And The Ambulance Went Back
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 Sep / Oct Vol II NO 5. 
Dr Meena Mankani.
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A common question put by every patient during the first consultation is - "We have heard that homoeopathy is a very slow acting system. So can Homoeopathy handle serious acute conditions which demand immediate care?" My answer to such a question is a confident "Yes, definitely".

If the principles are properly applied, homoeopathy has a lot to offer in most emergencies, (except in surgical or terminal cases). This can appear quite unbelievable to our allopathic counterparts. Let me relate to one such experience.

It was long back in October 1985, when I was working as an assistant in a private clinic. The doctor was out of town for a day and I was in charge. Hardly had I begun, when I heard loud panicky calls from the neighbouring house. "Doctor, doctor, come fast". So, I rushed out and saw a thin frail and tall girl of around 16, lying on the floor, with seven anxious people around her. I asked what had happened? What I gathered from the excited chorus, was that, she was their maid servant who had been struck by an electric shock while putting on the switch of the washing machine. I being too inexperienced, nervous and not at all confident of my own capacity, immediately asked them to call their family physician and he in turn called for an ambulance.

But, in the meantime, before they could arrive, I racked my brains and gave some first aid. It was then that I made this hurried observation. I found that the girl was semiconscious. She was turning her head from side to side with tears rolling from the corners of her eyes. She was taking deep breaths intermingled with paroxysms of loud sobs. Her body was absolutely cold and sweaty and she was sinking.

A quick thought process went through my mind and I immediately popped a few pills of Ignatia 10M. Within a few seconds she started getting warmer, her sighing and weeping got better and she regained consciousness in 5 minutes. Everybody smiled and heaved a sigh of relief. The family physician just stepped in and checked her up. He looked perplexed and said - "Send the ambulance back. She is alright".

And I was jubilant at being a good follower of the brilliant Hahnemann. The girl needed no more doses. After half an hour she vomited and went off to sleep. She slept for 4-5 hours and woke up alright, though a bit weak.

Now, I would like to discuss step by step the reasons for selecting the remedy - Ignatia.
Right from the time of Hahnemann, each master homoeopath has stressed the importance of the most uncommon, peculiar, striking and singular signs and symptoms as the sole indicator of the curative medicine, no matter what the pathology. It is always the individual reaction, that a probable exciting cause produces in an organism, that clearly distinguishes the remedy needed. What struck me most in this case was the loud sobs and rolling of tears. The gasping for breath is normal in any case of electric shock. But why should a person in a semiconscious state weep and sob so loudly?

Secondly, we know that - "The unconscious is the deepest inaccessible level of the psyche, which presents in a dynamic state all the represented impulses and memories of a person.
Keeping these two points in mind we find that when this girl went in a semi-conscious state due to a sudden exciting cause what surfaced was some unknown, unresolved conflict that had remained silent at the sub-conscious of her psyche. It was as though this unexpected and sudden shock, had triggered off the latent suppressed emotions hysterically, in the form of involuntary weeping and sobbing.

Therefore, considering this hysterical behavior that was accompanied by sighing, sobbing and involuntary weeping, I was straightaway led to prescribe Ignatia.
The rubrics that can be taken are -

1. Mind, hysteria (KR 52)
2. Mind, weeping, involuntary (KR 93)
3. Respiratory, sobbing (KR 776)
4. Respiration, sighing (KR 775)

Incidentally, Ignatia is also present in the rubric, Shocks, nervous in Phataks repertory. Finally we learn from this case that the laws and principles of our wonderful science are infallible and whenever applied correctly, will always crown us with meritious results.