Homeopathy for when the sun burns, the skin screams and the head aches…
It´s summer time. Yet with the joys of the warmer and sunnier months comes the added care we have to give to avoid the risk of contracting heat injuries.
The risk that unprotected long duration exposure to the sun may pose to our health is frequently underestimated. Even a light sunburn strongly elevates the risk of contracting skin cancer, and overheating the body may cause a serious heat injury that must be considered a medical emergency.
Prevention is protection!
While it is the least fun approach to take, prevention is probably the most effective measure to avoid damage to our skin and body. However, where the skin already shows signs of being burnt some homeopathic remedies can help reduce the discomforts associated.
Arsenicum album: is indicated where the skin feels like it is burning. Amelioration is felt by the application of warmth to the affected area.
Belladonna: There is intense redness, throbbing, burning when Belladonna is indicated. The heat of the skin radiates, can be felt on touching. Patient wants to be cooled. Warmth makes his/her symptoms worse.
Calendula: promotes healing and cicatrization of superficial burns.
Cantharis: is called for where there are blisters that are raw, painful, burning & itching. Touching the affected area worsens symptoms. Cantharis is a remedy indicated for the treatment of 1st degree burns.
Causticum: has blisters that are painfully burning. The cicatrices break repeatedly.
Hypericum: Where there is painful blistering and itching. The blisters are small.
Rhus tox.: has blistering of vesicula that are large. There is burning and itching.
Urtica uhrens: Sunburn that requires Urtica has a violently itching, stinging, and burning sensation. There is the formation of blisters. Urtica is also a remedy indicated for 1st degree burns.
Heat stroke is an injury that too can develop from prolonged exposure to the sun and particularly from physical exertion in high temperatures. Where the individual shows symptoms of a heatstroke, with headaches, dizziness, nausea and exhaustion, an accelerated heartbeat and heavy breathing, an ambulance should be called imminently.
Heat- or sun-stroke is considered a medical emergency!
While waiting for the ambulance symptoms can be alleviated by taking the individual out of the sun, to a shaded and cooler area. Cooling should be provided, by fanning air, pouring water on the skin, applying ice packs to neck, back, armpits and groin. This will reduce the core temperature of the body and will ease the suffering. The following homeopathic remedies may be helpful in providing acute relief until the arrival of the ambulance.
Aconite: All sudden, acute affections respond to Aconite. This will calm the patient, will remove restlessness & anxiety!
Arnica: The individual needing Arnica has a high temperature with redness of head, but coldness of body. There is vertigo and a variable pulse rate.
Arsenicum: This remedy is indicated where the individual shows symptoms of exhaustion, confusion, and faintness. He or she may also show muscle
spasms.
Belladonna: Here there is much heat and pulsation in the head. The pulse is changeable. There is a sudden onset of palpitations, vertigo and throbbing. There may also be spasms.
Camphor: This remedy is indicated for states of collapse. Here the pulse is weak and small. The suffering person has vertigo, convulsions and spasms, and may faint.
Carbo veg.: This is a remedy for the person who feels worn out by the heatstroke. His or her vital power diminishes due to loss of body fluid (dehydration). The pulse is feeble, almost imperceptible. The patient is breathing heavily.
Gelsemium: is indicated when there is headache from exposure to sun.
There is dizziness, drowsiness & trembling. The pulse is slow and the individual complains of palpitations.
Glonoine: Marked symptoms calling for this remedy are pulsation, convulsions, and dizziness. There is confusion, nausea and palor. The blood-pressure shows irregularities, and palpitation comes concomitant with dyspnoea. The pulse is low and feeble.
Lachesis: is indicated for headache, paleness, vertigo, faintness and arrhythmia which appear from the sunstroke.
Natrium carb.: with this remedy there much exhaustion, vertigo, headache and an inability to think clearly.
Natrium mur.: With Natrium mur. There is a throbbing, semi-lateral, congestive headache, that is experienced as of multiple hammers hitting the head. There is fluttering of the heart with an intermittent pulse, and palpitation can be experienced as violent.
References:
Clark, J. (2014). Materia Medica [online] last accessed 16 May 2014, available at: http://www.materiamedica.info/en/materia-medica/john-henry-clarke/index
Boerike, W. (2000). Homoeopathic Materia Medica [online] last accessed 16 May 2014, available at: http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/index.htm
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