Homeopathic Healthcare: More Homeopathic Articles
George Guess, MD
Cure for the Common Cold
The first and most essential step in managing simple colds effectively is to provide the body all it needs nutritionally to optimize immune functioning. Baseline strategies include:
Rest
Abundant fluids (dilute vegetable juice, soups, herbal teas)
Diminished sugar consumption
Avoidance of common food allergens (milk, wheat, eggs, citrus, corn, peanut butter) which could increase mucosal congestion
Vitamin C - 500 mg every two hours
Bioflavinoids - 1 gram per day
Vitamin A - 25,000 Units per day (during the cold only).
Zinc lozenges - 1 every 2 hours for one week maximum (prolonged ingestion can cause immune suppression)
Thymus extract - 500 mg BID
Colloidal Silver - 1 tsp three times a day orally. Colloidal silver has an antimicrobial effect, much like a gentle antibiotic. Recommended strength is in the range of 5 to about 30 parts per million.
Immune-supportive herbs, such as echinacea, astragalus, cats claw and ginseng, help the body combat the cold virus.
Additional antioxidants, such as glutathione and N-acetyl cysteine, play an important role in supporting the immune system during acute infections as well.
While the above measures can definitely lessen the severity and shorten the duration of colds, I have seldom witnessed more rapid and dramatic curative responses to colds than those homeopathy can produce. Often the correct homeopathic medicine is all that is needed to quickly restore health. I recall one memorable case of a patient with a severe cold of two days' duration who professed to feel completely well within one hour of taking one dose of Dulcamara 30C (her cold was specifically worse from exposure to damp cold)!
Below is a listing of the most frequently indicated homeopathic medicines for colds and their prescribing indications. I recommend taking one dose of the 30C (or X) potency of the indicated remedy every three to four hours for at least three doses or until improvement is established. Change the remedy if there has been no improvement.
Aconite (monkshood) For the first stage of a cold that comes on suddenly, especially after exposure to cold, dry winds. Sudden high fever. Hot, watery nasal discharge. Croupy cough. The patient is often fearful and restless.
Allium cepa (onion) Onion is one of our most frequently indicated remedies for colds. Envision the effects wrought by cutting an onion. So it is with the Allium cepa cold. These colds produce a profuse watery, burning nasal discharge that irritates the nose and upper lip; there is also profuse tearing which does not irritate skin, (see Euphrasia) though the eyes may burn. Symptoms are worse in a warm room, indoors, in the evening; they are better in the open air. There may also be laryngeal irritation with a dry, very painful cough (grasps throat). Mental dullness may be present.
Arsenicum album (arsenic) This remedy shares many similarities with Allium cepa, but where the onion is worse from a warm room, Arsenicum is better. There is profuse watery discharge from the nose that burns the skin, also burning and itching in the nose. Stopped up nose with simultaneous discharge. Sneezing often and without relief. The watery discharge may change to a thick and yellow one. The patient is chilly, restless, fussy, anxious and demanding. He is worse in cold air and outdoors. Colds often descend to the chest producing a cough which is worse at night and in cold air. There may be a strong thirst for, preferably, warm drinks taken in sips.
Nux vomica (poison nut plant) Colds responding to this remedy may result from overwork or overindulgence in rich foods and/or alcohol. Symptoms are worse outdoors. The patient usually is irritable, oversensitive and chilly. He/she may be preoccupied with business, even when ill. There are dry, tickling, scraping sensations in the nose. A stuffy, dry nose alternates with fluent watery nasal discharge. Stuffiness worse at night and outdoors; runny nose worse in warm rooms and during the day. Worse after eating.
Natrum muriaticum (sodium chloride) These colds typically begin with sneezing. There is initially copious nasal discharge similar to raw egg white and postnasal drip; later the nose may be stopped up. Often there is loss of taste and smell. Colds are often associated with cold sores on the lips or dry, cracked lips. Psychologically these patients are irritable, sensitive (feelings hurt easily), and averse to consolation from others.
Pulsatilla (wind flower) The Wind flower is of use for ripe colds with thick yellow-green discharges which do not irritate the skin. The nose is stuffed up, also with loss of smell. Symptoms are much better outdoors and in cool environments, and much worse in warm, stuffy rooms. There is absence of thirst, an especially useful symptom if there is fever. Patients may be moody, changeable emotionally, and crave sympathy. Children will be very weepy and clingy.
Kali bichromicum (potassium bichromate) Another ripe cold remedy, Kali bichromicum benefits colds producing pressing pain in the sinuses and root of the nose, along with a discharge that is thick, greenish-yellow, and stringy. Colds tend to develop into sinus infections. Symptoms are worse from cold, damp conditions. There may be symptom aggravations between 1 and 3 a.m.
Mercurius (mercury) Acrid, irritating yellow-green nasal discharges. Raw, sore nostrils. Patients have offensive breath, increased salivation (especially at night), excessive perspiration, and a metallic taste in the mouth. Typically there is instability of temperature, the patient being cold one minute and warm the next. Symptoms are worse at night.
Dr. Guess, a family physician, has practiced classical homeopathic medicine for 25 years. He is the editor of the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. He practices in Charlottesville. 434-295-0362. Web page: www.doctorguess.com
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Dr. George Guess
2776 Hydraulic Rd, Suite 101
Charlottesville, VA 22901
office: 434-295-0362
fax: 434-295-0798
email: gguessmd@earthlink.net
website: http://www.doctorguess.com/
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