Five patients waiting in the waiting room with Severe Acute Abdominal pain. The cause was the same for all 5 patients which was Calculi (Stones) in the Ureters / Kidneys.
One patient was constantly vomiting and in pain. He had more pain on the right side. He would not feel better after vomiting and the intensity of the pain remained the same. He received the medicine - Ocimum Can 1M frequently. The medicine helped to cure him of his acute pain.
The 2nd patient was restless with pain. Sitting inside the closed waiting room increased his pain to great extent & so, preferred to go outside or sit near the window to have open air. That reduced his suffering. He too vomitted occasionally and to his surprise, vomitting reduced his pain. All relatives and Doctors advised him to drink lot of water, but he did not feel like drinking water at all. For three days, the pain had been more severe in the evening. This patient received one dose of Pulsatilla 200c in the clinic. Patient's pain started reducing within 45 seconds of putting the dose in the mouth. He was free of his acute pain & left the clinic within 10 minutes. The medicine was continued frequently for next couple of days.
The 3rd patient also had right-sided pain. Her pain too increased in the evening, but it became more intense at specific time. She said, "Doctor, my pain increases after 4 pm. Painkillers don't provide relief at all. The pain reduces after 8 pm. on its own."
Along with this, she had lot of gas and the abdomen felt heavy. She was afraid to pass urine, as she was passing sand in the urine which hurt her too much. She desired to drink warm water and drank small quantity frequently. This patient received Lycopodium 200c frequently to get rid of not only pain, but also the stones. She passed all the small stones from ureter and bladder.
The 4th patient also complained of lot of gas along with pain on the left side. She was equally restless and the only position which gave her relief was bending double. She would press her abdomen very hard in order to get relief from the pain. At times warm application gave her some relief. As the intensity of pain increased to its peak, she vomitted. This patient was cured by Homoeopathic medicine called Colocynthis.
The last patient was lying very silently, as every movement increased the pain. He preferred to remain in one position. He did not want anybody to touch it, though was better by hard pressure. He had become very irritable, as he was very thirsty, but was afraid to move to get water. He wanted cold water and drank large quantities frequently. His problem increased, as he had severe constipation with dry hard stools. He received Homoeopathic medicine called Bryonia Alb. frequently and was able to walk out of the clinic without much pain.
Although all five patients had same cause of the pain, all of them received different medicines depending on the symptoms each of them expressed. Thus, even though causative factor and complaints remain same, the treatment varies. Similarly, the complaints may vary yet; the treatment may remain the same.
Similarly, the complaints may vary yet; the treatment may remain the same. To understand this, watch some more cases.
An infant of two months would start crying in the evening and would not stop until carried by around by someone. He had lot of gas and for the last week had not passed stools properly. The Pediatrician diagnosed it to be Gaseous Colic and prescribed drops to reduce down the colic. However, this did not help the infant. The mother informed that the baby would begin crying after 3 pm and stop after 8.30-9 pm. Passing gas would reduce his crying for some time, but then it would start again with the same intensity. He wanted to be carried all the time. The Mother also added that the baby cried before urination, though Urine investigations did not show any abnormality. The baby received the medicine Lycopodium 200c and was completely relieved of his gaseous colic.
A 34 year-old male had high fever with cough. X-rays suggested that he had Pneumonia on the right Lower lobe of the lung. The Radiologist advised him to get admitted in the hospital as soon as possible. But, the patient had faith in Homoeopathy and approached us. He had severe cough that pained him in the chest and he had to hold his chest. He would cough more in the evening and along with cough, the fever also increased at the same time. The only relief he would get from coughing was warm water. So, he preferred to drink warm water from the thermos flask kept beside his bed. He drank little at a time, but frequently. His breathing was rapid and had flapping of nose. He received Lycopodium 10M every 2 hours. His fever reduced to normal within 24 hours and to the radiologist's surprise, x-ray findings after 6 days showed clear lungs.
A 79 year-old male, who recently had a Stroke which resulted in right-sided Paralysis of the body. He also had High Blood Pressure and Diabetes Mellitus. After taking a detailed history, we found that he was self-made person, who started from a scratch & developed his own industries. He was dominating, highly irritable and a disciplined person. He would not spare anyone, not even his own wife and son for any mistakes made. He wanted his things to be the way they were and always wanted every body to do the same. He was known as 'Hitler' in his company. He would fight till the last point was very well known for his strength. He was workaholic and worked until he succumbed due to paralysis. He was anxious about his businesses now, as had no faith in his son's strength. He always preferred to eat warm food. If food got cold, he would demand to have it warmed up. He liked to eat sweets daily and had a typical ?strawberry nose?. This patient also received Lycopodium 30c frequently. The medicine helped to reduce down Blood Pressure that was not coming down with anti hypertensive medicines. Also, reduced blood sugar level to a great extent. He did recover partially from paralysis & started walking with the help of stick after taking this medicine for a long period.
It is interesting that in the above cases, the same medicine helped to cure different types of diseases. Lycopodium helped to treat Ureteric Calculi, Pneumonia, Gaseous Colic, High blood pressure, Diabetes Mellitus & Paralysis due to stroke.
This is beauty of Homoeopathy. No matter what the patient was suffering from, no matter what was the age of the patient, no matter the sex, the medicine remained the same.
One can find that each case had Individualistic Approach. Each case had certain characteristic features (beside disease symptoms) that guided the Homoeopath to reach to the prescription. It is not the disease symptoms that helped to cure the patient, but the expressions thrown by each individual patient helped to cure them. That does not mean that Homoeopath doesn't diagnose the case. Without exact diagnosis, no physician can proceed ahead in the case. Homoeopath takes extra advantage of the diagnosis and the disease symptoms.
When the disease-producing agents enter in the body, body's defense mechanism (soldiers) has the ability to fight with them and doesn't allow to cause any disease per se. If the strength of the disease is more, then 'Soldiers' surrenders themselves and the disease starts in the body. But, before surrendering, these 'soldiers' provide characteristics expressions. These characteristic features are not related to the disease symptoms. One can call them as expressions of defense mechanism of the body. If we observe cases of stones, pain in the abdomen & difficulty while passing the urine are expressions of disease. But, features like Thirst, Cravings, Vomiting, Conditions increasing / decreasing the pain etc. were totally different in each patient & Homoeopaths take note of these features to prescribe the medicine.
Homoeopathic medicines do not act on the disease-producing agents directly. By taking note of the expressions thrown by body's own defense mechanisms, Homoeopathic medicine helps to boost the same defense mechanism. The soldiers are encouraged to fight back & throw the disease agents out of the body. Thus, healing process begins.
Now, go back to the case of paralysis. Since it was a chronic case (complaints were chronic of long duration), the Homoeopath took help of Patient's Personality to treat the patient. This is major aspect of Homoeopathic way of treating patients.
A Mother and her 3 daughters ( 2 married & one unmarried) each had different complaints. Mother suffered from severe Arthritis. The eldest daughter suffered from severe Acne over face & chest. The 2nd daughter suffered from Anxiety Neurosis, while the youngest suffered from Recurrent Fever of unknown origin. On further enquiry of each individual patient it was revealed that the husband and father of the 3 daughters) was drunkard & lost all the property in gambling. They were very rich initially, but lost everything. The mother always had problem with her mother-In-Law, who was staying with them. The mother-In-Law was of the opinion that the wife was the cause of everything. There were constant fights in the house for years. The Mother after many years of suffering decided to divorce her Husband. (After marriages of 2 daughters)... till that time; she was hopeful that her Husband would improve. Eldest daughter always tried to maintain peace & harmony in the family and was constantly trying hard to patch up between father & mother. Second daughter had no saying in these fights. She preferred to remain out of that situation & loved to remain in her own world. Privacy was her best friend. While, the younger one was rebellious and fought with her grandmother and father. She hated both of them.
One situation in the family and four people each manifesting different expressions at the mind level, and each suffering from different types of illness. All four of them reacted to the same situation differently. Each suffered according to the body's sensitivity.
Each one was tackled individually, each one was resolved individually. Medicines were given according to their individual personalities. Counseling was required in each case, but with different approach for each one. (Counseling is part of Homoeopathic treatment). This gives more personal touch to the process of healing.
So, the Basic Principle of Homoeopathy is,
"Treat The Person & Not The Disease."
If you treat the person, the disease will be cured.
Each case is a new case for the Homoeopathic physician. Individual Sensitivity is given due respect. Homoeopathic Physician uses his Art of Interview to know all about the patient as a person. Knowing various life situations that a person has passed through & analyzing the actions taken by that person in those life situations, Homoeopath is able to find out the medicine i.e. close to patient’s personality. Dreams, Fears, Cravings, Aversions, Relationship shared with various persons in the life etc. helps Homoeopathic physician to do so. Patient's personality is matched with Drug's Personality and out of more than 1,000 Homoeopathic medicines, most similar Medicine is chosen. Most similar Homoeopathic medicine takes help of body's inner power to get cured. Beside this, Homoeopathic medicines don't have any side effects since given in minute doses & are easy to take.
One can conclude:
"Homoeopathy is the most Individualistic, Holistic & Gentle way of Healing."