(Revue Francaise D Homoeopathic. July, 1933).
ON December 12th, 1927, I was urgently asked by Mrs. D. to visit her daughter, who had been pregnant for seven weeks and who suffered from the most terrible attacks of vomiting. I found the patient in bed. She was vomiting unceasingly, had the most painful spasms and there was profuse salivation which amounted to two pints in twenty-four hours. During the last fortnight everything had been tried to stop these attacks. A doctor and two gynaecologists had tried everything, complete isolation in the dark psychological treatment, numerous drugs bandaging of the abdomen, etc.
At last the gynaecologist had advised that unless there was immediate improvement, artificial abortion would be require. The young woman was indeed in a very serious condition, she looked drawn and haggard, eyes deep in their sockets with black rings, was totally exhausted, had a pulse of 115 per minute, which was soft, small and weak. She had lost a great deal of flesh and she begged me to produce an abortion. I gave her in succession Tabacum 6, Nux vomica 6, Arsenicum 6, Cocculus indicus 6, Veratrum album 30, Sepia 30, China 30, remedies which were indicated by her weakness, pallor, nausea, vertigo, cold sweats and exhaustion, but none of them proved helpful.
Ipecacuanha 30 did a little good, but only during twelve hours. On the sixth day, feeling desperate, I prescribed Mercurius solubilis, because of the stringy salivation and the heavily coated tongue with imprints of the teeth. That medicine made her condition worse.
On the seventh day of my treatment the gynaecologist came back. I discussed the position with him and we agreed that abortion should be produced on the text afternoon. When my colleague had gone I stayed behind to comfort the poor woman. Besides, I hoped to think of a remedy which would allay her anxiety and her fear of the projected surgical intervention.
I thought of Ignatia which seemed to be suitable to the lady because, when experimentally taken it has produced symptoms which the patient had before she became pregnant, for she had always been very nervous, changeable, emotional, and could not stand tobacco smoke. I had a kind of inspiration that possibly Ignatia might succeed in saving the life of the coming child. In order to be sure that it would act deeply, I prescribed that remedy in the thousandth potency and she was to take it as soon as it arrived.
I left the house and returned next morning feeling certain that the dose of Ignatia also had failed. To my amazement I heard that the patient had not vomited a single time since waking up, that she bad breakfasted, having taken milky coffee, bread and butter and bananas. Besides, she had declared that she was cured and that the gynaecologist need not operate on her. Two hours after having taken the dose of Ignatia, there was a severe aggravation of vomiting and salivation which lasted until evening.
She passed a good night, and on waking felt to totally different woman. While I was told of this wonderful recovery the gynaecologist arrived. When told of the wonderful improvement he expressed the opinion that the patient had been cured not by the medicine I had given, but by the dread of the planned operation. I felt inclined to agree with him, and production of an abortion was adjourned for a later date.
Improvement from the single dose of Ignatia lasted six days. There was no longer any vomiting or salivation. The young woman had an excellent appetite, looked better, gained weight. On the seventh days the husband telephone me to come at once because the terrible vomiting bouts had recommenced. I gave another dose of Ignatia in the thousandth potency, which produced pronounced relief. I then gave the patient a dose of Ignatia in the thousandth potency every week during three months.
Then we were able to leave off that medicine and the lady was given Sulphur in the thousandth potency, Calcarea fluorica in the 30th potency and Arsenicum in the 30th potency to prepare the mother for childbirth and to strengthen the child in her womb.
I have found that Ignatia in high potencies, particularly in the thousandth potency, is of the greatest value not only in the vomiting of pregnancy, but also in other troubles occurring at that time, such as nausea, salivation, etc. When given by me in the 30th potency Ignatia has failed to do good.
I have found that Ignatia acts during about a week (Dr. Clarke gives nine days.- Ed., “H. T.”) while Lachesis, Sulphur, Lycopodium in the thousandth potency act during two or three weeks and longer. Ignatia in the thousandth potency had become my favourite medicine in similar cases. It does not always cure, but it relieves nearly always and seems to act better that Sepia, Cocculus, Nux vomica, Mercurius.
ANOTHER IGNATIA CASE
A stockbroker, a Mons. S., was extremely nervous, and lived at high tension. He suffered fro, high blood pressure, living in an atmosphere of rush, anxiety, worry, and he was very emotional. I treated him successfully during three months for sleeplessness, depression and colitis with violent diarrhoeas. Blood pressure remained normal and he was rapidly cured with the help of Thuja 1,000th potency, Lycopodium 200th potency, Argentum nitricum and Ignatia 30th potency.
Eight months later he telephoned me that he was terrified by an attack of giddiness, palpitation and anxiety, and asked for an immediate appointment. He told me that when stooping at his desk to lift up some papers he had dropped on the floor he had been attacked by terrible vertigo, the pulse in his temples started beating violently, there were noise in his ears and the heart seemed to jump out of his chest. He had had similar attacks several times, but his chronic diarrhoea had not reappeared.
On the contrary he had been constipated for a month, and he told me it was his been constipated for a month, and he told me it was his own fault because he was too busy to go to the lavatory. His sleeplessness had returned for him in the past. He told me he was very tired and felt weak, and he imagined that he suffered from too low a blood pressure. He was very depressed and worried his daughter was ill and going to bring an action for divorce and Stock Exchange business gave him much anxiety.
When I examined him I found to my amazement that his blood pressure had very greatly increased. I told him that he need not worry about his blood pressure, but gave him Sulphur in the 1,000th potency, Glonoin and Argentum nitricum in the 1,000th potency and told him that the blood pressure would rapidly go down.
A fortnight after my patient returned. He told me he was no better. His blood pressure was practically unchanged. I then prescribed Ignatia 1,000th potency, a dose once a week, and Aconite and Spigelia 30. After a fortnight of this treatment blood pressure had diminished greatly, sleeplessness and palpitations had disappeared and his constipation was gone.
This case illustrates the usefulness of Ignatia in all physical troubles due to sorrow, worry, excitement, especially in town people who lead a life at high tension, and that medicine seems to be particularly suitable for speculators and stockbrokers. Ignatia seems to be an excellent medicine for clearing the brain of patients and freeing them of fears and thoughts which poison mind and body and cause disease.
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.