Lachesis mutus
Case
Mrs. H. C., aet. 42; widow.
Has eruption on legs which burns and itches, and is
worse from warmth of bed. She cannot keep her legs quiet at night. Is worse from warmth of stove, which causes creeping sensation over
whole body. Feet are icy cold during day, but soles burn at night in
bed. Lameness of left shoulder, which has lasted since rheumatism four years
ago; this is worse when lying on it. The hands go to sleep and feel numb, more especially
the left one. The wrist pains as if sprained when awakening. All pains are of burning character and change locality often
and suddenly.
Sometimes there are small ulcers on inner side of left thigh, from which there is a thin
offensive discharge; walking will cause them to smart, become red and puffy. Stiffness in small of back on bending or beginning to move.
The pains go down the thigh. She has a dry cough, which
is worse after sleep and is caused by a tickling in the throat. This
cough has always come the last of March or the first
of April, and would last until real hot weather had come; with this cough she
is quite hoarse and has sensation of lump in the
throat. Menstruation is dark and scanty and offensive; has not been
regular since last child, twelve years ago; she says all her aches and pains are better during her flow, and she never feels so
well as when flowing freely, although it is
sometimes accompanied by a painful diarrhoea.
At other times she is always constipated; has to go to closet and try several
times before she has stool. There is sensation of weight and pressure in bowels
with much rumbling of gas. Abdomen is sensitive in the morning on awakening. Complains of burning, stitching pains in
left ovary when constipated. Appetite one time is good, then she may have none at all. She says she cannot get
enough to drink; has constant thirst and drinks a great deal of coffee. The
mouth and tongue are dry; has feeling as if the skin was peeling from the roof
of mouth. Sour taste in mouth all the time; tongue
cracked, brown center and red tip.
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Does not sleep well; has hard work to get to sleep before midnight and then she wakens frequently with shock in pit of the stomach and a tight suffocating feeling in the chest. Lately she has complained that her heart feels too large for her chest when she walks fast. This oppressive pain is sometimes relieved by belching. For past few weeks face and lips are bluish; has flushes of heat, but only one cheek gets red; the other is pale. For last year her hearing has been failing; she complains of a noise like a tea kettle boiling. There has been scarcely any wax, and what there was would be hard and white. Reading in the cold has always given her earache. She fears to go to bed during this last attack, as she thinks she may die, and she says she dreads to die so much.
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There has always been more or less headache, at different times, but the one which has been the most troublesome is one that begins on the right side of head and goes through to the left until it aches all around. With this there is a drawing in the back of neck and burning pains back of the eyes; some dizziness with sensation as if she were going to fall to the left side. She has an irritable disposition and everything seems to be worse in the morning when she awakens.
Now what is the diagnosis in this case? I do not know. Have never made one. We do not care about the diagnosis, as it is not a disease we wish to treat, but rather this sick woman we are going to try to cure. We have a well-taken case, and from this mass of symptoms we must select some that will individualize this case and make it different from all others. Let us look at the record and see which symptoms we will select for our repertory analysis. We find the following general symptoms : Worse after sleep, thirsty, burning pains, left side and better during flow. Making a repertory analysis of these we find under :
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Worse after sleep.-Acon., Apis, Arn., Ars., Camp., Carb. s., Carb. v., Caust., Chel., Cocc., Con., Euphr., Ferr., Hep., Lach., Lyc., Op., Phos. ac., Puls., Rheum., Sabad., Sel., Sep., Spong., Staph., Stram., Sulph., Verat.
Thirsty.-Acon., Arn., Ars., Camp., Carb. v., Chel., Cocc., Con., Hep., Lach., Op., Phos., Stram., Sulph.
Burning pains.-Acon., Arn., Ars., Carb. v., Con., Lach., Op., Phos., Sulph.
Left side.-Arn., Lach., Phos., Sulph.
Relieved during flow.-Lachesis.
Here you see we have worked our long cases down to one remedy with five rubrics. We will now turn to the pathogenesis of Lachesis and see if our selection has been justified. In the Guiding Symptoms we find under Lachesis not only the five symptoms we have used, but also each and every one of the other symptoms; so this remedy must be homoeopathic to the case.
Lachesis, two powders, was sent with the following results : For thirty-six hours after the administration there was an aggravation of all the symptoms, which was followed by rapid improvement that has continued ever since until the last report, when she wrote that every symptom had disappeared and that she felt as well as she had ever been in her life.
- She is a Lachesis wife, very critical.
Lachesis is the first remedy in women in climacterium who cannot bear the sun and who cannot bear tight
clothes.
Lachesis is one of the most important remedies in hypertension.