In Calgary, there is a teeny tiny window of bug-free evenings that happens in early spring when you sometimes get warm temperatures in the day, and the heat remains for at least a couple of hours past dinnertime. For those of us who are bug-repulsed either by their presence or their bite, we are in bug-free nirvana for maybe a week tops.
Some native Calgarians also like to smugly think that our mountain-influenced cooler air at night keeps the mosquito population down! Hah! Just ask any mom or dad sitting on the sidelines of a spring soccer game. The bugs are there – and they are biting!
Traditionally, the May long weekend in Alberta is for the home gardener. We are ever the optimists! I refuse to tell you how many long weekends we have had snow. Ugh. But occasionally, we do have the perfect weekend for planting. And bugs. So much for the 2-7 days of nirvana for the bug-challenged!
BITTEN BY THE BUG!
Today’s post will give you a few homeopathic remedy suggestions for bug bites to pop in your home/travel kit for the season, whether you are gardening, sitting on the sidelines at the soccer field, camping, golfing, or gone fishing. (I keep a kit in my bicycle panniers, just in case.)
For the most part, you really need not do anything with bites—unless you or your child gets those huge, nasty swellings with heat and itching or pain. This is where homeopathy can be of great help. But you do need to be aware of breathing difficulties (anaphylactic shock), which goes beyond the scope of a homeopathic remedy.
You can still give a homeopathic remedy in these emergency situations, but you are giving the remedy on your way to the emergency room. (In the Resources section below, you will find a link to the KidsHealth website that gives some advice on what to do in emergency situations. They also explain the difference between a bite and a sting although with homeopathy you simply need the symptoms without knowing if it is a bite or a sting.)
Homeopathic remedies for insect bites
Aconite
This is your first go-to remedy where there is any kind of shock with the insect bite/sting (or any kind of injury for that matter). At the soccer field? You might give Aconite for an accident if shock and fear are keeping your child sitting by your side rather than getting back in the game.
If your child is more scared because he/she was bitten than anything else, chances are good that Aconite will be very helpful.
Another possible scenario might be that your child who was bit earlier in the day suddenly wakes in a panic in the middle of the night because their bite is swelling or itching and they say something unusual like, ‘Am I going to die?’ Give Aconite and you will all be able to go back to bed and sleep.
Apis
Apis is one of the most frequently used remedies (well…besides Chamomilla for teething and Arnica for accidents/bruising) by folks new to homeopathy. Apis is made from the venom of the bee (homeopathic ‘bee sting’). If you think of what a bee sting is like, swelling, heat, stinging kind of pain, and not wanting anything warm near the bite—you have a great picture or homeopathic Apis. This is the idea of ‘like curing like.’ What a bee sting can create, the homeopathic ‘bee sting’ can cure.
If you put your hand near the swollen area, you will feel a lot of heat and your child will want something very cold on the area.
This is likely the best single remedy I would give (besides Aconite) if you were worried about facial swelling and the risk of the bee/wasp poison affecting the brain. Give this on the way to emergency and it’s possible that you can really help avoid any serious damage.
Ledum
You will remember this little homeopathic remedy from the Tetanus post. Whenever you have a puncture wound where cold cloths or ice makes it feel better, you can use Ledum. If you think about it, a mosquito bite and a wasp or bee sting are really puncture wounds of microscopic size. How will you tell if you need Apis or Ledum? Where the Apis wound/sting will be hot, the Ledum wound/sting will feel cold to the touch. Both want ice and cold, but the Apis skin is hot to the touch and the Ledum cold to the touch.
This distinction is exactly how you individualize a homeopathic remedy – like curing like.
Vespa
Homeopathic preparation of yellow jacket, hornet. Wasp bites tend to be multiple stings, and this might help you if you are deciding between Apis and Vespa. This might be a situation where you have tried Apis and there is only a little relief. If the child or person says to you, it feels like a million red hot needles stabbing me, more likely Vespa will be a better choice.
And where Apis feels hot near or on the sting area, Vespa will feel cold around the sting area (Ledum). Both Apis and Vespa want cold applications, but where Apis is thirstless, Vespa may insist on sips of cold water.
Where Apis feels stinging pain, the pain in Vespa is more like electrical shocks.
And finally, there is a suffocating feeling or sensation in Vespa. This is where you can give Vespa, but you are on the way to emergency as this is possibly a situation of anaphylaxis – severe breathing problem.
Carbolic acid
This is the go-to remedy for those who have severe allergic reactions to bee stings and insect bites where Apis is ineffective. This is another possible remedy for anaphylactic shock (breathing problems); you can give it on the way to the hospital.
If your child can tell you of a choking feeling and you notice that they are becoming sleepy/weak, these are indications that this remedy will likely be a good choice. There will often be hives over the whole body. One of the other signs to look for is the color of the face. When Carbolic acid is needed, the face can be dusky red but the skin around the mouth and nose is pale.
Again, this is how you will differentiate the remedy needed for a bite or sting. Your observations are of most importance, especially for non-verbal children, adults and yes, pets too! Our pets can suffer from bites and stings.
INSECT BITE RESOURCES
For serious stings/bites where your child’s breathing is affected, you can give homeopathic Aconite, Apis, Vespa or Carbolic acid on the way to the hospital. Refer to Kidshealth for advice on emergency situations. If the medical emergency is about broken bones, blood, or breathing, only emergency medical intervention is going to help.
I wish for you a bug free, bite/sting free season but if you or a loved one gets bitten by any insect and has uncomfortable symptoms, get your homeopathy kit out!
For more information of homeopathy potency, dosage and frequency check out my resource: How Much, How Often, How Strong!
Yours in health and healing,
Donna
