“Monday night I took Pyrogen 200 and to-day am feeling the old abscess throbbing and hot. I awakened in the night and my chest was wet through with perspiration”.
Again she reacted powerfully to the very high potencies, a very excellent sign. As she complained about bearing down and as her liver acted poorly and as she had much catarrh I sent her Kali bichromicum 3x, marked “catarrh and nose”, two first and last thing, Sepia 12x for bearing down, a dose to be taken twice a day between meals and Hydrastis for her digestion and liver, a dose to be taken before meals.
In her next report, dated July 2nd, Miss M.B. wrote:.
“I am feeling rather excited as when I weighed to-day, found I had gained 2 lbs. So much I have never gained before in one week. I am sleeping much better, and have only had one night sweat and that was last night. My cold and catarrh are much improved, but I still have the tiresome cough left by the cold. The right side kept throbbing until Sunday, but is alright now. I have felt very tired all the week and have gone to bed after tea most days, otherwise I have felt a general improvement and am certainly stronger. My friends tell me I am looking much better, and that my eyes are brighter and my lips a richer colour.”.
Notwithstanding the setbacks she had experienced, she was going vigorously ahead. The medicines and diet had taken a firm hold on her. I had given her the usual diet with quantities of bran, milk, eggs, cheese, wholemeal bread, butter, raw fruit, etc., while flesh, fish and fowl were excluded. I continued medication on similar lines as before and on July 9th she reported, full of happiness:.
“I was feeling so much better, until Thursday or Friday, that I wanted to do things and I overtired myself. I enjoyed so much the desire to do things, as it is such a long time since I felt that I wanted to do anything at all, but for a few days I have not been so well. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, I had rather a heavy night sweat and up to then there were several nights between each one.
On Sunday morning after coughing, I had sputum stained with blood; it was not serious, but as I am subject to haemorrhages, I have been very careful and quiet. To- day I feel very much better and more ready to eat. There is a slight decrease in weight this week, a loss of 4 ounces. I must have been gaining until the week-end or the loss would have been greater.
I sent her China, mother tincture tablets, as a tonic, and blood-making medicine. On July 16th she wrote:.
“I am steadily gaining in strength and am feeling much better. I have had two slight night sweats, but have not slept very well and there is a decided improvement in my cough. My appetite is somewhat erratic”.
On July 23rd my patient wrote:.
“I am undoubtedly improving, not so noticeably day by day, but when I look back at two months ago, I see a great difference. This week I have got the Curtis belt which you recommended; it has taken a lot of getting used to, but it has wonderfully eased the backache, and I feel better for the support. I still find lying down of the greatest benefit, or should I say, I still feel the need to lie down.
“I am glad to say I have gained 12 lbs. this week, although I am not eating half of the amount you set me. The catarrh is now quite well and I am not having anything like such heavy night sweats. My cough just disturbs my sleep, but it has not been severe enough to make me vomit all the week.”.
I gave her once more Sepia, China and Hydrastis, and gave her Bacillinum 1,000 a dose once a week, and Lueticum 1,000 a dose to be taken once a week. On July 30th I received a very interesting letter which showed that she had responded magnificently to Bacillinum 1,000. She wrote:.
“On Friday and Saturday after taking Lueticum 1,000, my back felt at breaking point, I had had no backache from getting my belt until then and it has not as yet quite gone away. I also got a lot of pain in my groins and in the gall bladder region, so much so that it was difficult to keep my clothing on my waist. I got a fit of depression on Sunday, I presume it was the medicine, as I took Bacillinum 1,000 on Saturday, and an intermittent pain across the abdomen, which continued coming and going until this morning, and to-day I have had a normal action of the bowels, the first for some months. This constipated state was left by the tubercular peritonitis. This really is wonderful news and is worth everything”.
On August 6th I got a chatty letter from her in which she stated: “Very many people remark to me that I look brighter and a much more healthy colour. My whole outlook is a happier one. I think I caught a chill, for I have been rather bilious since Sunday and have not wanted to eat, which has resulted in a loss of weight of 13/4 lbs., but I am feeling better and it will soon regain it. I take cold so easily and it always causes a set-back.”.
My patient took a little setback like that described quite philosophically, because she was firmly convinced that she was doing well. Her confidence was quite justified. On August 13th she reported:.
“Now that the chill of last week has departed I am feeling very much better and I almost wonder if I am the same person. I have also made the very substantial gain of 23/4 lbs. I had to be weighed twice to realize it was true. A few days ago, after having a bath and was massaging olive oil into my body I found the lump, which had been just below the scar of the old abscess, ever since it had healed, had almost disappeared and much of the soreness, too; this delighted me very much.
It used to worry me so much, as I was always afraid another abscess would form there, and although I had seen the doctor with it so often all he said was rest, and that never did it any good. I still try very hard with deep breathing exercises, but still find it difficult to inhale very deep, but hope the improvement in this side will make it easier. It is very interesting to watch myself week by week, and see another step nearer to health, after years of being ill.”.
I gave her Calcarea phosphorica 3x, first and last thing, China mother tincture tablets between meals, Hydrastis mother tincture before meals, and Arsenicum iodatum 3x for her tuberculosis after meals. On August 23rd Miss M.B. sent me a marvellous letter:.
“I am delighted with the good progress I am making towards recovery. I do not know myself, I feel so much better. Since getting over the reaction to the last once a week medicines I have made wonderful progress, and each day am seeing further improvement. It is a long time since I enjoyed my life so much, and to think only a short time ago a tuberculosis specialist said if I did not go into a sanatorium I would be lucky to be alive in six months.
Now I want to laugh at him. My appetite is much improved, I do not as yet eat all it says on my diet sheet, but I am ready for each meal, very rarely vomit and my cough is very much better, in fact it is nothing compared with three months ago. I have only had one night sweat this week, and it was soon over.
“My weight this week is at a standstill, I may have walked about more but it may be caused by worry as I have felt a bit anxious as to what to do. I think I have gained 42 lbs. in the three months of treatment, which is very good, as from November to May I lost about 12 lbs., and even while holiday in Devon I lost 4 lbs. in a month and never had a gain in weight during that six months. How very glad I am that I came to see you, and I feel most grateful for the help you have given me. I really am stronger than I remember feeling before.
The lump in my side continues to decrease. What a relief to be rid of it. I can scarcely find it and it is no longer tender. My friends all remark how much better I look, my lips are becoming red and my cheeks have lost their pallor. My parents are really surprised and very delighted with me, especially as at first they did not approve of Homoeopathy”.
The woman who had been morose and depressed when she came to me became positively joyful. I continued medication as before. On August 27th she complained about terrible acidity of the stomach for which I sent her Argentum nitricum 3; for her pleurisy I sent her Phosphorus 3, a dose first and last thing. On September 16th my patient wrote full of satisfaction:.
“I am keeping very nicely indeed and have made a gain of 12 lbs. this week; I can see for myself that my arms and legs are putting flesh on and I feel so pleased about it. I am eating very well indeed, and am finding my work does not get me down so easily. There is a wonderful joy in living to be able to do things, as life has been a burden for so long.”
2.
On September 24th she reported:.
“I am feeling better than I ever thought possible. After years of illness and so many treatments, it seems too wonderful to be true to be leaving it behind. I shall not mind you using my case in your journal if it will help anyone else. Shyness made me want to recoil from it at first, then I remember how reading of another cure of tuberculosis encouraged me to try it. I must be looking much improved, for a few days ago we had a visit from a gentleman, an old friend of the family, who had not seen me for a while, for I was In Devonshire when last he called.
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.