An allopathic physician who is a friend of mine said: “What can your homoeopathy do for womens diseases?” Then I began to turn over in my mind what cases I had had which showed with any degree of satisfactory incident some of the things that homoeopathy could do for womens diseases. I want to report just a few of them.
The first is a case of a fibroid which definitely diminished in size under the influence of the homoeopathic remedy. I will put it to you as I can. I hope the discussions will criticize it.
It is a woman of 46 who has one child, living and well; she came to me with the chief complaint of futility. She said: “There is nothing wrong with me, doctor, I just think that life isnt worth living, and I want you to do something about it.”.
So I went into her case, took her chronic case with great care over a number of interviews and I found that from a diagnostic standpoint she complained of facial acne, of menstrual disorders which I will tell you, and of a feeling of complete exhaustion. Aside from that she was conscious of no symptoms.
Her menstrual symptoms were as follows: she had periods at least every three weeks, sometimes a little oftener with bright red flow, with actual haemorrhages perhaps twice during the period, and the period was somewhat protracted. She would also have, every three months or so, a period of about ten days between her menses, when there would be spotting and bleeding. This irregularity had been going on for three years and she had never been to a doctor about it and never done anything about it. She also had, as you can imagine, a chronic backache and chronic headache, which didnt bother her much.
The symptoms that she would give me were very few and far between. She was one of the people who said: “Here I am, I am futile, now kill me,” and you couldnt get her to tell you things, but finally this one came out, when I started to examine her: “The odor about me is too disgusting, especially right after my period. I simply cannot live with myself, and the same is true of my perspiration, if it is really dreadful.”.
I immediately thought of despair, futility, with terrible odor she was an exceedingly chilly patient: yet I didnt give her at first what I ought to have given her, which was of course Psorinum. Because of certain other generals which she had, to wit, very much worse in thunder storm weather, craving salt and being excessively thirsty for ice water, and a marked aggravation at twilight time, and this flowing, and, on examination, a tremendous fibroid in the left side of her pelvis, a fibroid which came two fingers above the umbilicus (she admitted realizing that her abdomen had been getting bigger and heavier), instead of giving her Psorinum I gave her Phosphorus 1M, just one dose.
She didnt get much better she didnt please me at all. Then I left the Phosphorus and I gave her Psorinum 5c, 1 dose. She came back to me after her next period and said it was the first period the she had had in years which was not early, and which was not haemorrhagic.
I let her run on that dose for five months with constant gradual improvement on her part. She noticed no aggravation at all after the dose, but she was a very unobservant person. At the end of three months I examined her again, her fibroid was down to the level of the umbilicus.
Presently she began to slip. I let her slip for a couple of weeks, obdurately, although she was cross and she even had a period at which she had haemorrhage again, and then when I saw she was really worse, I gave her Psorinum 15c. 1 dose, and let that ride for five months, after which time this tumor in her left pelvis was three fingers below the umbilicus, and she had had three periods which were prompt, not early, and non-haemorrhagic and the terrible odor of which she complained was better and she herself (far from being futile and talking of drowning herself), was doing political work with the League of Women Voters, and being quite an addition to society. Of course the end is not yet.
She still has this fibroid and occasionally has a little spotting from it. I told her what she had, after consulting with her husband, and I told her ordinary medicine would advise her to have it out, but I would not, remedy, and she said no matter who advised having it out she wouldnt have it out.
I feel in my mind perfectly certain that as she is still having periods and is not yet at the menopause, and as she showed no improvement after the Phosphorus, and did show marked diminution after the Psorinum, that the homoeopathic remedy did something with the fibroid.
Another case, also of fibroid, but this time in a girl of 21, had rather an interesting childhood history. She showed the following:.
As a child she would never let anyone wash her, she had always hated water, also she used to crave sweets and be spanked for craving them; also as a child she had chilblains terribly and she had a hernia. All those things of course would make one think of a possible dose of Sulphur, some day. None of those symptoms appeared in her recent condition.
Her recent condition, the thing for which she came to me, was too frequent menstruation, and too profuse. She would menstruate about every three weeks and spot on for ten days after her nine- day period ended. In her menstrual history I found she began to menstruate at ten and a half, and that she menstruated from that time regularly twice a month for about seven years, was unexamined and it was never stopped.
Recently she had had not quite as frequent menstruation, but she had had drenching with it, a steady flow, bright and profuse and some pain, but not violent, slight nausea before her periods and soreness of her scalp and swelling of the glands of her neck a general aggravation before the time of her period.
This girl had certain marked symptoms of Phosphorus; craved salt, was worse at thunderstorm time, was worse in damp weather, complained of continual exhaustion, was losing weight. A rectal examination showed a distinct fibroid about the size of a two and a half months pregnancy.
I thought that in an unmarried girl like that I had better have corroboration. I sent her to one of the best old-school obstetricians and got a written report from him confirming this fact. This girl was engaged, and he said to her: “By no means can you get married now. Considering your age I dont advise x-ray therapy or operation. I dont know what to do for you except build up your health. Meanwhile your engagement is indefinite.”.
She came back to me with this report, and after that I put her on Phosphorus 1M, one dose, and I ran her up through a series of Phosphorus, at long intervals. Her periods became more regular and she began to put on weight, and her general condition became better. After six months I sent her back to the obstetrician and again he said to her: “There is an amazing thing this fibroid has gone down.”
She said: “Has it gone down more than you would expect?” Because she had a secret delight in being able to tell him what had done it. He said: “It has. You are very lucky. If you want to make a date for your wedding you may, but you must not have children yet. What have you been doing?” She told him, and he threw up his hands. Then he added: “Come back to me again in six months.” And she did, after going slowly up the scale of Phosphorus, and feeling better.
Six months afterward he said if she had come to him them for the first time he wouldnt have known that she had a fibroid condition, and that she could get married and could even start a family if she wanted to, and that we have in our records in writing, which is a great joy to us.
Then she developed another interesting variant, she began having terrific pain in her left pelvis after menstruation. This pain would go to the back and down the front of the thighs. Nothing helped it, nothing hurt it. At this time she also had a white, sort of albuminous leucorrhoea which she told me she used to have long, long ago.
Then she said: “I have a passion for onions; I have never liked them, and I want onions every day in the week.” I thought, this is interesting, with this discharge, this fibroid, craving onions, and this left ovarian pain which Thuja had and I gave her a dose of Thuja 10M, since when she has been much better. She has now gone back to her Phosphorus, (she seemed to call for that again after three or four months). This is to me a very interesting and encouraging case.
There are certain other gynaecological conditions much less interesting because there isnt the possibility of checking up what good you do.
One patient came to me who had a history of terrific menorrhagia and metrorrhagia. As a girl they had done a “d and c” on her; after that she almost bled to death, and had to be transfused. She was not then homoeopathic. In January 1924, although she was then 23 years of age, they gave her x-ray treatments to stop the bleeding. She began to get hot flashes, had no more periods, fell in love, got engaged, and got married. The doctor who gave her the x-ray treatment said, “It will come back,” but it didnt come back, and after two years from that time those doctors said: “I guess we were mistaken, you will have to adopt a baby.”.
