Of the some seventy odd remedies listed in several repertories that are beneficial in treating Diabetes, Syzigium jambolanum seems to be one of the more frequently indicated ones. If the provings are checked, the searcher finds a nearly perfect picture which includes these classic symptoms: great thirst, weakness, emaciation, large amounts of urine with high specific gravity, increased blood sugar, and the italicized statement that no other remedy causes in so marked a degree the reduction and disappearance of sugar in the urine.
A few cases treated with this remedy may illustrate its effectiveness.
Mr.H.O., aged 53, was first seen in January 1948 with a history of weight loss for 6 to 8 months previously, great thirst, tiredness and inability to walk more than short distances. His father had developed Diabetes at the age of 75 years. Our patients initial blood sugar was 280 mgs. by the micro method. and his fasting urine analysis that morning showed a two puls sugar. He was placed on an 1800 calorie diet and started on tincture of Syzigium, 12 drops three times daily. In two weeks” time, he had completely lost his thirst, and didnt even drink water with his meals, even though his micro sugar had only come down to 255.
In two more weeks his micro sugar was 200 mgs. and the three urine specimens that the had been doing daily at home by the Clinitest method were nearly completely free from sugar. His weight in the first month of treatment had also come down 10 pounds to put him within 5 percent of his average mean weight for height and age. The next micro sugar test three weeks later was 100 mgs. and his only complaint was that he because a little by allowing a glass of milk and 2 crackers, either at the time he became hungry, or at bedtime.
Several more pounds of weight were gradually lost over the next few months and when the micro sugar rose again to 190, the dose of tincture of Syzigium was doubled. to 25 drops three times a day. The blood sugar came down again to 110, but, more important, the patient continued to feel well and was able to work all day as a dye-maker without being hungry, thirsty, or tired. He has been treated now for 62 years, is seen about every 8 to 10 weeks, and the dose of Syzigium is varied according to his blood sugar findings.
His most recent check-up June 25, 1954, was 165 mgs., while his weight was 162 3/4 lbs., the exact amount he weighed one month after first starting the remedy.
The next patient, Mrs. M.C., now 72 years of age, has likewise been under treatment for 6 years. She has been a known for 11 years, and was quite obese, weighing 189 lbs. when she should be about 150 lbs. Her initial micro sugar test was 275 mgs. and all three urine analysis showed a plus four sugar. Thirty- five drops of tincture of Syzigium, four times a day, were started, and this improved a generalized pruritus, and made her urinary sugar negative within three weeks, although at this point her blood sugar has still 205.
She had been placed on a 1200 calorie diet and as her weight gradually was reduced, her blood sugar likewise improved, so that her blood sugar tests stayed about 100 mgs. , except when several crises developed in her life, such as the critical illness of her husband and daughter. Her general picture has been far from good. She developed two apparent cardiac episodes suspicious of coronary insufficiency states that required several weeks of bed rest.
Her diabetes, however, remained in good control with the blood sugar ranging between 140 and 175. coronary artery trouble, but an electrocardiogram was negative, and even after her husbands death in December 1951 her diabetic status remained well- controlled. She did allow her weight to creep upward again to 172 lbs., but her blood sugar has remained between 80 and 110 except on one occasion of worrying again about her daughters illness, when it jumped to 180. At her last visit on May 14, 1054 her micro sugar was 135, her weight 1704 lbs., and all her urine specimens were negative.
Another patient, a married lady of 66 years, was first seen in 1948, when she told me that sugar had been discovered in her urine in November 1947, and that she has always craved chocolate for years. She had lost 35 pounds in the 2 months prior to her first office visit. A micro sugar test was only 110 mgs., and all three urine samples were negative for sugar. I put her on a calculated diet, gave her some Syzigium, 15 drops in water three times a day, and she disappeared for 4 years. We re-checked” her, found a micro sugar of 120 and a trace of sugar in her evening urine specimen. She then stayed away 15 months, but came back February 26, 1954, complaining of weight loss and weakness, poor sleeping and worry about the possibility of having to move from her old home due to changing neighborhood conditions.
This time her urinary samples were plus four sugar before lunch and supper, while the pre-breakfast one was a trace of sugar, and her micro sugar was 165. She had lost about 10 pounds which was quite a loss for her age and size. She felt so miserable, pleaded for immediate relief as she contemplated a trip to Europe within a few months, so I weakened and decided to give her insulin. The next few mornings were spent going through the whole technique of insulin syringe sterilization and injection, until I finally felt the patient was able to give herself the 15 units of U 40 N.P.H. insulin. Two weeks later the micro sugar was down to 135 mgms., the urine tests for sugar were one puls, three puls and negative respectively and she was feeling much improved.
I made her next appointment for 8 weeks, and when she came at that time she confessed that she had not given herself insulin after the 4th or 5th time after her last visit. She felt that a pain developing down the back of the leg was due to insulin. I therefore started her on tincture of Syzigium, 25 drops three times daily, and two weeks later, on June 1, 1954, her micro sugar was 100 mgms., her three daily urine analysis were negative and she was feeling quite well. On July 12th, 6 weeks later, the micro sugar was still only 100 mgms. and she flew off to Europe with a liberal quantity of Syzigium in her bags.
These three cases are just examples of empirical prescribing. Syzigium will do a lot for some of your patients, may remove their symptom, reduce their blood sugars and keep them reasonably happy and useful without insulin. Others of your patients of course will benefit much more from some of the remedies found in your repertories and materia medicas after a careful taking of the case.
1421 W. Girard Ave.
Philadelphia, Penna.
DISCUSSION
DR. JAMES STEPHENSON (New York, N.Y.): I wondered if you had had any luck in reversing cataracts, retinopathies, and ulcers; also whether you found in high potency, 1M, say, it worked as effectively as the tincture you have been using.
DR. VIRGINIA JOHNSON (Chicago, Ill.): One of our Chicago so- called heart specialists, who just passed on to the next world, made a statement that since the use of insulin, heart conditions have increased over 90 per cent.
DR. ALLAN. D. SUTHERLAND (Brattleboro, Vt.): This is very short comment that, while cardiac conditions may have increased 90 per cent since the use of insulin in diabetes was begun, this doesnt prove that insulin was the cause of that increase.
I dont thing we ought to go off the deep end, Dr. Tyson to the contrary. Lots of other factors increase heart injury. You cant say t is caused by this, that, or the other. You have to have proof.
DR.WEAVER (Closing): I have no comment about cardiac complications increasing since insulin is begun; neither do I ever use higher than a tincture. I have seen no interruption or any reversal in retinopathies, though I do dry to get my patients checked once a year, the eye grounds and chest x-rays, and so forth, but I have not used it neither. I probably should try it and see whether I can get the same results.
