Proven homeopathic remedies

Scientifically proven homeopathic remedies - homeopathic medicines that have passed the rigours of double-blind scientific studies - do exist.

This is because homeopathic cures, like regular durgs, come in either liquid or pill form and so it is entirely possible to devise double-blind scientific studies where neither the subjects nor the researchers know who is taking the actual medicine and who is taking a placebo or "dummy medicine".

Moreover, in homeopathic medicine, people suffering from the same illness may be given the same medicines. This is unlike, say, traditional Chinese medicine where medicines are customised according to the condition of the patient and not according to the diease that the person is suffering from.

These conditions make the scientific study of homeopathy more possible than other forms of alternative medical treatment. As a result, there are a good number of scientifically proven homeopathic remedies. But since this website is concerned with flu treatments, we shall focus on those proven homeopathic remedies for the flu.

Proven homeopathic remedies - Oscillococcinum

This homeopathic medicine, first formulated in 1925, is prepared from the liver and heart of a Barbary duck. It has particular interest to us now because it was first studied in France during the 1987 flu epidemic caused by an H1N1 virus - the same type of virus associated with the current swine flu epidemic.

The study was conducted in several research centres in France. It was done during the midst of a flu epidemic and and it involved the use of Oscillococcinum (200C). The notation 200C means that the original medicine had been mixed in 100 parts of water, shaken or "potentised" and then further diluted - the process being repeated 200 times. Already after three dilutions, the concentration of the original substance is 1/1,000,000. You can imagine that after 200 times, there is practically none of the original substance left!

This study involved a group of 149 non-homeopathic physicians - which is interesting since they can be said to be "non-belivers" in homeopathic medicine. They enlisted 487 patients, each of whom had developed flu-like symptoms - including high fever and other typical flu symptoms - during the previous 24 hours.

A treatment group and control group were established. Each patient was given five doses of either the homeopathic medicine, or a placebo - once at the physician's office and then twice a day for two days at home after that.

The results:

• 17 percent of patients in the treatment group recovered completely in the first 48 hours, compared with 10 percent in the control group. The difference was considered statistically significant.
• 61 percent of patients in the treatment group also felt that the treatment was "favorable", compared to 49 percent in teh control group,

The results of this study were published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in 1989.

In 1990, German physicians conducted a similar study on Oscillococcinum, using the same criteria as the previous French study and involving 372 patients. They produced similar results:

• After 48 hours, the treatment group had significantly milder symptoms than the control group, and 17.4 percent of patients in the treatment group had absolutely no symptoms after Day 2, compared with 6.6 percent in the control group.

These two studies confirm Oscillococcinum as one of the proven homeopathic remedies for the flu. Moreover, they show that proven homeopathic remedies are more effective than standard flu treatments. Typical flu patients experience flu symptoms for between seven to 14 days and studies on standard flu drugs have been found to reduce the symptoms by only one day. In contrast, the studies on Oscillococcinum showed it can remove symptoms completely in some patients within just 48 hours of catching the flu.

Proven homeopathic remedies in flu prevention

For flu prevention, the homeopathic medicine Influenzinum has been used for over 150 years. This, too, can be considered one of the scientifically proven homeopathic remedies although no double-blind study - but a survey - was conducted in this case.

In 1998 the French Society of Homeopathy conducted a survey of 23 homeopathic doctors concerning their use of Influenzinum as a flu preventive. The survey included use of Influenzinum over a 10 year period (from 1987 to 1998) in 453 patients.

Different doctors prescribed this homeopathic medicine differently. Weekly doses were used by 26 percent of participants and monthly dosage by 23 percent. Another 16 percent used a weekly then monthly dosage plan, and 35 percent applied some other dosage protocol. The majority of respondents - 80 percent - began treatment in the fall (September through November) and ended between February and April. The results:

• In approximately 90 percent of the cases, no instances of the flu occurred when Influenzinum was used preventively no matter what the dosage protocol. Only in 5 percent of the cases was there was no protective effect.
  
  
• Physicians rated the medicine good to very good in 90 percent of the cases.
  
  
• Among patients, 98 percent expressed a desire to take the same preventive treatment the following year.

Click here to read about proven homeopathic remedies during the 1918 Spanish flu.