It was an ailment beneath the dignity of most doctors and probably beyond their knowledge. I had by now learned one homoeopathic lesson, “If you dont know what to do, do nothing till you do know.” I was slow to learn that homoeopathy treats the individual and that the outward manifestations of disease are simply guides for the homoeopathic physician to the treatment of the whole person. After six weeks of these horrid styes I took myself to the homoeopath with only faint hopes of relief. In a week my styes were gone. In fifteen years I have not had another stye.
My sixth reason for being a homoeopathic patient is trench mouth. I have no idea where we picked up this loathsome is disease, but our four-year-old daughter woke one morning with high fever, big sore-looking patches on gums and inner cheeks and the foulest breath I ever smelled. This time we called the homoeopath at once. He told me what it was, told me how to prevent its spread to the rest of the family, gave the customary powders and tablets, and left me to face “comforting friends” who had heard that “it took years to get rid of”-and “it had to be treated locally”- “the treatment was very painful”-and so on.
They none too gently suggested that I was very silly to depend on internal treatment and thus prolong the disease. I was getting educated by now, and their remarks fell on deaf ears. In two weeks the patient was well. One of the other children had one or two patches in the mouth, but these likewise disappeared with internal treatment. We have never seen trench mouth again. That was eleven years ago.
Seventh among homoeopathic cures that stand out in my memory is a “lump.” I have to call it a lump because no one ever knew what it was. Now it is gone and on one a will ever know! With all the recent publicity given to cancer in both lay and professional literature, a lump is a fearful thing to discover in ones anatomy. This particular lump had been slowly growing in the abdominal cavity for years. Various allopaths were consulted but the patient had her fears laughed at because she seemed to be otherwise in perfect health and possessed of tremendous energy. Meanwhile the lump grew.
The patient finally went to a large clinic and was x-rayed,m fluoroscoped, analyzed and what-not. An operation was advised to find out just what the lump was. Unwilling thus to satisfy the clinics curiosity, she decided to seek treatment from a homoeopathic physician and to give him at least a year before trying anything else. In several months less than a year the lump was gone and the patients general outlook on life was greatly improved. And our curiosity about that lump is still unsatisfied!.
Eighth, and last, in my list of homoeopathic experiences is diphtheria. This was only a circumstantial diagnosis but I m sure an allopath would have called it diphtheria. a neighbors child became violently ill with diphtheria. The health officer put up a quarantine sign, the family physician gave unbelievable amounts of antitoxin, and there was a sudden rush to every doctors office in town for diphtheria “shots.” My four children had all played with the child to the very day he was stricken.
The neighbors considered me nothing short of a criminal lunatic when I failed to have mine “vaccinated.” Ill admit I was badly scared. My husband was away so I could not go anywhere else to a doctor. I was two thousand miles away from the homoeopath who had educated me in “what NOT to do till the doctor comes,” and the nearest homoeopathic pharmacy was four hundred miles if I had known what remedy to give. But I was more afraid of “shots”. In a short while one of my children came down with all the symptoms of diphtheria. I isolated her, warned the other children not to mention her illness for a few days, and then called a homoeopath a hundred miles away on the telephone.
He was a rank stranger, and an old man. but I had secured his name form our family physician when we went to that part of the country just in case of an emergency. I explained the situation and to my inexpressible relief he promised to send some remedies up on the afternoon train. His parting advice was, “Sit tight in the boat; dont let anybody scare you; and if necessary Ill come up myself.”.
It wasnt necessary. He sent several remedies with a carefully tabulated list of symptoms for each remedy. Gelsemium seemed to be the remedy. In a few days my child was making an uneventful recovery. The neighbors child got “well,” but for some odd reason, known only to homoeopaths, suffered with ear trouble all winter and missed a whole semester of school, while mine romped in the slush and snow. As I said before, mine may not have had diphtheria, but I am very sure under the circumstances an allopath would have treated her for diphtheria.
To paraphrase Dr. Burnett again, “There are eighty times eight reasons for trying homoeopathy,” but I have ceased trying to persuade people to “go to my doctor” as I did in my early enthusiasm. I usually give what little homoeopathic theory I can give intelligibly and indicate that it is a matter of perfect indifference to me what they do.
Usually human perversity and curiosity-sometimes despair- send them to the homoeopath eventually. If they get well, they usually pride themselves on having discovered “a marvelous doctor.” If they are slow to get results, they blame me! I have had the pleasure of being instrumental in sending many people to homoeopathy for relief, but occasionally some of my more obstinate friends say to me,”Well, it certainly hasnt done much for you. You are always going to the doctor.” To which I sometimes reply, “Anyway, I am still here. Wouldnt you rather visit me here than to put flowers on my grave regularly?”.
I have to admit sometimes that there are inefficient, even ignorant, homoeopaths. There are some dishonest ones. But the worst of it is, there arent enough to go round. It is discouraging to know of a friends need and not to know a doctor close enough to help.
