SLE Treated With Homoeopathy
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 May / Jun Vol III No 3.
Balakrishnan E.
Cases.
` Ars.

A 35 years old lady, with three children 2 daughters aged 15 and 13 and a son aged 10, came for treatment on 11th April 1994.

ORIGIN, DURATION AND PROGRESS:

She had a history of acute pain in all the small joints with difficulty in flexing the fingers. All big joints too had pain and oedema, making movement extremely difficult.

The complaints started seven years ago for which she took allopathic treatment. After a period of 3 years she developed oedema all over the body and frequent attacks of fever.

DIAGNOSIS:

Investigations in the hospital diagnosed her as suffering from SLE with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The discharge card from the hospital read "SLE and RA"

HISTORY OF PAST TREATMENT:

She was given allopathic treatment in the hospital with which she had some relief, though not complete. She later developed side effects due to the medicines that she took regularly. She had to be hospitalised many times when she developed dropsy, breathlessness and severe joint pains.

PRESENT COMPLAINTS:

When she came for homoeopathic treatment, she was in a very serious condition. She had severe oedema of all joints. The whole body was bloated and sore to touch. All her joints were painful making movement difficult if not impossible. She had 100F fever and her blood haemoglobin was 8 gms. percent

Thermal Modality: Chilly, wants covering.
Appetite: None
Thirst: Extreme thirst for warm drinks.
Mouth: Sore due to many ulcers.
General aggravation: Winter, rains, draft of air and spicy food.

MENSTRUAL HISTORY:

Menses regular; scanty; all complaints aggravated before and during menstrual flow.

RUBRICS SELECTED:

1. KR 428- Mouth ulcers - Ars-alb, Kali-chl, Merc-cor
2. KR 546- Dropsy, ascites- Apoc, Ars-alb, Kali-chl
3. KR 680- Urine albuminous- Apoc, Ars, Merc-cor
4. KR 688- Urine mucous- Apoc, Kali-chl, Merc-cor
5. Phatak Rep 201- Kidney inflammation of (nephritis)- Kali-chl, Merc-cor

MATERIA MEDICA REFERENCE:

Boerickes MM, page 369 on Kali-chl- Acts very destructively on the kidneys, producing a croupous nephritis, haemoglobinuria etc. Parenchymatous nephritis with stomatitis.

TREATMENT AND FOLLOW-UP:

Visit 1: On 15th April 1994
Ars-alb 30 daily one dose in the morning for 4 days. Apocynum Q, 15 drops in water thrice daily.

Visit 2: On 26th April 1994
The patient improved considerably; was relieved of the fever. The oedema was less.
Routine urine examination revealed presence of Albumin 6.5 mg percent and 8-10 Pus cells.
Merc-cor 200 twice daily for three days after which Kali-chlor 30 twice daily for one week. Apocynum Q 15 drops thrice daily was continued as before.

Visit 3: On 29th April 1994
10 days later, her urine report showed no pus cells while Albumin count reduced to 2.5 gms.
The patients dropsy was markedly reduced. There were no ulcers in the mouth. Her joint pains had decreased. General health improved considerably.
Kali-chlor 200 once a week and Apocynum Q 15 drops twice a day was continued.
The patient is still under observation and is expected to do better and possibly recover completely.

ABOUT SLE:

SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythromatosis) is a multi-system connective tissue disease characterized by the presence of numerous auto-antibodies, circulating immune complexes and widespread immunologically determined tissue damage.

The cause of SLE remains obscure. This is a multi-factorial disorder in which there is profound disturbance of immune regulation.

CLINICAL FEATURES:

Arthritis, Arthralgia and fever are the commonest presentation. Skin lesions are seen in more than two thirds of patients. Cardio-pulmonary, renal and central nervous systems are also involved. Gastro-intestinal symptoms are also frequent.

Renal involvement- The kidney lesions appear to be a result of deposit of circulating DNA, anti-DNA and other complexes in tissues.

EDITOR: SLE is a life long disease. One has to strive to control the disease and prevent end organ damage.