You need to keep these things with your first aid supplies:
The herb is Arnica Montana and you can buy it as a gel or cream. You can also buy it as little homeopathic pellets that you put under your tongue and let dissolve (those are in the little blue tubes). I use both the gel and the pellets.
The packaging says it’s for “Everyday Pain Relief” but it’s real magic is for bruises. The faster you apply it, the better it works.
I took a headlong spill a couple of weeks ago off my steps that ended with a dead cat bounce. I lay there a minute inventorying my body to see if I could feel if anything was broken. When I got up I immediately found the arnica gel and slathered it over all the parts that hurt and the bruises that were forming. I had run out of the pellets.
I was lucky. Just a cracked rib and a number of bruises. The rib is still reminding me to be careful where I put my feet but the bruises were gone within a few days.
Seriously! This stuff works! My bruises heal in miracle time if I find them right away and use both the gel and homeopathic pellets. I’ve even had a doctor and a physical therapist comment on how quickly they heal.
Of course . . . maybe you don’t need Arnica at all because maybe you aren’t as clumsy as some people.
Yeah . . . I didn’t even have time to try to brace myself . . . just a headlong splat (thank god I don’t have concrete nearby) and thud. Rib still hurts at times.
“dead cat bounce”!!
Absolutely safe for kids, Amy, but buy from a natural foods place that checks out their sources. Boiron is a good brand. I was in the Co-op yesterday and saw that we had a new kind of hand-crafted Arnica gel that I’ll try when I run out of my current supply. I don’t think it would be necessary to give Nathan the pellets because he’s not likely to be able to let them dissolve under his tongue. But even they wouldn’t hurt him. And I would definitely try the gel or cream for him. I’d watch for a skin reaction, of course because little guys have tender skin, but then, so do older women and it doesn’t bother me.
I’m fine. Thank you for asking. The rib is giving me less grief each day though I still can’t lie face down on the floor to do exercises. Another few weeks and I’ll be good. I know this because last year I broke one in almost the same place when a rung broke on a ladder I was on. I was high up, cleaning gutters. Now that was an adventure. I was in enough shock that I didn’t feel it right away. (My son, by the way, was on the property, mowing with my tractor, had a feeling he needed to come check on me. He just made it around the corner of the house to ask if I was OK when it broke. Think about it. When you’re on a wooden extension ladder and fall through, you’re on the “inside” dangling, and you have to get back to the “outside” to climb down the rungs. I was wedged and stuck about 10 feet up. Johnny eased up the ladder, guided one leg up and over . . . as I said . . . it was an adventure.)
This was at my book warehouse which is also my friend’s house (she’s living in Seattle now). I drove 2 miles home, slathered Arnica on the 6″ long bruises on my shins (I had a matching pair because of scraping on a rung below) and on my chest where I knew I had hit, but thought it was just a bruise.
Two days later I had a lot of chest pain (left side) and was short of breath. I called my doc and talked to her nurse. Well . . . you know the family history better than most. I just wanted to know if it could be related to the ladder thing . . . like can you hurt a whole lot more two days later . . . but she read my family history on the chart and ordered me to the emergency room and if I didn’t go she’d note it in my chart. I said I’d drive. She said, that’s not a good idea. I said I was fine enough to drive. It’s only about 20 to 25 minutes to the hospital with only one traffic light. She said put your cell phone on and pull over if you have any problem at all.
I got there and said, “Excuse me, I’m either having a heart attack or my rib just hurts like hell. I’ve been ordered here and could you please check?” A few X-rays later and it was the rib. But . . . and here’s the Arnica part. Besides my shins having twin long and nasty bruises, I hit both thighs up high, but they started as much smaller bruises. I didn’t see them until a day and a half later. Meanwhile, I had been treating the long, mean shin bruises with arnica gel every few hours plus taking the pellets. . . The shin bruises were ALMOST GONE and the little thigh bruises had gotten larger and were changing color.
Before leaving, I dropped my drawers in front of the whole emergency room group and said . . . “Look at these bruises. You guys are in the accident business. You need to know about Arnica!”
I was going to include this story with the blog post but thought it was too much and I’ve gone and done it anyway.
p.s. Soup season is upon us and that’s my number one favorite thing on earth to make!!!
Arnica is wonderful! My uncle put me onto it and I used it once when I bumped my forehead – it made a huge difference.
Interesting…i’ve never heard of the stuff. Is it safe for kids? Nathan is constantly bruised. Maybe we should give it a try. And “Just a cracked rib…”? Hope you are doing okay!!
P.S. Looking forward to some soup recipes :-).
I just had to comment on this post. Arnica is the most wonderful remedy. I’ve been using it for years and my daughter is a huge fan, too. Since taking a course in Homeopathy years ago, I never go anywhere without it. It is a lifesaver, in conjunction with Cantharis if you have a burn.
Not sure how I found you, probably through “the Harlot”
Thanks for this post….I’ll visit again.
Marcia