Tidbits 81: Splinter In The Foot—A Child’s Solution

What do you do when you get a splinter?  Especially when trying to reach it with the tweezers doesn’t work?  A lot of you know that our remedy for this is Silica, but a child found a new way to use it.  See below:

Hi Elaine.  This morning, “Daphne” stepped on a super-tiny shard of glass with her foot and immediately felt the pain.

Ouch!  I hate it when that happens!

It was barely visible, just a tiny bit stuck out from the surface of the sole of her foot.  Since she wanted to deal with it herself rather than let me attempt to remove it, I gave her the tweezers.  She tried and it really hurt to touch it at all; she was in tears!  Amazing how such a tiny thing can produce such pain!

Yikes!  Say no more, say no more!

She was very angry about it, too.  I suggested we could try a paste of baking soda, but she refused.  “I refuse to feel pain!” she shouted through tears.  I gave her one dose of Silicea 6x and left her alone for a few minutes.  I read that baking soda, while often effective, can cause swelling at the site of the splinter so is best used as a last resort, since swelling would make it harder to pick out the splinter afterwards, if the baking soda failed.

I’ve never even heard of using baking soda that way.

Then I thought of something.  I said, “Hey, why don’t you wet a Silica 6x tablet slightly until it feels like it is going to melt apart in your fingers, and then apply it over the splinter area like a paste?  Let’s see if it will work topically.”  She did this with one tablet and waited 15 minutes.  She gently picked the dried paste off and found the splinter still there, although I noticed she was not feeling as much pain (and so was in a better mood).

Perhaps because of the Silica 6X you gave her by mouth?

I suggested we try it again.  She decided to coat it with two tablets this time (you know, the ones that babies and kids like because they melt almost instantly?)

Yes, I like those tablets too.  The cell salt tablets.  They’re softer.

She got a nice thick paste on the site of the splinter and left it on for about 45 minutes.

After a while I noticed she was just walking around on her foot and it didn’t hurt at all.

How was she walking before, hopping?

She wasn’t tiptoeing around due to discomfort.

Oh, she was tiptoeing!

The paste dried quickly and didn’t bother her and she played and went about her usual business.

After 45 minutes, we decided to pick off the dried paste and see how the splinter was doing and we couldn’t find it!

No way!!!

No splinter, no tenderness, just nothing.

Wow!

It may have popped out while she was walking around, or maybe it was hiding in the dried paste?  Remember the splinter under my nail, and how it just worked its way up to the surface within hours of taking Silica and popped out while I was picking flowers in the garden?

Yes, I remember that.

I didn’t even notice!

I know!

Well, she didn’t notice when the splinter came out, either.  She was thrilled and very pleased.

This is great!  Another Silica Splinter Case!  Only this time it was topical, except for that one dose.

No pain from pulling it out or picking it out, no residual tenderness at the site, and it seems the Silicea paste that dried onto the bottom of her foot immediately began to change something to offer pain relief as well.

Yes, I remember that almost immediately the pain stopped even though the splinter was still there.

We took a picture of the paste she made. She said two tablets made a nice thickness (rather than just one).

Wow, so it stopped the pain.  I guess you didn’t notice how soon?  Thanks for the case!

I did not notice exactly, but the *pain* actually stopped in the first paste application which we left on for only 15 minutes (even though the splinter was still there).  When we removed it, the splinter was still there but the area was not sensitive or painful.  She enthusiastically applied a second paste to her foot and went about her business; we decided to take a look after about 45 minutes.

I am definitely going to try this the next time I get a splinter–God forbid!

———————————
Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom

Elaine takes online cases. Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com