CANCER, HOMOEOPATHY AND ORTHODOX TREATMENT


fifty years old, furniture remover, was sent to the hospital Saint-Antoine on April 27th, 1926 for constantly increasing hoarseness. Inspection of the throat shows improvement, ulceration looks more wholesome, and the margins are more clearly defined.


(L Homoeopathic Moderne, Feb. 1933).

MR. LOUIS C., fifty years old, furniture remover, was sent to the hospital Saint-Antoine on April 27th, 1926 for constantly increasing hoarseness. He had had no venereal disease, had been a very moderate smoker, and had given up smoking since he noticed the pain in the throat. He has a good appetite, but can no longer swallow solid food, and has a never-ceasing pain in the throat, resembling that produced by wooden splinters, and the pain is aggravated by swallowing.

During the last week the swallowing of liquids also has become more and more difficult, and during the last five weeks he had great trouble in swallowing. He complained about a disagreeable taste, he had a very dirty tongue, and an un-ending thirst for cold water. He had much salivation, and, as swallowing the saliva gives him pain, he is continually spitting. he had lost a great deal of weight during the last six months, slept badly, had heavy night sweats, was very talkative.

Examination of the throat showed a large oedematous swelling, a large cauliflower-like growth with fetid ulceration, infiltration of the healthy tissues, and the whole throat had been pushed to the left side. The ganglions and arteries of the throat and the glands had also been affected. As the case was too advanced for surgical treatment in any form, Dr. Louis Leroux of the hospital handed the patient over to me.

I immediately took some blood for a blood test and excised two small portions of the growth for microscopic examination. Before he had gone to the hospital he had received from his orthodox physician a large number of medicines which had in no way slackened the progress of the disease. I told him to weigh himself the next day, gave him a single dose of Thuja 200 and told him to take every morning a single dose of Hepar sulphuris 30.

On May 3rd, a week after our first interview the patient called on me. He told me that during the last forty-eight hours swallowing had greatly improved, that he was less hoarse, and that the dose of Thuja 200 upset him badly during the first forty-eight hours. His weight was fifty-seven kilogrammes. The Wassermann test for syphilis was negative and the two excised sections of the growth were declared cancerous by the pathologist. I gave him a dose of Lachesis 30, and told him to continue taking Hepar sulphuris 30 every morning.

On May 8th I saw the patient again. His weight had increased from 57 kilos to 572 kilos. He told me that the dose of Lachesis had caused a sensation as if he had swallowed fire, that he felt much better in general health, slept well, and was no longer troubled with night sweats. His appetite had greatly improved. He now eats everything that comes to hand, even meat, of which he is very fond, and salivation had increased.

Inspection of the throat shows improvement, ulceration looks more wholesome, and the margins are more clearly defined. The growth seems smaller, and the patient no longer complains of pain when the tongue is pulled forward. He was given a single dose of Thuja 200 to be taken on May 12th, and was told to continue taking Hepar sulphuris 30 every morning. He was also told to take Lachesis 30 on May 9th and 14th, half an hour before the evening meal.

On May 15th, Mr. C. called again. His weight had increased to 58.2 kilos. The dose of Lachesis 30, taken on May 9th, had caused him to perspire during the whole night, but had not given him the sensation of fire in the throat. The dose of Thuja 200 taken on May 12th had caused him to cough and spit during the whole of the following day and had caused much pain in the throat.

The dose of Lachesis 30, taken on May 14th had not produced any reaction. The patient told me that he felt well in general health, no pain in the throat, but still much salivation. He can eat everything and tells me with delight that he can even eat and swallow crusty bread. He has a tremendous appetite and a perfect digestion. Sleep is excellent.

Formerly he emptied his bowels the moment he got out of bed, but now he has motions at odd times, is still very thirsty for cold water and has gone back to the strenuous work of furniture removing. The ulcer looks clean and wholesome, showing fleshy vegetations. He was told to take Lachesis 30 on May 19th and 24th and to continue Hepar sulphuris 30, to be taken now only every third morning.

On May 29th, a month after the beginning of the treatment, he weighed 59 kilos, an increase of 42 lbs. He told me that the two doses of Lachesis had caused tiredness and increased salivation, that his appetite and sleep were excellent, that the swallowing pain had practically disappeared and he was delighted with his progress. He spits less, cough is still present, and he is still thirsty for cold water.

The diameter of the throat ulcer has shrunk, and the ulcer surface is skinning over, but swelling and redness of the throat persist. I gave him a dose of Thuja 200 to be taken first thing in the morning and, because of the swelling and redness, I prescribed Belladonna 30 and Apis 30 to be taken in alternation every three hours.

On June 5th the patient weighed 60.3 kilos. The dose of Thuja 200 had produced a fearful reaction, with horrible pain, complete sleeplessness and cough, which lasted three days. After these three days, improvement has been continuous, but it seems that the doses of Belladonna and Apis were placed too near one another because they produced an aggravation lasting one or two hours.

There is little cough; appetite and sleep are excellent; the disagreeable taste has disagreeable taste has disappeared; the tongue is clean; there is less thirst, but salivation is still pronounced. There is no longer any swallowing difficulty. The ulcer is healing, and has shrunk to very small proportions, about as large as a lentil, but there is still much swelling and redness and he has still occasionally a splinter sensation in the throat. He was told to take a dose of Lachesis 200 on waking first thing on June 6th, a dose of Belladonna 30 on the other mornings, and a dose of Hepar sulphuris 30 every fourth day, half an hour before dinner.

On June 19th I saw him again. He weights 63.1 kilos, cough has disappeared, salivation is still in evidence, he has no longer a splinter sensation which has disappeared while taking Hepar sulphuris which causes and cures that symptom. The throat is as red as it was, but the swelling is not so large, healing by scar formation has continued. He was told to take a dose of Lachesis 200 both on June 26th and on July 29th, a dose of Thuja 200 on July 14th, a dose of Lachesis 30 every Thursday evening, and a dose of Belladonna 30 for the inflammation of the throat two or three times a day.

On August 9th, six weeks after our last interview, my patient weighed 66 kilos, having gained 9 kilos or 20 lbs. in three months and a half. There is still much salivation. For several weeks he has taken no medicine but he complains that during the last few days he has had the sensation of the throat being pricked with hot needles. I scolded him for having kept away from me for six weeks, risking thus failure of treatment.

Inspection of the throat showed that the condition was as it had been on June 25th. I gave him a dose of Micrococcin 200 (the French equivalent of Carcinosinum), a cancer product, to be taken first thing in the morning of the following day and gave him Lachesis 30, a dose every Thursday, Hepar 30 a dose every Sunday, and Apis 30 for the swelling, a single dose per day. Having given these directions I went on my holidays.

Three weeks later, on August 29th, my patient wrote to me that he suffered so much from rheumatism in his knees that he had gone to the hospital where they had kept him. Two days after receipt of this letter, on September 2nd. I returned to paris. Soon afterwards I went to his hospital, and he showed me his knees which were somewhat swollen. He had been given every day an injection of Salicylate of soda.

These injections had given no relief whatever, but they had been continued all the same. Moreover, after the third day his old throat pain had returned, but no one had paid any attention to it. I urged him to leave the hospital as soon as possible. Three months later, on November 20th, I called at the hospital and I learned that he had been sent away from the hospital on October 30th, two months after my visit, and the entry had been made, “Dismissed, cured of rheumatism of the knee.”.

Not having heard from my man for a long time, I became anxious and on December 9th went to see him at his house. I was horrified when I entered his room. He was lying in bed. He had become a wreck, was totally emaciated and he sobbed constantly, coughing, “Oh, doctor, doctor, here you are ! Those wretches at the hospital have killed me ! Look what they have done with me ! ” He wept like a child and lifted off his clothes to show me that he had become a skeleton covered with skin.

When I had left paris for my holidays a few months ago he was fat and rosy and muscular. He was now only skin and bones. He told me that during two months Professor X and his assistant had given him daily injections of Salicylate of soda, although he had fever every evening. During that time he was almost daily dragged from one lecture room to the other, and was tortured with every possible test, but no one had ever looked at his throat. He caught a chill in one of the unheated corridors, and then develop a fearful diarrhoea.

Paul Chavanon