CREEPING PARALYSIS, scientifically called Disseminated Sclerosis, is described as incurable in the textbooks. It may be incurable to orthodox medicine, but it is by no means incurable to Homoeopathy. I could describe numerous cases of mine, as is usually done in orthodox literature, in which a doctor describes a number of cases which were all cured by a single “specific”.
Unfortunately, cures by “a specific” are extremely unreliable because the cases described may have been picked out of over a hundred cases and of these the large majority may not have been benefited by the routine treatment described, but possibly gravely injured. The Homoeopath treats each individual case on its merits. Therefore, I think, doctors and lay-prescribers will be best served if I describe a single case in full detail.
On the Ist of May, 1935, I was visited by a Mrs. A., who lives in a small town near the South Coast. Many months ago she had been urged by her friend and neighbour, who is a patient of mine, to consult me. she had so frequently been told by doctors and specialists that she was absolutely incurable that she did not wish to write to me. At last she wrote, the letter was wrongly addressed, and in due course it was returned to her. She saw in this fact an indication that Providence did not wish her to try anything further.
However, her neighbour urged her again and again, and at last Mrs. A. and her neighbour arrived at my rooms at Park Crescent. My rooms are on the first floor, and Mrs. A had the greatest difficulty in mounting the stairs. When she entered I was horrorstruck by her appearance. She could not walk by herself; she was leaning heavily on her neighbour, a vigorous woman who supported her left arm, and she supported her right side by means of a walking stick.
The poor woman was terribly emaciated and jaundiced, her face was deeply lined with the evidence of suffering, her eyes had not sparkle, her hair had no gloss. She looked the picture of hopeless despair. I did not dare to look her in the face. If I had done so should have injured her gravely because her instinct would have told her what I thought of her condition. So I cast down my eyes at her stick and said: “This seems to be a very nice stick, let me have a look at it”. It tried it and said: “This stick is very handy. I want it. I hope you will soon be able to do without it.” It was the first time that anyone she had consulted had given her hope.
The lady told me her story. She was 49 years old, married by childless, and had had a pitiful childhood. Her mother had died in childbirth, her father had died from an accident, she had been a weakling from the start. The paralysis had begun to show when she was 19. At that age her legs began to feel very heavy and became more and more difficult to control. The condition became worse and worse, and it then extended to the upper part of the body.
This was not her only trouble. When she was 23 years old she was found to be suffering seriously from Tuberculosis. She was sent to a sanatorium where she stayed for more than a year, and was given numerous injections. She was told that she would never get well, and was advised to spend the rest of her life at a home for incurables. She declined that proposal, and was told that she ought to find work, somewhere there was plenty of leisure, good pay and little exertion. She became a cook and discovered that in the situations which she took there was poor pay and much work. However, she bravely carried on.
She had lost all her teeth which began to break and crumble when she was young. She had terrible nights, with pain and sleeplessness. She had had haemorrhoids for which she was operated upon six years ago, and as they came back they were injected two years ago. She had suffered from a duodenal ulcer. Her menstruation was excessively painful, she suffered terribly from indigestion, constipation, felt chilly, was afraid to sleep in the dark, required a light in her bedroom, lived on the usual diet of civilization, and took boiling hot liquids.
She had lost all her teeth which began to break and crumble when she was young. She had terrible nights, with pain and sleeplessness. She had had haemorrhoids for which she was operated upon six years ago, and as they came back they were injected two years ago. She had suffered from a duodenal ulcer. Her menstruation was excessively painful, she suffered terribly from indigestion, constipation, felt chilly, was afraid to sleep in the dark, required a light in her bedroom, lived on the usual diet of civilization, and took boiling hot liquids.
She had been to numerous doctors, hospitals, specialists. Some of the specialists she had consulted had told her kindly that nothing could be done for her and that she could only get worse. She dragged herself about the house with great difficulty, could not keep her balance in the dark, could not walk with her eyes closed, had the greatest difficulty in writing a letter, she could not button a garment or tie a knot unless she used her eyes, her feet were misshapen and very weak, the arches were sunken, the ankles were flabby, she was a complete wreck.
Her case was obviously a very difficult one. I encouraged her to the utmost. She left my rooms full of hope. As she was totally emaciated and strengthless, I gave her a nutritive diet. She was to take per day 9 heaped tablespoonfuls of broad bran, 2-3 eggs, 2-4 pints of milk, vegetables boiled without soda, potatoes boiled or baked in their skins, and was to take water between meals.
Her intake was to be increased gradually and cautiously. She was to rub her emaciated and paralysed legs with unrefined Cod Liver Oil. As medicines I gave her Sulphur 6x night and morning, Nux vomica and Carbo veg. in combination in the 3x potency before meals, a dose of Bacillinum 200 last thing every Thursday instead of the routine medicine, and a dose of Lueticum 200 every Monday last thing in place of the routine medicine.
On receipt of my directions she wrote: “You have done much already in giving me HOPE-it would be difficult to express all that means.” Her first report on May 8th ran:.
“It is with much pleasure that I write to make my first week;s report under your treatment. After taking the dose of Bacillinum 200 I got a really good nights sleep, peaceful and without pain. I cannot say how long it is since I had such a night, but not of late years. I woke up fresh, and ever since then I continue steadily to gain ground. My legs are stronger and steadier, my headaches have now ceased (these were continually with me), The bowels are acting normally once or twice each day, and the pain and bleeding from the back passage has stopped.
I feel ready for my food now and quite enjoy it. I took the other special medicine, Lueticum 200, and feel that it was a distinct help. My spirits are brighter, and I find it is good to be alive. A very short time ago I felt death would be welcome”.
It is of the greatest interest to observe the powerful effect of a single dose of Bacillinum 200 mentioned by the patient, who did not know what she was given. Mrs. A was supposed to have been cured of Tuberculosis, but as she had been tuberculous twenty years previously, I thought it wise to find out whether her trouble was, to some extent, due to Tuberculosis. The dose of Bacillinum 200 caused so marked an improvement in her general health that it was clear that he trouble was, at least, in part due to a tuberculous disposition of infection.
The reaction of the lady to the first dose of Lueticum was equally remarkable. I was led to that medicine because of the great aggravation at night. It is worth nothing that the lady had at the various hospitals been given the Wassermann test, which apparently had always been negative.
On May 15th MRs. A. wrote:
“It is with deep thankfulness and pleasure that I can send you my second weeks report. I am experiencing just a big steady increase of strength and vitality through my whole body, my legs are less heavy and much more under control. I find they absorb the Cod Liver Oil nicely, and I am once more starting a few foot and leg exercises without getting too weary. My spirits are brighter, and I was told last night that my face showed clearly that I was getting better.
I am sleeping much better, have no uneasy dreams, am eating and enjoying my food and there is not pain. There is flatulence still, but not so much discomfort from it, and the bowels are acting quite well. Also I can do my household duties much easier, do not get short of breath so quickly, and I have gained 2 lbs. in weight”.
As the lady had been ill for thirty years I assumed that improvement would only take place after weary months of waiting. However, during the first two weeks she improved amazingly, partly owing to the diet, partly owing to be medicines, and partly owing to the massage with unrefined Cod Liver Oil which I have found extremely useful in innumerable cases.
Inability to sleep in the dark and her intolerance of reflected light, such as the reflection of the sun in the river, obviously indicated Stramonium, and on May 16th I sent her some Stramonium 1x a dose to be taken between meals. The Sulphur and the combination of Nux vomica and Carbo veg. were continued. A week later, on May 22nd, she wrote:.
James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.