Homeopathy Can Keep Your Family Healthy through the Cold and Flu Season

As winter approaches, so does the dreaded "cold and flu season." Many people in the Bay Area turn to alternative medicine to help their families fight off illnesses and stay healthy. Are homeopathic remedies right for you and your family? This guest article by nationally certified homeopath Edi Pfeiffer, who recently opened an office in Corte Madera, explains many of the concepts of homeopathy and how it can be used to treat common illnesses. As always, the information in this article is not a substitute for advice or care from a health professional.

As cold and flu season begins, is there anything we can do to lessen the frequency and severity of our children’s acute illnesses? Certified Classical Homeopath Edi Pfeiffer of Corte Madera gives some great tips for building up our immune systems and outlines a few remedies that can make a big difference.

Does This Sound Familiar to You?
Katy, your robust and active three-year-old is not herself. She went to sleep at her usual bedtime, and then woke up screaming in pain at 3 am. Heat is radiating off her body, and she tells you her right ear is hurting really badly. You see that her ear is bright red and very hot. Her eyes are glassy and when you take her temperature, it’s 103 degrees—yet she refuses water when you try to give her some. Is there anything you can do?

There is something you can do to help Katy feel better safely and rapidly. To anyone who knows homeopathy, this is a clear case of the homeopathic remedy Belladonna. By buying a good acute care book and taking a short workshop, you can learn how to use homeopathic remedies as a safe, natural, and inexpensive treatment for uncomplicated ear infections and other minor illnesses.

What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of medicine that mobilizes the body’s own healing power. Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who developed homeopathy two hundred years ago, discovered that substances that produce symptoms in a healthy person will cure similar symptoms in a person who is sick. He spent the next several decades testing over a hundred substances made from plant, mineral, and animal products to see what kinds of symptoms they would cure.

Because Hahnemann had been concerned with the toxic effects of the substances habitually used in the medicines of his day, he tried to use extremely small doses. It turned out that these micro-doses were not only safe, but they were also incredibly effective. As a result, homeopathy spread quickly throughout the world and is now one of the most popular forms of medicine internationally. It was brought to the U.S. in the 1830s and has been practiced by both physicians and non-physicians ever since.

Many pioneer families kept their families healthy with nothing but a homeopathic remedy kit and a small book of symptoms, as they traveled and settled across the country in the 1800s. Homeopathy is still used around the world by mothers and grandmothers—and others, as well—for everyday family health problems.

Probably the best-known homeopathic remedy—Arnica Montana—is commonly used for bruises, blows, muscle strain, and the trauma of childbirth. Today’s homeopathic remedies are regulated by the FDA and are made in homeopathic pharmacies in the U.S. and around the world.

Treating Your Family
Here are some general guidelines for deciding on a remedy for your child’s illness. I highly recommend purchasing the book, Self-Care Homeopathy, by Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, N.D. and Robert Ullman, N.D. and a kit of remedies for use at home or when traveling.

Taking an Acute Homeopathy Case

• Observation is the key, especially with young children. You must look carefully for any physical or behavioral changes from their normal healthy selves.
• Especially notice emotional changes, as they are often the key to finding the correct remedy.
• Listen to what the sick person says (assuming they can verbalize).
• Ask questions (again, assuming they can verbalize).

Analyzing the Case

• Make a list of symptoms.
• Figure out which illness they have and select it from the list of illnesses in an acute care homeopathy book, such as Self-Care Homeopathy.
• As you compare the list of symptoms to the possible remedies for that illness, one will usually stand out as being closest to the symptom picture.
• Read more about the remedy in the Materia Medica section of the book to confirm or eliminate the remedy choice. This section gives a little more information about each remedy.
• Remember to pay careful attention to emotional symptoms!

Giving the Remedy

• 30C is a good potency for acute illness. Give a dose as often as every 15 minutes, until you see improvement. If there is no improvement after three or four doses, look for a different remedy.
• The first sign of improvement will often be a shift in the mood. The person will perk up and feel generally better, or will have a more sound and peaceful sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Homeopathy Helps Boost the Immune System
It is important to think about long-term things we can do to help strengthen the immune systems of our children—and ourselves! Our society tends to go for the quick fix, waiting until a crisis hits, instead of taking care of ourselves so we can avoid most crises. Constitutional homeopathic care addresses deep-seated health issues that may not have surfaced yet, as well as chronic problems that might otherwise be difficult or impossible to address. Like other holistic medicines, it can be help our bodies deal with the genetic predispositions we’re born with, as well as the everyday stresses of living in our world.

What can we do now that cold and flu season is upon us?

• Boost the vitamins and minerals in our diets with good bone broth soups and stews, cod liver oil every day (5,000 IU’s for children under 12; get them used to it now! And adults should have 10,000 IU’s.), and eat more fresh foods with Vitamins A, B, C, and D.
• Eat nutrient-dense foods. Don’t eat sugar and white flour, which are harmful to our immune systems.
• Make sure to get plenty of rest.
• Add a good multivitamin to the diet. Standard Process whole food supplements are beneficially processed by the body for maximum absorption.

Natural Solutions for Colds, Coughs, Sore Throats, and the Flu

• Use homeopathic remedies to shorten the course of the illness
• Drink a lot of liquids—herb teas, ginger tea, chicken and vegetable broths, miso soup, and water
• Add more Vitamins A and C to your diet (especially if you are breastfeeding) and also to your child’s. Good sources include fresh carrot juice, citrus fruits, rose hip powder or syrup. You can also add a chewable vitamin for older kids.
• For sore throats in older kids and adults, use Zand Orange C Lozenges.
• For coughs and lingering congestion, give Naturade Expec for children, as directed.

A Selection of Homeopathic Remedies for Colds and the Flu

• Pulsatilla is frequently given to young children for colds and flus, especially when they have a lot of congestion and the mucus is thick and yellow. Their cold may settle in the eyes and they will have the same thick yellow mucus from the eyes. (Pulsatilla is also one of the main remedies for pink-eye.) They are weepy, whiney, and clingy, and may feel lethargic and just want to be held. If they have a cough, it begins as soon as they lie down to sleep.
• Belladonna is given to children at the beginning of an illness, when their symptoms begin suddenly and dramatically.  They may suddenly have a high fever and feel hot to the touch. Their cheeks are red and flushed. They are not usually thirsty at all, but when they will drink something, they only want lemonade. They can be their normal, energetic self during their illness, or have times when they’re delirious with fever.
• Gelsemium is a great flu remedy. Dizzy, drowsy, droopy, and dull describes the state—they are so sleepy they can barely keep their eyes open, and the body just aches. They have an overall weakness and don’t tend to be thirsty.
• Phosphorus is a great flu remedy for children who don’t feel well, but are sweet and engaged, and just want someone there to hold their hand or to be nearby. They tend to be very thirsty for cold, bubbly drinks, but vomit them as soon as they become warm in the stomach. Or they may have watery, painless, exhausting diarrhea. It is important to keep these kids hydrated, as they tend to dehydrate easily when they have diarrhea or vomiting.

These remedies are among the most common of hundreds of possibilities and are meant to exemplify the way homeopathy can be used at home, but I would like to stress that this article is not a substitute for the care of a professional. If you are concerned that your child needs help from their primary care provider, don’t hesitate to give them a call. 

Edi Pfeiffer is a nationally certified homeopath with over fifteen years experience treating families—through pregnancy, infancy, childhood, adulthood and aging. She especially enjoys treating pregnant women and young children. A 1991 graduate of the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy, she completed the Luminos Homeopathic Master Clinician Course in 2002. In addition to her family practice, Edi enjoys empowering people to take care of their families with classes on homeopathy and with nutrient-dense cooking workshops. She has recently opened an office in Corte Madera. On November 15th, she will be teaching an introductory workshop for parents titled “Keeping Your Family Healthy Through the Fall and Winter Months.” The workshop will be held at her office at 645 Tamalpais Drive in Corte Madera from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Please call (510) 526-5256 to register or to book an appointment for you or your children.