A CASE OF ULCERS ON THE EYEBALL.
On January 15th, 1936, I was visited by a Mr. G.H.J.R. a young man of 23, who complained about ulcers on the eyeball. This painful and horrible affliction had pursued him for many years. When he was 13 an ulcer developed on the ball of the right eye in front of the pupil and ever since, ulcers had kept on appearing on both eyes. He had gone to specialists and eye hospitals, and they had looked at his eye and cut away the ulcers in the usual way.
As the trouble was obviously not local but constitutional these ulcers kept on appearing. His left eye was bandaged because there was a big ulcer on the eyeball, and the white of the eye was swollen and inflamed. I did not even ask him to take off the bandage but merely interrogated him in the usual way. I discovered that his mother had had consumption and had been twice to a sanatorium. The young man himself looked healthy, strong, tall and was well made, but he had had a significant health history.
When he was five years old he had measles. The disease had affected the eyes so badly that he lost his sight completely and was blind for a fortnight, then his vision returned. From the age of 13, there had been recurring attacks of ulcers. The trouble had been going on for ten years. He could not see very well because in front of the pupils there were scars left from the ulcers and operations. Quite recently he had been told once more that there was nothing for the disease except further operation.
I started the young man on Sulphur 6x night and morning, gave him Belladonna 3x for the inflammation of the eyes and caused him to take every Thursday last thing at night a dose of Morbillinum 200 for measles, and last thing on Mondays a dose of Tuberculinum 200 for his possible tubercular inheritance.
On February 27th the young man visited me again. There was little improvement about the eye as yet, but he felt much better in general health, a very important point, and had gained 6 or 7 lbs. in weight. I like to improve the general health of patients before dealing with the local condition complained of. The local trouble is more easily eliminated when the body is in better order.
I now changed medication and gave him Calcarea carbonica 3x and Mercurius corrosivus in alternation, and then tried Arsenicum 3x and Kali bichromicum 3x. All these medicines are suitable for ulceration and he was to find out by trial and error which of them suited him best.
Henceforth his eyes improved rapidly and splendidly. He discovered that Calcarea carbonica and Arsenicum suited him best and he concentrated on those two remedies, taking them in alternation. The inflammation disappeared from the stricken eye. The whites of his eyes no longer looked jaundiced but became pure white, his eyes looked brighter, his hair glossier, his complexion clearer, he felt in better health than ever before and went about without the huge protective pad over his left eye which he had worn previously.
It was now high time to act on the scar tissue which impeded the sight of both eyes for the scars were in front of the pupils. I therefore gave him Silica 200, a dose to be taken once a week. He started on Silica on March 26th and the scars in front of both eyes rapidly became less. That could be seen by himself because the dark spot in front of his eyes became lighter and smaller, and his people could notice a diminution in the size of the scars with the naked eye.
His oculist, Miss Scarlett, had discovered with the help of the ophthalmoscope that there was a clot of blood at the back of the eye. He was given Arnica 3x and Melilotus 1x to dissolve it, and later on he was given Ferrum phosphoricum 2x as a tonic. When I saw him last in May he looked a completely different being. He had put on a stone, looked in magnificent physical condition, his eyes looked absolutely normal and had definitely improved, and he was full of happiness at having escaped further operation and their wearying consequences.
BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, GIDDINESS, HEADACHE.
On February 28th, 1936, I was visited by a Mrs. H.F., who lives in one of the suburbs of London. She is the wife of a retired railway servant. Her father died of tuberculosis when 44, her mother of heart disease when 73. The parents had a number of children, two of whom had died of heart disease and another child, a sister of the patient, had cataract, which had been operated upon, the operation was a failure and she was completely blind.
Mrs. H.F. came too me in great distress. Her eyes had given way. She had become blind in the left eye, had been to Moorfields Hospital after being treated by other people, and she had been informed that her blindness was due to a clot of blood. Apparently the cold had diminished slightly because, in the stricken eye, she could distinguish light from darkness. I cheered her up as well as I could by telling her that as there had been some improvement in her condition, there was every reason to hope for further improvement.
Unfortunately the eye trouble was not her only complaint. She looked in very poor general health, she had a dreadful complexion, only a few natural teeth, the gums had receded badly, and every two or three weeks she had violent attacks of sickness with vomiting. She also suffered from giddiness which was improved by vomiting. The giddiness was very noticeable when she lay down in bed.
She did not perspire at all, had hot feet in bed, had very offensive motions produced with laxatives, urine also was offensive, and last but not least, she was not only gong blind in the left eye but her left ear was almost completely deaf, and she had violent throbbing pain in head and neck particularly when lying down in bed. Her sleep was poor, limbs cracked on motion, she felt best in the open air, could not digest fat, had dreams of falling, had pains under both shoulder- blades, black specks before the eyes, and clammy feet.
Her appearance and her numerous complaints made it quite obvious to me that the eye trouble was by no means a local trouble but was due to grave constitutional derangements consequent upon faulty living. The fact that both her left eye and her left ear had been affected, pointed to the possibility of oozing of blood into the brain, affecting both the organs of hearing and of sight.
All her symptoms made it obvious that she was a victim of arteriosclerosis. The foulness of her motions and urine pointed to the fact that there was intestinal putrefaction which needed dietetic reform. Yet, the various doctors and specialists, and the authorities at Moorfields had not even enquired into her diet nor had they given her any helpful suggestions.
I put her immediately on a diet from which flesh, fish, fowl and everything made of them were excluded, she was to take no coffee or strong tea which she had previously drink, and only minimum of condiments and spices. No aluminum cooking utensils were to be used henceforth. She was to take an abundance of water and raw fruit and salad, etc.
For medicines she received Sulphur 3x first and last thing, which was called for by the over-heated condition of her body, and a combination of Ignatia and Carbo. vegetabilis for her digestion and depression and as a tonic to be taken before meals. She was given Rhus tox. between meals for her rheumatic diathesis, and a dose of Lueticum 200 once a week.
On March 6th, a week after her visit, she wrote: “I am pleased to say that I am feeling better. I am sleeping better, and the pains in head and neck are much easier. Also my joints are much looser”.
Medication was continued unchanged, and the next weekly report, written on March 14th, stated: “I am pleased to say that I am still progressing. I feel better in myself but still have much throbbing in the left ear. The eye is not clearing at all.”.
The next report of March 21st was as follows: “I am feeling better, the throbbing is easing a little, I feel better in myself!”.
I now gave her Baryta carbonica which is an excellent remedy for arteriosclerosis, in the 3x potency, to be taken first and last thing, which was combined with Ignatia and Rhus tox, previously received.
On March 28th the lady wrote: “I am pleased to say that I am feeling much better. I enjoy the diet and quite look forward to my meals. I am feeling better in every way.”.
The following week, the report, written on April 6th, stated: “I am certainly much better,” and then came a report which told me to my joy “the eye is slightly better. I have had no vomiting since I have been under your treatment. I do not perspire at all and do not have any giddiness. The ear still throbs but not so violently.”.
On April 18th, after seven weeks treatment, came a letter: “I am pleased to say that I am absolutely fit. The throbbing has practically gone, I had a slight attack of giddiness last Monday which passed quickly. I have had no vomiting at all. The symptoms I complained of seem almost a thing of the past. I am making progress in every way, I enjoy the diet.
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.