A Cancer Specialist In The Making
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 Jul / Aug Vol III No 4.
Meena Mankani.
Cases.
` Sil.

A young boy of 16, lean and tall, eldest of 3 and from a well-to-do family, consulted me on 20th December 1990. He entered my chamber nervously, sat absolutely stiff, biting his nails. He spoke extremely softly, inspite of my repeated requests to speak a bit loudly. His manner was as if he was reporting to a very high senior. He had a greasy face, thick eyebrows, bluish sclera, moist palms and rough nails with a few white spots on them.

His chief complaints were nocturnal enuresis and big, hard eruptions on the face, especially on the nose, discharging white substance. But more than anything else, he was extremely worried about a few varices on the dorsum of his hands which had become a bit prominent after some "pull up" exercises. Two years ago his paternal grandmother died of throat cancer and somewhere else he read a case of hemophilia, where a person died due to loss of blood after a slight injury. Putting these two things together, he felt that these prominent varices, which were showing up at this young age "were a sure indication of some genetic disorder and in future may lead to haemophilia or cancer". Therefore he was always careful not to get a cut anywhere; otherwise, he may bleed to death, since his "veins were affected."

Therefore, his one and only ambition in life was to become an eminent cancer specialist and study micro-biology in depth; so that in future if any such need arises, he would be able to successfully manipulate the chromosomes to his benefit and discover a sure cure for all genetic maladies. I found that he had a detailed knowledge about many aspects of cancer and had read many such case reports from various medical journals.

Further, he said that he gets many "awkward thoughts". In his own words - "I want to do something about the overpopulation problem by sending people to another planet. I want to prove many things contrary to gravitation; for example - making flying cars and making life on the moon possible. I want to do something very great and wonderful; something that no one has ever thought about or imagined to do. but according to Nostradamus, 8 years from now, the world is going to end and what will happen then? Before I can do anything, everyone would be dead!"

I learnt that he had an exhaustive knowledge about all the planets; their role and gravitational force; and their effect on human life.

His main fear was about "upsetting God" in any way. He said - "God is the supreme boss. I know that everyone has to die one day; but I am very scared in upsetting Him in anyway, because then God will surely send me to hell. No one likes to be sent to hell, so I pray to God and give money to beggars and I try my best to help everyone in their time of need; because then I would also be helped when I am in trouble."

He was very scared of his parents; especially his mother. He would never disobey her to do anything that would hurt her in any way; because "a mothers curse is very powerful and can send me to hell". And if by any chance, he went against her wishes for any minor reason, then he immediately repented and apologized.

He was a strict vegetarian, as "animals thrive on dirt and researchers have proved that non-vegetarians suffer from many diseases and die young."

He gets extremely tense before exams because he always wants to pass with flying colors. For that he works very hard and always tops in class. (He was studying in the 10th standard). He says, "Unless I get very good marks, how can I become a successful cancer specialist?"

My interview with him lasted for almost 3 hours and I observed that throughout he sat very stiffly, fixed in one position.

FAMILY HISTORY:

1. Father has eczema
2. Mother has hypertension
3. Paternal grandmother died of throat cancer.
4. Paternal grandfather has asthma
5. Maternal grandmother has joint pains.
6. Maternal grandfather has diabetes and hypertension
7. Brother aged 13 years has recurrent colds
8. Sister aged 10 years has nocturnal enuresis and recurrent colds

PERSONAL HISTORY AND PHYSICAL GENERALS:

1. Milestones - normal
2. Past illness - Measles at 2 years of age and recurrent corns on palms and soles.
3. Appetite - good
4. Cravings - Sweets (3+), Pastries (3+), Ice-cream (3+)
5. Thirst - 6-7 glasses a day; cold water
6. Urine - Nocturnal enuresis; once or twice in 15 days
7. Stools - NAD
8. Sweat - not much. More on axilla (2+), palms (3+) and soles (3+)
9. Sleep - Salivation (2+) and talking (3+)
10. Dreams - recurrent dreams of being controller in charge of some spaceship.
11. Hot patient (3+) always takes a cold bath.

CASE ANALYSIS:

This case beautifully exemplifies that thorough case taking brings out all the different morbid expressions of the deranged dynamis (mental, emotional and physical). Each set of scattered bead (set of morbid expressions) may point to different apparently similar remedy. But to arrive at the true similimum, it is imperative to sharply scrutinize each and every morbid expression and go beyond it, so as to perceive the central dynamic disturbance from which all the morbid expressions arise. The connecting threat then form a beautiful necklace.

Now, the most striking features of this case can be put down and Rubrics found:

A) The way he sat and spoke, the softness in his voice, the stiffness of his posture, extremely stiff, rigid and fixed, the manner of his speech, as if unable to stretch his vocal chord beyond a certain limit. Therefore I took the following rubrics:

1. Phatak Rep Pg 323 - Stiffness, Rigidity
2. SR I Pg 760 - Monomania
3. SR I Pg 895 - Selfishness
4. SR I Pg 989 - Talk indisposed to, loud

B) I felt that basically he was very timid and cowardly, extremely frightened and threatened by trifling causes (prominent varices) and reports of various diseases - haemophilia and cancer.

RUBRICS TAKEN:

5. SR I 1023 - Timidity
6. SR I 188 - Cowardice
7. SR I 549 - Frightened, easily
8. SR I 1031 - Trifles seem important
9. SR I 578 - Horrible things, sad stories, affect her profoundly

C) His tremendous anxiety about his own self is so intense that it extends to his being anxious about himself even after death. He does not fear death so much as he fears going to hell, and it is this that makes him very desperate at finding an alternative life and discovering facts contrary to gravitation. If he can make life possible on the moon, then according to Nostradamus, if there are wars on earth, then he can protect himself by riding in flying cars and going and living on the moon; this desire is intensely expressed in his recurrent dreams of being controller-in-charge of a spaceship. But he feels frustrated as he believes that he doesnt have enough time to build up a protection for himself since the world is going to end in 8 years.

RUBRICS SELECTED:

10. SR I 81 - Anxiety himself about
11. SR I 97 - Anxiety trifles about
12. SR I 80 - Anxiety health about
13. SR I 78 - Anxiety future about
14. SR I 76 - Anxiety fear with
15. SR I 997 - Theorizing
16. SR I 446 - Fancies absorbed in
17. SR I 394 - Despair recovery of

D) For this same reason he is very conscientious and very careful of not hurting others, and not hurting himself, even slightly. Therefore he is industrious, obedient, sympathetic, yielding, religious and a strict vegetarian. Rubrics taken

18. SR I 121 - Carefulness
19. SR I 831 - Remorse trifles about
20. SR I 907 - Sensitive steel points directed towards her to

(We saw that he is very careful about not getting any cut anywhere lest he bleed to death. Steel points are indicative of any sharp object that may cause harm).

21. SR I 11-2 - Yielding disposition
22. SR I 828 - Religious affections

E) And finally we can see that each and every expression arises out of anticipating injury to his well being.

RUBRICS SELECTED:

23. SR I 15 - Ailments from, anticipation, forebodings, presentiment
24. SR I 311 - Delusions, injury, is about to receive
25. SR I 497 - Fear of evil
26. Phatak Rep 249 - Nervous patients, nerves etc.
27. SR I 498 - Anticipation examinations before
28. SR I 992 - Fear of failure

F) Physical Generals and Particular Concomitants:

1. SR II 345 - Lean people
2. SR II 648 - Warm agg
3. SR II 672 - Varicose veins
4. SR II 250 - Food + Drinks, Ice-creams desires
5. SR II 274 - Food + Drinks, Sweets desires
6. SR II 64 - Biting nails
7. KR 396 - Face waxy
8. KR 367 - Face eruptions comedones
9. KR 969 - Extremities corns
10. KR I 182 - Extremities, perspiration, hand, palms
11. KR I 184 - Extremities, perspiration foot sole
12. KR I 184 - Extremities perspiration, foot sole offensive.
13. KR 1 189 - Extremities, roughness finger nails
14. KR 981 - Extremities discolouration, finger nails, white spots
15. KR 878 - Chest perspiration axilla offensive
16. KR 659 - Bladder urination involuntary, night

Now, the curative remedy - Silicea emerged crystal clear, being present in each and every rubric mentioned above.

Silicea 1M and then Silicea 10 M was repeated at infrequent intervals, one dose at a time followed by placebo. By June 91 his face was clear and he had no nocturnal enuresis. His anxiety about health reduced, his posture and voice volume increased.

Other Remedies Considered for Comparison:

Carcinosin, Gelsemium, Thuja, China, Plumbum, Argentum-nitricum, Psorinum, Calc-carb, Sulphur and Lycopodium.