Clinico Pathologico-Miasmatic Correlation of Ferrum
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2002 Jan / Feb VOL 4 NO 1.
Dr Bipin Jain
'Ferr-m / Ferr-iod
This time we will be paying attention to the part of our practice that has been very well explained by our teacher Dr Boger: viz Importance of Clinical & Pathological aspect of disease in formation of Totality & Management.
Let us first understand the meaning of these words.
Clinical-involves the data founded on actual observations & treatment of patients as distinguished from data & facts obtained by experiment & pathology.
Pathology - involves study of nature & cause of
disease, which in turn, involves changes in structure & form.
Miasm-defined as a defect in the constitution, which
interferes with the process of recovery & cure.
Correlation means mutual relationship.
Putting ALL this together, what we get, is the expression of
disease at different stages of Pathology, helping us to identify the miasmatic
load, which is known to us through signs and symptoms with evolution.
Now we will see how the above helps us to understand any drug / remedy. If we apply this, we will definitely know how the expression & pathology of the remedy changes with the progress on the miasmatic plane from Psora to Syphilis. Dr M L Dhawale worked maximally on this and gave a conceptual base to it, in terms of Structure, Form & Function with relation to Time. He has focussed on the integration of Modern Medicine with Materia Medica & Philosophy to build up the drug pictures in terms of evolution at miasmatic plane. We will try to understand this through Ferrum.
Ferrum is mainly known to have Psoric & Tub dominance. But if we study it in detail we can appreciate some of its Sycotic & Syphilitic expressions also. Let us see how we can perceive this in relation to our cases.
For this we must first understand the evolution of Ferrum in Psora. As we all know, Sentimentality, Changeability, Excitability & Decrease of Will & Drive becomes the central point of Ferrum. Due to these qualities we get two types of responses, one where due to excitability, we have < contradiction and the violence which ends in Anxiety, getting expressed as Trembling with Anger. The desire to have people around & violence is reflected in dreams, dreams of meeting old relatives, of fights & wars. Anxiety of performance & Indecisiveness comes as the end product. On the other hand we have Suppression. Suppressed Anger in these people leads to vexation, expressed at physical level as violent congestion with erratic, patchy responses. Now if this suppression is allowed to carry ahead we see below how it affects the body either in terms of Hypersensitivity at all levels or Congestion at all levels.
PSORA: (See Structure at back)
CASE 1:
A 38yrs old male complained of Retro-sternal burning2,
with Heaviness of abdomen2. He had a bloated2
feeling with pain2 in epigastric region. He also
complained of Irregular stools with unsatisfactory urge & mucus. All his
complains had started after irregular food habits with heavy disturbed, reduced
sleep due to work load since 5-6 yrs. He also had increased blood sugar
levels in the past.
He is basically a sensitive person, getting affected by
others remarks, which would make him be on his toes. He would get irritated on
minor issues. He would get angry on his colleagues but would cool down easily.
All this would produce anxiety, as he was known a very conscientious man. This
entire load was getting expressed on the body at GIT level.
| RS: | Allergic Rhinitis Allergic Bronchitis Bronchial Asthma Hypersensitive Air way Disease Laryngitis |
GIT: | Flatulent Dyspepsia Hyperacidity Syndrome Recurrent Gastritis Irritable bowel Syndrome Ulcerative colitis |
| SKIN: | Urticaria and Eczema |
On family background: He was facing difficulty in
handling his Mother & Wife. Being a Sentimental person, he could not say
much to either and had to suppress his anger, which was again a stress
Correlating all this, we see that this Patient has all
functional complaints. Simple Acid Peptic Disorder where we do not have
structural changes. The causative is also a change in food & sleep pattern
which is Psoric manifestation. If we put all 3 together with the expression of
bloating & unsatisfactory stool, Heaviness, we clearly see the Psoric form
of Ferrum.
He was given Ferr-met 200 1p 3 doses There were no
relapses hence forth.
SYCOTIC
Now we proceed to understand the Sycotic expression in Ferrum. Here we see how further Suppression leads to involvement of deeper plane of responses at MSS/ glands.
Case 2:
This is a 42 yrs old man, short and stout, with a coming from
lower Socio-economic class, depressed look on his face. He sells Chana by foot.
He complained of weakness3 & bodyache since 4-5 yrs.
Bodyache was especially of Lt side with burning3 in whole
body. There was stiffness of limbs also. He had Heel pain2
throbbing type which is more in the morning. Along with this, has severe burning
in epigastric region with Erructation & Flatulance with Nausea. Stools were
normal get had bitter taste in mouth. All those stomach complaints have started
due to spicy food3.
This person had come to Bombay to earn money. He was an
Irritable person since childhood with an Irritable Father & Silent Mother.
He had to suppress himself due to Father’s domination. No much work at home.
With this state of mind he took job, had a conflict with the boss, did not get
along & on the verge of moment left the job. This shows his impulsivity
& excitability. He took Independent work of selling grains, as he did not
like to work under someone. We can say that his Egoistic attitude &
<contradiction produced stress on him, as by this time he was married and
conscientious had the responsibility of family on his shoulders. This brought on
financial demands which he found it difficult to cope giving rise to that
depressed look, dullness & exhaustion.
Thus we see here how continuous suppression of anger gives
rise to expression of MSS/ in terms of Plantar Fasciatis & Acid Peptic
Disorder. The expression shows dullness & depression at mind. Here the
irreversible structural changes in terms of inflammation falls under Sycotic
Miasm.
We gave Ferr-met 200 3P weekly and later Ferr-met
7P every month. In a period of 6 months, his GIT complains & Functional
complains had disappeared. Due to the maintaining factor of his work, heel pain
took longer time to recover. Introduction of the sycotic remedy Thuja 200
1dose hastened the process of recovery.
TUBERCULAR
Next comes TUB Miasm where we see the manifestation of Anaemic disorders
as a prominent expression with a lot of Debility & Relaxation. Here the
Haemorrhagic tendencies also get importance Ferrum has been used widely
in case of Tuberculosis. Let see how.
When we apply this knowledge to our case, it is as follows.
This Patient comes from a family where his Mo took up the responsibility of family after Father’s death. He was Irritable since childhood, would throw things and shouts in anger. But his father a Principal, taught him to control his Anger. Since then there is lot of suppression of Anger. This quality also gets reflected in work where he cannot bear insults, but does not shout now, rather tells people off politely.
After SSC he took up the responsibility of the household and started a contractor business. There he feels responsible for the clients. One of his contractor owes him 60,000/- but he cannot say anything, controls his anger, cannot express it.
Now due to his illness he cannot do his work so he feels sad and depressed that he is not able to fulfil his responsibility.
Patient was given Ferr-iod 30 OD and later BD & the Patient was able to work for 4-5 hrs at home. Later when symptoms relapsed we gave 200, & his weight increased by 2.5 kg in 3 months. He was able to resume his work. 1 dose of Tub 1M was given when loose stools episode came up. He was kept on Placebo from 17/5/96 to 1/1/1997.
SYPHILIS
Lastly the Syphillitic Miasm where we see degeneration is the
prominent feature.
The Patient comes from a Muslim community holding Rigid
values regarding how a female should behave. He believes in all the customs of
their religion. He himself would read Namaz 5 times a day without fail showing
how religious and conscientious he is. Being the eldest in the family, he very
readily took up the responsibility of the family.
Pt’s married life has been in pain. He would hit his wife
for small reasons for disobeying him, showing his Irritable trait. Once due to
some petty reason he threw his wife out of the house. Such were his Impulsive
actions.
His nephews cheated him and took his house in their name. That time he was
extremely angry but could do nothing,so all his anger was suppressed. As there was no one else, he came on road. He preferred to stay alone than stay with anyone where he would have to behave according to their wish. He is so Egoistic that even if he remains hungry he
does not mind but he will not bend. During interview he got up many times
abruptly to go in middle of talking. This shows his Impulsivity. Appearance wise
he was a stern looking old man with abruptivity in his speech.
CONCLUSION:
He was given Ferr-iod 200 1 P weekly. Within 2 doses
Pt was able to climb stairs upto 1st floor without
breathlessness.
Thus we saw how Ferrum gets expressed at all 4
Miasmatic Form. As mentioned earlier. Ferrum mainly falls under Psoric to
TUB state. But if we look at the various salts of Ferrum we can see how
each one has dominant miasmatic expression. It can be represented as
Study of any drug in this light has added advantages.
- It helps to clearly define the stage of pathology.
- It helps us to understand the miasmatic dominance at that moment of time.
- It helps to decide the management in terms of posology & repetition.
