It’s been hard to escape news of the flu this year. It seems to be everywhere – in the news, in offices, classrooms, subways, and movie theatres. Optimizing immune function is probably the best preventative measure you can take to prevent flu. This includes high quality vitamin and mineral supplements, optimal diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, and frequent handwashing!

Homeopathy has an excellent track record for treating the flu. Of historic note, the terrible Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 is regarded by medical historians as a great success in public health. Records from more than 61,000 confirmed cases of Spanish Flu showed that patients treated with homeopathy experienced death rates of 0.7 percent, versus more than 30 percent for patients of conventional medicine. Homeopathy provides some excellent tools for flu prevention, as well as a deep pool of remedies for addressing the symptoms of the flu should you get sick.

Homeopathic flu prevention protocol

The following are good remedies to try BEFORE you actually get sick. Once symptoms develop, other remedies (see below) are indicated.

• Influenzinum 200 can be taken once monthly as a prophylactic, starting early winter, for 4 months.
• OR: Influenzinum 30 can be taken as a prophylactic once a week during the peak of flu season/ flu epidemic
• Thymuline 30 can be taken along with Influenzinum 30 for people needing a little more immune support. Take one pellet of each remedy a once a week, spacing the two doses apart from each other.
• Oscillococcinum 200 – this remedy appears most useful in the “prodromal” stages of the flu – after you have been exposed, but before any symptoms develop. If you think you have been exposed to flu, you can take this remedy once a day for three consecutive days.

If you actually contract flu

The following remedies are among the more common homeopathic remedies used for treating the symptoms of the flu. Generally, a well-selected remedy won’t stop the illness in its tracks, but may be useful in helping you get through the flu more quickly, limiting any long-lingering effects.

• Gelsemium 30 – used for flu with slow onset. Marked symptoms are extreme weariness and heaviness, chills up and down the spine, and general aching and soreness. Face looks dull, sleepy. Usually has an intense throbbing headache, with feeling of engorged, teary eyes. This remedy is also used for weariness that lingers long after the flu is done.
• Eupatorium 30 – used for flu marked with violent, aching, bone-breaking pains all over the body. This flu has a rapid onset and the patient is very chilly, with violent shivering and extreme sensitivity to draughts.
  
• Rhus Tox 30 – used for slow-onset flu with generalized aching in bones and joints, with extreme restlessness and inability to find a place of comfort. There is usually profuse sweating all over the body (except the head). Patients that can benefit from this remedy are usually better after some slow, gentle movement such as a walk. A bright red tip of the tongue is often seen in people needing this remedy.
• Bryonia 30 – slow onset flu with generalized, aching pains. Any movement hurts – patients are irritable, hard to please, worried, and tend to grunt their responses. They often have a hard painful cough and intense headaches. They are extremely thirsty patients who want frequent cold drinks.
• Baptisia 30—extreme flu symptoms with fast onset. Rapid prostration and general foulness. Every movement is agonizing. Patient appears scattered and confused. There is heavy, foul-smelling sweat and a deep thirst, although drinking water causes nausea.
• Arsenicum 30 – flu with gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhea. Marked chilliness and restlessness alternating with extreme weakness and collapse. Patient is generally terribly anxious about their condition. They are thirsty for small sips of water. Patient has a hot face and chilly body, craving warmth and fresh air all at once.

Dosing

I typically suggest to my patients that they take one pellet of the indicated remedy every hour for four doses. Assuming there is an improvement, you can then repeat a single dose of the remedy once the symptoms worsen – probably about every four hours. If there is no improvement in 24 hours, it may be the wrong remedy. I suggest that my patients discontinue any remedy that is having no positive benefit after 48 hours. In such cases, it is best to call a professional homeopath for help, as there may be additional homeopathic remedies that can be useful for treating their flu.

Beth Landau-Halpern is a Toronto-based homeopath who trained in homeopathy in London UK, after a first career as a dancer. She loves the deep connection she feels with the clients she works with and knows that listening well is a necessary aspect of healing.  Beth treats patients of all ages and sizes, for all sorts of disorders, but has a special interest in treating children with ADHD and Autism. She is currently training as a CEASE therapist – one of only a few Canadian homeopaths certified in this effective homeopathic approach to treating autism.  In addition to private practice, Beth teaches classes in homeopathy geared towards family health and wellness.  For more information, visit Beth at her websites: http://blh-homeopath.com and http://adhdhomeopath.com.