Homoeopathy
Cameo cases
(A brief study of cases treated with homoeopathy)
Editor's note
Many times during the course of homoeopathic treatment for a patient’s main complaint, an isolated but quite disturbing localised complaint crops up. Such a complaint is not an old one returning, but very often a new incident that is bothering the patient, far more than the ones for which he is undergoing treatment. Such a symptom disturbance very often leads to a rare or a small remedy, by the giving of which the complaint goes away and then one can come back to treat the constitution. We have given sac lac which may suffice– but in our experience if the complaint is bothersome and distressing, and more so when the patient demands that the new complaint be treated first and relieved, it is unethical just to sit quiet and let the patient suffer and hope that the vital force in due time will remedy the situation. Such type of cases we term ‘cameo’ cases. The Oxford Dictionary defines cameo as “A small but well acted part in a film or a full play”. Each of our cameos given below has a story to tell which we hope our readers will enjoy.
Case 1
Mrs. L.C.M. was under our treatment for the burning of soles, headache, varicose veins and dysmenorrhoea. During the course of treatment, she developed a severe vulvovaginitis with Candida albicans as the incriminating organism, according to her gynaeologist under whom she was treated during the 8th month of her pregnancy. She was disturbed by vaginal itching and mild lumbar backache as she was approaching the end of her pregnancy. We decided to try a rare remedy and she was given Candida albicans 30 twice a day, the remedy being prepared in a Libra Vibronic Radionic Apparatus. She had complete relief of this distressing symptom and later on went to deliver a healthy baby boy.
Case 2
Master Vishal N. who was initially referred to us for complaints of temper tantrums with breath holding attacks, suddenly developed during the course of treatment, on 02/06/98, pain during urination with passage of some drops of blood after urination. He was given a few doses of Phosphorus 30 while we awaited his urine report, which showed: Albumin 41, RBC 21 and acidic urine. His mother remarked that the child cried before passing urine. We took the following rubrics from Kent:
(1) Bleeding urethra after urination(2) Urination; Dysuria
(3) Child cries before it starts.
The remedies were:
Sars3, borax3, Lach2, Lyco2, NV2
8 doses of Sarsaparilla 30 were given and 2 days later the mother remarked that he dances less before urination though the bleeding is still the same. Sarsaparilla 30 TDS was given for more than a week, though the urine had become totally clear a week after starting Sarsaparilla. The problem has not repeated itself since.
Case 3
Baby Mausam Shah first came to us when she was 1½ years of age in Aug’96 for complaints of chronic loss of appetite and chronic constipation with flatulence. She was, according to her mother, a very finicky eater. She liked spices and sweets, salted chewnuts but very often would take food in the mouth and then throw it out. She passed stools once in 4 days and ailed from evening flatulence, itching urethra and generalised crankiness.Many remedies were given to her including Sulphur, Cina, Thuja, Calcarea carbonica as per the indication, but her constipated state did not respond. She also received a course of Silica Marina 3X which could not be given for a prolonged time as this child would bring out all sorts of small inter-current problems like cough, coryza, fever etc. which would need other indicated remedies. Periodically she would vomit and develop a loss of appetite with shrinking stools, colicky pain in the abdomen and a habit of pinching her parents. She received a single dose of bowel nosode Bacillus Gartner in 200 with remarkable improvement in appetite and in stools. Some indications of this nosode given by Bach Paterson are:
* Malnutrition* Suitable to small hypersensitive children
* Suitable to nervous intelligent persons
* Restlessness of the feet and hands
* Desires company
* Wants light while sleeping
* Cannot digest fatty food, bread, meat and fish
* Vomits after sweets
* Severe constipation
* Indifferent or poor appetite
One dose of this remedy was repeated after 3 months in the same potency when she developed constipation again. Subsequently she improved on Calcarea carbonicum and Tuberculinum though her mother still felt her stools were not as normal as she wanted them to be. The appetite had improved.
Case 4
Mrs. L.D., who had originally come for right-sided sciatica in May’94 from which she recovered, returned back to us for the complaints of a dry cough during Aug’98. It started after eating sour curds. Two prominent modalities were:
Cough dry < talkingCough dry > lying
Manganum aceticum came out most prominently which was given in the 30 C potency: 6 doses. This remedy also has cough; worse in wet weather [Boerricke; Page 422]. She had immediate relief from this remedy but subsequently developed urination on coughing. The cough was still dry and had returned after eating oily food. This situation needed a change in the remedy and Pulsatilla 30 followed by 200 helped her considerably.
Case 5
Pt. G.N. first came to us with a pain around the right big toe from a shoe bite after he had the nail of this toe removed by a surgeon for an ingrowing toenail. Four months later, the same complaints returned in the same toe for which he took some treatment from his previous doctor. He had besides pain in the calf muscles, backache and throbbing headaches. He was treated with Rhus toxicodendron and Calcarea carbonicum. The nail was simply dressed with Calendula. The healing of this nail was taking a very long time. So he received a few doses of Silica. Strange to say, after Silica, a right-sided tonsillar swelling developed suddenly which shifted to the right side with pain on swallowing, headache and coryza. Now the patient was not concerned about his nail as much as about his tonsillar situation. We decided to give him Merc. iod. Rub. though the books reveal Merc. to be inimical to Silica. 3 doses of Merc. iod. Rub made a remarkable difference to his tonsillar inflammation. This made us question as to whether we are unnecessarily following the dictates of what is given in the books of the so-called inimical relationships of our remedies. However, the ingrowing toe nail still remained a problem. So on 02/10/98 he received a rare remedy Magnetis Polus Arist. given in 200. There was an immediate relief of the pain and swelling. Boerricke says this remedy of the South Pole of the magnet is given for severe pain in the inner side of the nail of the big toe. It also reads: ingrowing toe nail, easy dislocation of joints of feet and painful feet on hanging down. However, though the pain and swelling of this person improved there was no decrease in the pus discharge which ultimately was cured by Hepar Sulfuricum 200 and 1M. Subsequently there has been no recurrence of the toe problem till this date.
Case 6
Mr. N.C.N. initially came to us for the complaints of foggy vision. He had been operated for bilateral cataract with glaucoma. He was on Natrum muriaticum for his vision problem. During the course of treatment he developed a new symptom of watery discharge from both ears with impaired hearing. He said “I feel as if there is something blocking the ears.” We took this modality as:
Deafness, Impaired — Cotton stuffed with as if, from Phatak; p. 175 : Ledum.
So Ledum 200X 4 doses were given to him. He returned after a few days saying that there was no ear discharge and he could also hear better.
The patient is still under treatment for his primary complaint.
Case 7
Mrs. L.S.N., a 39-year-old lady, first came on 14/08/97 with the complaints of vertigo during menses, while lying with eyes closed since a year. She also suffered from headaches during menses which were relieved by vomiting. In addition she complained of hyperacidity during menses, scanty menses and leucorrhoea off and on. She had suffered grief after her first stillborn which subsided after the next baby.
Taking the rubrics:* Vertigo on closing eyes, while lying;
* Headache better by vomiting;
* Headache during menses;
Lac. defloratum emerged. She was given 8 doses of Lac defloratum 30 which were repeated next month. She was normal during the next two periods.
In March’98, the complaints returned and again Lac defloratum 200 was given. She developed boils on the neck in June’98, which responded to a few doses of Belladonna 30. Since then she has remained well.
Case 8
Mrs. A.A.B. first reported to us with complaints of lumbago (? Prolapsed intervertebral disc).
Her repertorised remedy came to Rhus toxicodendron which was given in 1M potency every month. During mid-July’98, she developed a scraping cough and complained of severe burning in the throat on coughing. Murphy’s Repertory page 1454 shows Muratic acid as the only remedy with 2 marks for this symptom. 5 doses of this were given in 30. She reported on 31/07/98 and did not complain of her throat problem. Subsequently her treatment for lumbago was continued with infrequent doses of Rhus toxicodendron upto March’99 when her pains were considerably less. She has not reported after that.
Case 9
Mrs. V.A., 27 years of age, came with complaints of recurrent coryza and breathlessness. Her constitutional remedy was Pulsatilla, which was given in 1M potency on 20/03/96. During the course of treatment she developed breast pain which occurred any time. The pains felt like those that had occurred when breast feeding had been suddenly stopped and milk congestion had occurred 5th months after her first delivery when she had had to resume duty. 1 dose of Lac caninum 200 relieved this complaint which has never again been brought to us. She is still under treatment for her breathlessness.
Case 10
Mrs. S.V.S. first came to us with the complaints of dyspepsia, acidity, low BP, headache, vertigo, constipation, burning in the body, lumbar ache, myalgic pains in limbs and severe anaemia. She was given indicated remedies chiefly for her anaemic condition. During the course of treatment in Dec’97, she complained of a pain in the neck more on the left side extending to the left shoulder due to excessive exertion. A previous dose of Arnica 200 had not improved her neck pains. She was then given a single dose of Lachananthus 1M on 19/12/97 which was repeated on 30/12/97. Boerricke states about Lachananthus, “Neck drawn over to one side, rheumatism of neck, stiffness of neck, pain in neck as if dislocated”. After Lachananthus, she reported only occasional neck pain on 12/01/98 which did not occur thereafter though she is still under treatment for her severe anaemia.
Dr. D.E. Mistry, an editor of NAMAH, is a surgeon cum homoeopath, also editing a homoeopathic journal, The Clinical Case Recorder.
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