I am not a doctor but I can not help expressing my admiration for Homoeopathy which I have tried as a layman for about twenty four years in my domestic circle and in that of friends and the poor and needy who, at times, for want of means have approached me for relief from their sufferings.
The trial of this system of healing has produced such gratifying results during this period that I have a strong liking for recording some of my observations in the hope that I may be able to encourage some people to make an attempt to enter on the appreciation of the virtues of an art which indifference or prejudice keeps out of their reach.
It was in 1917 that I suffered from a severe type of barbers itch. I had in those days great faith in allopathy and used many kinds of ointments prescribed by doctors of that school but felt no relief. Amidst this stage of misery I came across a Homoeopath who gave me a diluted preparation of Nitric Acid for external application. He asked me to touch the pimples with it every thirty minutes or so till they dried up or I felt sufficiently relieved. I used the drug according to his directions from noon till evening.
During this period every application of the drug was followed by a frightful burning sensation but at last I found about sunset that all the pimples had dried up and also the itching and burning had ceased. There- after I used the drug only morning and evening for about a fortnight during which there was a continuous improvement both in feeling and appearance till there came about a complete recovery.
My recovery in 1917 from the aforesaid disease created within me some confidence in homoeopathy. I asked the doctor if it was possible for a layman to acquire such an elementary knowledge of therapeutics as would enable him to manage a case till he could get competent advice.
The doctors reply was very encouraging. He gave me a copy of “Lauries Epitome of Domestic Medicine” to study and some instructions for the use of drugs on general lines. I had soon after to live in places where I could get on good Homoeopath to consult. I, however, went on studying such books on the Hahnemannian art of healing as I could get within my reach during short intervals of spare time at my disposal.
I very well remembered the aggravation of Nitric Acid in my own trouble already mentioned. The doctor had told me that this drug was a specific in the treatment of barbers itch. It occurred to me to use the drug internally in a suitable dilution. Study and experience taught me later on that in making a prescription one should not be guided by the name of a disease but by the total or characteristic symptoms in a particular case in hand.
I made a trial of Nitric Acid 200 in the treatment of the malady just spoken of when there was an aggravation of the trouble by contact of water and also when the slightest friction of the pimples with any thing however gentle brought about bleeding. The trial proved very successful. Guided by these symptoms I have cured several cases of Barbers itch by the internal administration of Nitric Acid 200. One of these was that of an allopathic doctor in Government Service.
I prescribe generally four globules every six hours with the result that after taking two or three doses the patient feels great relief in itching and burning while improvement in objective symptoms sets in slowly but steadily and the case progresses to complete recovery. Some times globules do not work very well; then I use one drop of tincture morning and evening. About three years ago I again caught barbers itch of an obstinate type and resorted to Nitric Acid 200 in the form of tincture. It was quite cured in about a fortnight.
I used no external medicine. About the same time a clerk in the post office got involved in the same trouble and tried allopathic treatment for a fairly long time without any success. He then approached me for advice. I cured him with the tincture of Nitric Acid 200 in less than a fortnight.
About the year 1926 a poor shepherd who had no means to procure the services of a doctor approached me for getting rid of an ailment which had suddenly made an inroad on him. He was troubled with pleuritic stitches in the chest. He felt some relief in his pain by gentle pressure and lying on the affected side, but his trouble was aggravated by any movement he made. I gave him Bryonia 200-four globules every six hours. He felt improved for some time after which the stitching pains returned with greater severity There was no relief now by lying on the affected side. On the other hand the trouble was only increased by doing so.
I gave him Kali Carb. 200 in the same dose. He again felt relieved for sometime, after which his symptoms changed for the worse. He now felt great pain in the chest. There was in his respiratory organs an audible rattling of mucus which he could not expectorate. If any sputa came out they were of brickdust colour. He felt greatly depressed. I now gave him Lycopodium 30- four globules at the interval of every twelve hours. He was completely cured in about two days. He again regained his old health very soon. He is living. About a month ago I was informed that he was in sound health. I now use Lycopodium 200 at long intervals in such a case of mucus rattling generally get better results.
Before 1928 my wife was several times troubled with a colic which appeared to start from the rectum, went upward, and centred in the region of pelvic cavity. She got a few doses of some mixture from the local allopathic hospital. The colic used to disappear for some months and then reappear when the same mixture would set it at rest. This happened five or six times. In 1920 she had an obstinate attack of asthma which was cured by allopathic treatment but after asthma had disappeared her temperature gradually rose in the evening.
Many intravenous injections of several allopathic medicines were tried on her but her condition grew worse every day. She grew very weak. At no time was her temperature below 101 degrees now. In the evening sometimes her temperature was 104 degrees and sometimes 103 degrees. She could not even move without some one to assist her. She was also troubled with a fatiguing cough. Some said she was attacked with T.B.; others said that there was danger of her soon being so attacked.
I now observed that her symptoms were changing from pillar to post. One day when I was reading “Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics” by Nash I chanced to get at the description of Tuberculinum and went through it for the sake of curiosity. It occurred to me that it was possibly her indicated remedy. I had with me Tuberculinum 50M at that time and administered a dose of it to her. Her temperature thereby came down to 102 degrees, and there was much improvement in general feeling.
She was able to get up from her bed and to move about to meet her ordinary needs. I then studied “Leaders on Respiratory Organs” by the same author and changed to Tuberculinum 1M of which I prescribed only one dose in a week. In about two weeks her temperature was reduced to 100 degrees but there was no further improvement. I observed there was aggravation of her troubles from 4 to 8 P.M. I prescribed her a dose of Lycopodium 200 once a week.
There was a fall in her temperature by half a degree every week till one day she had a severe chill in the afternoon followed by intense heat and then she, for the first time, perspired profusely. In the morning that followed her mouth temperature was 98 and did not rise again. But on the third day the old dreaded colic returned. It caused great weakness and was attended with distension in the pelvic region and abdomen.
I gave her a dose of Cocculus Indicus 200. She felt complete relief for twenty-four hours. Then the colic returned in the same severity. I now gave her a dose of Tuberculinum 1M in the form of tincture. The colic disappeared in about five minutes and has not returned to this day. She was cured of both fever and colic.
In the rains of 1933 the bite of a mosquito in the calf of my right leg while I was asleep assumed an extraordinary character. A bladder appeared in the swelling caused by it which burst. A watery itching discharge came out of it. The trouble in a few days turned into an eczema. I used a number of homoeopathic medicines such as Silicea, Hepar Sulphur, Graphites but they gave no more than a temporary relief. The trouble was cured by an ointment prescribed by an allopathic doctor.
During the continuance of it the doctor washed the locality affected with Lead lotion which soothed the shooting pain therein. This called to my mind Apis which I thought would meet my case. Since I was already undergoing allopathic treatment I did not think it was wise to intermeddle with it but after about a year the eczema appeared again and was completely cured by the use of Apis mel. 200.
I used no medicine externally. Since then I have cured many cases of eczema and even of boils on the indication that pains were relieved for a short time by contract of the affected locality with moderately cold water or other cold applications. I have become convinced that it is the symptoms not the name of a disease that counts in making a good prescription.
