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VIRGINIA NATURAL HEALTH
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Dr. Byron "Ted" Butchart, ND Naturopathic Physician
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"Treat the patient, not the disease."
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Offices in Charlottesville and Staunton Virginia
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Dr. Ted Butchart
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Home Medicine Cabinet
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Here's a list of useful items for your home medicine kit. All of
these products are on hand or can be ordered from our
dispensary (just give us a call), but you can also find some of
these in your local natural foods store, such as Rebecca's in
Charlottesville or Cranberry's in Staunton, VA. or from
www.iherb.com , a very reliable and reasonably priced online
store.
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Dr. Butchart's Articles
Keep the Energy Moving
Psycho-Emotional Health
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Printable Version
GENERAL
36-remedy homeopathy kit:
For general emergencies and minor trauma, a 36-remedy
homeopathy kit is very useful. The kits come with a small booklet
to help you decide which remedy to use. This is for bleeding (not
hemorrhages), diarrhea, trauma, anticipatory fear, nausea, and
much, much more. These kits will handle most common acute
medical issues and travel diseases, to at least decrease
symptoms and possibly resolve the issue and definitely should be
part of your first line first aid kit.
TOPICAL TREATMENTS
Minor trauma:
Arnica homeopathic cream. Use for bruises and contusions, it will
drastically reduce bruising and speed up tissue repair.
Poison ivy, poison oak, stiff achy joints:
Rhus Tox homeopathic cream. Very effective for stiff finger joints
and skin eruptions from poison ivy. Poison Ivy homeopathic pills
can be taken orally. I find that they will dry up most Poison Ivy
blisters in a couple of days.
Arthritis pain and stiffness:
Zeel homeopathic cream:. This is a topical cream, not an oral
painkiller. I have seen this cream relieve very intense arthritic
and nerve pain where nothing else was working.
Joint pain from inflammation:
Castor Oil is the best topical anti-inflammatory treatment. Strains
and joint inflammation from trauma or over-use will respond to
castor oil. We use one that comes in a handy roll-on dispense; a
small amount of castor oil will last for years. Note: Do not take
castor oil internally.
Apply the oil over the painful area, cover with a piece of flannel,
cover that with a layer of kitchen plastic wrap such as Saran Wrap
(the plastic wrap is simply to keep your heating pad clean), then
apply heat using a heating pad or other heat source. Keep the
heat on for 20-30 minutes. Repeat once or twice a day.
Combine this treatment with alternating hot and cold to the area
(the shower is an easy way to do this, direct the stream to the
painful area and switch back and forth from as cold as you can
stand to as warm as you can stand--but not so hot as to burn, of
course). Be careful with this hot/cold treatment with an elderly
person or anyone who cannot sense temperature easily and
might be burned. You want the cold to last 15-20 seconds, the
warm to last that long or more, and always end with the warm.
NAUSEA AND DIARRHEA
Nausea:
If nausea is from toxins such as dying yeast, dying cells from
chemo treatments, or simple motion sickness, try Activated
Charcoal. This absorbs toxins that might make you feel ill.
If nausea is from an intestinal bug, you could try Activated
Charcoal, but it might not work (it also won’t hurt anything).
Important note: charcoal will absorb almost any chemical, so do
NOT take it within 2 hours of taking pharmaceuticals or
supplements.
Diarrhea:
If you have traveler’s diarrhea or other bacterial infection, don’t
try to stop the diarrhea too quickly; this is your body’s healthy and
useful way of flushing out bacteria.
If it goes on too long you should stop it; you do not want to lose
too much fluid and electrolytes. Probioplex Intensive Care works
well for most forms of diarrhea. There are also specific strains of
probiotics that will lessen or stop diarrhea.
Probiotics and garlic capsules taken while traveling will decrease
the chance of contracting traveler’s diarrhea in the first place.
Diarrhea that is chronic, or is bloody, should be diagnosed and
treated, not just suppressed. There are many very effective
natural treatments for IBS, Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease.
INFECTIONS
Fight them off before they get entrenched
Flu:
As soon as you start to feel like you are coming down with the flu,
immediately take some Oscillococcinum. This is a homeopathic
remedy and effective; but you need to take it early in the course
of the flu, so having it on hand will be helpful.
ACES + Zn is a very good immune booster for when you start to
get sick. This is vitamins A, C and E, with selenium and zinc. Two
capsules give you 10,000 iu of vitamin A, which is the maximum a
woman should take if there is any chance of being pregnant.
Others can take much more than this for a matter of a few days.
Take ACES + ZN when exposed to sick people (like on airplane
trips) at one a day. If you feel you are getting sick, raise that to 2
or 3 per day.
One problem with colds or upper respiratory infections is that the
mucus can get very thick and difficult to clear. This sets up a
situation where bacteria can get going. Keep the mucus flowing
with NAC (n-acetyl-l-cysteine is a mucolytic, which means that it
will cut up the long chains of thick mucus and make it liquid
again). Mucus needs to be cleared from the body.
Bacterial infections:
There are several effective herbal antibiotics. EHB is a nice
combination of Echinacea, Hydrastis and Berberine. Another
good antibiotic is Pharmax brand’s Broad Spectrum Complex. I
would recommend keeping EHB at home to stop bacterial
infections early.
ALLERGIES
Seasonal allergies:
We use Vitamin C, 1,000 to 2,000 mg per day. Quercitin +
Nettles will make you less sensitive to environmental irritants. For
seasonal problems, start taking Quercitin + Nettles about 5 weeks
before your normal allergy season. For year around allergies,
take it all year.
Food allergy:
If the allergy is severe, leading to anaphylaxis, you should have
an Epi-Pen at home. Keep it fresh. Food-allergies, and the more
common food-sensitivities, can be tested and treated in the office.
GENERAL ADVICE
In my experience many people are taking too many supplements.
It is a waste of money and can be hard on the body to process all
of this input. Good multivitamins and Omega-3 oils are always
useful. After that, supplements should be targeted and used in
the minimal amount needed. Get your nutrition from your food,
not out of a bottle, whenever possible.
Multivitamins:
The food supply in America is damaged across the board.
Chemical farming, breeding for ease of transport instead of
breeding for nutrition….it all adds up to produce that is about half
as nutritious as it was 50 years ago. Unless you eat all organic
produce, or you eat a huge amount of fruit and vegetables, you
need a multivitamin in your diet. You still want to get most of your
nutrition from real food, but a slow trickle of vitamins and minerals
coming from a pill is a good idea.
We use vitamins from Thorne or Pharmax because we like the
quality. When you shop, look for capsules, not pressed tablets or
pills. Avoid multi-level marketed supplements; they cost far too
much and the quality is usually suspect. A supplement with a
huge list of herbs listed is usually not a great sign--there is so
little of any of them that it becomes nonsensical to even list them.
We do not find substantial differences between food based and
non-food based vitamins. At the high end of quality they both
perform very well.
Omega-3 Oils:
The American diet is very low in Omega-3 oils, and too high in
Omega-6 oils. Decrease your meat consumption to about 3
ounces per day at most. This is enough to provide all of your
protein needs, so it can easily be less or none. Increase
consumption of wild caught salmon and greens. You will still need
to take additional fish oil or flax oil. I prefer fish oil for most
cases. Use only highest quality fish oil. Pharmax, Nordic Natural
and Carlson’s are all good brands to look for.
Yeast Infections:
It is better to treat vaginal yeast infections topically with natural
suppositories than to use systemic anti-fungal pharmaceuticals.
Yeast Arrest works well for this. If you are having repeated
infections we need to find out if you have a systemic overgrowth
of yeast. Most commercial “yeast cleanses” do not seem to work
well. We have a good protocol which will clear the yeast.
Liver and Colon Cleanses:
Beware of most commercial liver cleanses. I do not find them to
be well designed and some can cause more liver damage than
doing nothing. Colon cleanses often have harsh herbal laxatives
in them. It is not true that your colon is all full of “junk.” We never
see that while doing colonoscopies. If your colon is slow, and you
are often constipated, then we need to improve the flow. We can
do that without harsh laxatives which can end up causing your
colon to be even less effective than before. If you need to
activate the colon, or clean it, it is better to use a certified colon
hydrotherapist. If you do any sort of cleanse we need to make
sure we are protecting you from the side effects.
© 2009, Dr. Ted Butchart. All rights reserved.
Virginia Natural Health, Charlottesville, Virginia and Staunton,
Virginia. 540-213-1350
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