Homeopathy for influenza
Link - Current information on the flu wave December 2023
Link - Current information on the flu wave December 2022
Link - Current information on the flu wave February 2020
Link - Current information on the flu wave December 2019/January 2020
Link - Current flu wave February 2018
Link - Current "head flu" October 2017
Link - Current information on the flu wave March 2016
Link - Current summer flu 2015
Cocculus as a remedy for "head flu" in January 2017
Since the beginning of January, one remedy has proven itself fairly well in the practice in Kandern: Cocculus. Especially for "head flu" with distressing irritating cough, the remedy worked very well in about two-thirds of our cases. In those who responded particularly well there was the feeling as if the head were blocked, like being in a fog, usually accompanied by dizziness and episodic nausea. A feeling of shatteredness is also common, where Eupatorium does not respond, and Arnica is only slightly effective. Usually the first noticeable effect of Cocculus is a freer feeling in the head and a reduction of the cough fairly quickly.
Other remedies were Spongia (especially with violent, hard, painful coughing) and again Scilla, which was particularly often effective last winter.
The courses of illness are often quite severe, sometimes protracted, but there are far fewer sick people than last year. The influenza map shows the distribution in Germany: https://influenza.rki.de/MapArchive.aspx
An illustrative case by Markus Kuntosch:
Woman with severe flu, already bedridden for 1 week with fever, aches as if beaten up, head blocked, like in a fog, with dizziness and distressing irritating cough. Eupatorium perfoliatum did not help, Arnica improved the limb pains somewhat, but the head only improved after Cocculus D12. Then stagnation. Polarity analysis (Bönninghausen-Frei): first Pulsatilla, which did not help; then Cocculus C200.
The patient writes afterwards:
"The next morning (after Cocculus C200) I suddenly had the strange experience of slipping out of a bubble, a fog, a cocoon and voila, I was back in real reality. My head was clear, my energy was back and I felt like myself again and able to take part in life. From then on the naturopathic measures also took effect and apart from the feeling of being very badly coldswept, I felt very well. I had vigour, strength and was full of vitality again!! It was very impressive. Gradually the cough also subsided; today it is almost gone. Only a feeling as if I had to equalise pressure constantly because my ears are still blocked, and somewhere there is still hidden nasal discharge, has remained. That will certainly dissolve completely in the next few days and I am also not fully robust yet, I still need the occasional small rest. But no comparison to my state last week!!!
I also gave the remedy straight away to my daughter and she was well again on Saturday!! Great! And my son is clearly improving too!"
In another case it was shown that higher potencies worked better here, from C30 upwards. In a mother of two children the infection relapsed three times; each time Cocculus helped. Initially briefly in D12, better in C30 and particularly clear in C200. Of interest is also that her sudden bouts of nausea, which occurred at least hourly, stopped immediately, although Cocc is not listed under the rubric "sudden, paroxysmal nausea". As this symptom also responded to Cocculus in other patients, we noted it in our repertory.
Update 26.10.2016 - Thanks Bryonia
I can also confirm that Bryonia has turned out to be THE remedy for my patients in the approaching flu wave. C200 seems to be the potency of choice; for a large proportion of patients almost all symptoms had disappeared by the next day. In relapses, however, one should pay close attention to the symptoms, as the remedy often needs to be changed.
Claudia Sude - Homeopath
Update 21.10.2016 - Homeopathy for the current flu wave
The flu wave reached our Kandern practice from the beginning of the week, and the tip to use Bryonia has already been confirmed in five cases. These are at times severe courses, and the symptom "cough hurts as if it is tearing the lung" also occurred once.
We have given the remedy about 10 times so far and are waiting for further feedback.
One case involved "head flu" with noticeable itchiness on the palate, where Spigelia helped quickly.
Markus Kuntosch
Update 13.10.2016 - Homeopathy for the current respiratory infection
Dear Narayana team, 
I would like to briefly share something from the Basel area: Bryonia seems to help very well in the current respiratory infection. Many suffer from a dry, distressing, partly wet rattling cough with rhinitis, headache and fever, especially since the extreme weather change. In the last two weeks I have had three wonderful successes with Bryonia C200 - one case was close to pneumonia, the other two had bronchitis.
The cough was described by the patients as so violent that almost the "lung" came out! (3 adults).
Anouk Frech - Homeopath
Interesting late feedback on the flu remedy Squilla maritima 13.05.2015
"I would like to share with you today my experience with Squilla maritima for late consequences of this year's flu and also for complaints that have existed for a long time and are more profound. At the end of March a patient contacted me because of a cough that persisted long after her flu in February and I gave her Squilla maritima C200. At the end of the consultation she asked me whether there might also be a homeopathic remedy for her 94-year-old grandmother. She had stool loss whenever she coughed since the flu and had had an anal and vaginal prolapse for 30 years. In the rubric "involuntary stool with coughing and sneezing" I found only nine remedies and one of them, twofold, was Squilla maritima. I also gave the grandmother Squilla maritima C200 as a single dose. After four weeks the frequency of stooling with cough had decreased by 70% and after a second dose of Squilla C200 there is no more stool loss and the anal and vaginal prolapse are also gone!!! The granddaughter's cough also disappeared immediately after Squilla maritima."
Sabine Rosner, Heilpraktikerin and pharmacist
Third Update Flu wave - 12.3.2015
Case reports
The flu wave has passed its peak
The frequency of flu cases should have declined for the first time this week. In the Kandern practice we now increasingly see post-illness states (see case reports, especially the Carbo vegetabilis cases 3 and 4) rather than fresh cases. During the course of a flu case several remedies were often required before it healed.
A turning point of the flu wave is also suggested by the statistics of the Robert Koch Institute, which record declining doctor visits since this calendar week. You can read about it here.
Klinical experience with Scilla maritima refines the remedy picture
Clinical effect teaches us as much about a remedy as provings do. Since Scilla was often given in the current flu wave, experience with it is growing. The following characteristic is emerging: Scilla responds particularly well in patients similar to Arnica — tough with themselves and others; hard-bitten; still going to work with their head under their arm; never off sick deliberately; coarse and tough outwardly, yet with a certain sensitivity.
Case 1
A slim, wiry woman depends on her self-employed work to remain able to work. She has known the hardships of life since childhood and has learned sometimes to push through mercilessly. She yields in nothing she perceives as weakness. This secures her success but also makes her dependent on her health, because "illness is weakness". Now she has caught a nasty form of flu. Everything hurts, the nose runs, she is so weakened that even she, who never yields to weakness, can only stay on her feet with great effort. Scilla D12 every 2 hours helps her within a day so well that she is fully able to work again.
Case 2
A temporary worker in an inn is known for never calling in sick and always going to work despite illness. She is hard on herself. She rarely sees a doctor and would not go to a homeopath anyway. Now she has the flu, severe and worsening for days, so that for the first time she is bedridden and does not go to work. An acquaintance tells her to get Scilla. At lunchtime she is asked about it; she has not obtained it and her condition has worsened. The acquaintance drives to the pharmacy herself and gets the remedy as D12, emphasising that it should be taken hourly. Already after 3 hours her completely absent appetite returns, the limb pains stop and the fever goes down. In the evening she feels so much better that she goes back to work the next day. She says the remedy is amazing; she has never experienced anything like it. But the effect does not persist without intake, and after a few days she deteriorates again. Now limb pains, headache and sore throat dominate again. She receives Eupatorium alternately with Scilla. The case is not yet concluded.
Case 3
The 60-year-old patient initially responded so well to Scilla C30 that after each dose he was symptom-free and felt recovered. This continued for a week with repeated dosing so that he thought he had overcome the flu. But then the symptoms returned after a week. Bryonia D12 (relapsing, slow onset) helped him, but the cough and weakness remained, as did the loss of appetite. Only with Carbo vegetabilis C30 was the weakness gone the same day. The patient said his appetite quickly stopped after a few mouthfuls; the stomach felt like a poorly burning oven which chokes as soon as you add a bit too much: a typical Carbo-veg sign. The cough is still mild.
Case 4
In another case of weakness after a prolonged severe flu, Carbo vegetabilis also helped within 30 minutes.
Scilla maritima: Irritating cough with runny nose; generally > rest; see fuller remedy picture
Type: In a bind. Tough with self and others. Still goes to work with their head under their arm, never takes sick leave voluntarily. Can be unscrupulous.
Second update of the flu wave with differentiation of main remedies - 3.3.2015
The remedies and their indications, according to which we have given them in Kandern, are:
- SLOW, GRADUAL ONSET
| Gelsemium sempervirens: Flu begins slowly with paralysing, trembling weakness; the eyes ache, feel heavy and droop; trembling, dizzy, uncoordinated; headache like a band, pressure on the vertex, the head feels heavy; hard, spasmodic cough; feeling of cold in the back; does not want to talk; no thirst; marked relief after passing urine; < 10 am. Type: anxious "silver" series, wants to overcome the fear but can be capable of great deeds; refined people with stage fright, anticipatory tension; as if paralysed by fright or exam anxiety; needs a strong person who provides support. |
|
| Bryonia alba: displaced course, becomes worse slowly, stops, returns; thirsty for large quantities at longer intervals; bursting headache; mouth and lips dry; < 9 pm; > absolute rest; pleuritic involvement with pain dependent on breathing. Type: busy "iron" series; it is about money, business and lots of work. Dreams also revolve around work, quarrels and trouble in business. Eccentric, contradicts out of principle. Wants to be left alone, turns away and does not want to see anyone, not to be disturbed, not to move. |
- SUDDEN ONSET
| Aconitum napellus: acute onset with high fever; inexplicable anxiety, fear of death, panic, heart pounding wildly; pounding headache; nerves are frayed; mouth and eyes dry, burning; cough barking; sleepless. Type: childlike fears with panic attacks. |
- IRRITATING COUGH WITH RUNNY NOSE
| Scilla maritima: Irritating cough with runny nose; generally > rest; see fuller remedy picture Type: In a bind, agonising choice |
- GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS IN THE FOREGROUND
| Arsenicum album: onset or worse after midnight; restless, anxious tossing, thrashes about in bed; vomiting diarrhoea or diarrhoea; burning pains; feels cold, needs warmth, but heat in the head, needs cooling there; thirst for warm drinks in small sips; sleepless. Type: slim to thin; fear of burglars, especially when alone at home; suspicious; pedantic exactness in details. |
- SHATTERED FEELING AS MAIN SYMPTOM
| Eupatorium perfoliatum: everything aches, limb pains as if beaten, even the bed seems too hard; high fever over 39°C with chills and chattering teeth; headache as if raw, as if the skull were split with an axe; sore feeling in the bronchi; craving for cold drinks. Type: seeks paternal security that is denied them, wants to go home; the pain can have a demonstrative component to get support. |
- RARE, NOT TYPICAL FLU PICTURE, ONLY SORE THROAT
| Hepar sulfuris: chilled, sensitive to drafts; tonsillitis with loss of voice. Type: very irritable, short fuse, angry, threatening. |
- FLU NOSODE
| Oscillococcinum: Another well-known flu remedy, with which we have only limited personal experience. Here is an excerpt from an article by Dana Ullman:
"Oscillococcinum is the only over-the-counter flu remedy whose effectiveness is supported by at least FOUR independent large clinical trials. Oscillococcinum — often shortened to "Oscillo" by many due to the cumbersome pronunciation — is an excellent flu remedy that works best when taken right at the beginning of an influenza illness (within 48 hours of the first symptoms). The source material for this remedy is obtained from the heart and liver of a duck. While this might suggest quackery — forgive the pun — biologists and epidemiologists have demonstrated that 80% of a duck population carry every known virus in their digestive tracts. Oscillo thus contains homeopathic amounts of these viruses and their antibodies. The following studies were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of Oscillococcinum: Ferley (1989), Cassanova (1992) and Papp (1998). Each of these studies was relatively large (with 487, 300 and 372 patients respectively) and was conducted as placebo-controlled, double-blind multi-centre trials. Moreover, two of the studies were randomised. All three studies showed statistically significant results. Even the respected Cochrane Network described the results as promising." |
Update on the current flu wave - 26.2.2015
In the meantime the flu wave in South Baden has increased further and its presentation has also changed somewhat. We have now treated well over 100 cases and still use Scilla, but not exclusively, as non-responders have become more frequent. In severe head and eye pain and patients lying prostrate as if paralysed, Gelsemium has proven particularly effective — something we have given frequently and successfully, especially after the comment by Andrea Österer, and we now use it even more often than the still-effective Scilla. The potency D12 helps, but C200 seems to be even better. Other remedies that have also proven useful for us, in this order, are Aconite and Eupatorium perfoliatum, less often Arsenicum and Bryonia.
Gelsemium
It should be noted that Gelsemium sempervirens is not represented in the Bönninghausen repertory, so one would not arrive at it via polarity analysis. This is especially problematic because this remedy proved itself as one of the best and most frequently effective remedies in the severe Spanish flu of 1920/21, and thus once again demonstrated its healing power in viral illnesses with involvement of the brain, cranial nerves and meninges.
An analysis of the main symptoms at that time (compiled from the literature and translated into English for this article from the original software) still shows how important this remedy can be in severe viral flu cases today:
(historical analysis of the Spanish flu by Ulrich Welte in English - Part 1 and Part 2)
In the current flu wave we see all degrees of severity in our practice, from mild flu-like symptoms to severe courses. There are also unusually protracted forms that seem to begin to recover and then relapse. Here Gelsemium and Bryonia proved helpful for us, while the very sudden and violent forms responded better to Aconite.
Current information on the flu wave: SCILLA as the epidemic remedy 12.02.2015
Three case reports by Ulrich Welte
Case 1
On 21 January a young woman was in the Kandern practice. She had vomiting and diarrhoea 3–4 days earlier, then head flu with ear pain and sore throat, and a strong feeling of illness.
The PA (Polarity Analysis) of the flu questionnaire according to Heiner Frei yielded the following result:
Scilla is the first remedy with the highest polarity difference (13) and continuous coverage of all modalities; Nux-v with a contraindication. Camphor in second place.
The patient received Scilla maritima C30 (see remedy picture for Scilla maritima) several times daily and Perenterol. When asked about a possible conflict, she said she was in a dilemma between two evils: if she goes to work she infects others, if she stays at home she feels guilty — the Scilla situation. Already the next day everything was almost gone; right after the first dose of Scilla a great relief was felt.
We initially thought that other flu cases were different because they did not include gastrointestinal symptoms. This first case also seemed more situationally suited to the remedy.
Case 2
Then on 26 January the second Scilla case arrived. Here there were the typical ENT symptoms with pharyngitis, irritating cough and flu-like limb pains. The polarity analysis of an acute ENT questionnaire looked like this:
Again Scilla in 3rd place, again Nux-v with contraindication, Colchicum first (also a Liliaceae like Scilla). Camphor in 4th place: a very consistent result compared with the first case.
Scilla also helped remarkably quickly here; already after an hour the complaints were much better. The limb pains were gone the same day, and the next day everything was fine.
Case 3 and others
Two days later, on 28 January, the son of the 2nd patient was also unwell with headache, irritating cough and chest pain on deep breathing. By then we were "alert" and also gave Scilla experimentally, although the PA suggested Rhus tox here and did not indicate Scilla. Rhus tox had already been tried fruitlessly weeks earlier. He too responded to Scilla on the same day; directly after intake the cough improved, he only woke once at night and was fine the next day.
From then on we tried the remedy on all flu patients when sore throat and cough were prominent. It usually helped as well as in the first three cases. That a supposedly rare remedy like Scilla, the sea squill, helps so often is not actually surprising when one realises that it is a close relative of the kitchen onion Allium cepa, which is often used successfully for sharp watery nasal discharge in flu. Scilla maritima is also an ancient remedy known throughout the Mediterranean since antiquity and has only recently fallen "out of fashion". That does not make it any less valuable when indicated.
Thus the approach in the practice became very simple. The PA was no longer needed; Scilla was the epidemic remedy.
By now the number of prescriptions approaches 40 cases
The remedy still works; we give it as D12 or D6 four times daily. It is astonishing to us how often and how quickly the remedy helps. We have not had an epidemic remedy before that acts so fast and so reliably. Even with back pain for weeks it helped.
Mostly these are flu cases that start with sore throat and irritating cough and quickly progress to descending bronchitis. In total we have seen only 4 cases in which Scilla did not help, including two in which it worsened the condition. If given at the first signs one can also abort the course; in one case the symptoms disappeared within an hour.
Even rare or odd symptoms now show that the remedy matches in details: yesterday a patient came with the sensation of cool wind in the throat. Complete Repertory: generals, sensation of wind: squil.
Furthermore one can also consider it for gastrointestinal flu:
Yesterday, 9 February, a young man came with pressing abdominal pains, diarrhoea and weakness. He also had flu-like limb pains but no ENT symptoms. Could this also be a Scilla case? In the Complete Repertory under abdomen, pain pressing Scilla was included; it was also listed for improvement by lying down. After the first dose of Scilla D6 he noticed nothing immediately, but directly after the second dose two hours later it was already better, and today he is back on his feet. Does he need to keep his sick note until tomorrow? He would like to go to work. Of course.
It is interesting that the Robert Koch Institute reports a current flu that is particularly frequent in South Baden. In terms of severity, all grades were present — from severe cases with high fever and severe malaise to milder flu-like infections. The remedy Scilla maritima was at times not available everywhere; however, various manufacturers still supply it, and sometimes it is available under Urginea maritima.
Conclusion
We would be pleased if this observation would help other practices and their patients benefit from a useful epidemic remedy. We have seldom seen such a clear effect from a single remedy; usually in epidemic states we have found several remedies among which we had to differentiate.
Ulrich Welte, Kandern 12 February 2015
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Lycopodium as an epidemic remedy
by Paul Herscu
I would like to briefly report to you on the current respiratory infection that is currently spreading in the USA and Europe.
My intention is not to present detailed differential diagnostic considerations with case analysis and strategies for constitutional treatment here. Rather I would like to share my experience with you and let you know that the genius epidemicus in this case is very likely Lycopodium.
For homeopathic treatment the actual pathogen is irrelevant. My patients who respond well to Lycopodium in the current cold wave are a mixed bunch: small children with right-sided otitis media, adolescents with right-sided sore throat, middle-aged people with flu-like infections and bronchitis and older patients, also with bronchitis. The patients correspond to Lycopodium either as a constitutional type and fall ill acutely while being constitutionally treated, or the patient is in a Lycopodium state during the acute illness.
Briefly I would like to let you know that in most of these patients there were no clear indications for the remedy. Please think of Lycopodium when you have a case that is not clear-cut or where other remedies have not produced the desired effect. I am fully aware that a true genius epidemicus traditionally relates to only one pathogen and one disease. I emphasise again that I do not intend to discuss the topic here — that would be beyond the scope — but rather to sensitise you to this remedy.
All the best to you and your patients wishes you
Paul Herscu, 23.12.2014
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Photo: Shutterstock.com
Child flu © Ermolaev Alexander
