With this case, I want to demonstrate treatment of an acute during treatment for chronic disease. This child around 6 yrs of age was a k/c/o Gaucher’s disease. She frequently suffered from infections for which she had to be admitted and given intravenous antibiotics (she would not respond to oral ones). After each such episode, she took a couple of weeks to recover and regain her strength, only to be battered by the next one. She was under treatment of a senior homeopath who was out of the station and had entrusted me to look after her in his absence. During this period, the child developed an acute episode of severe tonsillitis with high-grade fever. Her parents called late at night (they were not willing to admit her); when I saw her, she had a 103F fever, red lips, thirstless. She was not able to swallow anything on account of the pain. An examination of the throat showed very red tonsils (though no focus of suppuration could be seen).  Belladonna 200 was given and was asked to be repeated hourly with instructions to stop as soon as fever comes down. The parents were advised to admit the child if the fever does not come down or goes further up.

The morning brought good news. The child’s fever came down after just one dose and there was no need for repetition.

Explanation

During the acute episode, consideration was given only to the newly developed symptoms and not to the pre-existing ones. The case became a very straightforward one. Redness (sp. red lips), congestion, thirstlessness, and high fever. These are key indications of bell. The surprise was in the fact that no other dose was needed. This shows that a single dose of similimum can ride the tides (in this case it aborted acute episode). We can either achieve results in a zig-zag way or in the shortest possible way, the latter achieved only by similimum (similar medicine in suitable potency).

Aude Sapere

Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/

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A 50 yr old male came with a complaint of chronic pansinusitis. He had been suffering for years with the problem and nothing helped him. He repeatedly took antibiotics to clear up the infection, only to return again. He could not smell anything, could not bear airconditioned environment, and had not slept properly according to his own account for years due to a blocked nose at night. The only time he felt better was when it was warm. He was given a dose of hepar sulph 10m. He returned after 3 months, extremely happy and satisfied, and thanked profusely for the medicine had helped him smell something literally after decades. He slept without any problem and did not need any antibiotics for the past 3 months.

Explanation

An extremely chilly person (he was only ameliorated by warmth) who has pansinusitis (and yellowish discharge) and has taken repeated antibiotics needs nothing but Hepar sulph. I thought that given the chronicity of the trouble he might need some other medicine later on, but it has not been the case till now, even after 4 yrs.

Aude sapere

Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/

A female of 55yrs came with c/o acidity and joint pains. She was not able to sleep at night because of acid reflux. She also complained of joint pains. On detailed inquiry, it was discerned that when she had acidity, she did not have joint pains. They seemed to be alternating with each other. One appeared when the other disappeared. Based on this Kali Bi 200 one dose was given. A follow-up one month later showed no change in her condition. Since I was sure of medicine the potency was increased and Kali Bi 1m.  Even now nothing happened. The case was taken again in detail. I was going to suggest some blood tests but the patient was reluctant to undergo them. It was found that the patient had taken OCPs for a very long time to regulate her periods. On this basis, Thyroidinum 10m was given. This time she responded very well and the follow-up a month later showed marked improvement in her complaints. She was kept on placebo till her last follow-up.

Explanation

I wanted to bring forth a very important point through this case and highlight the need for an intercurrent or another medicine (by whatever name you call it), to remove a block created by prolonged use of OCPs in this case. Kali Bi despite being indicated (acidity alternating with joint pains is PQRS) did not work till the block was removed using Thyroidinum. You will come across many cases like this where a well-indicated medicine will fail to produce results. Look for such blocks/events/accidents/incidences etc, address them with appropriate remedy and you would find them unlocking the case for you or churn the wheels of a machine that refused to budge earlier.

(For those who would like more, I would like to refer to a discussion/case of Dr. S P Dey as mentioned in one of his books “Essays on Homeopathy”. He gives an example of a patient with severe skin manifestations who would be given a dose of Sulph which will apparently cure a patient for time being, only to return 6 months later with a recurrence. He says should Sulph be indicated, as it would be from the symptomatology, it should take care of the case for once and for all, why the recurrence? On delving deeper, it would be found that the mother had skin allergy during pregnancy, in which case Thyroidinum would do the job, or Medo if there’s a family history of sycosis in parents.   These obstacles need to be removed if we are ever expected to travel towards a cure.)

Aude Sapere

Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/

Download a copy of the case below.

A 20 yr old girl came with acute severe menstrual pain. She had taken cyclopamine without relief at home. She was given an analgesic and antispasmodic injection (allopathic medication) as well without any relief. As hours passed, her pains increased in severity. It is in this situation that she sought the help of homoeopathy. She was bending double with pain, was crying and trembling as the pain came on. She was given colo 1m, given the severity of her pains without any relief. Bell and mag phos also failed to provide any relief. Almost an hour passed without any change in her condition. I was desperate to provide relief to her but was failing again and again. It was then that I decided to repertorize the case. Fingers crossed, a dose of nat carb 200 was given. She slept in the waiting room after 10 min. Later her scan revealed that she suffered from endometriosis.

Explanation
The rubrics taken for repertorization were:
Pain with trembling
pain with sweating

I used Knerr Repertory (the one I had easy access to at that time).
The only remedy that came in 3+ was nat carb in both rubric. I was skeptical as I had never
used nat carb in acute dysmenorrhoea, but the symptoms chosen were marked and
characteristic, and repertorization result unmistakable. A dose of nat carb 200 showed its
mettle and taught me to think outside therapeutics. (of course, she needed a long-term
treatment of her condition to fully recover).

Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com

Download a copy of the case here.

This is a case of a boy who completed age of 20yrs and wanted to gain some more height. He was 5 feet 4 inches. The boy went to the gym, where his instructor advised him to take homoeopathy. He had an inverted triangular face, long fingers and fine skin (tubercular features). There were no other complaints and he confessed to having stopped growing 2 yrs back.

He was counselled and given a small lesson in growth in males during puberty. He was assured that I would nevertheless give him the medicine, and do what can be done from my side. He was given a dose of tuberculinum 1M and asked to come a month later. Lo and behold, the patient stretched 2cm above Earth. Wait another month and the patient gained another centimetre. In total a gain of 3cm (more than an inch), in 2 months. I had learnt my lesson as well.

Explanation

The growth of males during puberty usually stops around the age of 18 yrs (when the growth plates fuse), it may sometimes be a little later but that is the tail end of the curve. This patient had stopped growing 2 yrs back. The chances were bleak that he would gain any more height. However, my medical wisdom was to be proven wrong. Tuberculinum was chosen based on the physical features of the patient as a guide (as there was no overt disease in the patient, just a latent miasm). It helped the patient gain another inch and a little farther beyond the age one would expect a boy to gain more height. It helped the boy fulfil a part of what his potential was. Maybe if he was to come earlier, he would have benefitted more! But there is no way to know, for there are no parallel universes when it comes to medicine.

Aude Sapere

Dr Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/

Download a copy of the case below.

A 60-year-old diabetic female came with ulceration of lateral malleoli of the right leg. She had this ulceration that developed in the traumatic pressure callus on the lateral malleoli as a result of sitting crossed legs for a long time on the floor, causing friction-induced callus formation. The ulcer measured almost an inch and a half in diameter, had resisted conventional treatment, and was painless (the patient was a diabetic and suffered from diabetic neuropathy). She was advised to undergo skin grafting as a result. She had mild varicosity. The ulcer was indurated and had suppurated. She was given Silicea 1m / 3 doses to be taken once in 10 days, along with dressing with calendula dressing powder.

Follow-up after a month showed dramatic improvement with ulcer size reduced to almost half, suppuration cleared, and healthy granulation tissue.  she was advised to continue only dressing and given a placebo for another month.

The wound completely healed at the end of the second month and averted the need for skin grafting.

Explanation

This was a very simple prescription based on pathological similarity (the character of lesion similar to that of medicine) of the lesion with those of the homoeopathic medicine Silicea (viz ulceration, induration, suppuration). The ulcer was non-healing that resisted treatment (non-healing ulcer- silicea).  Silicea worked its charm and healed the ulcer.

Dr Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/

Download a copy of the case below.

A 40 yr old male with no comorbidities came with plantar keratoderma (subset palmoplantar keratoderma- PPK). He had lesions on the left foot, almost a 3- inch superficial ulcer with a punched-out appearance on the heel, slowly increasing in size for the last 2 yrs. In the other areas, the skin was thickened and he experienced severe itching. There was a dearth of any other symptoms in the case. 3 doses of Nat carb were given to be taken at 10 days intervals, with
instructions to stop the medicine if improvement starts. After a month the patient reported that the ulcer started healing and there was a reduction in the depth of the lesion. 2 more doses were given with similar instruction: to repeat only if improvement stops, otherwise continue saclac. This time patient returned 2 months later with lesions almost reduced to 1/3rd
the original size. He was kept on saclac without any further dosages and the lesion was completely healed a month later, ending his 2 yr ordeal.

Explanation
This case was a one-sided case with no other symptoms than just the ulcer and itching. The modalities were not clear so were the exciting cause and concomitants. Looking at the ulcer I thought of silicea, kali bi etc. The ulcer was dry and there was no tendency to suppurate. It had the punched-out quality of kali bi but no other characteristic, discharge, or pointer. Pulford keynotes to materia medica describe Nat Carb (given in lycopodium- lyco has ulcer on
instep) as having ulcer on heels. It was on this basis that Nat carb was chosen in a moderate potency. In retrospect maybe a single dose of higher potency would have done the trick, instead of repeating frequent doses of a lower one.

Dr Shivangi Jain
BHMS, MD, PGDMLE, PGDHHM
drshivangijain79@gmail.com
https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com

Download a copy of the case here.