Out of Arsenicum! ---UPDATED--- (Swine Flu p. 1b)

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WARNING!
Even though the Swine Flu is classified as "mild" it can still be deadly.
The pediatrician told me that if my son had trouble breathing
to take him straight to the ER!
The homeopathic remedies are not a substitute for seeing the Dr.
(okay, back to my blog...)
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So, I went to get another tube of Arsenicum Album at the local Super 1 grocery store, and they're all out! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I've been sending all my friends and family to get some since the Swine Flu is going around.

So, what to get? I read through the mini-descriptions on the display, and found one that says "stiffness and bone pain associated with the flu." Sounds like us - we've all been complaining about how achy and tired we are...but does it help the other symptoms?

The lady working in the Huckleberries aisle kindly let me look up the full materia medica for Eupatorium Perfoliatum. I skimmed it:

... it relieves pain in limbs and muscles that accompanies ... malaria and influenza...

...acts upon ... bronchial mucous membrane...

...Vomiting preceded by thirst...

...HOARSENESS AND COUGH, WITH SORENESS IN CHEST...

...Fever ...PRECEDED BY THIRST WITH GREAT SORENESS AND ACHING OF BONES....

...BETTER, by conversation....

Well, it did cover most of our symptoms, so I decided to try it. The bit about conversation took me by surprise! My five year old has been super hyper and talkative since he first got "melty poop." Maybe this will help.

To help you pick the right remedy for you your family here is a list from hpathy.com. If you click the name it will take you the long description:

How to differentiate in these flu medicines?

• If the patient has mild flu like symptoms (runny nose and watery eyes etc) but no other peculiar symptom but is anxious if it might be swine flu - think about Aconite.

• If the flu patient is listless, prostrated, indifferent, has offensive diarrhoea and the parts rested upon feel sore and bruised - think about Baptisia.

• If the flu patient is restless, anxious or fearful, thirsty but drinks small quantities and often, prostrated, diarrhoea after eating or drinking and nausea on seeing/smelling food, burning pains - think about Arsenicum-album.

• If the nausea is more pronounced, the patient is thirstless and has pain felt in bones - think about Ipecac. Also Ipecac should be thought of if a flu patient is developing or has developed broncho-pneumonia.

• If the gastrointestinal symptoms are not marked but the patient has deep pains as if bones are aching - think about Eupatorium perf.

• If the flu patient is feeling dull, dizzy, drowsy, has low thirst, feels chilly, esp in back - think about Gelsemium.

The only one I've used before is the Arsenicum Album, but you should see which remedy most closely matches your symtoms.

------------Update (Sept. 27th)------------

I am not happy with the results of the Eupatorium Perfoliatum. It did help the aches and pains, but I woke up with the pressure building in my chest. So I took my last Arsenicum and diluted it to make more. This probably wouldn't work with other things, but I've tried it and it does work with homeopathic remedies. Strangely, the remedies get more powerful the higher the dilution number (6x, 30c, 200c, etc...). Here's what I did:


Then, before it's all gone I will add more water and shake it up again. I took it this morning and my lungs feel much better! No more cough! If you're in the valley and want some before Super 1 gets in a new shipment, just let me know.

Swine Flu part 1

Some of you have heard by now that my oldest son got the flu...the "swine flu." The Doc said they are not testing anymore due to false negatives, but that it is the only flu in our area, that it is highly contagious, and that it would definitely go through the whole household. Because my son has kidney disease, he qualifies as "high risk" so he got Tamiflu, but the rest of us won't.

The reason for my blog though is to share the other "weapon" I'm using against the flu: Arsenicum Album! I wan't to write more specifically about each of the symptoms, but I don't have time now. I did find this good article about the flu and homeopathy that included a study of the 1918 pandemic:

"...24,000 cases of flu treated [bu doctors] had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%."

and this account from WWI:

"Dr. Roberts was working as a physician on a troop ship during WWI. He had 81 cases of flu on the way over to Europe. He reported, "All recovered and were landed. Every man received homeopathic treatment. One ship lost 31 on the way."

Arsenicum Album is the same remedy I discovered when Pablo had an uncontrollable fever. I'll write more specifically about how it is helping when I have more time. For now I just want my friends and family to know what can help if they get hit with this flu. Stay well!

FEVER

My 3 year old woke up a little fussy this morning. I kissed him on the head and he felt a bit cool. I covered him up and thought he went back to sleep, but he started crying when I tried to leave so I brought him down to the bathroom. He was shaking when I laid him on the couch. I kissed his forehead again and he was burning up! It could't have been even 5 minutes from when he had felt cool! I got out the thermometer and it said 101.7! Out came the Tylenol and some Belladona to give it two punches. About 10 or 15 minutes later - up came the Tylenol.

As the morning wore on the fever continued to rise...101.9 ... 102.4 ... I've heard that you shouldn't worry so much about how high it actually gets, but rather on how the child acts. And he was laying on the couch, shaky, slight cough, crying intermittently, didn't want me to get too far away, and his eyes looked so sunken and dark against pale skin.

If it gets up to 103 I'm taking him to the Dr. I decided. Although they would probably just say "Virus."

I had given him Nux Vomica and more Belladona after he threw up, and his stomach seemed to have settled. The Belladona was not seeming to help the fever though as it stayed around 102 for quite awhile. Finally, I decided to check online and see if I could find something that better matched his symptoms and clicked fever in the mini symptom checker (linked in sidebar) then "stomach flu, with.." and decided that Arsenicum Album was the best match. It said: Anxiety, Burning secretions, Stomach Flu, Colds, Wheezing.



I checked his temp again - 102.7! I left him with his two big brothers (11 & 14) and ran to the Super1 to picked some up. When I got home they had just taken his temp and it was 102.4. Good, I thought, at least it's not higher!

I gave him the little pills and he got up and followed me to the kitchen! I laid him back on the couch and noticed droplets of sweat on his nose! I took his temp. 100.4!!!!! That fast!!! I couldn't believe it!

It's hovering around 100.2 now, and he is acting much more like himself. He started crying 3 or 4 times and asked for more - which I gave him (repeat doses as soon as good effect wans.) Now he is asking to go swim outside with his brothers (Maybe tomorrow!) and laughing at AFV!

I looked up the long description of Arsenica Album and saw that it mentioned leg cramps which had woken me up the other night, (and the flu bug got me a few days ago minus the fever) so I've taken some too.

Just checked on the little guy:

Sleeping Soundly!

Homeopathy

I am hoping to write more about how my family and I have been helped by homeopathy. For now here are links to what I have written:

When we got the stomach flu I wrote about Nux Vomica, and how it helped. And recently I wrote about the insteresting eating associated with crows after my husband saw a white crow in WA.

As I write more, I will keep adding links in this blog. I also have a list of helpful links in the sidebar.

• Fever
• Nux Vomica
• White Crow

White Crow

My husband was heading up to Kettle Falls this morning and called to ask what a white crow meant. I don't consider my self a suspicious person, and really don't know anything about the significance of animal sightings in folklore, but even I know that a crow is supposed to signify death, or bad news, or something. But a WHITE crow? No idea!

"Google it." He said.

"Why?'

"Because I just saw a pure white crow standing by a regular black one on the side of the road!"

That's got to be an impressive sight, I'm sure they must be really rare!

So I looked it up, but didn't find anything that just said: If you see a white crow it means.... whatever. Instead I found a Kiowa legend about White Crow Hiding the Animals, a personal story of The Tale of Two Crows, where someone in WA first came across a dead black crow then had a vision of a white crow and some book links that it said I didn't have authorization to access. (Why is it linked on Google then?)

Finally, I found something that seemed surprisingly relevant to my life. You ,or may not, be familiar with my borderline obsession with Homeopathy. (I really should write a blog about everything I've seen it do, but not now. However, you can read how it helped us with the stomach flu.) Back to my googling... What I found was an article titled: A Proving of the Blood of a North American Crow. It proved to be confusing at first, but the story of Branwyn as related to Mr. Cope in telephone conversation with the Queen of England's own Raven master, was fascinating. So, I kept reading.

Finally, I realized that they were introducing a Homeopathic "Proving." This is where they test the original "Mother Tincture" to see what effects it has on a healthy person. According to Homeopathy this list of effects is then the guide to what symptoms the remedy (highly diluted) will help.

I am not sure of the ethical point of view of using crow's blood for medicine, even in such a highly diluted solution, but here are the symptoms listed:

Corvus sanguis

; cold, hard
DREAMS; conspiracies
DREAMS; crimes; committing
DREAMS; cruelty
DREAMS; cutting; knife, of being cut with a
DREAMS; danger SADNESS, despondency, dejection, mental depression, gloom melancholy
SENSITIVE, oversensitive; criticism, to
SENSITIVE, oversensitive; emotional
SENSITIVE, oversensitive; external impressions, to all
SENSITIVE, oversensitive; light, to
AFTERNOON, one pm -six pm.; two pm.
AIR; open; a meal.
COLDNESS; icy
EATING; after; a meal.
EATING; frequent FOOD and drinks; fresh food, desires
FOOD and drinks; fruit; desires

Most fascinating was the description of

"how the provers, one-by-one, got into the hot-seat; and reported their individual experiences to the assembled throng, and how most reported what became a similarly-hilarious experience for all.

Each prover basically told his/her story of how their appetites had GREATLY increased during the proving --one prover had even developed the habit of standing in front of his open refrigerator, methodically eating his way through it's contents, unable to stop until the last kernel of leftover rice casserole (etc.) was gone."

Now, if you know me, you know that I have an embarrassingly large appetite, never feel full, and only stop eating because it seems like it would be rude to keep eating. And my son, who has been on prednisone and corticosteroids for his health definitely has a ravenous appetite. So, now I want to find out more and see if this is actually an available remedy. So, thanks to the white crow my hubby saw, he may get a healthier family! : )