Team Of Ten Remedies For Jaundice
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 May / Jun Vol II No 3.
Vishpala Parthasarathy.
` Ars / Phos / Chel / Card / Kali-bi / Nux-v / Sulph / Calc / Lyc / Nat-s / Cham.
Jaundice has given me a good reputation amongst patients as well as the professionals of other school of medicine. Here I propose to give a group - not an elaborate one - of ten remedies that have proved effective, even when selected on a few characteristics.
Arsenic-alb:
Vomiting better by warm drinks is the choicest symptom, with or without
fever. Debility with restlessness, anxiety and fear". Little and often thirst":
adds weight to its symptomatology. Be it viral hepatitis or even malignant jaundice, the
remedy - given in time and repetition - carries the patient to final recovery against the
attendant hazards of ailments of such a vital organ as liver.
Phosphorus:
Again the same symptoms of nausea and vomiting, but with opposite modality
of relief from icy cold juices and drinks, is the singular indication to justify the claim
of this dynamic remedy. With these two remedies - Arsenic and Phosphorus, I have mitigated the vomiting in innumerable cases, be it of jaundice, gastro-enteritis, hyperemesis gravidarum or simple indigestion. In jaundice the first symptom to disappear, is vomiting. Yellowness of skin will fade away within a few days and reports clear thereafter.
If Arsenic - despite its miserliness - is meticulously dressed, Phosphorus - tall and handsome - effuses charm with his winsome smile. Dr. Thompson Walker in London Homoeopathic Hospital prescribed this remedy in childrens pneumonia just because the child responded readily with a sweet smile. Burning palms or in spots - along the spine, good appetite with specific desire for salt spices sour cold : are other indications. Yellow atrophy of liver, haemorrhagic jaundice, malignancy of liver - all subscribe to this versatile remedy.
Chelidonium:
Almost a synonym for liver, this remedy reveals its secret in tis
characteristic pain. From right hypochondrium, the pain chooses to turn backwards to touch
tahe lower tip of the right scapula. In a case of flu, not amenable to other homoeopathic
remedies, this remedy - given on the above indication - brought down the temperature
within 24 hours.
Yellow skin and conjunctivae, loss of appetite with preference for spices and almost boiling hot drinks are the concomitants. On reading one of my articles on jaundice and Chelidonium, an allopath tried this remedy for many of his patients suffering from jaundice, and successfully so. He telephoned me to convey his thanks.
I cannot resist, at this juncture, the temptation of narrating a case of carcinoma of the liver, treated successfully by my revered teacher, late Dr. Maganbhai Desai. An old lady in her sixties, lying almost moribund - movement of her breathing chest being the only sign of life - was given up to die by allopaths. Even Dr. Desai refused to spoil his name by taking up such case right in the beginning of his practice. Finally, yielding jto pressure, he slipped a few pills of Chelidonium, finding no other indication except liver affection. Within a few hours, as if by miracle, the patient opened her eyes and asked for milk. She lived for another 10-15 years.
Carduus-marianus:
My acquaintance with this remedy is cursory. I have used it in drop doses
when the pain travels to the left hypochondrium and settles there. Constipation, knotty
stool, alternating with diarrhoea- anaemia and dropsy to be added to the list. The patient
may be fond of beer, but his liver is no more able to bear with the beer.
Bryonia-alba:
Stitching pain in the liver region agg by slightest movement like
coughing, talking, even breathing, better by rest and pressure - is the monopoly of this
remedy as all of us have witnessed time and again. Bry is Dry
- the whole alimentary tract is dry, right from the mouth to anus - with consequent
symptoms of thirst for tumblerful of water - preferably cold - as well as constipation at
the other end.
Businessmen who enrich the world and its economy - belong to this remedy. Slow on uptake, persistent nonetheless, they can follow thro large projects. Dry and cut in their pragmatic, no nonsense approach, their choleric temperament is an added strength. Bursting with ideas, they are better under pressure - in mind as well as body. Incidentally, liver falls a prey to the bouts of beer they may drink with impunity.
Kali-bich:
Another remedy for beer - lovers who are prone to vomit yellow viscid and
stringy bile after kick with beer. Spotty pains may replace those notorious stitches in
the family tradition of Kalis, shift and from right
hypochondrium to epigastrium, even cross over to splenic region in left hypochondrium.
Nux-vomical:
Frequent ineffectual desire for stool alone will carry the weight of this
mighty polycrest. Irritable colon and irritable mind are the proverbial pointers. If
vomiting is there (no jokes!), it is the severe retching that upsets the patient.
Sedentary life, highly seasoned food, jet-fast modern life that seeks release in wine and
women: Nux is prominently a remedy for the men of ambition who
seek to rise beyond their liver.
Sulphur:
A chronic complement of Nux, it is rarely used
for the acute stage of icterus. When an acute disease refuses to yield to the well
indicated remedies that may partly relieve and leave a chronicity under a threat of
malignancy thro insufficiency of liver - especially after long history of alcoholism, this
provides an ample field for this universal remedy.
Early morning diarrhoea, 11 am hunger, burning soles and vertex together with itching here and there even at the site of liver : these are the trumpet blowers of this kingsize remedy - more than all the paraphernalia of weight - pressure - dullness - stitches - burning - icterus - emesis and other common tell tale symptoms of the affected liver.
A remedy for threadbare thinkers, die-hard dreamers and wishful visionaries of the world who love sweets and fat, gulp it down with plenty of water, even wine, and make liver the target of bilious wrath !
Calc-carb:
Liver runs on a lower key of this perpetually sluggish remedy as evidenced
by pale yellow - often pure white stools (bile pigment lacking) ever since childhood that
revelled in eating indigestibles like chalk, earth, etc.
Bloated abdomen, with pressure in the liver region at every step while walking. With every pain darting from right to left, the patient breaks into sweat, and pants for breath. Good natured and complacent, these corpulent - slow - lazy persons may stagnate in serviced as low grade officers until retired. Exceptionally, if industry joins hands with the proverbial earnestness of this otherwise lethargic remedy, it may create Gorbachov of "glasnost" fame, Khrusehev who may be turning in his grave at the plight of todays Russia..., pray - why not Winston Churchil who led England to victory in the second world war? All were thrown out at the fag end of their illustrious career, as if to share the fate of this remedy at its decline ! Shall we inquire about their livers, eh!
Lycopodium:
"Never well since my jaundice " - is the oft repeated grumble of
this last remedy of antipsoric trio. Weak digestion with fullness and distension of
abdomen, even after the first morsel of food, flatus - loud and offensive are the
tell-tale symptoms. If liver is involved, the right hypochondrium takes over the lead with
tenderness, pain shifting from right to left and its intensity reaching its acme at 4 till
8 pm. They prefer sweets and hot beverages, like tea that is excessively sweet. Lyco can vie with Thuja for the abuse of
tea.
Rich but miserly, competent yet devoid of confidence, Lyco is the remedy of self-made persons who have reached the peak of success thro sheer hard work and horse -sense, often at the cost of their health. Men in their forties - under the threat of betrayal or loss in business or impaired health - of lung or liver - may slide down to inept incompetence. They may procrastinate and get anxious at every new venture - ultimately end in impotence - mental, physical, even sexual.
Lastly, a few cases :
Case 1 :
My daughter now (-editor of the NJH,) when 14 years old, had vomiting
after enjoying junk food in a hotel. Next day, her stool turned white and I suspected
jaundice. The tests confirmed the diagnosis. Apart from common symptoms of jaundice -
yellow skin and conjuctivae - her tongue and especially her palate was strikingly yellow.
On this alone, she was given Nat-phos 6X daily 4 doses. Within
a few days, the stool turned yellow, the skin - tongue - palate resumed their natural
color and after a week or so, the urine was devoid of bile salts and pigments. Not once
after the first dose of the remedy, did she suffer from pain or vomiting.
Case 2 :
An allopathic physician, afflicted with jaundice for over a month,
attended with nausea and vomiting, and yellowness of skin refusing to leave, yielded to
homoeopathy reluctantly, after allopathy proved ineffective. On classical symptoms of
vomiting being relieved by sucking a piece of ice, as well as emaciation despite good
appetite, I prescribed Phos 200 daily 4 doses, reduced to 2,
within a week, No more nausea, vomiting a past affair, the yellowness of skin disappeared
gradually with urine test free from bile-pigments and salts. The patient regained his lost
weight and energy at the end of three weeks. I complemented Phos
with Tuberculinum 1 M once every week.
Case 3:
In a case of icterus neonatorum, the baby was having yellow skin even
after two weeks of birth. Cham 30, empirically given brought
natural colour to the skin before the week was over. I had to follow it with Sulphur 30 as the child developed red rash on chest and back. The
interesting part was yet to follow. The same child was given Calc-carb
for its dentition diarrhoea after 10 months. During his schooling years - age 10-12 - Lycopodium in rising potencies and infrequent doses was given for
his digestive upsets, attended with colicky distension of abdomen better by passage of
flatus and more so for his jitteriness at the approach of examinations. Rarely one gets
the opportunity to complete the trio of psoric remedies across the growing years from
infancy to adolescence. An ambitious young man to-day,he has chosen a business career with
good evidence of success. And of course, digestion is not yet his strong point!
Did I say "team of ten remedies"? Well, add two more remedies - Nat- phos and Chamomilla, from two of my dozen remedies ! "Eleven" could have been ideal, if it were a cricket team...!.