The recent news that homeopathy is to be removed from the NHS saving millions is very misleading. First of all it is not homeopathy it is homeopathy prescriptions, and secondly it will not save millions it will save around £90k. The media love a good headline – even if that means distorting the facts says Mani Norland, Principal of the School of Homeopathy, Stroud.

Removing homeopathy prescriptions from the NHS is short sighted, as you are taking medicine away from people that need it. If patients cannot get the homeopathy prescriptions they rely on then they may turn back to other more expensive drugs, costing the NHS far more money in the long run.

The reason given for removing homeopathy prescriptions from the NHS is a lack of evidence, but there is sound evidence of homeopathy’s effectiveness.

For example; by the end of 2014, 189 randomised controlled trials of homeopathy on 100 different medical conditions had been published in peer-reviewed journals. Of these, 104 were placebo-controlled and were therefore eligible for detailed review.

41% were positive (43 trials), finding that homeopathy was effective
5% were negative (5 trials), finding that homeopathy was ineffective
54% were inconclusive (50 trials).

In addition, there have been six meta-analyses of homeopathy (large scale overviews of all previous research).

One meta-analysis was negative, concluding that homeopathy had no effect beyond placebo. Five were positive suggesting that there was evidence of an effect beyond placebo, but that more high quality research would be needed to reach definitive conclusions. The most recent of these studies, published in 2014, found that homeopathic medicines, when prescribed during individualised treatment, are 1.5-2.0 times more likely to have a beneficial effect than placebo.

With regards to the effectiveness of conventional medicine, things are not as clear cut as many people may believe. Every six months, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) publishes the scientific clinical evidence for treatments currently available on the NHS. This study found that of 3,000 commonly used NHS treatments 50% are of unknown effectiveness and only 11% are proven to be beneficial. See chart.


SSRI anti-depressants, such as Prozac, are an example of such a treatment. These have now been confirmed as being no more effective than placebo in the treatment of mild and moderate depression, yet in 2006 the NHS spent around £150 million on them.

The BMJ data clearly shows that the NHS funds many treatments for which the evidence of effectiveness is unclear - see chart.

Medical research is a costly and involved undertaking that is generally funded by large pharmaceutical companies, charities, trusts and governments. Millions of pounds are involved in drug development, which is usually recouped through licensing the drugs. As homeopathic medicines are derived from natural sources, they cannot be patented; without the financial returns that patents help to provide, it is more difficult to find companies willing to invest in homeopathic research. This is unfortunate, given that homeopathy has the potential to be a safe, effective and inexpensive complement to conventional health care.

Funding for research into other Complementary and Alternative Medicines has been steadily growing with promising results. Professor George Lewith (professor of Health Research at the University of South Hampton) and others have received Government funding for their work.

The homeopathic profession encourages more research into homeopathy. However, the funding required for high quality research into homeopathy is not available in the UK at this time.

The Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI) is an international charity created to address the need for high quality scientific research in homeopathy. In collaboration with the Carstens Foundation, the HRI website provides a clinical research database that contains over 1015 studies, from randomised controlled trials to observational studies. It is the most comprehensive and academically rigorous database of its kind in the world.

In the current climate, where misinformation about homeopathy in the mainstream media is common, there is a need for clear communication of the facts about the evidence base for homeopathy. HRI therefore aims to provide decision-makers, academics, healthcare practitioners and patients with reliable, academically sound information about homeopathy research.

In 2013 and 2015 the HRI held international conferences dedicated to research in homeopathy. Both events had around 40 speakers, including clinicians, PhDs and Professors from around the world.

The campaign to remove homeopathy prescriptions from the NHS has been instigated by a small lobby group lead by a well-known ‘sceptic’ of homeopathy. This group made a legal challenge to the Department of Health. Why are policy makers and health professionals allowing themselves to be influenced by a biased agenda-led lobby group? This is not being driven by clinicians, patient choice, research or economics. With 15% of the UK population (27% of Germans, 40% of French) using homeopathy - why is the demand not for more research into homeopathy, rather than less provision?

Read more online and look up the references at: www.homeopathyawareness.com

Homeopathy has been hitting the news in Australia this week.

Find out more about the NHMRC 2015 review on Homeopathy that's making headlines once again - have a read of the latest from the Homeopathy Research Institute here.

The report has had an impact across Australia and has been featured several times on 7 News across the country.

To watch the footage see below.

Click here for 7 News Sydney.

Rachel Roberts, Chief Executive of the Homeopathy Research Institute states 'It is interesting to hear the final sentence demonstrating the public position being taken by the pharmacists which is quite rightly in favour of patient choice “…pharmacists and their union say that that choice should be left with consumers".

Click here for 7 News Brisbane.

Petrina Reichman, Secretary at the Australian Homeopathic Association says 'Freedom of choice is crucial. These products would not have survived on the shelves of pharmacies for as long as they have if they weren't effective, simple as that! Using complementary medicine also eases some of the emergency room burdens #yourhealthyourchoice'



According to the Australian Homeopathic Association: ‘One million Australians use homeopathic products like those sold in chemists, as part of their daily healthcare'.

Your health, Your choice.

 

 

 

Catching a few minutes out of Ananda More’s busy day, I managed to find out more about her soon to be premiered film and the motivation behind making it. Ananda, homeopath and first time filmmaker, has been making Magic Pills, In Search of Evidence, a documentary film about homeopathy for the last 6 years.

The world premiere is on the 3^rd June at the Illuminate Film Festival (tickets available here: http://illuminatefilmfestival.com/magic-pills).

The film reveals aspects of homeopathy some would rather suppress and ignore as inconvenient truths. It shows several projects from around the world, looking at the science and the statistics, the scandals and also hears from individuals with different ways of thinking about the ongoing argument that homeopathy has been a part of for over 200 years.

The trailer for Magic Pills is here.

As a homeopath myself I can be known to rant about the treatment of homeopaths and homeopathy but making a film is a huge step forward into sharing our story with the world. What was the tipping point that inspired you to make it?

It was 7 or 8 years ago, we had a conference here in Toronto, and Dr Gustavo Bracho, from Cuba, presented at the conference. He was presenting a lecture on how the Cuban government had successfully stopped an epidemic using homeopathy. They weren’t homeopaths, they were pharmacists, biologists, and immunologists and the institute was used to creating vaccines for infectious diseases. Because of the circumstances there wasn’t enough time to produce enough vaccine for the population, needing to do something, they created a homeopathic remedy and used gave it to 2.3 million people.  The results were astounding and the epidemic was arrested. Dr. Bracho later explained to me that they were shocked that no medical journal was willing to publish their work, and they gave ridiculous excuses that had nothing to do with the validity of the research.

Had they done that with a conventional vaccine – and according to the WHO vaccines are to be used before an epidemic not during one, because a vaccine can take months to stimulate an immune response, and multiple doses, and it’s often hard logistically to get a vaccine to a population because there needs to be a cold chain to ensure a vaccine is safe and effective. Had they have managed to do something similar with conventional medicine the world would know about it, or at least the medical world would know about it and I felt the story had to get out there and…

And the leap to making the film?

It was going round in my mind I had to make a film about it. This story needed media exposure. I emailed Dr Bracho and said I felt I had to tell the story and he told me I could go and visit anytime and speak with him. I found out later he’s very camera shy, he’s had interviews in the past where things he’s said have been twisted and taken out of context. But he welcomed me, the people at the Finlay institute were all very kind.


What was the most important thing you had to learn to make the film?

I have a bachelors degree in drama so I suppose that helped, I don’t know, part of it was going out and doing it hands on. The first time I went to film I had a friend who was a camera man and filmmaker and editor, he’d recently graduated from film school and really kindly donated his time, I started to learn from him. Then I did some courses, learnt more about documentary filmmaking and started to learn about the equipment, techniques, and the language, even still I’m still learning - it doesn’t stop.

Producing the film is what’s the hardest part, finding the funding, the accounting and things are always changing, navigating distribution, finding people I should be working with and not working with, I ended up producing the whole thing by myself. That has had its challenges - it’s a fairly rare thing to do and also hard to be trusted as a new producer in the world to get funding when they don’t know what your film will be like, or if you even have it in you to finish. Now I’m navigating distribution, marketing, every day I’m learning something new – I feel like I’ve done a degree in filmmaking!

The film takes into account many views of homeopathy, and you interview people with very different opinions to your own - how was it for you interviewing people who had such a polar opposite view to yours about homeopathy?

I guess for me I came into this with a homeopathic mind, in the work we do we’re supposed to listen to a person’s perspective without judgement. I went into this open and willing to learn that homeopathy didn’t work. Is this really placebo and something that we’ve blinded ourselves to? I went into it really open to learning that it’s just a scam, a placebo.

I feel I went in with an open mind, but the things I saw were so awe inspiring that I became convinced that homeopathy does work and I came out a lot more confident in my practice. I am convinced of the efficacy of homeopathy as a practitioner and more able to accept people get better because of the work we’ve done together and accept that the homeopathy itself has made a significant difference for them.

It’s hard as a homeopath, I don’t know if anyone gets 100% results, I certainly don’t and when I’m not getting success on a case I take it very personally. I question my skills and question homeopathy itself. Making this film has stopped me from questioning homeopathy. If I’m not getting the results, maybe I’ll need to look again at the case with fresh eyes, or get a colleague to look at it with me and sometimes need to work harder to understand what’s going on.

Thank you for that. It’s really helpful I think for people to hear that you went in totally questioning it and open minded, prepared to learn that what you’ve studied hard for might all be not true. I think some of the issue, and people talk about it, is how we’ve got a lot invested in what we’re doing, maybe that you’ve studied for years and then at that stage of ‘it can’t not be true now’.

I think a lot about confirmation bias and about how in my life I’ve changed my mind so many times about what I’ve believed and encountered, so I’m always open to changing my mind. I mean, I believed homeopathy was a scam first when I first learned about it and I believed that for many years. When I was first in India and I was in the hospital and injured, all these people kept telling me to go use homeopathy and I laughed at them.

It really wasn’t about defending a position for me and I think I’ve shown that on a lot of levels. I thought I had a very scientific approach, and I think I’m still scientific in my approach. But before I was willing to believe what any expert told me and the studies that had been done, and it took a lot of looking and understanding in terms of how science works and about how biased science can be. Science is just a process and it’s open to interpretation and human interpretation, and we’re biased, we all have our own subjective approach.

Maybe there’s something about having ‘that experience’ yourself.  You talk in the film about how you took your first remedy and literally 15 minutes later you felt better. That experience changes somebody’s way of looking at the world. Lots of people haven’t have that experience, they’ve not tried homeopathy or witnessed that, in which case it does sound like a load of rubbish…

It’s easy to say to someone ‘Oh, your experience is placebo’, ‘it’s consultative effect’, ‘it’s just a coincidence’, but I think things change once you’ve gone through that experience, you’re more willing to consider that you were wrong about your beliefs.

So maybe we’re stuck in that place and maybe it’s about doing it enough times sometimes…

Maybe, but also… so my question was 'are we as homeopaths stuck in that place too?', and I was trying to be open. I really was questioning that, I wanted to know ‘am I perceiving everything differently?’, ‘am I approaching every study that’s negative with a certain perspective for a reason or are they really fraudulent and are these complaints that we have really genuine?’

We talked about the different mind-sets of people with their views of homeopathy and homeopaths. One thing I find interesting is how you use in the film different projects using quite different systems of homeopathy. Within the homeopathic community we can get a bit ‘you’re using that, I’m using that’. What are your thoughts about everything sitting alongside each other?

I think we, we haven’t had the time, the money, the research, to really learn everything there is to learn about homeopathy, and I think we’re just sitting on the tip of an iceberg, so I think everyone’s systems are very legitimate and I think we can learn a lot from each other and I think if we start getting dogmatic about how we practice or about how other people shouldn’t practice, we do everyone a disservice.

We do disservice to our patients because we’re not willing to look at other techniques that might help in a situation where we might be stuck, we do a disservice to our community, because we become fragmented – that’s what’s led to the state of homeopathy today. The Flexner report was successful in shutting down homeopathy because homeopaths weren’t organised and today homeopaths should…

…there isn’t enough unity and working together to really become a force.

If I could give you one wish to do with homeopathy what would it be?

My biggest goal with the film is to broaden the dialogue, and have I think we’ve had the media against us and a lot of the scientific world, not all the scientific world, I think a lot of the scientific world is open to what we’re doing and are sceptical in a genuine way, wanting to learn. But because I think there’s so much at stake, not just the pharmaceutical and the medical industry but – how we understand and perceive the world and how it works, it’s been hard to accept us. I think what I want, what I wish is for a more open minded genuinely sceptical society that is willing to invest in research and to openly to look at evidence and bring homeopathy in to the healthcare systems around the world.

What I feel that we’re suffering from right now is the power of what I’m calling the pseudo sceptics, because I don’t think they’re genuinely sceptical – they’ve decided that homeopathy can’t work and they’re going to do everything in their power to demonstrate that, even if it means not presenting the whole story, and they’re doing everything in their power to stop more research from happening as well – so why are they so scared of research? – they call it a waste of money, but most of the research being done in homeopathy is coming from dedicated funds to research in alternative medicine.

My question is, why are they scared of research? – what are they scared that we’re going to learn and find out? – is it going to flip their worlds around too much, is it like finding out the world is round?

You need to be able to say, ‘OK I believe this and what’s the evidence for and against my belief? Have I really understood what I experienced in my own life', then you can shape an educated vision. I learned from Irene Schlingensiepen-Brysch a homeopath in Germany, we spoke a about scientific philosophy and this notion that you can never know the truth you can only approximate truth – and all we can do is try to do studies that try to falsify our theories and our hypothesis and find out what is false, but that finding out what is true, maybe that’s impossible.
There’s so much we don’t know and scientific opinion changes constantly and we’re always discovering new things that were right in front of our faces and we didn’t see, like, for example a lymphatic system in the brain, a drainage system for the brain – people always wondered how wastes were removed from our brain and they thought they didn’t get removed then just last year they discovered there is a drainage system for the brain. So, we’re always learning new things, always observing new things and we’re always missing things that are right in front of us because we don’t know how to see them yet.

For me the biggest thing is that science is a process, it isn’t an answer, it isn’t absolute knowledge, it’s a process of learning and observing and it’s not absolute.

I know there are lots of interested people asking me (so there must be many more wondering), when can we expect to see the film at screenings outside Canada and the United States?

It’s a bit of a process and all in the works and a there’s a hierarchy in how the film is released. The film festivals want to have the premieres and if it’s available elsewhere the film festivals are less inclined to show it. The reason I really wanted to go the film festival route, which isn’t a necessary route, but I felt it will legitimise the film and bring a broader audience to the film.

So, we have to be patient?

Yes, we have to be patient. The other thing is, I have wonderful people helping me, but I’m the main promoter on this and I haven’t been able to prepare all the marketing and get myself ready for the premiere – and at the same time be able to get my whole community screening program in place. The community screening approach is a very common way to distribute films that have the intention of having a social impact, as the lingo calls it, impact distribution. We want to make the film available for community screenings, and that means that anyone that wants to hold a screening can reach out to us, they do have to pay a licence for the screening but it’s pretty nominal and the idea is with that we send them a Blu Ray or a DCP.

They can show the film, they can show in theatres, in communities, they can show it in their living room, the idea also is to create the discussion, and try to figure out ways to create more change and broaden the perspective of the media, maybe lobby government, help to work towards changing policies around homeopathy and healthcare policies and towards alternative medicine in general.

I’m still trying to figure out what that’s going to look like, what the action plan is going to be and how everyone can contribute on that level as well. And then the film, once someone buys the licence, they can then turn around and charge tickets for people to come and see the film, hopefully use it as a fundraiser or cover all the expenses of showing the film.

OK, then we stay tuned and sign up to the newsletter?

Yes, and then that way you’ll find out when there’s a screening near you or how you can host a screening. We’re going to hopefully get it on video on demand platforms. Our goal not to reach a homeopathic audience –but to reach a broader audience of people. We need the homeopaths and we need the supporters of homeopathy to help propel the film to that audience as well. Sign up to the newsletter here.

Do you need funding to be doing all this?

It’s hard once the film is done – and we did it on a really really small budget, a lot of it came from my own pocket and I put 6 years of my life into it – but now there’s money required for developing the website, developing the materials, marketing is very expensive. Everything takes another bunch of money to get out there, the hope is that through licencing fees, more donations and hopefully some grants, we can put some money towards all of that that needs to be done. I wish I could give it all out of it out for free, but the expenses keep going up and up – it’s been very hard to raise money for this film outside of private investors – grant and funding bodies are very scared of films like this.

There’s a donate button on the website and it would be so appreciated if people would like to do so. As much as we all want to make everything available and be altruistic there’s expenses related to everything, like just having a DCP made is close to $1000. And unfortunately filmmaking and everything that goes around it is an expensive endeavour. Those of us producers who are making documentary films are dependent on the good will of everyone around us to make it happen.

Lastly, you cover some really hot topics in the film. In the UK we’re not allowed to talk about anything that might be able to treat cancer, we’ve just had Vaxxed here in the UK, and the vaccine discussion is heating up. What’s your feeling, I mean, I think they’re amazing stories to get out to the world, I feel like we’ve been suppressed for so long, the Cancer Act was in 1939 so since then we’ve been not allowed to say that anything can be helpful in dealing with cancer apart from maybe supporting it and you kind of go straight in there for the jugular – how is that?

I guess I put myself in a tricky situation, where some homeopathic organisations are scared to support the film, because it’s “going there”. They’re scared of the sceptic attack against them, of being associated with something that’s presenting what’s going on in the world. I mean, it’s not me saying I can treat cancer, it’s me showing what is possible in India, where homeopaths who are allowed to treat cancer, and are considered full-fledged members of the medical community, and receive an excellent medical education, I’m showing what they’re doing and what they’ve been capable of and the results they’ve been having, and so I don’t think I’m making any untoward claims of what I can do as a homeopath.

They’ve created a culture of fear around us being able to talk about what’s going on in the world and about us being able to show what is really possible. We always act out of fear on all of those things and I’m trying to break that here.

Thank you Ananda. It’s been a pleasure to chat and I can’t wait to hear more about the premiere and progress of Magic Pills, In Search of Evidence.

Em Colley MARH RHom BSc(Hons)

www.emmacolley.co.uk

 

 

In the UK, March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. Ovarian cancer is the biggest gynaecological killer of UK women, with UK survival rates amongst the worst in Europe. (Ovarian cancer awareness month, March 2017)

Having lost one of my closest friends to this insidious disease at the age of 45 (diagnosed at 39,) I am actively helping to spread awareness of the symptoms, in the hope that the patient is fully informed of treatment options and care, from the earliest signs. She was originally given a diagnosis of IBS, then PMS, despite the fact she looked 6 months pregnant. It took over a year to get to the route cause of her condition. ‘Three quarters of women are diagnosed once the cancer has already spread, making treatment more difficult. That is why awareness is so important, to drive forward improvements in detection, treatment and ultimately survival.’ (Ovarian cancer awareness month, March 2017)

Because there is much difficulty in its diagnosis, (evidently, even amongst the medical profession!) any help in clarification of the symptoms, and potential reasons for the development of the disease, has to be good. I, as both a health professional and from a personal point of view, would like to see more research into the possible causes. Vibrant health stems from prevention, where possible.

Symptoms and possible causes

According to The Mayo Clinic (June, 2014) symptoms may include:

• Abdominal bloating or swelling


• Quickly feeling full when eating


• Weight loss


• Discomfort in the pelvis area


• Changes in bowel habits, such as constipation


• A frequent need to urinate

Certain factors may increase your risk of ovarian cancer:

• Ovarian cancer can occur at any age but is most common in women ages 50 to 60 years.


• Inherited gene mutation. A small percentage of ovarian cancers are caused by an inherited gene mutation. The genes known to increase the risk of ovarian cancer are called breast cancer gene 1 (BRCA1) and breast cancer gene 2 (BRCA2). These genes were originally identified in families with multiple cases of breast cancer, which is how they got their names, but women with these mutations also have a significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer.


• Estrogen hormone replacement therapy, especially with long-term use and in large doses.


• Age when menstruation started and ended. If you began menstruating before age 12 or underwent menopause after age 52, or both, your risk of ovarian cancer may be higher.


• Never being pregnant.


• Fertility treatment.


• Use of an intrauterine device.


• Polycystic ovary syndrome.

(Mayo Clinic, 2014)

Homeopathic management of ovarian cancer

I would strongly recommend that the homeopath ensures the patient presenting with ovarian cancer has a diagnosis and is aware of all the potential routes to healing, which may be conventional, or a combination of both holistic, homeopathic, naturopathic and the allopathic approach (including addressing the diet for optimum nutrition, if necessary.) A homeopath would take the entire case history, and prescribe according to the presenting symptoms.  This would help to balance the system, on every level, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Were surgery required, homeopathy can be wonderful to help both the trauma of physical and emotional healing. The homeopathic approach to the patient in these circumstances (as with any serious, life threatening disease) would be individualised and would be aimed at addressing the route cause of the disease as well as the symptoms presented. Any support at this time which could help healing, would be welcomed. Remedy choice would be determined by symptoms specific to the individual.

Because of the complexity of the disease, a fully integrated expert approach would be optimal, hopefully resulting in the patient’s recovery and enhancing the quality of life whilst undergoing treatment. My dear friend (having had stage 4 ovarian cancer) lived 4 years longer than her original prognosis of 2 years. She was sure it was attributed to the rich, multi disciplinary route she adopted, following high quality, specialist advice from every corner. This valuable, time, allowed her to see her son almost finish his schooling; precious, irreplaceable years. It has taken me a long time to be able to do, what she wanted and asked me to do, which is to try to help and inform others; asking them to look at the bigger picture and take into account everything that constitutes ‘the body.’  I dedicate this to her, her beauty and her bravery.

Consult a registered homeopath at www.findahomeopath.org

Gill Graham

www.consultanthomeopath.com

References

Ovarian cancer symptoms/causes [online] June 2014

Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ovarian-cancer/basics/symptoms/con-20028096)

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month [online ] March 2017. Available at: http://ocam.org.uk/

Homeopathy for Coughs - Registered Homeopath Ulrike Holzer explains more:




Coughing is due to irritation of the respiratory tract at any point between the larynx and the deeper parts of the lungs. It serves the purpose of clearing our airways of mucus, bugs and foreign particles.

A cough may flare up suddenly, caused by dust, fumes or smoke. But usually it occurs as part of an overall picture of a throat or chest infection. The chest infection may have developed from a cold or it may have started ‘on the chest’. Even a little cough can be debilitating but remember that a cough is a symptom, not a disease in and of itself, that’s often indicative of an underlying condition. The most common conventional treatment for coughs are decongestants and cough suppressants. While these may offer temporary relief from the symptoms, they do so by suppressing the body’s own defences. Cough medicines block the body’s cough reflex, which can be problematic as coughing helps to clear the breathing passages.

Homeopathy for different types of Coughs

A dry cough which produces little or no phlegm. It is often the result of infection by cold and flu viruses. It can also be triggered by atmospheric pollutants (such as cigarette smoke) irritating your throat. In most of these situations, dry coughs occur because the back of your throat becomes irritated or inflamed, but may also arise from deeper in the chest. The following homeopathic remedies may be helpful for dry coughs:

• Aconite: Sudden and violent onset of symptoms of a croup-like cough in very dry cold weather. Often there is also anxiety and restlessness. The person may have a fever and is thirsty, but doesn’t sweat.


• Bryonia: Slow and gradual onset of cough symptoms, often accompanied by fever. The cough sounds dry and hacking. Very painful cough (sharp and stabbing pains in throat and chest), which is worse from any movement and better for holding the chest. Thirsty for large quantities of water. Cough is aggravated by eating, drinking and entering a warm room.  Better for pressure, holding the chest and keeping absolutely still. Worse for any movement and can be worse at night.


• Drosera: Cough is dry, irritating and spasmodic. Coughing takes breath away. Attacks follow each other very rapidly, can hardly breathe. Coughing is so hard that it can result in vomiting or nosebleeds. Deep barking or choking coughs. Hoarseness of voice.


• Rumex crispus: Dry, tickling cough preventing sleep. Barking, incessant and tiring cough. Tickling sensation in the throat, as if a breadcrumb is stuck in the throat. Dry mucus membranes followed by sticky mucus. Cough worse by lying on left side, inspiring cool air and at night.


• Spongia tosta: Dry, barking, croupy cough. Wheezing and rasping. The larynx is sensitive to touch. Raw, tearing and burning pain in larynx from coughing. Cough sounds “dry as a bone”, like  ‘ a saw driven through a pine board’. Cough excited by talking. Sensation as if breathing through a sponge. Hoarse voice. Cough is worse in warm room and talking, and better from drinking warm drinks.

A wet/chesty cough is triggered by an excessive amount of mucus in the chest. A productive cough is most often the result of an infection by cold and flu viruses and is often accompanied by symptoms of the cold of flu, a blocked nose and fever. The following homeopathic remedies may be helpful for chesty coughs:

• Antimonium tartaricum: Cough is wet and rattling, but the mucus is thick and difficult to cough up. Breathless, wheezy and noisy chest.  Lungs seem full of mucus yet less and less is raised. Gasping fro air before every attack of cough. Cough is worse in warm rooms, overheating and warm weather. Better in cold, open air and sitting erect.


• Blatta orientalis: Shortness of breath. Difficult breathing, better from expectoration of mucus. The cough is suffocating from great accumulation of mucus. Purulent cough with yellow mucus.


• Ferrum phosphoricum: Short, painful and tickling cough with sore chest. Hacking, tormenting, spasmodic cough with much production of mucus. Worse at night. Better cold application and lying down.


• Ipecacuanha: Spasmodic cough with rapid development of phlegm which may be vomited up. Cough is incessant and violent with every breath. The person often feels nauseous and vomits. Cough is worse in warm/damp environment/weather. Better from open air.


• Mercurius solubis: Shortness of breath when coughing. Excessive yellow/green phlegm, which can be easily coughed up. Cough is worse from drafts, taking cold. Worse changing weather and temperature, and worse at night. Better from moderate temperature and in the morning.


• Pulsatilla: Cough is productive in the day and dry in the night. Thick, yellow and loose phlegm. All symptoms are worse in hot/stuffy rooms and from warm air, but better from cool, fresh/open air.

General advice to manage a cough

• Keep hydrated! Drinking plenty of water is essential to keep the mucus membranes moist. This is particularly important in winter as houses tend to be dry due to central heating etc.. Add honey or ginger to hot tea to relieve your cough and clear your airway.


• Avoid irritants, such as smoke, dust, perfumes and scented air fresheners as these may irritate the lining of the mucus membranes of the respiratory tract.


• Steam! Steam, quite literally, loosens phlegm and mucus and thus alleviates cough symptoms. So by taking a hot shower/bath a cough can be greatly helped.

Call the doctor if:

• The overall condition worsens.


• There are other problems, such like a heart condition etc.


• The new infection is in addition to a long-term chest infection, such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema.

Note: Do not attempt to treat severe bronchitis or pneumonia yourself.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and not intended to replace the advice of your physician or health care provider. First aid situations may require medical or hospital care. Do not use this article as a means to diagnose a health condition. Speak to your doctor if you think that your condition may be serious, before discontinuing any medication that has been prescribed for you, or before starting any new treatment.

If you cannot decide which homeopathic remedy to select or if your cough lingers then please book an appointment for a full consultation with a professional homeopath.

Ulrike Holzer  LSECH MSCH MARH (Registered Homeopath)