Homeopathic
Self-medicating with single [simplex] remedies can be analogous to detective work. However, there are combination [complex] remedies that are effective for common ailments, even though this is not the preferable “classical” homeopathic approach. Complexes are helpful if you cannot determine or find the correct simplex remedy for a disorder, like a cold. Oscillococcinum is possibly one of the best-known commercial remedies for this purpose. It contains Anas barbariae hepatis and Cordis extract in a 200K potency, which effectively prevents and treats symptoms of colds and ‘flu such as fever, chills and body aches. For more specific treatment, consult a qualified, registered homeopath.
Homeopathic first-aid kits for treating common ailments, comprising 20 simplex remedies and an instructional booklet, are available from Greenhouse Health.
Vitamins, minerals and nutrition
Vitamin C, along with other antioxidant vitamins and minerals [A,C E, zinc and selenium] is a good old standby too – and don’t forget lots of raw garlic to keep colds and vampires at bay! Vegetables that are rich in betacarotenes and bioflavonoids help the body produce vitamin A. If you additionally concentrate on avoiding mucous-forming foods like dairy [cheese & milk], wheat [bread], sugar [junk food] and bananas, and fill up instead on loads of fresh veg and fruit, and drink lots of pure water and herbal teas you should be well-hydrated and equipped to meet winter head on. And as the days grow cold, don’t underestimate the enormous nutritious value of humble soups – hearty veg or good ol’ chicken soup, which are still hard to beat when it comes to relieving colds!
Aromatic medicine
These impressive aromatic molecules can be used for so many maladies, due to their many and varied healing properties and actions. According to Dr Kurt Schnaubelt PhD they fight infection and bacteria while simultaneously supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Aromatological pharmacist Dr Dominic Baudoux writes in the foreword of his book for the lay public, 2000 years of Aromatology Discoveries: “The first stage of practical aromatherapy consists of self-medication, the art of maintaining well-being and treating those thousand and one aches and pains and other hiccups of everyday life.……… True aromatology is extremely demanding. When serious illnesses are to be treated, a qualified aromatologist fully cognizant with the chemotypes of essential oils is indispensable….. essential oils which are the true quintessence of the plant, are so complex, concentrated and powerful on different therapeutic, energetic and aesthetic levels that using these products without precise knowledge of their characteristics would create undoubted risks.”
Regarding the resurgence of aromatic medicine he states: “phytoaromatology is the world’s oldest type of therapy. It has always been in existence, since plants have been used continuously as seasonings and/or medicines…………….. Essential oils are natural products which promote an intense revitalization of the organism. They are eubiotic – they promote life. But most of all, it is an ‘earth medicine’, whose function is to restore the equilibrium of an organism…. They promote a return to health in the affected organism.”
A question often asked by people is simply answered in this charming book as follows: “How can external application of essential oils lead to intense internal effects? Essential oils are lipophilic [affinity for fats], and as such easily penetrate the different layers of skin before being diffused into peripheral microcirculation and then into the general bloodstream, where they impart their therapeutic effects. There is therefore no witchcraft involved: this is, after all, a mechanism also used in allopathy [nicotine, hormone and nitro compound patches].”
These days most readers are aware that essential oils have been traditionally used for centuries to treat all manner of ailments, however with the advent of modern scientific aromatherapy or aromatic medicine, they are emerging as very important agents for safe and effective disease prevention, treatment and health maintenance due to the significant benefits they evidence on the immune and other body systems. They can be applied via several interfaces such as topically, which is generally the safest for self-use, as well as inhalation [directly, or preferably via cold-air diffusion], semi-internally [per rectum or vagina via suppositories or pessaries], and internally [via oleocapsules or other methods of ingestion]. Truly exceptional results will often however only be evidenced when applied with specialist professional expertise, scientific vigor, and appropriate safety considerations.
Story of the Four Thieves
Folklore tells about the value of essential oils in a story about a family of perfumers, who during the time of the Black Plague, turned to grave robbing. As perfumers they appreciated the antiseptic nature of essential oils, which lead them to infuse certain plants in vinegar to extract their volatile oils, which they then rubbed on their bodies to protect themselves from contamination. This concoction became known as “Four Thieves Vinegar”. It is claimed that doctors of the time used the same herbal oils to protect themselves while tending to their highly contagious patients. They wore big cloaks over their heads that reached down well below their shoulders and attached to the cloak, over the nose and mouth, was a long bird-like beak full of these aromatic herbs, which they inhaled as they went about their grizzly tasks during the Plague. The famous French aromatherapy doctor, Jean Valnet, cites two recipes in his book, which he claims are the original recipes revealed by the robbers when they were caught red-handed in the area around Toulouse in 1628-1631. The “original” consists of vinegar, wormwood, meadowsweet, juniper berries, wild marjoram, sage, cloves, elecampane root, angelica, rosemary, horehound and camphor; whereas the recipes for Valnet’s “Marseilles or Thieves Vinegar” is detailed here.
Greater and lesser wormwood [Artemisia], rosemary, sage, mint, rue, lavender, calamus, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, garlic, camphor, crystalised ascetic acid and white vinegar. Steep a handful each of the plants in the vinegar for 10 days, strain, add the camphor dissolved in the ascetic acid and filter. Either way, these are potent concoctions, even though there are as many versions of the formulation as there are versions of the tale!
Similar to plants used in herbal medicine for colds and ‘flu, essential oils extracted from the Lamiaceae [or Labiatae] family, which is made up of more than 3000 species of mostly medicinal and aromatic plants, are invaluable agents for health and healing. In addition, extracts from the families of Pinaceae [cedars, firs, pines and spruces], Myrtaceae [myrtles, eucalypts, melaleucas] and Lauraceae [ravintsara in particular, and bay laurel] are also integral to the winter aromatic apothecary.
We have listed a few of the many essential oils that are effective for combating infection, as well as relieving the most prevalent ailments associated with the common cold: click here.
For introductory self-interest seminars on the safe and effective use of essential oils for self-medication contact Dr Sandi Nye on info@drsandinye.com or 021 531 3545
For advice on aromatic medicine treatments Dr Sandi Nye can be contacted on 082 642 0022 or at the Greenhouse Holistic Health Centre in Pinelands, Cape Town [www.greenhousehealth.com]
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