TEMPERAMENTS OF REMEDIES
After having made a review of the nosodes and aetiological treatment we are now going to study the homoeopathic remedies. We will rather gives the list of remedies than their indications for their symptoms; not only that it seems to me more rational but because if I speak in detail about all the remedies that may be used, it will become very long
We have placed the ground remedies or temperament remedies on our chart in the following manner; In the middle Natrum sulphuricum and hear it Thuja and Lycopodium, then on the right side Causticum, Silicea, Pulsatilla, Cimicifuga. On the left Sulphur and Calcarea carbonica (phosphorus Aurum metallicum, Natrum muriaticum and Petroleum may also be considered as ground remedies.)
We have underlined three times Natrum sulphuricum because it merits to be placed in the first rank in chronic hydrogenoid rheumatism. This remedy has a very deep action. It is Thuja that will act deeply. It develops towards chronicity with very marked deficiency of liver and kidneys. We have no need to give here a complete picture of hydrogenoid subject. We must base ourselves on the general aetiology. We must not have he idea that this remedy is used in persons living near a lake or in damp places. It is a remedy for persons living in unsalubrious humid places with less ventilation and sun. We must also keep in mind that the hydrogenoid condition may not only exist in fact persons but also in lean persons having aggravation before storm.
It is therefore necessary to think first of all about Natrum sulphuricum. In its aetiology very often psora and gonococcus are found; the later frequently plays a part in the antecedents of subjects of the type of Natrum sulphuricum.
In this connection I cite here the case of one of my war friends who in 1947, had gonorrhoea with rheumatism for which he was to be confined for three years. He was treated and cured. He was married and after three years he began to have rheumatism. I was at that time doing my studies. I tried to treat him knowing that he had gonorrhoea. The last fact was investigated. Nothing was found. Anti-gonorrheal vaccines caused a terrible aggravation. He left Paris for Lille (where the climate is more cold). Aggravation manifested. Faculty of Lille obtained no result. He could not more walk. He came back to Paris. I tried Thuja, Causticum and all other remedies with little effect because then I did not know homoeopathy well. I obtained no result. One day Natrum sulphuricum gave fantastic results. But the barrage was not lifted. I tried Medorrhinum, I failed. Then I gave T.R. and I obtained staggering amelioration. He was completely important and could finally walk like any other person at the end of 18 months. We had then re-examined his urethra but nothing was found. But within two years of his marriage he had given gonorrhoea to his wife. Gonococcus was there undetected.
Natrum sulphuricum is therefore an excellent remedy.
Thuja- It has almost the same symptoms as that of Natrum sulphuricum. Hydrogenoid constitution and sycosis. But Thuja has sometimes less deep action than Natrum sulphuricum. The liver is less deficient. It is kidneys that are mainly affected. The patient is aggravated by vaccinations. He had the famous bluish white lower lip.
Causticum- it is also hydrogenoid of a special character. It has the inverse modality of Natrum sulphuricum and Thuja. It is hydrogenoid from certain points of view but it is aggravated in dry and fine weather and ameliorated during rain and humidity. But this inverse modality will not last long. Very often the subject of Causticum will become a Rhus tox. He will have ankylosis. Natrum sulphuricum and Thuja have often deforming rheumatism with swelling of articulations. Causticum has less swelling of articulations but the patient of Causticum will suffer from osteocartilagenous or osteo-muscular rheumatism with muscular paresis and pains radiating to the right knee. He has pains in hips, aggravated by cough.
Lycopodium: – goes towards rheumatism because of its insufficient liver and because it does not disintegrate well its alimentary alkaloids. His rheumatism is ameliorated by the salts of Lithium. We will see that salts of Lithium, Benzoic acid, Sarsaparilla and other remedies of the same family are very important complementaries of Lycopodium which act in the same sense. Symptoms; Diminution of urea in the urine. Sometimes slight increase of urea in the urine; Sometimes slight increase of urea in the urine; less cholesterinaemia.
Sulphur is a psoric who has periodic rheumatism alternating with skin troubles, with eczema, or digestive troubles. The rheumatic troubles and cutaneous troubles alternate or coexist. The subject has urticaria, furuncles, enterocolitis and diarrhoea. In these cases his rheumatism is ameliorated by sudden stoppage of the diarrhoea.
Calcarea carbonica corresponds to hereditary psora. The subject has articular rheumatism in relation with endocrinal troubles, specially troubles of thyroid and thymus.
Silicea has deforming rheumatism with ankylosis, but has less swelling. It is the inverse of the hydrogenoids, specially of Natrum sulphuricum and thuja. Deformation of bones, or in some cases osteo-cartilaginous rheumatism. These are then person whose swelling of articulations is caused more at the expense of the hard tissues than the soft tissues, of articular tissues properly called. It then affects less peri-articular tissues. There are exceptions because Silicea acts on all conjunctive tissues.
Pulsatilla :- The subject of Pulsatilla has rheumatism as a result of circulatory troubles, specially as a result of venous and capillary congestion. Rheumatism in young persons, more or less tuberculous or tuberculinic. Rheumatism which will have evolution towards Silicea. In Pulsatilla there is before all an important phenomenon: erratic pains. It is a remedy of erratic pains. On the contrary Natrum sulphuricum, Thuja and Silicea have fixed pains.
Cimicifuga (Actea racemosa) Really speaking it is not a remedy for spasms of muscular rheumatism, with jerkings, contractions and cramps. Does parathyroid play a part in Cimicifuga? This question is not yet very clearly answered.
You see then the outline of our homoeopathic treatment of chronic rheumatism by the constitutional remedies. Before passing to the functional remedies we are going to complete the question of the treatment of chronic rheumatism in three or four short chapters.
Bernoville was a major lecturer in homeopathy, and he was active in Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis, and a founder of the le Syndicat national des médecins homœopathes français in 1932, and a member of the French Society of Homeopathy, and the Society of Homeopathy in the Rhone.
Fortier-Bernoville wrote several books, including Une etude sur Phosphorus (1930), L'Homoeopathie en Medecine Infantile (1931), his best known Comment guerir par l'Homoeopathie (1929, 1937), and an interesting work on iridology, Introduction a l'etude de l'Iridologie (1932).
With Louis-Alcime Rousseau, he wrote several booklets, including Diseases of Respiratory and Digestive Systems of Children, Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic Rheumatism, treatment of hay fever (1929), The importance of chemistry and toxicology in the indications of Phosphorus (1931), and Homeopathic Medicine for Children (1931). He also wrote several short pamphlets, including What We Must Not Do in Homoeopathy, which discusses the logistics of drainage and how to avoid aggravations.
He was an opponent of Kentian homeopathy and a proponent of drainage and artificial phylectenular autotherapy as well.