This year's flue seems to present with quite severe symptoms and has left few households untouched. It starts with a strong headache that lasts for days, followed by a burning sore throat that explodes into a sore and acrid, congested nose. Then come the deep bone aches and pains and a mucousy cough which seems to go on for a very long time accompanied by congested sinus pain which also seems to go on for a very long time. Small children are coming down with very high fevers, infected tonsils, sore throats, sometimes with associated hallucinations and or night terrors, and adults find themselves collapsed on the sofa with no energy for weeks. There are all kinds of rashes, on the face and on the body and deep earaches and infections.
Here are some Homeopathic remedies which can help you get through it all. If your child is in any way unresponsive or showing signs of dehydration do not hesitate to get them Emergency Care immediately. However, if they are just quieter than usual, and drinking fluids, even if they are off their food for a few days, you can treat healthy children at home. Fevers should be watched carefully in infants and the elderly, but healthy children and adults can usually handle a raised temperature on and off for a few days. High ongoing fevers (more than 2-3 days) with abdominal pain and respiratory distress should be taken to Emergency.
Usually, Aconite is the first remedy we reach for after exposure to cold and wind, but this flue incubates for days, coming on slowly so Aconite doesn't seem to touch it. I would suggest rather reaching for Gelsemium. Gelsemium will respond to that collapsed, exhausted feeling when your energy drains from you, like the water draining from the bath. You have to lie down, you feel a little lightheaded, you are definitely coming down with something. You may have ignored a headache for the past days or some ulcers in your mouth. You feel shaky, sleepy, your eyes and limbs feel heavy. Your nose starts to tickle and then within hours you are grabbing for the tissues, your eyes feel itchy, watery and tired. You just want to close them and rest undisturbed.
If you are healthy enough, you or yours may raise a high fever. Treat it with Belladonna if it comes on quickly and you feel hot and dry with red cheeks and icy cold feet or hands. There may be throbbing in the ears and in the head. The swelling is sudden and you may want to sit very still in a quiet room, away from strong light and noise. Delirium, hallucinations, visual disturbances and talking in sleep may accompany the fever state, especially in children. There is little thirst for small sips of water. Belladonna will help with right-sided tonsilitis with a red hot throbbing picture. The Scarlet fever picture comes to mind.
Bryonia will help when the irritable patient just wants to be left alone and is worse for even the slightest movement, even of the eyes. The fever is high and the pain is extreme especially chest pain. They are very thirsty with an unquenchable thirst for large amounts of cold water to cool down the heat in the head and the chest. The whole body feels bruised and sensitive and everything hurts. The eyes are sore, he holds his chest when he coughs. The headache is severe, it runs from the lower back of the head up across to behind the left eye. The patient is hot and sweaty and wants to be cooled down.
Eupatorium Perforatum is a classic flue remedy, the person says 'I feel like I've been run over by a truck', that's how tender and bruised they feel. Children cry out in their sleep. The muscles are sore and the fever is high. The top of the head feels as if it were being squeezed tight. Mucous streams out of the nose with the full head cold picture and then it runs down the larynx, to the lungs, and to the stomach. He also holds his chest, it hurts so much to cough. And he wants to cool down all this heat with cold foods and ice-cream. (The aching in the bones will be deeper in Eup-perf, than the Bryonia patient who will have more problems with the cough and are worse on slightest movement).
If the fevers are low and the patient hardly complains, if they are thirsty and want salty foods, if there is great mucous streaming from the nose which thickens after a few days, think about Natrum-muriaticum. It has predominantly right-sided headaches like little hammers pounding, worse after 10 am, till 3 pm. There may be a history of cold sores. Natrum patients don't want attention, unlike Pulsatilla patients who definitely do!
Pulsatilla feels the chill on the back, down the scapula. They are not thirsty and want the window open. They want company, they want to be held. Often there is a thick yellow discharge from the ears or from the nose. They feel worse at night. Even though they are chilly during fever, they may throw the blankets off as heat aggravates. The ears feel blocked and the nasal discharge is thick. Pulsatilla love to be consoled, they love attention from others, they need to be cuddled and they cry easily.
Sore throats can be treated with Hepar Sulph for splinter like pains. The postnasal drip irritates or the sinuses are inflamed and sore. The patient is irritable and over-sensitive. The glands are swollen and suppurate, and the patient is generally cold and very sensitive to cold or wind and to criticism.
Drosera is a good first cough remedy to look at with this flu. The cough is suffocating and there may be vomiting from coughing, (also look at Ipecacuana for this symptom) in children and babies. Ant-tart has a rattling chesty cough which keeps the patient up at night. There is much noise in the chest and little power to cough up the phlegm.
Then a week or two later, you may be shocked to find that again a strong headache presents. And then stomach cramps, followed by diarrhea and/or vomiting. The cramps are intense, the weakness is great. You feel like you have been poisoned. The patient is restless and chilly. Arsenicum is the remedy to reach for.
When treating at home, I suggest using low potencies. Start with 30c and give one dose. (1 pill placed directly under the tongue is one dose, as is 2pills), then wait. If there is no response, dose again in 15 minutes, up to 4 doses. Then wait. If there's still no reaction (for better or worse), look for another remedy. You may do the same with a water dose - pop 1-2 pills in a small glass of purified water and give 1 tsp every fifteen minutes.
Homeopathy supports the organism by following its guiding symptoms and providing subtle stimulation which in turn allows the organism to heal.
For more information or to book an appointment or online consultation contact me: Rebhomeopath@gmail.com or +972 (0)547793506
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