THE other day quite unexpectedly I was faced with a problem which, but for homoeopathy, I should have been quite unable to deal with. A young man turned up as it was nearly dusk, almost voiceless, in a whisper he informed me his mother had sent him. He had lost his voice over six weeks ago, had been to his own doctors who after treating him for a week or so, had sent him on to a laryngologist, a specialist for larynx trouble.
He had seen him two or three times and as his voice was rather worse than better, he had been told to wait for admission to hospital for further investigations. He rather dreaded this ordeal and felt he would never get his voice back again. It did not hurt him to speak, he simply could not raise his voice above a hoarse whisper.
The rubric, ” painless loss of voice” in Kents Repertory only shows eight remedies, so my research was not a very difficult or lengthy one. The history he gave was that he fell into a ditch full of water about seven weeks ago, when he had been running and was overheated and perspiring freely. He was able to change his clothes very quickly and yet within twenty-four hours his voice had disappeared.
Since then he had been perspiring much too freely, which was quite new to him; he was always breaking out into violent perspirations. Always very thirsty and had a great desire for cold water. There was a feeling as if he had plenty of mucus in his larynx and if he could only clear his throat, he would feel better.
He felt the heat very much and was very fond of sugar there was also a history of glands of the neck when a child.
Another interesting point which came out in closer inquiry was that he had had eczema recently in the spring, a skin eruption in the right axilla and on the right arm, which had been suppressed with ointments after several weeks treatment. His breath was offensive and putrid, and I found out that he was subject to constipation. His arms were perspiring so freely that he could feel it dripping off.
On all these symptoms, profuse clammy perspiration, painless loss of voice, terrific irritation of skin under shoulders and armpit which was made worse by scratching, great thirst for cold water, I prescribed Phosphorus 30.
Three days later he visited me again and I found his voice much stronger; he could speak well above a whisper now. The profuse perspiration had stopped and his unusual thirst for large quantities of cold water had gone as well. He felt better in himself and his breath was quite sweet.
Notice please, he had not been ordered any aperients or mouthwash. He had been advised to inhale plain steam at night before going to bed. By the by, I forgot to mention he had been ordered medicinal inhalations by his previous doctors without the slightest benefit. Phos.30 was repeated three days later; within six days, on his third visit, his voice was loud and quite tuneful, the natural pitch and timbre was returning. He was delighted, of course, and was returning to work the next day. The following week his voice was absolutely normal.
This is what homoeopathy can do; voiceless over six weeks, even a specialist could do nothing without hospitalization, and as soon as the correct homoeopathic medicine was given in minutest doses, the voice returned, as if by a charm. His mother asked “But why could Mr. —, the specialist, not do the same ?” Ask me another. It is because they have not got the key to unlock the treasure house of rational medicinal treatment.
Alas for them and the poor patients who go on attending the hospital departments week after week, sometimes with but little improvement. Of course this young mans diet was altered as well, he was taken off white bread, put on wholemeal bread, bran, daily fruit and properly cooked vegetables and salads.
A triumph for homoeopathy, dont you think.
I remember a woman who was voiceless for twelve months; she was suspected of T.B., and had attended a tuberculosis dispensary and ear and throat department of a big teaching hospital for weeks. I had no time to deal with her myself, so I sent her up to the Homoeopathic Hospital and within 2-3 weeks her voice came back! and I saw her off and on for nearly two years afterwards and her voice remained strong and hearty all through that time. Give me homoeopathy even for such specialized complaints as voice trouble.
It does much better than orthodox medicine in functional troubles. And how often is not the patient told, as my two patients mentioned previously, that no cause could be found for the hoarseness. It was very essential for my young friend he should be fit, as he was wanted for work of national importance in the anti-aircraft department. I was glad I was able to do my little bit in restoring to sound health one cog in Englands protective war machine.
