If you were listening in yesterday, you’ll have heard guest Fiona Theokritoff sharing some homeopathic hints and tips for dealing with winter colds and treating the effects of over-indulgence at Christmas.

Here are a few notes from Fiona, to remind you of some of the things she had to say…

Colds crop up for most of us in winter. Once you have a cold it needs to take its course but homeopathic remedies can often help.

Help yourself as well by drinking lots of fluids and resting, which means staying off work for a day or so if necessary. If you’re home alone, make a flask of hot drink so you don’t need to get out of bed.

Early stages

A remedy I often recommend is Ferrum phos. It’s very useful when you start to feel a bit hot/cold, as you are going down with something. People may start asking if you feel alright as they can see you look a little flushed.

Streaming colds

For heavy colds with streaming nose and eyes, a remedy such as Allium cepa may help. This remedy is made from onion. Remember what can happen when you chop onions? Well if your cold symptoms feel like that, Allium cepa is a good choice. It’s a good illustration of the homeopathic idea of like curing like. Onions can cause that nose streaming, so in turn a special preparation of onion can help when symptoms like that appear.

Symptoms afterwards

Sometimes colds leave other symptoms behind. One problem is blocked Eustachian tubes which results in hearing being affected. This can be a problem for both adults and children. In this case I suggest Pulsatilla.

Find remedies in health shops – chemists also sell them too. Each remedy is known by its name (often in Latin) then a number. The number is the strength (or potency). For most home prescribing, including colds, use 30 potency . For colds take one pill every 10 minutes for three doses. Then see how you feel. If you feel better, do not repeat unless or until symptoms return somewhat. You may need one more batch of three the same day and possibly one batch the next day.

Keep your immune system strong

Really important if you work in an office or other environment with lots of colleagues – here’s how:

You are what you eat. Keep your diet varied – not too much stodge even though the weather is getting colder. The key is variety. Don’t eat too many wheat based foods as they can make you feel sluggish. Aim to eat just one meal with wheat each day – so if you’re having pasta for tea, try an alternative to sandwiches at lunchtime. Also remember the food rainbow – eat as many different coloured vegetables as you can. Soups and smoothies with fruit and vegetable juices are good choices.

Keep up your water intake especially if you are in an office where the atmosphere is drying. It’s vital to keep everything flowing!

Get out and about – if you work/spend the day inside, take a 10-15 minute brisk walk preferably in the middle of the day. The sun will be at its highest then. Getting some sunlight everyday helps to ward off SAD as well as being good exercise.

Our winters are dark and most of us miss the light. So try to turn the dark nights into a chance to see friends more often. Form a book group, get together to chat over crafts – it’s a chance to have a laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

Keeping your spirits up is vital for health. Make sure you laugh about something every day. Try smiling at everyone you see – see the effect it has on you as well as those you smile at!

Looking after yourself at Christmas  

Over-indulgence – when you’ve eaten (or drunk) too much, Nux vom 30 should help restore you.

Overtired but can’t sleep?  Try Coffea 30.

For advice about using remedies at home for common ailments, email me at fiona.theokritoff@ntlworld.com – and to get the most out of Christmas for yourself, why not come along and join me for Dark Days and Christmas Lights?

This two-hour workshop, from 10am to 12 noon on Thursday 3 December, will help you to use your energy efficiently around the festive season and focus on what will make Christmas a good time for you, not just everyone else. Included in the session will be advice and remedies for seasonal health challenges such as SAD.

Places are £5 each, notes to take away are provided and the workshop takes place at 108 Barnbygate, Newark NG24 1QR. For more information or to make a booking, call 01636 679290 or visit the Events page of my website.