WHO’s Afraid of the H1N1 Flu?
How many of you know someone who has already come down with the flu? As a professional homeopath as well as a mother with three kids, the calls and stories of people coming down with the flu are picking up. Two weeks ago at a family dinner, I was sitting next to my 13 year old niece who became visibly chilled, aching and feverish before dessert even reached the table. As our roles at the time were hostess (me) and guest (her), we couldn’t move into what would have been the more appropriate roles of homeopath (me) and patient (her) but I did give her a couple of doses of Oscillococcinum (a homeopathic remedy which is known to be helpful in generally stimulating the immune system against viral strains of influenza) and sent more home with her family to give her and also to take themselves as preventative measures. That night and the next day I also gave several doses of this same remedy to myself and my family, all of whom had also been at the dinner.
End result? My niece was sick for several days with what the clinic called an “unconfirmed case of the H1N1 virus” and missed the first day of school, but has now recovered. Her dad, who didn’t take any Oscillococcinum as prevention, also got sick and experienced the same set of symptoms. Her mom (who did take numerous doses of Oscillococcinum and was the primary care-giver of her daughter and husband) felt tired and had a mild sore throat for a few days, but didn’t get sick. Her brother (who maybe took 1 dose of the remedy) didn’t get sick. My 84 year old mother felt a little off for a few days, and my 83 year old father has been completely fine. One of my daughters had a sore throat and felt tired for a couple of days but with some rest and Oscillococcinum, bounced right back.
So of the ten people sitting and eating with someone actively sick and infectious, the only person who went on to become ill was the one person who didn’t take the Oscilloccinum. While this experience was hardly conducted under rigorous scientific testing and analysis, someone wanting to help keep themselves and their families from getting sick this season might take notice.
Some natural ways to prepare for influenza season at home:
* Oscillicoccinum is worthwhile to have on hand and take to help prevent the flu, including the H1N1 virus. My suggestion is to take several doses over the course of a day as a general prevention, once a month through flu season. If you know you have been exposed to someone with the flu, take another 2 doses that day. If you begin to feel as though you are coming down with something yourself, immediately take a dose and repeat every 3 hours for a day or two and see if that prevents the illness from taking hold.
* If you or a family member does get sick, have a kit of homeopathic remedies specific to influenza on hand at home to help ease the symptoms of the illness and promote a faster and more complete recovery. While taking the Oscillococcinum remedy earlier might have prevented my niece from getting sick, by that evening, the virus had penetrated too far into her system. At that point a different homeopathic remedy specific to her symptom picture would have helped her recover faster and feel more comfortable.
* Make sure your kit includes these remedies: my niece’s symptoms that night resembled the homeopathic remedy Aconite – very fast onset, great chilliness, sore throat/cough and physical restlessness. A flu which has a more delayed onset over the course of a few days, however, might respond more to Gelsemium or Bryonia, each of which has their own individual symptom picture. Most cases of influenza can be helped by a small group of remedies so having these on hand ahead of time can stimulate a faster recovery and avoid complications
* The full-blown symptoms of H1N1 include a cough, so anyone with compromised lung or breathing functions should be taking steps to strengthen their respiratory functioning now. For those who are in such a position, besides being under medical supervision, you may consider consulting a professional homeopathy or other holistic practitioner to aid in strengthening your overall constitution and addressing those areas of weakness.
So far, it seems as though the H1N1 virus is another flu virus that is highly contagious, but for the most part no more dangerous than the “garden variety” flu viruses which circulate year after year. It is, however, arriving much earlier than the normal influenza season, which traditionally comes more in December/January. This is, of course, the best-case scenario for the H1N1 influenza virus and could change as we go further into the traditional influenza season. Certainly people who do have compromised immune systems or lung/respiratory function need to be especially careful of their health, just as they do in every influenza season.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is still on full pandemic alert world-wide and fast-tracking the creation of an H1N1 vaccine. Ironically because the virus is already very much among us, by the time the H1N1 vaccine is ready for distribution later this fall, it is likely many of us will already have developed natural immunity to it - either because we have had a full case of H1N1, or were exposed, but able to fight it off and create permanent immunity.
Homeopathy, as a 200+ year old complete medical system, has had great success historically in treating people during epidemics and pandemics, world-wide. Hospital and doctor records of the catastrophic 1918 Spanish influenza show that those treated homeopathically had an exceptionally high rate of recovery, compared to those treated by conventional methods. Because homeopathy is a medical system designed to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanism, remedies are gentle, safe and appropriate for any age or condition. Babies, young children, pregnant women and the elderly can all use homeopathic remedies – although it is always a good idea to consult a homeopath for advice on appropriate potency and dosage.
Protect yourself and be more empowered in meeting whatever health challenge comes up this influenza season. Assess your own overall health, well-being and health history, especially regarding influenza and upper respiratory illnesses. Look at natural means to boost your immune system and support your body by getting adequate rest, moderate exercise and high quality nutrition. If you don’t already have a good relationship with a readily-available doctor and alternative health practitioners, seek them out now. Create an influenza-specific kit of supplements and homeopathic medicines for home, ready if illness does strike. Be educated, be prepared, and you can comfortably meet whatever seasonal illnesses are going around.
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a professional homeopath located on Vancouver’s North Shore. This fall, she is offering seminars on Influenza Protection and Prevention. For dates, information and registration, she can be reached at 604-671-7863 or druryperry@shaw.ca. She also offers private consultations for individual constitutional prescribing and chronic or acute illness. Visit her website at www.healinglifehomeopathy.com
(5) Comments
A word of warning
Oh dear, I'm having a face plant moment. A "professional" homeopath telling us that we can avoid H1N1 flu by taking sugar pills. Not only is the sort of advice being peddled here ridiculous, it is downright dangerous. Flu kills hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people each year in Canada, mostly the old, the very young and the sick. H1N1 could kill even more and those at risk include young, otherwise healthy adults.
I agree with Susan's statement that there was no rigorous scientific testing done here. All we have are anecdotes of people feeling a little unwell, some of whom took sugar pills containing absolutely no trace of active ingredient. If you want scientific testing, there are plenty of such studies and they all show that these so-called remedies are no better than placebos. And outside of magical thinking, there is no known mechanism by which they could possibly work.
For those interested in learning what homeopathy actually is, here are a few references you might try:
http://www.badscience.net/2007/11/a-kind-of-magic/ http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-01-14#feature http://skepticblog.org/2009/06/15/homeopathy-awareness-week/
And if you just want a good laugh at the expense of this all-out pseudo-science, try the following YouTube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0
Sorry Susan, I mean no personal disrespect, but flu is a serious matter and people will die from it. We can do something about reducing those fatalities by using real medicines and vaccines whose efficacy can be shown with rigorous scientific testing.
Homeopathy
If science knew everything, it would stop.
It is a common retort that "science doesn't know everything", which stems from a terrible misconception of science and perhaps a mistrust of the scientific establishment. If science did know everything, there would be one very large book called "Science" with all the answers to all of our questions. So, on that point, you are absolutely right. The reason we have scientists is that there are many many unanswered questions and even more cropping up all the time.
You are also right that we should do all that is possible to improve our healthcare practices, which is why science has tested alternative medicines and therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture, despite the fact there there are no obvious mechanisms by which they might possibly work, other than the placebo effect. The results: no therapeutic benefits compared with the placebos in test after test. I don't state that homeopathy "could not possibly work", I merely point out that evidence based medicine has failed to show that it does work. Should science keep testing for a thousand years until it gives an answer that shows it does, or should science pursue more reasonable avenues of research with medicines that do appear to work, or demonstrate a greater probability that they might?
If you have documentary evidence for the efficacy of homeopathy, I recommend you scrutinise it carefully. Clinical trials should be double blinded, use control groups and involve a large enough data set to provide statistically significant results. The research should also be peer reviewed and the results reproducible before it has any credibility. Advocacy groups sponsoring such research often fail to conduct trials in the proper manner and will only publish a favourable result which supports their claims. Make sure they are using the scientific method correctly before drawing your own conclusions.
Despite rigorous testing, conventional drugs are rarely perfect. Childrens' cough and cold medicines have indeed been taken off Pharmacists' shelves when the risk to benefit ratio was deemed such that it was necessary. We can at least have some faith in this system because it tests these drugs and, when new evidence arises, it re-tests them. As a result of this, errors come to light and policies and procedures may be reversed. You can not have the same faith in complimentary and alternative medicines, which are all too often completely unregulated, especially those whose roots are 200 years old and whose fundamental principles have not changed in that time.
Since a true homeopathic remedy is merely water or a sugar pill, there should be no concerns over its safety. At best it will produce a mild ache in your financial well being, but at its worst it can delude people into believing it has some medicinal benefit, causing them to forego treatments with a credible chance of curing them. [Homeopathy couple jailed over daughter's death].
I hardly get sick so i'm not
Not long ago I heard the EU