Natural preventative treatment

OK.  I checked on the internet and found THIS article:

http://www.blonnet.com/2005/11/01/stories/2005110102770900.h tm

The herb is "star anise" - I thought that stuff was a weed!  I used to suck on anise stalks when I walked home from school every day.  I wonder if that is why I never get sick!

-R

Apparently, I grew up with "green anise" - which is a different kind of anise altogether.   It is a weed!

Apparently, Green anise is antispasmodic it calms all disorders of nervous system, dry coughs, it stimulates appetite digestion and also acts against tiredness.   Also : Intestinal meteorism, aerophagia, indigestion, vomiting, nauseas, breast feeding (stimulates milk production), cardiac tonic, spasm cough.  According to:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lepetither boriste.net/herbier/anis.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lepeti therboriste.net/plantesus/anise.html&h=287&w=215& ;sz=22&tbnid=6JcvSNhjOa0lEM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=82&am p;hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522green%2Banis e%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004 -40,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN

With bird flu on the rise and a possible worldwide pandemic of great concern, it might prove wise to look back into history to see what proved effective in supporting health, avoidance and a quick recovery during the last flu epidemic.

In an article published in the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, May 1921, author W. A. Dewey, MD, quotes another physician W. F. Edmundson, MD, from Pittsburgh: One physician in a Pittsburgh hospital asked a nurse if she knew anything better than what he was doing, because he was losing many cases. "Yes, Doctor, stop aspirin and go down to a homeopathic pharmacy, and get homeopathic remedies." The Doctor replied: "But that is homeopathy." "I know it," said the nurse, "but the homeopathic doctors for whom I have nursed have not lost a single case."

Homeopathic historian and author Julian Winston writes in his book "Influenza, 1918: Homeopathy to the Rescue" that New Jersey physician Dr. Raymond Seidel, MD, HMD, told him he decided to be a homeopathic doctor when he was just a 10-year-old delivery boy for a local homeopath during the 1917 flu epidemic. He said, "I saw that the people who were taking aspirin were dying, about half those who were drinking a lot were dying, and those that received homeopathic remedies were living."

Local classical homeopath Willa Kaizer is determined to let the community know the historically proven effectiveness of homeopathy during the flu epidemic of 1917-19. Kaizer urges everyone to "research the usefulness of homeopathy and stay in touch with your homeopathic community for updates and new discoveries."

The homeopathic community has come together on this issue. Homeopaths recently came together in France to discuss the pandemic and how best to prepare.

Kaizer doesn't seem to be the only one thinking homeopathic remedies for flu is worth considering. ODE magazine recently published several articles on homeopathy and its effectiveness in the 1917 flu pandemic. Ode authors write in Vol. 4, Issue 1: "... during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, which killed up to 50 million people worldwide, homeopathic physicians in the U.S. reported very low mortality rate among their patients, while flu patients treated by conventional physicians faced mortality rates of around 30 percent."

From the Greek word meaning similar- affection homeopathy is the science of therapeutics-based upon nature's law of cure-Similia or like cures like. It is the study of how a drug producing disturbances in a comparatively healthy body is capable of relieving or entirely obliterating similar disturbances, when found in the sick person. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, at the beginning of the last century is attributed to re-discovering the law.

Homeopathy is widely practiced throughout Europe, South America, and India, with some 300,000 homeopaths in India.

Kaizer, stating clearly that she is not trained as a clinical physician, recommends that people do their homework.

She suggests reading up on the history of flu and how homeopathic worked.

"The 1917 epidemic caused a great deal of destruction. A pandemic usually breaks out at the same time in many different locations. It starts at an unusual time such as in the summer rather than the typical time of flu which is the winter months, and it often affects those in the prime of life. Homeopathy has a great track record for handling the disease."

Kaizer wants people to know the history of homeopathy as a possible deterrent and solution should a pandemic occur. Harmless, inexpensive and historically relevant, homeopathy may be a personal and community health choice worth researching.

You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/February/20/st yle/stories/01style.htm