Perspectives in the Homeopathic approach to Covid-19

This is my humble attempt to share my experience with the fraternity about what I observed in the Covid-19 epidemic and what it can teach us about epidemics, about Homeopathy and also about life.

To begin with, Covid-19 epidemic started in China and spread to other countries like Iran and Italy. Until January 2020, there were no positive cases reported in India. However, on hearing the news about the nature of the disease, many people became quite anxious and started looking for preventive remedies.

Amidst this, the AYUSH Ministry issued a notification in February, stating that Arsenic album 30 if taken once every day for 3 days can act as a preventive for this epidemic. People started asking me what to do, and if they should take it or not. At that time, I frankly said no, as there was no need to take it since the infection was not yet reported in India, so why should one anticipate and take it? But soon the anticipation increased rapidly as the first case was reported in India.

From whatever I have studied from Hahnemann and other literature, the best preventive for an epidemic is to find the ‘genus epidemicus’. The question was how do we decide a genus epidemicus in a particular epidemic? To the best of my knowledge, it can be decided by studying 10-15 cases in great detail and see what is the common pattern emerging in all these cases and select a remedy that covers the majority of the cases. Once we see the recovery in these cases, then the same remedy can be administered to other patients. As we see the majority of patients getting better with this selected remedy, this remedy is then called genus epidemicus for that particular epidemic. And then we can start using the remedy amongst the general population both as a treatment and as a preventive. This is what I had read.

As Covid cases began to increase in India, people started asking me about the preventive remedy to be taken.  As I had not treated a single case at that time, I could not comment on a remedy and say anything sure about it. I used to tell my patients that their own remedy would be preventive for Covid. As the cases increased, the pressure increased to locate a specific remedy as a preventive. People asked if they could take the remedy that the AYUSH Ministry had recommended, I simply said yes as I did not know what to suggest. I had no better alternative as I had not seen or treated a single case, so I suggested to take Arsenic album 30. But I felt uneasy about this since I knew that the process of finding a genus epidemicus cannot be complete without actually seeing the patients.

At some point during February/ March, I got a call from Iran from my former student, Dr Aditya Kasariyans. She reported that many people succumbed to this infection and the hospitals too were flooded with positive cases and asked me if I could guide her with some cases. I saw this as an opportunity not only to help those patients but also to study their cases in detail and see if we could find a genus epidemicus. Dr Aditya is a very good homeopath and is trained in classical homeopathy. She started sending me case histories taken in great detail. Soon we had about 10 cases and I could see a kind of pattern emerging in them. This pattern was of sudden collapse. Another aspect was that some patients did not seem to feel any pain or symptoms and suddenly they would get hypoxic and collapse. Also, she sent me some videos from China in which one lady, apparently quite good in condition, was standing with her shopping bag, suddenly sat down on the floor. It was that sudden. We also noted in videos that people who had fallen down, their legs would always be together indicating that it was not a fall but a measured kind of collapse.

With detailed symptoms of the first ten cases, we came to a totality. As we have given these cases in detail in the earlier paper published in Hpathy, I will not repeat them here.

Analysis of these cases indicated Camphora to be the genus epidemcius.

As you can see: Arsenic album was coming up in the totality but we did not see the typical restlessness of Arsenic album. Rather the sudden collapse which is very characteristic of Camphora was standing out prominently.

45 patients were given Camphora and 30-35 patients recovered very nicely after Camphora. In March she wrote: We started the treatment with Camphor in patients who were in different stages of the disease. From the ones who had just started having symptoms to the ones who were very sick or complicated cases.

Almost without exception, a dramatic response to Camphor considering the general energy level, extreme prostration and nausea; body aches and soreness; breathlessness and cough happened within the first 24 hours; in 25 patients out of 26 patients; this includes a genuine and significant lift in the state of health and energy and an increase in O2 Saturation level in the ones with a more severe condition. Generally, the symptoms improved by 40% the least within the first 24-30 first hours of prescription. Five of these patients were solely on Homeopathy, the others were hospitalized cases and were on other drugs too, but the speed of recovery after introducing Camphor was significantly increased.

Including Dr. Aditya, this medicine was administered to 100 people who were in close contact with the Covid positive cases and none of them developed any symptoms of Covid until now, more than two months later. This way it acted as a prophylactic as well. I need to make it clear that these 100 people were not tested for Covid as in Iran testing was done only if one developed symptoms. This study indicates that Campohra must be the genus epidemicus in Iran.

On these findings, I published the article in Hpathy along with Dr Aditya Kasariyans  – a mere report of what I observed. I must say, I faced a lot of criticism. Prof. George Vithoulkas sent an immediate reply severely criticizing it and then followed this with an article titled:  ‘The Camphor Nonsense’. He mentioned that there is no such thing as a genus epidemicus and that we should individualize every case. I have great respect for Prof. Vithoulkas but I only reported what I saw and to dismiss that as nonsense, is probably not the most objective way to look at what someone is reporting.

Further, this experience of Iran was used in 4 countries:

In Brazil, more than 500 colleagues gave Camphora 1m as preventive to more than a million people.  Based on the good results, the municipalities of 3 cities in Brazil are now distributing Camphora 1M to more than a million citizens. In  Romania 1500 high-risk people were given Camphora with almost no incidence of the disease. In France, it was reported in a homeopathic newsletter that there was an old age home with 120 people.  The patients were between 85 and 105 and quite handicapped.  118 were given Camphora 1m. Incidentally, the two pensioners who refused to take Camphora were among the first ones to die of the 10 who have so far died of COVID.’ If you use these two as control: the mortality was 100% in people who did not take the Camphora and it was 6.77% in those who took it. I got good reports from other places as well.

From all these experiences, I started to recommend Camphora in India as well. However, there was the possibility that the virus could have mutated and the Covid in India could be of a different form. I had to see cases here to be sure. Therefore, I had to pressure the health minister of my state to allow me access to patients in the infectious disease hospitals. Somehow, we managed to take 10 case histories over the phone, but we were not allowed to prescribe. Many of these cases were asymptomatic. But in the few people we got symptoms from, I found that Camphora was still indicated.

Amongst these, one case was of a young man who was very cheerful, no sign of anxiety. He was treating the hospital almost like a picnic place! And on the other hand, there was a man who nearly collapsed. He had sensations as if electric shock-like currents were passing through his limbs. On Repertorization, again Camphora stood out prominently.

The former case of the young man who was cheerful and had painlessness was the opposite side of Camphora, almost like opium, an anaesthetic.

Studying these 2 cases, I thought that presentation of Covid-19 is not so different in India as well. Thus, I started recommending Camphora as a preventive as well. Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, the MD of one of India’s top Auto companies, was one of the first ones to use it. In Pune, about 25,000 of his employees and their families were given Camphora 1 M, in mid-March. Until today there is not a single positive case from this group even though Pune city has a very high incidence of Covid-19.

Mr. Bajaj suggested to the Police Commissioner of the city of Pune, who gave Camphora to 9000 policemen. 6 weeks later, in these very high-risk individuals out of 9000, only 5 of them developed Covid positive and all 5 were mild cases.  In the rest of the state, including policemen who had taken Arsenic album as a preventive, the number of positive cases reached 1000 or more with several deaths. Based on this experience, the Maharastra Police are now giving Camphora 1m to its forces.

Many of my students and colleagues started using Camphora as a preventive in high-risk cases, like hospital staffs, with very good results.

In the meanwhile, many colleagues started sharing their experiences in treating and preventing Covid. They used different approaches and different remedies.  Dr. Paul Herscu, a well-known Homeopath from the USA treated 138 Covid positive patients, where he prescribed constitutional medicine such as Sulphur, Lycopodium, Natrum muriaticum and others.

Another well-known homeopath and my friend, Dr. Massimo Mangialavori, from Italy, treated almost 90 cases. Remedies that were mostly indicated were China muriaticum, Grindelia and Camphora.

Colleagues such as Andre Saine, Jeremy Sherr shared their cases and identified a group of remedies that helped like Bryonia, Phosphorus, Gelsemium and many others.

Some homoeopaths divided Covid-19 symptoms, into various stages like mild, moderate, severe and critical and gave remedies for each stage.

Some senior homoeopaths such as Professor Vithoulkas went on the record and said the whole idea of finding a remedy for Covid-19 itself is irrelevant as we need to find the individual remedy for each patient.

In the meantime, in India, Mr. Bajaj went on television to recommend Camphora as a preventive while the AYUSH Ministry continued to recommend Arsenic alb and started to distribute it amongst the masses.

This entire situation resulted in a lot of confusion among homoeopaths and patients. Moreover, other homeopaths started recommending other remedies such as Sepia, Zincum muriaticum etc.

In this article, I am going to summarize these various thoughts and try to find a model of philosophy that puts everything in its place, thus clarifying the confusion to some extent. This could be a very important lesson not only for epidemic but for homeopathy also.

There are 3 approaches we see in Homeopathy to deal with the epidemic  

1. Individualized approach
2. Group of remedies – stagewise
3. Genus Epidemicus

Out of this which one is correct?

In my understanding all three are correct. Let us first understand the individualized approach v/s genus epidemicus approach.

Let us take the example of an injury, or sudden grief, or burns and sprains. When a patient comes with any of these conditions, we would give Arnica, Ignatia, Cantharis and Rhus tox respectively. Anyone who gets an injury, we would think of Arnica. If a person has lost a loved one suddenly, we would think of Ignatia.  I am sure if we take a detailed case, the individualizing remedy would be quite different. Why don’t we individualize the case at that time? The impact of that injury or sprain or burn is something new that has been added at that moment: A remedy like Arnica, Ignatia, etc lessens the impact of the external factor, thus enabling the vitality to deal better with it.

Similarly, every epidemic has an impact. It impacts a sizable number of people. It has a certain nature (pattern).  With the remedy that matches this essential nature (pattern) of this particular epidemic, the impact can be lessened in a preventive and a curative form. The genus epidemicus brings down the intensity of the impact.

The other approach is to give the individualized treatment which increases the body’s immunity and defenses to the epidemic.

It is like someone being pressed down by a certain weight. Here, either you can try to lessen that weight (which is a genus epidemicus) or to increase his strength (by individualized approach) – both these approaches can work.

Here, the problem with the individualization approach is twofold.

1. If the impact of the weight is too much, even increasing the strength of the person may not be enough to dislodge it. In other words, the individualized remedy may not be able to handle/combat the very intense state of the epidemic. In such cases, we will need genus epidemicus.
2. One will need to have a skilled homoeopath and time to take a proper case and find the individualized remedy in every single case. So, the ability to treat a large number of people gets limited.

Despite this, I would say that individualization is the preferred choice, when possible. However, in my experience, the genus epidemicus will also work. It will help in a good majority of cases at least to the point where the person is out of danger. Moreover, infections are short-lasting, and what is important is to prevent mortality.  Thus, genus epidemicus can reduce the impact of the disease and achieve this in many cases.

Three questions arise :

• Can we give the genus epidemicus to a patient who does not have the intensity of the symptom of that particular genus remedy?
• Can we use it in asymptomatic cases, so they don’t develop morbidity?
• Can we use it as a preventive?

The answer each time is ‘yes’.

We say that Arnica is meant for injury, and we give Arnica for major injuries (e.g. car crash) and the same Arnica we give for minor injuries also.

If a person has undergone a grievous situation or has lost a loved one, she may not give the intensity of shock of Ignatia; still, we give Ignatia. Every grief has the flavour of Ignatia and in every injury, there is the flavour of Arnica. Therefore, the genus epidemicus can help even in those cases which are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and it can also help as a preventive.

We can say that if you had grief or a loss we can do therapy on that basis and handle only that part and reduce its impact and how the person copes with that situation. You can reduce the impact of the grief by consolation or counseling.

The other way is to go much deeper into his individuality and see how he perceives and reacts to the situation. In this way, you can help him cope with this grief better.

Both approaches are valid and can work.

An Observation :

In one of the quarantine centres in India, 146 Covid positive cases were given Camphora 1 M twice daily for 2 days on the day they were tested positive and admitted. 5 days later, 126 of the 146 turned negative. In a similar situation, it is reported that Arsenic album did not fare so well. However, these are only observations that create a ground for further studies, especially a randomized controlled trial. Also if there are observational studies of the effectiveness of Arsenic album or other remedies they should be published so that the profession can know.

Camphora 1M was given to several covid positive symptomatic patients in Brazil, Romania, France, Spain and India. Between 50% to 80 % of the cases improved significantly in a short period.

Which is the Genus Epidemicus:

There are many suggestions for a genus epidemicus from different colleagues such as Phosphorus, Arsenic, Camphora, Bryonia etc. Some suggest a combination of remedies, such as being in Cuba by the government to vulnerable people as a preventive. Some colleagues suggest alternating two or more remedies as a preventive.

How do we define what is a Genus epidemicus?  What are the essential criteria to say that this remedy is genus epidemicus?

I believe, there must be 3 essential criteria:

1. The genius of the remedy should match the very dynamic of that remedy – (like what is given in Phatak Materia Medica in the General section).

For example-

The Genius of Calcarea is – slowness

The genius of Arsenic is – restlessness

The genius of Belladonna is – suddenness with throbbing

We have to match the severest cases of the disease and not just in mild cases. In the severest cases of this disease, what I have seen is a sudden collapse. This sudden collapse will not be found so clearly in any other remedy, than Camphora.

2. The next thing that must match is the symptomatology of the severe cases, which I have already shown in the repertory chart with symptoms that indicate Camphora (above).

3. Next, we must match the sensation, and this has to do with the kingdoms. Along with sudden collapse, there was a kind of painlessness and even cheerfulness. In many cases, there were very bad lung issues and pneumonia but with apparently no symptoms at all – ( like Opium ). This is the quality of the first subclass of the dicotyledons in the plant Kingdom in which Camphora is one of the remedies along with Opium.

Another common quality in the remedies of the first subclass is the fear of going outside, fear of getting exposed and wanting to come back into the safe world. This is what we see in lockdown everywhere. People are so scared that they have shut themselves up like in a cocoon – in a lockdown.

In Camphora you will find the following rubrics:

• mind; DELUSIONS, imaginations; world; she has her own little, in which things are clear, outside is uncertain

• mind; DELUSIONS, imaginations; world; world, he is moving in a new

• mind; DELUSIONS, imaginations; danger, of

The sensation of the entire epidemic should match the remedy we choose as the genus and the symptoms should also match. But, essentially the genius and the sensation, the pace of the disease and quality should match especially, those found in the severest cases.

Now, let us look into the third approach in the epidemic.

The 3^rd Approach: Selecting a remedy based on the symptomatic approach for each stage.

There is a place for a symptomatic approach. Many times, we give symptomatic remedies in our practice. For example, for a particular type of cough, we may choose Antimony tartaricum. The remedy may not cover the whole totality, but it can still help. Some of these remedies, may coincidentally also be constitutional remedies for the patient. This symptomatic approach lies between the genus epidemicus on the one hand and individualized approach on the other.

But out of all the 3 approaches, the remedy that can be most useful as a preventive is the genus epidemicus.

It can help asymptomatic cases the best, as there are no symptoms. How many asymptomatic cases which are in large numbers are we going be able to individualize? And I have seen, with my experience and the experiences of my colleagues, that Camphora when given, has helped in all stages from asymptomatic to critical stages.

These three approaches essentially represent the three approaches in homoeopathic prescribing. In homoeopathy, we do prescribe the individualized remedy, symptomatic remedies and remedies based on the name of the disease or the type of trauma.

All these 3 methodologies have their successes and failures and they have their place also. But in an epidemic, the genus has a bigger role. So, I am not here to defend or advocate or promote Camphora. I am not married to Camphora nor do I have any special attachment to it! However, I would be failing in my duty if I did not report what I saw, share my experiences and observations with the profession at this crucial time.

The ideal way to know the truth is to make a trial where we take COVID positive asymptomatic cases, say 100 cases on each arm. We make 4 arms – taking Arsenic, Bryonia, Camphora and the 4^th arm placebos. We do a Randomized Control Trial. This trial will be very important for homeopathy. It is not a trial between 3 remedies though it may appear to be like that. In my heart of hearts, I do believe that all the three remedies will show themselves to be better than Placebo because all of them have some similarity to the epidemic. This fact that all 3 remedies fare better than placebo will be a very big win for homeopathy. This is the kind of scientific evidence that we need so that people don’t keep saying that homeopathy is just a placebo.

This is indeed a great opportunity!

At the same time, it will also tell us which remedy is acting better. In modern medicine when a sample is sent for a culture and sensitivity test, to find out which antibiotic works better on that culture, the doctor does not see it as a competition between Azithromycin and Amoxicillin. It is a test to see which one is better suited to the patient.

Suppose you go to a hospital and see 20 symptomatic Covid-19 cases – mild- moderate-severere. According to the experience of my colleagues and myself if all of them are given Camphora, 60-70% of patients will do very well. However, if one wants 100% result then one has to individualize. The Camphora will reduce the morbidity and hasten the recovery. Sometimes another remedy may be needed after a few days, and this could be the constitutional remedy of the patient.

One option is that you could give all of them Camphora and after 2-3 days, for  people who are not recovering, you start individualizing these cases. Or they come to a plateau and then you give what could be their original remedy. Camphora may bring them out of danger, but then they may have persistent symptoms, which need to be individualized. Maybe they would be needing symptomatic or their constitutional remedy.

If you want to treat a large number of cases, or you don’t have access to the patient you can give Camphora and most likely you will get a result in a good number of cases. And definitely, it can be used as a preventive.

You are welcome to share your experience with Camphor or with any other remedies, whether it worked successfully or failed, you can write to [email protected]

If anyone knows any quarantine centre or hospitals that would be open to these trials, you could write to [email protected]

We are now collecting data statistically in a large way. E.g. in Brazil, Camphora was given to 2 million people. How these people responded as compared to the part of the county where Camphora was not given and this data needs to be studied in detail.

CASE STUDIES :

I will present just a sample of some cases treated in various countries including India; cases of various stages of disease in different type of patients .

1) 70-year-old male, severely immunocompromised with multiple health issues including cancer, on chemotherapy was found positive for Covid-19 on 7^th May. His original remedy was Carcinosin. Camphora 1 M was given for 4 days and within a week he was tested negative.

2) Case by Dr. Sonali Bhonsle.

Covid positive 62-year-old lady in Jalna, Maharashtra was admitted to a hospital. She complained of breathlessness on talking, not being able to walk, with a feeling as if will fall down. She had difficulty in standing, tremors with fear of falling. She was unable to even sit, no energy at all, no appetite, no desire to have any food and also not able to talk. During the fever phase, high fever with sensation of heat, with tremendous weakness.

Bitter taste in mouth, not able to have even a morsel of food.

ODP

She had fever since 4-5 days. Along with the fever she also had lot of dry cough along with pain in the ribs. She was not able to bear the heat during fever.

Thirst-no thirst, very bitter taste, due to this she was not able to have even a sip of water (no water since 15 days, thirstless with dryness of mouth).

When asked about the effect of the fever on her, she said “I am not interested in anything, not talking to anybody, I’m very sick of the cough, so much weakness, with breathlessness. Not even able to walk, have a fear of falling, I have become so weak that I have to hold onto something”.

Perspiration-no perspiration despite high fever.

Any botheration?

She was bothered about her daughter’s marriage since she was the only one looking after the responsibility of her house and domestic affairs.

Furthermore, she was asked how she felt? She was tensed, could not tell anything more.

Sleep?

Sleeplessness, suddenly wakes up at 1-1:30 am, thinking about how things are at her house, about children how they are. She used to feel weakness. She said she felt very lonely in the hospital, due to fear of darkness she was not able to sleep at night. Fear with heaviness in the chest, more of a constriction kind, she said, “ I control my tears but I feel fearful within. I keep weeping inside, as I control but that causes a sensation of constriction in the chest”.

Any other thing?

Says she feels weakness in the body on listening to any bad news. Loses power from the body with slight vertigo.

Follow up 1- After Camphora 1m 6 hourly after 3 doses-

Felt much better, as breathlessness had decreased substantially, with no more need of oxygen externally.

Feeling like eating and drinking. Started drinking water.

Slept well, so could not feel any fear.

Cough decreased quite a lot.

Energy-wise almost 60 percent better.

Overall feeling fresh.

Follow up 2 – After 48 hours

Much better. Slept well.

No fear, feeling good.

Walked in the ward, as weakness had decreased with no more breathlessness.

Taste in mouth- normal, so feels like eating and drinking water.

Feeling very good.

Follow up 3

Wanted to go home as was feeling quite better. Almost normal

Doctors decided to discharge, as chest Xray came back almost normal.

The Pulmonologist, was quite happy with the introduction of homeopathic medicine, as the patient progressed faster towards recovery.

He suggested conducting homeopathic study trials in their hospital to access the effects of homeopathy on covid positive patients.

• Case by Dr Blavinder Singh, Amritsar.

Case of a 30-year-old male who was tested positive for Covid -19.

He was already sick from the past 4 days and was home quarantined. He was on antipyretics to keep the fever down and had taken one course of Azithromycin for a sore throat but it did not help in any way. He had severe body aches, nausea, high fever and watery stools accompanied with very cold sweating and breathlessness on least movement with lots of weakness. This was very early on in New York when the lockdown had started, I had recommended Camphor 1 m or 10 m whatever was available but he could get camphor 200 from a Homoeopath in New York. So from the 5th day of his illness he started with the medicine in water- one drop in 100 ml of water. Started with one spoon of the med every one hourly, from the next day he had it 2 hourly. His fever neither increased nor decreased, but nausea reduced. By the 3rd day, I made it 3 hourly as he could now eat and the weakness was less by the end of the 4th day. No fever subsequently, the cold feeling also reduced and the loose motions got controlled. By the 6th day there was no fever, no nausea and he could move around in his room. On the 7th day, all his symptoms disappeared and on his visit to the hospital, his physician commented that probably Camphor prevented his condition from getting worse and landing up with a lung complication. His subsequent test proved to negative. Both reports sent.

10 members of the family were given Camphor 200 as preventive and all were fine. This despite his grandparents residing in the same house having multiple comorbidities. This gentleman referred 5 more cases and all did well in 7 to 10 days on  Camphor 200 as that was the only potency available.

• Case by Prajakta Vaidya and Preety Shah

A 44-year-old Indian patient living in UK consulted us with her symtoms due to COVID-19. She was a Registered Nurse and was working with COVID-19 patients. She was referred to us by an existing patient who was a suspected COVID-19 patient with severe pneumonia-like symptoms and was helped with homeopathy.

Day 1, 19th Apr	Came back from the hospital with cold & low temperature, tiredness
Day 2, 20th Apr	Mild cold & low temperature, fatigue continued
Day 3, 21st Apr	Asked to leave her hospital duty as symptoms aggravated
Day 4, 22th Apr	Breathlessness, fever with rigours
Day 5, 23th Apr	High fever & breathlessness- hospitalized – started on Antibiotics. COVID-19 +
Day 6, 24th Apr	Discharged.  The same night an attack of excessive sweat, breathlessness & tiredness

 Day 7, 25^th April: First Homeopathic Consultation on Skype:

The patient was not able to talk much. Her speech was so slurred that we were not able to understand much. She was hardly able to speak as if words were not coming out.

History given by the husband:

She did not have the energy to talk, was extremely tired and unable to pronounce words properly. Was unable to talk properly. Voice was just not coming out.

She was ill from last Sunday, she had a normal cold, no cough. No other COVID-19 symptoms. Normal cold- little bit nose running. Then she went for duty on Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning (19^th Apr) she had a cold and was sent home from duty. She was tired so she rested for a couple of days.

Then on 23^rd April, she was extremely tired, while talking she was wheezing while walking wheezing was there. While lying she was okay. She had a high fever.

So, when I called the hospital, they asked to take her to Emergency. They discharged once all other lab investigations and X-RAY came normal. Kept her under observation for 1 day.

Hospital Discharge Summary 1: (first hospitalization)

“They gave her some Antibiotics, Amox may be. 3 doses, they gave some blood thinner. Then she was discharged as lung was clear there is no problem and she was okay.

When we came home, she was okay. We had dinner together. She took one paracetamol and we slept. She slept in a separate room. At 3 am I heard her scream. When I came running to her room. She was standing on the door.  She said she is feeling dizzy.  She was feeling breathless and suddenly she collapsed on the floor. She didn’t look okay, she was responding but not properly.  She was like unconscious. We will ask her questions, she will say “Hmmmm”. By the time I called the Emergency and paramedics came home, it took 10-15 mins. She was sweating a lot at that time.

When they came home, her SPO2 was normal- 93, 94, 95%.  Then paramedics examined her, asked her some questions, she was able to respond and she could walk back to the bed herself.  They wanted to check her name, DOB, year, address to rule out stroke maybe. They checked her blood glucose. She was all clear.

She had a cup of tea and she slept around 4 am”

The husband continues to say “She woke up at 8 am today, took breakfast, took paracetamol and slept again. Now, she is just lying and watching TV.  The problem now (the present time when they consulted us) is that she is tired and she cannot talk properly. She is speaking in a broken way. If she has to say my full name XXX YYY…She will say XXXXXXX ………..YYYYY. It looks like she has too much weakness. Maybe that is why she is talking like that. As if too much tired, weakness…when she is talking, she has to take long pauses”

D: You said she is better when lying down (wheezing) < walking, talking?

P:   Yes, better while sleeping. She always sleeps on one side- Right or left. That is her comfortable position in general too. Nothing different right now.

D: Any mental changes:

Perfectly fine. Only thing is tiredness. She doesn’t have any behavioural change. No fear or anxiety. She will say “I am fine, only my voice is a problem”.

D:  Anything you can tell about her nature in general?

P: She is a normal lady. Lovely lady. Nothing wrong in her nature 😀

She is a very strong person. Very independent. During COVID time also she is working in a hospital. Not scared or anything.

She did not want to get admitted, as she thinks it is quite boring.

I put a TV in her room. So, she is watching all Indian channels, movies, Kapil Sharma shows and passing her time.

App: Not hungry.

Thirst: 2 litres throughout the day. She is in general thirsty. She had 1 bottle of water today, lemon juice, She had some ginger, mint concoction.

Chilly.  She is always Chilly, even if she has no fever. If everyone needs 1 blanket, she will need two. She will wear a sweater at home when I am only wearing T-shirt.

The only medication she is taking is Paracetamol. She has a mild headache. The temperature at the moment is 37.1

As the patient was based in UK and we were in India. With the lockdown, it was difficult to find the remedy and get it for the patient. Several homeopaths helped in this endeavor. However, before she could get the homeopathic remedy, the patient deteriorated as below:

Day 7, 25th Apr	Homeopathic Consultation. As the patient was in UK, it took time to find the remedy for her. In the meanwhile, her symptoms were aggravated.
Day 8, 26th Apr	Symptoms aggravated. Extreme fatigue, breathless, unable to speak. Took her to the hospital again.  Suspected stroke – no allopathic medicines started
Day 9, 27th Apr	CT, MRI normal…no medicines only under observation
Day 10, 28th Apr	Under observation, discharged – continued tiredness, speech difficulty – no medicines

Hospital Discharge Summary 2 (Second hospitalization)

Day 11: 29^th April- Remedy was found and given to the patient.

Case Analysis:

Three remedies were going through our mind – Camphora, Phosphorus and Gelsemium because of the symptom presentation and repertorization. We studied these 3 remedies from Reference Works and below are some key pointers:

Based on the study, Camphora was clearly indicated.

Prescription:

• Camphora 1M was given in water dilution
• 1 spoon every 1 hour for 3 days.

Follow-up

Day 11, 29th Apr	First dose of Camphora 1M received
Day 12, 30th Apr	Speech much better, but still strained. Tiredness still present but not as extreme.
Day 13, 1st May	Tiredness 20-30% better, can walk around- take bath. Speech continues to get better.
Day 14, 2nd May	Speech 50% better, Tiredness 40% better
Day 19, 7th May	•      95% better in speech  (Audio recording available) •      Can talk well. I don’t think I am ill at all. •      I can manage everything. Weakness was much better. •      On 6th May CT Scan was done as a FU procedure, reports are awaited but symptomatically patient is “normal” in her own words. •      Advised to stop Camphora and wait until CT reports come. •      In UK a repeat swab is not performed routinely to confirm the patient status. The patient’s recovery symptomatically, only confirms her recovery.

5) Case by Dr. Anne Clais (Toulouse) France

Rosa : 55 years old, life support for the elderly people HTA

Since March 27, continuous chills and body aches.

Called homeopath on April 3rd: Panic, frequent hacking cough since today and very tired (++), body aches and chills.

Asks 4 times explanations (which is completely unusual). I know her very well, she is thoughtful, organised and reliable.

Camphora 30CH every 6h (MK not available)

On April 4 ( camphora30): significant improvement. Panic disappeared. Cough as well. Chills and body aches remain.

April 6 ( camphora): doing well. No fever. Nose somewhat runny. TA stable, good sleep. Still has body ache but no oppression or coughing left. Camphora MK just received. To be taken twice a day.

6)Case by Dr Jacques Echard, France  

Case of a woman around 60 years old (audio recorded from the interview). Second stage case-

This patient was suffocating and even choking while coughing; the attacks of cough were tough, very tiring, she had been sleeping all day long, she begins to be anxious, although refusing to go to the hospital she had a very low voice and was rapidly tired talking,  she had coldness in the body and even icy coldness in the back along the spine.

We did not insist on directly investigating: the diagnosis was pretty clear and I decided to make her bring the remedies as soon as possible. She had got x-ray picture the day before of her lungs as prescribed by the GP, who said get rest and call me if ever you are choking. The X-ray showed the typical image of covid 19  i.e. pneumopathy on both sides.

I decided not to hospitalise her because I was confident in what we were able to do in homeopathy, and l trusted what Dr. Rajan advises.

Following is the result-

Second consultation, follow-up no1: 2/ 04 / 20- 24 hours after the beginning of the treatment

First phone consultation had been done 14 hours after H zero (hour zero) :

She was better after hardly half of a day evaluated to 50% less tired and less coughing. She had a good night, actually better than the previous one.

J: OK,  How much do you feel the amelioration is?

S: Compared to before? How much I feel better compared with yesterday? I feel at least 50% better. Really. And it is not all like before.

J; Nothing like before.

S: Yes, in fact, I’m 80% now.

J: Even that: 80%?

After one week, she got well and quite completely cured. Having improved day after day. I completely assume the fact that I have given two different remedies. The supposed epidemical homeopathic remedy Camphora 1 M potency and then another remedy Ethyl sulfur Dichloratum 30CH potency.

7) Report from Dr Gentiana Ciubuc, Romania

I prescribed Camphora 1M three weeks ago, to almost 500 of my patients as a preventive treatment. So far I had no patient who developed any symptoms of Covid 19. More than this, I have a family of 5 people, all of them except one, took Camphora1M as a preventive treatment. The one who didn’t take Camphora got the symptoms of Covid 19 and at that time he started taking it and the next day he had no more symptoms.

None of the 500 patients who took Camphora 1M got the disease.

One patient of mine had Camphora 1m with her because I recommended it a long time ago, but had not taken it. She developed symptoms of covid (fever, nose congestion, muscles pains, loss of smell and taste, weakness, profuse perspiration during the night) after which she started taking Camphora 1m.

In Romania two weeks ago, Camphora 1M was given to about 1000 pharmacists and allopathic doctors who were exposed to Covid 19 patients, we kept the record of all these people. So far none of them has symptoms of Covid 19. Again it was one of them who was supposed to take it but missed taking it and she developed the symptoms of Covid 19. The pharmacist who took the remedy Camphora later than her colleagues, developed Covid 19 symptoms. After taking Camphora yesterday, last night she had profuse perspiration and today she has no more symptoms.

None of the 1000  pharmacists and allopathic doctors who took Camphora 1M got the disease.

Another case of one of my colleagues from the medical school, who is now a doctor in a Covid 19 hospital. He had not taken Camphora as a prophylactic,  he was positive for the coronavirus and he was in contact with his family for 2 days, having the symptoms. His state was worse and worse, with lungs damage and oxygen desaturation, until he took the Camphora 1m. In three days he started treating the patients around him. His family who took Camphora 1m as a preventive treatment remained free of coronavirus.

200 Diabetic patients took Camphora 1m, none of them got the disease yet.

The director of a nursing home and his staff took Camphora 1m, but two staff members did not agree to take it and only those two people were diagnosed positive, one week ago, the rest of them remained negative.

I am doing statistics of all these cases. I would like to thank you on behalf of these 1500 people who are safe so far with the help of Camphora 1m.

SUMMARY

The three approaches within Homeopathy vis-à-vis an epidemic have been described. The advantages and disadvantages of each one have been highlighted and the understanding of genus epidemicus has been stated. We hope this brings some clarity to the whole issue.

Acknowledgement :

I sincerely thank my team at The Other Song International Academy of Advanced Homeopathy ( theothersong.com)

• Prana Homeopathy Yoga centre (http://www.prana-hyc.com)
• Dr Easwara Das
• Dr Anil Khurana
• Dr Meghna Shah
• Dr Kshiti Mehta
• Mr Rajiv Bajaj