“Years ago I tried to insert a bougie into the urethra but had to refrain from too great sensitiveness of the passage.
“I shall wait your prescription and shall take a dose of NItr. 200, if anything. I replied: “It would have been better if you had not taken Acid nitricum and Lycop.; they will do no good. Hold fast to Thuja nd Nat. sul. Whatever may occur, there is no indication whatever for any other course.”
November 23rd. “To-day I can report a great improvement, for the pains in my bones are reduced to a minimum: the knee- joints are stronger so that I can rise much more easily from my seat, and that with the help of one hand only. The pain in the heel is much relieved, and for many days I have experienced such a sense of comfort that while lying in bed where I have otherwise been in the habit of reading, I give myself up entirely to this delightful sense of returning health and no nothing.
“For several days there has been a feeling of some overwork and inclination to sweat, and after I had taken the first dose of Nat. sul. yesterday morning I had a pain in the bowels as from diarrhoea; after the second and third dose there appeared besides trembling and fermentation in the bowels. My good appetite was entirely gone at noon. Hence these were affects of Nat. sul., which I have now taken present I have discontinued the remedy. The next evening there was heat in my right ear, chilliness, and when out of bed a shaking chill with increased thirst. Pulse 104. At night slight sweat and good sleep. Pulse now in the morning 116, otherwise I feel well. The sores in the throat have not spread. Since I took Thuja again the condylomata have disappeared to a mere trace. My tongue is coated white; the taste is flat; dryness and heat in the mouth; disgust for meat; this morning no colic; eruptions of the forehead and head entirely gone. Since the urethra is no longer as sensitive as it was I have undertaken its dilatation. The urine passes more easily and there is but seldom a double stream. The urinary difficulties are also less. The stricture is situated far back at the entrance of the urethra into the bladder.
“Till further orders I shall suspend the use of Glauber’s Salts (Nat. sul.), but shall continue with the Thuja, which I last took in the 200th (Jenichen’s).”
To this I replied: “Since you are now saturated with the Glauber’s Salts, you should, as a matter of course, suspend their use for about eight or fourteen days. But I should rather see you continue with Thuja 30, for the 200th requires to be taken at longer intervals, otherwise you would have your blood over-saturated with it too soon.”
December 24th. “I had already taken Thuja 200 at longer intervals but returned to the Thuja 30 (four drops) as soon as I received your letter. However, my regular morning stool soon became so hard that I took only two drops. In a few days the stools were easier, but soon after the same difficulties at stool returned again. The stool occurred now with the greatest effort, and was accompanied with burning sore pains lasting all day, so I was obliged to cease the use of Thuja entirely, and even at the risk of your finding fault again, I took Nux vomica 30 several successive evenings with this result: The stools were passed with more ease, the protruding haemorrhoids became softer and smaller, and i was no longer annoyed with pain after stool. After ceasing the use of Thuja for six days I took it again, but the difficulty at stool returned again at once, so that I resolved to dispense with it for a longer time.
“After having discontinued the Nat. sul. for ten days I took it again, three drops in water every hour. After taking it three weeks my appetite diminished again, and last evening also I had a slight chill. I took this to be another indication that I was over-saturated with Nat. sul., and hence will wait for further directions before I take any more medicine.
“In other respects I improve constantly. The pains in my right heel have disappeared entirely, and my legs are so strong again that to-day I was able to rise from my seat without the support of my hands. An enlarged gland in the left groin, which I have noticed for many years, has already diminished very much and become softer, and the kernels on the thigh also appear to grow smaller. In the urethra I can already pass a catheter of large size. The stream of urine is stronger and not divided as before. The eruption on the ears has healed. If I find that I continue to improve, can I take a short walk out of doors? For four months I have not been able to leave the room.”
Answer. “There is nothing to be said against the use of intercurrent remedies if they seem necessarily indicated, since you now seem to have lost the hasty anxiety which sometimes leads to things superfluous.
“I now commit to you the further treatment of the case and see no reason why you should not go out in mild weather, if you only guard against too rapid change of temperature.
April 12th. “My disease is so much improved already that I am able to visit patients even several hours distant, and can go up stairs though with some effort. The tubercles are somewhat diminished, the bloody stools as well s the condylomata above the anus have disappeared.
“I have not had any more occasion for intercurrent remedies. Thuja and Nat. sul. I still use according to your directions.”
[Many years ago, Dr. Pascal of Paris, gave an account of Grauvogl’s constitutions in the Bulletin del’ Homoeopathie and he added to Grauvogl’s cases the following which he translated from the Italian Revista Omiopatica.-J.H.C.]
DR. GIOVANNI URBANETTI’S CASE.
Hydrogenoid Constitution. Nux vomica, Ipecac., Nat. sul.
M.N., 46, tall and well built, having come to Venice with his family in July, 1874, to take the baths, came to consult me and gave me the following account of his case:
“Although my constitution, as you perceive, is neither weak nor delicate, I cannot say I am satisfied with my health. I have never had serious illnesses but I am subject to a crowd of little discomforts which rob me of gaiety, activity and spring, I am very often tormented with coryzas which easily spread to the throat and cause a little difficulty in swallowing, thickening of the voice and bronchial catarrh. I am worried with rheumatic pains though not severe. My digestion is capricious, sometimes good, sometimes bad with bad taste in the mouth. I am worse in Winter when the weather is cloudy and when it rains. I am always very chilly nd my feet are constantly rather cold. I m better in Summer, and especially when I perspire I feel relieved; and if by misfortune the sweat is checked I am easily taken with slight shivers and quickly fall back into my usual state of depression. My urine is a abundant and the colour varies according as my sufferings are more or less attenuated. I cannot name any likely cause for this state, since my life is very regular, I have never had nay suspect maladies, nor has my morale had to undergo any violent troubles. The Homoeopathic remedies which I take or have prescribed for me, promptly relieve me, it is true, but they do not protected me against frequent and extremely easy relapse. I should like to know from you, sir, if there is any means of establishing my health by and radical treatment whatever?”
To anyone I imagine it would knows the Constitutions of Grauvogl I imagine it would be impossible to find a more exact picture of the Hydrogenoid Constitution than this. After the directions of the author the indications for the correction of this form of constitution would be:
First, to restore the spent animal heats; then, to disburden the blood of the excess of hydrogen. The first result was obtained by exciting the spinal nervous system by Nux vomica, and the great sympathetic by Ipecac. These two remedies should be given alternately, in a low dilution, frequently through the day and kept up until the bodily heat is restored. The first effect gained, Nat. sul.6, two drops night and morning for a long time to free the organism from the excess of hydrogen, which is the cause of the catarrhs and rheumatism.
After having well studied the symptom picture of this case the choice of these remedies was clearly justified by the law of similars, a guide of which Homoeopaths must never lose sight, just as he should never forget the special action of the remedies in high and low dilution, which constitutes a great difference. According to Grauvogl, the low dilutions act more particularly on the organs, tissues and systems affected, whilst the high ones act by preference on the general symptoms.
This is the plan I prescribed for my patient, who promised to follow it out exactly.
In July of the following year he came to see me again and told me the result of the treatment had been very happy. He had passed an exceedingly severe winter in Paris without experiencing any inconvenience.
