Strategies in Treating Acute Illnesses and the Current Flu Epidemic
By Steve Olsen ND, DHANP.
The treatment of an acute illness with homeopathy requires some strategies that when carefully considered allow for a more successful prescription.
If your patient has had the benefit of a constitutional remedy then the acute will be less severe or may only need another dose of that constitutional remedy. In this case the general symptoms, modalities, mental state and keynote symptoms of the acute illness will all be listed under that same constitutional remedy which the patient has been taking all along. After you give this remedy and there is no rapid amelioration within 24 hours then consider a higher potency or consider a new remedy taking into account the following points.
If the virus or bacteria become more virulent or your patient for some reason develops a new susceptibility then the previous constitutional remedy will no longer affect a rapid cure – now a new remedy has to be found. In fact as the acute symptoms become more severe the chronic symptoms often become temporarily suppressed. In this situation the patient will tell you that after the acute symptoms began then many or all of the modalities, general symptoms, keynotes and emotional symptoms began to change.
The question that needs to be asked over and over during this case taking process is: “What has changed since the acute illness began? Or: “Is that an old chronic modality and general symptom or new modality and general symptom?
As this new constellation of symptoms becomes clear and different from the previous image of the chronic state; one can now confidently look for the new acute remedy. One needs to be open to the idea that that this acute remedy can be very unique with no apparent relation to the previous constitutional remedy or related in some way. Over the past two hundred years there have been many homeopaths who have recorded remedies that followed well after a certain constitutional remedy. For example, Belladonna following well after Calcarea carbonica or Aconite following well after Arsenicum.
This is not a rule but can be taken as one more confirmation – one would still want all the other acute symptoms to agree and line up in the repertorization.
One other way to confirm the acute remedy you choose is to connect the new acute with some aspect of the chronic state that was not helped by the previous constitutional remedy. This is especially true if the acute illness lasts for more than two weeks and or keeps returning. One needs to search into what has been stressful to the patients in the last few months and or an ongoing conflict in that person’s life. Now see if you can find a remedy where this dilemma is confirmed by the modalities and general symptoms of the acute illness. For example for Gelsemium you may find some situation where the patient felt overwhelmed and wanted to run away or became paralyzed with fear. The confirmation is that this patient is thirstless and has the keynote of falling eye lids. Of course all the other typical flu symptoms will be present.
If the acute illness symptoms become similar in all of your patients to the point that you are successful with the same two or three remedies, then you can start to recommend that even patients without the acute symptoms can take those two remedies in say a 6c or 12c potency once every two or three days for a couple of weeks until the ‘epidemic’ is over. This will bring up their immune system enough to prevent that acute illness. As the epidemic becomes milder again this strategy will not work as you will find that each patient who gets the flu will need their own unique acute remedy or a repeat of their constitutional remedy.
One more point. It is often not helpful to repertorize the common physical symptoms of the acute illness such as headache, nose obstruction, sore throat, ear pain, or pain in the muscles. It is better to wait when taking the case until the strong modalities are determined and repertorize these symptoms first. Such as throat pain better from warm drinks or nose obstruction better in the open air or thirst for very cold water. If one can more easily find a remedy where these modalities, general symptoms, keynotes and emotional state all lined up; then check to see if this remedy also treats the common physical symptoms such as headache or sinus infection or the other usual flu symptoms. Most likely it will.
Finally if you could send me the name of the remedy that cured your acute case during this season of flu I will list them on my web site. We may in time see a pattern and find a genus epidemicus. My email is: steveolsen@iinet.com web site is: Be-Well-Now.org