Pre-menstrual Tension and Homoeopathic Therapeutics
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Jul / Aug VOL 5 NO 4.
Dr E Balakrishnan
'Amm-carb / Lach / Nat-m / Sep
Many women suffer from PMT - a combination of symptoms including emotional tension, headache, swelling and tenderness of the breasts, pain in the back and an increased tendency to attacks of Migraine, etc.
Dread of the impending painful period plays a major role in producing tension. Pain with menstrual period for which no organic cause can be found accounts for about 80% of cases of painful menses. The pain is always secondary to an emotional problem. Anxiety, agitation, insomnia, inability to concentrate, and a feeling of inadequacy are reported; patients complain of mastalgia, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhoea or constipation. Depression and self-pity may colour the woman's affection or she may be contentious and aggressive.
PMT develop three to seven days before a period is due and ordinarily subsides two to three days after the onset of bleeding. The emotional factor is predominant and to meet such situations effectively, we have in our Materia Medica really powerful drugs; what we require is only the expertise to handly such drugs.
Four cases treated with he said four drugs are also given.
1] Ammonia Carb:
Mentals: Sad peevish. Depressed. Heedless, fretting and unruly. Talking and hearing others talk affects greatly. Weepy, unresonable; Violent and quarrelsome. Indisposed to talk during Menses.
Reg. Menses: Complaints aggr. before menses. Menses too early, profuse, preceded by griping colic.
Cholera-like symptoms at the commencement of Menstruation [Allen]
2] Lachesis:
Mentals: Ailments from long-lasting grief; sorrow, fright, vexation, jealousy, or disappointed love. Depression on waking. Insane jealousy. Suspicion. No desire to mix with the world Restless and uneasy. Does not wish to attend to business. Quarrelsome . Despair of religious salvation. Religious insanity. Women of choleric temperament.
Reg. menses: Complaints aggr. before menses. Menses regular; too short, scanty , pains relieved by flow.
3] Natrum Mur:
Mentals: Marked disposition to weep; sad, weeping mood, without cause; consolation aggravates. Weeping during menses. Irritable; gets into passion about trifles. Wants to be alone to cry. Quarrelsome; Averse to be spoken to; Indisposed to talk.
Reg. menses: Aggr. of complaints before menses. Menses irregular; usually profuse. Headache from sunrise to sunset, bursting with red face; Nausea and vomting before, during and after menses. Leucorrhoea aggr. before menses.
4] Sepia:
Mentals: Sadness aggr. before menses. Quarrelsome; violent ; weeping before and during menses; weeps when telling symptoms. Great sadness and weeping; dread of being alone; of men; of meeting friends; with uterine troubles.Indifferent even to one's family; to one's occupation; to those whom she loves best. Indoletn: does not want to do anything, either work or paly. Averse to symtpathy and company; yet dreads to be alone. Depressed, indifferent and worn out.
Reg. menses: Aggr. of complaints before menses. Irregular menses of nearly every form.
CASE 1:
Patient: Lady aged 28 ; unmarried; working woman.
Major complaints: severe, colicky pain in the abdomen, with vomiting and Diarrhoea, during the period of Menses[Painful menses] which lasts about 3-4 days. Almost a week prior to menses , she used to get bouts of depression; getting angry for anything and everything; sad and peevish; indisposed to talk; weepy; unreasonalble, with no mind to attend to work.
She ahs been suffering from the above complaints for last 5-6 years, defying the best of Allopathic treatment. Diarrhoea, vomiting and crampy pain used to be so severe, that on a few occasions she had to be hospitalised and treatment given.
Before she came in for Homoeopathic treatmetn, she was under treatment from a Gynaecologist who attributed this to high Prolactin levl, around 32.0 units [normal range beign 3 to 18] .Despite specilised treatment, no improvement.
She came in for Homeopathic treatment during March '97. At the outset many drugs were tried with no benefit. from Mid May '97 she is being Am-carb 1M, daily 1 dose for 7 days, prior to the onset of Menses, every month. She is almost cleared of her complaints, with Am-carb. She is still under treatment and observation.
Reference:
Vomiting aggr. during menses [K 534] Am-carb [2]
Diarrhoea aggr. before and during menses [K 614] Am-carb [1]
Painful Dysmenorrhoea [K 727] Am-carb [2]
Cholera-like symptoms at the commencement of menstruation Am-carb [Allen's Keynotes]
[This in bold capitals in Kent's Keynotes, captured the eyes and was the clue to the remedy.]
CASE 2:
Patient: Lady aged 34 . Working girl. Married; with one child of 4 years.
Major complaints: Menses regular, but severely painful on the first day, which was relieved when the bleeding starts.
Getting severe mental depresion with no inclination to work. She confided that quite often even suicidal thoughts used to come to her mind. she absents herself from office, during such episodes of depression which are at their peak a week before the onset of Menses.
Further, she used to get severe Migraine [left-sided headache] during such episodes of depression, for which she had been taking "migranil" and such other analgesics.
Situation in life: Estranged relations with her hsuband who is an alcoholic and further his having some affair with a girl from his office. This has added to her mental agony [jealousy].
Lachesis 1000. daily 1 dose for 3 days for 3 to 4 months before the onset of menses, relieved her of her suffering of depression and other menstrual complaints.
Rubrics:
Painful Dysmenorrhoea [k 727] Lach [2]
Ailments from grief [k 51] Lach [3]
CASE 3:
Patient: college girl aged 20
Major complaints: Severe case of mental depression with marked aggravation a few days before the onset of menses. Sad and weeping mood; weeps in solitude; indisposed to talk to anybody.
Severe bouts of headache from sunrise to sunset with nauses; with blurred vision at the onset. Acrid, excoriating leucorrhoea with complaint is aggravated almost a week before Menses.
During the course of case taking it could be ascertained that she has developed a sort of intimacy with one of her college mates, which fact, due to nervousness, she has not disclosed to her parents or other members in the house, because of the fear that they may not agree to the said alliance.
Came in for Homeopathic treatment in the first week of July '97.
Nat-mur 10m. 2 Doses a week , is being given to her, which ahs brought immense relief to all her complaints. Treatment is being continued.
Reference:
Acrid excoriating Leucorrhoea [K721] Nat-m [2]
Copius Leucorrhoea [K 721] Nat-m [2]
CASE 4:
Patient: Lady aged 37 [widow] with 1 daughter of 7 years . The patient lost her husband, who died of cancer of the liver, 2 years before. This was the major tragic incident which had cast a gloom in her life.
Major complaints: Menses regular, but severely painful on the first day when she is forced to take a few tablets of Baralgan for relief.
Copious, acrid Leucorrhoea, staining linen yellow, few days before the onset of menses.More than the aforesaid two complaints, she is concerned about severe bouts of gloom and depression which she goes into 7 to 10 days before each menstrual period. This results in great sadness and weeping all-through, which cuts her away from the mainstream of life. She came in for treatment in May '97. She was given Sep. 10M . 2 doses every week, for 3 months.
She is relieved of her ailments. Her gloomy outlook on life is also gone.
References:
Painful Dysmenorrhoea [K 727] Sep [2]
Leucorrhoea acrid [K 721] Sep [3]
Leucorrhoea staining linen yellow [K 723] Sep [3], Hydr [3]
