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If you are sick and would like to schedule an appointment for acupuncture or a homeopathic consultation, contact Dr. Hanson at drjaredhanson@gmail.com or call 917-267-WELL.
September 2009 Newsletter From Dr. Jared Hanson ND, LAc
Natural Remedies for Swine Flu:
Then and Now
The swine flu was officially declared a pandemic in June and it is predicted to make a comeback soon. Many epidemiologists are suggesting that it will return in September (that is, now) and peak in mid-October. Up to half of us are predicted to be affected.
While this brand of swine flu has largely been mild, with victims often reporting that it feels similar to the standard seasonal flu, a significant part of the concern over the current swine flu virus is that it is the same subtype (H1N1 influenza virus A) as the virus that caused the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in history.
Interestingly enough, 1918 also happened to be the year of the Flexner report, a treatise of medical standardization that was responsible for the shutting down of more than half of the medical schools in the U.S. and effectively destroyed alternative medicine in America. Prior to this report, American medicine was much more diverse in medical philosophy and practice, and what is considered fringe today was commonplace or even prominent then. After the Flexner report, medical schools that did not conform to the reports standards, including the vast majority of homeopathic and herbal schools, were closed.
1918, then, is also significant because it was one of the last years in which serious infectious diseases were treated regularly with alternative medicine, including herbs and homeopathy. What was the historical experience treating the Spanish flu with natural remedies?
Patients undergoing homeopathic treatment were reported to have a mortality rate of 1%, in stark contrast to the 10-20% mortality rate at large and the very dismal 30% mortality rate of allopathic doctors at the time (coinciding, remarkably, with the widespread use of Aspirin as a fever reducer).
The homeopathic remedy used in almost all cases was Gelsemium, and Gelsemium is still recognized today as an effective homeopathic prophylactic against the flu.
Another natural remedy on record as having prevented mortality during the 1918 flu is the root of the herb Lomatium dissectum. This remedy comes to us from the Native American tradition. Dr. Krebs, a white physician in Nevada noticed that, while his patients were dying in droves, the native population in his area seemed unaffected. Lomatium root, he learned, was the remedy they relied on. When Krebs began using it with his patients, they stopped dying.
While chemical medicine has certainly developed new approaches to influenza treatment in the past 90 years, current chemical treatment of the swine flu is not without its drawbacks. Oseltamivir, better known as Tamiflu is a case in point. In one school in England where Tamiflu was prescribed to all students after a documented case of swine flu, more than half of the students reported significant side effects (and this when only three-quarters took the full regimen of the drug). Nearly a third reported feeling sick from the drug, a quarter experienced headaches and almost a quarter experienced a stomachache. Other reports from England have also reported more than 50% occurrence of side effects from using Tamiflu prophylactically.
The standard seasonal flu shot will not protect you from the swine flu (often it will not even protect you from the seasonal flu). Production and clinical testing of a swine flu vaccine has been fast-tracked, but the actual peak of infection is predicted to precede mass availability of the vaccine. While it is too early to assess the safety or efficacy of this product we should not forget the swine flu epidemic in 1976, wherein one man died from the flu while hundreds died from the protective measures that followed.
Certainly if you are seriously ill, you need to go to the emergency room. But even in acute, infectious diseases like swine flu, natural medicines like Gelsemium and Lomatium can help. If you are interested in avoiding getting ill in the first place, here are some natural medicines that can help:
- Green tea – Gargling with green tea has been shown to dramatically reduce the rates of flu infection (non-garglers were infected eight times more).
- Elderberry syrup - Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) is a traditional herbal remedy for upper respiratory infections. It’s sold as a syrup and has been shown to reduce the severity and length of flu symptoms. The constituents in Elderberry have a specific action against flu viruses. In one study, almost all participants who took Elderberry were symptom-free after just 2 days.
- Vitamin C – Even relatively low amounts, such as 100 milligrams per day, have been shown to cut your risk of contracting the flu by a quarter. Greater protection can be expected with larger doses.
- Take an adaptogen – Adaptogens are herbs that help our bodies manage stress and higher stress levels make us more prone to infection. Two of the most common are Ginseng and Eleuthero. Ginseng has been shown to reduce the frequency of flu infections.
- Echinacea – Yes, it works. If you’ve tried Echinacea and haven’t seen results, you’re using the wrong kind of Echinacea. Always use an extract of the root of Echinacea angustifolia (not E. purpurea). Theoretical concerns that Echinacea will become less effective over time or will exacerbate auto-immune conditions are unfounded and have not been demonstrated in practice or research.
- Acupuncture is also a great tool in treating flus and fevers and should not be overlooked. Research has demonstrated that a single treatment is often effective in reducing fever and mitigating symptoms such as sore throat and malaise.
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