CLlNlCAL CASES
A weakly Miss, aged 19, had repeated chills across the hips at irregular times, followed by heat with sweat. The nose was obstructed yet there was occasional slight nosebleed, with hawking down of post nasal mucus. There was a craving for piquant things and a sense of dryness of the lower legs with restlessness of the whole limb. From day to day she showed the characteristic step ladder temperature, sordes appeared on the teeth and the right inner conjunctiva became red. She tried to escape from bed and a general aggravation after midnight appeared. Here you will easily recognise the oncoming of a severe type of typhoid, but the indications for Arsenicum were so clear that I decided to give a single dose in spite of the warnings of authors against giving this remedy too early. For several days there was no change, then a slight aggravation came on, followed by steady improvement so that by the twenty first day her temperature returned to normal.
A laundry worker, aged fifty, was suddenly attacked by a violent transfixion pain in the epigastrium, spreading backward and upward to the cervical spine and along the left clavicle. She sat bolt upright in bed, gasped for breath and was overcome by a deathly agony. There was considerable left ventricular dilatation and a loud mitral regurgitant sound heard over a large area. Four doses of Aconite DMM quieted her twenty-four hours only; then came a relapse with the information that she had drunk much cold water while overheated, but Bellis did nothing. Because of the symptom “Gasps, fears to lose the breath and die,” Lactrodectus was now chosen. The first few doses relieved her greatly and in one day she felt pretty well. This shows what can often be accomplished even in the presence of an irremovable lesion.
A lady aged 87, complained of burning in hands and feet. A hard ache with soreness in the right lower leg < lying on it. Cloudy weather causes stupidity with rheumatic pains < on the right side. She received a single dose of Sulphur followed by plenty of Sac. Lac. and at the end of twelve weeks wants more of the same remedy because it still helps her greatly.
J. R. V. age 60. Dismissed from Johns Hopkins Hospital as incurable from enlarged liver. Malaria years ago. Shoulders stiff, ache and get cold. Dyspnoea. Tongue feels coated. Chills in the evening. Memory bad. Easily worried. Water is tasteless. Can’t sleep with much cover. Right foot cold. Pale about mouth. Grey stools. Constriction about waist. Aggravation from cold and lying on left side. He received a single dose of Natrium mur. 12 and at the end of seven months he is still improving, more rapidly of late, having gained seven pounds in six weeks.
An elderly maiden lady of 68 years, confined to her chair for two years from rheumatic stiffness of back, hips and ankles with soreness of the bone. Pains from the ovarian region down the face of the thighs. Numbness of both hips down outside of thighs to toes < in heels and < at night. Vertigo in morning, seeming to ascend into head, with momentary blindness. Easy sweating. Night sweats on back, upper arms and thighs < after 11 P.M. Formerly had migraine beginning over either eye and moving to the opposite side, < in the sun. As of cold water flowing over hips and thighs. Itching eczema on ankles. Severe constipation. Puts feet out of bed at night. Aggravation from wind, drafts, dampness, cold and exertion. Better, continued motion. she received a single dose of Sulphur 12, on November 1st, 1919 and is still improving. She now walks well, goes up and down stairs and out on the street. Here a single dose is still acting at the end of seven months.
A merchant, aged 60. Forgetful, irritable and fidgety. Weak attacks. Easy sweating; foul foot-sweat. Sore, stiff neck; soreness of small of back. Pains ascend from nape to vertex. Sleeplessness. Emptiness at stomach. Oxalates, phosphates, spermatozoa and trace of sugar in urine. Sour flatulence. Nightmare. A single dose of Silica 12. At the end of six weeks no sugar in urine and wants more of that same medicine which has especially helped him lately.
Mrs. L. P. M., age 68. Wakeful at night. Irritable caruncle at meatus. Ulcer on heel. Numbness of hips and lower limbs < on lying down. Cold feet at night in bed. Oppressed breathing if lies on left side. Red conjunctiva. Blisters between toes. She received two doses of Sulphur first 12 then in three months the CM and in nine more weeks the MM. The caruncle was cured and only sudden bloating attacks and as of a weight on chest with shortness of breath on every exposure to wind, cool air or fatigue remained. The arteriosclerosis remains the same, but these attacks of dyspnoea have been relieved more than she, her friends or her two allopathic physicians believed could be done, by a single dose of Actea spicata 12.
Man aged 40. Has had flu followed by a dull heavy then a cutting pain at heart going downward and backward. Choking attacks on falling to sleep. Dim vision in lamplight. Like drops of water floating before vision. Vertigo on stooping. Aggravation; lying on left side; after eating. Heat. Has taken much Aspirin. Rx Kali-carb. MM. At the end of seven months he remains well and looks unusually well.
Woman aged 56. Backward going pain (to scapula) in liver, epigastrium and right chest; it compels motion and is < stooping or touch. Sense of hardness in gall bladder. Heaviness at heart. Sweat about waist; clammy sweat. Clothes feel wet; as of cold cloth across shoulders. Craves sweets. A little food fills her up. Burning working in bowels. Acrid leucorrhoea. Urine stiffens or destroys the clothes. Aching like a band about ankles. Soreness all over; everything bruises her. Anxious dread. Aggravation; ascending. April 4, 1920. Received a single dose of Sepia MM; the symptoms were irregular until June 1st, when a rapid improvement set in; Sepia characteristically acts this way.
I wish to emphasize that we will obtain the best results by far by scrupulously avoiding any repetition or change of remedy as long as improvement continues, even intermittently, even if it runs into many months; but in order to do this the prescription must be most accurately fitted to the symptoms and we must know how to wait intelligently upon the ceasing of the reaction which we have called forth.
Do these results look strange and improbable to you? Then you have not sensed the real meaning of my arguments and it is up to you to learn more about such things, only do not go at them with a lot of preconceived opinions and prejudices or your work will all be in vain.
Born in Western Pennsylvania, he graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and subsequently Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia. He moved to Parkersburg, W. Va., in 1888, practicing there, but also consulting worldwide. He gave lectures at the Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati and taught philosophy, materia medica, and repertory at the American Foundation for Homoeopathy Postgraduate School. Boger brought BÅ“nninghausen's Characteristics and Repertory into the English Language in 1905. His publications include :
Boenninghausen's Characteristics and Repertory
Boenninghausen's Antipsorics
Boger's Diphtheria, (The Homoeopathic Therapeutics of)
A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica, 1915
General Analysis with Card Index, 1931
Samarskite-A Proving
The Times Which Characterize the Appearance and Aggravation of the Symptoms and their Remedies