Currently displayed remedies

Forum on the current flu wave

Below we publish feedback on the remedies currently shown.

We would welcome further observations.

Feedback on the 2011 flu wave:

February

With residual weakness after flu I recently had several rapid successes with Avena sativa D3, three times daily. Another patient to whom I had prescribed Avena sativa for burnout syndrome did not catch it at all despite her immunosuppression from cortisone and cytostatics and despite contact with infected people. On closer study of grasses it was noticeable that Bamboo shows rather similar flu symptoms to Eup‑per (differential diagnosis: with bamboo improvement from hot drinks according to Murphy; with Eup‑per there is a craving for cold drinks).
M.G. 15.2.2011

January

"Eupatorium perfoliatum as the main remedy for the current flu

Every year in the practice, especially in the seasonal transition phases, we experience waves of acute flu‑like illnesses, sometimes affecting whole families. Often the focus of the symptoms is in a particular area, whether the gastrointestinal tract, the musculoskeletal system or the head with throat, nasal or ear complaints. It is helpful to closely follow the first cases that appear. Often a genius epidemicus emerges, that is a remedy that is helpful in most of these cases. If, as in the last two clinic weeks, many acute cases appear unexpectedly, one no longer needs to take lengthy case histories but administers the genius remedy with often good results—unless another remedy clearly presents itself or one knows a remedy that has helped the patient in other acute phases and gives that instead.

In the cases currently appearing the main symptoms besides general weakness and exhaustion were:

• sudden onset high fever, sometimes with a fever peak in the morning after waking (eup‑p, sulf)
• head and limb pains, everything aches as if from severe muscle soreness
• abdominal pain when coughing
• dry cough
• bitter vomiting and diarrhoea
• behaviour rather unwilling and dismissive

In the first case the preference for the colour white was the decisive clue to the correct remedy.

Analysis: The high fever with severe limb pains is often an indication for a remedy from the Asteraceae (daisy) family. Confirming this is the rather rejecting attitude towards the doctor and the examination, which is seen not only with Cina and Arnica but with all the daisy family remedies. All remedies in this group are strong injury remedies and have acute inflammations with high fever and a shattered feeling. This corresponds to the still immature immune defence with an acute severe reaction in children. An examination is felt as an intrusion and injury to one's integrity and may be met with turning away, screaming or, for example, pushing away the stethoscope.
Among those whose favourite colour is white are Arnica, Bellis perennis, Eupatorium perfoliatum and Eupatorium angustifolium.

Course: Both receive Eupatorium perfoliatum C200 in water, a sip every 2 hours. The girl defervesced after a quiet night, felt better and insisted on going to school. The mother had no cough the next day and was also afebrile.

(2) The following day a worried father arrives with his 2‑year‑old son in his arms. He clings closely to his father, has glassy eyes, looks listless and very ill and immediately turns his head away when I look at him kindly. He slept restlessly through the night and had fever up to 39.8°C. A few weeks ago he had a sister and has been very clingy since. Now he only wants to be carried (see also Cham, Cina). The parents rightly fear he might have pneumonia and want him to be auscultated. Amid loud protesting cries and kicking he allows himself to be examined only reluctantly, held tightly by his father. The lungs are only slightly mucous. Based on the positive experience from the first two cases he receives Eup‑p C200 in his drinking bottle, a sip every 30 minutes. The following night he sweats heavily, the fever goes down, he wakes with an appetite and wants to play with his father. The crisis is over.

(3) The same day a 13‑year‑old girl comes with high fever, dry cough, throat and head pain. Night sweats and a high pulse over 130 beats per minute—often an indication of a severe febrile infection up to sepsis. The headaches are mainly at the temples and worse in the evening in bed. Otherwise usually independent, she seems more gloomy than usual and answers only reluctantly. The mother is to speak for her. Because of the symptoms Phosphorus 200 is initially given hourly and if there is no improvement within 6 hours, hospital admission is considered due to the severity of the illness. In the afternoon the pulse is down to 94, but the general heavy feeling of illness is unchanged. Thereupon Eupatorium pentarkan is started: 5 drops hourly, which the mother still has at home. The next day the pulse is normal again, the headaches and the heavy feeling are gone. She sweats much less and the fever is down. She has slightly more throat pain but can continue to be treated as an outpatient.

In many other cases Eupatorium perfoliatum helped quickly and reliably. This was also so with nausea with bitter vomiting and diarrhoea, or abdominal pain when coughing.

Eupatorium perfoliatum is above all considered an acute flu remedy. It is also known as the "bone‑breaker", which anyone can understand who has once had the severe limb pains that this remedy cures. Above all the lower back feels as if it were broken and the arms feel like severe muscle soreness.

But even in chronic cases, with recurrent high‑fever infections, especially sinusitis with bloody nasal discharge, the remedy has often proved useful to us. Notable here is that the patients often strive in vain for a good relationship with their father. In Greek eu‑ means good and pater means father. One patient was regarded as less by his father because he was the only child who did not attend university—despite being very successful in a senior position at a large corporation."
Practice team Kandern, 28.01.11

"Further development of influenza:
Onset of very severe headaches and pain on touching the whole body, livid skin patches like painful bruises on the legs, thirst but nausea when drinking large amounts. Improvement with the follow‑up remedy Baptisia. Baptisia similar to Gelsemium but more intense/'septic'."
A.D. 27.01.11

***************

"At present there is a flu that, after getting cold a few days earlier, then appears very quickly and violently: severe malaise from the outset, frequent urination in the evening (patient: onset in the afternoon), with rigors, trembling, back pain, a sensation of cold in the back, severe cough with pain behind the breastbone, cough with forehead headache, coughing when talking and laughing, neck stiffness, great thirst, tendency to hyperventilate, desire to be held (children: to be carried), facial flushing, hot head with ice‑cold legs and feet, etc.—overall a picture of Gelsemium. Administered e.g. as C200. Patient from Tübingen."
A.D. 24.01.11

.....................................................................................................................