Homeopathy for pregnancy

A few weekends ago, my round ligament pain was getting so severe I wondered if something more serious was wrong. It seemed like every time I moved, I was rewarded with a sharp, sudden pain in my abdominal area. It didn’t last long, but it was extremely uncomfortable and occured frequently. I started taking the homepathic remedy hypericum, which is good for muscle pain during pregnancy, and the symptoms have all but gone away.

I love how homepathy works like magic sometimes!

Homeopathy remedies come in a variety of strengths. The higher the number, the more diluted the remedy, and the stronger it is.

Pulsatilla is also a big favorite of mine. It’s good for those pregnancy mood swings (and the accompanying ones my toddler gets!). Last time I was pregnant my place of employment was going through some major changes that were quite unpleasant and unwelcome. I knew I just needed to get through until the baby was ready to come, but it wasn’t easy. Pulsatilla was a lifesaver there. And this time around, it’s great when I haven’t got my nap in and I’m a tad cranky. Hey, it’s those pregnancy hormones! I don’t think they’re easy to live with either. Chamomilia also works for both my daughter and I. We call them our happy pills.

Two other generally useful remedies are Arnica and Aconite. Arnica is great for general pain, and is a must-have for any first-aid kit. It’s also good for pain after childbirth, and for any of those bumps little (and big) kids get. Aconite is a good remedy to take when you feel like you’re coming down with a cold. As my body is giving most of its stuff to this fetus, I’ve found myself fighting a lot of colds this year. Aconite helps give a little extra oomph (along with Vitamin C) so that I don’t end up with a full-blown out illness.

WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?

Never tried homeopathy and don’t really know what I’m talking about? Homeopathy is an alternative to traditional medicine as drugs really only treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. If you have a headache, taking aspirin may remove the pain in your head, but it won’t fix the allergy, stress or other problem your body is experiencing. And the headache will return.

Homeopathy focuses on the whole person, and ties together physical symptoms with emotional ones, paying attention to the entire way you respond to an illness or stress rather than just what is most apparent (ie. the headache).

Homeopathy is a safe and effective system of medicine with no side effects, that assists the body's efforts to heal itself physically, mentally and emotionally. 

My family has been using homeopathy for my entire life. I see it work wonders on kids, in particular. Nothing works better than homeopathic teething tablets for those babies! It can take longer for adults to see results — probably because we have so many toxins in our bodies that it’s harder for our bodies to respond to these gentle treatments.

A great place to buy remedies is from Luyties, 1-800-Homeopathy.

WHERE CAN YOU BUY HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES?

For years, my family has purchased items from Luyties Pharmacal, a company that’s been in business for over 150 years. Buy items at their web site http://www.1-800homeopathy.com. 

Most Natural Foods Coops carry some remedies, although the supply can be limited. 

One of the largest selections in the Twin Cities is available at Present Moment, 3546 Grand Avenue S., Minneapolis 55408. www.presentmoment.com

FURTHER READING

If you’re new to homeopathy, I recommend these books:

• Homeopathic Medicine At Home by Maesimund B. Panos

This one-volume compendium of homeopathic information includes the history of homeopathy, an explanation of its principles, and advice on dosage. A full pharmacopoeia of natural remedies for common ailments and injuries, it also contains sections on homeopathy for children and pets.

• The Complete Homeopathy Handbook: Safe and Effective Ways to Treat Fevers, Coughs, Colds and Sore Throats, Childhood Ailments, Food Poisoning, Flu, and a Wide Range of Everyday Complaints by Miranda Castro 

The Complete Homeopathy Handbook is the definitive guide for using homeopathic remedies at home. It includes A-to-Z listings for external and internal remedies, with explanations for correctly diagnosing the symptoms of any particular injury or illness. The book also includes ten case studies and specific dos and don'ts to follow when treating more than seventy conditions.

PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

You may feel more comfortable with someone trained in homeopathy advising you on which remedies to take. There are many qualified homepathy and naturopaths around. I see the homeopath in Cambridge, Beth Knudtsen-Spears of Classical Homeopathy, and highly recommend her. 

www.spearsnaturalhealth.com

807 Main Street North, Cambridge, MN 55008

(763) 552-4325

Living without coffee and wine during pregnancy

What’s the hardest thing about being pregnant? For me, it’s giving up wine and coffee. I do it because I must, but that certainly doesn’t mean I give it up without complaining. It’s awfully hard to go an entire nine months without two of the things that make your life happy. And I’m pretty sure this kid won’t understand until she’s pregnant; and if it’s a boy, well, he’ll never understand the sacrifice. But that’s part of being a mom, right?

That’s what I tell myself when I’m in the clutches of a powerful craving for a good glass of syrrah, or pinot, or raspberry wine. Heck, I’d go for a glass of California cabernet right now!

You can guess my level of excitement when I discovered a non-alcoholic wine recently. Yep. Wine with the alcohol removed! Brilliant! 

 

My sister, who is also pregnant, bought me a bottle of Fre for my birthday. It was heavenly. The great thing about Fre is that it isn’t sugary like all those other wine substitutes. It really tastes like wine (at least to someone who has been living without for months upon months). I also recently tried  Ariel’s Cabernet Savignon, but it was not nearly as good. It tasted more like watered down juice.

Fre comes in White Zinfandel, Brut, Premium White, Premium Red, Merlot, and Chardonnay. Fre is owned by Sutter Home Winery, which has been producing wine in the Napa Valley since the late 1800s. The grapes for the alcohol-removed wine come from the 7000 acres of the Trinchero Family Vineyards. The winery produces all of its Fre alcohol removed wines at the St. Helena facility where the spinning cone is housed. 

According to its web site, Fre is produced using the revolutionary spinning cone column, which facilitates the removal and safeguarding of fragile wine aromas and flavors at low temperatures, then removes the alcohol at slightly higher temperatures. The wine essences are then reintroduced to the dealcoholized base wine and blended with unfermented grape juice. The finished product is a fresh, delicious beverage with the characteristic aromas and flavors of premium wine, yet with less than 0.5% alcohol and less than half the calories of regular wine.

ABOUT FRE

• Through the de-alcoholization process of producing Fre, less than one half of one percent of alcohol remains in the wine — an alcohol content approximately equivalent to the alcohol content of orange juice left out of the refrigerator overnight.

• Fre wines have half the caloric content of alcoholic wines.Fre wines average 70 calories per 8 ounce serving.

• Fre does not contain any gluten or gluten products. All of the natural flavors of the wine are fruit derived. They are not kosher.

 

CHICKORY INSTEAD OR COFFEE

Onto the coffee issue. I really miss my morning coffee. It wasn’t so bad during those first three months when I couldn’t eat anything. I drank my Red Raspberry tea like a good pregnant woman, and didn’t go near a coffee shop. But when I started to need a place to camp out and study for my master’s class, it got harder to stay away from coffee... And as soon as I sniffed that lovely coffee smell I realized just how much I missed my morning cup of joe. And my afternoon cup of joe. And that evening pick-me-up cup of joe. Oh, for some coffee!!

Over the years, there have been times when I’ve decided to go off coffee for one reason or another. Show myself I’m not addicted to caffeine. Save my teeth from staining. Drink something healthier. Whatever. When I studied abroad in England I was introduced to chickory. Yummy stuff without the caffeine. Apparently it was pretty popular over here, too, during the Depression, but once that lifted we went back to the more expensive coffee. Periodically I’ve checked Google for chickory, but always without any luck. You can find the coffee-chickory mix from New Orleans, or the barley-roasted carob-almonds-natural coffee flavor-chickory mixes like Teeccino from natural food coops. But I’ve been looking for just plain ground chickory.

Good news folks! I finally found some!! It’s on Amazon. And it has made me very, very happy.

What are some things you hate living without during pregnancy? What treats do you compensate with? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

If you bring a pregnant woman on a girls trip...

You’d better be prepared to stop for food on a regular basis.

And if you stop for food, you’ll need to follow that up with some kind of non-caffeinated beverage. If you bring her to a coffee shop be prepared to hear a good dose of whining about how much she misses coffee and wine.

After you’ve satisfied your thirst, you’d better be sure you’re near a bathroom. WIth a pregnant woman around, you can’t ever be too far from a bathroom.

After she uses the bathroom, she’ll probably want to walk around a little bit and explore the town you’re in.

But don’t expect to stroll very far, because she’ll need a chair to sink back down into within a few blocks.

And then she’ll be hungry again...

First trimester blues

This second pregnancy has been nothing like the first. In fact, I realized I was pregnant before the tests showed it because suddenly all the things I loved (particularly coffee) left me feeling sick. It just got worse from there. I counted down the days until the start of my second trimester. Lucky for me, the naseau tapered down as I got to that mark and mostly ended within a few weeks of entering my second trimester. I’ve been careful about eating good food since — the stuff with spices, garlic and onions — to avoid the possibility of getting sick again. I have much more sympathy now for anyone who suffers during their pregnancy! 

I don’t think there is anyway to completely get rid of naseau during the first trimester (and my midwife told me its the sign of a healthy pregnancy as that baby is implanting well), but I found a few things to help.

This sparkling water (no sugar, no calories) has been a lifesaver for me.

1) LaCroix Sparkling Coconut Water

When I take out a can, my daughter knows mommy is sick. Even at 2 and a half, she’s smart enough to tell me I need “pop” when I tell her I am sick. Such a sweetie. I love this flavor best because it is lighter than the berry and lime ones, and lacks the bit of acid some of the others do. I also like it because, unlike Ginger Ale, it isn’t packed with sugar and calories. (And strangely enough, processed sugar was one of the things that made me sickest.) It’s just sparkling water. Grab a can and feel some relief trickle through your system.

An age-old remedy for nausea.

2) Ginger

The standby for naseau is ginger. Ginger Ale. Ginger tablets. Ginger drops. Raw ginger. Scrap the raw stuff into your tea! 

Keep peppermint handy when you're driving or hanging out with friends.

3) Peppermint

I keep mints handy for whenever I get a stomach ache, and in that first trimester having a purseful saved me many times. Peppermint calms the muscles of the stomach and improves the flow of bile, which the body uses to digest fats. 

4) Naps

I love naps. Lucky for me, my daughter still naps, most of the time anyway. I definitely needed that mid-day rest in order to keep functioning the rest of the day. I still need it in my second trimester!

5) Figure out your triggers and AVOID THEM. AT. ALL. COSTS. My problem was that EVERYTHING seemed to trigger my stomach issues. I did finally wise up to sugar, and cut that out. I started using a bit of honey to sweeten my tea instead. I tried to eat foods that were simple. Plain potatoes. Plain lettuce. Rice without the tomatoes, vegetables and garlic I usually add. I completely removed onions from my diet. I have to confess I ate a lot of Ramen noodles with stewed tomatoes because I knew that would work for me. I didn’t feel healthy, but at least I was getting something down.

I hope you feel better soon!

Bring on the spinach

Pregnancy and iron-deficiency go hand-in-hand for me. I was sure this time around it would be different because I started taking an iron supplement the minute I knew I was pregnant. But that first pin-prick of blood revealed that I was just barely holding on, again. During my first pregnancy my hemoglobin wavered between 9 and 11.5, right there on the low end. I hemorrhaged at birth when a piece of my placenta tore, and the recovery was pretty long and drawn out. This time around, I want things to go differently. I need stronger blood.

Thus the focus in my household is this: make sure momma eats lots of iron. That means everyone is eating lots of iron-rich foods — my husband, my daughter, and anyone who comes for dinner. I should really buy a spinach farm given the amount of spinach I have been ingesting. I eat a spinach salad once a day, throw frozen spinach in my morning smoothie (pineapple and chocolate protein powder hide the taste quite nicely), and use it in whatever suppers I can get away with. The cool thing about frozen spinach is that if you break it up, it looks just like fresh herbs in a soup or hot dish. 

When I can, I mix that spinach with beef. We bought half a cow from a local farmer at the end of December. My freezer is packed to the brim with 90 pounds of burger, roasts, steaks, and soup bones. We’ve been eating so much beef I am almost sick of it and have been working at least one non-beef meal back into our supper rotation. But beef has lots of protein and iron, and so I’m going to suffer through it. Beef, it’s what’s for dinner, honey. As both my husband and daughter are carnivores, they don’t complain. I do draw the line at eating liver. My husband did his very best during my first pregnancy to cook me a lovely liver dinner. He marinated the stuff, and then grilled it. It should have been delicious, but I couldn’t choke down a single bite. It’s the thought that counts, right?

A big bottle of Floradix goes for about $38 on Amazon.com. Or, buy it from your local natural foods co-op or vitamin shop.

I take my Floradix liquid iron supplement religiously, as recommended by my midwife, Jeanne Bazille. Combined with B vitamins and vitamin C , it provides one of the highest absorption rate you can find. It doesn’t include any harmful additives, such as lead, pesticide residues, alcohol, preservatives or artificial coloring. And it is gluten-free. http://www.floradix.net/ I also use the calcium-magnesium blend to solve a variety of problems such as pregnancy-induced constipation. Floradix makes some great liquid vitamins. I’ve always preferred liquid vitamins as I hate swallowing pills. Plus, your body can ingest them faster and use them easier. Porta-potty owners will testify to the amount of pills they see in the potty that came right back out, unused by the body.

Are you struggling with anemia? I’d love to hear what you’re doing to resolve the issue!

Here’s a recipe you might want to try:

This cookbook focuses on local food shared by local folks.

POTATO SPINACH SOUP

From Spica Farm, Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook

Serves 6

3 cups potatoes, diced

1 large onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. lemon pepper (I added more. This really makes the soup!)

1 T. fresh basil, chopped

1 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped, or 1/2 tsp. dried

1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 tsp. dried

1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 lb. fresh spinach, chopped (I used frozen)

2 ounces cream cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese

Put 5 cups hot water in a large saucepan. Add the first seven ingredients. SImmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add water if needed. Add the rest of the ingredients. Heat and stir until cheese is melted. Salt and pepper to taste.