Wisdom of Healing

When my younger daughter, Mollie, was small, we fondly referred to her as the rash queen. Gratefully, she never seemed to mind these endearing names that came to her. She got a total of 14 different kinds of rashes, some of them two or three times. Her strep throat turned to scarlet fever twice.

She got chickenpox twice, too. The first time, she was under a year and a half, so she didn’t build up resistance and got them again a few years later; high fever and more than 700 itchy welts across her body. We counted them to take her mind off the itchiness for awhile.

Mollie had various tactile allergic reactions, sometimes to things that she ate or came in contact with, she got hand-foot and mouth disease, and reacted to two or three different antibiotics and another medication that I was dubious at best about giving her in the first place.

Each different rash had its own characteristics, often a slight fever accompanied them and some had other side symptoms. They all seemed to me to relate to her liver health. Unfortunately, we weren’t having complete success with restoring her immune system to good health. Her dad had just gotten a new insurance plan and wanted to try western medicine, drugs; I reluctantly gave in.

The rashes became a bit more frequent, as did her bouts of strep. We had some successes in finding ways to deal with the rashes and accompanying fever, but I wanted to get to the core of the issue, so that she wouldn’t have to suffer. Mollie was normally a very feisty gal when she was a kid. The funny thing was that she became incredibly sweet, gentle and kind when she got sick. These details help with homeopathy, but from a Mom’s perspective, it made me want to hold her and rock her and comfort her in any way I could.

When Mollie was about four and a half years old, I had a consultation with a healer friend of mine about her repeated bouts of strep, the rashes and all that was going on with her health. We discussed the idea of feeding her more roots, lots of dark leafy greens and spicy herbs such as ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, basil and oregano. Having taught whole foods cooking classes, I suggested a few of my most favorite dishes that incorporate combinations of these culinary herbs and spices that I thought she would like.

We always tried to include Mollie in any discussions that involved her health or education, so she was with me for the consultation. Mollie looked up at me at this point and boldly stated, “I won’t eat it like that. But you can put anything that’s gonna help into my miso soup; but you better cut it up really small, ‘cause I sure don’t want to see it.”

This dramatic statement didn’t really surprise me, knowing Mollie’s strength and tenacity, but it certainly startled my friend. “She likes miso soup, huh?”
“Loves it.” I replied. “She eats it at least once, usually twice, every day; but it’s got to have a lot of miso. She loves lots of sea vegetables, roots and kale, too, cut up real small.”
“That’s great! Good luck with this. I hope it helps her.” I bet it did. It took some time, but her immune system has become quite strong.

Both of my daughters enjoyed drinking herbal teas. We made them by the quart or half gallon. They often contained nettles and red raspberry, since Kaia loved nettles and Mollie favored red raspberry. Both are nourishing to the skin and detoxifying for the blood. We also made several versions of Indian spiced teas, such as chia and Mu tea.

Kaia liked to use a high quality aloe vera healing gel with comfrey on her skin throughout the summer and autumn months, and Mollie liked to use the aloe because her big sister did. I have found that the high grade aloe vera is so much more effective for us than the regular ones (nearly every product on the market). Ideally, we want to be certain that it’s hand filleted or hand extracted. As you can imagine, this is much more labor intensive than dumping a truckload to be pulverized at one time. These superior products work very well for restoring the skin, protecting and nourishing to help the body heal itself.

Calendula was Mollie’s herb of choice for topical use on her rashes. There are several good calendula products on the market, many of them are homeopathic formulas, but our first choice was always Boiron – Calendula Lotion, the only one that comes in a 6.7 oz bottle. It worked for her every time we used it.

We first learned of this particular product when Mollie had her second round of chickenpox. When a child gets them a second time, it is more serious, like when an adult gets them. She was very sick, had a frighteningly high fever and heaved everything she tried to eat. We bathed her with oatmeal and herbs, and made sure she drank plenty of water. Nothing seemed to work on the eruptions though; they were as itchy, irritated and about as inflamed as could be.

A lady at our local health food store suggested that we try the Boiron’s Calendula Lotion because the feedback she’d gotten from a few loyal customers was that it helped when nothing else would. I was desperate to find relief for my itchy child. Calamine lotion, oatmeal baths etc felt good, but she (and I) had gotten very little sleep the night before due to her discomfort and we both needed a get night’s rest.

We bought several brands of calendula products, creams, gels and salves over the years; and they were all good, but this particular calendula lotion seems to be helpful (for Mollie and others that I’ve spoken with) even when nothing else seems to.

We’ve also used several good herbal healing salves containing St John’s wort, comfrey and calendula. My three favorites, other than the ones I’ve made myself, are Avena Botanicals’ Heal All Salve, Herbal Ed’s Salve produced by Herb Pharm and Comfrey Compound Salve. They helped soften and provide relief from the itching for awhile, but Boiron’s Calendula Lotion literally helped every rash she ever got once we found it.

One time, we were out of it and she had a fiery red rash with a medium grade fever. We used at least six different gels and creams during the first day and a half. They each provided her temporary relief, but within fifteen minutes she was itchy and irritated again with a field of red pimple-like bumps across her belly, left side and both arms.

I called our local health food store where we usually bought it, but they were out. I called each of the next six or seven health stores progressively less near me, but nobody had one on hand. I finally found one at a store more than a half hour away. I drove out there to buy it and returned to find Mollie with her winter mittens on so that she wouldn’t scratch her itchy body!

We smeared the calendula lotion liberally across the red patches of bumpy skin. her discomforts subsided in just a few minutes. When it began to return thirty minutes later, we reapplied the lotion. We put it on one more time before she went to bed an hour or so later. The rash hadn’t returned yet, but we wanted her to sleep comfortably. In the morning, her skin looked normal and her fever was gone. We loved that product!

If I knew about neem back then, I’m sure I would have tried it with her numerous rashes. Neem is amazing for folks with very dry, irritated, rashy, oily or combination skin. There’s a great neem lotion or cream from the Thera Neem folks called Neem Leaf & Oil Cream that I’ve seen help with a couple of peculiar rashes these last several months. My guess is that it would have been a second ‘tool in the tool shed’ had we only known!

There are so many side effects associated with the over-the-counter and prescription rash preparations out there on the market. It’s a relief to know that there are some safe, sane, gentle and helpful alternatives that we can try instead.

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