Homeopathy: A Survival Tool for the Holidays

The holiday season is upon us, it can hold promise and potential, often unrealized, which can result in disappointment, anger, sadness or depression. Whether they are filled with happy celebrations with wonderful friends, family and food – or the realization that the magic has not happened for yet another year – homeopathic remedies can help ease and support you into and out of the season more gracefully.

It’s important to remember that you should always seek professional advice from your local fully qualified homeopath to ensure the correct remedies are selected based on your totality of symptoms.

Remedies for Overindulgence
With parties and family get-togethers throughout the holiday season, people often overindulge. If the food and wine have flowed freely and you later wish you had not enjoyed yourself quite so much, Nux vomica can help take the edge off these overindulged symptoms. This remedy is useful for everything from heartburn and stomach pain after eating to hangovers and constipation.

If you have severe cramps, diarrhea or vomiting, and you suspect food poisoning, the remedy Arsenicum is a godsend. (Save this one, too, for the summer family reunion, when the mayonnaise-based treats are left too long in the sun!)

Pulsatilla can be beneficial if you have been treating yourself to rich, creamy foods and are paying a price as it hits your digestive system. Carbo veg will help with flatulence, distension, eructation, and that feeling of fullness after you’ve only had a few bites of food.

Aids for Anxiety
Homeopathy is based on the “Law of Similars” or “like cures like.” If you keep this in mind, you’ll understand that experiencing a “coffee state” of hyper-alertness is best balanced with coffee. However, choose the homeopathic form, known as Coffea. This is a magnificent remedy for little ones who cannot sleep with the excitement of anticipation, and for adults who have had a stimulant too close to bedtime.

Argentum nitricum and Gelsemium excel in dealing with ailments from anticipation. In a Gelsemium state, you tend to sit and stew in your juices, internalizing the anxiety. With Argentum, there might be more restlessness and pacing. For those holiday performances (and family dinners can be included in this category!), one of these remedies can deal with stage fright, depending on whether it is internalized or externalized.

Staying up late, attending parties, shopping for gifts, and depriving yourself of sleep calls for the remedy Cocculus. This also is an excellent choice for travel, whether for motion sickness or for jet lag.

Anger and Resentment
On the mental and emotional level, homeopathic remedies can help get you through holiday stress. For those who are alone, who have sad memories that tend to come up at holiday season, Ignatia is a wonderful remedy. (One of the keynotes of Ignatia is a deep, sad sigh.) Aconite is excellent for acute anxiety, shock, stress, fear and worry… a secret remedy combination that could be used under guidance from a fully qualified homeopath with positive results is Aconite and Ignatia.

Staphysagria is wonderful for dealing with anger and resentment. It helps you more appropriately verbalize things you might need to express to your family or friends during this time or to process your emotions more internally if you choose. Staphysagria can be empowering. It’s also an excellent remedy for urinary tract symptoms (because sometimes it is more socially acceptable or safer to be “irritated” on the physical level, swallowing resentment or humiliation and keeping it inside, than to express it verbally). It also helps gastrointestinal symptoms that might have had their origin in the “swallowing” of something that was emotionally unpalatable.

Sickness after the Holidays
After the holiday season has come to a close, often physical ailments express our sadness, perhaps because we’re leaving a family we love or dealing with people we don’t like but wish we could love. Maybe you’re alone and feeling sad, or have lost someone during this time of celebration. The remedy Natrum mur is a great remedy for sadness, unsurpassed in colds that begin with sneezing, a nose that runs clear or like egg whites, and sinus infections.

If you get sick during or after the holidays, ask yourself why? Dis-ease has a purpose – it lets us know we are not at ease. Bernie Siegel, the excellent physician and author, says to ask, “How does this illness serve me?” Does it get you out of a commitment you ought to have refused? Does it keep you from situations you know will be emotionally charged?

How to Use Homeopathy Effectively
Homeopathic remedies are available to purchase through homeopathic dispensaries, pharmacies or through your local homeopath. Generally, a safe and effective potency to use for self-care is 30c, this is a low potency which will gently stimulate the body’s natural responses.

Simply take one dose of the 30c remedy, then wait for a response, repeat if necessary. As your body starts to respond this is indicating the right remedy has been selected, as improvements progress stop taking the remedy. Always seek advice from your local qualified homeopath to ensure the right remedy selection has been achieved. It is important to remember that as the symptoms improve, the remedy should be slowed or stopped.

Homeopathy offers support in restoring our body’s balance, health, and vitality. You must seek professional advice from a fully qualified registered homeopath or your GP to ensure you are receiving the best possible treatment in your homeopathy survival summer holidays toolkit.