Then he tried irregularity in diet and waking at night; then he tried the various food articles such as grams, vatanas, udads, and other pulses and fried things, which used to trouble him before; then he went to his usual junior surgeon, for consulting him on this point, who exclaimed that it wan an impossibility! But the patient knew that the taste of the pudding is in its eating ! Then the patient and myself both agreed to wait and watch for one year and if the fistula did not open during this period, then we should say that the fistula has been completely cured by homoeopathic medicines. For the last 2 months, the treatment has been completely stopped.
CASE NO. 2.
The other case, of osteomyelitis, was of a young girl of 4 years. She was apparently healthy. Her left upper arm was suddenly swollen, including shoulder joint but it was without fever. After 2 days, the swelling reached fore-arm and hand and was accompanied with fever, which was preceded by slight chilliness and followed by sweat. The mother and the patient herself gave the history of injury to the left upper extremity due to dragging by another girl. This history and the swelling without fever two days, made me think that it was a case of injury but as Arn. 30, 12 doses, had no appreciable effect on it, I thought that it was a case of an abscess.
For the first 6 days this case was under the treatment of another allopathic doctor, who prescribed sulphanamid pills, diaphoretic mixture and applications of Belladonna liniment to the affected part. In spite of this treatment, the patient went from bad to worse, i. e. the swelling covered the whole left extremity and there was redness as in cellulitis; fever was gradually rising daily; No sleep and continuous pain. All this condition made the doctor shaky in his confidence and he immediately asked the parents of the girl to remove her as soon as possible to the hospital, as the only hope of saving the child.
This sudden advice of the doctor made the parents nervous. In the evening, the horrified parents brought the girl to me. The swelling was not accompanied by fever for 2 days. But when I saw the case, it was all an inflammatory condition; fever, redness, swelling, tenderness all over the limb. The night the girl received Arnica was passed better than before, the next evening her father came and reported that the fever was there but it did not rise to its highest pitch. The girl looked better in general appearance. She was lively and playing all the day. The swelling of the forearm, hand and fingers was reduced.
I told him to finish the rest of the powders and to bring the girl to me the next morning. When I saw the girl the next morning, the condition of the arm was as before, practically there was no change except those improvements told by her father. Then I thought that it was a case of deep abscess. But to make sure that there was no fracture (incomplete) or any separation of epiphysis from the shaft or any mischief in the shoulder joint. I advised him to take the girl to the K.E.M. hospital or to any radiologist and get the X-Ray report.
In the meantime, I took down all the available symptoms of the girl, namely: (1) constipation due to inactivity, (2) complete anorexia, (3) fever followed by sweat, (4) fever highest in the afternoon, after 1 P.M. and at night after 1 A.M., (5) thirst for cold water and for large quantity, (6) worse by lifting her body. I repertorised these symptoms and found the following drugs, namely: Sil. 21/6, Sul. 20/6, Bry. 20/6 and Phos. 19/6. Out of these, I choose Phos. as it was her constitutional drug, with which I had treated her during the last 2 years, successfully, four or 5 times, for diarrhoea and vomiting; and moreover Arnica had already stopped the mischievous progress of the disease.
I gave 2 powders of Phos. 30 and recipe No. 2 6 powders, sufficient for 2 days. The exhibition of Phos brought down the fever range. It varied from 99 to 99.4 F. during the whole day. The swelling of the arm was a little reduced but the red appearance was the same, and other symptoms were also the same, for these 2 days. At this juncture, she developed a new symptom, namely she used to play and be merry the whole day but at night at 3 A.M., she used to be awake due to pain.
So I referred these two symptoms, (3 A.M. sleep disturbed by pain), in the Bogers Synoptic Key and I found Bry. and Sul. prominently. I selected Bry. because of the thirst for large quantity of cold water. Bry 30, 2 doses, brought down the fever to normal and kept it below normal. The swelling was reduced except a small hard lump just underneath the skin, having no connection with bone or any other tissue. Redness disappeared; appetite improved; there was sound sleep. The hard lump was on the posterior surface of the left arm.
The fifth day after the exhibition of Bry., the hard lump burst open of its own accord and pus came out in large quantity and the wound healed up within 2 days, without any help from the doctor. Now the girl is perfectly alright. I might add that the diagnosis from the radiologist was “OSTEOMYELITIS”.
