From Our Masters Rich Heritage
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Sep / Oct VOL 5 NO 5.
Dr T K Kasiviswanathan
'Guaic / Form rufa / Rhus-tox
Case 1
Mrs WM, aged 50 years, consulted Dr J T Kent on 15-8-1910 for rheumatism with both ankles swollen. She was nearly helpless from it for over a year despite taking many drugs. Her rheumatism extended from (R) to (L) and was amel by cold but agg by heat. It was also better from rest. Her bowels were sluggish but she had strong appetite.
Dr Kent prescribed Guaiacum 10 M and after a week, her ankles were better for a month. However, her knees were lame; there were cramps in her thighs with shooting pains. By September 5th, she could tolerate a warm bath but on the September 19 follow-up, there was swelling and pain in her (R) foot and ankle. No medicine. On October 3, 1910 rheumatism was in her ankles and feet and hence Dr Kent gave her a dose of Guaiacum 50M. There was a slight agg of her symptoms followed by relief. On November 14, her rheumatism was worse again; her feet and ankles were swollen. Her hands were stiff and the knees were lame. Again Guaiacum 50 M one dose was given. Thereafter there was steady improvement but on December 10, a cramping pain was noticed in her (L) thigh. Despite giving another dose of the remedy in the same potency, there was only slight improvement and hence Guaiacum CM one dose was given on January 9, 1911. The patient was free from rheumatic in a short while thereafter and had been keeping well since then.
Dr Kent observes "This patient presented few symptoms but a strong characteristic: rheumatic pains agg from warmth and amel from cold. Three remedies have this characteristic in rheumatism: Guaiacum, Ledum and Pulsatilla. In this instance the patient was neither Ledum nor Pulsatilla.
Hence Guaiacum was selected with beneficial curative results" (Dr J T Kent)
Case 2
An elderly lady limped into Dr Sunil Anand's clinic one day aided by a walking stick. She complained of acute pains, stiffness and deformities in her finger joints. In spite of her ailments, she was talking in an excited manner and she seemed to be active and independent. The pains ere sudden in onset and their location kept changing. The pains caused extreme anxiety and restlessness. She would feel very comfortable after a slight massage by the housemaid. However, her orthopedic surgeon disallowed it, which made her miserable. The knee joint was wrapped in a bandage which gave some relief. Both dry, local heat and a warm bath would give her marked relief. An associated symptom was numbness with intense formication of the affected part. The remedies prescribed did not give much relief. Her complaints were so severe that she was unable to visit the clinic and doctor had to be called home.
On his visit he found her lying in bed and despite severe pain was excited to see the doctor. There were some newspapers around. On a query, she said that she would read only the sensational news from the papers and not ordinary news. News about robberies, accidents and nexus with terrorists would get her excited and she would talk about it to those who came to visit her and caution them. This feature was not earlier noticed and in the Synthetic Repertory, the rubric which came closest to the symptom was "Excitement, bad new after" (SR Vol I 451) (18 remedies are listed with Apis, Calc, Gels, Ign and Sulphur with higher marks).
Dr Anand came across Formica-rufa listed in ordinary type. He writes "I did not know much about this drug except that it is prepared from crushed live ants. It became clear what exactly my patient wad doing. She was relaying important information that she gathered - just like an ant".
Formica-rufa is an arthritic remedy; relief after midnight and from one place to another. The deformities in the finger joints are also an indication of this remedy. The word formication comes from "formic" pertaining to ants.
She was therefore prescribed repeated doses of Formica in 30 potency and later it was her active self again in a short time. (Dr Sunil Anand)
