3 Essential Homeopathic Remedies For Cold and Flu Season

As cold and flu season arrives, there are three homeopathic remedies that are crucial to have on-hand. When used properly, these remedies can quickly stop an illness from worsening and, in many cases, completely cure the illness within a short time period. Homeopathic remedies work by stimulating the body to cure the underlying cause of the symptoms, and they do so without side effects.

These three remedies are useful at the beginning of a cold/flu, when the symptoms are still developing. In my experience, most colds and flus can be completely aborted with the use of one of these remedies if given within the first 24 hours of the illness. Once the illness has progressed past the initial stages, these remedies lose their wide applicability. After the first day or two of the illness, success through homeopathic treatment relies upon choosing a remedy that matches the specific signs and symptoms each ill individual, as discussed below in the section titled, "What About After the First 24-48 Hours?"

Three Remedies to Have On-Hand

When choosing which of these three remedies to use for a cold or flu, it is important to match the illness to the remedy based on the characteristics described below.

Aconite (Aconitum Napellus)

Aconite 30c is the remedy to use for an illness that is coming on rapidly with strong symptoms. Often (but not always) this type of illness comes on after exposure to cool winds and/or fright. Sometimes the symptoms will also include fearfulness (such as being scared of death, darkness, animals, etc). When I've had this type of illness, the symptoms seem to become fully developed in about an hour, starting from breathing normally to being completely stuffed up and sneezing in that short amount of time. One or occasionally two-to-three doses of Aconite are all that have been required to make the symptoms completely resolve with no further illness. When used in this way, Aconite is very effective if used in the first 24 hours of the illness. 

Ferrum Phos

Ferrum Phos 30c is the remedy of choice for a cold that is not coming on so strongly or quickly as the Aconite-type illness. (If there is fearfulness, though, I always go with the Aconite instead of the Ferrum Phos.) I've used Ferrum Phos successfully for the type of cold that just comes on throughout the day, starting with perhaps some sniffles or a mild sore throat, and slowly progressing over multiple hours. Most commonly, I find that the illness will resolve within 2 to 4 doses of Ferrum Phos, taken every 1-4 hours (depending on the severity of the illness, remedies can be taken more or less frequently). This is another remedy whose beneficial action is most effective if used during the first 24 hours of the illness. 

Oscillococcinum

Oscillococcinum (also known as Anas Barbariae) 200c is the remedy to use when the illness has flu-like symptoms, such as body aches, fever, or just a general feeling of being “off” and not quite right. This remedy is sold differently than the others; it comes in a white box that has several small tubes of remedy inside. Although the box says to take one full tube as a dose, that is generally much more remedy than is necessary. We can easily get 5-10 doses from just one tube.

Oscillococcinum is also sold in a higher potency than the others as it is usually sold as a 200c (instead of the 30c as with the others). The rule of thumb on 200c potencies is that they need to be used less frequently than 30c's. I use 200c potencies no more than 2-3 times a day, and if there is no obvious improvement within two doses, I stop using the remedy. Oscillococcinum is for use during the first 48 hours of illness only, after which it loses its efficacy.

For Further Reading:
• Kaiser Permanente presents homeopathic remedy options for cold and flu in their article: https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/kbase/topic.jhtml?docId=hn-2213002
• Remedy options, dosage, and additional recommendations can be found at PeaceHealth.org's excellent article, found at: https://www.peacehealth.org/medical-topics/id/hn-2236006
• "Colds & Flu—A Homeopathic Perspective" is the subject of the article by IntegrativePractitioner.com, https://www.integrativepractitioner.com/practice-management/news/colds-flu-a-homeopathic-perspective