3 Natural Medicine Survival Essentials For My Month In Burma
So. Here I am. Finally. This part of the world has called my heart for decades.
Where am I? In a wild part along the east coast of Burma, where the mountains meet the sea.
I'm here to spend a month alone, collecting and documenting wild healing plants and working with the indigenous Karen people who inhabit these wild jungles and mountains. What's it like? Sub-tropical, so damp, hot in the daytimes and very cool at nights, humid and utterly gorgeous.
Actual pic is Costa Rica, but bear with me for the sake of this Natural Medicine Challenge.
It's dense jungle with a lot of little streams, since the monsoonal rains ended just a month ago. My biggest issues health-medicine wise are going to be cuts and scratches (have machete to help cut a trail but hey, a girl needs to be prepared), bites (snakes, spider scorpion, ant, mosquito), skin infections from leeches etc, tropical fevers (mosquitoes), sprains from falls, cramps from electrolyte loss, and the usual Asian stomach "thing".
"You can only bring 3 natural medicines", they said. Cos they GET IT that everything I have needed for this month I carried in, on my back. I did have help from a couple of young Karen men, who carried my equipment in for me and guided me through the landmine zones along the border. They'll be back in 4 weeks to safely guide me out. Meanwhile, Here I am. Alone. Prepared.
So what natural medicines did I bring? Smiling as I sense your curiosity drifting by like the fragrance of wild frangipani on the gentle sea breeze.
Number 1: Activated Charcoal powder.
Why did I bring this?
- Brilliant to neutralize poisons.
- Bites & stings. Apply directly and immediately to draw out and neutralize venom before it reaches the bloodstream.
- Cuts and abrasions: Sprinkle on exposed surfaces to neutralize dangerous bacteria.
- Diarrhea: Drink down with some water to manage and heal even the worst Asian belly disaster.
As a plus, I will be brushing my teeth with it.
Number 2: Coconut Oil:
Seems a strange choice? Consider this:
- Burns. Sun burn, wind burn and, of course, potentially burns from my cooking fire.
- Preventing blisters - an old hiking trick I learned decades ago in Southern Tasmania.
- Applying to wounds to encourage skin healing.
- Massaging those tight calves and thighs after a hard day's hike up the mountain.
- Emergency food supplement if my fishing doesn't yield enough
- After diarrhea and the charcoal treatment, it's wonderful to ingest and lubricate-coax all that stuff OUT of the body.
As a plus it's a wonderful skin moisturizer and natural sun screen, and I oil pull with it in the mornings for superb daily detoxing and shiny white teeth. Pro Tip: It also seriously helps fire starting to apply just a teaspoon or two drizzled over slightly damp kindling.
Number 3: Magnesium Oil
Yes, - shameless plug - I sell and ship this world wide. But I started PRODUCING it cos I just use it every single day and I couldn't buy it here. We ship with DHL internationally and with Nim Express in Thailand. Pure Thai Naturals Store Link
Why do I consider this a first-aid, natural medicine level product? And needed on this jungle trek?
- It's used in hospital emergency rooms for serious asthma, breathing difficulty, heart arhythmia - all common after snake or scorpion bite
- It's superb for sprains and strains - common schlepping down to the beach to fish and climbing over slippery rocks
- While we don't have a license to sell it as a food product, it can - in an emergency - be a brilliant treatment for electrolyte imbalance after sunstroke or severe diarrhea
- It helps with sleeplessness, whilst there are critters prowling around my camp making me jittery
- It calms me with anxiety when I sit worrying after 4 hours of fishing, caught nothing and there's no convenience store nearby.
- it's a profound muscle relaxant. It should NOT be used at all near snake or scorpion bites ever - it will spread the poison quickly - but it is wonderful for injury recovery and painful muscles after a fall down the rough mountain trail.
- In cases of high fever, it can help to reduce blood pressure and palpitations and keep the patient more comfortable, while the fever does its magic work.
- it helps with optimal nutrient uptake - pretty important when you're in survival mode with possible food shortages.
So, there you have it!! My 3 Never-Leave-Home-Without-These Natural Medicine Suggestions.
It's been fun both responding to this @naturalmedicine challenge AND using it as a vision board exercise for the future I am actively creating for myself here in Northern Thailand. NO, I'm not actually in Burma yet - still rebuilding the business from the ground up to enable that. Yes, I DO expect to be that strange old lady living largely off-grid in the mountains of Eastern Burma, tending my herbs and running the empire online using my satellite wifi. Eventually. With just enough of a sea breeze to keep my mermaid's heart happy and with the Andaman Sea close enough that a little wander down the hill is well worth the climb back.
BlissednBlessed. Creating. Hope-full. Enjoying Every Moment.
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I love how you have answered this and the three remedies that you have chosen, I have never taken magnesium oil, so look forward to learning more about that. But the charcoal and coconut oil I have and always keep some in the truck. I find the charcoal so great for the stomach and I am super excited to learn how beneficial it is for stings and bites, that is amazing.
So much great stuff... I had no odea there evennwas such thing as magnesium oil! I am always interested in herbal remedies for breathing/asthma problems (our son has been caughing on and off for a year now, the doctors said it's an alergy to dust and cats!).
I know @sagescrub was testing out the benefits of mullen tincture for caughs but I'll add magnesium to the list.
Lovely shameless plug by the way ✌.
Activated charcoal, what is that exactly, more specifically what is the difference between charcoal at the bottom of a bonfire and store baught activated charcoal?
And hearing that it's a great to hear that drinkinhnit with some water is good to manage and even maybe heal asian belly!
Very cool, I say I always want to learn something everyday, well here it is! Thanks
Magnesium "Oil" as it is commonly called is a super-saturated solution of Magnesium Chloride. It's incredibly well absorbed through the skin, so useful for muscle relaxation and as a part of natural asthma management. In hospitals, IV level magnesium is also used a frontline treatment for breathing crisis and heart attack.
I'm going to write a @naturalmedicine POST about activated charcoal, just for you. Explaining what it is, how it's made, why you want the organic food-grade kind and what to do with it. :) Added to my schedule for this coming week, so stay tuned. :)
Haha cool thanks for that! And by the way, you're spending a month bybyourself in the jungle out there between the sea and the mines... it's so wild and amazing, please be carefull.
Haha.... I'm not there yet and have a LOT of foundation building to complete here in Chiang Mai this coming year before I can sneak away for a month. But I am experienced at solo bush-jungle and yes, always careful. If I were to collapse and die somehow, what better way to depart this incarnation that fully engaged with the natural world and the things that make my heart sing? Manifesting magic. 💚
I'm glad you have experience... solo jungle hikes, never did it, not alone! Menifest the dream, sounds like you're well on your way
Good visioning! I thought you were there until I saw the caption under your first picture. That would be an amazing trip though.
I learned lots from the three items you picked - I never would have thought of bringing them but you opened my eyes to how valuable they could be in a survival situation. thanks for sharing!
Lovely feedback. Yes, I am ramping up my manifestation skills from my full and happy heart. It is a heart journey I dreamed first, and am now bringing to this time-reality-plane. I love that this little fanciful post somehow also contributes some simple knowledge which may help someone, someday. :) Thanks for the steady support. 😍
boahhhhh what of an adventure have you gotten yourself into now ej! And Pai is still at home or she joined you?
Excellent choice in medication that you brought, its broad and will help with a lot of things. You are gonna learn there so much in Myanmar. I hope you find an internetconnection here and there to update us with all these stories!
Hahaha.... if you read CAREFULLY you will see this is a story-vision exercise for the @NaturalMedicine challenge and I am still happily here in Chiang Mai. But clearly my vision-manifestation-creating work is convincing someone (you listening, universe?) cos you're the 3rd person who thinks I actually went. 😂 😂 😂 On my radar to do this in the next 12-18 months. No, I would never take Miss Ploi - the child who took x2 suitcases, her own duvet and a spare pillow with her to a 2 night scout camp. Hahaha. I'm honoured that Sister Karin gives my choices her nursey approval. Bedankt!! x
Sorry for the name mix up on the little madame! I am noticing a lot of reading comprehensive skills lacking after a night out, that is also a sign! ;))
But for real, I actually thought you were going hey! And the thing indeed is, you sound super and realisticly prepared! Universe should surely pick up on the this one hahahahahah
It is the key to manifestation, no? To SEE it and call it in? It is a compliment to me both in terms of writing and visualizing that it drew you in. Thank you. Encouraged. Better start packing, no?? 😜
3 Natural Meds to rule them all @artemislives? I know activated charcoal and I know coconut oil but I did not know about so many uses of Magnesium oil. I am stoked! :O
Coconut is basically a miracle. Cleaning, keeping bugs away, water, food, shelter in a pinch, milk, oil. It's everything.
Congratulations @artemislives!
You raised your level and are now a Minnow!
Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
@artemislives, you are an amazing story teller :) I love your reasoning behind each choice. I am not used to thinking about poisons and venoms over here, I see it is a big deal in Burma! Your magnesium oil has so many benefits, I never knew aside from muscle relaxing!