HOMEOPATHY AND STINGS

Since we spend so much more time outdoors in the summer it is inevitable to be exposed to opportunities for bites and stings. If this does occur, remember to pull out your Homeopathic kit and grab for the remedy that fits the symptoms being exhibited.

In responding to an illness or injury, the person’s innate self-healing will attempt to right itself. This is why we produce symptoms. Let’s go right into the most common symptoms of stings and bites and the accompanying remedies. Remedies can be repeated often initially, until there is improvement.

APIS is usually the first remedy that comes up for stings. This is because its’ symptom picture includes some of the most common traits such as stinging, burning, redness, heat and swelling.

To be more specific, there will be rapid swelling that is soft to the touch, rosy or pinkish red color and pain that feels like stinging and burning. The pain is worse from touch or heat and relieved by cold applications.

ANAPHYLAXIS: If there are symptoms that appear to be leading into an anaphylaxis reaction this remedy can be repeated as often as every thirty seconds.

ACONITUM- this remedy can be added if there is trauma. An example would be if a child is traumatized by being bitten or stung. It goes a long way to help calm them.

ARNICA, the old standby, may be needed also if the sting is in a soft tissue area and there is swelling and redness. The pain of the Arnica sting is more soreness than burning and stinging.

CANTHARIS stings have a raw, burning pain and extreme hypersensitivity. This may also show itself emotionally in restlessness or undue complaining.

HYPERICUM may be needed if you are affected in a nerve-rich part of the body such as fingers, toes or face. Because of this remedy’s strong affinity for nerves, the pain of a Hypericum sting may have a shooting quality that is sharper and more severe along with the burning and stinging.

LACHESIS may be needed if the area around the sting turns bluish or purplish color instead of the usual pink or red. It can look mottled also.

LEDUM, the remedy best known for puncture wounds is very well indicated for bites and stings. It affects the deeper tissues under the surface of the skin and can prevent infection. Ledum has some of the classic Apis symptoms, but there is a sensation of coldness internally while still desiring cold applications externally. The color of the skin in the sting area may be darker, more red than pink, and it may be slightly numb, or the pain may feel like it is spreading upward from the site.

It is best to dispense Ledum in any type of puncture wound and combine with the remedy that suits the other symptoms.

URTICA URENS includes sensations of burning and itching along with the stinging pain.