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About Food
Poisoning
Summer is your perfect opportunity to go to the beach or have an
outdoor picnic. Unfortunately your fun could be ruined by food
poisoning and diarrhea, which frequently accompany these warm weather
activities. Food poisoning occurs when undercooked meats and dairy
products (like mayonnaise mixed in coleslaw or potato salad) are not
refrigerated and sit out too long. It also results from techniques of
food preparation that are not hygenic, such as unwashed hands, unclean
surfaces, and transferring cooked foods to serving platters that have
already been exposed to raw meat or spoiled foods.
While most cases of food poisoning and diarrhea spontaneously resolve
in a few days, shortening the recovery period to a few hours is
preferable, especially since one of the most common and fairly serious
complications of diarrhea is dehydration. Drinking fluids (except for
coffee and milk) seems to be a simple solution. But what do you do if
diarrhea is paired with such severe nausea and vomiting that you cannot
drink? Then a trip to the emergency room is your only option. Stomach
ailments are no picnic.
Here is where homeopathy comes to the rescue. Diarrhea is a condition
for which the benefits of homeopathy have been repeatedly demonstrated
in well-designed clinical studies. Homeopathy was discovered and then
developed into a system of medicine by German physician Samuel
Hahnemann over 200 years ago. Homeopathic remedies are prepared from
natural substances. When used appropriately, they cause no side
effects. In many cases of food poisoning and acute diarrhea, the
results after just a single dose of a homeopathic remedy can be seen in
as little as 15 to 30 minutes.
How do you take homeopathic remedies? These specially prepared remedies
are sold in health food stores and come in the form of small, sweet
pills. Buy remedies in concentration 30C. Place 5 pills under the
tongue and let them dissolve. Repeat the dose in 15 minutes. Do not
take more than 3 doses. Stop if there is a clear effect even after the
first dose. Stop if there is no effect after you used all 3 doses.
A word of warning: if the symptoms of food poisoning and diarrhea
persist for more than 60 minutes without any signs of improvement,
please seek professional help. Go see a doctor or visit the emergency
room. It is wise to be cautious. Serious illnesses, such as cholera or
botulism, may initially resemble simple food poisoning.
You can read more about homeopathy and helpful remedies in my book Easy
Homeopathy (McGraw Hill, 2006). Here we’ll just discuss the three
remedies that most frequently cure food poisoning and diarrhea:
Arsenicum album, Podophyllum, and Veratrum album. Other remedies should
be used only when you can see their most prominent symptoms or cannot
find clear symptoms that match the following summaries.
Arsenicum Album (made from oxide of arsenic): This remedy is especially
useful for the treatment of food poisoning. If you have any doubt about
which remedy to use, try Arsenicum. In most cases, it gives some
relief. Take Arsenicum if you see these signs.
• Stool is liquid, frequently looks like rice water and it burns.
• You are thirsty for small sips of cold water.
• Anxious, chilly, restless.
• Diarrhea may be accompanied with nausea and/or vomiting. If vomiting
is severe and frequent, think about Veratrum album (see below).
• You feel better: from warm applications to the abdomen.
Podophyllum (made from may apple): People who need Podophyllum do not
show a lot of anxiety (opposite of Arsenicum)—they are simply tired and
exhausted from having diarrhea. Unlike in cases that require Veratrum
Album, there is no vomiting in cases that require Podophyllum.
Take Podophyllum if you notice the following indications.
• Abundant, watery, noisy, explosive diarrhea.
• Much gas.
• Stool soils the entire toilet bowl and the buttocks.
• You feel worse: from heat, hot weather (compare to Arsenicum), and
any motion.
• You feel like fainting, very weak.
• Gurgling before stool.
• Empty sensation after stool.
• Stool often has terrible offensive odor.
• May have a headache from diarrhea.
Veratrum album (made from white hellebore): The key factor in the
determination that this is the right remedy for you is that you are
experiencing severe exhaustion, as well as diarrhea in combination with
vomiting. Use Veratrum to relieve food poisoning and sickness that
involves the following combination of symptoms.
• Diarrhea accompanied by cold sweats, especially on the forehead.
• Diarrhea that occurs simultaneously with profuse, forceful vomiting
(compare to Arsenicum)
• Exhaustion, weakness, may even faint after stool or after vomiting.
• A peculiar sensation of feeling coldness in the abdomen (occasionally
reported)
• You feel worse: from heat (compare to Arsenicum)
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