In this episode of ‘5 Minutes,’ Dr. Robert Svoboda explores five items he has found useful to carry during his many years of travel.

Over the past 30 years, I have spent quite a bit of time on the road, and I am bringing today five items to you that I think you might consider taking with you when you travel, just as I always try to do when I travel. Item number one is a homeopathic medicine which you will have to find at a homeopathic pharmacy in the United States and other countries, possibly online, and in places like India, where I buy this from homeopathic pharmacies in most major cities. This is called R55. It is the product of a company in Germany called Dr. Reckeweg, and it is used for dealing with acute trauma. When you have had some sort of acute trauma, please wash out your mouth and tip the bottle so that 10 to 15 drops fall into your mouth, and hold those drops in your mouth for 30 seconds to one minute. Repeat as often as every 15 minutes for the next two hours. Do not eat anything or drink anything while you are doing that. Just every 15 minutes, if need be, take more drops, and then you can repeat it again after two hours, every hour or two, until you feel like the momentum of the injury has been attenuated.

Item number two is well known to those who have any exposure to Ayurveda. It is called Triphala Churna. Triphala is a mixture of three fruits, and it is useful for rejuvenating the skin and the inside of the digestive tract. It also encourages things to move along in the digestive tract. It has a cleansing and detoxifying property. Take one-quarter to one teaspoon. You will soon find out which is most appropriate for you, preferably at night before you go to bed. It can also be taken in the morning or any time during the day. Item number three is a Curing pill. These are easily available in Chinese grocery stores and Asian supermarkets, and you can get a better quality of it if you go to a dispensing Chinese medicine pharmacy. Curing pills, or sometimes Culing pills or Po Chai pills, are traditionally used for diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or other digestive upset. In India, there is another medicine for this purpose. It’s called the Bilwadi or Vilwadi pill. It’s much more difficult to locate over here, which is why I don’t have an example of it, though I do carry them with me. It can also be made into a paste and applied to insect bites and other areas of skin irritation.

Number four is baby aspirin. Taking one baby aspirin before a long flight is described here as a way to discourage blood clots. It is also described as useful to take three baby aspirin 30 to 45 minutes before going out into the sun to discourage sunburn. It’s not going to prevent it. You still need to use sunblock. The fifth thing is fennel seed. Fennel seed is very useful for gastrointestinal upset. You can chew it. It’s tasty. It sweetens your breath. It also cools down the system in case there is excessive heat for whatever reason, and it is very nice made into a tea. It can also be used to flavor food. So these five items are things that I have found very useful in my travels, and I hope that you will as well.