Flu symptoms
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 7:02 am
My 4 year old seems to have come down with something day before yesterday. Started with a fairly persistent but lightweight cough,
fever, drowsiness and refusing a video (!!). This, mind you, is in a bright little boy who talks and sings and go-go-goes from the
moment he wakes till the moment he goes to sleep... That was Thursday afternoon. He had a quite a fever, with dry heat all over, no
thirst, no appetite. Did not want to be uncovered though temp got as high as 103.5F. Some muscle pains, and heart seemed to be
pounding very fast, but I figured that was to be expected in a fever. (We adopted him one year ago from Pakistan, and he has been
amazingly healthy -- just two short colds and now this.) Nose not stuffed, nor does the cough raise anything. Throat very sore, hard
or crunchy food (such as bread) agg. Although I first thought of Aconite (and every book pretty much says first try Acon), he did not
have the anxiousness or restlessness. I thought of Bell., but I only have it in 200 and I wanted to try a lower potency for the first
prescription. So I tried Baptisia 30, two globules in water in divided doses for a few hours, but it did not seem to affect. I then tried
Acon, and I cannot say it did much. He had fever all night, around 101.5F, but he slept and did not thrash. It would be fairer to say he
baked all night. He had fever all the next day, and slept off and on. Still no thirst. No perspiration to speak of. No delirium or
restless dreams. Amazed that he felt chilly on uncovering, though he was hot to the touch -- I tried Nux.v. Hard to tell if there was
improvement or not. (In my account here, please bear in mind that I am coming down with this thing myself now..) I resorted to a
Hyland's compound for sore throats, composed of very low potency Belladonna, Baryta c, Phytolacca, & Merc iod rub. Hard to say if
the throat symptoms improved. He hadn't coughed much since the first few hours, but swallowing was still painful. This morning, he
almost felt like vomitting, but not really from the stomach, more from sputa, but it didn't really happen. Well, I tried Baptisia 30 again
(why? I cannot remember), by olefaction from the 80% alcohol dilution. This time, there was substantial improvement. His
temperature dropped, his appetite and fluid intake improved, he started talking more, watched TV and was more his old self. He still
has a low grade fever, but he gets out of bed and has energy to move around a little. There is tenacious mucus in his lungs (judging
by his cough), but nothing has come up yet. No other stomach symptoms. I'm thinking Sambucus may be needed next, because he
sort of woke up from a nap with suffocative coughing, but I'll see.
Me, I had a strange but slight bout of fever this evening -- heat on the neck and left side of my head, and leftsided (and occipital)
headache. Both ears very hot. Weird feeling in head & neck. Had slight queasiness last night, and took a dose of Ars. Had also
taken a dose of Oscil. on day one of my son's illness. General yuckiness. What's the rubric for "general yuckiness"?
I'll keep you posted on how this thing develops, if I have the energy. None of the remedies which were mentioned as useful in a
previous poster's account seemed relevant to my son's symptoms or, so far, mine. So I don't think a "genus epidemicus" is
necessarily a good thing -- it may steer people to prescribe for the disease and not for the patient -- an easy trap to fall into, since that
is the dominant paradigm we all grew up with .
By the way, although the Oscil "dose" according to the package directions is a good teaspoon of the very tiny globules, I do not
understand why a few wouldn't be considered a dose...It's pretty expensive stuff to quaff by the spoonful.
Alia
fever, drowsiness and refusing a video (!!). This, mind you, is in a bright little boy who talks and sings and go-go-goes from the
moment he wakes till the moment he goes to sleep... That was Thursday afternoon. He had a quite a fever, with dry heat all over, no
thirst, no appetite. Did not want to be uncovered though temp got as high as 103.5F. Some muscle pains, and heart seemed to be
pounding very fast, but I figured that was to be expected in a fever. (We adopted him one year ago from Pakistan, and he has been
amazingly healthy -- just two short colds and now this.) Nose not stuffed, nor does the cough raise anything. Throat very sore, hard
or crunchy food (such as bread) agg. Although I first thought of Aconite (and every book pretty much says first try Acon), he did not
have the anxiousness or restlessness. I thought of Bell., but I only have it in 200 and I wanted to try a lower potency for the first
prescription. So I tried Baptisia 30, two globules in water in divided doses for a few hours, but it did not seem to affect. I then tried
Acon, and I cannot say it did much. He had fever all night, around 101.5F, but he slept and did not thrash. It would be fairer to say he
baked all night. He had fever all the next day, and slept off and on. Still no thirst. No perspiration to speak of. No delirium or
restless dreams. Amazed that he felt chilly on uncovering, though he was hot to the touch -- I tried Nux.v. Hard to tell if there was
improvement or not. (In my account here, please bear in mind that I am coming down with this thing myself now..) I resorted to a
Hyland's compound for sore throats, composed of very low potency Belladonna, Baryta c, Phytolacca, & Merc iod rub. Hard to say if
the throat symptoms improved. He hadn't coughed much since the first few hours, but swallowing was still painful. This morning, he
almost felt like vomitting, but not really from the stomach, more from sputa, but it didn't really happen. Well, I tried Baptisia 30 again
(why? I cannot remember), by olefaction from the 80% alcohol dilution. This time, there was substantial improvement. His
temperature dropped, his appetite and fluid intake improved, he started talking more, watched TV and was more his old self. He still
has a low grade fever, but he gets out of bed and has energy to move around a little. There is tenacious mucus in his lungs (judging
by his cough), but nothing has come up yet. No other stomach symptoms. I'm thinking Sambucus may be needed next, because he
sort of woke up from a nap with suffocative coughing, but I'll see.
Me, I had a strange but slight bout of fever this evening -- heat on the neck and left side of my head, and leftsided (and occipital)
headache. Both ears very hot. Weird feeling in head & neck. Had slight queasiness last night, and took a dose of Ars. Had also
taken a dose of Oscil. on day one of my son's illness. General yuckiness. What's the rubric for "general yuckiness"?
I'll keep you posted on how this thing develops, if I have the energy. None of the remedies which were mentioned as useful in a
previous poster's account seemed relevant to my son's symptoms or, so far, mine. So I don't think a "genus epidemicus" is
necessarily a good thing -- it may steer people to prescribe for the disease and not for the patient -- an easy trap to fall into, since that
is the dominant paradigm we all grew up with .
By the way, although the Oscil "dose" according to the package directions is a good teaspoon of the very tiny globules, I do not
understand why a few wouldn't be considered a dose...It's pretty expensive stuff to quaff by the spoonful.
Alia