The following cases have been of great interest to me in showing what the homoeopathic remedy will do when indicated.
A woman sixty-three years of age, mother of fifteen living and healthy children, the youngest twelve, was suffering with marked dyspnoea, when I arrived having two of her children constantly by her side, each fanning in turn, this having to be continued for twenty-four hours. At no time were her assistants allowed to stop fanning. Her first request on my entering the room was that I give her something quickly so she could get air.
My first thought was, this is a Carbo veg. condition, so without much I mixed Carbo veg. 10M. in water and gave a dose half- hourly, while I continued my examination. I had an electric fan placed on the the foot of the bed, with full force centered on the face. The next most visible condition was a large pendulous growth which hung from the throat, resting on the chest, about five inches in length and six to seven inches wide, which had been diagnosed as goitre. Her heart was rapid, irregular in action, enlarged, pulse intermittent and at times slow, unable to lie down, rested in a half sitting posture, using chest muscles to assist breathing.
Her first dose of Carbo veg. was given about 3 p.m. By 7 p.m. she was easier and had the fan turned slightly to the side, as she did not need it full force now. The Carbo veg. was discontinued and Sac lac. was given hourly.
There existed also an enlarged and inverted uterus with ulcers on each side larger than a silver dollar, due to the rubbing against thighs; these were extremely sensitive, aggravated from the least contact. This subinvolution of the uterus had existed for over five years, during which time it had never been replaced inside the body although efforts had been made to do so. The size of the uterus of the uterus was, I should say about as large as a big grape fruit only more elongated.
Next morning the report was that she had had a much better night, and had slept a little. That afternoon I saw her in consultation with a surgeon, thinking he could remove the uterus and so give he some relief from the constant weight and inconvenience. His opinion and prognosis were that the operation would do her no good. She was too far gone for it to be of any benefit, and so told the husband, giving her about two weeks to live. He was thanked and paid for his services. Then the husband turned to me and asked if I could do anything to give his wife relief, if not a cure. I remarked that the remedy I gave her yesterday certainly relieved her great oppression, and I believed that if anything would help it would be in homoeopathic treatment.
The Carbo veg. was given at intervals when the air hunger returned, and always relieved. For the enlarged uterus, Fraxinus Americana was given in five-drop doses of the tincture, every four hours, and hot applications of calendula solution used every four hours, day and night. The result was a marked improvement in the condition of the uterus, and a healing of the ulcers. In a remarkably short time the uterus was replaced and held there by a suitable pessary. During this time size of the growth at the neck increased, but owing to the relief in breathing and the absence of air hunger there was not much attention paid to this condition until a headache began, with a sensation as if the head was in a vise or an iron band was around it, followed by suffocative attacks.
The suffocative attacks returned every twenty-eight or thirty days. Cactus and Crataegus were given with only partial relief, and Carbo veg., both high and low, had now seemed to have lost its action. On going over the case again and looking up my remedies, I came across Fucus vesiculosus, which has in its provings the sensation of an iron band around the head, the flatulency in abdomen; on close questioning, I found that in early life, always at menstrual time, she suffered with shortness of breath and sensation of suffocation. Then there was the clinical evidence of goitre. So on this I prescribed ten drops of Fucus vesiculosus tincture, three times a day.
From then on the improvement was quite noticeable. This lasted for a month or six weeks, and as the goitre gradually disappeared a peculiar oblong growth, quite hard, showed up on the left side of the neck. She became irritable, jealous, suspicious and talked incessantly; disposed to feel sad, peevish, fault finding and took a great dislike to her physician, as she was quite sure that he was poisoning her. She was afraid to go to sleep for fear she would never wake up.
The desire for air appeared again, with a constriction sensation around neck, so she could not bear anything tight around it nor the weight of clothes on abdomen. Hot flushes appeared frequently, when she would be extremely hot or extremely cold. Became greatly depressed, much trembling. During all this, the one swelling in the neck grew less and less but the swelling in side of neck grew larger and hard as a stone.
To me the picture had charged. I could not see Carbo veg. again, nor any of the other remedies given. On working it out Lachesis seemed to be the remedy, so Lachesis 4M. was given. No marked change occurred, except that the became more irritable and suspicious of every one. then about the fourth day a remarkable reaction took place, but became quieter and seemed exhausted, and a slight vaginal discharge became noticeable, followed in twenty-four hours by a profuse haemorrhage, which appeared to be the climax for she felt relief in every way. Head cleared, swelling in throat entirely gone, but swelling in side of neck remained the same. Recovery was rapid.
About a month or so later, I called to see her, not having heard anything of her. I met her husband who said she was out following up her favorite pastime, and on asking him what that was, he said, “Going to funerals”.
This complete restoration to health took somewhat over a year, with remedies given only at long intervals after improvement began.
I tried to remove the other growth but failed to make any impression, and as she was feeling so fit every other way, it was allowed to remain. MONTREAL, CANADA.
