Hirsch - The travelers natural medicine kit : easy and effective remedies for staying healthy on the road

THE TRAVELERSNATURAL MEDICINE KIT

Easy and Effective Remedies for Staying Healthyon the Road

PAMELA HIRSCH

Healing Arts Press
Rochester, Vermont

To my grandfather, George Lee Kishlar, green man, who taught me the ways of the Heart and respect for all of Nature...

To my son, Robert, miracle child,who taught me about Joy and of healing the Self...

To my husband, Duffy, true companion, who always said Id write books someday...

... this book is dedicated with love, respect, and gratitude.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MY LIFE HAS BEEN BLESSED WITH CARING friends, loving relatives, and more than a few angels who watch over me. A number of them have helped with the birth of this book. First, I want to thank Lee Juvan, my editor at Inner Traditions, who first proposed this book and is one of the most diplomatic people I know. I am delighted to call her my friend. Shatoiya de la Tour has not only been my herbal mentor, but a grandmother, mother, and sister rolled into onea true wise woman. Thank you, Shatoiya.

Many of us would not have had the chances weve had if not for Rosemary Gladstar. She has selflessly given her knowledge to many of us and her life to the Green Nations. Thank you, Rosemary.

I want to thank Lois Johnson, M.D., who daily puts into practice the oath she took as a physician, for her excellent teachings and for completing the technical review of this book.

To my sister, Claudia Leavitt, who in many ways is the spirit of Travelers, go my thanks. She was my traveling companion when we were younger and has always been my best friend, even when she didnt know it. I want to thank my parents, Margaret and Claude Hirsch. Without them, none of my travels would have been possible. It was my mother who lovingly taught me how to make do and my father who taught me that traveling is an opportunity in ambassadorship. I want to acknowledge and thank my grandfather George Lee Kishlar, who was my first teacher in the ways of all things green.

Thanks go to Mrs. Wally, my seventh grade English teacher, for teaching me to write it just like you said it! My thanks to the women of the Seasonal Circle, for your love and support during this past year. Thank you Brighid, for your inspiration and blessings.

Finally, I want to thank my son, Robbie, and my husband, Duffy, who always believed in my herbal work, have been excellent guinea pigs, and bless me every day with their love.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

WHETHER SOLITARY ADVENTURERS OR RIDERS in a caravan, travelers were once thought to be the bravest citizens of the world. Often risking their lives, they might journey through the jungle to the next village or across seas and deserts to a new world. When they returned, these adventurers were revered for the new knowledge they brought home. Travelers shared stories as well as samples of new foods, spices, and medicines. Sometimes they brought seeds, and these new delights were incorporated into the village lifestyle. Travelers were the doors to the outside world.

Today, of course, traveling is much more commonplace and certainly not our only means of cultural exchange. But exotic places still conjure up romantic visions of adventure, and even the most sophisticated traveler faces health-compromising dangers. Subjecting ourselves to new climes, germs, and foods, we introduce our bodies to stress and new types of intestinal flora, which we each process in our own unique way. Thank goodness Pam has written this book to help you prepare for the health issues that can and do come up on even the most well-planned trip.

Having read many books on natural medicine and self-healing in my twenty-eight years as an herbalist and educator, I was pleased to read this most honest and practical book. Knowing Pam personally, I see in this book her meticulous research and attention to detail. Pam draws on her extensive experience as a world traveler and a healer, sharing her successes and her mistakes and offering not just her personal wisdom but also the knowledge given to her by teachers and friends. I especially appreciate Pams acknowledgment of the role attitude and spirit play in healing as we navigate lifes many adventures.

In the modern world we now face complex viral diseases and bacteria resistant to pharmaceutical antibiotics. Many people believe the answer to this problem lies in a return to healthy living and natural remedies. Bacteria has a difficult time building a resistance to the complex chemical makeup of herbal remedies, and immune-enhancing foods and herbs allow us to become more resilient to viral infections. This book introduces to the reader, in a safe and simple way, the joys and benefits of natural self-healing. By applying these time-honored remedies, the reader is helping to keep alive ancient traditions and perhaps resolving some of the new problems we have created in our modern world.

In my personal travels, I always carry a small kit similar to the one recommended by Pam in this book. At the end of my trip, it is usually depleted not only from my own needs, but also from those of my fellow travelers. Often a successful remedy sparks a new friendship and plants the seeds of interest in this wonderful form of healing. I predict this book will become a favorite in homes desiring self-sufficiency, where it will be used not just for travel, but also as a home first-aid guide. I intend to keep my copy in a handy place.

Shatoiya de la Tour, coauthor of The Herbalists Garden

INTRODUCTION

TO PARAPHRASE CHARLES DICKENS, TRAVELING can be both the best of times and the worst of times. Often its bothin one journey. Whether your trip is welcome or not, business or pleasure, its almost always stressful. The planning, the anticipation, the mode of travel chosen, being away from home, plans gone awry, lack of sleepall of these add up to stress. In the past three decades much has been published about the effects of stress, good and bad, on our health. So its not surprising that something as uprooting, and as uplifting, as travel can often result in blips in an otherwise healthy life.

I was born in Venezuela, spent the first three years of my life there, and then began a series of moves to the United States, North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Pacific Rim, and finally back to the States when I was in my early twenties. Many of the places where my fathers work took him were considered third world, and while basic medical and first-aid supplies were generally available, I believe the environments I grew up in engendered a desire in me to make do and find ways of self-medicating as well as medicating those I lived with. I remember once making up a batch of hard candy and adding a few teaspoons of Vicks VapoRub to it before it cooled. Dropping the resulting mixture onto waxed paper, I proudly informed my younger sisterwho just happened to have a sore throatthat sucking on one of these candies would cure her immediately. She did so and pronounced them miraculous, as a little sister should. I think it might have been several years later when I read the back of the Vicks jar and noted the warning not to ingest the product. Intent and suggestion can work wonderstruly. She lives to this day. (I dont suggest making these throat lozenges yourself!)