Lycopodium, Aconite, Hepar sulph

Brrrr! It's cold!

There are a couple of illnesses going around right now. There is a stomach thing, a cough thing and Strep throat.  It starts with the cold:

ACONITE.....
When you get sick right after being out in the cold (especially cold wind), chances are you need Aconite. Aconite symptoms are:
Severe headache with fever
Sore throat, burning sensation, tonsillitis (enlarged, inflamed tonsils)
Increased thirst
Early stages of croup (loud unproductive cough)
in kids, one cheek will be red, the other pale
there may be anxiousness or fear with the fever, but not always
If you take Aconite within the first day of being sick, the homeopathic remedy has a good chance of turning things around.

If you let the sickness develop too long before taking Aconite, you may need Hepar sulph.
HEPAR SULPH follows many remedies and Aconite is one of them. When you have thick, stuck mucous or exudate (white spots) on the tonsils, Hepar sulph is a good choice.
The sore throat will come and go with Hepar sulph and the sore throat pain will shoot to the ear when you swallow. Sometimes it feels like there is a splinter in your throat when you swallow.

The third star remedy right now is LYCOPODIUM
I haven't talked about Lycopodium in a couple of years. What I've seen are a couple of very typical Lycopodium symptoms: lots of abdominal gas and bloating and increased appetite.
Sinus: right sided sinus inflammation, blocked sinuses worse at night, thick mucous
Resp: chronic, dry, tickling cough. Pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma

I've seen people with just the abdominal symptoms of Lycopodium, just the respiratory symptoms and just strep throat after having had a cough.  If there are any gastrointestinal symptoms, I would try the Lycopodium first.  If everything starts right after being out in the cold and the symptoms come on quickly, try the Aconite.  Use Hepar sulph when things go on too long (over a week or two) and the mucous seems really stuck.

Ipecac--Vomiting Remedy? Northern West Coast October/November 2016

Most of us grew up in a house with a bottle of Ipecac syrup in the medicine cabinet.  It was there for accidental poisonings--like when the baby gets into the cleaning solutions or an open medicine bottle. It's actually rarely recommended these days, but the use of homeopathic Ipecac has many uses and in fact we just used it yesterday.

Carapichea ipecacuanha grows in South America and has long been known for it's emetic properties. Emetic means "induces vomiting" but it also can cause coughing to the point of expelling mucous, such as in the case of bronchitis. Basically it has an upward force, whether stomach contents or stuff in the airways it causes it to move up and out.

Homeopathic dilutions of Ipecac have the opposing effect.  As we know with homeopathy that like cures like, homeopathic Ipecac relieves vomiting and coughing.

When is it best to relieve vomiting and coughing? When the vomiting or coughing is not producing a good effect. Certainly if someone did ingest something not good for them, vomiting is the body's way of getting rid of it.  But in the case of a stomach flu, the virus will not be gone from the body after vomiting, it is only creating unpleasant symptoms. Similarly, if someone has motion sickness, vomiting will not alleviate vertigo. 

In the case of bronchitis, if a person does have a wet cough, certainly we want to expel the mucous. But in a dry viral cough or even asthmatic cough, the coughing is not producing any good effect. Pertussis (whooping cough) is a dry persistent cough where the child will cough and cough until they vomit.  This is the perfect time for using homeopathic Ipecac.

In Vancouver, WA there are two types of illnesses beginning to go around the schools. One is a 24 hour stomach flu and the other is a cough.  Both can be perfectly treated with Ipecac.  Two nights ago my daughter woke with a stomach ache and nausea in the middle of the night. She spent the next morning vomiting, not even able to keep down water. Her fever was 100.9.  I gave her a dose of Ipecac 30c homeopathic pellets (put under the tongue or in the mouth and let dissolve).

She did not vomit again after that. She was able to eat a little food that afternoon and able to drink two glasses of water.  Her fever stayed at 101 until the late evening.  That is Ok. Fevers are there to fight off viruses.  For the fever we only gave more water. This morning she woke fever free and feeling fine.

Did the Ipecac change the length of the illness? Probably not. But it did help the symptoms while she was ill, ensuring that she did not get dehydrated and she could feel better on her day off from school. In the same way, Ipecac will likely help a case of pertussis or dry cough (though there are a couple of other remedies also great for this), but the person taking it may still be contagious even as their cough quiets down.  A person with an asthmatic cough can be helped with homeopathic Ipecac, but they should probably also get their allergies eliminated (through NAET) to take care of the problem permanently.

Ipecac is not recommended much anymore. But homeopathic Ipecac definitely is! If this is not in your medicine cabinet at home, go out and get some. It may save you when vomiting hits in the middle of the night.

Available at Chuck's Produce, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods and New Seasons Market

Forecast: Bryonia

I'm going to do something a little different this time and actually give a prediction. I predict that this season's first flu (in case you haven't had a flu already) will be a Bryonia flu. Also I have a prediction based on a couple of observations that the Bryonia flu will transform into a Hepar sulph state (see next blog post).

Although there have been some indications here and there of Bryonia flu, I haven't seen someone with a full blown case of it. Likely because I have been giving out Bryonia for people's symptoms. What symptoms you ask?

-flu that comes on insidiously (slowly). You feel like you are getting sick for a couple of days.
-back ache
-dry mouth, thirst
-laying still feels better than moving. even the movement of breath through the sinuses and lungs is uncomfortable, especially if it's cold air.
-sensitive to drafts. you want to be wrapped up.
-wants to be left alone.  When someone has the Bryonia flu, they don't want consolation. They want to go home and stay there.
-Headache will usually be left-sided, over the left eye or forehead, extending to the occiput, then the whole head (Morrison, Desktop Guide).
-Lung sequelae of colds and flus: bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia with painful coughing.


Try Bryonia if you have an inkling of these symptoms at the start of a flu.  If not sure, there is a great new product in our office that is a combination homeopathic by Hevert called Cold & Flu Relief. It has Bryonia, Aconite, Belladonna, Rhus tox, and other homeopathics that are great for taking at the start of a flu. call the office to get some at 360-433-2727.

Fall 2014, the Ferrum phos Flu

the Ferrum phosphoricum flu, Vancouver Washington, September October 2014

Vancouver has had mild rain storms in the last week with cloud breaks offering really nice sky views. At the same time, there has been a mild flu going around.  A ferrum phos flu.

With all the talk about Ebola in the news these last two weeks, I have been wondering one thing: what are the exact symptoms of Ebola?  How does the person feel?  The Liberian man in Texas described his first symptom as a sharp headache.  A couple of days later, I got a sharp headache. Other symptoms followed (not symptoms of Ebola, just symptoms of a flu). Since I had been studying possible Ebola flu remedies, I decided to try one I had picked as a possible remedy. Here are the symptoms which developed over the course of 4 days...

Fever: I knew I was not feeling well when I was putting on a thick sweater at the office.  Normally, a summer sweater would do in air conditioning on a 75 degree day.  Although the sweater felt nice, I didn't feel overly chilled, and definitely never got shakes. Throughout the flu, I actually felt warmer than normal, which was nice because I'm usually a little cold, especially in air conditioning. the warmth stayed near the surface of the skin, rather than feeling hot on the inside and cold at the extremities as is the case in other flus. So this was not a Gelsemium flu, Belladonna flu or Arsenicum flu.

Headache: quickly following the short lived chill I got a sharp headache. I knew what the Ebola victim meant by "sharp".The pain started in my right nostril/sinus and went up to my right forehead as if a spear or knife went straight up through those places.  The maxillary sinuses were very tender to air going in, especially on the R side.  Again, the pain could be described as sharp.  It also felt like a pressing pain on the forehead and at one point, both temples hurt and felt congested, almost throbbing, but not quite.  In addition, the headache started actually in the occiput on the Right side.  I normally have pain in that area, so at first, I did not know it was a sign of the flu. It felt good to press on the base off the occiput and also it felt as if I needed a chiropractic adjustment. The headache remained throughout the flu and in fact, was the last symptom to leave.

Nausea: nausea quickly developed with lack of appetite. Although at work, I didn't eat hardly anything the entire day.  At first, I thought it was just stress related stomach problems because I was buying a used car for my daughter that week.  But with the temperature and sinus symptoms, I was getting the picture that it was a flu.  The nausea was part lack of appetite, part dizziness, and part light headedness.  Every time the homeopathic I finally took wore off, the nausea and lightheadedness came back.  The one thing I did have an appetite for was ice.  I wanted ice cold water, and chewing on ice made my stomach feel better, more settled.

Eyes: When the headache started, photophobia came on as well.  I had to squint while outdoors so as not to make the headache worse.  By the third day, my eyes felt burning and as if there was sand in the lids.  I thought I might be getting conjunctivitis.

what was absent: with this flu there was absolutely no joint pain.  In fact, usually I have a little stiffness and joint pain.  I actually felt fairly comfortable throughout this flu, except for the crick in my neck around C1/C2.  I did drink less coffee, but the garden was producing oodles of cherry tomatoes and I ate plenty of those.  (As we all know, nightshades can cause joint pain). So whether or not a change in diet had any affect on joint pain is unknown.  Either way, this was definitely not a Eupatorium or an Arnica flu.

So what did I take?

I had insomnia as is normal during a flu and during the night I got up and took Sanginaria.  As I've mentioned in earlier posts, a Sanguinaria flu starts with a pain in the neck and trapezius on the Right side going up to the right forehead and eye. It did nothing for my symptoms. Later I took Ipecac due to the nausea because I had to go to work. At this point, I was still not sure if my symptoms were due to stress or a flu. The nausea did not get worse, but I had absolutely no appetite and felt that if I ate, the nausea would worsen.  Neither of these remedies stopped the headache, dizziness, or fever (and by fever, I really mean a warmth throughout the skin).  I took Causticum later due to it's connection with a feeling of a crick in the neck during a flu. Nothing.

Then I happened upon a remedy that I was investigating due to Ebola.  Ferrum phosphoricum.  It is iron phosphate. The iron remedies, especially ferrum phosphoricum, are used to treat iron deficiency anemia.  We know that people with iron deficiency crave ice.  That is what made me think of a ferrum phos.

Ferrum phos matches these symptoms in the repertory:

EYE--Photophobia, headache during
EYE--Photophobia, fever during
EYE-Pain, burning
EYE-Discoloration, red
EYE-Pain, sand, as if from

VERTIGO-Nausea, with

HEAD-Pain, accompanied by fever
HEAD-Pain, occiput, sore
HEAD-Pain, occiput extending to forehead
HEAD-Pain, sides, right
HEAD-Pain, eye, above

FEVER-without chill

STOMACH-cold drinks ameliorate

I had looked at this remedy due to it's possible accompanying symptoms of hemorrhages from any orifice (coughing up blood (hemoptysis), bloody stools, bleeding from the gums, nosebleeds).  Also it is listed as a remedy for the beginnings of contagions. Obviously I did not have these symptoms.  But I took the remedy.

I started to feel better. The pain in the nostrils subsided.  The headache lessened.  I had taken a 200c dose because I wanted quick results. A couple of hours later I didn't feel as well as I wanted to.  I wanted to take another dose but knew it was inadviseable to take another high dose.  I had some ferrum phosphoricum cell salts (6x) so I took that. Pain in the nose subsided the sinuses started to drain even though they had not really felt congested.  It felt as it does at the end of a cold when mucous is the last sign of residual illness.  I found a 30c dose and that was the next dosage I took when the headache worsened again hours later. All symptoms abated without any new symptoms arising.

I had to take more 30c doses, about 2-3 doses per day for 3 days before the symptoms completely subsided.   Taking the remedy helped me feel good enough for a few hours to go about what I had to do--purchase a car for my daughter, cook, eat, type up chart notes, etc.

But was this only my experience?  Was it isolated or was this flu going around? On the first day that I had a headache, a friend also had a headache. When I asked him to describe the headache it matched mine--on the Right side, in the nose and sinus and going up behind and above the Right eye.  He also had a sore throat.  I gave him a dose of ferrum phos 30c and asked him to get back to me.  4 hours later, he texted that he felt much better.  About 24 hours later, he wanted another dose. He took that and felt better again.

In addition, two other people had similar flu symptoms that week.  Their only complaints were nausea, lack of appetite, headache and slight vertigo.

It would be interesting for homeopaths to collect more detailed information about Ebola symptoms to see if ferrum phos could be of use, especially in the early stages.  Perhaps Ebola is getting out of hand due to a ferrum phos flu going around simultaneously with Ebola.  Either way, if you have any of the above symptoms in the next few weeks and try ferrum phos, let me know how it works.

May 2013 Vancouver, WA--Veratrum album flu...or is it Iris-v. ?

We had some unusually nice weather up here in the northwest, so it was disheartening when the kids came down with a horrible flu.  The vomiting-and-diarrhea-at-the-same-time kind of flu.  A flu that lasts for two days.

It is not the kind of flu that comes on quick or with a high fever.  For our daughter the vomiting came on first, with a bout of vomiting, then feeling otherwise thirsty and tired but OK.  Then a day later, not feeling so great, then the intensity increased with vomiting and diarrhea at the same time and alternating for the next 2 days.  The fever was never over 100.4 and the forehead did not feel as warm as more distal parts.

Whenever vomiting and diarrhea happen at the same time, we think of Veratrum album.

A pretty, wild growing plant, the veratrum bulb can sometimes be mistaken for wild garlic.  When this happens, people get seriouly ill by ingesting the bulb.  Like many substrates of homeopathic medicines, Veratrum is poisonous, but can be used as a medicine when diluted in the homeopathic way.  Remember, the dose makes the poison.  Our everyday medicines--Tylenol, aspirin--are poisonous when too much is taken.  Even water, when a person drinks 2-3 gallons very fast, can kill.  But used in the correct dose, all these things can be beneficial.  Veratrum is said to have been used as an emetic by physicians in ancient Greece.

Veratrum album homeopathic was used widely in the last 2 centuries for cholera.  It corresponds with watery stools, projectile vomiting, and especially vomiting and diarrhea happening at the same time.  Although cholera is caused by a bacteria, if the symptoms are similar, the homeopathic Veratrum can be used for illness caused by bacteria or viruses.

Unlike the Aconite flu we saw in February, the Veratrum flu carries with it only a low grade temperature.  A person's forehead and skin can even feel clammy, like a cold sweat.  Our daughter's temperature never got to be more than 100.4. The patient may also feel vertigo with the nausea. The diarrhea and vomiting of the Veratrum flu leaves the person feeling debilitated and shaky.  The flu that was going around here seemed to last 2 days for the diarrhea and vomiting with an initial prodrome of occasional vomiting or diarrhea a couple of days before the intense symptoms arrived.  The diarrhea and vomiting can be sudden and in the middle of the night, typically for Vertrum, around 4a.m. If you have any diarrhea or nausea this week, I would go ahead and take some Vertatrum album in a low dose (30x, 12c, 30c).

I am still deciding is Veratrum is the best remedy for this flu as it's cousin, Iris versicolor, is used for very similar symptoms.

Vithoulkas says that Iris versicolor is indicated for children's flu more often than Veratrum album, especially if the diarrhea and vomiting get worse at 2-3a.m.  In fact, that is when our younger daughter's symptoms awakened her.  Iris was also used as an emetic in the past, this one by native Americans.  Iris causes vomiting and diarrhea and is especially indicated when the vomitus and diarrhea feels burning or acrid. The whole digestive tract may feel like it's burning.

It's interesting to note that both Veratrum album and Iris versicolor are in bloom right now. When we experienced the Aconite flu in February, that was the time the aconites were pushing up through the snow. Normally, Veratrum is the earlier bloomer, coming out in May or June whereas Iris can be May, June, July or August depending on the climate.  It has been unseasonably warm here in Vancouver so I called my friend who has many blue irises in his yard to ask if they had bloomed yet.  Sure enough, he said there was one iris flower already up and blooming.

My older daughter felt nauseous this morning and I gave her a dose of Veratrum, which relieved the nausea.  So I think that if Veratrum is not "the" remedy, at least it's close enough to help.  If you get nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea this month, use either of these homeopathics and let me know which helps the most.  I would love to hear about your experience!