Burns

Have you ever felt the sting of a summer burn and scrambled for relief? We've all been there, and that's why this episode is dedicated to unraveling the homeopathic solutions for those fiery moments. We unfold the layers of burn care, from the fiery heat burns that summer grills may cause, to the scalding surprises from a hot cup of tea or even the unexpected frostbite from a cold winter's day. Tune in to discover the degrees of burns, the critical rule of nines for assessing their severity, and the crucial immediate responses that could make a world of difference.

We're not just talking about any burn treatment; we're diving deep into the homeopathic treasury with remedies. You'll hear intimate stories that bring to life the power of these remedies, including one particularly compelling tale about Chamomilla's role in soothing the intense discomfort of burns. We'll discuss the emotional states of patients, the guiding principles of remedy selection, and share practical insights on managing burns with a homeopathic lens. Join us as we share knowledge, anecdotes, and invite you to contribute your own experiences, setting the stage for a community of healing and learning.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Homeopathy for Treating Burns
• 18:04 Burn Remedies and Chamomile Story
• 23:24 Home Remedies for Treating Burns

Transcript

Bri Hurlburt  0:00  

Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa. Hey Melissa.

Melissa Crenshaw  0:04  

Hey Bri. I'm excited to talk about burns, just in time for all your summer activities. 

Bri Hurlburt  0:13  

I know.  Me too. I feel like it's very appropriate. It'll come out just in time. If you're in any southern states, like I am, we are already in beach time, or if you've gone on spring break vacations, so we're going to cover burns. Obviously, burns are very painful. Most often we are dealing with minor burns, but more severe burns can also be treated and addressed with homeopathy. 

Most of you know there are different types of burns, but maybe you don't know all the different ways to tell or what they look like, so we're going to talk about that first.  We have general burns, which are from heat, like fire, the oven, stoves, scalds.  They often involve hot liquid.  They can sometimes be over larger areas because the liquid moves.

When you touch something, like the fire obviously, or a stove, that's more of an isolated burn where scalds do cover more body parts typically or larger areas of the body.  Burns from cold, so freezer burn or frostbite.  They're not necessarily cold burns, but the damage that they do to the tissue is almost identical. That is very interesting. That's really cool. Also why I love homeopathy, right? If you went to allopathic medicine, those would be treated differently, so this is fun. 

There are first, second, and third degree burns. Electricity can cause burning.  Radiation can cause burning.  That can often come from cancer treatment. There's sore skin.  Also, sunburn is considered a radiation burn. 

Allopathic medicine.  The word allopathic literally means opposite treatment, opposite medicine, or opposite of the pathology medicine. The first thing allopathic medicine would say to do is to start cooling the burn as quickly as possible.  Run it under cool water for at least 10 minutes, or until the pain feels better. After the burn has been cooled sufficiently over quite a period of time, it's safe then to use calendula cream or gel if it's a minor burn. Homeopathy says to cool the burn with more of a lukewarm water than cold. 

The first thing you're going to want to do is assess how bad the burn is. This sense of size: larger than the size of a person's hand, or if it's on the face, hands, feet, or if it's really deep, seek help. Don't just try to treat that all on your own. In most things, they talk about the rule of nines to identify if a burn needs help. So why is it called the rule of nines? Are there nine different things?

Melissa Crenshaw  3:26  

Well, that's what I thought at first when I read it, but it's 9%.  We're going to talk a little bit about that.  For an adult, if the burn is bigger than the palm of your hand, that's 9% of your body. Okay? When I say adult, your hand.  Child, their hand.  So the person.  The person who's gotten burned, 9% is the palm of their hand.  If it is bigger than that, then you need to get help. 

Bri Hurlburt  3:52  

Okay.  That's interesting. That's a good one to know. Okay, so the rule of nines.  A burn that's slightly bigger than your palm. Okay, that makes sense. 

Obviously remove any jewelry or clothing near the burn unless it's stuck to it. Never peel stuck clothing off of a burn. That just makes me cringe. Cover the burned area with kitchen cling film, such as shrink wrap, or a clean material that’s not fluffy, like a clean plastic bag.  That helps out the moisture escaping and keeps the wound clean. If you're uncertain, seek medical help. 

The different types of burns.  First degree burns. Those only affect the epidermis or the outer layer of the skin.  At the burn site, it will be red.  It'll hurt. It might look like it's dried up or slightly cooked, which is such a gross way to say that but that's fine. That makes sense.  First degrees don't usually have blisters.  A mild scald or a mild contact with something that is just red, hot, and sore. It can still be really painful, but there's no real deep tissue damage done, and there's usually not even blistering. A bad sunburn might be an example of a first degree burn, especially a bad sunburn before it blisters. I've seen that look wrinkly and dried up.  The type of burns that we might get in our kitchen are usually first degree, so just the outer layer of skin.

Sometimes we can get second degree burns in the kitchen also doing normal stuff. Those are also usually safe to address at home. Second degree burns, known as partial thickness burns, involve the epidermis, so the outer layer, and part of the dermis, so a little bit deeper.  The burn site will also be red. There will very often be blisters and it may be swollen or painful. So they're deeper.  They're a little deeper under your skin, and they're very painful. You can see immediately that the skin is broken and that there's layers that have been burned through. That's not just redness on the surface of the skin, but it's blistered and sore. 

You have to be careful with burns, even first or second degree, especially if they cover a large area of your body, because your body can go into shock. The worse the blisters are, the longer the burn will take to heal. Sometimes even in a second degree burn, they may require skin grafting so use your judgment.  If you're unsure, like we said before, get help. Go in. You can still use homeopathy either way.  If you go in you can still use it to help with the healing, but don't hear us say you should just stay home and do all this at home. Obviously you can get it checked out. So cool the wound, cover it with something like cling wrap or plastic, and if you're unsure, go get some help. 

Third degree burns are the most severe.  There is a category for fourth degree but it's very rarely used because they go through every single layer of the skin down to the bone sometimes and they are not painful because they have destroyed all the nerve tissue on the way down. They're curiously unpainful, but there may be pain as the nerves start to regenerate, so through the healing process.  That type of burn could be waxy and white.  The skin could be charred or dark brown. There may be blisters or flat blisters that look very dark, that don't blow up into a blister. Complications from that can be shock, infection, tetanus, hypothermia. When people are very badly burned, they lose a lot of heat through their skin, so their body can actually become hypothermic, and they lose a lot of fluid from the surface of the skin, so they can have hypovolemic shock. 

First aid for first and second degree burns are pretty much the same. You're going to cool it, cover it, give remedies, keep an eye on it, and then make a wise call, use your discernment and make a decision as to whether you can treat that at home or you need to go get some help. First aid for a third degree burn is not something you should do, it's not something you want to do at home.  Get that person to the hospital and you can help with recovery afterwards, but after the patient's been stabilized, especially using Cantharis and Causticum, which we'll talk about.

Hopefully that gives you some background and then as we talk about the remedies, Melissa's going to do that, you have a place for those when you think back on the treatment. 

Melissa Crenshaw  9:31  

Awesome. Thank you for that, Bri.  That was really good information. 

What we'll start with is Arnica, which you would give first in the beginning of a burn for the shock. It might help the burn, but it probably is not going to help the burn too much. We really are addressing the fact that there was a shock, right? Anytime you get burned, it's a shocking situation. If it's just a little first degree burn, you touched the stove, or the child touched a stove, and they jump back and get burned, I wouldn't worry too much about Arnica with that. I would just go right into the burn remedies. You can take it case by case, but for the most part, especially the more severe the burn is and the more shock that there was, Arnica.  I would give a 200C, and you could give it several times. You might even choose Aconite. You might consider Aconite. I would give one of those a few times, if needed, before starting the burn remedies.  They might just need one dose, but addressing the shock can help them to heal better. We're looking at the mental-emotional.  Let's get that calm.  You'll see some of these remedies that we talk about, talk about the mental-emotional condition of the person. When we get their mental-emotional picture calm, then they can heal better. 

The first burn remedy, my favorite, is Cantharis. You could use a 30. I really do like Cantharis 200 in an acute burn.  Cantharis is the Spanish Fly.  This can address any burn. It's my first go-to. Make sure it's in your first aid kit. Make sure you have it with you.  You can just use Cantharis without even thinking. It can address any burn. You can use it for first degree, second degree. You can even use it for third degree burns on your way to the hospital, right? It's just one of the best burn remedies. 

There might be blistering, swelling, a lot of pain, burning, tingling. Cold water feels better for this person. They want to put a cold cloth on the burn, or they want to stick the burned part into cold water. As soon as the water starts to warm up, or the cloth starts to warm up, the stinging pain comes back so then they want to hurry up and cool it again. They want fresh, cold water or a fresh, cold cloth. They keep asking, “Can you cool this off again?” because as soon as it's not cold anymore, the pain comes back. Cold is immensely soothing and it actually does help clear the pain quite a bit. 

Urtica urens is the stinging nettle and it's a remedy for more minor burns. You can find some creams that have Urtica urens in them, and you can use those creams topically if the skin isn't broken.  It's useful for those minor burns, the topical burns.  The skin will be hot and red.  Again, the skin should not be broken or blistered if you're going to use a cream on it.  If it is broken or blistered, you want to use the remedies by mouth instead of putting a cream on. 

You can use Urtica urens for first degree burns where there's no blistering. The skin is not broken, but it's red, hot, and uncomfortable.  It might be a little bit itchy. It's also useful for severe sunburn and scalds from hot fluids. The person might prefer something a little warm on their skin. The cold feels too cold. They don't like it. Sunburns with intense burning and itching. You might choose Urtica urens in a 6x.  The lowest potency you can get is what you want to start with.

Causticum is great for the second degree burn, even the third degree burn, again on the way to the hospital. Although you'll usually be helping a person afterwards for the ill effects of a third degree burn, you might choose to give some Causticum on the way, or you might give Cantharis and Causticum alternating after they get stable to help speed the healing.  It can take away a lot of the pain. These two remedies can take away a lot of the pain. 

This is a burning, raw pain.  The person might feel quite tearful. It's very good for helping burns to heal.  Even somebody who has a really severe burn and they're in the hospital, you can think of Cauticum for those people who are in the hospital for a long time with burns.  They might have even had skin grafts. This remedy can help them recover.

Arsenicum album. Most people know Arsenicum has burning pains, right?  Anytime we think of a burning sensation in the body, most of us think of Arsenicum album.  This can be good for a serious burn with a lot of pain. Remember a big keynote of Arsenicum is restlessness due to anxiety. They're moving.  They're pacing. They're moving from place to place and they're pacing because they're worried. They might be scared that they're going to die because of this burn or because of what's happening. They might be scared that it's not going to heal, right? They get really worried about their health condition.  

The person who needs Arsenicum does not like to be alone. They feel really cold. They're chilly. They might even say they're bone cold.  And very tired. Arsenicum has a lot of weakness and just tiredness. They don't want cold on any part. They want warmth. Even if their skin feels warm and they have burning pains, their burning pains are better for heat. The skin may be blackened.  The circulation to that part of the body might be compromised.  It can be useful in severe burns, especially when gangrene is developing or has developed, and when we're seeing the circulation is compromised and the blood flow to that part of the body is affected.  That's what can happen in burns, and especially burns to the fingers and toes.  We're going to think of Arsenicum album when all of those things happen, the compromised blood flow.  Arsneicum is one of our top remedies for gangrene. 

Secale cornutum. Secale cornutum is a lot like Arsenicum.  It's especially good for the burns to the fingers and the toes, where the circulation is compromised.  Gangrene, again.  The skin burns although it's cool to the touch. These remedies, like I said, look a lot alike because they're deep burns.  Again, there may be charring of the skin and there may be gangrene, but the difference is that Secale wants a cold application and Arsenicum wants a warm application. There's your differentiation. 

Agaricus muscarius has the features that you might see in the first degree burn with swelling, burning, redness.  There might also be cramping in the affected part. That's a differentiation. If it's fingers or toes, they might be cramping up. Some people experience lasting redness and symptoms of rosacea after the burn. It can be worse for open air, worse for cold air, worse after eating, worse before a thunderstorm.  Gently moving around can be helpful. This isn't the pacing of Arsenicum album so much as just a gentle movement can help them feel better. 

Those are some of our biggest burn remedies. Bri, did you think of any questions or anything else maybe I should have talked about?

Bri Hurlburt  18:07  

I did think of one thing.  If you've taken any of the Gateway study groups with us, we've talked about cell salts for burns.  I believe Nat mur is the one that you put in water, right? And you can do that as a dressing.

Melissa Crenshaw 18:27

That's right. 

Bri Hurlburt 18:29

That was something I had thought about that I just had collected in my notes over time.

Melissa Crenshaw  18:33  

When the burn forms blisters, Nat mur, because Nat mur is our water balancer.

Bri Hurlburt  18:38  

What would you do? Like a water dose in distilled water?  Just water?

Melissa Crenshaw  18:45  

You can apply it topically.  Just dissolve the remedy in water and then apply it topically or you can also just take it by mouth.  Either way.  

Bri Hurlburt  18:57  

A question about that.  When you're doing a topical, any kind of remedy. I just don't do that so I don't know that I even would in that situation, but let's say somebody was going to, does potency matter as much when you're doing something topically? Do you know?

Melissa Crenshaw  19:17  

Well, it doesn't matter as much as the right remedy anyway.  I see what you're saying, and I still would try to go low potency because it's a physical condition. Usually the lower, the better.

Bri Hurlburt  19:30  

All right. That was the one I had thought of, but otherwise, no.  I think that was good.  Actually, I did think of one.  Your Chamomilla story. Would you like to share that here? 

Melissa Crenshaw 19:45

Yes.

Bri Hurlburt 19:47

Because it's kind of a one you would not normally go to for burns, but you have a cool story, so I want you to tell that.

Melissa Crenshaw  19:55  

That's right. So Chamomilla is another one. It's for pain and it can be for burns, so yeah, that totally should have been in there. 

My Chamomilla story is about my youngest son who burned his finger on the stove. He went upstairs.  He was really quite upset about his burned finger. And, of course, I was giving Cantharis.  So I gave Cantharis.  I went back downstairs, finished cooking or cleaning or whatever I was doing, went back up. He said, it still was bad so I gave another dose of Cantharis and went back to do whatever. When I came back up to check on him the third time, I asked him how he was, and he's sitting there holding his finger, and he pointed at me and screamed, “Your stupid remedies aren't working.” And I was like, “Whoa!”  So this kid is totally mild, sweet, calm.  That was so out of character for him and I immediately saw the Chamomilla picture because it was angry, irritable, screaming mad, and it was out of character for him. So I went and gave him Chamomilla.  He fell asleep, which is a good sign. When he woke up, it was so gone that he didn't even remember which finger was burned. It was pretty amazing. And I never would have thought of Chamomilla, but it does have in the materia medica.  I'm sorry. I keep saying Cantharis.  I never thought of Chamomilla but it does have burns and pain.  It has extreme pain in the materia medica. So, yeah, I forgot about that.

Bri Hurlburt  21:45  

I feel like that's a really good example.  Sometimes people ask us, “How do you ever know which one to choose?” Right? We just gave you six or seven remedies, and there are differentials in there, but when you're in the moment, I don't have time to ask you, “Do you want cold water on there? Do you want hot water on there? Do you want this on there? Do you want this?” We really just say start with Cantharis. Well, Aconite and Arnica.  Number one, that can help the person get to a more calm state of mind to even respond. And then it depends on the person.  If it's my toddler, I'm just going to start with Cantharis, and we're just going to try it like you did with your son.  Chamomilla, you saw a very clear picture, so unless you see a really clear other picture, maybe then you just start with Cantharis for a topical burn, like an at home, easily treatable burn.

Melissa Crenshaw  22:40  

Absolutely. And you know what?  The rest of those remedies, once you get the person stable and calm, then you can start researching, and you can start asking questions, and those can come later.  

Bri Hurlburt  22:55  

Give them something.  I love rotating with Causticum.  Those remedies will help with the healing, too; the skin healing, which I think is amazing. 

If any of you guys listening have stories of more severe burns that you have used remedies for that you can share, or if you ever were in the hospital and the doctor or people noticed the healing was different when you were using remedies, I'd love to hear those stories. 

Melissa Crenshaw  23:29  

Absolutely.  Thanks for tuning in as we talk about burns.