What do you do when you have an issue arise and don’t have your regular herb stash? With knowledge of how herbs work, you adjust and use the resources you do have access to.

I was recently able to join my husband’s family on a cruise to celebrate his grandmother’s 90^th birthday. It was wonderful to be with family to celebrate this special lady. 

I packed my regular herbal first aid kit, but for some reason this time I removed my eyecup and eyewash. I usually keep an eyecup and eyewash in the kit in case of emergencies – you never know when something might happen and you’ll need it. I’m not sure why I removed the eyecup for this trip, but soon found that was a mistake.

I started having some pain and tenderness in my lower eyelid. I didn’t think it was too much of an issue, but the pain increased, so I pulled down the eyelid and found a pustular bump inside the eyelid that looked like a stye – in medical terms it is called an internal hordeolum. 

At this point we were on the ship with no ability to go to a store and purchase an eyecup or eyewash for my eye. 

What now? The ship had packets of chamomile tea, so I made a cup of tea and took it back to my room. I used my hand to make a cup for the tea and blinked my eye in my hand. I kept doing this until the cup of tea was gone. Chamomile is soothing, so it didn’t sting. My eye started seeping pus afterwards and this continued throughout the day. 

I kept thinking about what my eye needed and thought that it probably needed something to help with infection. I did have a bottle of X-Ceptic with me, so decided to make some eyewash out of that. I filled a cup with boiling water from the coffee station and added a full dropper of X-Ceptic. The boiling water dissipates the alcohol, making it safe to use in my eye. When it cooled, I used the same method and washed my eye with it. It stung! But in the morning the area was smooth instead of raised and clustered. The pain had also diminished. I kept washing my eye with “X-Ceptic tea” morning and evening. The white smooth bump faded, and the pain disappeared.

Just another round of evidence that herbs work – even when everything isn’t perfect – they still work. I didn’t have distilled water, an eye cup, or my Dr. Christopher Herbal Eye tincture. However, I was able to use my knowledge, utilize what I did have, and it made a difference. 

These experiences remind me how important education through the School of Natural Healing really is. Learning how herbs work gives us the information needed to take care of ourselves and the ability to be creative in our methods. Keep learning! 

Tara Christopher Eyre is a Master Herbalist and Foot Zone Therapist and Instructor. She loves helping people find and continue their path toward health.