New Season of Homeopathy Radio Show, moderated by Jenny Hwozdek, certified homeopathic practitioner and educator, begins December 18, 2008. This season's theme is all about Smart Medicine and how to help your body heal itself.
Now that winter has arrived and influenza has already appeared in areas of the country, people want to know how they can help themselves and family members come through without losing time from work or school, and ending up in bed if there is an epidemic.
Guest speaker, Dr. Nancy Gahles, Pres. National Center for Homeopathy talks about the most popular remedies for flu and colds and especially influenza. Often flu begins as a stomach upset and then over the course of the illness moves into the lungs. Typical symptoms include headache, cough, sneezing, high fever, exhaustion, sore throat, body aches and pains, diarrhea, vomiting, and runny or stuffy nose. The onset of symptoms is sudden - like you are hit with ton of bricks!
How do you know the difference between a cold and influenza?
With a regular cold that has an annoying cough, the onset is slower without fever and the extreme intensity of symptoms.
Although the CDC recommends taking preventative flu shots beginning in September and they have a Question and Answer page about the vaccine, consider whether the possible side-effects of the vaccine may be detrimental to a young person developing their own natural immunity or an elderly person whose immune system may already be compromised. The LAIV (FluMist®) nasal-spray “live attenuated influenza vaccine” is approved for use in healthy people aged 2-49 years old who are not pregnant.
Do not take this illness lightly.
Influenza continues to be a major cause of illness and death, especially among the elderly. Each year, influenza and its complications are responsible for about 186,000 excess hospitalizations for respiratory and circulatory illness and 44,000 excess deaths from all causes in this high-risk group.
Safety and Effectiveness of Flu Vaccine
Although the CDC states that it is safe and effective, and recommends giving it to the elder communities, an Oct 28, 2006 report in the British Medical Journal by the internationally renowned Cochrane Collaboration group stated there was little scientific proof that inactivated influenza vaccine is safe and effective for children and adults. In addition, because the influenza vaccines are produced from influenza strains of previous years, there may be an issue with resistence, due to the rapid mutation of the virus.
The best alternative is the defense of our own immune system. If you are susceptible to flu due to the shortened daylight hours, and exposure to others who are sick in enclosed areas, there are steps that can help you stay well.
First, get some sunlight each day. Many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder and use a full spectrum light to help brighten their day. It probably helps the total immune system, by improving mood, cortisol levels, and thus resistance to disease.
Take the homeopathic remedy Oscillococcinum Based upon the fundamental principle of “likes cures likes” the remedy is processed from duck liver, since the influenza virus originates from avian fowl. It is a good idea to put a tube of Oscillococcinum in your home emergency kit with instructions on how to take it. You only need to put 3-4 pellets in your mouth as a dose. You do not have to take the entire vial at once. You can even put a few pellets into a glass of water and stir that; then take a teaspoonful or a sip at the first indication of feeling sick. This will typically lesson the symptoms and shorten the duration of the flu.
Influenzinum, manufactured by Washington Homeopathic Products, of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, is made fresh each year from the current influenza strain and can be taken weekly and/or biweekly as prophylaxis. So, remember to take a dose at beginning of flu season before you see symptoms, and it works as preventative. It can be given to infants, children, adults and the elderly. Homeopathic remedies build up the body's own immune defense system to defend against the symptom picture, rather than a specific virus.
What specific remedies should you keep in your Household Kit? Two major remedies are already working in the New York flu cases this year — Nux vomica and Arsenicum
- Nux vomica when flu begins with upset stomach, irritability, simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea with spasmodic cramps. The sick person is extremely irritated by lights, noise, odors, and wants to get over with it fast, so they can get back to work.
- Arsenicum album will be useful when there is chilliness with discharge that burns the top of lips. They are chilly and want little frequent sips of water. When sick these people are Irritable and anxious, with the noted burning in any or all tissue organs.
- Eupatorium [boneset] comes in handy for extreme bone pain, as if the bones are breaking, and the illness goes right to lungs. The sick person must hold their chest, the pain is so bad, and the head can feel like it is about to burst. There is also chilly feeling with fever, along with severe bone pain. Even though they like covering up, oddly enough they prefer icy cold things like ices, ice cream and cold water. Use eupatorium before it goes into pneumonia.
- Gelsemium [Jasmine] is the type of flu that comes on slowly when weather changes. The person feels total exhaustion and can’t lift their head up off the pillow. It's even too much to open their eyelids they feel so heavy. The main thing to look for are the droopy, dull, apathetic eyes. All the muscles weak and aching. Note that Gelsemium can be used for a post viral illness, when the exhaustion seems to linger, after all other symptoms are gone.
National Center for Homeopathy website has dozens of influenza and epidemic articles and links. There is a Flu Forum and a link to a complete list of remedy descriptions at Homeopathy for Influenza.
If you really want to learn more, a new Basic Course will begin in a few weeks.
