Homeopathic medicine, treatment and remedies for HIV-AIDS

Some of the most important homoeopathic remedies that are helpful in treating HIV-AIDS are listed below. The symptoms mentioned under each remedy prompt the homoeopathic doctor to choose the said remedy.

• Arsenicum Album
  Common Name: Arsenic trioxide
  Symptoms: Patients who benefit from arsenicum album have some of the following characteristics:
  • Burning pains
  • Pains that are usually worse at midnight and better with heat or warm application
  • Gradual loss of weight
  • Anaemia
  • Dry, cold, and wrinkled skin
  • Extreme restlessness
  • Anxiety, especially about their health
  • Weakness and exhaustion
  • Thirst for sips of water at short intervals
  • Tendency to suffer from gastric infections after consuming street food

This remedy is also helpful in managing symptoms in the terminal stage of the disease. Also, it is effective in maintaining the immune system in case of cancer.

• Crotalus Horridus
  Common Name: Poison of rattlesnake
  Symptoms: Crotalus horridus is an excellent sedative and a useful remedy for terminal diseases. The symptoms relieved by this remedy are as follows:
  • Haemorrhage – Dark offensive blood draining from various orifices of the body like eyes, nose and ears
  • Tendency to suffer from cancer of the liver, uterus and gastrointestinal tract
  • Infected wounds that bleed profusely
  • Infections like typhoid, yellow fever, diphtheria, septicaemia, debilitating diarrhoea and vomiting
  • Usually right-sided symptoms (symptoms that appear on the right side of the body)
• Lachesis Mutans
  Common Name: Surucucu snake poison
  Symptoms: Individuals who respond well to lachesis have the following symptoms:
  • Intolerance to tight clothing around the neck and waist
  • Symptoms that are worse at night
  • Cancers, boils, ulcers, pustules and haemorrhoids that bleed profusely with delayed clotting
  • Unbearable pains
  • Fever due to typhoid, tonsillitis, diphtheria and septicaemia
  • Delirium and confusion
  • Predominantly left-sided symptoms

Women of menopausal age particularly benefit from this remedy.

• Natrium Muriaticum
  Common Name: Common salt
  Symptoms: Natrium muriaticum is an effective remedy suited to sensitive individuals who brood a lot and weep easily.  Such individuals present with the following characteristics and symptoms:
  • Recurrent headaches
  • Tendency for cold and cough
  • Warts
  • Herpes, especially around the genitals
  • Fungal infection on the tongue
  • Anaemia
  • Loss of weight, especially around the neck
  • Chills
  • Oily face
  • Tendency to suffer from diabetes, hyperthyroidism and goitre
  • Crave extra salt
• Phosphorus
  Common Name: Phosphorus
  Symptoms: Individuals who are lean, tall, emaciated, stooped, extremely nervous and oversensitive to external stimuli such as heat, light, touch and noise. Such people experience the following symptoms:
  • Tendency to have haemorrhages where even small wounds bleed profusely
  • Diseases of the nerves, spinal cord and liver, hepatitis, tuberculosis, blood-related disease conditions and osteomyelitis
  • Excessive burning along the spine, in palms and chest
  • Weakness and prostration after the slightest loss of body fluids through diarrhoea, vomiting or bleeding
  • Puffy, swollen eyes with dark circles; sickly appearance
  • Craves cold water
• Phytolacca Decandra
  Common Name: Poke root
  Symptoms: Phytolacca is a remedy used in patients with the following conditions:
  • Tendency to have enlarged glands and hard and painful lymph nodes
  • Severe throat infections, tonsillitis, extreme bone pain and joint pain
  • Shooting, electric type of pains driving the patient to despair
  • Tendency to suffer from abscesses and cancer, especially of the breasts, with a lot of bleeding and pus discharge
  • Loss of weight
  • Tendency for boils, warts, sexually transmitted infections and skin rashes
• Syphilinum
  Common Name: Syphilitic virus
  Symptoms: Syphilinum is a remedy usually indicated in painful terminal diseases of HIV wherein the person reports the following symptoms:
  • Extreme weight loss, weakness and debility
  • Pains that come gradually and settle slowly
  • Shifting pains
  • Symptoms that are worse at night
  • Diminishing memory with mental and physical exhaustion
  • Tendency for severe constipation, fissures in anus and rectum
  • Craves alcohol
  • History of syphilis
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• Tuberculinum Bovinum
  Common Name: Pus (with bacilli) from a tubercular abscess
  Symptoms: Patients who respond well to tuberculinum exhibit the following characteristics -
  • Lean, thin, physically weak and emaciated despite eating well
  • History of tuberculosis or if someone in the immediate family has suffered from TB in the past
  • Symptoms that keep affecting one organ after another – lungs, liver, brain, stomach and kidneys
  • Diseases like tuberculosis of the lungs, urinary tract infections, ringworm, recurrent diarrhoea, meningitis, recurrent boils and eczema
  • Tendency to catch respiratory infections

Tuberculinum works very well in cases where other medicines fail to act.

Do’s

• Stay away from foods and substances that can interfere with the treatment. Try to remain active, take walks in fresh air.
• One must go for daily walks and do light manual labour to strengthen muscles. Some exercises also help to relax the mind.
• Eat and drink healthy and nutritious food products.

Don’ts

• Since homoeopathic medicines are given in very small doses, they tend to lose their potency quickly, if not kept in a safe place away from strong smelling substances and sunlight. Take utmost care to preserve the medicines.
• Anything in the diet and regimen that can react with the medicines should be avoided like -
  • Strong-smelling foods and drinks such as coffee, herb teas, fine liquors prepared with medicinal spices and spiced chocolate
  • Medicinally compounded tooth powders and mouthwashes
  • Perfumed sachets
  • Strong-scented flowers in the room
  • Highly seasoned foods and sauces
  • Frozen foods like ice creams
  • Raw herbs on soups, medicinal herbs in foods
  • Celery, parsley, stale cheese and meats
• Sedentary lifestyle and long afternoon naps should be avoided
• It is important to avoid mental strain to improve health. 

Currently, there is no vaccine available that can prevent or treat HIV. It has been estimated that 39%-54% of infected patients seek ART. Many still look for alternatives to ART considering drug resistance, toxicities and treatment expenditure. ART does not kill the virus or cure the infection; it prevents the growth of the virus and keeps the viral load at a low level.

Conventional medicine has focussed on developing drugs that prevent viral replication. On the other hand, homoeopathic medicines improve patient’s immune system, which can help the body defend itself and prevent the progression of HIV infection to AIDS. It also helps reduce the number and intensity of opportunistic infections and improve the CD4 counts. Patients with AIDS have a tendency to suffer from recurrent fever and various infections of the skin and respiratory tract as well as fungal infections. Unlike conventional medicine, homoeopathy does not have any side effects and is thus a safer option in the long run. However, there is no homoeopathic medicine for HIV in particular.

According to homoeopathy, HIV is a mixed miasmatic disease, with different miasms presenting at different times depending on the characteristics of the patient. Based on the case history, presenting symptoms and laboratory tests, the most suitable homoeopathic medicine is administered to the patient. The correct medicine helps in many ways, including improving the patient’s appetite and weight, treating recurrent infections, reducing the tendency to recurrent infections and improving the CD4 cell count.

In a study conducted on HIV patients registered in Mumbai, 21 out of 94 cases showed improvement in blood values and 14 showed sero-reversion (improvement in condition) with homoeopathic treatment.

Another study reported that homoeopathic treatment does not improve the CD4 count despite improvement in the viral load. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate and confirm such results on a wider scale. It is important, however, to note that an HIV-positive patient is not known to become HIV negative even if the viral load becomes negligible.

After homoeopathic treatment, the quality of life as per the WHO standard is expected to improve in physical parameters like weight, appetite, bowel movements and energy level as well as in the psychological and environmental domains.

Homoeopathic medicines are highly diluted; hence, these are essentially safe and are not known to cause side effects. However, it is important that one seeks help from a qualified homoeopathic physician for the correct, genuine homoeopathic remedy and its dosage.

Although HIV-AIDS is known to be a worldwide concern, it can be controlled and managed by augmenting the patient’s immune response at different stages of the disease. An integrated approach with ART to treat the condition may prove highly beneficial in the long run. Homoeopathy is a safe mode of medication. Homoeopathic medicines don’t have any noted side effects and can be taken to manage secondary infections as well as prevent the progression of the disease. A detailed case history guides the physician to the appropriate remedy for an individual.