Ms Iron v/s Local Train: A case of Rheumatic Valvular Heart!
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2002 Jan / Feb VOL 4 NO 1.
Dr Mirza Anwar Baig
'Ferr-met / Ferr-iod
Case 2: Master Iron v/s School playground:
A 10 yr old boy, very intelligent but rough & tough
child, born during Bombay Riots behaves arrogantly with elders but is gentle
with little ones. Once while returning from school, he complained to his mother
that he had pain in his finger. It transpired that, some days ago he was digging
in the school’s playground with his fingers, during rains, and that may have
hurt him.
His mother brought him to my daughter Dr Rozina Zaheer, who
on examination found some signs of infection, with serous secretions and
eruptions on the finger. She gave the child Dulcamara, as per the
specific guiding symptom, ‘infected skin with copious serus exudates and
eruptions’. The child started playing again and did not complain anymore.
But the mother noticed that he developed some pus in the
eruption, which in fact, was the mucoprulent discharges, and was a sign of
healing since body clears out the antigens through the pus and then heals
itself. The mother thought he had developed sepsis. So she took him to an
allopath who, after dressing the wound gave antibiotics and also injection
Tetanus Toxoid to the child, (this according to me is a blunder. I believe that
in late phase of any traumatic infection, Tetanus Toxoid can cause adverse
reaction).
Now the child developed fever with urticarial rashes, so she took him again to the same allopath who gave another injection, (possibly Avil), for the rashes. (This kind of common treatment, at times causes more serious ailments than the initial disease due to suppressed eruptions). After that the child developed headache and malaise and also stopped eating. Now she brought the child to us again, without disclosing the treatment that she took from the allopath.
He was given Bryonia, which brought the fight back, he
developed fever with eruptions. A dull child became restless! Dr Rozina thought,
possibly her prescription was not correct. (Ed: Homoeopaths too can confuse
the case).Considering rashes, fever, restlessness and also the rainy season
(of last year, when he fell sick) she suggested Rhus-tox. Then the case
got palliated, but relapses set in. Sometimes looked like typhoid, sometimes
malaria? Mother went to the allopath again but without much benefit. Then he was
given allopathy and homoeopathy simultaneously, which made the child enter into
deeper pathology. He developed swelling and soreness all over the body along
with fever; puffiness of the face. He was advised hospitalization. Now the real
panic started. Mother contacted Dr Shahida Baig (my wife) on phone, for a second
opinion? This, was my entry to the case.
His present symptoms (as described by his mother to my wife
on telephone) "Swelling of the face +++, more around the eyes and cheeks.
The child is very irritable. Doesn’t allow mother to leave him. He keeps
holding her hand. His lips are dry, tongue is also dry and coated, swelling and
soreness in the hands with stiff and painful joints. His abdomen is bloated.
Fever is high with few rashes here and there on feet and on hands. He is hungry
but vomits out. Water also cannot be retained. Asks for cold water, but vomits
it out after sometime. He cannot open his mouth because of the swelling. He also
doesn’t want to cover".
Without seeing the patient I suggested a dose of Phosphorus 200, and I told my wife the child is in real problem. Until then I didn’t know about the whole story.
The same day, late at night, his mother reported some good response to that medicine, but the fever kept rising. But he started retaining with no futher vomits. She called again next morning. "He has bad cough now with vomiting while coughing. Now his vomits contain greenish yellow discharge with some bloody expectoration. Although his fever has come down, also the swelling, but few more rashes have appeared all over the body. Becomes restless while coughing and gagging, otherwise the child is calm". No medicine was prescribed only some biochemics were told on phone. That morning I saw him around 11 A.M.
His appereance came as a shock to me: although the child was sitting in a drawing room on the sofa with little support on his back. His condition was critical. He had all the symptoms and signs of Acute Nephritis. I questioned myself will it be safe to treat the child at home? Then suddenly I came to know from the mother, "that his swelling of the face was much more the day before, and was irritable, but now is comfortable and better than before".
After examining him I found liver and spleen were palpable, with fullness in epigastric and tenderness over the kidney regions. I also observed that, although he was quiet, every little motion was causing nausea. His tongue was dry and thirsty. He had not passed stool for two or three days. I suggested few doses of Bryonia in frequent doses and left for the clinic, after inquiring the full details of the case that how his problems were started and which has been already described in the beginning. It was a clear-cut case of nephritis, and because of the septic focus with eruptive disease, which was in the finger at the beginning. The other possibility was suppressed eruptions, forcefully by Avil (he was not even sure it was Avil) injection?
At my clinic I repertorized the case through Kent Repertory: I gave importance to 3 things:
- Vomiting on cough
- Spleen enlarged
- Liver enlarged and finally suppressed eruptions and onset of acute nephritis with eruptive disease.
Ferrum-iod covers all these things. It also has important pathological symptoms of Acute Nephritis following eruptive diseases like measles. Ferrum-iod 30 in repeated doses revived the vital energy and threw the eruption out in the form of Measles. That took few more days to final recovery but with no medicine, only placebo and a dose of Sulphur at the end.
Thanks to Homoeopathy and thanks to Ferrum-iod, the child recovered completely.
