Arnica Montana - First Aid in a Little Blue Bottle

So to continue my stream of consciousness on simple and easy remedies no household should be without, I will now give a brief introduction to the wondrous world of Homeopathy & the amazing remedy, Arnica Montana.

All remedies in their homeopathic form are purely energy medicine. There is no detectable amount of the original material (whether plant, mineral, or animal) left in the final product when we buy it from the store. Rather the energy of the material being used is captured in a base of some kind, usually lactose or sucrose. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Flower essences (i.e. Rescue Remedy) have a somewhat similiar premise. And the beauty of both of these things, is that if it's the right remedy, then it provides healing. If it's not the right remedy, it does nothing, no harm, no side effects, no nothing.

The basic and most important premise of homeopathy is that "like cures like." To understand this in the simplest way, if you were to eat a poisonous plant of some kind, you could in theory take the homeopathic remedy made from the same plant to antidote it. In homeopathy, the more dilute the original herb, the more powerful the remedy gets.

For those of you who have seen those little blue bottles on the endcap of your local natural food store and have seen the numbers 6x, 6c, 12c, 30c, 200c, etc., written on the bottles, the numbers are the dosages. The higher the number, the more dilute, and the more powerful.

Homeopathy has had an incredible history too. Discovered only a few centuries ago, it became a popular alternative to some of the very scary medicine being practiced at the time. People liked the idea of being treated by something that could do no real harm, even if it didn't cure their illness, it wouldn't accidentally kill them either. There were homeopathic institutions and entire hospitals popping up all over Europe and North America throughout the 19th century. Sadly, due sharp criticism by a few influential people, a viable and safe treatment almost died. Luckily, since the 1970's it has made a BIG comeback.

If you'd like information with more more technical type words, and perhaps a bit more history on how this medicine has come to be in present day, please follow the links below...

What is Homeopathy?

Wikipedia's Answer to Homeopathy

These websites can surely answer many of the questions you may have. If you seek even more information I highly recommend buying a few good books, as there are literally hundreds written on the subject.

This leads us to one of the most useful homeopathic remedies available, Arnica Montana. Known as "Arnica", it is like a first aid kit rolled up into a little bottle made of teeny-tiny pills. It truly is the mother of all first-aid remedies. That's why I recommend that everyone should have a little bottle of Arnica in their bag, or car, or medicine chest, hopefully sitting right next to the Rescue Remedy you just bought.

Arnica treats trauma. That's its thing. That's what it does. It's good for every fall, every bruise, every flip over the handle bars of your bike. It helps speed recovery exponentially for sprains, strains, surgeries, and more. Arnica helps lead your body into the healing response it needs.

One of the best examples I can think of in using Arnica is a personal story of mine. I had been using and recommending Arnica for years. But never had I had such a perfect example of how Arnica works as the night I reached into my bag and something sharp (to this day I still don't know what it was) slipped under the nail of my thumb. Oh mah gah. I was tired, it had been a long day, and this was PAINFUL to say the least. I mean it hurt really really bad, and it made me irritable, and 15 minutes later when it was still throbbing and I was kind of feeling nauseous from the thought of something going that far under my nail, suddenly...I remembered Arnica. I carefully searched through my bag, found my trusty bottle and popped 2 pellets under my tongue. Literally, I kid you not, within 5 seconds I felt the pain slowly washing away from my thumb, within 15 seconds it was mostly gone, and within a minute my nerves had calmed and I was totally and utterly in awe. It was the best live-action example I had ever had of medicine I already knew worked. It was life altering, and any of those strange voices, that even I get in my head every once in a while - "is this thing working or am I making this up?" were gone. Any doubt that had ever lingered from our overwhelmingly linear-thinking, scientific minded culture had lifted.

Convinced yet? Hopefully.

Because now I am going to explain how you can actually use it safely at home...

1. There are several brands in the store - I prefer Boiron as it is the most readily available that I have found. It comes in the little blue bottle I keep referring to.
2. Dosage - I recommend having 30C for regular home use. Nothing with a higher number- but all the lower dosages are fine : 6, 12, etc.

So a few strange but good rules to follow when using homeopathics:
3. When getting ready to take a dose, shake the bottle up and down a few times. This activates that energy of the remedy, in the same fashion as when it was produced.
4. Don't touch the pellets. The bottle is designed so that you never have to. Hold the bottle so that the cap faces downwards, twist the cap as many times as you want pellets to come out, and pull the cap off. This way you can toss the pellets directly under your tongue.

5. The bottle will say that you need 5 pellets. You don't. 2 is enough. If you want to take 5, that's fine- it won't hurt you - it just won't work any better than 2, and you'll end up buying more sooner.

6. Toss 2 pellets under your tongue and let dissolve. For children that are too young for this concept, you can dissolve two pellets in a small amount of water (which may take a few minutes with this brand) and then give 1 tsp of that water either from a spoon or a dropper right into their mouth. Dispose of the remaining water.

7. For more serious bruises, strains, sprains, surgeries, childbirth, etc. you can safely take Arnica several times over the first 24 -48 hours. For just a little bump - 1 time can be enough.

****One golden rule of thumb in using homeopathy. The purpose of this medicine is to kick start your own body's healing response. This means once any significant change has been noted- stop taking the remedy. It has sufficiently done its job if your body has begun improving. It is not necessary or even really helpful to continue taking it "just incase" or for that extra little boost one might think the body needs to finish the job. With that said however, if your body hits a healing plateau some time after you've noted a nice bit of improvement, or you have a relapse in the healing process, go ahead and take 1 more dose, it will help bring you back to that pattern of healing you had already begun.

Well, I think that is enough to help begin your new relationship with Arnica. This is now the 2nd wonderful thing you can include in your all- natural First-Aid Kit. More to come...