Homeopathic Remedies for Cold and Flu

Most cold and flu improve within a week to 10 days even if you do nothing. Antibiotics and other conventional medicines usually don’t help your cold or flu symptoms. Over-the-counter cold or cough medicines should be avoided in children under the age of six.

Herbs, supplements, life style measures and homeopathic remedies can make you feel better while you have a cold and flu. Most of the colds last about a week can be associated with sore throat and cough but they don't usually cause you to run a high fever. Symptoms of flu are more severe than those of the common cold and are more likely to body ache, lethargy, and weakness.

Homeopathic Treatment of cold and flu

There are several homeopathic remedies for treatment of cold and flu. A professional homeopath selects a remedy for treatment based on his/her knowledge and experience, and your constitutional type. Your constitutional type is based on your physical, emotional, and psychological makeup.

Homeopathic remedies for cold

Aconitum, Allium cepa, Arsenicum album, Belladonna, Bryonia, Euphrasia, Ferrum phosphoricum, Gelsemium, Hepar sulphuricum, Mercurius, Pulsatilla are some of the homeopathic remedies used to treat cold.

These drugs treat different symptoms such as

• Cold with fever, anxiety, and thirst, that starts abruptly, after exposure to a cold climate.
• Colds with clear watery discharge that burns and/or irritates the nostrils; red, burning eyes, and symptoms which get worse in warm rooms and in the evening
• Colds with high grade fever associated with flushed face, watery nasal discharge, sore throat, throbbing headache, earache, and cough that tends to worsen at night
• Cold in later stages when nasal discharge turns from watery to thick, yellow, and foul smelling, and the symptoms get worse in the evening and with cold and wind

Your doctor after taking a complete history, considering your symptoms and your constitutional type will give you a medicine for cold. At times your homeopath doctor may recommend no treatment for cold, if the cold symptoms are viewed to be body's natural way of eliminating a virus.

Treatment of Flu

In most patients bed rest, drinking plenty of fluids and medicine to relieve fever and body pain are usually sufficient to treat flu. Herbs, supplements, and homeopathic remedies are helpful in symptoms of flu.

Your homeopathic doctor may consider a remedy for the treatment of the flu based on his/her knowledge and experience, your symptoms and constitutional type. Aconite, Gelsemium, Eucalyptus, Ipecacuanha, Phosphorus, Bryonia, Eupatorium perfoliatum, Anas barbarice hepatis and Cordis extractum are some of the homeopathic remedies used in treatment of symptoms of flu.

• Gelsemium is used to treat flu with symptoms of chills, weakness, lack of energy, fever, and headaches in the back and top of the head. It is one of the most common homeopathic remedy used for treatment of flu.
• Nux vomica is used to treat flu with symptoms of violent vomiting, irritability, dry cough, chills, and a stuffy nose that develops into a watery, irritating discharge
• A combination remedy of different medicines or a mixture of Anas barbarice hepatis and Cordis extractum or single remedy may be given for your symptoms.

If your symptoms of cold and flu are mild you may choose a remedy from the symptom descriptions which match as closely as possible your symptoms.

• Aconite 6C | 30C: At initial stages of cold and flu specifically if from exposure to cold winds, with fever, chill and thirst.
• Allium cepa 6C: Common cold with a lot sneezing, watering of eyes and acrid nasal discharge.