Summer holiday, diarrhoea and Homeopathy

Booking your summer holiday? Don’t forget the diarrhoea remedies!

Many of us are perusing the holiday brochures, penciling dates in the diary for our Summer holiday and it is easy to forget that many destinations should come with prior warning – an almost inevitable few days, often at the beginning of the holiday, when we seem to disagree with local cuisine, climate and suffer from diarrhoea.

Since this often happens when you are miles away from home and unable to speak the local language proficiently, it is best not to forget to include some remedies which may help deal with the dreaded diarrhoea, in your holiday suitcase.

As diarrhoea is the body’s way of quickly removing impurities and toxins from the digestive system, it is advisable to allow natural processes to take their course, within reason. Avoid dehydration by drinking plenty of fluids, but if symptoms persist, you could try one of the following remedies.

Arsenicum  – first remedy to try for food poisoning, when diarrhoea is often accompanied by vomiting and nausea, you feel chilly, weak and restless.

Colocynthis  – diarrhoea is accompanied by dreadful stomach cramps, the pain comes in waves and your intestines feel as if they are being squeezed, doubling up eases the pain as does hard pressure, you are very angry.

Phosphorous  – the diarrhoea is very watery and often painless, feels like a tap has been left on, you crave cold water but this is vomited up as soon as the stomach has warmed it through.

Podophyllum  – you can’t tolerate food, there are gurgling sounds and after painless diarrhoea.

Veratrum alb  – only use as an emergency remedy where you have diarrhoea and violent vomiting, you sweat, feel cold and suffer from painful cramps that may lead you to collapse, you crave ice-cold water

(Homeopathy for Common Ailments by Robin Hayfield)

This article was first published in the ARH Newsletter, "Homeopathy, Healthy Medicine".