TWO CASE REPORTS


It was about eleven oclock and I thought I would go up. I gave a dose of Mercurius sol. CM., and I didnt hear anything more from him for about two weeks and then she called again and said he seemed to have a swelling over his right, that is, the first ear, that I hadnt seen, so I went up and sure enough there was a fluctuating swelling just above or just behind the ear and well up above the mastoid.


CASE 1. April 17, 1934. Male, age 41. Severe shooting pain over left eye, intermittent for four and a half years, in spite of numerous and varied treatments. Pain usually lasts through one day only. This time continuous for three days and nights. thick yellow nasal discharge. No tenderness on pressure over floor and outer wall of frontal sinus. Aggravated by stooping, walking and from a jar. Relieved lying. Pain developed gradually. Neisser infection eleven years ago. Suppressed in two and a half months. No sequelae.

Vaccinated in childhood followed by very sore arm for two weeks. Urticaria from eating salmon for a year and a half. Normal to heat and cold. No further symptoms elicited. Bry 1M. Prompt relief and no return of symptoms to date.

Nov. 11. Right ear discharging nine weeks. Some mastoid tenderness two weeks later. Had pleurisy and quinsy since here. Entire mastoid now very tender and swollen including the region of the emissary vein. Quite the picture of gross necrosis of mastoid cells as often seen at mastoidectomy; even the destruction of the inner bony plate, exposing the dura. Sil.10M.

Dec.13. Better. Sleepy and dopy all the time. Less tender over mastoid. Ear still discharging.

Feb. 2, 1935. Oedema, pain and tenderness on pressure gone. Discharge had ceased. Now discharging again after heavy lifting. No pep. Sil. 50M.

March 23, Three felons since here. Require incision and drainage. Ear was dry. Now discharging for two days. Sil. 50M.

May 11. Quite recovered from all signs of mastoiditis.

I have a feeling that Sil. used once and not repeated would have been better. He responded promptly each time. Just why do certain patients never respond to our carefully selected remedies? Why the three felons? Do sequelae after suppression of gonorrhoeal infection give a strong indication for a nosode? This patient has not yet experienced a real sense of well being. I feel there will be further developments.

CASE II. Male, age 61. Cataract. In the past three years has shown hypertension, hyperglycemia. Is obese, eyes prominent and myopic. History of retinal haemorrhages five years ago.

By reason of these untoward factors, capsulotomy was done instead of intracapsular extraction, for an easier removal of the lens, giving less chance of retinal haemorrhage. No iridectomy because of the tendency to bleed.

Operated in bed, making unnecessary lifting and movement of the heavy patient, to avoid possible complications. The patients fine cooperation contributed to a 100 percent operation. In spite of all precautions a retinal haemorrhage was observed on the ninth and another on the twelfth day, accounting for the poor vision, 20/150. Phos. 2c. Vision gradually returned to normal and with it a sense of well being with all that pretence. This sense of well being, as always, promptly carried over into the soul of the attending M.D.

Last report May 13, 1935 (14 months). Vision 20/20 + 3. He looks fine and is feeling wonderful.

Surgical success depends on many details. Neglect of any one of these may bring disaster. In cataract extraction after 33 years, these points are well in hand. Homoeopathic therapy, no end more intricate, is available to the masters here represented, by reason of a prodigious amount of study, trial and practice, gathered day after day through the years.

It is possible this case might have been carried through to a successful issue by homoeopathy alone. Such power is not yet in my hands. Phos. certainly contributed to success in this case. Given before operation postoperative haemorrhage might have been prevented.

I must still remove foreign bodies embedded in the eye with a sharp instrument. Aconite will not do that for me. The electromagnet removes intraocular magnetic particles. Sil. is not enough.

The action of a homoeopathic remedy where a direct hit is made and the patient cured physically, mentally and spiritually, is so spectacular, it seems no outside aid is needed. However, I continue to rely upon the help afforded by diet, mental hygiene, heat, allergy, sunshine, rest, massage and outdoor exercise. And I look hopefully forward to the day when electromagnetic forces will be harnessed, to show us not only our remedy, but the potency as well.

AKRON, OHIO.

DISCUSSION.

DR. MCLAREN: Last month I called up one evening by a woman who lived about six or seven miles from me and she said her littler boy had an earache. They were pretty good homoeopathic patients and I told her to give him some Belladonna. I didnt hear any more for several days and then the telephone rang about eleven oclock four days after. She said, “He has a pain in the other ear”.

I said, “How is the first one?”.

“That is all right, discharged a little that morning and the next morning and that is all right, but this one is giving a great deal of trouble”.

It was about eleven oclock and I thought I would go up. I gave a dose of Mercurius sol. CM., and I didnt hear anything more from him for about two weeks and then she called again and said he seemed to have a swelling over his right, that is, the first ear, that I hadnt seen, so I went up and sure enough there was a fluctuating swelling just above or just behind the ear and well up above the mastoid.

There was undoubtedly pus there and it seemed to be the best procedure to get that pus out of there, but I didnt feel like subjecting the boy to a full mastoid operation, so I rang up an ear specialist and I said, “Look her, Fred, I have got a boy with some of the upper mastoid cells involved, but I dont want a whole mastoid operation done on this boy. Is there any reason why we cant give him a little sniff of ethylchloride and open that and let that pus out, and not go ahead and do a mastoid?”.

He said, “Well, now, I am willing to do that, but there must be a drainage through the bone and it would be wiser to open it up a little bit”.

“Well,” I said, “if you will guarantee you will not go down into the mastoid process and make a real mastoid out of this case, the case is yours”.

So next day we got together and he made an incision about an inch long and sure enough, there was natures little opening from the antrums out. He curetted this opening a little bit and made it a little bit larger, packed it with gauze, and that boy has made an uneventful recovery.

Now, speaking about these haemorrhages that occur in the retina, Dr. Moore says this mans vision was very poor, and under the action of Phosphorus the sight returned to normal. I have seen that happen a great many times. Ordinarily the vision will return approximately to normal within six months under the influence of the remedy.

DR. MOORE: This is in haemorrhagic cases.

DR. MCLAREN: Yes. Evidently there is a spot where the haemorrhage occurs and some of the nerve fibers are ruptured so that you never get complete recovery, but where the blood is extravasated, that will all be absorbed and quickly absorbed, and the vision will return to normal with the remedy – probably somewhat without the remedy, but certainly faster and more completely if the remedy is given.

DR. BALDWIN: I had a young man, a student, a teacher, who one night in his study all at once went blind in one eye. I sent him to the occulist and he looked at him and said he had had a haemorrhage. That was about six months ago. I didnt see the fellow until some two or three weeks ago. He is still blind, still not seeing with that eye. Is there any possibility that Phosphorus will do him any good now? On the other hand, he didnt know anything about prescribing and didnt prescribe for him. He told him time might clear it up. It hasnt cleared it up.

DR. MCLAREN: I think Dr. Moore would be the best one to answer that because he is a specialist in that line. After six months my own idea would be there wouldnt be very much hope.

DR. ROBERTS: The homoeopathic remedy will take care of these mastoid cases by absorption, by stimulation of the vital energy, if we get them early enough. Of course we all know there is danger in these suppurative cases, of getting into the dura. There is another way we have found effective in those cases that come late, as they do so often come, when all other methods have failed and they are threatened with operative procedures. That is ionization. Millikan tells us that ionization acts by splitting the former cell arrangement into different forms, and thus the pus cells are broken up. When a case comes in a condition where there is much swelling, involvement and destruction of the mastoid cells, even fluctuation, ionization usually clears it in about four days, and the patient is spared an operation, with its attendant dangers. Moreover, the hearing is saved, and it is a serious matter to operate and leave the usual deafness afterward.

There is another item, that it isnt as profitable from the physicians point of view as to have the patient undergo operative procedure; but the quick and complete recovery of the patient under the proper prescription, or the remedy plus the ionization when it has reached the emergency state, is the paramount issue when one is dealing with such a delicate organ as the ear. I give it to you for what I have found it worth in practical experience.

T K Moore