When to take Arnica for best benefit

[HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles]

I'm a couple of days short of 40 weeks, I've heard Arnica tablets are meant to help reduce bruising after labour so I've got a little packet of them, they say they are '6c' but
I'm not sure what that means. Should I start taking them in advance, or wait until my contractions start, or wait until after the birth?

My first labour was induced and very speedy so I didn't get a chance to think about this kind of thing until afterwards but I'm crossing fingers and hoping I will go into labour naturally this time and would like to be prepared.

Has anyone any experience/advice? If there's already a thread that covers this please feel free to point me there instead.

Be very careful! I know arnica's herbal, but it is a blood thinner. That's how it helps bruising. But it'll also make it harder for your body to clot blood if you need surgery or have a big bleed.

If you really want to take it, I would wait until baby is safely here.

Btw - I'm not a doctor, but if you do take it, please tell the doctors you have done. They need to know why your blood is thinner than they will be expecting.

Good luck with baby, hope it goes smoothly

I started taking it within 6h of birth. It did help with the bruising, but i bled far faster than i had with my first two DCs.

If i did it again, i would probably wait until day 2 to start taking it, just to reduce the risk of anything untoward happening.

6c means the original substance has been diluted by a factor of 100, 6 times. So you can take it whenever you like, as it's a homeopathic solution not straight arnica, and will likely contain no active ingredients

HTH

I didn't know about the blood thinning, thank you for the warning, I will wait until my appointment next week and discuss it with the doctors first.

Thanks for advice all :)

I'd be interested to find out what your doctor says if you get the chance to come back and update!

Hi, I had an elective CS. I took Arnica 200c pillules. I took one before the surgery, one as soon as possible afterwards. I then took a pillule every 3 hous for the first 3 days and then 3 times a day for 2 weeks. I dont remember any excessive bleeding. The midwife came to check my scar on day 2 post Op and couldnt believe how dry, clean and well it looked. I also drank loads of nettle and peppermint tea to cleanse the blood and help with my iron levels.

It worked a treat. I suspect your GP will tell you not to take it as it is not something they would have any interest in usually.

I think the blood thinning side effect is as a result of taking arnica montana as a herbal tincture. The homeopathic dose is so dilute as to have little or no side effects.

Seriously, if it's homeopathic 'arnica' then you can eat fifteen packets before, during and after labour. And another 15 while awaiting discharge. It's just sugar and water, like any other homeopathic pill and will only do you damage if you're a diabetic and have to limit your carbs :). Real arnica - e.g., herbal medicine - is available in the form of creams and can actually do some good.

6c, as previous poster said, means it is diluted down gazillions of times so there is no active arnica at all in the homeopathic preparation. Homeopathy relies on the concept of water having a 'memory', which is as daft as it sounds.

I had surgery just the other week and my surgeon advised me to take my arnica a few days before then straight away. I took the 6c and he was impressed I had no visible bruising at last apt.

I would take it as soon as you have an inlking, then during labour and after, every 2 hours.

I have to say, I'm with narmada. I'm going to be using Witch Hazel and pure Aloe Vera gel to help with perineal swelling and bruising. I guess I might pop an arnica pill
or two since I have my doula's homeopathy kit to use, but tbh, I don't count on it doing much.