The Case of the fashionable lady
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 Mar / Apr VOL VII NO 2.
Dr Satish Rana
'Sul

Mrs. Sheila, 47, came to me for her respiratory problems in September 1989. 
Her complaints were:
Difficult breathing, worse lying down at night. Severe coryza after slightest exposure to cold breeze.
The difficulty in breathing occurred each time after the catarrhal symptoms were better. Pain [L] temporal region worse stooping.

Menses : regular lasts four days, normal bleeding. Generally better MA. 
Thermals : Feels very hot in summer with no desire to take bath. In winters takes bath after about 10 days in warm water. Soreness, redness of eyes after bathing. Heat soles, forehead and vertex in summer, palms rosy, sweaty and hot.
Mentals - Angry, excited easily, repents after, but repeats the same again. 
O/E - Chest - wheezing ++
Tongue- clear; nose - slight DNS
Hb approx. 10 Gm% (from pallor in the eyes)

I came to know about the cataract in her [L] eye about which she had not complained. When I enquired about the eye, she related that she had some eruptions on her [R] foot with a lot of oozing which used to occur every year in September and she used to apply Betnovate ointment to treat it. Since last one year these eruptions had not appeared. 

Personal History: She is the 4th among 5 children- three elder sisters and one younger brother. All healthy. Mother is a house wife and father a retired railway guard. Married 18 years back at the age of 29 years.
Maternal Uncles suffer from eczema of head for last 15 years. One of them is also suffering from asthma.
Paternal Grand father died when she was 3. Grand mother is healthy, still living with father, who suffers slightly from pain in knees. 

Treatment Taken - For difficult breathing, she is relieves by inhalation of some ayurvedic medicine, which she puts in boiling water at bedtime. Orally Prednisolone 5 mg OD and Tab Deriphylline tid. 

Lab Investigations
WBC - TC, 10,200/cmm, Diff. -N 52, L 32, E 15, B 1,
X-ray chest - NAD.
Observation: She seemed very fashionable for some one her age. Uses perfumes, wears good clothes. But the undergarments are very dirty and smell of sweat, hence uses perfumes to conceal it. Egoistic - sits like some one of high nobility, arms on the back of the chair and the spine bent forward. 

Prescription: My first prescription was Sulphur one dose and sac lac TID for one month. [The patient had to go to Pathankot to live with her husband] Next time she came on 15 Dec 89 & reported that she was much better the first week she took medicine, but the eczema has started troubling again. No menses since the last periods on 24/9/89. Urine Pregnancy test - negative. Eyesight much better, can recognize persons at a distance with the affected eye alone. Repeated SL with an advise to get eye sight checked up the next time and not to interfere with eczema or stopped menstrual flow. 

On her last visit in Feb 1990 she reported to have checked up her eyesight from an Ophthalmologist from Pathankot, which is OK now. But the eczema is still troubling with much itching which never itched before. Sac-lac TID for 3 months. In July 1990 she visited my clinic only to show that her eczema was quite well and the foot had no mark or scar. Asked to stop the medicine. No medicine. 

Comment: I did not consult the Repertory in this case because along with the H/O suppressed skin disease were strong symptom like - aversion to take bath, heat of palms, soles, head etc. The observation that the patient was dirty, wearing clothes soaked in her own sweat and that she was trying to conceal it with the help of perfume, helped clinch the diagnosis of Sulphur. 

Homoeopathy does not treat diseases but the patients. General symptoms plus keen observation pay the physician more than just the repertorial work. The cure definitely takes place from downwards, from more important organs to less important organs from inside out.