Homeopathy - Heavyweight Against Viruses

“Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.” That’s often the advice given to patients diagnosed with viral infections. Viruses don’t respond to antibiotics and current antiviral drugs are extremely expensive and prone to side-effects. So if a virus is hovering, or actively knocking us around, how do we fight back?

The answer is to use homeopathy.

All infections are based on two necessary components: the microbe (virus, bacteria, or parasite) and the corresponding weakness in the patient’s defense mechanism. Without this weakness, viruses cannot get in or, if the weakness is only mild, viruses won’t stay long. Homeopathy can diagnose this weakness and patch it up, thus getting rid of the current infection and helping to prevent future recurrences. Understanding that the patient’s pattern of symptoms reflects the underlying condition of the immune system, the specific response to illness can be used as a guide to treatment.

A good example of the power of homeopathy occurred during the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1918 and 1919. In one medical report from Ohio, 24,000 people treated conventionally for the flu had a death rate of 28.2 per cent, while 26,000 cases treated homeopathically had a mortality of only 1.05 per cent. Today we have better supportive care in our hospitals, but as the recent SARS scare clearly demonstrated, there is a shortage of facilities and viable orthodox therapies for viral illnesses. As viruses account for 70 to 80 percent of all infections, we really need the help that homeopathy offers.

Using diluted substances and the principle of “Like cures like,” homeopathy can treat herpes cold sores and genital herpes. Eruptions caused by these viral infections appear under physical or psychological stress and look a lot like a poison ivy rash: painful burning, stinging, with blisters and scabs. So, homeopathy employs Rhus tox, a remedy originally made from poison ivy, to defeat the virus. Use 200C potency, two pills, under the tongue every one to four hours and taper off when conditions improve.

For influenza-like illnesses that are characterized by sudden weakness, trembling, fever and chills, dizziness, and headache, use Gelsemium 30C every four hours. Alternatively, a general homeopathic flu remedy, like Anas barbariae hepatis et cordis extractum, will often improve the symptoms. These can also be used as a preventive, so if you’re working beside a runny-nosed coworker, you’ll be protected.

Viral coughs also respond well to homeopathy. In croup, each of the three stages of illness points to a different remedy. In Stage One, the child awakes at approximately 11 pm with suffocative cough and is quite fearful. This requires Aconite 200C every two to four hours until relieved. In Stage Two, the cough takes on a dry rasping sound, like “sawing through a pine board,” and needs the remedy Spongia 30C every four hours. In Stage Three, if the cough continues and becomes more wet sounding, especially if the child is chilly and irritable, Hepar sulph 200C every four hours is needed.

There is nothing better than a doctor’s advice when you’re really sick, but for those nagging, “untreatable” viruses, homeopathy beats a week of bed rest every time.