Flucaster--forecasting your flu season
Up to date information on the latest flu symptoms and which natural remedies can help. Homeopathic, flu remedy, natural cold remedy, flucaster
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
NIH Study for Homeopathy use for Pertussis Symptoms
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Stomach flu 2023
Based on the symptoms experienced lately, I'll give the top remedy first followed by other helpful remedies:
Arsenicum album: Vomiting and diarrhea at the same time with intense weakness/prostration. Generally chilly, could get visible intense chills/shaking when symptoms are worst. Thirst but vomits after just drinking even a little. Sipping warm or lukewarm drinks generally goes better on the stomach than cold drinks. Stool/diarrhea is very offensive/smelly. Symptoms are often worse in the middle of the night, 1-3am. Urine is dark, brownish.
Veratrum album: this is the classic remedy for vomiting and diarrhea at the same time. Usually this is used for food poisoning but can be used for flus as well. Forceful vomiting and diarrhea. Same chilliness. There is thirst for cold water and craving for sour things.
Pulsatilla: great nausea and desire for company/comfort. Not thirsty even with severe diarrhea.
I hope you don't get this flu, but in case you do...keep these remedies on hand!
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
December 2022-January 2023: Periorbital Cellulitis--Belladonna, Rhus tox plus others
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Belladonna proves effective for earaches and fevers....also other remedies right now....
As you may know, three different flus are going around. In addition to COVID. Some remedies have come up as useful for what's going on:
#1 Remedy: BELLADONNA. Belladonna is great to have on hand for sudden high fevers and ear aches. Fevers lately have been up to 104+ with the current flu. Typically a child might feel fine during the day and then after going to bed, they wake up crying of ear pain and with a fever. Even adults have been getting ear infections with the current flu. Belladonna ear pain is typically very painful and pulsating. The ear my feel hot to the touch and even look red on the outside. Or the person has a red face and cold hands. Belladonna flus can also have a very bad sore throat, and this has been going around as well.
#2 Remedy: IPECACUANHA. Ipecacuanha is the homeopathic made from the herbal remedy that induces vomiting. Don't take that if you want to treat these flu symptoms. Take the homeopathic (diluted) form of the remedy. A 30c is the best choice. Ipecacuanha is great for coughs that make you gag. The cough is so bad that you gag while coughing and might even vomit. Also Ipecacuanha is good for wheezing or feeling of suffocation with heaviness in the chest and stuck mucous.
#3 Remedy: GELSEMIUM. This is a carry-over from COVID. A top COVID remedy for the fatigue and brain fog that accompanies the flu. Also good for that initial feeling of your skin being very sensitive when you first start feeling chilled like you are getting sick. Also good for headaches that feel like they are behind your eyes or make your head and eyelids feel heavy.
#4 Remedy: ALLIUM CEPA. This remedy which is well known for allergies can also be used for colds. It is great for colds that quickly go to the larynx and chest. The tissues (nose and throat and bronchiols) can feel raw. The nose is irritated by the excoriating thin watery mucous. Eyes can also be watery and irritated. Usually people with this type of cold/flu feel better outside in fresh air. So if you feel like this, don't bundle up in bed, get outside for a bit.
#5 Remedy: HEPAR SULPH CALC. This remedy is for the last stages of colds and flu where after 2 or more weeks there is a cough or nasal drainage where it feels like there is stuck mucous. Mucous can be green or yellow at this point. Most people think they need an antibiotic when they see this color mucous, but try some Hepar sulph and see if you can get it to clear.
You can take any of these remedies in a 30c dose 3-5 times a day. Take another dose when symptoms seem to worsen or come back after they had subsided. If you're not sick yet, get these remedies to have on the shelf. Particularly Belladonna will help for those late night sudden earaches and fevers.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Belladonna--possible Omicron remedy or is it a Belladonna cold going around?
There's a new kid in town and it's called Omicron
It is quickly caught and gets passed around very easily. People think it might be just a cold, or a headache. Then symptoms are pretty bad or as precaution they decide to do a test...ding ding ding! COVID!
Maybe it's the vaccines, the previous antibodies or maybe it's just the nature of the variant that makes Omicron less severe symptomatically than previous variants.
And perhaps there is also a flu going around that is not Omicron but has similar symptoms to the new variant. At any rate, here are the symptoms people are having:
-sudden, severe headache. Migraine. Sinus headache, Throbbing headache
-feeling terrible. Slight fever.
-sinuses completely blocked
After hearing detailed symptoms from two people diagnosed with Omicron, I realised this variant might have a different remedy than previous variants. It sounded like Belladonna: 1) symptoms come on quickly, 2) strong throbbing headache worse stooping over, 3) sinus congestion. Then after a couple days things improve. By improve I mean that the severe symptoms are resolving. After that the person can have more typical COVID symptoms of dry cough or fatigue but on much lower scale than Delta.
On Friday I woke up with a little nausea and a headache that quickly got worse. By the afternoon it was very painful especially when bending over to pick something up off the floor. there was pressure pounding in my head. That's why I chose the weather picture above. Looks like a lot of pressure that shoots the snow through the snow blower. The belladonna headache is worse stooping because there is no place for the pressure to go. It's all getting pushed to the head, which is why with Belladonna fevers you will have cold extremities but a hot head and face. I did take some Belladonna and by the time I left work my headache was gone.
The next day a friend that I had dinner with the night before texted that she got a headache as well. It was throbbing. She took aspirin and went out to do some yard work she had planned. Her headache was gone by late afternoon. By the way, I did do a COVID rapid test which was negative.
Typically with Belladonna flus they start and end pretty quickly. That is the benefit. People who tend towards Belladonna flus spike a high fever, go to bed, sweat it out and are better the next day. I can't say that people with Omicron are better the very next day, however they are getting better much quicker than with Delta. Most people feel not so bad after 2 days and by day 5 they know they are on the mend and out of the woods. For this reason, I actually think it is reasonable that quaruntine should only last 5 days (though I do favor a negative test before venturing out).
There is a lingering dry cough in Omicron that can come on when the Belladonna symptoms subside. For this reason, Bryonia is still a good remedy to take for COVID 19. It's almost as if there are Bryonia and Belladonna strains that occur together. With Bryonia, symptoms typically come on slower with achiness and fatigue, maybe a headache. There has been a new symptom of dizziness and a feeling of sinking into the bed while lying down. These so far are mild.
Then after a few days the cough can come on and be mild, severe and potentially long lasting. So it seems that with Omicron, either there are mild Bryonia symptoms or none, then the severe Belladonna-like sinus symptoms hit, then they resolve leaving other very mild Bryonia symptoms behind. Interestingly, I haven't seen as much of the Gelsemium-like variant symptoms of severe fatigue this time though this was a HUGE remedy with Delta. Still, Gelsemium can start with a headache, fever and chills so it is worth a look.
I have seen only a few people with truly low oxygen throughout the pandemic, but now it seems almost nobody has low oxygen with Omicron. This is a good thing as people really don't need to go to the hospital if their oxygen is fine. Actually, you don't need to go to the hospital at all if your symptoms are treated properly at home (preferably by a physician).
So if you get Omicron, try a combined or alternating dosage of Belladonna and Bryonia (homeopathics). I think you'll get through it just fine. Remember your pulse oximeter and check your oxygen daily. Take your vitamins. Eat good food. Be good and take care!
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
2020 Remedies still hold true for COVID
Wow, I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post. It has been a crazy year with the virus bouncing around the world, conflicting COVID information, variants and COVID drama. I had seen only a few patients with COVID in the first year of shut downs. However in the last month (with the Delta variant) I've seen a ton! The symptoms haven't changed though (despite the variants) and therefore the recommended homeopathics have not changed.
Symptoms are now also being felt by people who have gotten vaccines. The most common symptoms are usually short lived (less than a week after vaccination) and typically include fatigue, achiness all over, chill (especially with drafts), and for some, diarrhea.
One great thing seen lately is that the 5 remedies I talked about last year for COVID are still effective for COVID and for COVID vaccine reactions! I got my Pfizer vaccine 3 days ago. The first day I had only a little shooting pain in lymph node areas around my body. I was still able to go paddleboarding on the Columbia river. But by the afternoon the next day I felt a little chilled, achy in all joints and tired. Also a little heavy.
Luckily I had my Virus 2020 blend in my purse. I took it (I had the one with the spray top) on the way home from my parents house. In addition I took one of my stand by constitutionals--Rhus tox-- because I had desired a hot tub and ice cream earlier that day. Achiness that craves very hot water is classic for Rhus tox. I had chosen Rhus as an additional Covid remedy last year for other symptoms (see this post). By the time I got home, I my achiness had faded and I started to perk up. By next morning i felt completely normal.
A patient called me at work today to ask for any help for COVID symptoms he had been experiencing x 4 days: fever, fatigue, slight cough and slight chest tightness. He was relatively young and O2 sats were normal. He stopped by for a curbside pickup of Virus 2020 blend. A couple of hours later, he texted to say that within 15 minutes of taking it, all of his symptoms resolved. He had been on his way to the pharmacy to get medication, which he probably will no longer need.
So the Virus 2020 blend (plus Rhus tox for some people) is still the top treatment for COVID and COVID vaccine related symptoms. For people who get digestive symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, I'm guessing that Veratrum album is the best remedy. Few people get those symptoms so I'm leaving that out of my 2020 blend. To recap, my 2020 blend has:
Bryonia--top remedy for dry cough, achiness with movement and cold drafts
Gelsemium--top remedy for fatigue, low fever, heaviness and headache
Eupatorium perf--top remedy for ache that goes down to the bones
Arsenicum--top remedy for a chill that can't be warmed, weakness, and debilitated feeling
Top addition:
Rhus tox--add on for achiness in the joints with desire for hot tub and cold milk. Opposite to Bryonia which does not like movement, Rhus people like constant movement to ease the joint pain.
Contact the office for our Virus 2020 blend at 360-433-2727. Take care and stay healthy!
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Breaking News! RHUS TOX, possible remedy for COVID
One of my colleagues who has chronic asthma recently recovered from a fairly severe case of COVID. Honestly if she would have gone to the ER she likely would have been put on a ventilator. Luckily, she did not do that and treated herself at home with supplements, inhalers, breathing treatments, many forms of heat, and a CPAP. The worst part of her time was 4 days in which she had pain with every breath and pain in most of her joints.
When she reported her case to me, these were her main signs and symptoms:
-painful breath
-painful joints/muscles
-high fever with some sweating but wants to be warm and wrapped up.
-hot showers, hot tea and hot soup all help with cough and pain. She took a long hot steamy shower every day
-chest is tight, as if a band is around it
-bone pain better with movement, she wanted to constantly move to help the pain
-headache terrible, nothing making it better except for being asleep
-fatigue was crushing as if she could not move. She was trying to lie perfectly still except the tiny movements that helped the joint pain
-restless
In the Desktop Companion to Physical Pathology, Roger Morrison describes the Rhus tox flu like this:
-flu with anguish, aching and restlessness
-moderate to high fever
-chills especially from uncovering or draft (this is similar to BRYONIA)
-chilly and relieved by warm baths, applications or drinks (actually we know that Rhus tox is usually better with piping hot things)
-pains ameliorated by nearly constant movements
It is also a pneumonia remedy. Roger Morrison lists these symptoms:
-later stages of pneumonia with restlessness, anxiousness (ARSENICUM) and stupor (GELSEMIUM)
-physical restlessness with great aching
-sudden chills and fever in paroxysms
-cough worse cold
-thick mucous, sputum may be rusty
While there are more lung symptoms with COVID which are not described here but the ones that are described do fit. The flu symptoms certainly all fit.
I showed my colleague Morrison's description and she said that 'anguish' really describes it well.
I normally use Rhus tox for arthritis (especially arthritis which is worse by eating nightshades) and for lyme disease. Rhus tox is poison ivy. I think that since lyme originates in the forest (via ticks), it's neat that the cure (for many people) is also from the forest.
Please, start using Rhus tox and let me know how it goes. I was not able to give it to my colleague because I spoke with her after she had recovered.
To make an appointment with Dr. Wagner, call 360-433-2727