Valley Fever – How Homeopathic Remedies can Help

Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, refers to a fungal infection caused by coccidioides fungus (coccidioides immitis or coccidioides posadasii). Homeopathic remedies for valley fever help effectively treat symptoms like fever, cough, chest pain, headache, joint pain, muscle ache, fatigue, chills, night sweat and skin rash. 

This fungus is generally found in soil in the regions of southwestern United States (mainly California and Arizona) and parts of Mexico, Central and South America. When the soil is disrupted like by the wind, by farming then the spores from the fungus fly in the air. 

These tiny spores can be taken miles away by the wind. These fungi spores then can be inhaled by a person and enter lungs causing valley fever, also called acute coccidioidomycosis. It is a non-contagious disease that means it doesn’t spread from person to person.   

Homeopathic Remedies for Valley Fever

Homeopathy has a great scope to manage cases of valley fever. The homeopathic medicines help boost the body’s immunity to fight with fungal infection and bring natural recovery. Homeopathic medicines are most helpful for mild to moderate cases of valley fever. In severe and advanced stages with complications one must consult a pulmonologist (a physician who specializes in treating diseases of the respiratory system).

For Cough

Belladonna – For Dry Cough

Belladonna is prepared from plant deadly nightshade that belongs to family solanaceae. It is a wonderful medicine for managing dry cough. Persons needing it suffer from short, dry coughs with tickling in the throat. The cough continues day and night. While coughing, a stitching type of pain may be felt in the chest. Most of the time headaches are also experienced. In addition to this fever arises with burning heat in the body.

Drosera – For Dry, Irritative Cough

This medicine is prepared from a plant named Drosera Rotundifolia commonly known as round-leaved sundew. This plant belongs to the family Droseraceae. It is an excellent medicine to help manage dry, irritative, deep hoarse cough. There appears repeated attacks of such coughing rapidly one after the other in cases needing it. This makes breathing difficult. Cough most times is seen to worsen at night time on lying down. Sometimes coughing is followed by vomiting.

Spongia – For Dry Cough

Spongia is also well-indicated for coughs which are absolutely dry. The cough is dry, barking, deep resonating and is worse from inspiration. There may be relief from taking warm drinks. All the air passages feel extremely dry. Suffocation and difficulty in breathing may be felt with above symptoms.

Bryonia – For Chest Pain with Cough

Bryonia is prepared from the root of the plant Bryonia Alba having the common name white bryony and wild hops. This plant belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a leading medicine to manage chest pain with cough. The chest pain is usually sharp, stitching in nature for using it. The pain is worsened from deep breathing and during coughing. Cough is mainly dry, hard. Another peculiar feature to use is blood streaked, brick / rust coloured sputum. Person may have a fever with predominating chills. Joint pains and muscle pains may also appear with above symptoms. Here they have worsening of pain from motion and relief from rest. Most times pains experienced by them are sharp, tearing in nature. Bryonia is also a top listed medicine to manage pneumonia. 

Phosphorus – For Bloody Sputum with Cough

Like Bryonia, Phosphorus is also helpful for cases where bloody sputum appears with cough. Cough is mainly dry with tickling in the throat. It is worse at night that disturbs sleep. Cough also tends to worsen in cold air. Sometimes there is purulent sputum (pus in sputum.) Stitches in chest, oppressed breathing, tightness and heated sensation in the chest are few other symptoms that may attend. This medicine is also indicated to manage pneumonia cases where lower left lung is specifically affected. 

Arsenic Album – For Cough with Shortness of Breath

It is a very effective medicine to manage cases where cough is attended with shortness of breath. The symptoms most times tend to worsen at night time. With these thick yellow green or frothy expectoration may be present. Chest tightness is also complained about. Marked anxiety and restlessness attend. Extreme exhaustion, weakness is present. Fever with chills and icy coldness of the body appears with above symptoms.

Antimonium Tart – For Loose, Rattling Cough

This medicine is very useful to manage cases where loose rattling cough is present. In these cases the lungs feel full of mucus with much rattling. But very little mucus is expectorated. The expectoration consists of thick, white mucus. Suffocation and shortness of breath may also attend. 

Pulsatilla – For Loose Cough with Yellow Green Expectoration

Pulsatilla is prepared from plant Pulsatilla Nigricans commonly known as wind flower of ranunculaceae family. It offers much help for cases of loose cough with yellow green expectoration. It is copious, thick and lumpy.  Cough is worse in the morning. There is relief in coughing by going in the open air. 

For Fever

Aconite – With Alternate Coldness and Heat 

Aconite can be taken when a person feels alternate coldness and heat in the body. Cold stage is most marked among these. During a cold stage a person feels as if cold waves are passing through him especially in the back. This is followed by dry burning heat that extends from face or head along with excessive thirst for cold water. With above symptoms excessive restlessness is present.

Belladonna – With Dry Burning Heat 

Belladonna is considered in cases where a person feels dry burning heat in the body. It is intensely hot like fire. The head and face appear the most hot. The face is markedly red and flushed. Sweating may follow heat. Sweat most times appears only on the covered parts. Headache is also present.

Gelsemium – For Fever with Chills and Weakness

Gelsemium works well when there is fever with chills and weakness. Chills move up and down the back. Chills are so intense as to cause shaking. During fever dizziness, drowsiness also appears with weakness. Muscle aches and soreness is yet another attending feature.

Merc Sol – For Fever with Much Sweating

It is indicated for fever with excessive sweating day and night. Sometimes the sweat is offensive, sour. These complaints are attended with great weakness. Sometimes there is chilliness that is worse in the evening and night. Chillness may alternate with flushes of heat.

Silicea – Top Grade Medicine for Night Sweat

Silicea is highly beneficial medicine for managing night sweat. It appears soon after sleeping. The sweating is copious and is attended with weakness. The sweat smells foul. Persons needing it may also face complaints of chilliness and shivering.

For Weakness

Arsenic Album – For Extreme Weakness

Arsenic Album offers great help to manage intense weakness in these cases. Persons requiring it feel exhausted even from little exertion. The weakness gets worse at night time mostly. With this marked anxiety and restlessness also appears. Other attending features are coughing, difficulty breathing, and fever with chills.

Gelsemium – For Excessive Fatigue with Dullness and Drowsiness

This is a wonderful medicine to manage fatigue accompanied with dullness and drowsiness. There is extreme tiredness, malaise sometimes with dizziness. With this fever, chills, muscle aches and dull headaches are prominently present.

Carbo Veg – For Intense Weakness with Fainting

It is an excellent medicine to manage cases where a person is intensely weak, exhausted and faints easily from this. There is debility and weakness immediately following slightest exertion. With above symptoms there may be icy coldness of body 

For Headache

Belladonna – For Relieving Pulsating Headache 

It is an excellent medicine to bring relief in headache which is mainly throbbing, pulsating in nature. For using it the pain is most times present in the sides of the head. Head also feels congested with the sensation of rushing blood to head. Head may be sensitive to cold air. The pain tends to worsen from noise, jar and light. Relief may be felt by pressure. 

Gelsemium – For Relieving Dull Headache

It is a very helpful medicine to relieve dull headaches with flu like symptoms in these cases. The pain is usually present in the back portion of the head where it is needed.  Heaviness of eyelids may also appear. Along with headache muscle soreness in neck and shoulders is also present. With these fever with shaking chills and weakness also appears.

For Joint and Muscle Pains

Rhus Tox – Top Grade Medicine for Joint & Muscle Pain

Rhus Tox is highly beneficial for persons having joint pains. They may also have marked stiffness in joints with pain. The joints are also swollen and hot. There is worsening in pain at rest. They feel relief in pain from motion. Warm applications also help to give relief in pain. It is also suitable to manage muscle pain in a very effective manner. 

Arnica – For Painful Muscles

Arnica is prepared from plant Arnica Montana commonly called fallkraut. This plant is a member of family composite. It is significant medicine to manage muscle pain. There are mostly sore, bruised pains as if beaten. There is fear to touch the affected part from pain and soreness. 

Magnesium Phos – When Muscle Pains are Worse at Night

It works well when there is muscle pain which is worse at night time. There is relief from warm applications and also by pressure. Sometimes the pain is wandering in nature that shifts from one place to another. 

For Skin Rash

Apis Mellifica – For Skin Rash and Painful Eruptions

Apis Mellifica is helpful when there is red skin rash or painful eruptions. The pain is usually stinging, burning kind. The rash may be itchy too. Itching can worsen from warmth in bed. The skin may be also sensitive to touch.

Natrum Mur – For Skin Rash with Blisters

Natrum Mur is indicated for managing skin rash with blisters having watery content. Along with this there may be headaches and great weakness. Weakness is most worse in the morning. There is tiredness with sleepiness. 

For Managing Symptoms of Pneumonia

Bryonia – For Cough, Chest Pain , Bloody Sputum

It is a wonderful medicine when there is pneumonia with cough, chest pain and bloody sputum. The cough is dry where it is needed. The chest pain is sharp, stitching in nature that is worse from deep breathing and coughing. With this there is high fever.

Antimonium tart – For Excessive Mucus Rattling in Lungs

This medicine works in cases of pneumonia with excessive rattling of mucus in the chest.  There is difficult expectoration of white mucus. The breathing is much more difficult. With cough there appear intense  pains in the sides of the chest.

Hepar Sulph – With Purulent Expectoration like Pus

Hepar Sulph is indicated when there is copious pus-like, offensive sputum is expectorated. With this there is excessive cough, and slight fever. Decrease in appetite and weight loss appear with these symptoms.

Risk Factors 

Anyone can get this fungal infection and develop valley fever. But certain people are at most risk of this infection. These include people who live in areas where Coccidioides fungi are usually found or someone who has recently moved in such areas.
People who are in jobs like construction, agriculture, archaeology that exposes them to dust in such areas and also people who have weak immune systems or have diabetes are at risk too. Apart from this elderly people (mostly aged 60 years and above) and pregnant women are at risk.

Symptoms 

Its symptoms are described as per the stage. First, the initial stage is acute coccidioidomycosis. If the infection does not resolve completely here then it becomes chronic coccidioidomycosis. If the infection travels from lungs to other body parts then it is disseminated coccidioidomycosis.

1. Acute Coccidioidomycosis

This is the initial form. In many cases no symptoms arise. When they appear they are like the flu. The symptoms tend to appear one to three weeks after exposure. The symptoms vary in intensity from mild to severe and include fever, cough, chest pain, headache, fatigue, joint pain, muscle ache, chills, night sweat and skin rash. The skin rash usually appears on legs but may also appear on arms, chest, back. The skin rash may have red painful bumps, pimple-like eruptions or blisters.  

Usually  acute coccidioidomycosis is mild in most cases and symptoms subside in a few weeks. However in some cases the infection may turn severe and progress to chronic or disseminated coccidioidomycosis. The severity and recovery depends on general health or immunity of the person and the number of fungus spores inhaled.

A person who doesn’t develop any symptoms of valley fever comes to know that he has infection only when skin or blood test for this fungus comes to be positive or during a routine chest x – ray residual areas of this infection, nodules are visible.

2. Chronic coccidioidomycosis

If the acute infection doesn’t improve entirely then it may develop into a chronic type of pneumonia  (inflamed air sacs in lungs from an infection). This mostly happens in people with weak immune systems. Its symptoms include low grade fever, unexplained weight loss, chest pain, cough, blood tinged sputum.

3. Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

It is rare though the most serious form of this infection. This type occurs on spread of infection from lungs to other body parts. These parts include skin, bones, heart, brain, liver, and meninges (three protective membranes that cover the brain and the spinal cord). Its signs and symptoms develop depending on the body part affected. The symptoms include nodules under the skin, ulcers on skin, painful and swollen joints (mainly knees or ankles), painful lesions in the spine or other bones and enlarged lymph nodes. It can also cause meningitis which is a severe fatal infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Complications

First is intense pneumonia. In many cases there is full recovery from pneumonia. But in some persons mainly those having weak immune system there may develop severe from of pneumonia with respiratory failure.
Second complication is rupture of the nodules of the lungs. In very few cases nodules develop in the lungs that resolve with time. In some cases they tend to rupture leading to difficulty to breath and chest pain.
Last  is disseminated disease. As explained above it is the most serious complication where this fungus spreads from lungs to other body parts that can turn fatal.