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From time to time in my practice a client may need surgery for one reason or another. It may be to assist with cancer surgery; hiatal or inguinal repair surgery; knee surgery, or simply the extraction of a wisdom tooth. What these clients share in common is a desire to know if there is anything they can take to reduce the trauma of the experience; assist with pain or bruising; prevent infection; hasten healing with minimal scarring; and help with reactions to the anesthesia. What I do for these people is prepare a surgery packet, with the remedies that are most likely needed to help them go through the experience with minimal trauma and to heal quickly. They may or may not need all the remedies in the packet, but at least they will be at their fingertips if they do require them.
Arnica Montana
The first remedy I recommend them to take is Arnica montana, usually in the 30C potency the night before they go in for surgery, so that it has a little bit of time to work and prepare them for the operation. They may or may not need to repeat this remedy again at some time after thesurgery.
Recently I had a client who went in for ovarian cancer surgery. About ten days after the surgery she came to my office again and presented with such a beautiful picture of Arnica montana, that I would like to share her description of her sufferings with you:
“I feel like I have been turned in a barrel with lumps, like I have been beaten up, and I am bruised all over. If my partner takes a speed bump or the cat jumps on me I wince. I feel a global soreness. I feel like someone has beaten me up with a rock in the neck and back. I feel vulnerable, guarded, overprotective and don’t want to be touched anywhere.”
This was such a beautiful description of the Arnica state, so I gave her a 200C strength of the remedy, which helped within a day or two with the pain and feelings she was describing. She did not feel beaten up, bruised or sore anymore and was able to reduce her vicadin consumptionsignificantly.
Characteristics of Arnica
Arnica is a flower of the daisy or Compositae family, and interestingly several other very important remedies in homeopathic first aid come from this family as well, such as Bellis perennis, which is a wonderful remedy for injuries to soft tissue, such as the breast, and Calendula officianalis, which I will describe shortly.
1) Think of Arnica for situations where there is trauma to the body, such as a fall; a bicycle or car accident; to hasten the healing of sprains; back and hip-joint injuries with lameness and soreness; head concussion; gunshot wounds; wounds caused by blunt instruments; and to help minimize the trauma and bruising from surgeries.
2) Often the person who needs Arnica will say that there is nothing the matter with them and will decline to be taken to the hospital or treatment offered. This is one of the characteristics of the person who needs Arnica, that they say they are okay when they are obviously not. This may happen because the body releases natural endorphins following traumatic injuries which make the person feel they are okay when theare not.
3) Arnica has a bruised feeling, and it can be used topically or internally to heal bruises.
4) Soreness is another hallmark of Arnica. If you are not on a constitutional remedy already, you can use Arnica to help with sore muscles after overexertion, like working in the garden too long. In this case I would use it in very low potency such as a 6X or 6C.
5) Fear or aversion to being touched, because of the sore, bruisedcondition of the body or psyche.
6) This remedy prevents postpartum hemorrhage, and can help both the mother and baby recover from a difficult birth.
7) Often people who need Arnica will complain that the bed feels too hard. They cannot get comfortable in the bed.
I am hardly touching on the uses of this wonderful homeopathic remedy, but it is certainly one of the most important homeopathic remedies to have in your medicine chest. It addresses so many first aid and traumatic conditions, that I believe if this remedy were in every American household, visits to emergency rooms nationwide would be reduced by 30%.
Hypericum Perfolatum
The second remedy I want to tell you about, which I include in my surgery packet in the 30C potency, is Hypericum perfolatum, which is known in herbal medicine as St. John’s Wort. This remedy produces miracles in injuries to areas rich in sentient nerves, and is often required after hernia repair surgery to alleviate pain in the abdomen.
1) Hypericum has an affinity for injuries to areas rich in sentientnerves, such as the spinal chord, coccyx, fingers, toes and teeth.
2) Think of Hypericum for pain that radiates to different parts of the body; and also for wounds that are particularly painful.
3) Hypericum can make a person who is quite miserable with a toothache happy very quickly; and actually do a lot of healing to the nerves ofthe tooth in the process, often reducing the need for dental surgery. (For the teething pain of children think of Chamomilla).
4) Hypericum and Ledum palustre are two very important remedies to think of for wounds from animal or insect bites. There are many other remedies for animal bites, but these are the two primary ones. In Hypericum the pain would radiate from the site of the wound, and in Ledum the person would want the part to be iced, and would feel better from ice.
5) Ledum, Hypericum, Calendula and Apis and a few other remedies should be thought of for puncture wounds. In a puncture wound where the pain is severe think of Hypericum. Think of it for pain after a lumbar puncture. Ledum and Hypericum are also the main remedies listed for
painful injections, and for nails or splinters in the foot or palms of the hands.
6) Hypericum also prevents lockjaw or tetanus, and I would consider it the homeopathic alternative to the tetanus vaccine, though I do not believe it can be used prophylactically the way the vaccine is used in allopathic medicine. If a circumstance arises where someone is at risk of getting tetanus, such as walking barefoot on cow dung and stepping on a rusty nail, taking a dose of Hypericum, preferably in high potency, at that time, should be able to address the situation and prevent tetanus.
7) Other uses for Hypericum are in convulsions from head injuries; abdominal pain after laparotomy; pain in the coccyx after a forceps delivery; and in very painful hemorrhoids. It is also used for depression after an injury or surgery.
To drive home the beauty of this remedy, I will relate a personal Hypericum story. When my eldest son was a toddler, he had the unfortunate experience of having a door slammed on his finger during the raucousness of his older sister’s sixth birthday party. The fingertip was badly crushed and partially severed at the tip, and it was obviousthat he would need surgery to have it reconnected.
I, of course, was horrified that my baby was so badly injured. The first thing I did was give him a dose of Arnica 30C, and after five minutes I saw it wasn’t helping him at all with the pain. Then I switched to Hypericum 30C and within moments he stopped crying and actually became cheerful. Now I know to go with Hypericum first inthese situations, and not waste time with Arnica.
Then we went to the hospital. He was still happy; I was in shock.Then during the surgery he did experience pain or maybe he cried from all the people poking and prodding him. Subsequently I have learned that Hypericum can interfere with anesthesia given during the surgery,and prevent it from working.
Following the surgery, I put Calendula/Hypericum ointment on the bandage to help the wound heal, and I am happy to say that the finger healed beautifully. In the surgery packet I recommend people to take Hypericum on the sameday as the surgery, if they are in pain after the anesthesia wears off. This remedy can take the place of prescription pain medications. If the pain radiates, that’s another clue that this is the remedy to choose.
Staphysagria
Staphysagria is known in homeopathy as the “surgeon’s friend,” but I wonder how many surgeon’s in America’s hospitals know that they have this friend. In addition to its first aid uses, this is a wonderful constitutional remedy.
Think of Staphysagria for pain in the site of the incision or wounditself. It is also a wonderful remedy for the ill-effects of having the sphincter muscles stretched, and consequently it is a well-known in homeopathy for honeymoon cystitis.
I include Staphysagria in the 30C potency in the surgery packet to be taken after recovering from the anesthesia or on the following day if the wound itself is very painful, and if it is accompanied with irritability or anger.
Staphysagria is one of the main remedies in homeopathy for ailments from suppressed emotions, particularly suppressed anger. Dwelling on sexual matters is another characteristic of people who need this remedy.
Staphysagria is an important remedy for surgical shock, along with Calendula, Opium, Strontium carb and several other remedies.
Staphysagria should be thought of for wounds that bleed a lot, for deepwounds, for the chronic effects of wounds, and for painful wounds. All of the remedies that I have listed so far are good for preventing peritonitis following abdominal surgery.
Recently I had a client whose mother over the course of the years has had to have her hiatal hernia repaired surgically several times. Every time she went in for the operation, her daughter would ask me to recommend remedies for the surgical packet. The surgeries always proceeded beautifully without any complications, except for the last one where she developed peritonitis.
This time her daughter noted that theyhad neglected to take the Staphysagria, thinking that they did not need it. I asked the daughter to describe what was going on with her mother, and she said that the wound smelled like rotten eggs, that it was suppurating, bleeding, and very painful. These were all symptoms that Staphysagria covered, so we decided to see if taking the neglected dose of Staphysagria would make a difference, and indeed it did. She proceeded to recover beautifully.
Calendula Officianalis
Calendula, the yellow marigold flower, is a remedy that I am so much in love with that I cannot imagine any household in America being without it. I include the 30C or 200C of this remedy in the surgery packet to be taken on the third day after the surgery. Calendula Heals Wounds
wondrously. An internal dose of Calendula will take a septic wound and turn it around over night.
This remedy helps to prevent peritonitis and promote scarless healing, and healthy granulation of the tissues. It helps to inhibit keloid formation. Calendula is listed in my repertory for painful wounds, wounds that do not heal, chronic effects from wounds, wounds that tend to break open and heal again, dissecting wounds, festering wounds,gangrenous wounds, gaping wounds, inflammation of wounds, neglected wounds, suppurating wounds, and lacerated, torn or ragged wounds.
I cannot imagine going through a surgery without having this remedy as insurance. That is why I include it in the surgery packet to be taken on the third day, after the pain and trauma remedies have had their chance to work.
Germs cannot thrive in the presence of Calendula, and I will relate two more personal anecdotes of my experiences with this remedy. The first was from when my twenty-one year old daughter was a baby learning to walk. She had a tendency to fall down on the very same spot on her knee over and over again.
One day she fell down and the dirt was embedded so deeply within the wound that I was sure it would get infected because Icould not cleat it out. I put a band-aid with Calendula ointment on herknee, and in the morning the dirt was sucked up out of the wound in theknee and attached to the band-aid. That experience drove home to me howCalendula can clean up a wound.
Later when my eldest son was a teenager he also got a very bad wound on his knee. Calendula topically was not enough to heal the wound, and the wound looked infected. I gave him a 30C of Calendula internally and overnight the wound healed perfectly.
I also recommend Calendula tincture diluted in water on a gauze pad applied to the tooth socket after a tooth extraction to hasten the healing and closing up of the socket. A warm compress with Calendula tincture diluted in water can also be very soothing applied to the vaginal opening during labor, and for helping to heal the tissues. Calendula is also good for helping to heal bedsores.
Phosphorus
The last remedy I include in the surgery packet is Phosphorus 30C. This is also a deep-acting constitutional remedy. I recommend taking this remedy only if the patient is having trouble recovering from the effects of the anesthesia after at least a week has passed.
This is also a very important remedy for hemorrhages, and wounds that bleed excessively. People who need the remedy are often very thirsty and have a desire for carbonated drinks, juices, ice and ice cream. They are usually extroverted people who are highly sensitive and impressionable.
Phosphorus people are very sympathetic, affectionate and often clairvoyant. This remedy is vast, and is one of the most frequently prescribed remedies in homeopathy. I will not go further into describing its
marvels here.
Conclusion
As you can see homeopathy can be of great assistance to the patientundergoing surgery, or recovering from an injury. Please consult a homeopath to help you put together a surgery packet. Dosage is very important in homeopathy. Each packet contains a single dose of the remedy, which is anywhere from two to eight pellets depending on the size of the pellets. I can be reached at 650-569-6219 or by e-mail at Olenev@att.net to try to answer questions you may have. Enjoy good health!
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