This paper is not well adapted for reading in convention, but should be of use to those who are interested in treating tumors as an armchair study of certain trails leading to cures.
1.
Mrs. S., aet. 66, had an exostosis above the forehead several years. During the last two years she has been treated for many psychoneurasthenic symptoms, morbid fears, physical exhaustion, faint spells; confined to bed weeks at a time. Her first remedy was Ammonium carb. 1M. which helped and led directly to her more constitutional remedy which was phosphorus.
During eight months treatment the 200th was given twice, the 500th four times, the 1000th twice, then the 30th once and the 60x. once, with restoration to a pretty fair state of health. The bony protuberance began to leave with the first 10,000th, a little over a year after beginning treatment. At the present time the exostosis is scarcely perceptible to palpation and of course the patient herself is now an active and useful member of her family.
The reason for mentioning this instance is to recall the counsel of the stalwarts of the early years who used to say, “Forget the patients pathology and first the remedy to his symptoms.” There is an important policy suggested in that advice, but it does not always accord either with the most reactible syndrome of the patient nor in some instances with a pathology which may have become an obstacle to constitutional reaction. In the present instance the exostosis had been forgotten until the patient remarked that her lump had begun to grow smaller. But ……
in other instances high potencies have failed to affect the pathological tissues, whereas a comparatively low one such as the 6th or 12th would act well on them. In choosing between high and low one must be guided by the significance of the symptoms. If functional symptoms are few and of little reactible import the choice may be decided first, by that fact itself; second, by pathological types or clinical local peculiarities; third, by temperamental types; fourth, by reputation of remedies; and of course by any of them together.
II.
A young man discovered a growth on his coccyx two months previously as it began to hurt when stepping on the right foot, also while sitting. He had had a fall on the buttocks some years previously. Silica 1000, d.u., was given. In two weeks the pain was gone and the lump was larger – a good sign. One month later and the lump has disappeared.
III.
Man, age 27, brought an exostosis on the center of the occiput which he said had been growing faster the last two years. Symptoms: Run down by business worries. Anxious trembling; hurry; shuns arguments; sensitive to noise; wants to be alone; “worrying” pain in abdomen, < by flexing the thighs and by lying. Sensitive to cold; averse to salt; desires sweets. Tired cut in the morning. Occasional bleeding from the navel. Sepia 1M., d.u., cured both the man and his bony nodule.
Here were three little bony tumors in which no outward differences could be observed, cured by three different remedies based on symptomatic complex is as different as could be. A hoary illustration of a principle that knows neither youth nor age.
IV.
Man of 67 years presented a half inch lump of cartilaginous density on his upper left gum, fixed, slightly tender, no dental complications apparent (no x-ray). Sour breath; papules on back of neck; itching back; numbness of left fingers while lying. Scanty symptoms. Because of reputation and former experiences with Phosphorus that remedy was selected. The 1000th was allowed to run six months with lump reducing, then three months, the 5000th six weeks (without reaction), the tumor meanwhile becoming quite hard. Calcarea fluorica 6 was then given steadily two and a half months, then the 200th, d.u. Five months thereafter nothing remained and a wart had dropped off the back of the neck besides.
This illustrates the use of the low potency repeated and continued several weeks, until, the tumor having become sore, it was evident that susceptibility had been aroused. Then after a proper interval the higher potency of the same remedy did its work well.
V.
A man of 80 having interpreted correctly some comparative results of surgical and medical treatment concluded that it would be worth while to travel several hundred miles to start treatment of a horn on the back of his neck. The base of it had become irritated by friction and was arousing the neighborhood in consequence. he had had numerous warts on the hands which had disappeared spontaneously. Black moles and fleshy warts on his back completed the skin picture while the history of surgical removal of a cyst on the left cheek furnished food for speculation in physiological dynamics.
The man had a mixture of courage and timidity. There was no fear of any person however tough and around his region he was dreaded as a scrapper, but was timorous about bees, horses, going into dark places, etc., showing in the mental sphere the two phases of hardness and liquidation peculiar to Causticum. Two prescriptions of Causticum 1000 two and one half months apart cured. The horn started up after the first prescription and grew larger up to the time of the second prescription and dropped off three weeks later.
When a wart or tumor grows more rapidly after medication it is often t he sign of a good reaction. The miasm is being expelled from the organism and that alone is no bid for change or repetition of remedy or potency. I once remarked to an expert prescriber that I believed practically all cancers could be cured by homoeopathic treatment if the patient could but live long enough to produce a full external expression of the disease, to which he agreed. Externalization is a great physiological and therapeutic principle which modern science sees but dimly and which modern medicine in practice ignores almost entirely.
VI.
A pigmented mole which had been on the back of the neck of a maiden lady of 57, suddenly developed into a papilloma (naevo-carcinoma or melanotic carcinoma: Mackenna-skin). Five weeks previously she had been given Bacillinum 30 for recurrent colds and this warty resurgence was silently attributed to that, especially as the general condition had improved and an old constipation had been overcome.
The only symptoms to prescribe on were: pressure in the left occiput, ringing and pulsating in the ears while lying. Thuja was given with removal of these symptoms and added vital energy. Wart the same. Six weeks later the article had increased in size so much and alarming the patient and her relatives so much that I was influenced to prescribe Sepia because that remedy had done well for me with a papilloma of the same appearance. Nevertheless there was no result this time.
So, under Skin in the Guiding Symptoms we found: “Unhealthy, ulcerative skin, sensitive to rubbing when washing, she must do it herself and very gently.” This fitted my otherwise symptomless patient perfectly. Also: “Warts; round, soft at base, upper surface hard, rough, horny shell, itching.” Calcarea ostrearum 1000 d.u., was given. In two weeks the wart had begun to loose on one side and in two months had dropped off, leaving only normal skin behind.
Here the catch for the prescriber is, how was the needle of Calcarea pulled out of the materia medica haystack? Answer: although there had been no apparent effect from Sepia the general energy had held up so well that with this consideration and the fact of a previous spectacular result from Sepia and having a great respect for sequence, Boenninghausens Relationships was referred to and Calcarea selected for consideration. The Relationships or Concordance of Boenninghausen have caused many a remedy to pop up that might otherwise remain hidden.
VII.
This is the other papillo-carcinoma referred to above. There was no perceptible difference in the appearance of the two during the early stage but degeneration was more rapid with this one with its simile from animal sources.
The patient was a maiden lady of 60. She came Feb.18, 1932, much worried about the stirrings of what had always appeared to be a wen on the front of the right cheek. It was discharging pus, prickling, itching, and bleeding copiously. There was a drawing pain the back of the neck which the patient attributed to the growth. History of hypertension, constipation, and she was having some stiffening of the joints.
Because of that and a slight horny crust which had formed, Causticum was given. Seven days later the little mass had become inflamed, was increasing rapidly in size and had assumed a warty appearance. S.L. Reported seven weeks later with a severe throbbing headache for which Glycerine 1000 was given. The cyst had remained stationary. April 21, the cyst was enlarging, had become deeply pigmented and subjective symptoms were now plentiful.
Weeping without reason, depressed; felt as if she were without thoughts; no incentive; tired, sleepy; ;heavy, waking often at night, beating in ears. Occasional spasmodic “catching of breath from a nervous action in stomach”. Violent aversion to noise or hearing people talk. Needing an unusual amount of clothing lately. Sepia 10M.F., d.u.
Born in Torrington, Litchfield, Connecticut, USA on 20 Oct 1871 to Royal Edmund Hayes and Harriet E Merriman. He had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter with Miriam Martha Phillips. He lived in Torrington, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States in 1880. He died on 20 July 1952, in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.