B. J. L., a frail girl of about eleven years of age. She is much under weight and has a peculiar muddy complexion, a color difficult to describe. Has always been sickly and a history of sycotic inheritance. Numerous digestive upsets.
About the latter part of May, 1935 she began to have trouble with her left ear in the form of otitis media. Hepar and Silicea seemed to help temporarily and then she would slip back. Just before leaving for the I.H.A. meeting last June I gave her a dose of Tub. b.200 because I did not know what to do. This proved, as usual, a bad thing. We never should do such things but I knew I was going away and thought that the Tub. b. might get a better hold on things. It did.
Upon my return I was called out there at once. She had a beautiful case of mastoid. The left ear stuck out almost perpendicularly to her head. It had the common symptoms of a mastoid and had come on after the discharge from the ear had stopped. There was red discoloration bordering on the purple. It was naturally very sensitive. Evidently the Tub. b. had stopped the discharged. The physician whom I had advised them to call in my absence heard what it was and resigned before seeing her.
They called in a child specialists who painted a nice mournful picture and who advised them to call an ear specialist. It is not necessary to say what he advised only that it must be damned quick. Meningitis would set in, etc., etc. He was aided and abetted by neighbors, friends and relatives in the best human manner. The mother held out until I got back.
I saw her on the evening of June 9 in the condition above described. I asked for twenty-four hours, which was granted, and gave Lach. 30x. The next day found her no better but no worse. Another twenty-four hours asked for and granted. June 10 she received Calc. 1M. Still no result after a two days wait in which the alarmed ones grew worse and she stayed the same. The specialist was using profanity. On June 12 Sulph. 30x to arouse a reaction. Then the key. She sweat only on uncovered parts. This along with the known sycotic dyscrasia, the emaciation and peculiar color of the skin led to Thuja, which she received in the 1M. potency on June 13. (Oh, lucky day !) The trouble began to show a little sign of improvement and she grew better herself. Things went nobly until June 23 when a gastric upset responded to Ars. 30x. It did not stir up the ear and it was not necessary to give more medicine until August 12, when a general slowing up of things caused me to give her a dose of Thuja 10M.
During this time she had begun to eat, not only much, but wanted it often. She began to fill out to some extent and the skin grew more clear. She became quite active. Then on September 3 she became peevish and not quite as well generally and she called for Calc. p. which she received in the 1M. However, no sign of ear trouble. After that she needed no further medication until this spring when she had another digestive upset which responded to Bell. Her mother reported then that she had not been so well in years.
Perhaps the above title is not the truth for this reason: During her recovery the discharge never returned. She never had any signs of meningitis and she improved greatly in general health. Where the pus went I do not know. In spite of it she had no return of ear trouble, the specialists is still swearing and yours truly is still waiting to be reimbursed.
TOLEDO, OHIO.
DISCUSSION.
DR. MOYER: I have almost come to the conclusion that a mastoiditis operation is unnecessary, although I have had five in the history of my practice of twenty-eight years who have been operated on. In the last ten years I havent had any go to operation.
I have had repeated success with Capsicum 6x.
DR. MCLAREN: I saw a little girl in the spring. She had a swelling over the top of her ear and down behind. She had no temperature. Looking into the canal, I saw the drum was pulling slightly. The canal was pink and the drum was pink. I gave her Belladonna 200 every three hours, and saw her the next day. She was considerably improved. I gave her placebo for two days, and then gave her a dose of Calcarea carb.200. She made a perfect recovery without any trouble.
DR. HEIMBACH: I can verify the Capsicum 6x. in several cases. One young boy I brought into the world had considerable swelling behind the ear. I gave him Capsicum. The pain eased up, and it actually opened on the outside and discharged for a little while. He is a perfect specimen of humanity now. He was a football player at Dartmouth for a couple of years.
DR. GRIMMER: This is a very interesting topic. There is an honest difference of opinion among good men concerning the surgical necessity and the advantage of sticking to homoeopathic medication.
I have had a good many mastoids. I have never operated one, and I have never regretted it in any way. I have lost none, and the recoveries have been perfect. I have had some recurrent mastoids, if you can call it that, after operation. I clearly remember one case, a chronic case where both mastoids had been operated for some little time before I was called early one morning to go out to the West Side to see a woman who had connected with homoeopathic and other medications for some time. She had a double operation, and she would have recurrent attacks of severe pain, swelling, fever, and at the time I saw her, all the collapse symptoms. She was very agitated.
The special thing that attracted my attention to her remedy was the separation of the pulse and temperature. She had fever ranging up to about 101, and her pulse was down to about 60 and quite weak and intermittent. I gave her Pyrogen, and Pyrogen restored her for that time. It didnt entirely cure her, but it did save the day for that time, and for quite a while she improved. I told her I suspected that she would need another remedy, a deep constitutional remedy, and that it would take a long time, in as much as she had had this surgical interference, to unfold this case and to get her remedy.
After she had the first remedy, she came back to me some months later. I gave Carbo veg. She had a purple face, coldness of the extremities, and some digestive disturbances and a very pretty picture of Carbo veg. constitution. In the capillaries of the face was a very superficial ulceration that started to spread over the face. It wasnt very deep, nor was it painful. That cleared up in the course of six months under several potencies of Carbo veg. at quite long intervals. She is still under treatment. She has had no more mastoiditis or ear trouble, and her hearing has improved considerably. Her general health is very much better. She is on Silicea now and is infinitely improved.
Another thing I want to pass on to the society is the technique under which several of our new remedies have been used. Dr. Kent gives Aurum as one of the chief remedies. He has a group of remedies — Aurum, Nitric acid, Capsicum, and Silicea– as being the best remedies in this condition, but the remedies I refer to are more or less remedies with an Aurum base.
I have seen some of the most amazing cases of mastoiditis. One was a case of pus pouring out of both ears and the neck so terribly swollen you would think it would burst, and under those remedies the patient made her recovery in a comparatively short time.
Capsicum is really given as having specific action on the mastoid process. It ought to be a valuable remedy if you have any of the Capsicum indications which would be more apt to be found in the constitution of the patient, the Capsicum constitution.
I have seen Lachesis clear up a number of cases in a surprisingly short time where we had the classical indications. My own little son recently had a strep sore throat with tremendous swelling, not only the ear condition, but all the sinuses and antrums were completely filled, and every time he would try to drop off to sleep he would wake up choking and had great difficulty regaining his breath. I let him wait twenty-four hours on a prior remedy before I dared give Lachesis.
He was getting so much worse, I figured that little fellows heart would not stand the strain of extreme high fever and of panting respiration; when he was not asleep he panted like a runner that had run for miles. Finally one night, along in the early hours of the morning, I couldnt stand it any longer; I lay by his side and listened to his breathing and the tremendous amount of mucus in there. The sleep aggravation was very marked; the pain was extreme. It was a clear-cut classical picture of Lachesis, and I am happy to say after an hour of pretty bad aggravation, a 10M. potency restored him in a weeks time.
DR. CAMPBELL: When we are dealing with the mastoid, we have to remember that we have an osteomyelitis. The only thing that makes it more dangerous than osteomyelitis elsewhere is its location. If you can treat the patient, overcome the inflammation, the pus will be absorbed. The danger, of course, is that it will work into the brain and cause meningitis. I had one case this spring. I gave the boy Capsicum. My courage failed me, and I had him treated on the ultra short-wave machine, with very excellent results.
