Reply To: Materia Medica
Hi. I’ve just completed the lesson on Ginger and have a couple of questions. I noticed in the monograph that GERD, gastritis and ulceration are contraindications. I’m trying to make sense of this in relation to Garlic, which doesn’t have that contraindication listed, yet it is described as “hot” rather than “warm” (and ginger is described as warm). And, personally, I find raw garlic upsets my stomach whereas ginger tends to be soothing when I have an upset stomach. Would garlic also be contraindicated in GERD and other conditions where the gastrointestinal lining is inflamed? It occurs to me that I may be confusing energetics with key actions.
My second question has to do with using ginger topically, say to help warm arthritic joints. Might it be used in combination with arnica to help drive the arnica constituents into the joint and increase blood flow to the area? If so, would one make an oil infusion with fresh ginger to combine with an arnica oil infusion?
Thanks for your help 🙂