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February 7, 2013

Homeopathy for Flu or Influenza

Gelsimium
All this while we've done a lot of serious deep-delving into history and the origins of homeopathy, let's now look at some homeopathic remedies. The one illness on everyone's mind this season is the flu or influenza.

Firstly, what kind of treatments are available for the flu? Believe it or not, modern medicine does not have a cure for the flu, which means the fever reducers, cough medicines, decongestants, and antihistamines can only relieve your symptoms, but you will need to go through the course of the disease. However, if you are taking all or some of these drugs, then you are not helping your immune system at all. Rather, you are making your immune system work harder by suppressing fever and other symptoms. This will only increase the duration of the illness and the flu will last longer. 

Don't forget to take into account the toxicity of chemical drugs on your system, especially the liver and kidneys. When your body is already working hard to fight the illness and you take these drugs, you will only make your organs work harder to eliminate all these toxins from your body. It takes a long time for over-worked organs to go back to a healthy state, after detoxification. After all this has passed, your immune system is still not healthy because you used drugs to suppress disease symptoms, not allowing the body to fight and produce antibodies naturally, and so, you will need to work on improving your immune system separately. Why go through all this when there are better methods available?

Homeopathy is both gentle and effective and there lies its specialty. Homeopathic remedies help the body fight an illness by boosting its own immune system. It is the immune system that destroys the illness and the homeopathic remedy acts as a catalyst. Let's look at some remedies that can help when you have the flu.

Oscillococcinum: This is the most popular remedy in the US for flu. It is sold by Boiron and can be found in the pharmacy aisles of many grocery stores as well as in pharmacies. This can be the first remedy to take as soon as you start feeling sick with flu-like symptoms - headache, bouts of sneezing, tiredness, body aches. The package has single-dose tubes which are easy to take. Take one dose every 2-3 hours for 3-4 days. This is most often the only remedy needed to overcome the flu.

Aconite: This is the remedy for the early stages of the illness, when symptoms develop suddenly and rapidly. It's almost as if one moment you are fine and the other you have a red face, progressive tiredness, high fever and sore throat. Symptoms often come on after an exposure to dry cold wind.

Arsenicum album: The arsenicum patient is chilly and wants to be bundled up, but cannot get warm enough. The nasal discharge is clear and burns the tip of their nose and upper lip. They are thirsty, drinking only small sips of water at a time.

Belladonna: This has a throbbing headache with bright red cheeks, fever comes on suddenly with a sore throat. The patient is worse from noise or light and feels better by lying down still.The hands and feet are cold and the face is flushed and hot.

Bryonia: This has a lot of body aches and pains, the patient wants to lie still all the time because movement increases the pains, wants to be in a quiet dark room and does not want to be disturbed. Very thirsty and drinks large quantities of water at a time. Dryness of nose and mouth with fever. Cough is dry and croupy. All the symptoms come on slowly and gradually.

Eupatorium: Pain is the main symptom, pain as if bones were broken - it is so severe, along with intermittent fever, chills, thirst, and dryness. This remedy is useful for the most severe symptoms of flu. The patient is unable to move from the bed because of the pains.

Gelsemium: The symptoms start slowly as opposed to suddenly as in Aconite or Belladonna.The patient feels very weak and is chilly. Splitting headaches at the back of the head, drowsiness, shivers go up and down the spine. Sore throat and hoarseness of voice.They are fatigued and just want to lie in bed all the time. It is often one of the first remedies to be thought of for flu.


This is just a small list of remedies that can help. There are hundreds of other remedies that can be considered depending on the patient's condition and their symptoms.

Choose a remedy that best matches your set of symptoms at that time. With acute diseases that last just a few days, it is common that more than 1 or 2 remedies are needed because symptoms change frequently. It is important to select the right remedy each time when symptoms change. Many common remedies are available at health food stores and also online. Take the 30C potency.

General Dosing Instructions:  Take 2-3 pellets in 4-5 oz of water. Do not stir, just let the pellets dissolve on their own. Take 1 tsp of this water every 2-3 hours. If you don't see a change for the better after 3 doses, consider changing the remedy. It is also important to continue general management measures like hydration, rest, warmth, and light diet.




Additional reading:

Oscillococcinum for flu-like illness, a placebo-controlled, double-blind evaluation, published in British Homeopathic Journal
 

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