Strike It Rich ENT cases from our rich heritage
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2004 May / Jun VOL VI NO 3.
Complied by:
T K Kasiviswanathan
'Tub / Calc-fl / Kali-bi / Stachys-betonia / Sulp / Bac / Thuja / Teuc-mar / Merc-sol / Stram / Calc-io / Rhus-t / Arg-nit / Puls / Merc-bin / Merc-bin-iod / Spig / Kali-m
Case 7
Master V C, 12 yr, was brought to Dr Barvalia for recurrent
bouts of sore throat and fever since last two years. 8 months back an acute
episode of sore throat led to inflamed knee, ASO titre 396 todd units and ESR 83
after 1 hour. Though the inflammation of the knee reduced after the acute
episode, there was pain and difficulty while walking. Every 1½ months he would
come down with such exacerbations
Taking note of the creamish coating of the posterior tongue, night aggravation and Rt sided affection of the throat, Dr Barvalia prescribed Merc-bin-flouride 200 two hourly. The doses brought down not only the temperature but prevented any acute involvement of the knee. Repetition of doses was gradually tapered off. On the 4th day he developed burning of the soles, which was his constitutional symptom. Hence Calcarea-iodide was started as his constitutional and a daily dose of the same in 200th potency was given. It improved the knee pain considerably, frequency and intensity of acute episodes of sore throat with fever etc were reduced considerably. ESR came down to 05 and ASO titre 190. He was alright within 8 months.
In the earlier invasive phase, homoeopathic prescribing based on acute presenting totality and frequent repetition of the medicine aborted the illness. When the constitutional symptoms started presenting themselves, the doctor switched over to the constitutional remedy and frequent repetition as per Borland’s schedule to cure the patient and also prevent damage to the organs, which in this case was the knee.
Acute infections: Psychosomatic and miasmatic correlations: Dr P Barvalia, IJHM Vol 28 N02
Case 8: Prescription on unusual indication
A woman, aged 80 yrs, arose one morning and found that she
could not speak coherently. She consulted Dr H A Roberts. She had some
discomfort in her head but no impairment of locomotion or any manifestation of
having suffered a shock. It would take several minutes for the lady to utter the
right word, finding and discarding others totally unrelated and perhaps having
to give up entirely. She was unable to string words together to make them
meaningful even if she was able to find them. Her BP was not very high, but she
was seriously anxious for the past several weeks over the drafting of her only
grandchild for military service.
The unusual aspect was the difficulty in getting the patient to sit still long enough for an interview. She flitted here and there, would sit for a moment and then running to another room to attend to some trifle matter and then return. Her writing, on the contrary, was coherent and remarkably firm for her age.
The unusual and peculiar form of restlessness made Dr Roberts prescribe Rhus-tox (potency not stated). Improvement began shortly thereafter and a week later the patient could speak coherently and connectedly in the morning for short paras; by nightfall, she could tell an involved story without losing the thread. She was completely all right in a month’s time.
"We often think of restlessness in paralysis of the limbs, but this form of restlessness accompanying affection in speech centre was an unusual indication.- The Unusual Indication, Dr H A Roberts, reproduced in Hahnemannian Gleanings, May 1983
Case 9: Stammering
PN, a girl aged 12, consulted Dr W Klunker for stammering.
She had been stammering for the past four months, causing her to endure much
ridicule from her classmates. She did not stammer when reading or singing.
Interrogation of the mother did not reveal any significant clinical symptoms. As
a baby, she suffered much from diarrhoea had chicken pox at 6. Had the usual
vaccinations. She was prone to accidents and her appetite was capricious, liked
eggs and sweets. She dreamt frequently of snakes.
The doctor repertorised the case using Kent’s Repertory and searched for the similimum under the 3 rubrics:
- Sleep, dreams, snakes (P1243);
- Mouth, speech, stammering ( P419) and
- Stomach, desires sweets (p 486).
Repertorisation indicated two remedies - Arg-nit and
Sepia. He consulted T F Allens’s Encyclopedia which revealed the following
most similar symptom under Arg-nit from the provings. "He is unable
to find suitable words for his ideas; hence he falters in his speech." What
is similar in this patient is that she stammers only when expressing her own
thoughts and otherwise not. No satisfactory description of Sepia
stammering could be found in the literature. Hence Arg-nit 200 given on
June 18 1986; on the first follow-up on 3rd Sept, the girl
reported that she stammered only when speaking fast. By November 1986, there was
no more stammering, nor any dreams of snakes.
Stammering and dreams of snakes, W Klunker, CHQ vol2 No 1
1989)
