusts which leak pus. Alternatively they form spots (vesicles) which weep a honey coloured liquid and can bleed
• The skin is moist, burning and itching and becomes worse from being warm in bed
• The rash starts small and as scattered red spots the size of peas, gradually enlarging in circular shapes and become continuous patches

References

NHS (2012) http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Impetigo/Pages/Introduction.aspx

My coffee addiction

So last month I confessed that I am a bit of coffee addict...

I actually hadn't really realised just how much coffee I was drinking and what effect it was having until i researched the blog. So I have taken my own advice and reduced my coffee intake down to 1 cup of instant coffee (or occasionally real delicious coffee) and then either tea, decaf coffee or water and here's what happened:

• Eat more often. I continue to try to eat 3-4 times a day - although this doesn't always happen.
• Take more exercise. I bought an exercise DVD which I intended to do every day - after all its only for 15 minutes. Hmmm, its amazing how I haven't achieved this! I really did (and do) intend to, but with my increased workload its surprisingly hard to fit in.
• Lose weight to increase your energy. That was helping, until I ate a huge Mothers Day lunch! 
• Sleep well. I am pleased to report that generally speaking my sleep has improved considerably!
• Reduce stress. I am trying to balance my work and home life - like everyone else this has times which are more balanced than others. Its a work in progress,
• Reduce or stop caffeine. I have reduced my coffee (see above)
• Drink less alcohol. I still only drink at weekends and not during the week (generally speaking).
• Drink more water. I continue to be rubbish at this! I have tried buying bottles of fizzy water (as i enjoy that a bit more) which 1 managed to drink 1 of - poor effort by me!

I must say that I feel more energetic, less irritable and stressed and I haven't missed drinking coffee. My next step is to continue trying to force myself to drink water (I just don't feel thirsty) so this becomes more of a habit, and to try to continue to increase my exercise to a couple of times a week to start with.

As Elaine's blogs say, this is about lifestyle change. I think its OK to acknowledge the baby steps we make and then pick the next one to try. In the past I have been terrible for feeling like I have failed and then giving up altogether, but I know that I need to continue trying to adjust my lifestyle and be happy when I manage to make small changes. One step at a time...

Treating Croup

This is an inflammation of the larynx (voice box), trachea (windpipe) and sometimes the bronchi (the air passages between the trachea and the lungs).  It usually affects young children (6m-4yrs) but can occur in older children too.  It is more common during the autumn and winter months.

It can start with cold like symptoms, but is distinctive in its barking cough, difficulty in breathing and/or harsh grating sound when the child breathes in (known as stridor), difficulty swallowing and hoarse voice.

Most cases are mild (and viral) and will resolve themselves.  Common prescribed home care measurers are drinking plenty of fluids to stay well hydrated and some people suggest sitting your child in the bathroom with the shower or bath running and producing a steamy atmosphere (the child doesn’t need to get in the bath or shower, just be able to breathe in the damp air). There is little scientific evidence to support it – but if it helps then why not try it!

We also have 3 fantastic homeopathic remedies to choose from:

Aconite

The first remedy to give at the onset of croup.  The cough is dry, loud and barking, perhaps with loud difficult breathing  and the child is extremely restless and anxious. Give one dose and wait – if the symptoms have not subsided within an hour, then repeat the remedy again.

Spongia

If the child continues to have the barking cough, give Spongia. The cough will be barking and ringing (like a saw cutting through wood) and the breathing hard and harsh. The child wakens from sleep feeling suffocated, scared with a loud and violent cough.

Hepar Sulph

If the child continues with the cough in the morning, but it is more loose and rattling, give Hepar Sulph. A hepar cough is far worse for the slightest bit of cold air, is loose, rattling and croaking with spells of coughing which are suffocative and choking.

I have had personal experience of this with my children as infants – I gave Aconite and within a very short time the cough stopped and my daughter was far happier.  I had to repeat the remedy once more when the cough restarted, but then it stopped and never returned!

My coffee confessions - how I need to change my diet to help tiredness

OK first off I confess I am a coffee user... I know its OK to drink a few cups a day, but there are times when I am flat out at work that I rely on coffee to keep me going way too much.

If I have a hectic day at work - sitting at my computer all day - I tend to only get up to make coffee. I often miss lunch altogether and then find I have a headache, feeling shattered and irritable but without feeling hungry. Coffee can become my substitute diet.

I know its ridiculous - I work in health care so I should know better. In my head I do. But when I am under pressure, it can all go out of the window! I only really notice that I am getting too reliant on coffee when the pressure drops and I find that I wake up with a headache, have a coffee and it goes. This is the wakeup call I need to lower my coffee intake.

Here's what I am going to try (in accordance with NHS guidelines):

• Eat more often. Eat 3 or 4 healthy meals and snacks rather than 1 big meal. No more coffee lunches for me then...
• Take more exercise. Although you can feel too tired to exercise, in the long term it will give you more energy (as well as improving your health and weight). Start gradually and build up over weeks or months to get to the 2.5hrs a week of moderate intensity aerobic exercise it is recommended.  'Davinas 15 mins to fitness' DVD here I come...
• Lose weight to increase your energy. I generally eat well (other than my coffee habit) and so the fitness DVD should help. 
• Sleep well. This I am not great at.  The Royal College of Psychiatrists' advice on getting a good night’s sleep is to go to bed and get up in the morning at the same time everyday; avoid naps through the day, and have a hot bath before bed (as hot as you can bear without scalding you) for at least 20 minutes.
• Reduce stress. Sounds easy but can be tough. You cant control the stresses that life throws at you, but you can control how much time you give to relaxing. Its whatever floats your boat - reading, gardening, walking, reading. Anything that is not related to work (or your children!).
• Reduce or stop caffeine. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends that anyone feeling tired should cut out caffeine. It says the best way to do this is to gradually stop having all caffeine drinks (and that includes coffee and tea and cola drinks) over a three-week period. Try to stay off caffeine completely for a month to see if you feel less tired without it.
  You may find that stopping caffeine gives you headaches. If this happens, cut down more slowly on the amount of caffeine that you drink.  I have started this process by drinking decaff every other coffee or having a cup of tea - I am not a cold drinks person but I will try..
• Drink less alcohol. Although alcohol makes you sleepy, you will sleep less deeply and so wake tired even if you sleep all night. Cut down on alcohol before bedtime. Even as a social, light drinker you should have 2-3 days alcohol free a week to allow you liver to rest and recover.  
• Drink more water. Sometimes you feel tired because you are mildly dehydrated.  Try a glass of water as a pick-me-up. I am not great at this one, but I will try to drink a glass of water rather than a cup of coffee and see if that helps.

Avoid:

• Energy drinks - although they give you a short boost through their high sugar and caffeine mix, its a short lived effect and may then leave you with low mood, raised blood pressure, irritability and weight gain. Not great!
• Vitamin supplements rather than eating well.  There are no shortcuts in life - invest in your health by eating well. I am making an effort to cook more from scratch - its quite relaxing, not as expensive as I had feared and means that I eat better and so do my kids.

Caffeine causes a release of adrenaline which puts your body into a state of alert - its the 'fight or flight' response and is the reason why we feel more alert. However, it also puts a stress on our bodies to be in this adrenaline state unnecessarily.  This can eventually lead to adrenal exhaustion where you have to drink more and more caffeine to get the same lift.  Caffeine is an additive drug - even a low consumption can lead to a 'low' once the caffeine wears off. Consuming too much caffeine leads to poor sleep, irritability, mood swings, depression, tiredness and anxiety. 

OK, I really will reduce my coffee consumption!

How I deal with worrying

There are times in my life where I think I have been the Queen of worrying….  Worrying about finishing my University work, worrying about the future, worrying about my kids, worrying about money – and on the list goes.

I worry that I will let people down – not be good enough at my job, not be a good enough mum, not provide for my family, not be a good partner, forget something important and do something which alters my life for the worse and I can’t change it… It’s a fear of failure for me. Dont get me wrong - it took me some years (and a lot of self-reflection during my training as a homeopath) to realise this.

However I have learnt coping strategies to deal with this beast now – I prepare like there is no tomorrow. I spent hours putting together what I need, checking and rechecking it’s all there.  If it’s for a presentation I practice it so I know what order it flows in.  I am lucky that I don’t suffer badly with a fear of public speaking, so generally I can fly by the seat of my pants if I need to.

However I do have high standards for myself – it’s not being the best out of everyone, its being the best I can be. This sometimes can be my undoing as I then worry that I haven’t done enough – this keeps me awake at night, makes me feel stressed and anxious and back round we go… The vicious cycle sets in and it just feels worse and worse.

The thing I have come to realise is that although it seems overwhelming and unmanageable at the time, it tends to be a short lived (i.e. weeks not years) thing.  I have learnt to try to keep perspective and although I can still wind myself up about it, I have got better about it.

I feel very fortunate to have a few very close friends who I can talk openly to – they listen, make me coffee, give me tissues and a hug.  I feel better for being able to bring my worries into the light – they get smaller and more manageable. It allows me to see ways that I can get some control back, take responsibility over the bits I can change and put into perspective the bits I have no control over.

I actually have on my wall above my desk the first few lines of the serenity prayer – I say it to myself when I find myself getting back into the anxiety/fear of failure cycle… It’s on the bottom of the newsletter and I thoroughly recommend using it!

I know that there are times I just have to be brave - to face what I am worried and scared of (like my previous fear of the dentist) and times to just stay in the moment and wait it out....

Ways to manage some specific fears

The thing about fear and worrying about the fear, is that it depends on how much it affects you. Everyone gets scared and worries, but how far in advance does it cause problems? Does it interfere with your usual functioning? Does it prevent you from doing things? Does it affect your health?

There are some great treatments for specific common fears...

Fear of the dentist

• Choose an acute homeopathic remedy to help your anxiety
• Speak to us for more advice on remedies you can take to deal with dental treatment – like pain following treatment, bruising, healing etc
• Have a look at NHS advice for dental fears

I personally have suffered with fear of the dentist - mine was founded on painful treatment as a teenager which then stopped me going to the dentist for around 10 years. Of course, this then meant that I needed more treatment which made me even more anxious. I was able to reduce my worrying by finding a sympathetic dentist, taking my i-pod (and playing it loudly so I couldnt hear any noise and it distracted me) and from using homepathy.  I dont like going to the dentist, but it no longer creates any symptoms in me.

Fear of flying

• Ask your GP for a referral for CBT to help address your anxiety
• Choose an acute homeopathic remedy to help
• If your anxiety prevents your flying at all, various airlines offer Fear of Flyong courses. These might be worth looking into if it prevents you from taking a fantastic holiday or prevents your career expanding

Again, I'm not a confident flyer but with the use of a good remedy I can fly without any real problems.

Speaking in public
This is a very common social fear and again uses some of the same tactics as above...

• Choose an acute homeopathic remedy
• If your job means you have to speak publicly a lot and it really disrupts your life, try asking for some CBT from your GP
• There are lots of articles online which offer sensible advice - try this one from Psychology Today

Have a look at our personal blogs to see how we both manage this one!

General tips

• Check your diet to see if you can change something to help - some great advice is available on the NHS website here
• Look up Mindfulness on Google - its a technique to help you stay in the moment rather than getting caught up in the 'what if' scenarios