Elaps corallinus
MAN, 70 YEARS OLD
A: After the phlebitis was cured you went back
to work. A day later you got sciatica in your left
leg. You couldn't sleep at night anymore; pain the whole night, you had to walk
about because of the pain, then it was better.
He was cured, first from gangrene, then from phlebothrombosis.
He came to me, because we started working in
the new centre, he wanted to help. He was working and
working and got a sciatica, when he turned around. The next day he should have
come back, but he could not. He called me and said that he did not sleep the whole night
and had to walk about the whole time. I gave him a remedy and he
became healthy again. Which remedy was it ? Rhus toxicodendron. After Rhus toxicodendron he got the
following:
P:
Yes, that was the left leg.
A:
Therefore I gave you Rhus toxicodendron
M. Later you developed a kind of paralysis.
P: Yes, a little in my hand.
WP: His foot failed him.
P: Yes, it was very bad.
A: So, you had complaints with your right
foot, it failed you, but especially your right hand; and very tired.
P: Oh, yes.
A: That was a beginning paralysis on the left
side, beginning slowly and very tired. Here, it also says that you got an
aversion to sweets. Previously, you liked sweets very much.
P: Yes.
WP: Yes, he can't tolerate sweets anymore.
This means aversion to sweets and a slowly appearing
paralysis. That is which remedy ? Causticum.
No reaction to Causticum.
A: Previously, he liked salt very much and he
still does.
P: Yes, he still does, hearty things.
A: Then you stumbled while walking. You were
not sure while walking.
"Stumbling while walking," there is also Causticum.
P: I had to be careful 100 % of the time.
A: There was a paralysis of the right hand.
Previously, a few years ago, you had a stomach bleeding. It was caused by
vexation.
Previously, he had a stomach bleeding, because
of suppressed vexation. Therefore, he got Carbo vegetabilis,
later Staphisagria and now, complementary to Staphisagria, Causticum.
I had
many reasons to give Causticum: on the right side,
slowly appearing paralysis. Aversion to sweets now, previously he had desire
for sweets. Stumbling while walking, numbness of the right hand and so on. I
had quite a lot of reasons for Causticum, but Causticum did not work.
You can say: why, you have to wait - in this
situation you can wait, yes wait until he dies.
But after Causticum
he developed new symptoms, very strange.
A: For all those reasons I gave you Causticum. Then you were a little bit better. You got it 8
days ago. But then, you told me that you were
enormously chilly, very chilly. When you drank something cold,
...
P:
It remained there, as if there was a cold see in my stomach.
A: You said as if there was an ice-cube in my
stomach.
P: Yes.
Very strange. He drinks and it has to be warm.
When he drinks a little bit cold water it remains like ice in his stomach and
causes pain. "Coldness in stomach after cold drinks with pain like
ice" (p. 482) and on page 483 there is the peculiar symptom. Which remedy
is there ? Elaps.
stomach, coldness, ice, after cold drinks : Elaps.
Now, look under "paralysis, hemiplegia,
right" (p. 1176) (paralysis of one side of the body) .
EXTREMETIES, PARALYSIS, HEMIPLEGIA, right : Apis., arn.,
bell., calc., Caust., colch., Crot-c., crot-h., elaps., graph., nat-c.,
op., phos., plb., rhus-t., sang.,
sil., stront., sulph.
There, you see Elaps. And now look under "paralysis, right hand"
(p. 1179), there are 3 remedies: Causticum, Elaps and Plumbum.
EXTREMETIES, PARALYSIS, HAND, right : Caust., elaps., Plb.
Rhus toxicodendron is also on the right side, has pain in the
stomach after cold drinks. But because he said that it is as if there would be
ice which caused the pain, therefore I had to give him Elaps:
because of this peculiar symptom, because of this key-note.
Besides, Elaps is
known for a right-sided hemiplegia. I gave him Elaps.
Afterwards he said that he really felt how his right arm became lighter, that
it was not so heavy anymore.
A: As cold as ice.
P: It feels like that.
A: And it is attended with some pain ?
P: Yes, little pain.
A: You said that you absolutely couldn't
tolerate cold drinks; second a kind of paralysis in the right hand. The fine
movements fail.
P: I
can't grasp.
A: Yes, with rolling cigarettes the fine motor
fails.
P: It fails, yes.
A: There was also a kind of heaviness in your arm ?
P: ... (not
understandable).
A: Yes, it fell down for weakness. And a third
thing: I didn't apply a turnicut and still your blood
was as good as black.
The third, very strange symptom. You know,
when you take blood - and I had to take blood - so, when you take blood, you
have to apply a turnicut, but I did not do it,
because his arm was so thin, and the blood was black, really black. I have not seen this before, such black blood. That was
the fourth indication for Elaps. Elaps has black
blood, black bleedings, black lung bleedings, that is Elaps, black menses: Elaps.
I gave him Elaps and
afterwards he was better. But then he had a relapse, he got bronchitis and
therefore he got Rhus toxicodendron,
then Carbo vegetabilis ...
... You see, this man is completely
arteriosclerotic, because he smokes. He has worked in a lead and zinc factory.
A: I also noticed that your blood was dark.
Nearly as black as soot. Therefore, together with the chilliness, the feeling
in your stomach and the paralysis in your right hand I let you bring a tablet
the day before yesterday. You took three times a spoonful. What was the result ?
WP: He can walk better.
A: First, you walked with a stick. Before, you
have been lying in bed and when you could get up again, you walked about with a
stick. What kind of feeling did you have in your arm after the tablet ?
P: It was about the same. I still don't have
force. Although it is a little better, but I can't do fine work.
A: Do you still feel heavy ?
P: No.
A: Do you feel lighter ?
P: Yes, but I have just said that I have
exhausted myself and didn't allow myself enough rest.
A: Yes. You got the tablet the day before
yesterday. What is the difference to before ?
P: A big difference ...