Natural Remedy Guides
That queasy, unsettled feeling in the pit of the stomach — whether it follows a rich meal or too much the night before, arrives with a car, boat or plane journey, or turns up first thing in the morning — is one of the most miserable everyday complaints. This guide explains how the antihomotoxic approach settles nausea, and which Heel remedies suit which kind.
Understanding nausea
Nausea is a symptom rather than a disease, and the antihomotoxic approach reads it according to its trigger. Where it arises from the digestion — over-eating, alcohol, coffee, rich or spoiled food — it belongs with the entodermal stomach disturbances. Where it comes from movement, the compendium places travel sickness in the neurodermal impregnation phase, driven by the balance organs rather than the gut (Biotherapeutic Index, Therapeutic Index, ‘Dyspepsia’, ‘Travel sickness’ and ‘Hyperemesis’).
The compendium’s classic remedy for vomiting and nausea of various origins is Vomitusheel; alongside it, the choice of preparation is guided by whether the trouble is chiefly digestive or chiefly a matter of motion and balance.
The antihomotoxic approach
For nausea that comes from the stomach and liver, Nux-Vomica Homaccord is the workhorse — indicated for ‘functional disorders in the gastro-intestinal and hepatic region’ and for ‘disorders after consumption of alcohol, coffee or nicotine’, including morning nausea (vomitus matutinus). The book calls it ‘one of the most frequently needed preparations.’
For nausea that travels with dizziness — car, sea and air sickness, or the queasy giddiness of Menière’s syndrome — Vertigoheel is the compendium’s remedy, dosed intensively ‘in sporadic dizziness and nausea’. Usefully, it ‘is not incompatible with alcohol and has no sedative properties’, so it does not affect safety when driving.
Where nausea and vomiting accompany a stomach bug or gastroenteritis, Veratrum-Homaccord is added, and for convulsive, inexhaustible retching the compendium reaches for Spascupreel.
Recommended remedies
The stocked Heel remedies the compendium names for nausea:
- Nux-Vomica Homaccord — for digestive nausea after food, alcohol, coffee or nicotine, and morning nausea.
- Vertigoheel — for nausea with dizziness, and for travel and motion sickness (car, sea and air).
- Veratrum-Homaccord — for nausea and vomiting with gastroenteritis, watery diarrhoea and a tendency to collapse.
- Spascupreel — for convulsive, spasmodic retching.
- Gastricumeel — where nausea sits with an over-full, sour stomach and heartburn.
How to use them
For digestive nausea, the compendium gives Nux-Vomica Homaccord 10 drops three times daily; in acute upset, 10 drops every 15 minutes over a period of up to two hours, then eased back. It can also be taken in the evening after alcohol or a rich meal to head off next-day queasiness.
For motion and travel sickness, Vertigoheel is taken as 15–20 drops or 3 tablets three times daily, and in sporadic dizziness and nausea 10 drops or 1 tablet every 15 minutes. The compendium’s travel protocol is to begin a couple of days before setting off and to continue during the journey, topping up every few hours. Where a stomach bug is behind the nausea, add Veratrum-Homaccord 10 drops three times daily, and Spascupreel for retching and spasm.
For persistent or difficult nausea — including the nausea of pregnancy — the compendium describes practitioner-led injection options, for example Hepeel or Chelidonium-Homaccord to support the liver alongside Vertigoheel and Spascupreel.
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Source: Protocols and quotations from the Heel Biotherapeutic Index — Ordinatio Antihomotoxica et Materia Medica, 5th revised English edition (Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Baden-Baden, 2000): Therapeutic Index, ‘Dyspepsia’, ‘Travel sickness’, ‘Hyperemesis’ and ‘Gastro-enteritis’, and the Nux vomica-Homaccord, Vertigoheel, Veratrum-Homaccord, Spascupreel and Vomitusheel monographs.