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Health & Fitness

Yes, Uncle Albert. There is a Cure For a Hangover… and other Remedies to Rescue Your Holidays

From hangovers to over-excited kids who can't fall asleep to the onset of the flu or a cold, here are some natural health solutions that could rescue your holidays.

There is something about the holidays that brings out the best in people, and often the worst as well.

It might be something acute, like a cold or the flu which prevents Dad from going to Christmas Eve services to stay home with little Billy who is sick in bed. 

Or it could be something chronic, like not getting along with your family, having an argument during the festivities or simply having too much to drink in an attempt to avoid the family.

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Regardless, there is a homeopathic remedy to help rescue your holiday season.  Here are a few that might help:

Aconite

This remedy is well known as a great remedy for a high fever that comes on after exposure to the cold, dry winds of a Minnesota winter. But it also works well for the first signs of a cold. If you think you may be coming down with something—maybe a bit of a sniffle, or a slight cough—all that are coming on suddenly, try taking a couple doses of Aconite to ward off the oncoming cold. If you have any really specific symptoms, you probably need something else.

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Belladonna

For example, Belladonna can also be used if you feel a cold coming on but also have some weakness in the legs and/or arms.  Belladonna is also a wonderful high fever remedy, but you don’t have to have a fever to take it in these circumstances.

Cocculus indicus

Cocculus indicus is a good remedy to take if you have been staying up late too many nights preparing for the holidays and are starting to feel run down and nauseous.  Also, if your child is sick and you have been staying up nights caring for a sick child, this is also a good remedy.  Lack of sleep from working + nausea = Cocculus Indicus.

Mercurius Vivus

I can’t imagine a person who is reading this who hasn’t experienced the symptoms of Mercurius Vivus (also known as Mercurius Solubilis). You are sick with body aches.  You are cold.  So you cover up with the blankets and after some time, you get sweaty and are too warm so you have to take the blankets off. Pretty soon you are shivering and you have to warm up again under the toasty warm blankets. You are sweaty, your tongue is white or gray and you may have the worst sore throat ever. It is usually NOT the last remedy you need when you are sick, and often the first one.

Causticum

Causticum is a remedy to keep in the kitchen for those pesky burns you get when you accidentally touch the rack in the oven peeking on the holiday cookies.  A bottle in the bathroom for those times when you touch your skin with the curling iron is also useful.

Arsenicum album

Although typically not as big a problem in the winter as in the summer, family gatherings and office Christmas parties can equal Food Poisoning. If you forget about your wife’s warning about her Aunt Bertha’s (affectionately known as Typhoid Mary to your wife and her cousins) cooking, and you have a heaping helping of her Hot German Potato Salad and live to regret it, you’ll probably want some Arsenicum handy. Arsenicum album is a remedy to take when you are shivering cold, sick to your stomach, likely even throwing up, from food poisoning.  Don’t let another holiday pass without having it around.

Coffea Cruda

Coffea Cruda is a remedy for what we homeopaths call “Ailments From Excessive Joy.”  Now, that could be considered drinking too much celebrating with your friends or trying to forget your family, but it is really for situations where you may feel like you had too much coffee to drink.  After all, this remedy is homeopathic coffee.  Think excited kids running around who can’t settle down because they are over stimulated from Santa, company and cookies.

Nux Vomica

Did you have a few too many with your Uncle Albert over several rounds of poker?  Try Nux Vomica, the ultimate over indulgence remedy. Too much to drink, too much to eat and feeling a bit nauseous?  All of these situations can be made better with Nux Vomica. I usually recommend that it be taken before you go to bed and when you wake up. 

An important caveat: Homeopathy isn’t about living an unhealthy lifestyle and then trying to take a remedy to make up for it. That may describe some western medicine drugs, but generally does not describe any natural health modalities.  If you over indulge on a regular basis, contact a classical homeopath for help. 

Learn how to take these remedies by clicking here.

As for the chronic problems of not getting along with your family, neighbors or co-workers, ummm, well, how much time to you have????

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