Alopecia Universalis
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2004 Jan / Feb VOL VI NO 1.
Dr Bandish Ambani
'Medo
A girl aged 12 yr came to me with the c/o of loss of hair first on the scalp, then eyebrows and lastly from eye lashes. She had another complaint of bedwetting. Allopathic treatment had been taken including steroid injections to the scalp, but to no avail. Since she was very young, her parents were very worried.
PHYSICAL GENERALS:
APPETITE: Voracious, can eat even after a full meal.
THIRST: Unquenchable.
STOOL: Normal.
URINE: Bedwetting, daily 2/3 times in a night.
PERSPIRATION: Profuse.
CRAVINGS: Cold drinks, ice-cream, chocolates, rice, chinese
food. in general fond of all kinds of food.
AVERSION: Sweets.
THERMALS: Hot.
SLEEP: Sleeps on the sides, talks in her sleep.
DREAMS: of God.
PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION:She was obese since birth.
LIFE SITUATION: She was a school going girl, average in studies. Not at all interested in studies. She had poor memory, was forgetful, made mistakes while writing and had poor self confidence. She was also poor in mathematics. She was a very pampered and protected girl by all her family members especially the grand parents. She was a lazy and indolent girl.
MENTALS: A very obstinate and stubborn girl. She would
have to get whatever she wanted at that instant only. The parents gave an
example: the girl came to my clinic for treatment, if first they took her to a
Chinese restaurant and fed her. She would weep easily at small matters-liked to
be consoled and wanted sympathy from others. She was very sensitive and there
was tremendous attachment to all her family members. Though, 12, she behaved
like a younger child; childish, liked to play only with younger children so that
she could boss them. Nervous before examinations and stage fear. Though, she
liked dancing, she would not go and perform on the stage. She liked music very
much.
Very fearful from childhood- fear of dark,wanted lights on at
night; would never stay alone; fear of dogs and watching horror shows on
television, yet watched them in daytime with subsequent nightmares at night.
Very loquacious, yet during the interview, I observed that she was quite abrupt
and at times rude. Rude even with grand parents.
Very careful of her things and liked everything in order.
A very religious girl, she would pray and go to temples
regularly. Does not like tight and rough clothing. During the history taking it
was observed that she did not like it when mother narrated her negative points
and immediately contradicted. Very fidgety, constantly moving her hands or legs
and at times making faces.
The following symptoms were taken for repertorization:
- Fear dark, alone, animals, and dogs.
- Weeping at trifles
- Weeping children in
- Rudeness
- Forgetfulness
- Confusion of mind
- Memory weakness
- Timidity
- Dancing
- Obstinate
The remedy given was Stramonium 1M 1dose. She started improving; hair started growing on the scalp, but no growth on the eyebrows and eyelashes. So is this follow up good or bad? Most people will answer this as good follow-up as the hair has started to grow from above downwards that is according to the Hering’s law. The Hering’s law of direction of cure states that the cure should take place
- From above downwards
- Inside out
- Centre to periphery
- From important organs to lesser important organs and
- In the reverse order of the appearance of symptoms.
Hering’s law has multiple corollaries. We do not know which corollary is to be given more importance. In some cases, a cure takes place from above downwards and in others from inside out, which is the right direction and what is more important? Which organ is more important and which is less is decided by embryology: the order in which the organs have developed, its function and origin from the particular germinal layer. Hence, the correct direction of the Hering’s law of cure is:
- From important organs to lesser important organs
- Inside out
- Centre to periphery and
- In reverse order of appearance of symptoms.
To this Dr Vijayakar has made the following additions:
- From more dangerous Miasm to less dangerous Miasm
- From important organs to lesser important organs
- From above downwards
- Inside out
- Centre to periphery and
- In reverse order of appearance of symptoms.
So in this case, the follow-up is not right, even though the direction of cure is from above downwards. The function of the eyelashes is protection of the eyeballs, it prevents the dust particles from entering. The eyebrows are there to prevent the sweat from going into the eyes. The hair on the scalp is only cosmetic and hence less important than the eye brows and eye lashes.
Other Examples of the Right Direction of Cure: In Asthma,
breathlessness should improve and then cough should start or increase, followed
by throat irritation, followed by sneezing, finally, ending in skin irritation.
Not every lesion on the skin is a good sign, for eg Skin flaking and peeling in
psoriasis after gastritis or bronchitis is a bad sign as the flaking of the skin
is due to the excessive irritation of dermis, which arises from the 3rd
layer, the connective tissues and the gastritis and bronchitis means involvement
of the lining of the gastro-intestinal and the respiratory tract respectively.
Also, development of hypo-pigmented patches of Vitiligo on skin after joint
pains or asthma is not at all a good sign.
Thus, the prescription here was partially similar. The mistake was that the symptoms taken for prescription were all mentals and only
represent the emotions and not the basic characteristics of the patient.
Physicals were not considered-the thermals, cravings and aversions, etc. And
miasm was not considered for the prescription.
If prescriptions are not holistic, then at best we can only arrive at the partial similimum instead of the correct genetic constitutional
similimum. I reanalyzed the case.
