HOMOEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF SENILE PRURITIS AND PRURIGO



Now let me relate three cases bearing on the etiology and complications of senile pruritus.

Case I.Mr.F.R.F., age 69, (was under my care for over thirty years) , light complexion; well educated, extremely neurotic, personal history; auto accident resulting in feature of one leg, one thigh, one wrist and concussion of the brain, with unconsciousness for ever eighteen hours. there was lack of union in the high and a second operation was required.

Beginning about four years after the accident, itching began, more in the legs and arms, also in his bread (he never shaved). there were no objective symptoms until he scratched, but after scratching all sorts of conditions, mostly bleeding and scabs, He tried everything suggested by this neighbors,m by what he read, etc. Radium, x-ray, all sorts of ointments,even kerosene oil,with but little if any help.

Arsenicum alb,. 30th internally with a solution of 1 to 1000 Arsenious ac. was the treatment which I gave him that afforded the most relief. The next was Fagopyrum 12x months before his death he developed a dull pain in this liver soon followed by yellowness of the of the sclera and skin. The itching was greatly increased. I kept him comfortable during the last fifteen days of his life with hypodermics of morphine sulph., 1-4 grain. Post mortem revealed a liver four times the natural size, studded with cancer nodules.

Case II. Mrs. I.F.H. dark, neurotic, housekeeper, mother of one child, died at the age seventy-one of cancer of he breast. F.H.Father died of T.B.C and ,other of cancer of the uterus when patient was only eighteen months old. P.H.Sickly until she matured. Good health from then on until five years before her death,when, in an accident,she severely lacerated her right breast. The wound only partially healed. Soon ulceration begun and extended over the entire breast. Being a faith-halter,” she would not have treatment for the cancer. But about four weeks before her death her sister came with statement that because of a “terrible itching” the patient had not slept for four days and nights and now wanted me, her old family physician,to sent her something to make her sleep. The sister added, “and if you have something we can use to stop the awful odor from the breast,give that too.”.

The patient was given five one grain tablets of Fagopyrum, 12th,and a prescription of Carbolic ac. dr.ss. Glycerin oz. O and Listerine ox. iii, to be mixed and applied to the lacerated spots of the skin. The patient got “quite a little sleep” as the result.

In this case as in Case I, I feel that the cancer was the strongest etiological factor; also that Fagopyrum helped relieve the itching and permitted some sleep.

Case III.Miss E.T., a school teacher of exceedingly neurotic make-up, a poor sleeper, very susceptible to pain; made the following statement: “I am in bed today because I have a high fever and itch from head to food. Nothing seems to help the itching. In fact,scratching or rubbing makes the itching worse and I thin increase the fever. My skin is dry now,as you see, but an hour ago I was wet with sweat from head two foot.”Her face was flushed, temperature 104.3 and pulse that of Bell., which I gave in the 30th (B.& Ts) tend drops in water. I promised speedy relief and that she would be able to be in school Monday ()this was Saturday a.m.). But I was called again in the evening and found her no better, infact worse every way.

Questioning for a cause brought a confession that for several weeks she had come home Friday “so tired and used up” she could not sleep and that at the suggestion of a friend she had taken antipyrin. there had been nothing the first few weeks,. but lately ther had been not only itching but some fever on Saturday. These two symptoms had gradually grown worse. I changed the potency of Bell. to the 6x five drops every 2 hours. The next morning the temperature was 99.5, pulse nearly normal and she had slept from 11 p.m. council nearly 6 a.m. The Bell. was discontinued and I made her promise not to take any more antipyrin.

The following Friday was called again about 11 p.m. because she had become more tired than ever and the itching was worse than ever. I gave five tablets of Fagopyrum 12th in a cup of water. this gave sleep after 1.30 a.m. She had to repeat the Fagopyrum only a few Fridays after than to effect a complete cure.

Carb.ac. is mentioned by Wm.boericke in the Repertory, page 1011, and also in the Therapeutic Index, page 1095.Neither Dearborn nor Douglas mention it for senile pruritus; clarke in his Dictionary gives eczema and smallpox in italics, as diseases calling for Carb.ac. Clarke also mentions neuralgia, Psoriasis,and pityriasis, but not in italics.

I have tried in may times for complicated senile pruritus, but only with partial success or utter failure, with one exception, when prostration was the determining symptom/.

Case IV. J.B,. age 68, married, Congregational pastor, both F.H. and P.H.Excellent. Extremely neurotic,has been obliged to lie down and rest after preaching a sermon; all the organs except the nerves and skin functioning well,reported s follows: “Doctor,I came to you to se what you could to for my itching, You know we have had a course of protracted meetings and I have worked far beyond my strength. Towards the last f the meetings, and worse since, I have had an itching all over my body, so bad that I cannot sleep and am completely prostrated.

I am so weak after stools that I feel faint, in fact did faint once.” when asked to be more specific, he replied: “When this began, I thought I had the old-fashioned itch, but there were no eruptions o scabs anywhere until I scratched. I used sulphur ointment,but that did not help. Soon these spots seemed to have a watery matte and then pus. Our doctor said it was not smallpox. He gave me all sorts of external applications. The one which seemed to do me the most good was carbolized Vaseline. That allays the itching some and gives me more sleep,but it seems that I am rapidly growing weaker, all the time.”.

He was given Carb.ac (B & Ts) 130th on disks, five before each meal and at bedtime and advised t keep u the carbolized vaseline. The result was a rapid and complete restoration to his normal condition. P.S., Had I been familiar with Dr.J.H.Clarkes latest on Ars.Sulph.fav., which leaflet came with my March, 1931,copy of the Homoeopathic World, I would have given that instead of Carb.ac.30th.

Clarke quotes from Hahnemanns Materia Medica Pura and from Kents article published in the August, 1907, Critique. From Kent we have , “Ars.Sulph. flav-one of our deepest acting remedies- unbroken down constitution, old people with lack of reaction”. Also,:faintness after stools”. And again,”weakness is a red-string indication”.

Under Relations we read,m “Ars. sulph. flav. closely resembles both its elements and to other sulphide, Ars.sulph. rub.

the auxiliary treatment for Pruritus senilis will be given after we have considered the homoeopathic remedies for the other varieties of Pruritus.

This is another condition affecting both the nerves and the skin.

DEFINITION:Dearborn 16 Diseases of Skin, page 419 writes” “An acute vesicular eruption, situated on a red base, and distributed along the line of one or more cutaneous nerves.” Douglas,17.Skin diseases, page 197. The neuralgia which precedes or accompanies zoster may exhibit any degree of severity,and may indeed persist for an indefinite period of time after all symptoms of cutaneous irritation have disappeared. Instead of neuralgia,a more or less intense pruritus may be present,confined to the affected region, and persist for a long time.

Dearborns definition is in italics: Douglas is not. My definition is: 18 Diseases of the Brain and Nerves, pages 36-40 A neurosis with an eruption of the skin over the course of the affected nerve as an end product.

20 Practice of Medicine,page 445 Bartletts definition is: “An acute inflammatory disease believed to be of infectious origin affecting the posterior spinal ganglia,the Gasserian ganglion or other ganglia connected with sensory nerve trunks, and characterized clinically but neuralgic pains and vesicles along the course of the tributary nerve trunk.”.

ETIOLOGY 18Disease of the Brain and Nerves, pages 36-40 Irritation of the spinal ganglia from mechanical injuries: exposure to the elements; strains; and excitement,,like fits of anger, fright, etc. Gurschmann 19 Neuralgia,page 96. states: “That many of he intercostal neuralgias are tabetic or spondylitic root pains.”.

I am aware that some authors claim that the neuralgia is the end product of the skin manifestation, rather than the reverse, but my experience with a large number of cases convinces me that the nerves are affected first. A close study of the history of the case is the reason for my opinion.

PATHOLOGY;This will depend upon the cause. It may be all the way from a simple irritation to sclerosis; or all the way from a papule to a scab or ulcer.

SYMPTOMATOLOGY:ITCHING,burning, rawness; smarting; pains of all kinds resulting in INSOMNIA and prostration.

George Royal
George Royal M. D, born July 15, 1853, graduated New York Homœopathic Medical College 1882, served as president of the American Institute of Homœopathy, professor of materia medica and therapeutics, and also dean of the College of Homœopathic Medicine of the State University of Iowa.