The felt passage of time, a discernment of external clock in relation to inner is an estimation made by the brain to keep the consciousness rooted in environment. This time lapse judgement can be altered in some neurological conditions, with intense practice, meditation or even during heightened emotional states.

The following short discussion tries to connect neurological perspective to homeopathic symptomatology and unravel the mysteries of mind and time.

Time passes quickly- an underestimation of time

Time passes quickly- an underestimation of time happens when more time seems to have elapsed whence the person thinks only some time has passed, i.e., durations are judged as shorter than actual.

In conditions like Parkinson’s Disease patients generally show this duration underestimations. To them their movements seem to take the normal time while in actuality there has been a slowing of speed of motion i.e bradykinesia.

Medicines like COCCULUS INDICUS and THERIDION manifest this symptom during proving. These medicines also show affection for brain tissue in general and have many symptoms related to nervous system in their symptomatology.

Time passes slowly- an overestimation of time

On the other side of the coin, overestimation of time i.e too much time seems to have passed when only little time has passed.

Under normal conditions this happens during:

• Happening in extreme threatening situations, like accidents, people have been said to observe things in slow motion. They report having gone through their whole life like a movie vividly in matter of seconds or even less. This apparent perception may increase chances of survival in emergency situation by extreme focus of brains attention.
• Similar happens when you are very bored and are acutely aware of every passing second.
• Deep meditative state and the flow state of an athlete who has Intense concentration achieved continued, repetitive and gruelling training making his movements fluid and reflexive may be other examples where the time slows down.

Abnormal conditions are:

ADHD– This happens in children and adolescents with ADHD who tend to overestimate (i.e., durations are judged as longer than controls) the time lapse. In these conditions more sensory information is absorbed with passage of time. This too much information gathering, cognitive engagement and processing seems to stretch the time.

Medicines like AMBRA GRISEA, ARGENTUM NITRICUM, NUX MOSCHATA, CANNABIS SATIVA, CANNABIS INDICA, ANHALONIUM have states where the time seems to be too long and does not pass. These medicines should be thought of when considering the pathological development of sense of expansion of time.

The other pathologies such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s also alter the time keeping function of the brain in a different manner where the functions such as mental time travel and time rooting in reality are affected.

NB: this similarity is found only while studying the medicine from a pathological point of view. The confirmation can only be done by applying this knowledge in such a clinical condition in a patient.

This kind of approach is especially helpful when:

• The patient is not able to give refined symptoms and sensations
• One is not able to find any characteristic symptom or
• The attendants are not able to give one,

• There is time constraint or
• The physician has not seen the patient but has received a diagnosis from attendants.
• Pathology is advanced enough to wipe out the PQRS of the case.

The results in such prescriptions would nonetheless depend on the accuracy of diagnosis and its pathological similarity to chosen medicine.

(This post is for the practitioners of Homoeopathy and not for patients for diagnosis and treatment of the said entity.)

Aude Sapere

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

This reactive arthritis is an

• Immune mediated syndrome
• Characterised by a triad of arthritis urethritis and conjunctivitis
• Post an infection (a couple of days to weeks prior to presentation) usually the gastrointestinal infection (caused by Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Yersinia or Chlamydia etc) or genitourinary (Chlamydia Trachomatis, Neisseria Gonorrhoea, Mycoplasma Hominis, and Ureaplasma Urealyticum etc)
• Where the response to infection causes an aberrant autoimmune response by triggering autoantibodies to self-antigens following molecular mimicry.

A majority of these patients may be HLA b-27 positive; however, it is not used to diagnose the cases.

There may be a positive F/H/O ankylosing spondylitis or psoriasis.

Found very commonly in HIV patients, the patient presenting with new onset disease should be screened for HIV. Such patients may also have psoriasiform lesions on body.

Predominantly affects males.

Arthritis is characterised by asymmetrical involvement of weight bearing joints with night agg and morning stiffness. Chronic course may present as monoarthritis, heel pains or Achillies tendinitis.

Eye symptoms involve conjunctivitis or iritis with injection of ciliary vessels around cornea. Uveitis involves acute pain, photophobia, visual impairment, scleral injection, and hypopyon

Urethritis is characterised by dysuria, or a mucoid thread discharge just before urination. Occasionally haematuria may be there, prostatitis.

Skin may be involved with- mucosal ulcers, keratoderma blennorrhagica, circinate balanitis and erythema nodosum. There may plaque like lesions with hyperkeratosis, associated with severe nail dystrophy and subungual hyperkeratosis, nail pits.

Cardiac- carditis, aortic, conduction and valvular abnormalities

Geographic tongue

Sacroiliitis.

There may be systemic disturbances like fever, weight loss etc.

After understanding the diagnostic sphere let us now understand the closeness of this symptom constellation with SARSAPARILLA.

• Rheumatism after gonorrhoea

(Compare medicines for

Other medicines for above rubric include MEDORRHINUM, PULSATILLA, THUJA, CLEMATIS etc.

Rheumatism after diarrhoea– CIMICIFUGA, DULCAMARA, IODUM, KALI BICHROMICUM.

The above highlighted rubrics become the backbone of remedy selection in reactive arthritis.

These medicines may not cover the complete constellation but may be indicated remedies depending on presentation.)

(Since causation and past history is very important in this disease diagnosis other medicines to also consider are MEDORRHINUM, SEPIA and MERC SOL which come very close to SARSAPARILLA.)

• Urine- Severe pain before and while passing urine, pain in kidneys. Urine dribbles or passed in thin stream
• Crust sediment and shreddy urine
• Eruptions in groins and on genitals with offensive smell
• Eczema, crusta lactae or boils.
• Rhagades on fingers
• Itching pimply eruptions on body.
• Violent burning and agglutination of eyes in morning on awakening. Dimness of vision as if a gauze spread over eyes. Burning and stinging in eye with sensation of sand.

A prominent involvement of joints, genitourinary and skin along with eye symptoms makes this remedy a pathological simile of reactive arthritis.

NB: this similarity is found only while studying the medicine from a pathological point of view. The confirmation can only be done by applying this knowledge in such a clinical condition in a patient.

This kind of approach is especially helpful when:

• The patient is not able to give refined symptoms and sensations
• One is not able to find any characteristic symptom or
• The attendants are not able to give one,
• There is time constraint or
• The physician has not seen the patient but has received a diagnosis from attendants.

The results in such prescriptions would nonetheless depend on the accuracy of diagnosis and its pathological similarity to chosen medicine.

(This post is for the practitioners of Homoeopathy and not for patients for diagnosis and treatment of the said entity.)

References:

Boericke materia medica

Clark dictionary of materia medica

Phatak repertory

French diagnostic index

Harrison’s principles of internal medicine

Davidson’s Principles and practice of Medicine

Aude Sapere

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

• A neurological condition where pain, itching, burning, numbness and other sensations are felt in limb which has been amputated. This happens when brain does not receive inputs from the amputated part and tries to readjust by remapping. Sometimes neuromas can grow in the process enhancing the sensations. So it seems that the brain perceives a part falsely and also sensations from it, when actually the part is absent, hence the name phantom limb.

• The following resource can be searched for further details on the subject.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448188

• Homoeopathically speaking medicines like allium cepa and ammonium muriaticum etc fall into medicines that can cover this pathology.

ALLIUM CEPA

Traumatic chronic neuritis; Allium cepa has neuralgia of stump after amputation; burning and stinging pains (allen’s key notes)

AMMONIUM MUR

Neuralgic pain in amputated limb

Other medicines include- SYMPHYTUM, PHOSPHORIC ACID The above medicines though cover the pathology should be given only after complete case consideration.

Wegner’s granulomatosis

A type of vasculitis (necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis) where granuloma formation affecting both respiratory tract (characterised by granuloma and later scarring) and kidneys (characterised by crescent glomerulonephritis).

The disease has a classic triad of upper and lower respiratory tract involvement with kidney disease.

The clinical feature includes bloody nasal discharge, cough, haemoptysis, dyspnoea, eye involvement like scleritis. Palpable purpuras in skin. Renal disease is characterised by haematuria, proteinuria etc.

During active phase there may be constitutional symptoms like fever, arthralgia, weight loss etc.

Lab findings may include mild hypergammaglobulinemia, leucocytosis, mild anaemia and raised ESR and mildly raised RA factor.

Biopsy from granulomatous tissue or kidney will clinch the final diagnosis.

(Ref- Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine)

TEREBINTH has special affinity for both lungs and kidneys (Ref Boger Synoptic Key). With its haemorrhagic diathesis it comes very close to Wegner’s granulomatosis in its presentation.

Not only Wegner’s granulomatosis but also other vasculitis syndromes and DIC can be covered by homeopathic  terebinth.

Symptoms like congestion and inflammation of inner organs together with haemorrhagic tendency also point towards DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) like phenomenon. Palpable purpura and constantly forming ecchymosis of terebinth symptomatology point towards this pathology.

DIC secondary to septicaemia like condition can also come under purview of this deep acting medicine, where symptoms like metritis after use of pessary can point towards PID and then later septicaemia like state.

MATERIA MEDICA OF TEREBINTH- https://drshivangihomoeopathy.com/terebinth-a-snapshot/

Aude Sapere

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

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome or stress induced cardiomyopathy is an acute stress induced cardiomyopathy particularly after a very distressing event esp an emotional one. There is no problem with the coronary vessels but the walls show ballooning. The condition can be self-limiting or turn chronic in some.

Patients often present with chest pain, have ST-segment elevation on electrocardiography (ECG), and have elevated cardiac enzyme levels consistent with myocardial infarction (MI). However, when the patient undergoes cardiac angiography, left ventricular (LV) apical ballooning is present, and there is no significant coronary artery stenosis.

(Reference- emedicine medscape)

Tabacum the homoeopathic medicine has acute dilatation of heart after a severe shock.

(Reference- Acute dilatation caused by shock or violent physical exertion. Boerick Materia Medica)

Case- A young male of 40 yr of age came with complaint of low ejection fraction (44%) on echo, taking modern medicine for last 5 yrs. He was normotensive, non-diabetic, active, non-smoker prior to development of his tiredness, which was later diagnosed as cardiomyopathy. On detailed questioning by author, it was found that his complaints started after sudden unexpected demise of his father with who he was very close. This had affected him deeply. There was no history of any viral illness, positive family history of heart complaints or any other significant past history. The case was thus diagnosed as Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy or Broken Heart Syndrome. Patient was given a dose of TABACUM 1M, and another dose of TABACUM 10M after 4 months. In between along with his allopathic medicine ARJUNA Q was also given. An echo after 6 months month showed EF of 55%, with marked improvement in his symptoms and quality of daily life.

(Reference- The Book of Cause and Effect and It’s Homoeopathic Remedies- Dr Shivangi Jain)