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Travelling made easy

If you are in the lucky position to get away this summer, no doubt you will be looking forward to sunshine, tasty food, fun and rest. Apart from vaccination issues and common sense sanitary precautions, you may also want to look at alternative ways of treating those inconvenient details associated with travelling. Jet lag, sun burn, insect stings, diarrhoea, sun or heat stroke, swimmer’s ear, altitude sickness and motion sickness are all common complaints that take away from the enjoyment of our well deserved break. Some of these complaints may be prevented and others may be successfully treated, reducing symptoms to a minimum so that the holiday may continue more or less uninterrupted.

Here are my recommendations for a stress-free and healthy holiday:

Jet lag

Homeopathy may be very successful at preventing jet lag symptoms. A combination of the remedies Arnica, Cocculus, Gelsemium, Radium brom and Magnetis poli ambo taken every 2 hours during a flight and twice a day for 2 days after arrival (outwards + return journey) may help you adjust to the new time-zone with ease and may also help reduce tiredness and stress caused by the journey.  Babies and children may sleep soundly for their usual hours, perhaps waking briefly once but going back to sleep easily for the rest of the night.

Motion sickness

No more nausea and vomiting during car, coach, boat, train and aeroplane journeys? The homeopathic remedy Cocculus may be taken preventatively or during an acute attack. The nausea may disappear within minutes.

Altitude sickness

If you are off to the Andes or to Katmandu, you may become a victim of altitude sickness. Common symptoms include dizziness and headaches caused by the reduced oxygen content of the air above 2000m. The homeopathic remedy Coca may be taken preventatively by someone who has experienced altitude sickness before, or during an acute attack in someone who is experiencing it first time. The symptoms may reside gradually over the course of 12 hours.

Sun burn

This should be prevented by common sense methods such as covering up and staying in the shade as well as using organic sunscreens. Should it still happen, homeopathic remedies may help reduce the pain and redness over the course of 24 hours. Homeopathy may also reduce permanent skin damage and may speed up healing. The homeopathic remedy Cantharis is the first remedy to try for all burns including sunburns. It may be given repeatedly depending on the severity of the burn. In addition, the skin should be cooled down with wet cloths for at least 1 hour and then Aloe Vera Gel should be applied topically at regular intervals.

Sun/Heat stroke

The most common homeopathic remedy for complaints brought on by too much sun or overheating is Belladonna. The symptoms may include fever, chills and headache, and depending on the severity Belladonna may reduce symptoms within 20mins to 2 hours. If the symptoms return, the remedy may be repeated at 2 hour intervals. The patient also needs to be kept well-hydrated and at a comfortable temperature.

Diarrhoea

Traveller’s diarrhoea may be prevented by applying the usual precautions and by following a short therapeutic programme before you go and during your travel. This programme is only necessary for areas of travel that are infamous for causing severe versions of this most dreadful complaint such as central/south America, Africa and India.

Here is the programme:

1) Probiotic: Brand: Nutri; Product: GiSol; take 1 capsule for the duration of the holiday starting 3 days before you go and maintain for 1 week after coming back. This product has been shown to be effective in preventing and treating travel diarrhoea. (Available from Nutri, tel: 0800 212 742). Does not need to be kept in fridge.

2) Homeopathic remedy:
Dys co 200c: 1 tablet twice a week starting 3 days before you go; maintain throughout your stay.

For most other destinations (Turkey, Greece, Balkan, Middle East, etc) the problem will be less severe and may be treated if and when it arises. In those cases Arsenicum is the first remedy to try of for the most common form of traveller’s diarrhoea which is usually short-lasting, watery and without blood.

If there are griping pains along with the diarrhoea, Colocynthis may be your remedy.
If the diarrhoea does not respond to this treatment or if there is blood in the stools, there are other remedies that may help, but this would be beyond the scope of this newsletter.

Swimmer’s ear

Many people suffer from an inflammation of the outer ear canal due to water being trapped in the ear from doing a lot of swimming or diving. In some it may lead to a middle ear infection and the need to take antibiotics. If you have a history of swimmer’s ear, it may be advisable to invest in a pair of decent swimming ear plugs. Also, make sure to take the herbal tincture Plantago with you (available from health food stores). This tincture taken 3 times daily at the first sign of trouble may stop the problem from developing into a full-blown infection.

There are also a number of homeopathic remedies to help with ear ache, and in the case of swimmer’s ear Chamomilla may be the first one to think of. The pain may reduce to bearable levels with 20 mins and the remedy may be repeated as necessary.

Insect bites and stings

Most wasp and bee stings appear to respond well to the homeopathic remedy Apis. Within seconds this may reduce pain dramatically and any swelling may go down within a few hours. Apis should be with you on all summertime picnics and outings!

Mosquito bites are best prevented with natural methods such as topical application of aromatic oil or sonic insect repellants. This is because DEET and other chemical repellants may be extremely toxic, even though they are only applied to the skin.

My favourite method is to mix Citronella and Lavender aromatherapy oil into a bottle of base oil such as Coconut or Jojoba oil (all readily available at healthfood stores). Apply this mixture freely to all exposed areas of skin except the face and put some on your hair to protect your head and face. Mosquitos do not like the smell and may not settle on your skin.

For me,this oil mixture ihas been nearly 100% effective in areas where the little pests are mildly to moderately aggressive. But I am afraid that in some places such as the Caribbean, mosquitoes can be extremely aggressive and natural methods may only reduce the number of bites you may suffer by about 60 – 80%.

(If travelling to a Malaria area, you must take medical precautions.)

and finally ...

Travelling should be fun and so I urge you to give these tips some thought. A little preparation may let you have peace of mind and enable you to enjoy all of your holiday.

If you would like more detailed advice and a supply of homeopathic remedies please contact me per email or telephone to book an appointment.

Wishing you a lovely summer….