Secale cornutum
MAN, 70 YEARS OLD
This is the case of my father in law. He is dying at this moment, but we are treating him with homoeopathical remedies the whole time and he is at home.
Homoeopathy is not only for birth, but also for dying people. Or the old people will be taken care of in the hospital during their last days. This man will die soon, this week or next week and everything started with the following. It was a small stain, everything started with that and I will tell you the rest of the story.
What do they do in allopathic medicine when someone has a gangrene of the toe ? They amputate the toe. And what happens after 3 months ? They amputate the lower leg. And then, 3 months later they amputate above the knee, and then, a month later, the patient has a decubitus ulcer. And they amputate and amputate, and that is the reason why the allopaths find nothing against migraine: they can not amputate the head.
A: When did your problem start and what is the problem ?
P: Well, my toe is hurting.
A: When did it start ?
P: It might be a
fortnight ago, it was warm and my feet were swollen and I couldn't get my shoes
on. They were too small. I thought I had knocked somewhere and I put less
pressing shoes on. I also cut the nails of my toes, because I thought they were
too long. Then, it was all right for one, two days and then it returned again. And now, look yourself what it is.
He has pain in his toes and he thought his shoes might be too small and his feet were swollen while working, or that he would have injured his toes somewhere, he was not sure. He thought he had injured his toes and came to me at home and said, "Alfons, I have pain in this toe, a stone fell upon it. The toe is blue." I look at the toe and gave him Arnica. I could also have given Hypericum, but because the toe was blue, I gave him Arnica. I did not realise what was the matter.
A: So it started a fortnight ago, you got pain in the big toe.
P: Yes, now and then.
A: And you thought a stone fell upon your toe ?
P: Yes, I thought so.
A: And then, two, three days ago you got pain at night, tell me.
P: I woke up and my toe was hurting very much and I put the blanket away, because I thought it would help. Then the pain was over and it did not come back.
He takes the blanket away - "extremities, pain, warmth agg." (p. 1046):
EXTREMETIES,PAIN,warmth agg. : Ant-t., apis., bry., guai., iod., kali-i., ptel., puls., Sec., sep., stel., sulph., thuj.
Secale. If you touch the toe it hurts. And especially the warmth of the bed is painful for Secale, not the warmth of hot water. Another particular thing was that the toe was very cold. They do not tolerate the warmth of the bed, but if you touch the toe it is very cold. Where do you find this ? "Coldness of the toe" (p. 964).
EXTREMETIES,COLDNESS,Toes : Acon., agar., card-m., carl., chel., chin-s., cinnb., coff., con., daph., dig., ferr., gels., lyc., med., meny., nux-v., ol-an., sec., sulph.
This man had a stomach bleeding with black blood 3 years ago. This stomach bleeding started suddenly at home, much blood, coagulated blood. At that moment he was perspiring very much, he was nearly unconscious and I took him from the toilet to another room. He was vomiting blood, the stool was bloody, black and he was perspiring very much, but he was cold. And in the other room he wanted the window to be opened, he needed fresh air. Which remedy ? Carbo vegetabilis. I gave it him and subsequently a blood transfusion. I did not send him to the hospital for a diagnosis, because I knew it was a gastric carcinoma.
Half a year later he spend his holiday in South-Africa to visit his children. He felt very well the whole time - sometimes he had pain in his stomach.
The reason why he got this stomach bleeding - he is a very sensitive person - was that he has been vexed and had to suppress his anger. And because of this suppressed anger he got a stomach bleeding. Which remedy did I give him ? Staphisagria - "ailments from suppressed anger". But at the moment of the bleeding it was not Staphisagria, in the acute situation it was Carbo vegetabilis, and afterwards I gave him Staphisagria.
A: At what time ?
P: Maybe about 4.00 o'clock.
A: And what do you have to do then ?
P: Then I had to urinate and went back to bed and didn't put the blanket upon my leg, because it was unbearable under the blanket.
He had to put his toes outside of the bed,
because of the warmth, but also because of the touch which is so painful.
A: You couldn't keep your toe under the blanket ?
P: No, it was pushing very much.
A: How was the pain in your toe at night ?
P: Very bad, like toothache. Very painful. It came and went away.
A: I saw you yesterday and gave you a remedy, but I didn't have my camera with me. During the examination the toe was cold compared to the other toes. But yesterday it was colder than today. It was bluish, but today less than yesterday. At the other side we also see the blue nail. And here it is a little red.
P: At the beginning it was very red. Then I put it in water and then it was red until here.
A:
You had to stretch it out of the blankets and yesterday you also told me that
you had to let your foot hang down.
P: Yes.
A: What does it do when you put it in warm water ?
P: It was as if the skin was straining, like with fever or with an ulcer ...
A: Was it warm or cold water ?
P: It was rather warm water.
A: It does good, but not the warmth of the bed.
P: No, but the
blankets were pushing on it and it is loose when you sit in cold water. That is
the difference.
A: Well yes. And when you have the blankets above it with a dome or something like that ?
P: Yes, it might be better. I had already a blanket above, but ...
A: Then something else - put your hand on my
knee - it is notable, that the skin at the back of your hand is shrivelled.
Yesterday, I gave you a tablet in solution, in M potency. And you took three
times a spoonful.
P: Yes, and also today.
A: How was the last night compared to the previous nights ?
P: Last night was the best since three, four days.
A: Also during the examination I noticed that the toe was less blue and less cold than yesterday. You woke up last night, but you had less pain.
P: Yes, it didn't take too long before I fell asleep again. I took the blankets away again, because they pushed so ...
A: Yes. You have the feeling as if your socks are too small. That's all.
P: (Not understandable).
A: Is the pain more tolerable during the day compared to yesterday ?
P: Yes, ... I have moved little at least. I thought it was bad.
He will die very slowly, but he is still very, very clear in his mind.
Now he will go from Arsenicum to Carbo vegetabilis, then Arsenicum again, then Carbo vegetabilis again and then slowly he will pass off. He only weighs 37 kg, but his children from South-Africa have visited him and he could arrange all his affairs. He talks to everyone and he knows that he has to die, but he is quiet, has no pain and is not suffering. Last Sunday, before I came here, we were watching TV together. It was a very funny film and he started laughing about it. A man who is dying, started laughing, that is something beautiful. It is very important to give people the opportunity to die at home. When I showed this video in the Netherlands, they were appalled at it, that I could do something like that, I should take him to the hospital.
It is dangerous to bring your patients to the hospital, this means, that you only think about money and not about the patient. The patient needs you when it becomes very serious, and not for a little eczema. Homoeopathy is important for real problems and not only for small things. We have to prove that Homoeopathy works and you can in real dangerous cases, not with herpes or things like that.