heat versus ice

[karen]

Whack the vial against my palm? Is that to make sure I feel traumatized first? lol

 

How often do you take them, and is it okay to chew the pellets? And how many pellets?

 

I did one of each last night, this morning, and again after training today. I can't tell if it's better or worse, lol.

 

Whacking the vial is especially good when you're taking the remedy for frustration

 

But really, it sort of wakes the remedy up energetically. You can take a low potency like 6C lots of times throughout the day, as long as you still need it, and then reduce the frequency once you start to get improvement.

 

If you get improvement but the improvement doesn't continue, and you have to keep taking the remedy more often, then you need to go to a higher potency.

 

Only one pellet is needed, because the same energy is in one pellet as is in the entire vial. The products that say to take 5 pellets (or there are some single-dose vials that say to take the whole vial!) are basically just getting you to buy more products .

 

So if you take one pellet at a time, or even put one pellet into a glass of water and each sip from that becomes one dose, you can see how cheap it is. You can spend about $80 on a remedy kit that will last forever and will cover just about any acute situation. I still have a kit I bought in 1985.

 

It's okay to chew the pellets - carefully for your teeth!

 

Karen

[Lozen]

For some reason I thought 6C was stronger... it said at the store that 6C was for internal conditions, like allergies, and the 30 or whatever it was was for superficial conditions.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm getting improvement already because I did a ton of work with my arm today (lots of kettlebell swings) and it doesn't hurt that much.

[karen]

For some reason I thought 6C was stronger... it said at the store that 6C was for internal conditions, like allergies, and the 30 or whatever it was was for superficial conditions.

 

That's just marketing, and is completely inaccurate. Practically everything on the label of homeopathic medicines is going to be misleading - the indications, how to take it, etc. And labelling laws require expiration dates, but there's really no expiration date for these products. So the only accurate info you can get from the product itself is the name of the remedy and potency! You have to use your own knowledge of homeopathy to figure out what you need.

 

That's partly why homeopathy doesn't get good results with popular usage - people are trying to use these things OTC, and they should be available OTC, but without more education it's unlikely they'll be used correctly.

 

Not to discourage people from using them, because with a good self-help book for guidance it's perfectly safe for anyone to use homeopathy on their own for simple, self-limiting conditions. It can take some trial and error to get the right remedy, potency and dosage without skilled guidance, but it can't hurt when used within basic guidelines (don't keep taking the remedy after the problem is cleared, etc.)

 

"Strength" of a remedy doesn't exactly equate to higher potency.. low potencies can be profoundly curative, and so can very high potencies, depending on what's being treated, and that requires a deeper understanding that can't be boiled down to a simple rule. But generally, it's best for people who are using homeopathy on their own to use relatively lower potencies like 12C or 30C. The higher the potency, the more accurate you need to be in your prescription.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm getting improvement already because I did a ton of work with my arm today (lots of kettlebell swings) and it doesn't hurt that much.

 

Excellent!

[Lozen]

Well, intuitively I felt a really strong connection to ruta and wanted to get it in 6 c right away, even though I thought it might be too strong (with my experience with rhus, lol.) But yeah, it said something like it was for eye strain from looking at computers, or something. When I pulled up photos of the flowers to see which I'd respond to, it was the rhus that I connected to.

 

So hopefully I'll know when this thang has cleared up so I can stop taking it. I've felt variations of it ever since I started taking it yesterday... it felt warm and swollen (but looked fine) for a little while, then it felt worse, then better, and now it's just a little sore.. It's weird, when I feel around and touch spots that used to hurt, not only are they not hurting but my arm just feels really really strong, which I didn't expect.

 

Thanks, Karen! This is better than that awful stomachache from the tieh ta pills.

[Lozen]

I found my 30c arnica! When I was looking for pliers, which didn't work, heh. But anyways, I think I'll stick with 6c... I don't know if I still need it. My elbow doesn't hurt anymore, but I hear this weird click when I do weird pushups (i.e. raised pushups, etc.) It doesn't hurt when this happens but I wodner if it screws up my ROM.

[karen]

Pliers generally don't work unless you potentize them to 30C.

 

Always good to have Arnica around the house - 30C is good, and 200C even better.

 

It's pretty amazing. Recently I've had a couple mishaps with my arm forgetting the door is there (certainly not my brain ), and then walking into my desk leg. Did a good job of banging myself up, and I expected huge bruises. But I immediately hobbled over to the Arnica, took it every few minutes for a while, and a few minutes later, no pain. Now there's absolutely no bruising or pain in my arm, and just a little soreness in the knee which is getting better. Amazing.

 

About Ruta - it can be used for eyestrain, and also for tendon/ligament strain, same sort of thing. There are actually hundreds of symptoms that are part of the picture of Ruta. If you take a look at a homeopathic Materia Medica, you'll see all the various indications for Ruta. Doesn't mean that you take Ruta every time you have any one of those, but that's where prescribing skill comes in.

 

Tieh Ta is good stuff, especially to use topically as a liniment. But it often doesn't work deeply enough. When you take enough of any crude substance to force it to act more strongly, you can get adverse effects, similar to drug side effects. Not to cast aspersions on herbs, but that large medicinal doses of any crude substance can have some negative effects, where the homeopathic remedy wouldn't.

[Lozen]

LOL. I needed regular pliers, not the ones with the silly needle nose. To install my new Multipure filter. They worked!

 

I just don't know if the homeopathics will fix the weird clicking noise I get.

 

How is eye strain and tendon/ligament strain related?

 

Hmmm, I know large medicinal doses of some herbs cause negative effects, but not all of them... I think herbs are really much better as preventatives, though.

[karen]

My father was an electrical engineer, and his nickname for me as a kid was needle nose. That's about all I know about pliers . Glad you got your Multipure going!

 

How is eye strain and tendon/ligament strain related?

 

You're right, it's a little puzzling, because eyestrain is more muscular. But Ruta seems to have an affinity for the eyes, as well as for tendon/ligament strain, moreso than Rhus which is usually for muscular strain.

 

Here's what Boericke's materia medica says for Ruta - "acts upon the periosteum and cartilages, eyes and uterus. Complaints from straining flexor tendons especially. Tendency to the formation of deposits in the periosteum, tendons, and about joints, especially the wrist. Overstrain of ocular muscles.. Lameness after sprains.. " Then in another section, "spine and limbs feel bruised... tendons sore..."

 

Hmmm, I know large medicinal doses of some herbs cause negative effects, but not all of them... I think herbs are really much better as preventatives, though.

 

There can be more subtle negative effects that the life force notices even when the person doesn't . But I agree, herbs are great for staying healthy and also for helping the system rebalance after a homeopathic cure.. and then you don't have to be as aggressive with the herbal treatment.

 

Karen

[Lozen]

Interesting, I know rue is an abortifacient, the one that Ophelia tried to use when she was pregnant back in Shakespeare's plays.

 

So let me know if you know of any "stop that clicking in my elbow when I do elevated pushups" homeopathics.

 

The herbs I've used and still use are mostly nervines, red root, bitters, stuff like that.

 

I like my Multipure! My water tastes awesome! Almost as good as Aqua Vita water, and without having to get plastic leaching into it.

[karen]

Interesting that Rue was used that way and an herbal eyewash also!

 

Re. the elbow, there may be other things needed there too, but in terms of homeopathics there is a remedy called Kalmia, which has cracking sounds from the elbow joint. But you don't give a remedy based on one symptom alone, but the total characteristic symptoms (for this kind of acute prescribing). We'd have to do more of a workup to find the right remedy. If you know the cause, for example injury, it's a little easier in that you can prescribe in a less individualized way, as in contusion = Arnica.

 

So I wouldn't recommend you rush out and take that remedy. But you might like to look at a book called Homeopathy for Musculoskeletal Healing, by Asa Hershoff.

 

Re. Multipure, I love their shower filter too. I use the shower to fill up the tub for a bath, and also sometimes I'll use water from the shower instead of using the sink, when I remember to .

 

Karen

[Lozen]

I'll look for it! But hopefully the arnica/rhus/ruta combo will take care of things, we'll see.

 

I'm getting the shower filter soon, too. My friend is sending me her extra one. It's much cheaper than the one I really want, the Wellness filter.

[Lozen]

Oh, and it turns out I do have 30c of all the remedies! No wonder they are working so well. But I got it because I thought it was less strong, ha ha. Or maybe I thought it was more strong. I remember scratching my head at the store trying to figure out what a higher potency was, that would make me react less strongly, or something.

Edited November 7, 2006 by Lozen

[karen]

[Lozen]

[Lozen]

In this ongoing saga, the clicking was freaking me out so I went to see a chiropractor. He said it was my brachial radialus and bicep muscles that are shortened, he adjusted it and gave me a stretch I could do. He told me I have quite a bit of inflammation and tissue damage and to ice for at least twenty minutes once a day for at least a week. So here we go again. He told me to see him in a week but he said I should be back in a week or two. It feels WAY better already.