Cocculus indicus
Case
Case 4. -Mrs. A.S. , aet. 28; married four years; menses have always
been irregular, but during the first year of married life, were more regular but always profuse.
The third year married, gave birth to a seen-pound
child; labor normal; no lacerations. Since labor, has never been well; the menses would
appear every two weeks; then every five or six weeks, with no
regularity. The
flow would be profuse and weakening. Had curettages and various
treatments without any relief. The condition of patient at the time of first
prescription was as follows : Menses
irregular and profuse; great weakness when walking; the walk from the car to
office completely exhausted her. Cannot sleep; what sleep she gets, is
unrefreshing. No appetite; does not want to think of eating. Craves beer, of
which she had never tasted but once, and then it was repulsive; Sweats easily;
is in a perspiration most of the time and has to be very careful about getting
in a draft, as when becomes chilly she is nauseate.
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Repertory Analysis.-Menses irregular
and profuse.-Apis, Arg. n., Art. v., Benz.
ac., Calc. c., Carb. ac., Caust., Cimi.,
Cocc., Con., dig., Ign., Iod.,
Ip., Iris, Kreos., Lyc., Murex., Nux m., Nux v., Secale, Sepia, Staph., Sulph., Tuberc.
Worse from warmth.-Arg. n., Calc.
c., Cocc.,
Con., Ign., Iod., Ip., Lyc., Nux m., Sulph.
Extreme weakness when walking.-Calc.
c., Cocc.,
Con., Iod., lyc., Nux m., Sulph.
Great desire for beer.-Calc. c., Cocc., Sulph.
STOMACH,ALCOHLICS DRINK,beer : Acon., agar., aloe., am-c., ant-c., arn., ars., asar., bell., bry., calad., calc., camph.,
carb-s., caust., chel., chin., coc-c., cocc., coloc., cupr., dig., graph.,kali-bi., lach., mang., merc., mosch., nat-a., nat-c., nat-m., nat-p., nat-s., Nux-v., op., petr., ph-ac., phel., phos., psor., puls., rhus-t., sabad., sep., spig.,spong.,
staph., stram., stront., Sulph., tell., zinc.
Nauseated when chilly.-Cocculus.
Just a word in
explanation of our selection of the rubrics in this case. Why did we start with
the symptom, "menses
irregular and profuse?" In the first place, it is a general symptom;
then it is the symptom above all others that has proved the change in the patient's general
condition; if we expect to cure this case we must have a remedy that
has in its symptomatology this condition. On the other hand, if we took any of
the remedies we find in the first and second grades under this rubric we would
have a remedy for this local condition that so many and various lines of
treatments had been used upon with no results; so not only must we take this
symptom, but must take the other symptoms, which make this case of irregular
and profuse menses different from every other case of the same condition; in
other words, that makes of it an individual case. Therefore, we proceed with
the other symptoms.
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One word more, about
our fourth rubric-great desire for beer. Ordinarily this symptom
would be of little value, but here we find a patient that before she was affected
with this change of internal condition, did not like beer; in fact,
she had never tasted it but once, and then it was repulsive to her, but now she
is sick; some change in her desires has produced a condition of her economy whereby
she has a craving for beer. Now the condition has changed and a
symptom, which in other cases would be of little or no value deserves a
prominent place in our record analysis.
This case also has another interesting
peculiarity, in that if the keynote prescribers had been working at it, he
might have reached a correct solution, for in this case we find that the
particular symptom, nauseated when chilly, is found under only one remedy, Cocculus.
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Our selection of Cocculus in this case was justified, for the case was cure.
The menses became regular and normal; the weakness disappeared; the craving for
beer vanished; the excessive perspiration and nausea left, until after four
months she was discharged stating that she never felt so well in her life.