Alternatively Speaking: The heat is on

Alternative medicine expert Natalie Marx answers your questions: Are there any natural remedies for heat rash?

By NATALIE MARX
Alternatively Speaking - Natalie Marx (photo credit: Courtesy)
Alternatively Speaking - Natalie Marx
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Q. Dear Natalie, I suffer from heat rash all over my body during the summer. Are there any natural remedies you recommend?
A. Heat rash occurs when perspiration is trapped under the skin and causes itching, prickling, superficial blisters or red lumps. There are several ways to treat heat rash.
Traditional Chinese medicine offers two herbs from the mint plant, either mint (menthe) or schizonepeta. They are believed to bring the rash to the surface and cool the body down.
To help prevent heat rash, increase your intake of essential fatty acids. Evening primrose oil and borage seed oil supplements help restore fatty acids. You can use rosemary oil, chamomile oil, violet oil and tea tree oil to soothe inflamed skin and help skin rashes heal.
Homeopathic remedies can offer wonderful relief to heat rashes too. The homeopathic remedy Bryonia is used for bumpy red skin rashes with itching. Use the homeopathic remedy Rhus toxicodendron for heat rashes with blisters, severe burning and where itching is present. Q. Dear Natalie, are there any herbs to help with excess sweating? I sweat excessively and it is becoming rather embarrassing. Any help greatly appreciated.
A. There is a wonderful Chinese herb called Rehmannia also known as "sheng di huang" in traditional Chinese medicine. Rehmannia is used to alleviate excessive sweating by clearing heat from the body thereby cooling the blood.
Tea tree oil is another essential remedy to have with you in the summer. Due to its astringent-like properties, tea tree oil effectively dries skin, helping to control sweating. You can apply a thin layer of oil on the most affected parts, such as under the armpits, around the groin, and on the hands and feet, to help get rid of excessive sweating.
My favorite herb to help reduce sweating is Sage. Both used as a kitchen herb and natural antiperspirant all over the world, I recommend drinking Sage as a tea daily. Pour one cup of boiling water over 2 tsp. of fresh sage leaves or 1 tsp. of dried sage. You can drink this as a tea or apply the mixture over affected areas as with the tea tree.
The herb burdock works best in tincture form. Just 1 tsp. of burdock tincture three times a day can control excessive sweating by diverting excess sweat from the body to the lymph nodes, bowels and kidneys, reducing the amount of sweat excreting from sweat glands.
Q. Dear Natalie, can you please explain more about homeopathy and its benefits?
A. Individualized treatment is one of the key benefits of homeopathy. A homeopath trains to treat the person with the illness rather than the illness itself. This holistic approach gathers the patient's symptoms from across the mind-body spectrum including mental, emotional upsets as well as physical complaints and assesses them together as a whole.
Consultations are usually one hour each. Homeopathic remedies do not interfere with conventional drugs and remedies can be purchased over-the-counter for acute complaints as in vomiting, fevers and aches and sprains. For more chronic conditions such as insomnia or depression one should be treated by a licensed homeopathic doctor.
Substances used in preparing homeopathic remedies come from plants and minerals. For example, Aconite is a flowering plant and is used particularly for the treatment of shock or for complaints that appear suddenly. Argentum nitricum, or silver nitrate, comes from the mineral kingdom and is used be used to treat anxiety and nervous anticipation. The remedies come as tablets or little pills that have been treated with a diluted, medicated liquid tincture. These tablets are placed under the tongue where they easily dissolve. If the remedy has been selected appropriately, improvement should begin to occur within 24 to 48 hours.
This column is brought to you as general information only and unless stated otherwise is not medical advice nor is it based on medical experiments. This column is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. For more information about specific problems, please contact a doctor.
The most effective way to treat everyday ailments is to make an appointment with your natural health practitioner so that a plan can be created specifically for you and your specific symptoms. There are some wonderful homeopathic remedies that can support you. Book your free consultation today: nateopath@gmail.com.