Sweet dreams 3

   Some more homeopathic treatments for sleep, based on these three, separate aspects of your sleep problem:

1. The symptoms of your sleep problem – is it that you can’t get to sleep? or that you wake up in the night? or that you can’t wake up in the morning? And along with this, any symptoms that you are aware of that go with your sleep problem – constant thoughts running through your head, over-heating, pains, headaches, etc.
2. What is causing your sleep problem?  Anxiety about work?  Family problems?  Too much excitement?
3. How are you feeling, generally, since you started having the sleep problem?  Have you become more irritable, or weepy, or anxious?

Arsenicum

1. Symptoms  You feel constantly drowsy and yawn frequently yet at night you are sleepless, agitated and constantly tossing and turning.  You sleep lightly with lots of anxious dreams.
2. Cause  Strong emotions, anxiety, grief or fright.
3. Feeling  You may feel anxious and restless, indecisive or angry.

Lachesis

1. Symptoms  You may feel extremely drowsy during the day – particularly after a meal and find yourself lively and wide awake in the evening and find it difficult to sleep before midnight.  You are woken by getting hot, or with a headache or a cough.
2. Cause  Injuries, sun, warm weather, anger.
3. Feeling  You may feel anxious and uneasy or discouraged and easily moved to tears.

Rhus Tox

1. Symptoms  You may have a strong urge to sleep during the day and also in the morning in bed.  You may yawn a lot while stretching your body and your sleep is very restless with vivid dreams of the business of the day.
2. Cause  Cold, over-exertion, anger.
3. Feeling  You may feel helpless and despondent or irritable and ill-humoured.

Again, if you think your sleeping difficulty matches any of the above, you could try taking that remedy and see if it helps.  These are common remedies that you can get from health food shops and some chemists.  Get the remedy with a 30 after the name and take them as prescribed on the bottle.

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Sweet dreams 2

   So, how do you decide which of the many homeopathic treatments for sleep is the right one for you?  Well, you need to identify three, separate aspects of your sleep problem:

1. The symptoms of your sleep problem – is it that you can’t get to sleep? or that you wake up in the night? or that you can’t wake up in the morning? And along with this, any symptoms that you are aware of that go with your sleep problem – constant thoughts running through your head, over-heating, pains, headaches, etc.
2. What is causing your sleep problem?  Anxiety about work?  Family problems?  Too much excitement?
3. How are you feeling, generally, since you started having the sleep problem?  Have you become more irritable, or weepy, or anxious?

Here are three homeopathic remedies considered from the points above.

Nux Vomica

1. Symptoms  You can’t get to sleep easily despite feeling tired.  You wake around 3.00 am and can’t get back to sleep.  You maybe drift off into a deep sleep just before the alarm goes off and wake up feeling tense and exhausted.
2. Cause  Overwork, mental strain, too much caffeine, lack of exercise.
3. Feeling  You may feel tense and irritable, impatient, easily offended, angry over small things.

Gelsemium

1. Symptoms  You feel dull and sleepy, but can’t sleep.
2. Cause  Anticipatory anxiety (interview, exam nerves, fear of public speaking etc).
3. Feeling  You feel dull and confused, anxious and trembly and you can’t seem to gather your thoughts.

Coffea

1. Symptoms You have difficulty in getting to sleep because of an over-active mind, you just can’t switch off and when you finally do, your sleep is light and full of vivid dreams.
2. Cause  Over-excitement or too much caffeine.
3. Feeling  Despite your lack of sleep you may be feeling really cheerful and your mind may be racing with thoughts and ideas.

If you think your sleeping difficulty matches any of the above, you could try taking that remedy and see if it helps.  These are common remedies that you can get from health food shops and some chemists.  Get the remedy with a 30 after the name and take them as prescribed on the bottle.

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Sweet dreams are made of this …

   Did you know that about one in five people have some difficulty with sleeping?  And it’s easy to imagine that one person’s difficulty with sleeping is pretty much the same as another’s.  In fact, sleep problems are about as wide and varied as people themselves.  For example, some people have difficulty getting to sleep, others have difficulty staying asleep, some sleep walk or talk, still others get woken by nightmares.

Homeopathy has around one hundred and fifty different medicines for sleep problems and the job of the homeopath is to find the right remedy for the specific type of sleeping problem any individual has.

Over the next couple of posts, I will be giving you the details of a few different homeopathic medicines that may help your personal sleeping problem.  In the meantime, here are a few tips and hints on how to maximise your chances of getting a good night’s rest.

1. Plan on a minimum of eight hours sleep.
2. Decide on a reasonable time to go to sleep and stick to it – even on weekends.
3. Go to bed when you begin to feel tired, rather than missing the moment and getting a “second wind”.
4. Make sure your bedroom isn’t too hot or too cold, has a good supply of fresh air and isn’t too noisy (wear earplugs if it is).
5. Avoid caffeine in any form (coffee, tea, cola, chocolate) after midday – or altogether if you know you are sensitive to it.
6. Eat your evening meal at least three hours before going to bed.
7. Don’t watch television in bed.
8. Don’t take work to bed with you – make sure your bedroom is a haven where you go to relax, rest and sleep.
9. Take a book (not too exciting and not work-related) to bed or listen to music for half an hour or so, until you feel sleepy.
10. Run through your day backwards, starting with the present – many people find they fall asleep before they reach morning!

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“Homeopathy works for chronic infections”

Adriana says ” On that first encounter with Homeopathy, I had the opportunity to break up with the chronic use of antibiotics, the worsening of symptoms and general decrease of wellbeing, and my condition not only disappeared but also my whole approach to health changed. I have used homeopathy since to treat other conditions and I have been free of antibiotics and other pharmaceutical drugs for many years now. When I need to treat any conditions, I know homeopathic remedies support my self healing capacity and I become healthier each time.”

This is just one of many videos posted on You Tube by people who have experienced the benefits of homeopathy first hand – why not take a look at some others.

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Ooops, didn’t realise that was hot!

    A while ago I burnt my finger … really badly.  Jump up and down badly.  It reeeeally hurt.

Fortunately, I am an alternative healthcare practitioner and I knew what to do so within ten minutes the reeeeally bad hurt was down to a slight sting and within half an hour only hurt badly if I pressed it.  (Why do we do that?  We do though don’t we, have to press something that isn’t hurting to findout if it hurts if we press it.  Must be some primal instinct or something because it certainly doesn’t make logical sense.)

The next day it still hurt when I pressed it but it hurt less and there was a shiny pink part of my finger that told me where the damage had been done.  After about a week, I went swimming and that skin raised up and later sloughed off revealing healthy looking pink skin underneath.  Another week on and I couldn’t have told you where the burn was.  Our bodies are amazing aren’t they?

Because that’s the thing, my body would have done that on it’s own without any intervention … eventually … and maybe leaving a little scarring.  With a bit of help though, problem solved in optimal time and no scarring.

So how did I do it?  Two things.  Firstly lavender oil.  If you don’t have any in your house, purchase some now!  Lavender oil is wonderful stuff and is, in my experience, not just the best but the ONLY thing for burns.  Yes, I have found it to be more effective than aloe products, calendula creams or any other proprietory product you may have applied to a burn in the past.  Certainly better than cold water.  As soon as you are aware you have burnt yourself, apply neat lavender oil straight onto the burn immediately.  If you leave it, it will still work but may not be as totally effective.

Step two, take a homeopathic remedy.  There are three main homeopathic remedies that may be useful for burns – calendula, cantharis and causticum.  Calendula (made from marigolds) is good for minor burns; cantharis (made from Spanish Fly) is good for more serious burns and causticum (made from Potassium Hydrate) for very serious burns.

Calendula and Cantharis are available in the homeopathic remedy kits that can be bought from Ainsworths and Helios.  I have these kits at home and so my second step was to take cantharis because it was not, in my opinion, a minor burn!

Repeat the lavender oil and the homeopathic remedy of choice when you experience pain and that’s it.  Just leave the rest to your fabulous body.

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Leaving on a jet plane?

     And don’t want to arrive feeling utterly dreadful?  Well, here’s a tip – try some arnica and cocculus.

Arnica is very good for shocks of any sort and so helps the body to adjust to the shock to the system from travel.  It is also good for helping with sleep and generally aiding the body to recuperate.

Cocculus helps the body in two main ways.  Firstly it helps the body with that exhausted feeling from missing out on sleep and secondly it helps with travel sickness.

Using arnica and cocculus together can be a very effective way to prevent jet lag.  Take one of each remedy 20 minutes before the flight takes off and repeat four-hourly during your trip.

You can get both of these remedies from health food shops and Ainsworths Essential Remedy Kit or Helios Traveller’s Remedy Kit contain both remedies as well as others that may be useful while you are away.

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Arnica

     If you’ve never tried homeopathy then arnica could be a good place to start.  Arnica Montana is a plant that grows in mountainous regions in the world – the Universe supplies what is needed where it is needed.  Why?  Well, when people fell down the mountains and hurt themselves, local people used to give them a brew made from stewing Arnica and people found that their bruises healed much more quickly than might otherwise be expected.

And that’s the main thing that arnica is known for – bruising.  So you may like to buy yourself a bottle of arnica tablets and some arnica cream for use when a person has bruised themself.  You can buy arnica in most health food shops and I believe Boots (in the UK) still sells it.  Alternatively you can order it through one of the homeopathic pharmacies – links to Ainsworths and Helios.

One thing to note is never put arnica cream on broken skin as it can inflame the area.  If it’s just bruised though, go ahead and rub some arnica cream into it and get the person to take the arnica tablets as directed on the bottle and see what happens.  You could be amazed.  I know when I had my babies, I took arnica after the birth and the nursing staff were amazed, not only at how quickly my bruising healed but also at how quickly the forceps lump on my daughter’s head resolved.

What is less well know is that arnica can be helpful in any situation where a person may feel bruised.  So, if you’ve overdone it on the gardening; or feel full of aches and pains from a days shopping; or even have aching feet from a new pair of shoes, take some arnica and see how quickly you begin to feel better.  Oh yes, and arnica can also be helpful for jet lag.

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