Tackling Covid-19 with Homoeopathy

Dr. Saptarshi Banerjea
“SIMILIMUM”,
46 CREEK ROW,
CALCUTTA 700 014
INDIA
E. Mail: [email protected]

                                                                                                

INTRODUCTION:

Coronaviruses (CoV) cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus (nCoV). This new virus was known through the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

TRANSMISSION:

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, transmitted between animals and people. COVID-19 can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.

INCUBATION PERIOD:

For COVID-19, it ranges from 1-14 days, most commonly around five days.

CLINICAL FEATURES:

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are

1. fever
2. tiredness
3. and dry cough
4. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea.
5. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually.
6. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms.
7. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment.
8. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing.
9. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness.
10. Radiological findings show involvement of the right lung lower lobe with prevalence of ground glass opacity

FALSE MYTHS:

The new coronavirus cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China or any country reporting COVID-19 cases.

Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus.

STANDARD PROPHYLAXIS:

1. a) Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water which kills viruses.
2. b) Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
3. c) Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth as hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth.
4. d) Make sure you follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.
5. e) Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance.

HOMOEOPATHIC MANAGEMENT:

The therapeutics has been divided into three groups-

Fever with dry cough

Fever with aches

Fever with weakness

FEVER WITH DRY COUGH

STICTA PULMONARIA (LUNG WORT):

THEME AND ESSENCE: 

Discharge dries up quickly  — forms crusts/scurfs

Dry night cough is  a keynote (Clarke)   Constantly blows nose but no discharge

 Dullness and malaise: Grand characteristic:  Dull pressure/fullness  at root of nose

Dry hacking Cough < the more he coughs     Gluey secretion >In open air

Hale says Sticta is indispensable in February,  March, and April in the American climate.

MODALITY:  Agg.: evening and night; can neither sleep nor lie down; must sit up.

Coughing agg. The cough (the more he coughs the more he wants to).

Inspiration, when tired

Amel. in open air.

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE: Q, 6C, 30C, 200C

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JUSTICIA ADHATODA (VASAKA):

THEME AND ESSENCE: 

Cough: dry like Bryonia, spasmodic with constriction  Wheezing like Ipecac

Dyspnoea with cough,    Aggravated in a close room

Agg. Lying on left side in lung problems

Larynx is painful  with with dry cough chills

Chills         Night sweats

Cough with haemoptysis & tightness across the chest like Phos.

MODALITY:  Agg.:   Patient cannot endure a close, warm room; Lying on left side

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:

Q: Children: 3-5 drops x 6-8 hourly.

    Adults: 10-12 drops x 6-8 hourly.

6C, 30C, 200C

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SPONGIA TOSTA:

THEME AND ESSENCE:

Irrepressible cough from a raw spot in chest

Cough cause            Cardiac cough       Asthmatic dry cough

< Reading, singing                Cough   Dry+++ (“dry as a horn”)

< sweets,                      > eating,                   Barking like a saw driven through a pine board

<cold drinks                 >  drinking warm things

MODALITY:  Agg.: Sweets, cold drinks    Amel. Warm drinks

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE: Adults: 6C, 30C, 200C

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BRYONIA ALBA:

THEME AND ESSENCE:

< entering warm room

< eating, drinking                      < inspiration (motion)

<motion >rest                          Dry Cough

Associated    Cough  symptoms :  With stitching pain: chest      With headache: fly into pieces   with Thirst++                    Right lung  lower lobe

MODALITY:    Agg.  Motion, talking, inspiration, entering warm room,  /  Amel. rest

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:  6C, 30C, 200C

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RUMEX CRISPUS:

THEME AND ESSENCE:

Tickling+++, in pit of throat+++, or behind sternum++ excites cough

< exposure to cold air, therefore covers head + throat with bed clothes.

Excited by change from warm to cold, and cold to warm (Phos., Spong)

Raw pain under clavicle    Rawness  Incessant Teasing Cough

< any irregularity         < lying down – 11.00 p.m.    (and 2.00 – 5.00 a.m.)

< pressure on throat pit

MODALITY:  Agg. : Exposure to cold air, lying down, pressure on pit of throat

Amel.:wrapping up

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:  6C, 30C, 200C

FEVER WITH ACHES

RHUS TOX:

Dry teasing cough coming at midnight  <putting hands out of bed

< night, first motion        Stiffness and aching

< cold & damp weather

> continuous motion             Fever blisters and vesicles

<warmth

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EUCALYPTUS:

THEME AND ESSENCE:

Pricking sensation followed by painful aching. Acts as antiseptic

RELAPSING & CONTINUED FEVER; NEPHRITIS COMPLICATING INFLUENZA

Exhaustion & toxaemia                      Bronchitis in aged with foul

is associated.                                                discharges àExpectorant

SinusitisàStuffed up sensation

“3S”

Slow digestion    Sore, ulcerated tonsils. (Use tincture locally)

(a characteristic: ref. Clarke)

MODALITY: Agg. Night, walking or carrying anything.

Amel. Exercise, taking food.

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:

• Influenza: 30C, 200C

Q: Adult: 8-10 drops x 6-8 hourly

Children: 3-4 drops X 6-8 hourly

• Respiratory: Q,30C

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DESMODIUM GANGETICUM (SHALPANI):

THEME AND ESSENCE:    Sleepy and Drowsy

Pains all over à Burning      Headache: As if bound by a tape

MODALITY:  Agg.: 7 A.M.

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE: Q: Adult: 8-10 drops x 6-8 hourly

Children: 3-4 drops X 6-8 hourly

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FERRUM PHOS.:

ACUTE COLD CHARACTERISTICS:

Malaise, mild headache, body aches (general constitutional symptoms of fever).

Mild onset of temperature with signs of first stage of inflammation.

(Rubor = Redness, Calor = Heat, Dolor = Pain, Tumor = Swelling).

Catarrhal affections of respiratory tract. (susceptible to chest troubles)

Can be associated with:

1. headache;
2. first stage of Otitis (ASOM) with throbbing pain in ears; (when Bell. fails)
3. epistaxis;
4. tonsillitis and sore throat;
5. undigested watery stool;
6. lumbago with stiffness of the muscles

It stands mid-way between sthenic activity of Aconite & Bell. & the asthenic sluggishness of Gels.

THEME AND ESSENCE:

First Stage of all inflammatory affections

Initial stage of congestion                     Hard, dry cough with

Before exudation                                   soreness of chest

MODALITY:

Agg. < 1 PM (Chill), warm drinks, motion, night, 4 – 6 a.m.

Amel. cold application (headache), rest.

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE: 3X, 6X Tabs: 4 tabs 4 Hourly

FEVER WITH TIREDNESS

ARSENICUM ALBUM:

Aetiology:  Suitable for attacks occurring as consequence of suppressed catarrh.

Manifestation: Kent says Ars. patient is always taking cold in the nose  always sneezing from every change in the weather.

Discharges: Discharge: Putrid.

MODALITIES:

(i) > by leaning forward in bed.

(ii) Aggravation: Midday, midnight.

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:  12C, 30C, 200C

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GELSEMIUM SEMPERVIVENS:

THEME & ESSENCE:   3D’s : Dull    Dizzy   Drowsy  Desires: to be left alone

Gradual onset

Apathy       Listlessness

Dusky hue face              Thirstless

Associated  Features : Tired      Nervous      Heavy    /

Chill running in back, limbs

GELSEMIUM

L_{2   :}   Left alone                  Limbs heavy

POTENCY & DOSE OF CHOICE:   30C,200C

ELIMINATION OF REMEDIES:

Slow gradual onset of fever:

Remedies which have a rapid onset of complaints -Acon.,Bell.,

Catarhal state is not being developed;

Remedies which have catarrh with fever: Dulc., Kali S, Ocimum Sang

Sore throat is rarely developing:

Remedies which have sore throat with fever:  Allium cepa, Bell., Hepar Sulph, Strepto.

PROPHYLAXIS:

As Hahnemann narrates in Sec 101,”It may easily happen that in the first case of an epidemic disease that presents itself to the physician’s notice he does not at once obtain a knowledge of its complete picture, as it is only by a close observation of several cases of every such collective disease that he can become conversant with the totality of its signs and symptoms.”

The major symptoms which have been presented include:

Fever, Dry Cough and Tightness across the chest

BRYONIA ALBA 30C-1 single globule (poppy seed) in a bottle of water (500ml) and sip that medicated water slowly for 5 days-7 days gap -BRYONIA 200C-1 single globule (poppy seed) in a bottle of water (500ml) and sip that medicated water slowly for 5 days

JUSTICIA ADHATODA Q-10-12 DROPS THRICE A DAY FOR 3 WEEKS.