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Updated 9-23-06 Who we are: Jacob I. Mirman, M.D., D.Ht., C.C.H., M.Hom. Sally Tamplin,
B.Ed. (Hons.)
D.S.H., M.A.R.H., C.M.T., B.F.R.P. Sujata Owens, B.Sc.,
L.C.E.H., R.S.Hom, C.C.H., H.M.C.
Minnesota Homeopathic Association Why this site: Influenza pandemic is developing in Asia. As of now we don't have adequate conventional treatment to combat it. Homeopathy offers a way to improve the body's ability to fight off infections, and as such can be of tremendous help in saving lives of those affected by the flu. This site has been created to educate consumers about Homeopathy as it pertains to influenza. Homeopathy has been used with great degree of success in influenza and other epidemics for 200 years. In 1918 flu pandemic homeopaths reported around 1% mortality in their cases, while conventional doctors were losing 30% of their patients. Homeopaths believe that if your body is generally healthy, you have a much higher chance of success in fighting any disease, including flu. Therefore, we feel that everybody should get homeopathic treatment before they get seriously ill with some acute disease. On one hand, it will help you deal with all the chronic symptoms you may be suffering with now, and on the other, it will make your body stronger and more able to fight off whatever acute infection may come along, including the flu. The authors of the site, as well as many others in Minnesota Homeopathic Association and around the world are practicing homeopaths and will be happy to help you in this respect. For a primer on Classical Homeopathy read Dr. Mirman's on-line book here: www.BookOnHealing.com. What are the conventional medicine approaches to flu? Mainstay of flu treatment is prevention. That means personal hygiene to prevent infection during outbreaks, and immunization before the outbreak to teach the body to process the virus effectively once you become infected. Then, once one becomes sick, its mostly symptomatic relief with drugs. If complications arise, such as pneumonia, supportive care is given to help the body survive the infection while the immune system is fighting it. We can also use antibiotics to kill bacterial infections superimposed on top of the flu virus, such as bacterial pneumonias. We don't have anything in conventional medicine to stimulate the immune system itself to more effective action. Tamiflu does not appear to be effective in human cases of avian flu Immunization may provide effective protection, if a good vaccine is made early in the epidemic. While homeopaths are in general negative about immunizations, if a disease is lethal enough, most would probably change their opinion. However, because the virus mutates so fast, immunization may not be as effective as one would hope. This is why we still don't have effective HIV vaccine. Besides, it would take 6-9 months to make enough vaccines for the US population after the virus has emerged, while it may take it just a few days to cross the Atlantic. Homeopathic remedies never have an issue with resistance. This is because the remedies do not have any direct effect on the virus. They just modify our body's response to it by enabling our defense mechanism to a better recognition of what needs to be fought off. In the end, Homeopathy may end up being the most reliable method of saving lives in a bad epidemic. It has happened before, and it may happen again. We owe it to ourselves to be ready. And being ready is not hard. It requires a bit of education, a simple inexpensive remedy kit and access to a homeopath. The remedies are cheep and easily available. In Minnesota we are trying to educate public health officials on this issue. We just had a high level meeting with the officials from the Governor's office and from the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. We were warmly received. They listened and took notes. Hopefully, they will look into this further, as potentially Homeopathy is the only effective treatment for flu. We offered full cooperation of the Minnesota Homeopathic Association to enable the state officials to reach the best decision. What you will find on this site: In the Articles section we posted several articles about the use of Homeopathy in influenza. Some of these are double blind placebo controlled studies from peer-reviewed medical journal, the kind that doctors like to read. Some give you basic understanding about the use of Homeopathy, and one article is a report from 1921 issue of a homeopathic journal on the use of Homeopathy in the 1918 flu pandemic. In the Remedies section you will find a list of remedies useful in influenza, with their homeopathic indications. This is a very abbreviated list, as many other remedies could be needed. However, these are the most commonly used remedies in flu cases. These remedies were chosen in consultation with a group of homeopaths and several homeopathic books. This group of remedies should cover 80 to 90% of flu cases, and can be quite useful, if used properly, in getting your body strengthened to fight the flu. The remedies mentioned are available for sale in all homeopathic pharmacies. They are inexpensive and classified as over-the-counter FDA approved drugs. We put the most likely ones together in a multi-potency kit prepared by an FDA - inspected homeopathic pharmacy. We suggest several books for people serious about using Homeopathy to improve their health. You can buy them from the Books section of the site. Pandemic Survival Manual can be downloaded by clicking on the link. The book is still in the process of being edited and updated and the next most current version will be posted as soon as it is ready. The Manual discusses all pandemic-related issues and offers pointers to make your home ready for a pandemic. We welcome constructive criticism of the book and will incorporate the best ideas in the next version. The site will be updated as new information on the epidemic becomes available. |
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