EVERY day I am surprised at the recklessness with which doctors make distressing diagnoses and terrify and depress their patient by mentioning to then the disease from which they are supposed to suffer.
On April 20th, 1937, I was visited by a business man who lived in the provinces. He was 59 years old, came from excellent stock, and his mother had died when 85 after having been helpless for the last six years of her life and apparently afflicted with Paralysis Agitans, which is commonly called Shaking Palsy.
Mr. G. certainly looked unwell, and there was considerable trembling of the body, particularly at the left side and naturally he was greatly upset when doctors told him that he suffered from Paralysis Agitans. He had read literature in the subject and had come to the conclusion that his disease was incurable.
In sending him directions, I wrote: “I do not know whether one should dignify a slight trembling with such a long Latin name. I prefer to call your complaint an ordinary trembling, which you find in many people. In your case it seems that the condition of trembling has existed in your family for generations, for your grandfather was afflicted with a similar trouble.”
I cheerfully told him that I hoped to make him well, and that he need not attach any importance to the trembling, and drew his attention to the fact that many healthy dogs and horses have a similar trouble and live ripe old age. In addition to the trembling, which particularly worried him because it had been called ” Paralysis Agitans”, he complained of rheumatic pain and stiffness at the back of the neck and shoulders, local inflammation, an enlarged prostate and he lived on a faulty diet.
He over-heated his system with flesh, fish and fowl in over- generous quantities, and took an insufficient amount of liquid. Circulation was impeded by strangulation collar. He hardly perspired, had been vaccinated several times, had had two operation for rupture, had been operated upon for detachment of the retina.
At the end of my directions I wrote to him: “I consider your complaint is largely due to a faulty diet.” I placed him on a lacto-vegetarian diet, gave him natural food in the most natural condition, and started medication by giving him Sulphur 6x night and morning for blood clearing and cooling purposes. Sulphur was particularly indicated because he had very red eyelids.
I improved his digestion by giving him a combination of Nux Vomica and Carbo vegetabilis. As much aluminium had been used in the kitchen he had occasional doses of Alumina 200 as an antidote, Thuja 200 as a vaccination antidote, and occasional doses of Syphilinum 200 for his trembling which might possibly be due to a hereditary factor from generations back. Besides, I wished to test him, by means of his reactions, to find out whether some inherited disease might be responsible for his trouble.
He promptly improved, and then I gave him Calcarea phosphorica to strengthen his limbs, Mercurius 6x for his trembling, and later on I gave him occasional doses of Sulphur 200 and of Vaccinium 200 to deal with vaccinial poisoning. The patient became brighter, put on weight, his trembling diminished, he could do his work better, felt physically and mentally stronger.
Then I gave him Arnica 3x because he was easily fagged. Ignatia 3x for depression and his nerves, changing his remedies as often as required. Then he had bladder trouble for which I gave him Cantharis 12x, inflammation here and there which I treated with Belladonna in various potencies. Then I sent him Phosphoric acid to strengthen his nerves. Then I tried Gelsemium 3x for his trembling. Then I strengthened his heart with Crataegus mother tincture, and helped his digestion with Asafoetida in various potencies, etc.
He improved slowly but steadily and continuously. He now enjoys much better health then he has done for many years. There is still a slight trembling, which will probably last for ever, but he has lost his fear of Paralysis Agitans an incurable disease, and lives a healthy, normal, happy life.
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.