Our Apothecary

A while back, my brother and his wife came up to visit for the weekend. Susan, my sister-in-law needed something from a pharmacy and asked me where to go. I mentioned the two local national chain pharmacies and she asked me which one I liked. At that moment, I realized that I had no opinion. Even though we moved to this area over two years ago, I never visited either one except for developing film. All of sudden, I realized my family had turned the corner. We have been in charge of our health care, nourishing our systems without the aid of mass-produced pharmaceuticals or allopathic medicine. Allopathy is a biologically or western-based approach to healing. For instance, if a patient has high blood pressure, an allopathic physician might give him/her a drug that lowers blood pressure. Then, perhaps, recommend lifestyle changes to facilitate lowering blood pressure, as well. Maybe.

I am not a purist. I appreciate all medical modalities and know there is a place for each one. We do have an allopathic family physician that we see for annual check-ups and blood-work. Over the years, it has felt like many physicians simply throw a pill at an illness. That style just does not fit us. When an illness or medical situation rears its head in our family, our first line of attack is to nourish our bodies, and strengthen our natural defenses. If my approach does not find positive results, of course, I would seek medical advice. However, as the years have passed, this tends to happens less and less.

For the most part, we have been able to nourish our bodies and take care of our health issues on our own. This did not happen overnight, but has evolved over the years. After much thought, I realized it started with how we view our bodies. Our bodies are quite amazing. They adapt to stressful conditions and have many lines of defense against invaders. When our systems are weakened or stressed, they need extra help, nutritious unprocessed food, exercise or rest and nourishing herbs. Through the years, we have learned what our bodies need at different times of the year. As our awareness of nutritious foods grew, we need less intervention from medicinal herbs to combat illness. Our focus, has switched from “fighting” illness to nourishing our bodies.

Although, you can find ibuprofen in our medicine cabinets, they tend to be stocked with tinctures rather than pills. Our pantry has more herbs for nourishing teas than culinary uses. Moreover, the best part is that many culinary herbs are medicinal as well as delicious!

The other day, I got a call from the school nurse who asked if I was in town. Apparently, Mathew’s arm was aching and he requested arnica for it. She didn’t have any, tried a warm compress, which didn’t work and hoped I would be able to come by to administer some arnica to Mathew. Arnica montana is wonderful for pain relief for strains, sprains, and bruises. It works by stimulating the flow of white blood cells that process congested blood and by dispersing trapped fluid from joints, muscles and bruised tissue. Mathew has been a big fan for many years. When I got off the phone with the school nurse, our conversation gave me pause as it validate that our family has indeed taken charge of our healthcare.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.