Post Herpetic Neuralgias.
There is another group of conditions of the same type the post herpetic neuralgia, which are sometimes very troublesome. You know the ordinary shingles neuralgia where the patient comes with acute burning pain along the course of the intercostal nerve and gives a history that he has had a small crop of shingles very often so light that he pain little or no attention to it. Well. if you can get the same modalities as you go tin the facial neuralgias under Mag phos., that remedy will often relieve. Much more commonly you find that these post herpetic cases respond to Ranunculus. The particular features for this drug are the history of herpes the very sharp shooting pains extending along the course of the intercostal nerve sensitive to touch that the pain is induced or aggravated by it, and you may get the statement that the patient is extremely conscious of any weather change because it will cause a return of the neuralgia again. Well that type of case responds in almost every instance to Ranunculus.
You will get a few of these cases which have not responded to Ranunculus with much the same distribution of pain and the same modalities, but without the marked aggravation in wet weather, where the affected area is extremely sensitive to any cold draught, particularly sensitive to any bathing with cold water, and where the pains are likely to be very trouble some at night and with a marked hyperaesthesia over the affected area. And these cases usually respond to Mezereum.
He wrote a number of books: Children's Types, Digestive Drugs, Pneumonias
Douglas Borland died November 29, 1960.