Herpes zoster belongs to the significant group of neurotropic virus diseases, the others being acute anterior poliomyelitis and rabies. We differentiate a primary zoster, a disease due to a specific virus, and a secondary or symptomatic zoster, which occurs in conditions like neuro-syphilis, spinal canal tumor, syringomyelia, and also as a characteristic sequellae in arsenical poisoning. Of course, from the homoeopathic viewpoint, the etiology is of minor importance.
The chief pathological change is found in the posterior root ganglions, which show vascular congestion, haemorrhagic necrosis, and degeneration of ganglion cells. Occasionally, the anterior horns are also involved, with consequent degeneration of motor nerve fibers; occasionally, spinal meningitis or encephalitis may follow and produce a fatal end.
There is a marked predilection for the thoracic segment of the spinal cord. One of the most disagreeable sequellae is post- herpetic neuralgia, which only affects a minority of cases, but when it does, it may last for weeks, months or even years; to prevent and cure this latter complication, the homoeopathic remedies in conjunction with auto-hemo-therapy have been far more successful than the methods of the dominant school.
The most effective remedies in the hands of the author have been the following: Rhus tox., especially to control the skin condition, which reveals a vesicular eruption on an edematous and reddened base. The eruption nearly always is one-sided, but occasionally some vesicles are found on the other side too. Under the influence of Rhus tox., the vesicles soon dry up, forming crusts, and healing with fine scars.
Where the neuralgic symptoms persist, the author has used Mezereum (spurge olive), usually 30x, a remedy which has relation to skin, bones and the nervous system. Characteristic is intolerable itching and burning and the appearance of vesicles on a shiny, fiery-red base. This remedy is especially indicated in neuralgias about teeth and face. Pains shoot upward and seem to jerk patient out of bed–this last characteristic applied to one of the cases I shall mention later.
The writer has also used as an important adjuvant to the remedies mentioned above, auto-hemo-therapy. In several articles published in the Illinois Medical Journal, I have discussed the mechanism of this therapy. In brief, it consists in withdrawing 5 to 25 cc of blood from the arm veins, and reinjecting it either intravenously or intramuscularly into the patient.
If used intravenously, enough citrate is added to prevent coagulation. Another method is to let the blood stand for several hours, and just use the serum (auto-sero-therapy). A third method, which has been used very extensively at the Hahnemannian Hospital of Philadelphia, consists in subjecting the blood after its withdrawal to the action of concentrated ultra-violet light (for ten to twenty seconds) and then reinjecting it. Of course, an anti-coagulant, sodium citrate, is added before it is exposed to the ultra-violet rays.
This last method has been used with great effect by the Hahnemann Hospital of Philadelphia in many septic conditions following miscarriages and abortions, and also in many virus infections, where the anti-biotic remedies of the allopathic school failed completely (especially so in virus pneumonias). But I differ with them in that I claim that the curative effect in this therapy is the blood serum, which contains all the protective bodies–whatever they may be–whereas they claim that the changes produced in the plasma by the ultra-violet rays produce the curative results.
I have used auto-hemo-therapy for ten years, and have confined myself to the use of either whole blood or blood serum and, with many other clinicians, have achieved astounding results in septic conditions, like puerperal sepsis, type III pneumonias, furunculosis, carbuncles, allergies, pernicious vomiting of pregnancy, etc., and have never used any ultra-violet rays in conjunction with the auto-hemo-therapy. We must follow the ideas of one of the pioneers of this important therapy, Vorschutz, who states that after removal of blood from the veins, there appear in it certain substances that are able to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system; auto-hemo-therapy further increases the bactericidal power of the blood.
In the end, this therapy is a confirmation of our old Hahnemannian conception of similia similibus curantur. The whole vaccine therapy, and the conception of allergy and desensitization have all been foreseen by the philosophy of homoeopathy, although in many cases the idea has been distorted and disgraced. I wish especially to stress the failure of vaccine therapy, which in my opinion is due to over dosage and upsetting the delicate immunological balance. Warren Crowe of London has shown us how vaccines can be used effectively in rheumatic conditions, he uses very small doses of vaccines, 1 to 2000 organism per cc., compared to the millions used by the regulars, and by avoiding reactions and timing the intervals until all improvement ceases (a real homoeopathic viewpoint), he has achieved remarkable results.
The last case of herpes zoster I treated occurred in a man of forty, well-built, weight 160 lbs., who complained of severe pains in the back of his head and along the right side of his neck and face for three days, when an eruption broke out on the right side of his face, in front of his ear, and below his chin; it was of a vesicular type, on an edematous and reddened base.
On the second day similar lesions developed over the right scapula and on his scalp. Crusts soon formed and the skin itched and burned severely. In this case, three injections of the patients own blood were given, and Mezereum was ordered as the remedy of choice, because the patient soon exhibited peculiar neuralgic signs, consisting of shooting pains in the head and neck, which jerked him up out of bed. After three doses of Mezereum, the neuralgia subsided. The whole case took only seven days for a complete cure, which has lasted for several months.
We shall conclude by saying that the homoeopathic treatment of herpes zoster, using auto-hemo-therapy as an adjuvant, is far superior to anything the allopaths can offer. Let them sit up and take notice.
CHICAGO, ILL.
