Does Oscillococcinum Work for the Flu?

The following website, www.homeowatch.org/history/oscillo.html , notes Oscillococcinum as a homeopathic medicine that is most likely a placebo. Customer reviews at drugstore.com rate it very highly effective, but details in the reviews state that users shortened the duration of their symptoms by hours up to 2 days. Most of the reviews said the flu passed in 4 days.

You should probably push water and fluids and let your body take care of the infection. It does not appear wise to depend on the oscillococcinum product to speed up the recovery process, but then again, it doesn't seem to worsen it for anyone.

homeopathy can be very effective for both colds and flus. While oscillococcinum is primarily used for flu symptoms, there are a number of other remedies that are better suited for colds.

Read this article at altMD.com to see a list of homeopathic remedies correlated with specific cold symptoms:
http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Homeopathy-for-...

Selection of the more appropriate remedy is vital to achieving relief of the cold.

Homeowatch is not a source for information. They are skeptic group. They have good information but they do not have an unbiased opinion. Good information on Oscillococcinum can be found below:

http://blog.hmedicine.com/homeopathy-and-home...

Oscillococcinum should be taken as soon as first signs of the flu appear or when the person “feels” that they are coming down with the flu.
If the remedy is taken at the onset of the ailment, the person likely will not even develop a flu or its duration will be minimal. If the first doze of oscillococcinum is taken when the symptoms already developed, it may not be as beneficial and other “flu remedies” should be considered.

However, since homeopathic prescription is based upon person’s unique and individual symptoms, it is recommended to seek care of professional homeopath for the acute and chronic conditions.

From someone who went from feeling like they were run over by a truck this morning, achy, feverish, tired, headachy, all around blah, to someone who took a single dose and feels 100 percent better, trust me it works. It is pricey, and placebo or not, I feel better and thats all that matters to me! Of course, I really started to feel the brunt of these symptoms this morning so it is possible that if you are far advanced into the flu, it may not work as well. But, if you are as miserable as I was, take it!

i just had a bloody mary and i feel much better.

I'm a nurse. I understand the placebo effect, but I doubt seriously what I just experienced was a placebo effect. My son became ill and I took him to the doctor and did the more traditional way with him. My son was sick 5 days and still with fever on day 5. Within hours of starting to feel sick I took the oscilloccinum. My temp was already 101. I was very skeptical and had planned to go to the urgent care today. 6 hours later my fever was gone. No need for urgent care. I am not 100%, but diffently in much better shape than my son was 24 hours into this. I'm glad I took it.

My symptom started early yesterday , temp was climbing to about 99.5 after taking it, I got the proverbial sweats like my fever was breaking and sure enough it was down to normal within 8hrs. I still am stuffy and hoarse but feel 100% better. Going to take another doze this morning and hope this rides out faster than it came in.

Oscillococcinum usually works at the very first signs or symptoms of the flu. There are many other cold, cough and flu remedies. You can out more on the Radio Show: Ode to the Winter Season: Homeopathy for Flu, Colds and Coughs at http://www.homeopathyradio.com

I've taken this medication with mixed results...seemed to work one time and didn't seem to do much the second....who knows....

very expensive as well....also my wife tried and didn't make much difference.......

although, if your like me - when you're sick you'll try anything....just have to take into consideration that without a control...you might think the medicine is working, but you might have felt better anyway without medication.....and you can't compare somebody elses symptoms to your own..it just doesn't work that way....Dr. Guilly, MD

My wife purchased Oscillococcinum and another homeopathic flu formula from smartbomb.com . It seemed to help my 14 year old son, but did nothing for my wife.

Not convinced - but not giving up.
B

I have been using Oscillococinum for roughly 10 years. I have also used it on my daughter since she was 2. Even though she had a flu shot that year, it was the year they did not effectively put in the correct flu strains. It has always worked to either stop the flu altogether or at least diminish the symptoms to almost nothing and be well within 2 days of taking it. The important part of the instructions for use here is to take it WITHIN 8 HOURS of the ONSET of symptoms of the flu. You need to take one vial under your tongue every 6 hours for the full dose (3x). After that, it will not work. So my advice is to always have a dose on you during flu season and especially now with this swine flu threat.

It works when used correctly and I have seen it over the course of 10 years! So NOT a placebo!!

Recommending a homeopathic "medicine" to treat the flu is reckless endangerment and could result in criminal charges.

Do you people even know what homeopathy is? How it "works"?

A homeopathic solution is made by taking a substance (bee venom lets say) and diluting it to 30c.

If you take 1mg of bee venom and mix it into 100mg of water, that would be a 1c dilution.

If you then took 1mg of the 1c solution and mixed it into 100mg of water, that would be a 2c dilution.

If you then took 1mg of that 2c solution and mixed it into 100mg of water, that would be 3c...

See how this works.

So starting with 1mg of venom at 0
1c:.01mg
2c:.0001mg
3c:.000001mg
4c:.00000001 mg
5c:.0000000001 mg...

So, assuming the venom MIXED PERFECTLY in the solution, after 5c dilution you've got .0000000001mg of venom left.

That's FAR FAR FAR less than a single grain of salt.

Mixed into 100mg of water!

And that's only 5c.

At 30c there hasn't been a single molecule of venom left in the solution for the last 10 dilutions.

Literally not one molecule.

Yet, you believe that somehow, the bee venom magically imprinted itself on the water.

But there hasn't been any bee venom for a while. In fact, by the time you reach 30c, none of the original sample is present at all.

So now homeopaths are claiming that water that once touched bee venom can pass on the "impression" of bee venom onto other water....

If that's the case, then ALL WATER on the planet has had the "impression" of just about every single chemical ever created mixed into it.

If you dropped a single pill of any medication into the ocean in Boston then took a cup of water out of the ocean in England - you would have a MUCH higher concentration of that medicine in that cup than the homeopaths are selling to their victims.

It's not "opinion" people. It's MATH. Pure, hard, math.

If you can't do the math, you don't deserve to keep your money. Just keep on forking it over.

The majority of comments were from people who themselves or family member were coming down with fever and other symptoms then took oscillo followed by improvement.

With the addition of TLC, chicken soup, fluids, and rest comes the return of strength and reduction of fever, chills, aches, cough and pain. Self observation and choice in care play a role in each person's decision to choose to use or try homeopathy.

There are some things in this world that work without our understanding the mechanism completely, but only know it works. Some people do not care about the math, only the results.

Thank you for your comments.

Debby Bruck wrote:

The majority of comments were from people who themselves or family member were coming down with fever and other symptoms then took oscillo followed by improvement.
With the addition of TLC, chicken soup, fluids, and rest comes the return of strength and reduction of fever, chills, aches, cough and pain. Self observation and choice in care play a role in each person's decision to choose to use or try homeopathy.
There are some things in this world that work without our understanding the mechanism completely, but only know it works. Some people do not care about the math, only the results.
Thank you for your comments.

TLC + rest + fluids results in cure
TLC + rest + fluids + magic water results in cure

The only difference is that you paid for the magic water.

I'm not talking about "things that work and we don't know why." There are those things. Gravity for example. Magnets for example.

I'm talking about things that DON'T work and CAN'T work because we DO understand chemicals and DO recognize a scam.

There have been literally hundreds of medical tests done on homeopathic medicines and practitioners.

The results are ALWAYS the same - no better than placebo.

Additionally, no homeopathic provider has EVER been able to pass the "what's in the bottle" test.

Do you get that? If I took a pill out of a pharmacy and had access to a chemistry lab, I could tell you EXACTLY what was in the pill.

But, if you pour a homeopathic medicine out of its bottle and hand it over to a practioner - they literally can't tell you wants in it.

That's because all that is in it is water.

It's not a matter of us not understanding how things work, it's a matter of people suggesting something that goes so against reason as to be literally insane.

If you take an aspirin, you get a dose of medicine

If, instead of taking a whole aspirin, you take half of one, you get half as much medicine.

If you take 1/4 you get 1/4
1/8 you get 1/8

Makes sense? It should.

Homeopaths are saying that instead of taking 1 aspirin, you can take 1/900,000,000 of an aspirin and get the same results as if you took one.

That's "magic".

Now, if you are rich and happy to fork over your cash for magic - there's nothing wrong with that. IT's not like a homeopath can do anything to hurt you other than take your money.

However, if you suggest homeopathic remedies OVER real medicine, you are endangering someone's life.

If you refuse to treat your children with real medicine, you can face criminal charges.

Homeopathy is real medicine, and in most places on the planet it has not been subject to repression funded by $pharma ($pharma death-by-doctor [iatrogenesis] is the leading cause of death in the USA!)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
and,
A recent television programme highlighted an almost global misunderstandings perpetuated by what I call 'media science' and also the huge difference between scientists and physicists.
Being a physicist let me first define some constants for this argument. I will define a scientist as someone who has some training in empirical scientific techniques (note that this can include a physicist). A physicist I will define as someone who possesses some of the deeper insights into truth and reality gained from the study of the disciplines of theoretical physics such as statistical mechanics, general relativity and string theory but mostly quantum mechanics.
First the programme's glaring omission I hope anyone with the ability to think clearly would have noticed. They failed to observe that in a carefully controlled experiment it was clearly shown that the participants awareness of what they were doing clearly influenced the result.
Now to the vagaries perpetuated by media science.
In the terms of a physicist: WE DO NOT LIVE IN A NEWTONIAN UNIVERSE. This is true, provable and leads inexorably to the next big statement: WE LIVE IN A QUANTUM UNIVERSE. What the second statement means is that if you to want accurate model the processes which govern the way our universe works you have to use quantum mechanics. Newtonian physics adequately describes the behaviour of large things that we can see, but as soon as you want to talk about small things or ask more subtly questions about those large things, Newtonian physics falls apart - it doesn't accurately describe what we can clearly measure (see to be true). Quantum Mechanics on the other hand passes every test that has been devised.
So what does it mean to live in a 'Quantum Universe?' With regard to understanding the mechanism behind homeopathy there are two fundamental factors.
1. Nothing is absolute. Nothing. You can't say someone or something is exactly 'here'. You can't say someone or something is exactly 'now'. There is a range of probability for the position in time and space for any event with the most probable position being the one that corresponds to its position in the Newtonian view. It's a bit like having furry edges with the fur getting thinner and thinner but extending right to the end of the universe. I'll leave you to imagine what that means in terms of the ability for humans to feel and interact with each other.
2. An infinite set of non-zero probabilities collapses into a single reality when you make a measurement. Seeing, touching, experiencing something constitutes making a measurement. This is very subtle and very important - it means that you have to abandon a deterministic view of the universe. Louise Hay has a far more accurate view when she says that you create your universe as you go along.
The last piece in this jigsaw is conjecture. Some of the greatest mind alive (possible some of the greatest that have lived) are fairly confident that consciousness is a Quantum phenomena. I maintain that our consciousness has a degree of control as to the reality into which the universe collapses when we make those measurements.
I would firmly draw two conclusions.
1. Contrary to 'media science' mechanisms to accommodate homoeopathy exist and are clearly understood.
2. Being a scientist doesn't necessarily imply the ability to think clearly or have any grasp of the subtleties of life, the universe and everything.
3. Theoretical physicists are privy to the most exciting insights into reality but generally can't count.(by John Adam)

Dear David ~ Thank you for the "Brilliant" explanation for all those who are stuck in the mindset of the 'mechanical revolution' where everything including the body is mechanized. We are simply not robots since we have a soul - we are composed of so much more than what we see.

Have you seen the Power of Ten Video http://www.youtube.com/watch... . There is a concept of infinitely small and infinitely large. Thus, we may not SEE or MEASURE the energetic substance of our homeopathic water, yet it may show activity. Each day we learn new things about our world. Who would want to put a limit upon that?

The effect of the OBSERVER in the concept of Einstein's RELATIVITY equation also brings into question many parameters not explained with a microscope and a meter to measure amounts of a substance in a dilution.

Thus, our poor Nuggin has inexplicably negated his very own power to make an effect upon his own life. While those who hold the power of change within our vital essence are able to make a difference in our health. I'm sorry to hear the same repeated argument over and over in the same repeating loop. Stuck again. Don't scientist's use a "Hypothesis" to engage with their world and think out of the box?

Many blessings to believers in truth and the power of each human to create a better world.

Hi,

I astounded with the outcome of oscilococinum. Each season i get the flu as always but a friend told me to use oscilococinum as soon as you feel the onset of flu. Again as before i could feel it coming but this time I was armed. Took 1 vial before i went sleep and next morning another. Around 2 oclock. it was gone and gone. I can still feel it but nothing close to what I usually experience

Nuggin wrote:

<quoted text>
TLC + rest + fluids results in cure
TLC + rest + fluids + magic water results in cure

It's hardly worth the trouble, Nuggin. "Magic Water" is a good description, as these people really seem to think it works by magic. A rational person could at least be swayed when confronted by evidence, but if a person has faith no evidence is needed.

I'm a skeptic, and it sounds like you are too. If someone does carefully controlled studies demonstrating the effectiveness of one of these remedies I'll readily agree that there could be something to it. But as one of the posts above mentioned, "Big Pharma" is holding them down... repressing them because of their beliefs. It's an inquisition; the heretics don't believe in the power of wonder water.

Skepticism is a damned good thing, but it doesn't mesh with religion--And that seems to be what homeopathic "medicine" is built upon.