It’s worth taking a few remedies away with you if you’re going on holiday just in case you face any of these common problems. They really can make all the difference. Dosage and potency are advised at the bottom, and you’ll notice the same remedies cropping up for different problems so you really don’t need that many.
FEAR OF FLYING
If you are a nervous flier the remedies to consider are Aconite (terror, fear of dying), Argentum-Nitricum (active imagination, paralysed by anxiety, gastric troubles) and Arsenicum (restlessness, cold, anxious). Helios do this in a triple combination if you wanted to take all 3 but you could check out the individual remedies and check if you really need them all. If you are nervous the night before, your chosen remedy will help you get a better night sleep, but on the day put a few pills into a bottle of water to sip when you feel fearful at the airport or on the plane.
TRAVELLING TROUBLES
The most common problem when you travel is motion sickness. Symptoms usually include nausea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness. The most common remedies are Coccolus (nausea and dizziness worse by even thinking of food, worse when chilly, or surrounded by noise, feel they need to lie down), Tabacum (pale and clammy, want to lie still and close their eyes), Petroleum (especially good when exhaust or fuel fumes aggravate their sickness, hungry for small amounts with increased saliva) and Nux-vomica (irritable, loud and violent vomiting).
Another problem many people get when they fly is ear pain or sinus pain from the changes in air pressure and altitude, especially whilst taking off and landing. These can be helped by taking Kali-mur just before takeoff and just before landing. This can help with the pain and crackling in your ears and prevents later complications.
BITES AND STINGS
The number one remedy for bites and stings that become red, hot, itchy, stinging or swollen is Apis. Other remedies to consider are Urtica-urens (stinging) and Ledum (wound feels numb and is cold, but better for cold compress). Also consider Aconite if there is terror around getting bitten or stung, or Arnica if the area around the bit or sting feels bruised.
SUNBURN AND HEATSTROKE
Take a few doses of Cantharis if you get sun burnt, or if the burn is bright red and you have a headache or chills starting Belladonna is the remedy to reach for. Some people are so sensitive to the sun they get itchy or stinging eruptions if they stay out in it, this is when you need Urtica-urens. If you are that sensitive and you come out of the sea covered in itchy welts this remedy will help that too.
Helios do a combination remedy for sunburn & heatstroke which combines the remedies Belladonna, Cantharis, Sol and Urtica Urens.
DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS
The number one remedy for food poisoning, from eating food you’re just not used to is Arsenicum. There will be stomach pains, diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting.
Travellers constipation can be helped with Alumina (no urge at all to go to the toilet) or Nux-vomica (you have the urge, but can’t go, or feel unfinished when you go).
The other holiday digestive remedy is Lycopodium. This is indicated if you have a lot of wind, bloating and feel full after just a few mouthfuls of food.
DOSAGE AND POTENCY
Take the indicated remedy in a 30C or a 200C. Repeat as often as necessary but stop as soon as the symptoms are gone. If the remedy helps, but wears off you can repeat it again and again as long as necessary. If you try a remedy 3 times half an hour apart but it doesn’t seem to have helped at all, stop and look for a different remedy.