CASE1
Dd alum., ferr.
Case
Woman, 22 years old
This is a very
interesting case, a case which shows that you have to be flexible. She came for
asthma, was cured with a remedy and then she came with eczema.
A : You came in
November 1983 - now it is August 1984 - and you were complaining about
asthmatic bronchitis, constantly coughing with shortness of breath. You had
asthmatic bronchitis since you were three years old. How old are you now?
P : 22 years old.
A : I asked you if
you could explain this asthma and you answered that before the asthma you had
eczema. I asked you more about the eczema. You said, "As a child I had
eczema." When did it start from what your mother said?
P : Also at the age
of 3, 4 years.
A : First you had
this eczema. Therefore you went to the doctor
and he prescribed an ointment, which your mother rubbed on you. Afterwards you
got a cough and shortness of breath. Surely this occurred because of
the suppression of the skin eruption.
P : Yes.
On page 765 you find
the rubric in Kent:
RESPIRATION,
Asthmatic, eruptions, after suppressed: Apis, ars, carb-v, dulc, ferr, hep, ip,
psor, Puls, sec, sulph
In many cases you can
cure both, the asthma and the eczema with one remedy and in other cases first
you must give one remedy because something has been suppressed and then the
next remedy. If the remedy comprises both problems, the asthma and the eczema,
like for example, Sulphur or Hepar Sulphur, one remedy can cure both problems.
But it is not always possible, like in this case.
Let's see the other
symptoms she has.
A : Then I asked you
when you were coughing most and you said, "I cough
on exertion, when I go from the cold into the warmth and from the warmth into
the cold, especially in the summer and at night." You said that you can tolerate warmth better
than the cold, you perspire under the armpits and at that time you had vertigo.
You looked very pale, now you have a healthy color.
P : The vertigo has
also disappeared.
A : At that time you
were very pale. Do you remember?
P : Yes.
A : It is a pity I
didn't make a video of you at that time, because now you look much different. You had vertigo
especially on rising. When you sat or stooped and you rose you were
dizzy. It was also remarkable that you were pale, but your face got red. In
which circumstances did your face get red? Do you remember?
P : Yes, I do. When I drank wine.
This is another
keynote, red face after drinking wine. Where do we find this rubric?
You find this rubric
on page 363:
FACE,DISCOLORATION,wine, the pale face becomes
red after : Carb-v., ferr.
FACE, Discoloration,
red, wine, the pale face becomes red after: Carb-v, ferr
A : The doctors said
that you had too little calcium and magnesium.
This is a clear
picture. Within 10 minutes the decisive symptoms were clear: asthma from suppressed eruption, vertigo on rising from
stooping, pale face and a red face on excitement. So I gave her Ferrum.
Also remember that
Sepia and Sulphur can get a red face when they are excited.
Question: And
Lachesis?
A : Lachesis? Not
that I know.
A : You told me that
you liked highly seasoned food, salt and eggs. These were your three desires.
You didn't like liver or mussels.
P : No.
A : You said that you
slept on the right side. Is this still so?
P : Yes. Lately I
alternate the sides.
A : You liked cold
drinks which you drank with large draughts.
P : Yes.
A : No bleeding,
bruises or things like that?
P : No.
A : You said you had a fear of dark and a fear
of spiders. These were the only anxieties you had, there were no others?
P : No.
A : Besides you said that you did not only
have this cough and the shortness of breath, but also dry skin everywhere. You
had cracks in the lips, in the fingers and rough hands. May I see your hands?
P : (shows her hands)
A : Now they are
smooth. You can still feel it a little bit.
P : Yes.
A : You received a
remedy on November 17, 1983. In January 1984 you came back and you said that
you didn't have shortness of breath anymore. You didn't have any real attacks
of coughs or the shortness of breath?
P : No.
A : Indeed, it
occurred a few times slightly, but it went away spontaneously.
P : Yes, a kind of
oppressed feeling.
A : But it went away
spontaneously.
P : Yes.
A : I gave you a remedy
at that time, but I won't mention it now.
With the second
remedy you had cracks of the fingertips and here in the bends of the joints.
The vertigo disappeared completely. You also had
white spots on the nails.
P : But they are gone
now.
A : Yes, I think so.
Also the lips were very cracked. Then I gave you Sac-lac and you came back
after two months, so four months after I saw you the first time. You said that the
asthma was good, but instead the eruption was worse and you had many cracks in
your fingertips. The vertigo had disappeared completely, but you had
pain in your back when you had to lift something. The skin was dry in general.
You still liked highly seasoned food?
P : Yes.
A : And you liked to
eat salt, didn't you?
P : Yes.
A : You were rather
cold. I gave you a remedy which followed well, but which I won't mention now.
In April you came back and you were doing a lot better concerning the skin. The
cracks were gone and you had shortness of breath only once, when you came into
contact with dust, but many people would have problems with that. The eczema
was completely gone. Do you still have
this in the meantime?
P : No.
A : It didn't appear
again?
P : No.
A : And the pain in
the back has also improved. Now it is four months later, this means that nine
months after you started the treatment here you still don't have shortness of
breath. Do you still cough?
P : No, it is
completely gone.
A : Has the skin
improved further?
P : Yes.
A : After the last
remedy - I gave you Sac lac on April 3 - has the skin improved further?
P : Yes, it is not so
dry anymore.
A : And the lips?
P : They are very
good.
A : Do you feel well
in general?
P : Yes.
A : Happy and
satisfied?
P : Yes.
A : How is it when
you drink wine?
P : I don't know,
because I haven't drunk any.
A : Good, all right.
For the time being we consider the case cured.
If you consider the relationships of the
remedies you see that the first complementary remedy to Ferrum is Alumina.
She had this eczema already
during her asthma, also the dry skin, the white spots on the nails and so on.
Often it is difficult to decide which
symptoms you take into account for the choice of the remedy, you can't take
them all. First she received
Ferrum, on which her asthma improved and the skin became worse which was cured
with Alumina. The symptoms which indicated Alumina were cracks in the skin,
white spots on the nails, dry skin, desire highly seasoned food and she was
chilly.
This is also a case
which shows that often one remedy doesn't cure completely. First you must give
one remedy and later a complementary remedy.
With Alumina the skin has terrible itching in
the warmth of the bed and they scratch until it bleeds. Everybody must know
this famous important rubric.
Also in Alumina you will find itching of the
skin without any eruptions.
I looked for remedies
which have an amelioration of the eczema by hot water.
Answer: Rhus
venenata.
A : Yes, this is one
of them. But when you give this remedy and it doesn't work which remedy might
it be?
Answer: Arsenicum
Answer: Rhus
toxicodendron.
Answer: Anacardium.
A : Anacardium? Are
you sure? Where have you seen this? I haven't found it anywhere.
But there is another
remedy which helped me a lot, and that is Radium bromatum. The itching of an eczema becomes much better
from very hot water and Radium bromatum also has itching from undressing.
I just had a case of Radium bromatum. It was a
female patient who had to take X-rays for breast cancer. After the radiation
she came back and said that she had something like a lump in her stomach and
while swallowing she had the feeling as if she had to swallow something, a
swelling. I gave her Radium bromatum and the next day everything had
disappeared. Radium bromatum didn't work on the level of the skin, it only
cured the deep, internal consequences of the radiation. The skin was red, like
a burn and after Radium bromatum nothing changed, so that I gave another
remedy, Cantharis and Cantharis cured the skin within one day.
Remark: Anacardium
has itching, better from hot water, as Clarke says.
A : Oh yes, thank you
very much. On which page do you find this in Clarke?
Answer: On page 102.
A : Yes, now I found
it. Bathing with hot water ameliorates. Another remedy which I forgot is
Petroleum.
In eczema, in itching skin eruptions, when
the itching ameliorates with hot water you think of Rhus venenata, Radium
bromatum, Petroleum, Arsenicum and Anacardium.
diarrhoea from
eating, that is a key-note for Kali phosphoricum, also for Ferrum.
Another case
I mean children who suddenly vomit without any nausea?
- Ferrum.
- Ferrum in white,
transparent children who vomit, as if they empty a sack.
- This white, waxy
appearance is also called Chlorosis.
ANOTHER CASE
- This
is a clinical rubric, but it is very important.
- There you see Ferrum, a very important
remedy in acute tuberculosis.
- What is typical for Ferrum, an important
key-note in children?
- Epistaxis.
- Ferrum is the first remedy in nose bleeding
in children.
- Besides it is very important in septicemia
and in upwards bladder infections, going to nephritis, with very high fever,
together with pain in the liver and in the chest.
- Where can we find this rubric?
- Answer : "Inflammation of the
kidneys."
- A : No, not in inflammation.
- (Many rubrics are mentioned, but none is
right.)
- A : No, none of these are right.
- You find it under bladder, "urging,
pain in liver, chest and kidneys, with".
- You always find blood in the urine, pus,
leucocytes and a constant urging with pain in the liver, kidneys and the chest.
- Does everybody know the rubric for
septicemia? It is in the generalities on page 1399.
- All right, that for the phtisis florida, by
which you certainly have to think about Ferrum.
- Which is the biggest desire of Ferrum?
- Answer : "Eggs."
- A : Eggs? Oh no, on the contrary, they have
an aversion.
- They like tomatoes.
- They eat tomatoes like Medorrhinum eats
oranges.
- But they can also have an aversion tomatoes,
both are possible.
- The desire for tomatoes only has two
remedies, namely Ferrum and Ignatia.
Ferrum also has asthma after suppressed skin eruptions,
often accompanied by vertigo. The constitutional Ferrum people are pale, they
flush easily and are very dictatorial. Think of the "iron lady" of
England. She sends canons and all these things made of iron from Europe to the
Middle East. She is Ferrum: dictatorial, inflexible and very strong.
- If you have a Ferrum patient with suppressed skin eruptions
which is the first symptom?
- Which symptom do you
always see in Ferrum?
- Vertigo, they nearly
always have a vertigo, usually by rising from stooping and so on, with asthma.
- You give Ferrum, the
asthma disappears, the eczema appears again, and which is the next remedy, when
the eczema appeared again after giving Ferrum? The skin is dry, the stool is
dry, always constipated and wet weather improves?
- Alumina.
- Alumina is
complementary to Ferrum.
- One of our secretaries who was pregnant came in the kitchen
where I was supervising a case I noticed how pale she was and I said, 'My God,
you look pale!" She blushed immediately, because I said this in the
presence of other doctors.
- She took Ferrum and
she was doing well afterwards.