Monday, May 21, 2012

May 21st, 2012: It's a Phosphorus kind of Week


Drizzle...not a storm, not a loud thunder...just a drizzle.  Slow lightly falling showers that come and go, some harder, some softer with an ever present dampness.  Such are the symptoms of a phosphorus flu.  Symptoms can be subtle and wax and wane over a number of minutes, hours, or days.  Phosphorus flus come on with changes in weather as we are experiencing in Vancouver, WA: seven days of sun and warmth followed by a mildly cold front, clouds and drizzle in this unusually warm spring.
The phosphorus type--someone needing phosphorus as a constitutional remedy--will get worsening of symptoms at any change in weather.  Symptoms can be another nosebleed, laryngitis, or a stomachache.  Anyone can get a phophorus flu and it seems to be going around this week.  
Phosphorus nausea comes and goes like a shower that passes and then reveals blue sky and sunlight behind a cloud only to be followed by another shower.  It alternates with hunger or intense thirst for cold water.  A person  suffering from a phosphorus flu will vomit, feel better, and then ask for a meal shortly after or a big glass of cold water. The trouble is, after the cold water warms up in the stomach, the nausea starts again and can end in vomiting once more.  This is how I knew my daughter had a phosphorus flu this morning.  She asked for lots of cold water--unusual for her--but then vomited again minutes later.
The stomach trouble can come along with diarrhea that is sudden, even causing involuntary stool.  Colitis and proctitis can be chronic problems for a phosphorus type but the gurgling, pain, and inflammation of the acute flu can be felt in these areas as well.  The phosphorus patient does not want to be left alone, prefers company.
Sometimes a phosphorus flu can be in the respiratory system.  It can be as mild as a lingering, tickling cough or as severe as pneumonia.  This will be a walking pneumonia as the patient alternates between feeling ok and feeling sick.  In a phosphorus type, every cold will go to the chest.  However the cough will likely be dry.  Dryness can be felt in throat and and some may also complain of dry mouth and lips as well.  Laryngitis is common and can be evidenced by hoarseness with or without pain or even total loss of the voice.
It was interesting that we came down with a phosphorus flu and the same day a phosphorus patient came to the office for the first time.  Maybe it was the change in weather.  She had been afflicted with stomach upset, indigestion and diarrhea since she was a kid.  Her stomach was worse with anxiety, excitement, meat and warm foods and better with cold foods and drinks.  She didn't like carbonated beverages.  
Maybe it was the open, bright personality she exhibited or just the fact that she was tall and thin, but it prompted me to ask about another symptom in her health history to seal the homeopathic deal.  "Any other symptoms in childhood...like nosebleeds?"
"Oh yeah, I used to get nosebleeds all the time as a kid.  In fact, I just got another one last week!" she answered.
That's when I remembered that my daughter had had a nosebleed yesterday. I hadn't thought anything of it, but now I realized it was a harbinger of the phosphorus flu.
Each patient got a dose of phosphorus. After my daughter's dose, she fell asleep and slept for 2 hours, woke up, ate lunch and did not get sick again.  The patient who came today--we shall see.