REMEDIAL POWER OF HOMOEOPATHY IN CASES OF CHRONIC HEART DISEASE



Aurum metallicum in the 30th or 1m gave prompt relief to this feeling of impending death and kept her reconciled to life for long periods at a time.

Kali carb. in the same potencies gave her great help when the attacks came on between 2 and 5 A.M., and when there was a cough with aggravation at those hours. After an attack, when there was much palpitation and breathlessness with heart discomfort, Baryta carb.5 and 30, gave much relief. On occasional courses of these medicines she was kept in tolerable health for long periods. When I first began to treat her I gave the Iodide of arsenic with some benefit; but it was not nearly so marked as that from the more definitely indicated remedies in higher powers. Aurum 1m (Boericke & Tafel, or F. C.), had the most prompt action when the sensation of impending death was marked.

I will place beside this case another of extensively damaged heart in an aged patient, in which there were practically no symptoms referable to the heart itself, and consequently no call for special treatment.

CASE XX.-EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED HEART AND ARTERIES FULLY COMPENSATED AND GIVING RISE TO NO SYMPTOMS.

A stalwart octogenarian, Andrew M., came to my out-patient clinic at the Homoeopathic Hospital in the summer of 1882, complaining of rheumatic pains in various parts.

Two years before he had been laid up for five weeks with rheumatic fever, and for a short time after that he had been troubled with shortness of breath on going up stairs, but had got over that, and had not been troubled with any heart symptoms since. His irregular pulse, sharp and hard, and hard tortuous arteries at once told me that damage had been done. Here are two of his sphygmograms, pressure 4 ounces.

Examination of the heart showed the following :

There was visible pulsation in the carotids, the apex beat was in the fifth interspace, 3 1/2 inches to the left of the sternum, and the transverse dullness extended from 1/4 inch on the right of the sternum 4 inches to the left.

Vertical dullness began at the lower border of the third rib. No bruits were audible, but there was at the apex the peculiar thumping first sound which indicates mitral stenosis, this being followed by a sharp second. Over the aortic and pulmonary areas the first sound was inaudible, the second being sharply accentuated, the accentuation being most marked in the aortic area. An exaggerated second means increased backward pressure on the heart, and in the case of the aortic valve, it is generally the prelude to aortic incompetence and regurgitation. When the aorta has been affected, either by acute inflammation, as in fevers, or by chronic degeneration, it loses a certain amount of elasticity, and becomes permanently dilated under the force of the heart’s beats. When this has taken place the rebound of the column of blood after the systole is more sudden, and produces the accentuation of the second sound in the aortic area, such as was present in this case. The defect was compensated by hypertrophy.

The rheumatic symptoms gradually subsided under Bryonia and Colchicum, and, finally, Pulsatilla 3, which last did more for him than any other remedy. It removed, after the other medicines had failed, swelling, pain and numbness of the hands across the metacarpal joints, worse in the morning on rising, and left him practically well. The only symptoms he had during the course of the treatment referable to the heart were temporary giddiness and buzzing in the ears.

In this case I did not think it necessary to alarm the patient by explaining to him the condition of his heart, as I believed it would last him as long as the rest of his body.

I will now give the particulars of a case which first came under my care as one of “indigestion.”

CASE XXI.-MITRAL DISEASE WITH ATTACKS OF SYNCOPE. ACTION OF Ignatia.

Mr. J. W., a tradesman, who had done work about my house, consulted me occasionally for an “indigestion” he was troubled with from time to time. The first time was in February, 1888, he being then 38 years old. The symptoms of his indigestion were weight at the epigastrium after food, tenderness to pressure, and drowsiness after meals. These symptoms were quickly removed by Bryonia. He also suffered frequently from headache, tightness at the chest, pain between the shoulders, and at times a cough. His pulse was somewhat frequent, but there was nothing sufficiently remarkable about it to make me suspect anything wrong with his heart.

On April 13th, 1889, I was summoned to see him in the greatest urgency. After a good deal of worry he had been suddenly seized with violent palpitation and faintness, and when I saw him he was in a death- like faint, pallid, with purple lips, and icy cold; in fact he was in a very grave condition of cardiac syncope; the pulse was weak and slow. On examining his chest, I found the heart enlarged, and a mitral systolic bruit present. I put on his tongue a dose of Ignatia 1m (Boericke and Tafel) and repeated it frequently, and he soon revived sufficiently to enable me to take him home in a cab (for he was at his place of business at the time of the seizure). On examining him more at leisure, I found the systolic bruit (which was soft) was audible over the apex, and also over the left auricle. The condition was one of mitral incompetence with hypertrophy.

I now learned that for some time past he had noticed a shortness of breath on going up stairs, and three months before he had turned faint suddenly, and was compelled to sit down. I continued the Ignatia, and I may say that ever since that time it has been a very good friend to my patient. He never goes anywhere without a bottle of pilules of the medicine in the same strength, and whenever he has any sensation of weakness about the heart, whether induced by worry, or by over-exertion, a few doses soon put him right. He has never had a fully developed attack again. He is fair, and of a very sensitive temperament, and easily affected by worry, but active and muscularly strong.

To return now to my journal :-

April 14th.-Had a slight attack in the evening after talking. Dreamed much in the night; short breath on going up stairs; head feels rather light; feet rather colder. Continue Ignatia.

April 16th.-Headache in occiput; fluttering sensation in left chest; faint trembling after waking; a little fever; much flatus downwards; thirst; lips dry. Arsenicum 1m every two hours. Ignatia if required.

April 17th.- Went for a walk yesterday, but could not go far. Dreamed much all night- muddled dreams. Tongue white; still thirsty; bowels rather confined; occipital headache on waking; tremor at heart. Repeat.

I need not follow out the case from day to day. There was another slight attack on the 20th, but by the end of the month the patient was able to return to his work. He had occasionally drawing or digging pain in his left side, and at times a sharp pain, and headache remained troublesome. At one time he described it as a “floating weight” at the vertex. This was relieved by Actea rac. 1. On May 8th he complained of feeling a weight at epigastrium after food, sinking sensation coming on after dinner, and constipation. He received Sulph. 30, one pilule three times a day. After this he was practically well, Sulphur and Ignatia being the chief remedies he required.

Early in the following year he had influenza very badly, with pneumonia and pleurisy of the left side. The heart was not directly involved. The bruit was heard, though faintly. Sulphur was his chief remedy on this occasion. At present he is in very good health. If he over-exerts himself, especially when at work on great heights, as the roofs of London houses, he is reminded that he has a heart. I examined his chest quite recently, and found this condition :-

Apex beat not felt. Area of cardiac dullness extends 2 1/2 inches to left of sternal edge. In pulmonary and aortic areas the first sound is soft; at the mitral area no bruit is heard, but the first sound is impure. This shows that the mitral valve has been restored to competence, though not to its normal state. The sharp, clear sound of the closing of healthy valves is wanting.

This patient has never had rheumatic fever, or any illness to which the state of his heart could be traced. He has always been temperate. Eleven years ago he was very nearly killed by a brick falling on his head from a building in course of erection; but this is the only illness of consequence that he remembers.

The above sphygmogram was taken on March 21, 1893, pressure 3 1/2 ounces.

The foregoing cases, chosen out of a large number, will, I think, suffice to prove that valvular disease of the heart is often curable under Homoeopathic treatment; and when the valves are beyond repair and the balance of the organ lost, much may still be done by Homoeopathy to give power to the heart and restore its equilibrium.

John Henry Clarke
John Henry Clarke MD (1853 – November 24, 1931 was a prominent English classical homeopath. Dr. Clarke was a busy practitioner. As a physician he not only had his own clinic in Piccadilly, London, but he also was a consultant at the London Homeopathic Hospital and researched into new remedies — nosodes. For many years, he was the editor of The Homeopathic World. He wrote many books, his best known were Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and Repertory of Materia Medica