CHRONIC BRONCHITIS


When he came to me he looked extremely frail, and he had been very depressed by the fact that an attempt to escape the rigour of the English winter had been a failure, because on his return form Jamaica he had been attacked by influenza, which had left him very weak. He loved England, loved his country place, loved shooting, and did not like to go abroad.


ON May 11th, 1937, I was visited by a naval officer, who complained about his health. He was 66 years old had led a strenuous life in the navy, and like all naval men, had been fed on quantities of meat, tinned foods, white bread, etc., and naturally his condition had suffered. There was a pronounced chest weakness in his mothers family, and there was much bronchitis among his relatives. The officer himself had suffered from bronchitis all his life, and occasionally he had extremely severe attacks.

He had been thin and weedy all his life, he had sprue while in China, and was often troubled with diarrhoea. He had suffered from dysentery at the siege of Ladysmith, he had had enteric, and his weight went down to 7 st. or less. Then he had had pleurisy, worse on the right side, and had had pneumonia twice on the left side. He had been vaccinated a number of times and the vaccination had not taken.

Therefore, in addition to the troubles mentioned there arose the question whether he was suffering from vaccinal poisoning. Further, he was troubled with claustrophobia. and had nightmares in which he dreamt that he was shut up in a small box. He had been very faultily treated and had been talking every night by doctors orders, bromide to make him sleep.

The patient was prematurely aged, he had swollen and inflamed eyelids, he had a great deal of catarrh for which he had been inoculated, and the inoculation was followed by an attack of pneumonia and fibrillation of the heart, which had becomes greatly enlarged. Many of the new procedures of medicine, such as inoculation and other subcutaneous treatments, are extremely dangerous. He liked to be in the open air. He perspired heavily, and occasionally had attacks of prickly heat.

The Admiral loved the open air, but could not stand exposure to cold and wet, and on the doctors suggestion he went to Jamaica. On his return he had influenza badly, which left him with a chronic cough. Wheezing was continuous, and he had to sleep with the head raised by a large number of pillows. He had a badly coated tongue, proclaiming digestive disorder. His cough was worse between three and five oclock in the morning, and therefore interfered with his sleep.

In every case one has to consider carefully the diet of the patient. The patient was well to do, and lived on an over-heating diet, with large quantities of flesh, fish and fowl, and he took considerable quantities of wine, etc. Naturally, the heating diet caused an inflammatory condition, which found an outlet in his lungs, bronchus and throat, and I ascribed his sufferings largely to his faulty intake. The fact that he had hot feet and swollen and inflamed eyelids,proclaimed that he required Sulphur.

I gave him Sulphur 6x, a dose to be taken night and morning, and he was to strengthen his heart with doses of Crataegus mother tincture, to be taken after meals. Before every meal he was to take a dose of Nux vomica and Carbo vegetabilis combined to improve his digestion. Nux vomica is a always strongly indicated in those who love eating foods, spices, alcohol and tobacco.

People who are very liable to colds should be treated for Tuberculosis. He was therefore to take every Monday night a dose of Bacillinum 200. As he had had an influenza attack, he was to take every Wednesday a dose of Influenzinum 200. As he had measles badly, which might possibly to some extent be responsible for his trouble he was to take every Saturday night a dose of Morbillinum 200.

To relieve his bronchitis he was to take a dose of Bryonia 3x as and when needed. I gave him a lacto-vegetarian diet, with plenty of raw fruit, large quantities of bran, and he was to take the absolute minimum of flesh, fish and fowl, if any, replacing them with eggs, and egg dishes, milk and milky foods, etc.

After a week, on May 19th, the patient reported : “I am glad to say that my bronchitis is much better, and that the other trouble has disappeared.” Five days later, on May 24th her reported : “I am glad to tell you that my bronchitis trouble is now less then even at my best time in ordinary summer weather”.

I continued medication as before. One must not change medicines if they are obviously doing good. On June 1st, after three weeks treatment, my patient visited me for the second time. After our interview I wrote to him :

“I was extremely pleased with your appearance to-day. You looked years younger than you did when I saw you on May 11th, three weeks ago. You had a better colour, redder lip, brighter eyes, you have lost the impression of anaemia which you gave me three weeks ago. Your eyelids are far less inflamed than they were, you feel stronger in body and mind, and you told me to my delight that the bronchitis was better than it had been for years.

Your heart also seems better as tested by a little strain put upon it you walking down and up the stairs. Your cough has gone, and to my great satisfaction, you have given up taking bromide and digitalis which in my opinion, have done you infinite harm. However, the heart is still weak and sub-normal, but I dare say it will get better with natural common-sense treatment.

“You have helped me greatly be abandoning flesh and fowl, but I would like you to abandon fish as well. There are no abstract of theoretical; reasons for this wish, but practical experience. You still have some throat clearing cough which will get better before long, and you told me that your attacks of bronchitis usually begin with a cold in the throat. Perhaps it would be worth your while taking a pinch of snuff night and morning as a routing measure.

At the first indication of a cold, I want you to gargle with hot, sweetened milk. I dare say I shall be able to improve your hearing very greatly, but we cannot concentrate upon the hearing for the moment. There are more important things to do. You have not yet started oil rubbing, and I would like you do so immediately.

“After every hot wash or bath, rub a little olive oil into the whole of the body ; it will rapidly be absorbed. You need not worry about having a theoretically low blood pressure. Your blood was very watery when you came to me. It is getting richer, redder and thicker, and will require a stronger pressure on the part of the heart to drive it around”.

I continued medication as before, but added Aconite 3x and Belladonna 3x which he was always to carry with him, and he was told to take those medicines in alternation at the first sign of chill or a cold. As he was delicate I could not allow him to run any risks. I took it that his deafness was partly catarrhal, partly rheumatic, and therefore recommended him to move his lower jaw right and left a number of times.

This exercise massage the eustachian tubes. Further, he was to widen the narrower nasal passage by closing the wider one and breathing deliberately through the narrow one. That procedure frequently makes an operation unnecessary. I have never heard it recommended by specialists who do that operation.

The patient was frail and was liable to get sudden violent attacks of asthma, wheezing, and other troubles, among them sciatica, and I had to attend to attacks of that trouble, to inflamed eyelids, etc. On June 8th he reported : “I am now very well generally. There is no bronchial trouble, no indigestion. I am sleeping well, but my eyes continue to be inflamed”.

On June 16th I was visited once more by the officer. After the interview I wrote to him : “You seem to be wonderfully improved as regards bronchitis, heart action, digestion and flatulence. However, you get hoarse, especially when talking, have a chronic sore throat, you feel best in damp weather. occasionally lose your voice. As your heart and bronchitis are now so much better, we can concentrate upon the throat”.

I sent him Causticum marked “Sore throat, swollen eyelids-a dose to be taken first and last thing.” He was to take a dose of Arum triphyllum, an excellent remedy for hoarseness caused by overstrain of voice, between meals. On Monday nights he was to take a dose of Bryonia 200 for his bronchitis, and on Wednesday nights he was to take a dose of Phosphorus 200 because he was a Phosphorus type, had an ultra-delicate skin, could not stand the strong sun was upset by thunder. Every Saturday night he was to take a dose of Thuja 200, marked “Vaccination antidote”, because I suspected vaccinial poisoning.

On June 24th the patient wrote : “I am happy to say that I can send you a very satisfactory report. I feel much better in every respect, and even my throat shows signs of improvement.” Although the throat improved, it did not improve sufficiently, and was the weakest point in my patients constitution. I tried Belladonna 3x for inflammation, Mercurius biniodatus 3x, Phytolacca mother tincture, which did a moderate amount of good.

Then I tried on his throat Hepar sulph.3x and Phosphorus 3, which seemed particularly indicated because his cough was worse in the open air than indoors. As his voice easily gave way after exertion, I tried Arnica 3x, which he was to use before and when speaking.

J. Ellis Barker
James Ellis Barker 1870 – 1948 was a Jewish German lay homeopath, born in Cologne in Germany. He settled in Britain to become the editor of The Homeopathic World in 1931 (which he later renamed as Heal Thyself) for sixteen years, and he wrote a great deal about homeopathy during this time.

James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.