Learn a remedy through cases- Hura- braziliensis - Travail of the outcast
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2001 Sep / Oct VOL III NO 5.
Complied by
T K Kasiviswanathan
'Hura

Hura is a rarely used remedy and only a brief outline is given in the Clarke' s Dictionary. In recent literature a few interesting cases on this remedy have been published, which I give here:

The main feeling in the remedy, demonstrable in all the first four cases is that he is a leper- an outcast and hence isolated and alone in the world.

Case 1
A 49-yr-old man consulted Dr Praful Barvalia for the following complaints:

1. Severe mental depression
2. Hyper acidity, constipation, eruptions on forehead
3. High BP
4. Indecision and slowness
5. Sleeplessness
6. Intense feeling of isolation from family and lack of harmony in the family.
7. Lack of interest and suicidal thoughts.

The patient could get only some part-time job. He felt that he was doing a peon's job and others considered him inferior to them. "My children and my brothers dislike me. When I talk of patching up with my relations, my son becomes aggressive. I feel left alone in this world."

What is Striking? The patient's reaction and sensitivity to external stimuli: His intense sense of isolation, not being loved and as if alone in the world. That others consider him worthless.

That his is ignored by elders; his mother's decision to ask him to set up his own home, led to despair, suicidal tendencies and heart trouble.

Rubrics
SRI547: Forsaken feeling
SRI 263: Delusion, despised he is
SRI 264: Del deserted
SRI 234: Del alone in the world
SRI 343: Del, repudiated by relatives, he is
SRI 547: Forsaken, isolation, sense of
SRI 371: Del, unfortunate, he is
SRI 318: Del, looked down upon, she is

Remedies which came out of Repertorial filter:
Hura-bra, Mag-mur, Lac-can, and Arg-nit.

Dr Barvalia ruled out Mag-mur as its rejection generates suppressed or repressed hostility, which will have clear or devious expressions in the patient. The specific aspect of feeling rejected because others despise him and repudiate him is not covered by Mag-mur.

Hura is the individual who always remains under the threat of losing affections of loved ones and interprets each input accordingly. Morbid perception of self and the relationship which he has with the world with the underlying feeling of being disliked and being hated; being denied identity. He perceives himself as an "Outcast". He considers this as the greatest misfortune and even death is a lesser punishment."

Rx Hura 200. Anti-depressants discontinued; anti-hypertensives continued. 15 days later- sleep improved; felt a little better. BP still high at 180/110. 2 episodes of chest pain. Repetition needed. Hura 200 repeated weekly later daily for one month stepped up to twice daily.

Review after one month: Tremendous improvement in mental state and concentration. He did not feel dejected; sense of isolation was also reduced considerably.
-Dr Praful Barvalia Homeolinks 1\93

Other delusions of this remedy:
Del, Friend, she is about to lose a friend.
Del, Friend, lost the affection of.
Del, confidence in him, friends have lost all; lost repudiated.
Let us see how this delusion is reflected in the following case of a boy:

Case 3
A highly intelligent 13-yr-old refused to sit for exams for fear of failure. He experienced tremendous anxiety before examinations; would invariably fall sick, even though he knew the lessons well and was the best student in his class. The picture therefore looked like Lyco but further questioning as to reasons for his fear and outcome, revealed that he feared isolation from his friends, that he would be despised and left alone by his friends; also neglected by parents and relatives. Based on the above delusions, Dr Jayesh Shah prescribed Hura braziliensis, which helped in a short time.
- Report of Jayesh Shah seminar, Homoeopathic Links 2/91

Case 4:
A 28 year old woman consulted the doctor for

1. recurrent inflammation of the gingiva and eruption of pimple in the lower jaw.
2. frequent bouts of common cold
3. pain in knees since last 18 months. Also constipation under stress. Tonsil removed when three years old.

She takes after her father who is taciturn and introverted. She likes company but does not discuss personal affairs; no boy friend while studying. When feeling alone or sad she seeks consolation, which ameliorates her weeping; afraid of worms, new situations and dark. She was prescribed Puls 30, which helped her only for 3 months; then all her symptoms returned and there was pain in the whole knee with cracking noise in joints. She had hoarseness of voice and a lumpy sensation. The following rubrics were consulted in Repertorium Generale.

Based on this repertorization, Causticum D12 was prescribed. Though Hura also came out but it was in third grade and the emotional background of that remedy was not evident at that time. Causticum had no effect and the patient reported again after 6 weeks. This time she was presecribed Hura in 200 potency, which has also throat irritation and scraped feeling. The doctor also found in Clarke's Dictionary dryness of the throat and pimples in the gums in the right lower jaw as having been produced by the remedy. After 2 weeks the patient said that she could neither sleep nor learn due to internal restlessness. When she was called for a review, she said that a few days earlier she had felt a desire to write a letter to her daughter as she wanted to know what kind of girl she had become.

After taking Hura, she could recall clearly the days of that pregnancy and the difficulties she faced at that time and the pains she had to endure. It transpired that for many months she concealed her pregnancy from her parents and withdrew from company; though her parents suspected pregnancy, they could not talk about it openly. When the child was born she had to decide on whether to bring it up herself or give it in adoption. She felt having done something seriously wrong and that her friends did not understand her (Delusion lost the affection of friends and alone in the world).

Now after taking the medicine, all the suppressed grief, sorrow and pain came back. One can imagine what a shame it must have been to be pregnant in those times where social standards were more conservative, and she herself was still a teenager herself; how abandoned and isolated she felt from her friends and parents in her condition. Hura made her relive these moments and experience those unpleasant feelings and in that way she liberated herself. The patient thereafter met her daughter several times and developed a healthy relationship with her. She was convinced that she could explain to her daughter her situation when the latter was conceived and delivered, etc
- Andrea Schiesbuhl, Austria, Homoeopathic Links1/98

Here, the teenage mother exhibited Hura mental make-up, while the child fortunately did not develop such an image. More often such illegitimate children develop Hura feelings and delusions, as they are often victimized, isolated and forsaken. They have no real friends, for no fault of theirs. They lead a miserable life full of guilt and apprehension and think that it is all their fault. Dr Deborah Collins of New Zealand presented two such cases- unwanted children, born to teenage mothers and abandoned or given for adoption.

Case 5
Mrs N, aged 35 consulted Dr Deborah Collins for her severe depression and anxiety. She was afraid to be alone, so had to perforce stay with her sister-in-law; she felt very bad aboutthsi : "I am a great nuisance to everyone and they would be better off without me." She had great difficulty in adjusting to her children as they were a little independent and felt that they were getting better of her. This caused a lot of anxiety leading to suicidal thoughts. She said "I feel locked in my own home. I feel like I am being chased"She always felt guilty about everything and if anything went wrong in the house or where she worked she blamed herself exclusively. Her husband was very supportive and spent more time with her at the cost of his work.

Her mother became pregnant as a teenager and after delivery, she was left in a home for single mothers, where she had to live without her mother being available, as she visited only occasionally. In that home she had very little moving space and till her fourth year she was almost confined to her crib. At the age of four, she was adopted by her mother's aunt, as the attempt to make the child to stay with her now married mother proved a disaster.

Feeling guilty about being raised through adoption, she was not demanding at all and maintained a low profile even to the extent of not answering the phone and telling her name. "I was always aware of being different, of being a burden, of never fitting in. Even at school I felt punished for having diabetes: I felt ostracized. When I got married, I never felt like part of the family, as the family took decisions without me. I never have the feeling that I really belong: I feel they would be better off without me. I feel redundant and not needed. I have to fight these feelings to prevent me from killing myself." This was despite the fact that her husband was very supportive and her sister-in law stayed with her, when her husband was at work. She also had eruptions on the back of her hands, which formed pus and itched.

Dr Collins gave her several remedies based on feelings of guilt such as Naja, Kalium-brom and Mag-brom but they did not act. Finally in one consultation the patient said "I feel as though I am all alone." (which she had been saying in so many variations in her earlier interviews).This delusion led to the prescription of Hura: she felt as if she was a leper and that her whole existence was a shame and scandal and was banished to a home unwanted by her mother, who was the real culprit.

After taking this medicine she relived her past and was able to adjust to reality; she began to look less like a hunted animal and took interest in her make-up and hairstyle. She looked more feminine. She was able to stay at home alone without sending SOS to her husband. Her suicidal tendencies decreased but her suppressed anger seemed to increase. She hated her mother and wanted to know who her real father was. Her mother in reply to her letter said that she was raped while hitchhiking and did not know his identity. She wanted to abort which was taboo at that time.

The medicine was repeated four times, after each relapse; when she needed the remedy she would be restless and sleepless and itching of hands with eruptions. She was able to do full time job at the bookstore where she was earlier employed and be alone in home without thoughts of suicide.
- Dr Deborah Collins

Case 6
A similar case. A 45-yr old woman consulted for depression and high blood pressure; she had frequent transient ischaemic attacks. She felt tired and weak in her legs, with headaches. She had anxious dreams about her daughter; that something bad will happen to her. She found it difficult to deal with her teenage daughter, there were frequent fights and patient often would give in and retreat and end up with suicidal tendencies. She had been in therapy for several years without improvement. She felt insecure and frightened in new surroundings. She also had joint pains in her thumbs, shoulders and hips, along with pains in her abdomen.

She was initially prescribed Natrum-mur, which did nothing and was changed to Lac-can, which helped for some time but she looked fearful, angry and depressed. Dr Collins therefore probed her child hood. Her mother became pregnant when she was a teenager; as she was the pride of her father she kept that pregnancy a secret for many months; on finding out, her father wanted to commit suicide but was prevented. The child was therefore not wanted and after delivery was reared by the mother's grand parents. "My mother just came and went and she wasn't there for me." When someone asked her who she was, her mother replied that she was her niece. "I always felt that I should not make my presence known and I must not speak up." At school she avoided going on excursions with other children. "Even when small things happen, I feel forsaken be everyone. I have murderous feeling about my mother and the worst death is not bad enough. I always have the feeling of being forsaken by everyone. I will not really mind sitting in prison for years for killing her and I would be smiling the whole time."

This unwanted child picture crystallized the similimum and she was given Hura 30. After taking that remedy she experienced severe depression and painful memories of her childhood came back to her, but she was able to live through them without coming to the doctor. "I feel like I am growing up all over again. "After one month the remedy was repeated in 1M potency and it was gratifying to see the angry little girl grow into a mature woman.
- Dr Deborah Collins

She says that Hura may not work in all cases of patients who were born illegitimate, as many unwed mothers now raise their children. But in case the offspring has a deep sense of shame and guilt surrounding their birth for no fault of his and feels that his very existence causes disasters and feel isolated or forsaken like a leper, then it is the similimum.
-Homoeopathic Links 2/99

Another Facet: Death of a child Didier Grandgeorge, a noted French Homoeopath, presents a different facet of the remedy, based on the botanical properties of the plant. It has a globular fruit, made up of eight to twenty radiating nuts in rings, which on reaching maturity come apart and are thrown out forcefully by the mother plant to a distance of several metres. It is as if the mother plant has lost its children. Didier Grandgeorge has presented three cases in which Hura was curative, where the patients mourned for their lost child. One of his cases is presented here.

Case 7
A woman requested the Homoeopath to treat her child, who was suffering from terminal cancer and was dying. It started with a bone tumour, spread to lung and thence to liver. It was in a state of hepatic precoma with a huge icterus by compression of the bile ducts, emaciation and ascites. Even though the doctors had given up hope, she was visiting several doctors in France desperately seeking medical help to save her child, as she would not give up. She was treating her child with all sorts of symptomatic medicines at home. It was clear that the mother could not accept the idea of losing her child and was prolonging the agony of the sick child in vain. He therefore persuaded her to take a dose of Hura 30. Very soon she became very serene; her child died a few days later and the mother could reconcile to that loss and thanked the doctor for preparing her to face the loss.

Didier Grandgeorge says: "The underlying problem of Hura-brazilensis is linked to separation of mother from child. This supposes that the adult accepts the end of the link which she has formed with the child; above all in the case of a mother who has carried the child in her womb. Thus the Hura loves with an elastic love. The more you try to get away the more it holds you. If the elastic breaks, there is then separation with brutal expulsion to some distance. Hura wants to break things symbolically speaking to break the bonds attaching him to a loved one". That is why in the above case the mother who became inconsolable because of the terminal illness of her child was able to reconcile to the death of her child. "This is what happens when there is a death. That is the way out for certain children who can find no other way to cut the umbilical cord. The adult is left alone and inconsolable". Leprosy represents the plight of the child, which feels forsaken. Left alone in the world and friendless and despised.
-Homoeopathic Links, 1/2000

He also cured a case of rheumatoid arthritis in a patient who was very much affected by the loss of a child. Interestingly he says that "in the case of arthritis, with its positive latex index, the suffering is felt in the joints linking the limbs, which symbolizes the suffering relationships between members of the family, torn between wanting to be together and a pull towards independence." The patient in case No 4 also had pain in the knees and Causticum did not help but Hura cured.

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