A vigorous young contractor called me out of bed one night to see what could be done to relieve the pain in his little finger. It had been injured three days before by dropping a heavy weight on it, causing little trouble at the time. Tonight it was hot, throbbing, painful, with a painful red streak running up the arm. He was fearful, nervous, flushed and restless. Aconite 200 gave him relief in half an hour, and sleep within the hour. He accused me of giving him an opiate because of the prompt relief. The next day slight numbness remained, and no further trouble developed. Could orthodox medicine offer anything to equal this?.
A case of hay fever, eczema and occasional asthma which had troubled a young woman since childhood yielded well to infrequent doses of Sulphur in ascending potencies. About once a year she called for help, and each year reported the trouble as much less than formerly. After her marriage she failed to report for a year or two, but upon the birth of a child the troubles all came back, much exacerbated. I fully believe this was due to allopathic interference during gestation and lactation, as she lived some distance from homoeopathic treatment during that critical period. Finally she called upon me again in desperation because asthma had appeared in a severe form. This time Sulphur did not give satisfactory reaction.
There was slight relief from the oppressed respiration and marked increase of the eczema which was already present; but the cycle was incomplete, there was some impediment to cure. The clue came when she reported that she could stand it days, but she dreaded the nights because either the eruption or the asthma was so bad during the dark hours. A review of the case demonstrated the need for Syphilinum; and the expected improvement, in the right direction, developed. A further reason for hindrance in the remedy action came when she divulged the fact that she was taking a cod liver oil and calcium combination; with this abolished, improvement proceeded more rapidly, and the last report was of great improvement.
The moral of this next tale might be THE INGRATITUDE OF PATIENTS. A young man who had been in my care since birth married a young woman who suffered from chronic osteomyelitis, and had been operated more than once for the condition.
She was brought to me for treatment, and because of the condition it was necessary to invoke surgery once more. Silica brought her through this operation in unusually good condition, and she kept in good health for sometime. She had one further attack of some severity, but recurrences were less frequent and milder in type under the homoeopathic remedy. A child was born, under homoeopathic care from birth, and she has had few minor ailments, and the mothers health remains good.
In the meantime the father contracted an acute sycotic infection which was controlled by the homoeopathic remedy, but he himself is hard to control as he does not return as often as necessary and fails to cooperate because the wife, who has been saved from a life of chronic invalidism, feels that not enough is being done for him by homoeopathy and urges that her husband receive orthodox treatment.
A persistent and extremely painful tic douloureux yielded very reluctantly and only partially to homoeopathic prescribing from three competent Hahnemannian prescribers over a period of some two or three years. She had had allopathic treatment for years previously with no relief whatsoever except such as offered by narcotics. It was an obscure and difficult case and relief from the seemingly indicated remedies was only temporary. There was no history of malaria, although she came from a section where malaria was rampant; she had no history of chills or fever in any form and said she had never been sick even during gestation or childbirth.
Finally she complained of tension on the face as if white of egg had dried there; lightning-like pains which drove her from bed to walk the floor, which came on only when it was time to retire and after she had retired, and let up around 3 a.m. Her face was yellowish and dirty in appearance although she was a cleanly person. Magnesia carb. 900, one dose, gave progressive comfort for three months, when the trouble returned after news of the death of her son. The remedy was repeated and to date (some four months) no further report has been received, so it may be assumed that improvement has continued.
Another case of tic douloureux had been under control for some time, the remedies being Arsenicum album and Syphilinum at long intervals, when another attack occurred after exposure to cold winds.
In this attack there was complete relief as soon as the patient lay down to rest. If she rose to go about her work the pain returned, her limbs would tremble and she would become almost prostrated. Magnesia phos. 1M. gave progressive relief, and at the last report the condition had all but disappeared.
One cannot help but note here in this connection that in almost every case of tic douloureux under observation the immediate impetus to onset of pain has been emotional in character. Only once or twice have I seen a case of this affliction in men; it has almost always been confined to widows in their fifties or women who have passed through severe emotional strain.
Each case of whatever nature presented to the homoeopathic physician offers a fresh illustration of the action of the natural laws which operate in sickness and disease, and is a fresh stimulus to further cooperation with those laws through study and application of the means at our disposal.
DERBY, CONN.
DISCUSSION.
DR. SUTHERLAND: In the first part of his paper Dr. Roberts mentioned family tendencies with respect to diseases such as asthma, eczema and hay fever in various members of the same family, perhaps for generations back and in succeeding generations. That is a very interesting observation which I have had an opportunity of confirming.
Further, I think one will often find a family tendency to the same remedy. For instance, I have a young woman under my care whose remedy is Sepia; her mother requires Sepia; her father requires Sepia, an uncle requires Sepia, and a brother requires Sepia, and all have benefited by that particular remedy–a rather interesting thing. There is a great deal of hay fever, asthma and eczema in that particular family.
Another point that I would like to stress is this, that cases who come to us from orthodox prescribing we often find are difficult to get anywhere with. I think the types of treatment which they have had have been so suppressive that our remedies often take a great time to get any action. We sometimes have to poke around until the way is cleared enough to get a characteristic symptom. Then a remedy indication appears in very distinct form, and we can prescribe and really get somewhere.
Tic is a disease which I think we all hate to encounter because it presents such difficulty in curing. I well remember a case that took me four years to cure. I am happy to say I was able to cure this elderly lady, and eventually she died of pneumonia, which I wasnt able to cure. She was eight-five, and perhaps her time had come anyway.
It is a strange thing that of the many remedies that seemed well indicated, the one that finally cured her was Cimicifuga. The pain disappeared at night. That was a very distinct factor and was not recognized by me for a long time. For months she had this particular symptom. I spent much time trying to elicit the character of the pain and common symptoms without paying very much attention to that. When I really realized the importance of the modality in the case, she got well in less than a weeks time, after four years.
