How we deal with emergencies
Split open heads, broken bones and sprains, burns, gashes. With having 8 kids, we are bound to have our fair share of accidents… and to put it simply, we have seen a lot.
*Big disclaimer: THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. These are simply a few of our personal stories from throughout the years!*
The day before Thanksgiving 2020 we had one of our nastiest yet.
I was in the kitchen of our Airbnb and heard Caiphas (our 5 year old gorgeous little blue-eyed , blonde-haired guy) scream, and by the time I turned around he had run into the dining room, holding his hand out in shock. I was hoping I was seeing things wrong, but it looked like from afar that his fingertip was dangling off his finger, blood dripping .....
I ran over to him to get a better look 🤢🤢 and yep. His little fingertip was mangled and barely hanging on. I yelled at someone to grab me the homeopathic remedy kit, because the FIRST thing we always take is Aconite. This is for shock, and it works really well for me and the patient. Sometimes I can’t even think straight and need to be able to calm down and figure out what to do next, and Aconite is amazing for that. (Now that we have the peace patch, we use it often as well!)
I was trying to ask him what happened and he couldn’t tell me, and I couldn’t process or figure out what could have possibly happened to have made such an injury! The older kids split up and tried to figure out what happened, and quickly saw the evidence in their room. Calix bought an immersion blender the day before some of his thanksgiving recipes, and Caiphas had taken it off the table and snuck in the room with it. It looked like a murder scene in their room, with blood splattered all over the wall, bed and floor. 🙈🤢
After Aconite, most injuries call for Arnica. Again, this homeopathic pellet taken internally, NOT arnica cream on an open wound.
While Arnica does help to stop bleeding, this was a gusher and my other go-to remedy to quickly stop bleeding is Cayenne.
Cayenne is an absolutely INCREDIBLE herb and a MUST HAVE for an emergency kit. It will stop internal or external bleeding, and can be taken internally or put directly on the wound. It will also stop a heart attack in its tracks, which is another reason to always have some around! If I could only choose one herb to have the rest of my life, it would be cayenne ! (Garlic would be a close second!)
You can get it in powdered or tincture form, and we used the Dr Schulze cayenne tincture for this wound. Dr Schulze is who I first learned all about the incredible benefits of cayenne when he used it to avoid heart surgery and heal his heart defect, 50 years ago. Learn more about it on my blog post here https://www.rikkijames.com/blog/cayenne-peppers
Cayenne stopped the bleeding immediately and actually didn’t really seem to hurt. There have been wounds in the past where it burns a bit. But we don’t even consider using it unless it is REALLY bleeding.
After we stopped the bleeding and gave him a dose of hypericum 200c for the pain, I was able to really get a good look and figure out what to do next. (Now we also use the Freedom patch to quickly stop pain!) This was NOT a clean cut. It was totally mangled and stitches would not have been possible on this tiny piece of skin that was left. You could see the bone, tissue and fat.
I knew if we took him in there wasn’t going to be a lot they could do, and while we always try and avoid the ER, we REALLY want to try to avoid it with the craziness of the past year.
Within 10 minutes we had the pain totally under control, and I put the skin flap back in place and gently wrapped it with some herbal salve.
I also have a really incredible green healing laser, and I used it right away on the wound and made him a little vial of charged water with it that he kept in his pocket.
Green laser:
https://www.litelifesolutions.com/green-laser.html
We cleaned and wrapped it twice daily, used the laser each time, alternated silver and essential oils to prevent infection, and herbal salve to aid in healing. Internally we boosted his immune system and made sure he had good nutrition to support the extra work his body was doing.
We made a bottle of water and added:
hypericum (shooting pain- this is my GO-TO for shooting tooth/nerve pain )
Staphysagria (recommended with arnica and ledum).
The first few days when he would have a moment of pain, he would get a sip from this and within 30 seconds the pain would be gone. We never had to use any pain meds of any kind. Even with broken and sprained arms/wrists- we have not had to use any pain meds.
When you find the correct homeopathic remedy, it is MIRACULOUS.
After a few days the skin flap started to turn black and I fully expected it to die and fall off. Instead, within 2 weeks his finger was almost totally healed.
I admit that even I was a bit surprised by how quickly he healed!
The human body is AMAZING.
Only two days before this, Carstyn had his fingers caught in the back of a grill in the backyard. His little fingers were huge and swollen and I wasn’t sure if they were broken or not but we treated with many of the same remedies above. He had a smashed/broken toe a couple of months before from a huge piece of our piano falling on his “wee wee all the way home toe” (he named all of his little toes based on This Little Piggy Went to the Market), and again- we had him almost pain free really quickly using these remedies.
Same with many broken bones and sprains over the years. We have had several sprained ankles and broken/sprained wrists we use this protocol on. We use homeopathy for pain and healing, hydrotherapy (alternating hot and cold) to speed healing, and keep the area wrapped. We avoid casts so that we can do hydrotherapy and use a splint and wrap instead.
We have had many nasty burns, and follow a similar protocol as above with taking aconite right away for shock, but cantharis is what we use next when it’s a burn. It takes the pain away in less than 10 minutes. We use silver directly on the burn to keep clean and free of infection, along with a healing herbal salve. I cannot imagine not having Cantharis when dealing with a burn!
I’ll share some of those stories here as well:
When we traveled full time during the summer of 2021, my 8 year old ran in the motorhome yelling she burned herself. Within a minute or two she was crying really hard from the pain- so I grabbed our go-to remedies. This kid is also TOUGH and *rarely* cries from pain, but burns can hurt and I know this one did.
Aconite 30c is for shock (not pictured) and is always our initial remedy for the kid and oftentimes the parent if the injury makes you sick feeling.
Cantharis is a MUST HAVE for burns. Must must must MUST.... I can’t say it enough! It takes the pain away in 5-7 minutes usually. I usually pour silver over the wound, but had some silver gel and lathered that on instead.
Literally within 5 minutes she was laughing again! That night we used a herbal green salve and wrapped it, and will continue that as it heals!
She was hoping it would scar because she thought it looked like a mermaid 🧜♀️ 😂 (spoiler alert, it didn’t scar! Haha!)
She burned herself on the vent for the hot water heater as we were just doing dishes. We had no clue it got THAT hot!
Another time I was in my room folding laundry when I heard a blood curdling scream from the other side of the house. I could tell immediately it was Cavilyn, and I knew something horrible must have happened! I jumped up and ran to her, meeting her in our kitchen, still screaming in pain. She had her little dance leotard pulled down to her waist and I saw her entire chest was red and already peeling from a bad burn. She was making a tea party and had filled a huge coffee cup full of almost boiling water from our cappuccino machine and when she was finished (the counter is a tad taller than her) she somehow tripped and spilled the entire contents on her bare chest and arms. I could tell by her cry that she was really in pain, and the skin on her chest was already peeling off in chunks. My 32oz Sovereign silver was nearby so I poured that over her while yelling at another kiddo to grab the homeopathic remedy kit. Silver is AMAZING for burns and helps them heal quickly and usually takes away the pain fast as well, but this time she was still REALLY hurting. I gave her a dose of Cantharis and within 3 minutes the pain was dramatically reduced, and in another 10 she had fallen asleep, and woke up with zero pain. ZERO.
We LOVE LOVE LOVE cantharis for burns! It is miraculous!
I covered her in an herbal salve until her wounds healed.
These pictures look so much better than she looked in person, it was so scary looking in person.
Another time we had TWO nasty burns.
Every time a kid is hurt I’ll yell for another kid to grab whatever remedy we need. I try and teach them as we go so they always know what to do when I’m not home. We have actually joked we should name one of our kids Cantharis so that we will always remember this is the remedy you must have for burns! 🤣
It is just THAT IMPORTANT!!!
Both Carstyn and Calestis have burned their little arms on our stupid gas fireplace - the glass gets way too hot! Anyway, both were nasty and extremely painful, and within 5-7 minutes after cantharis, the pain is GONE.
Cavilyn accidentally picked up a hot pan directly from the oven and burned her hand- Cantharis took the pain away and by the end of the day her hand looked like a week old burn, and no blisters ever formed.
We usually take Cantharis- (or Aconite first if in shock!) then pour silver over the wound, and eventually wrap it with herbal salve.
Burns can bring unbearable pain for HOURS- and I’m telling ya, Cantharis is nothing less than miraculous because it has ALWAYS removed our pain quickly!
It also works wonderfully for serious sunburns!
I write this post to show you what all you can address at home, as avoiding the ER is a huge priority for us.
Obviously the ER is for accidents, and we will absolutely go when necessary. We had a broken arm where the bone was pushing through the skin and it needed to be set- and a sliced ear that would definitely not be held together by a butterfly bandage and needed stitches. Both of those times we used the ER and were grateful for the care we received. But if we were to go to the ER for every gash that “needed” stitches, (I’m telling ya, butterfly bandages are amazing!) every sprain or break, every burn….we would be in there a lot! Not to mention the unnecessary amount of preventative antibiotics or meds, along with the pressure of vaccinations at every visit makes me want to avoid that confrontation!
In the last year we have added Super Patch to our arsenal, and use them almost every day!
We use Peace much like Aconite, and slap one on as soon as we have any injury where someone is in shock or freaking out. It instantly calms them, even without aconite. We have needed this when I was out of aconite and cantharis (lost my remedy kit over summer and just got a new one!)
So we have also successfully used Freedom and Lumi in the place of cantharis for burns.
Ideally, I will use all remedies listed here, but I love having options in case I don’t have something listed.
Freedom we use often as well, same as Arnica, for any injury, cut, bite or bruise that is hurting.
Our bodies are capable of healing and they heal so much faster than you could even imagine when you give the right support! We have never had a wound get infected, and we have had plenty!
Post finger injury, all 7 intact!
I share our experiences to empower other families, and give you confidence in your body’s innate ability to heal.
I continually see posts on social media of parents rushing kiddos to the ER and panicked over minor emergencies that could be dealt with at home, in a much cleaner and less traumatic fashion. Hospitals are full of superbugs. Stitches are traumatic. Antibiotics given “just in case” can cause YEARS of harm to the gut and immune system. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of medical kidnapping that has gone on in our country, where the government thinks they know what is best for your child.
Once again- hospitals and emergency rooms have their place! And this post is purely sharing a few of our many stories, and is in no way medical advice.
Now, here’s a link to my fav remedy kits:
Sovereign Silver for cleaning wounds and burns
https://magicmolecule.com/ for wounds and rashes:
Dr. Schulze cayenne for many things including stopping internal or external bleeding
Homeopathy Remedy Kit The remedies in this kit are helpful with stomach bugs, flu-like symptoms, coughs, sore throats, ear pain, morning sickness, menstrual pain, diarrhea, seasonal allergies, injuries, first aid, minor arthritic pains, colic, various skin eruptions, and so much more.
Here is an amazing herbal salve: https://www.griffinsalve.com/griffin-family-farms/griffin-salve
Peace, Feeedom and Lumi patches can be found here:
https://rebelwellness.superpatch.com
