HOMEOPATHY FOR STOMACH FLU OR VIRAL GASTROENTERITIS

Viral gastroenteritis is commonly called ‘stomach flu’. But it is not caused by influenza, the respiratory virus that causes flu. Viruses are the most common cause of stomach flu. These viruses mostly infected the lining of the small intestine.

Anyone can come down with stomach flu. But it is more likely to get in a place where lots of people share living or dining spaces such as:

·      Children in day care or at camp

·      Nursing homes

·      Students living in dormitories

·      Military personnel

·      Prisons

·      Psychiatric wards

·      Cruise-ship passengers

·      Travelers to less-developed countries

·      Anyone with immune compromised state

Causes

A number of viruses can cause gastroenteritis, including:

·      Nor viruses. Spread among people in confined spaces. In most cases, from contaminated food, or water, although person-to-person transmission is also possible. Norovirus is often the culprit for adults.

·      Rotavirus. This is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in children, who are usually infected when they put their fingers or other objects contaminated with the virus into their mouths.

Symptoms

Main symptoms are:

·      Watery, usually non bloody diarrhea.

·      Abdominal cramps and pain

·      Nausea, vomiting or both

·      Occasional muscle ache or headache

·      Low-grade fever

Symptoms can be worse in babies, young children, older adults or anyone of any age that is immune-compromised. Vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration within just a short period of time, depending on the circumstances. Signs of dehydration include:

·      Extreme thirst

·      Less urine output than usual

·      Urine darker in color

·      Sunken cheeks or eyes

·      Lightheadness, dizziness upon standing

·      General weakness

GENERAL MANAGEMENT. PREVENTION

·      Wash hands thoroughly. Wash hands with warm water and soap, especially after using the toilet.

·      Use separate personal items. Avoid sharing eating utensils, drinking glasses and plates. Use separate towels in the bathroom.

·      Avoid close contact with anyone who has the virus infection, if possible.

·      Clean kitchen surfaces with a disinfectant.

·      Keep raw meat, eggs and poultry away from foods that are eaten raw.

·      Avoid eating raw or undercooked meat, eggs and shellfish

·      Consume only pasteurized dairy products and apple juice

·      Rinse fruits and vegetables before consuming

·      Drink bottled water and avoid ice cubes when travelling.

HOMEOPATHY MEDICINES

ACHYRANTHES ASPERA

For acute and chronic diarrhea. Watery stool. Yellowish stool mixed with flakes of mucus profuse in quantity. Pain in the stomach. Nausea and vomiting. Excessive thirst. Thready pulse.

ARESENIC ALBUM

Diarrhea from bad meat, water, vegetables, melons and watery fruits, ice cream, ice water, sour beer, bad sausage, strong cheese and vinegar. Putrid, involuntary stools with agony, prostration and burning thirst. Thirst for small quantities of water at frequent intervals. Great anxiety and restlessness. Nausea, retching, and vomiting after eating or drinking. Body cold as ice. Cannot bear the smell or sight of food.

ALOE SOCOTRINA

Abdomen feels full, heavy, hot, and bloated. Great accumulation of flatus, pressing downward. When passing flatus, sensation as if stool would pass with it. Loud rumbling, gurgling, and sudden urging, before stool. Hurry to closet immediately after eating and drinking. Colic before and during stools. Pain cease after stool. Lumpy watery stool. Jelly-like stools with soreness in rectum. A lot of mucus with pain in rectum after stool. Hungry after stools. Profuse sweating and extreme weakness often with fainting spells. Diarrhea worse, while standing or walking.

BAPTISIA TINCTORIA

Diarrhea sudden. Stools very offensive, thin and dark. Constant desire for water with nausea and want of appetite. Great thirst. Sinking feeling at stomach.

CAMPHORA OFFICINALIS

Involuntary diarrhea. Rice water stools. Diarrhea with cramps in calves, coldness of the body, anguish and great weakness. Icy coldness of the whole body, yet averse to cover. Skin bluish and cold.  Collapse tongue, flabby, trembling and mouth cold. Cold breath. Coldness in stomach, followed by burning. Vomiting of bile or of blood. Cramps in the abdomen. Pain better while thinking of it.

CHAPARAO AMARGOSA

Chronic diarrhea. Stools with little pain, but with profuse mucus.

CROTON TIGLIUM

Constant urging to stool followed by sudden evacuation. Stoll expelled suddenly, as if shot out all at once. Sensation of swashing in intestines. Stool yellow and watery. Colic before evacuation. Diarrhea, worse drinking the least quantity or while eating. Much prostration.

EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS

Acute diarrhea. Aching pain in bowel with a feeling of impending diarrhea. Stools, thin, watery, preceded by sharp pains.

EUPHORBIUM OFFICINARUM

Chronic diarrhea accompanied with cerebral irritation and delirium. Stools fermented, profuse, clayey.

GAMBOGIA

Pinching, gurgling in bowels, then sudden yellow or green, thin stools coming out in prolonged gushes.  Stool is expelled all at once after considerable urging and is followed by a feeling of great relief. Burning in anus after stool, anus sore and excoriated. Diarrhea with sudden and forcible ejection of bilious stools. Tenesmus after stool with burning in anus. Watery diarrhea in hot weather. Stools are profuse, watery, sometimes yellow, sometimes greenish and lienteric.

 IPECAUANHA

Persistent nausea and vomiting. Clean tongue. Gastrointestinal disorders with continuous nausea. The stomach disordered from rich food, pork, pastry, fruits, candy, and ice cream. Stool, grassy-green, of mucus, bloody, fermented, foamy, slimy, like frothy molasses, spurts out with much flatus. Cutting pain across the abdomen from left to right.

PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM

Diarrhea from eating fruits. Gurgling through the bowels, then profuse putrid stools gush out painlessly. Stool putrid, profuse, and gushing. Hot, sour belching, nausea and vomiting. Vomiting of hot, frothy, mucus. Thirst for large quantities of cold water, but no desire for food. Prolapse of rectum before or with stool. Diarrhea accompanied by sensation of weakness of sinking in abdomen or rectum. Stool green, watery, fetid, profuse; chalk-like, jelly like; undigested; yellow meal-like sediment. Weakness.

THROMBIDIUM

Much pain before and after stool. Stool only after eating. Gripping in hypochondrium in morning. Urgent loose, stools on rising. Brown, thin, bloody stools, with tenesmus. During stool, sharp pain in left side, shooting downward. Burning in anus.

VERATRUM ALBUM

Diarrhea from drinking cold water in hot days. Profuse diarrhea.  Watery, green, odorless, or colorless (rice water) stools. Great prostration after evacuation. Violent vomiting accompanies the purging. Vomiting worse after drinking and least motion. Retraction of abdomen during vomiting. Cutting pain in abdomen as from knives. Profuse perspiration on the forehead. Sinking, empty feeling in abdomen. Craves ice water, wants everything cold, or sour drinks, juicy fruits and salt. Averse to warm food.