Phthisis
- BENERJEE.P
Case no. 15
12. 4. 27.
Mr.-; age 35 or 36. Slender figure; sickly, emaciated appearance, and completely devoid of that glaze that proclaims health. Awfully irritable and angry, but intelligent and of a retentive memory. Was a school master, and was removed from duty about 6 months ago, his own younger brother having been taken in as a substitute. Various kinds of treatment were undergone, but all was for nothing. I recorded the following symptoms:-
History and Symptoms:-
Was given to excessive self abuse while a school boy, and it was only after he had come across a pamphlet on some patent medicine, and on the advice of a friend, that he was roused to the seriousness of its effect on his after life. The above friend's advice and the pamphlet stamped a despair on his mind, and he was in the grip of an overwhelming despondency. The whole world seemed to have lost all charm for him. His elder brother had died of phthisis, and his uncle was still suffering from insanity and was kept in the asylum at Bankura, while his mother had breathed her last only a year ago after a protracted course of suffering from chronic dyspepsia. These cases in the history of the family loomed large, and he seemed to have a pre-sentiment that he was sure to die of one of these maladies. He was only 20 or 21 then. Passed his time in great despondency and in constant brooding over the future. Was married at the age of 24, and was never on happy terms with his wife. Not that he was intentionally and deliberately unfriendly with her, nor that he was not himself sorry for all these, but that he was unable to rise above the natural irritability of his temper and the unhappy accent it had received from the very despondent and gloomy outlook of the future that had taken such a hold of him. When 28 or 29 a son was born to him, but he died of convulsion only after 10 months of his birth. This further aggravated the already existing gloom in his mind and made the world doubly miserable for him. When he had come to me, he had only two daughters living. The condition of the mind was as above, and the condition of the body was yet worse. There was a constant pain in the back and waist, and nocturnal emission almost every night, and the emaciation was persistently progressing on this last account. The very appearance was indicating the condition of the interior. The eyes sunken and surrounded with black rings; pale and pulled down. There was a constant cough, aggravated by cold, any exertion and the slightest irregularity of diet and movements. Sleep was never refreshing, but full of dreams. No peace and no ease for a moment out of all the 24 hours of the day and night.
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However, after making the above record, I made a physical examination of his heart and lungs etc., and assured him that he had neither phthisis nor anything like that. The assurance was, however, taken by him as a mere bluff, particularly when there was the history of the death of his elder brother from such a disease and because he was told by all his physicians to have it as a result of all the abuse he had made of himself. It was only on the family history, the appearance of the patient and the fact of the persistent nocturnal emission that his doctors had so far diagnosed phthisis, even without making a thorough and careful examination of his case. I cast aside all these diagnoses and made an independent selection of Staphisagria, and gave the first dose of it in the 200th potency on 18. 4. 17. . and instructed repetition at the rate of one dose daily for a week, and a report thereafter.
25. 4. 17. No change; placebo for a fortnight.
10. 5. 17. No change yet. Staphisagria-1000, one dose daily for 3 days. Some placebo, and report after 3 weeks.
2. 6. 17. The nightly emission was a bit less, and the patient seemed to have a hope of cure. He definitely stated that he expected cure in my hands, Placebo for a month.
PAGE 391
16. 6. 17. The nocturnal emission which had become a bit less, was as bad as before. Tuberculinum 200, one dose and placebo for three weeks.
7. 6. 17. Much better. The emission war gone and the appearance of the patient looked improved. Placebo.
22. 6. 17. There were some emissions in the meantime, and I gave him a dose of Staphisagria-1000 again, and some placebo for three weeks.
9. 7. 17. Much better, but there was no improvement of the cough. Placebo again.
After this, the patient presented a new picture. There was no other trouble than the cough, but God knows why and from what date he was having a slight rise in temperature towards the evening. The morning temperature was 97.2 and the evening temperature 99.9, and occasionally this last would even go up to 100.5. The duration of the fever was not however very much. It lasted for 2 or 3 hours only. There were practically no symptoms to particularise the fever, so much so that the patient himself could not even feel that he was having any fever at all. The improvement in the appearance gradually disappeared, and the patient and his wife lost all hope. I waited on up to 12. 8. 17, and when I found only a progressing run for the worse instead of any improvement, I felt that some medicine was necessary.
PAGE 392
12. 8. 17. Tuberculinum-500, one dose and placebo for a month.
10. 9. 17. The cough was less, and the fever was 97.0 in the morning and 99.0 in the evening. Placebo for another month.
8. 10. 17. Almost as on 10. 9. 17, and the temperature also was 97.0 and 99.0 respectively. Tuberculinum-1000, one dose only and placebo for a month.
10. 11. 17. Temperature was 96.5 in the morning and 98.0 in the evening, and the cough much less. Placebo.
9. 12. 17. No fever. 97.0 in the morning and 97.0 in the evening. Cough still less. Placebo for 2 months.
15. 2. 18. Cough very slight and no fever. Tuberculinum-10 m., one dose only.
After this, Tuberculinum-10 m. was repeated thrice at intervals of three months and Tuberculinum-c. m, two doses at an interval of 4 months. This cured the patient completely. I was really delighted at his cure, and he had a son born to him and the son is still living. It is needless to say that throughout the course of treatment, he was kept away from his wife.
Remarks:-
(1) The case was really difficult, and without due patience on both sides there was no possibility of cure.
(2) The true physician should never rail at the patient's failings, but he should only try to bring him back to his senses with friendly advices, and should invariably hold out hopes of cure, however bad the case may be. The patient must feel the sympathy of the physician in his heart of hearts, because this contributes largely to the correction of his failings and creates in him a will-force, which in its turn contributes to his cure. Hope is life and want of it, is death. Therefore, put hope in your patient and let him live, but do not make him more hopeless and push him to death. In the present case, I presume to think that it was the discouraging words of his physicians that did him even greater injury than the disease that he was suffering from.
PAGE 393
(3) The self-abuse in boyhood did a very positive mischief to the patient's health, but the tubercular condition, which was engrafted in him long before the self-abuse, and which only accentuated the irresistible tendency for it, was the main thing in the case. This explains why Staphisagria alone failed to cure him. Staphisagria simply subdued the effects of self-abuse, and as soon as this was done, the tubercular diathesis-the very base of the patient came up and presented a picture after 9. 7. 17, that definitely indicated Tuberculinum.
(4) The tubercular diathesis is very dangerous, most principally on account of paucity of symptoms. Please note the poverty of symptoms in the case after 9. 7. 17. -There was only "fever", and not even symptoms to particularise it.
PAGE 394
(5) This paucity of symptoms should often suggest that the diathesis is inherited.
(6) It has been seen that such cases are hardly cured without Tuberculinum, in potencies like the 200th, 500th, 1000th, 10,000th, 50,000th, c. m. and even still higher, and that in repeated doses at intervals of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 months, as demanded by the circumstances of the case.
(7) Such patients should be completely kept away from their wives during the course of treatment. They have naturally an irresistible tendency for sexual intercourse on account of the tubercular taint, and special care should be taken to stop actual intercourse at any cost. If necessary, the wives should be sent away from the house where the patients live.
(8) It is really always very difficult to have such complete segregation. There are the scientific physicians to tell the patient and to teach the people that injection will cure any disease which, however, it hardly does, and this absolute assurance arms them with courage against any vice, while the time lost in injection, is lost once for all.
(9) The wives and children of tubercular patients should have regular courses of miasmatic treatment, but that is never possible. Yet, the true Homœopathic physician must make it a point to do it or at least to advise it, whenever there is an occasion.
PAGE 395
(10) The selection of medicine in the case of such wives and children always depends on the individual characteristics, and not that every case requires Tuberculinum.
Case no. 15
12. 4. 27.
 |
| Phthisis |
History and Symptoms:-
Was given to excessive self abuse while a school boy, and it was only after he had come across a pamphlet on some patent medicine, and on the advice of a friend, that he was roused to the seriousness of its effect on his after life. The above friend's advice and the pamphlet stamped a despair on his mind, and he was in the grip of an overwhelming despondency. The whole world seemed to have lost all charm for him. His elder brother had died of phthisis, and his uncle was still suffering from insanity and was kept in the asylum at Bankura, while his mother had breathed her last only a year ago after a protracted course of suffering from chronic dyspepsia. These cases in the history of the family loomed large, and he seemed to have a pre-sentiment that he was sure to die of one of these maladies. He was only 20 or 21 then. Passed his time in great despondency and in constant brooding over the future. Was married at the age of 24, and was never on happy terms with his wife. Not that he was intentionally and deliberately unfriendly with her, nor that he was not himself sorry for all these, but that he was unable to rise above the natural irritability of his temper and the unhappy accent it had received from the very despondent and gloomy outlook of the future that had taken such a hold of him. When 28 or 29 a son was born to him, but he died of convulsion only after 10 months of his birth. This further aggravated the already existing gloom in his mind and made the world doubly miserable for him. When he had come to me, he had only two daughters living. The condition of the mind was as above, and the condition of the body was yet worse. There was a constant pain in the back and waist, and nocturnal emission almost every night, and the emaciation was persistently progressing on this last account. The very appearance was indicating the condition of the interior. The eyes sunken and surrounded with black rings; pale and pulled down. There was a constant cough, aggravated by cold, any exertion and the slightest irregularity of diet and movements. Sleep was never refreshing, but full of dreams. No peace and no ease for a moment out of all the 24 hours of the day and night.
PAGE 389
PAGE 390
However, after making the above record, I made a physical examination of his heart and lungs etc., and assured him that he had neither phthisis nor anything like that. The assurance was, however, taken by him as a mere bluff, particularly when there was the history of the death of his elder brother from such a disease and because he was told by all his physicians to have it as a result of all the abuse he had made of himself. It was only on the family history, the appearance of the patient and the fact of the persistent nocturnal emission that his doctors had so far diagnosed phthisis, even without making a thorough and careful examination of his case. I cast aside all these diagnoses and made an independent selection of Staphisagria, and gave the first dose of it in the 200th potency on 18. 4. 17. . and instructed repetition at the rate of one dose daily for a week, and a report thereafter.
25. 4. 17. No change; placebo for a fortnight.
10. 5. 17. No change yet. Staphisagria-1000, one dose daily for 3 days. Some placebo, and report after 3 weeks.
2. 6. 17. The nightly emission was a bit less, and the patient seemed to have a hope of cure. He definitely stated that he expected cure in my hands, Placebo for a month.
PAGE 391
16. 6. 17. The nocturnal emission which had become a bit less, was as bad as before. Tuberculinum 200, one dose and placebo for three weeks.
7. 6. 17. Much better. The emission war gone and the appearance of the patient looked improved. Placebo.
22. 6. 17. There were some emissions in the meantime, and I gave him a dose of Staphisagria-1000 again, and some placebo for three weeks.
9. 7. 17. Much better, but there was no improvement of the cough. Placebo again.
After this, the patient presented a new picture. There was no other trouble than the cough, but God knows why and from what date he was having a slight rise in temperature towards the evening. The morning temperature was 97.2 and the evening temperature 99.9, and occasionally this last would even go up to 100.5. The duration of the fever was not however very much. It lasted for 2 or 3 hours only. There were practically no symptoms to particularise the fever, so much so that the patient himself could not even feel that he was having any fever at all. The improvement in the appearance gradually disappeared, and the patient and his wife lost all hope. I waited on up to 12. 8. 17, and when I found only a progressing run for the worse instead of any improvement, I felt that some medicine was necessary.
PAGE 392
12. 8. 17. Tuberculinum-500, one dose and placebo for a month.
10. 9. 17. The cough was less, and the fever was 97.0 in the morning and 99.0 in the evening. Placebo for another month.
8. 10. 17. Almost as on 10. 9. 17, and the temperature also was 97.0 and 99.0 respectively. Tuberculinum-1000, one dose only and placebo for a month.
10. 11. 17. Temperature was 96.5 in the morning and 98.0 in the evening, and the cough much less. Placebo.
9. 12. 17. No fever. 97.0 in the morning and 97.0 in the evening. Cough still less. Placebo for 2 months.
15. 2. 18. Cough very slight and no fever. Tuberculinum-10 m., one dose only.
After this, Tuberculinum-10 m. was repeated thrice at intervals of three months and Tuberculinum-c. m, two doses at an interval of 4 months. This cured the patient completely. I was really delighted at his cure, and he had a son born to him and the son is still living. It is needless to say that throughout the course of treatment, he was kept away from his wife.
Remarks:-
(1) The case was really difficult, and without due patience on both sides there was no possibility of cure.
(2) The true physician should never rail at the patient's failings, but he should only try to bring him back to his senses with friendly advices, and should invariably hold out hopes of cure, however bad the case may be. The patient must feel the sympathy of the physician in his heart of hearts, because this contributes largely to the correction of his failings and creates in him a will-force, which in its turn contributes to his cure. Hope is life and want of it, is death. Therefore, put hope in your patient and let him live, but do not make him more hopeless and push him to death. In the present case, I presume to think that it was the discouraging words of his physicians that did him even greater injury than the disease that he was suffering from.
PAGE 393
(3) The self-abuse in boyhood did a very positive mischief to the patient's health, but the tubercular condition, which was engrafted in him long before the self-abuse, and which only accentuated the irresistible tendency for it, was the main thing in the case. This explains why Staphisagria alone failed to cure him. Staphisagria simply subdued the effects of self-abuse, and as soon as this was done, the tubercular diathesis-the very base of the patient came up and presented a picture after 9. 7. 17, that definitely indicated Tuberculinum.
(4) The tubercular diathesis is very dangerous, most principally on account of paucity of symptoms. Please note the poverty of symptoms in the case after 9. 7. 17. -There was only "fever", and not even symptoms to particularise it.
PAGE 394
(5) This paucity of symptoms should often suggest that the diathesis is inherited.
(6) It has been seen that such cases are hardly cured without Tuberculinum, in potencies like the 200th, 500th, 1000th, 10,000th, 50,000th, c. m. and even still higher, and that in repeated doses at intervals of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 months, as demanded by the circumstances of the case.
(7) Such patients should be completely kept away from their wives during the course of treatment. They have naturally an irresistible tendency for sexual intercourse on account of the tubercular taint, and special care should be taken to stop actual intercourse at any cost. If necessary, the wives should be sent away from the house where the patients live.
(8) It is really always very difficult to have such complete segregation. There are the scientific physicians to tell the patient and to teach the people that injection will cure any disease which, however, it hardly does, and this absolute assurance arms them with courage against any vice, while the time lost in injection, is lost once for all.
(9) The wives and children of tubercular patients should have regular courses of miasmatic treatment, but that is never possible. Yet, the true Homœopathic physician must make it a point to do it or at least to advise it, whenever there is an occasion.
PAGE 395
(10) The selection of medicine in the case of such wives and children always depends on the individual characteristics, and not that every case requires Tuberculinum.
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