Managing Measles

rebhomeopath
Oct 9
10 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Measles is a highly contagious common childhood infection that presents with a high fever, followed by respiratory symptoms, much mucous, and general misery, and when the hot, red, Milky Way-looking rash appears, you have confirmation. After five to seven days, the rash starts to fade, and your child will emerge strengthened against further outbreaks. Girls will have natural immunity, which will protect their own infant children from the infection during breastfeeding, in an almost perfect natural system designed to keep the species alive.

In third-world countries, where vaccinations reach populations before clean running water, electricity, and nutrient-dense foods, vitamin A is almost always given routinely to children during pandemics. Also in developed countries, Vitamin A, which is depleted by the infection, is suplemented during the infection and should be routinely given, in aproved doses, during outbreaks. Increasing vitamin A supports the immune system and prevents complications like pneumonia and damage to the eyes.

When two of my (now-grown) children had the measles, the first thing we did was close the blinds to protect their eyes, because retinol (vitamin A) is depleted. I remember them playing with shaving cream on a big mirror, which we lay flat on the timber floor to keep them amused. Miserable, bored, sick, and stuck inside for weeks, we tried to keep them both rested and calmly distracted. I won't say it was easy to nurse two small children through measles as a young mother. They really were very sick with a high fever that came and went night after night, nasal congestion that disturbed their breathing and their sleep, weepy eyes, sore ears, and finally a red-hot rash that covered them from head to toe.

As mothers, we are called on to step into our power and our innate knowing often, and common childhood infections are no exception. Do you remember when your child's skin started peeling away in patches and you thought it was some horrific disease that would end in a lost limb, or the first time you had to face a living creature crawling around their scalp? But once it was named Impetigo, once it was identified as lice, you surrendered, and you just got on with dealing with it. This is the path of motherhood: surrendering to endless dealings with bodily waste, infections, and unfinished sentences. This time, it's the measles, a common childhood infection with a mortality rate that was well reduced before mass vaccination, and is rarely a result of the infection itself. Take a deep breath, put on a pot of chicken soup or a bone broth, and tend to your sick child. This too shall pass.

Things you can do for and with you child.

Increase vitamin A in the form of cod liver oil, liver, eggs, butter, and fish during an outbreak.
Put on a broth or clear chicken soup. At some point, someone will be hungry.
Give your child vitamin C - and lots of it. If your child is hungry, give them fruit high in vitamins and in fermented foods like saeurkraut and miso soup with soft noodles.
Use a saltwater gargle for sore throats and mouth sores.
Ice or iceys keep them hydrated.
Epsom salt bath (mild) for comfort and to help detox and relax muscles before the rash comes out.
Games, puzzles, books, and toys that don't demand too much energy.
Patience - don't be in a hurry to bring the fever down. A high fever for a few days (and nights) is fine. The body is fighting an infection; it knows best how to do that.
Homeopathy to match and relieve symptoms as they appear.
For the rash - fill the bottom of an old sock with oats and tie it up. Let the milk run out into the bathwater. This softens the water and soothes the rash.
Plenty of fresh drinking water in all sizes, shapes, and (natural) colours, and mineral salts.

This generation of parents has been brought up with very little exposure to natural childhood infections, so it's easy to panic with a diagnosis of whooping cough or measles. But if you ask elders from previous generations, you will hear stories of illness and recovery in the home, which for the most part, was insignificant and passed quickly. It's important as women reclaim their tribal wisdom and return to more natural ways to separate the chaff from the wheat; the hysteria in the media from the reality in the home. A common childhood infection is just that.

Here is a piece about managing a fever at home.

Homeopathy for Measles

ACONITE - shock

High fever with sudden onset, red tongue, eyes sensitive to light, dry cough. Sudden onset of any symptoms following exposure to cold, cold water or cold wind. Increased heart rate, panicky and shaky. Anxiety, thirst, dry mouth, fever, sudden congestion, restlessness, sharp ear pains, hot red ears. The patient is anxious and fears they will die. Panic attacks. Often Aconite will halt further development. During fever state, the patient is dry, hot and very thirsty and speaks or worries about their impending death, one cheek may be red, the other pale.

< cold, dry winds. > after sleep.

BELLADONNA – (deadly nightshade) - furious fever state

Intense high fever with red, hot, throbbing picture. Cerebral inflammation. Burning heat with ice- cold hands and/or feet, jamming headache. Photophobia - eyes are very sensitive to light. The pupils may be dilated, and the child looks besotted. Red tongue with white spots. Nightmares in a fever state, delirium. Belladonna has violence about it. Jarring movements disturb. Nose bleeds, ulcerated sore throat, inflammation in ears with pain extending down to the neck and teeth. Red, swollen tonsils, swollen glands. Rash - hot and itchy with red spots, dry and burning sensation. The patient may be thirstless but may want lemonade.

< after 3 pm and midnight, draft, jarring, noise, light. > sitting half raised, being covered.

DROSERA - spasmodic cough

This first remedy to think of for pertussis -whooping cough, when symptoms match. Respiratory affections. Coughing fits which lead to shortness of breath. Fast deterioration - emaciation. Coughing attacks, dry and ongoing, easily triggered by talking or laughing. Painful chest, cough with nosebleeds, and vomiting. Face turns blue from coughing. Better in the open air and walking.

< lying down, lying on the back, warm room. >open air, walking

EUPHRASEA

Acidic tears, weepy eyes. Copious discharge from the eyes and nose. Sticky eyes, conjunctivitis, headache with light sensitivity. Slow onset of rash.

FERRUM - PHOS - (phosphate of iron) - slow onset fever with upper respiratory

The first stage of fever/inflammation, slow onset (not as intense as Belladonna), with upper respiratory symptoms. The first stage of a head cold, flushed face with hot, sore cheeks. Ulcerated, sore throat. The first stage of ear inflammation. The second stage of ear inflammation or infection, when Belladonna has failed to help. Congestion of lungs, short, tickling, painful cough. Rapid pulse, stiff neck.

< night, 4 am-6 am, touch, sudden movement, motion. > cold applications.

GELSEMIUM – (yellow jasmine) - great weakness

Tired, lethargic, collapsed with general weakness, tired muscles, heavy eyes that just want to close, no energy. Chills and flushes of heat, weak and shaky. Sneezing from a tickling sensation in the nose with watery discharge. Pain in the head and sinuses, causing headache. Inflamed tonsils, pain extending to the ears.

When recovery is slow, and the patient is weak. The patient needing Gelsemium may also have performance anxiety, which affects the stomach, making him run to the toilet. Mostly thirstless. < excitement, hearing bad news, before performing, before a storm.> continued motion, urination.

IPECACUANHA - leading nausea remedy

Coughing fits with vomiting. Rattling and bronchitis in children. Spasmodic, or asthmatic cough. Dry cough with nausea, gagging and choking. The child becomes rigid and turns blue. Constriction of chest. Persistent nausea. Irritable patients. In measles the rash appears slowly. < smell of food, movement, 7pm, heat.

> cold drinks, coughing up phlegm, cold drinks.

KALI-BICHROMIUM (Kali-bic) - stringy mucus

Stringy, ropey, mucus causing blocked ears and stubborn nasal blockage. Discharge from the eyes, thick and yellow. Pressure in the root of the nose. Loss of smell. Hacking cough with long strands of ropey mucus. Rattling cough, full of mucus. Swollen glands and sore ears from buildup of stubborn mucus. Wondering pains. Headache over eyebrows - sinus pain, much stringy mucus from sinuses. Postnasal drip, thick and ropey. Cough worse 1-2 am. Pain in the sternum, pain on taking a deep breath.< hot weather, 2am-3am, being uncovered.> heat, walking, pressure.

PULSATILLA - weepy discharges

Dry cough, worse in the morning after lying down all night. Weepy, clingy patients, mild in temperament with a need for attention and tendency towards being dramatic because they are so sensitive. Symptoms change. Hot patients who must have the window open, better outside or with fresh air. Yellow to green mucus in many complaint - conjunctivitis, sticky eyes, weepy ears, nasal mucus. Thick nasal obstruction, watery eyes, ear inflammation, and infections with weepy, yellow discharge.Throat painful, scratchy, swollen glands. Wondering pains above the eyes. Hot feet, which she sticks out the covers. In mumps, the breasts, testicles and ovaries are very sensitive and painful, The cough may be dry at night but phlegmy in the morning. Difficult to expel.Thirstless patients who cry easily is a keynote.<rich, fatty foods, warmth, evening/night, lying on back.> cool air, cold applications, cold foods, and drinks, sitting up.

SULPHUR – (brimstone) - volcanic eruptions

Burning, congestion, hot feet, red lips, burning hot ears. Itching, burning and blisters on skin, worse for bathing and worse from heat of bed. Tonsilitis with hot, red, (purple) inflamed tonsils, offensive odors. Thirsty, desire for sweets. Worse for bathing. Rash appears slowly and is slightly purple in color. Fever may present after rash in Measles or viral rashes. Congestion of all or any parts. Intense itching. Small wounds suppurate.< heat.> cold drinks and cold applications.

Dosing Instructions for Acutes

Generally, acute infections, which are short in duration and do not penetrate too deeply, respond well to the correct remedy, but may need more frequent dosing. You may also need a sequence of remedies as the condition changes. What starts off as a Gelsemium collapsed state at the beginning of a cold, may develop into a Belladonna fever and both remedies may be needed as the acute develops. Watch closely and select the remedy which best fits the current symptoms. Homeopathy should not be given lightly, so only treat when necessary, and not simply because you or your child is having a normal and healthy response to a pathogen, bite, sting, or fall, or because you recognize a symptom of their behavior in a remedy description. Keep in mind, that we treat pathology, we don’t treat personality.

A fever is a healthy response to a pathogen. Inflammation is a healthy response to a bite, scratch, or sting. Inflammation occurs when your body produces heat and white blood cells to fight invasion. If you support yourself during this time, with rest, a stable external temperature, fluids, nutrients, and time to heal, your body will naturally restore its own balance. However sometimes, we do need to help the organism, and homeopathy is the perfect agent with which to do that. Homeopathic remedies support the action of the body towards healing.

Only use low potencies - 12c, 30c or 200c. The lower the potency, the more often you may repeat it.

Always bang the closed remedy bottle against the palm of your other hand, or against a hard book or table x10 each time you give a remedy. In a water dose you can stir the remedy x10 before repeating. This slightly increases the potency so you are never giving a stagnant potency.

I recommend patients start with a single dry dose under the tongue, and follow by 3 wet (water) doses. (Small children and infants will need a water dose as they cannot keep the pills under their tongue). I suggest this because children like the little sugar pills, and often the sugar is enough to stop their hysterical crying or sidetrack them from the shock, and more importantly, because often you need to start immediate treatment. This method gives you have time to make up the water dose for subsequent dosing.

How to get the remedy pills out: Tip the closed plastic remedy bottle upside down and twist the bottle. 1-2 pills should fall out into the plastic lid.

DRY DOSE

Without touching the pills, drop 1 or 2 pills (the amount is not crucial), under the tongue and allow them to dissolve. Then give 1 pill every 15 minutes. Total of 4 doses over 1 hour.

WET DOSE

Without touching the pills, drop 1 or 2 pills into a quarter of a glass of filtered or spring water and allow them to dissolve. Give 1 x 5ml teaspoon every fifteen minutes. Total of 4 doses over 1 hour.

Now wait and watch. If you observe any change in the condition between doses, stop and allow the remedy to continue acting. You may need to repeat the cycle later if the fever or swelling returns, but always check the symptoms are the same as they were when you first decided on the remedy.

Healing takes time and the organism needs time to come into balance. If you see no change after 4 doses of the remedy (one round), and you are certain it is the correct remedy, you can go up in potency. If you are having doubts, change remedies. But try not to use too many remedies. Rather wait until you have a clear change of symptoms and a clear remedy picture before treating.

The symbols < and > are frequently used in homeopathic material

< worse for - the patient or the condition is worse with or from…

> better for - the patient or the condition is better with or from….

For example: the patient or condition needing Phosphorus

is worse from

< cold, exertion, lying on left side, warm foods,

getting warm in warm weather (overheating).

And is better from

>warmth, cold foods, after eating, open air, cold shower, sleep.