Rheumatology : Some Case Reports
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Sep / Oct VOL 5 NO 5.
Dr K P S Dhama 
Dr [Mrs] Suman Dhama
'Ana / Tub-k / Syph

Nature demands that for a seed to flower, a suitable soil is required. So too, for disease.. Kent rightly says: "Susceptibility is prior to all contagion." The original idiosyncrasy is really the basis for all disease and throughout life it will express itself by various pathological manifestations. One can find its exact image of the drug, in the symptoms which it exteriorizes from time to time. Homoeopathic treats the sick as a whole, along with his general as well as focal medical problems.Each case needs full attention, up to perception of his sickness. As such while treating any case of so-called Rheumatic complaints, we have to treat the 'sick as a whole'.
We have satisfactorily treated many cases of so-called Rheumatism and Arthritis, diagnosed in leading hospitals in Delhi,. From this we are giving three case reports, to show the efficacy of Homoeopathy in treating the sequel of underlying chronic diseases [miasms] which produces pathology like rheumatic arthritis etc.

Case : 1
Mr C, aged 46 yr, a well known, honest police officer, and unmarried [he took a decision not to marry and had been living a simple life in real sense], suffered fror so-called Osteoarthritis. He was diagnosed and treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for three months but his condition deteriorated day by day and deformities started in multiple joints. This was his state when he came to our clinic on 19/7/86
His complaints started with a mild backache in Feb 1986 which spread to the waist [L] side; worse morning. It was followed by numbness in the [L] leg and occasional mild pain in the calf region, the upper portion of foot, [L] as well as [R], noticed only while walking. Numbness in the fingers of the [R] hand. Sudden pain in the smaller joints of a momentary duration. It was felt only after keeping the hand in a state of rest for a few minutes. Burning sensation in the thighs [outer side], mostly [R] side in sitting posture after a little walk. Slight stiffness and pain in the waist. But he did not feel any discomfort or pain, while lost in his work. He used to work almost 18 hrs a day.
He noticed numbness in 1971 after returning from a trip of European countries, where he walked a lot, missed regular meals and exposed himself to damp and cold. He took allopathic medicine [Neurobion injections, 5 injections twice a year till 1983, coinciding it with change of weather], as advised by his physician. He used to love the rainy season and loved getting wet..

Past History: Malnutrition in childhood; typhoid fever in 1956; suffered from minor thyroid trouble in 1977 and was put on Eltroxin [5 mg] once daily; Malaria in 1982. He gave up Eltroxin in 1983 and got himself checked for thyroid problems at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi in 1986. Thyroid was found normal.
Family History: Father died during partition in 1947, when the patient was only 7 yrs old. Mother [61] has goitre.
We found the following additional symptoms:
1] prostration of mind, worse while reading
2] sadness 
3] anxious dreams 
4] remorse 
5] Air open, seashore amel. 
6] Aversion to sweets 
7] desires warm drinks and food, coffee, saltish preparations 
8] industrious 
9] occupation ameliorates 
10] obstinate 
11] sensitive 
12] lack of self -confidence.

In this case the symptoms of sadness and remorse were not due to disease, as he was an honest and hard working individual who always took life in a positive sense; but he was unable to explain these symptoms further. Generally open and seashore air aggravates the pains of rheumatic origin but in this case these modalities ameliorated the complaints. A sick person suffering from rheumatic/arthritic pain does not want to do any work because of pain whereas in this case the 'sick' is an industrious man and feels no problem while lost in his work. The other symptoms pertain to the disease and thus are common symptoms and not mportant from the prescrioption point ov view..

On the basis of above, we prescribed him one dose of Aurum- met 200 on 19/7/86 followed by placebo. He felt better but had a relapse of pain and stiffness, worse morning. We gave him Aur- met 1M /1 dose on 19/8/86 followed by placebo . He told us that he was 60-70% better. On 23/10/86, though he was much better, he informed us that he wanted to leave his job as he thought that he was not doing justice to it.

Remembering the observation made by Dr William Boyd in the preface to "Text book of Pathology" that disease in a human is never exactly the same as disease in the experimental animal, for in man the emotions come into play. It may be the man or woman rather than the disease that needs to be treated. There is always the psyche to be considered as well as the soma.". As such, mental symptoms of the 'sick' should be given preference. 

Although he was far better as far as his arthritic complaints were concerned yet the symptoms were flowing in the wrong direction from outer to inner as a result of which lack of self confidence became very prominent and he wanted to leave his job. This was not a healthy sign.

Under this situation we prescribed Anacardium 1M/1 dose followed by placebo. He regained his lost confidence and felt very much better till 24/11/86 and was given one dose of Anacardium 10M on 24/11/86. Now the order of the flow of symptoms was reversed. Keeping in view his earlier symptoms, ie. complaints due to over exertion and history of malnutrition in early childhood [Psoric manifestation ], with the symptoms of pain in joints becoming worse on first movement but better by continuous motion and worse rest, we gave him Rhus- tox. [in ascending potencies 200 to 50M] at long intervals, and Psorinum [200 to 10M] as an intercurrent remedy on the basis of symptoms as and when required . By the year 1992 he became fully normal and served as a prominent Director General of Police and retired with honor. He is hale and hearty and there is no problem till date.

On Arthritis, as far as cure is concerned, we fully agree with what Dr John Hunter said about cancer. He said, "What I call a cure is an alteration of the disposition and the effects of that disposition, and not the destruction of the cancerous parts."

Case : 2
Dr [Col] M, aged 85 years, came to us on 1/11/92 for the treatment of so-called rheumatic arthritis. He was diagnosed at Army Hospital, New Delhi. He was suffering for the past 10 years or more with pain and stiffness in finger joints with deformities. His complaints started about 17-18 years back with numbness in feet, worse while standing or walking; better after rest and sitting. Feet usually cold, wears woolen socks even during summer. Restlessness. at the age of 85 years and even now, at the age of 92 years he works in his clinic [by profession he is a veterinary doctor ] regularly. Likes orderliness and discipline in work [worked in Royal army]; very methodical. Anger worse by contradiction and shouts when angry. Can't sit idle. Overconfident, ambitious, compassionate, sympathetic and can't tolerate cruelties. For the last 10 years , he has started liking hot weather and feels worse in cold and humid weather. Suffers from sleeplessness due to numbness and coldness of feet. 

Past History: Pneumonia at the age of 19 years . Tonsillectomy done at the age of 20 years. Had nervous disorder at the age of 65 years. At the age of 67 he was operated upon for prostrate. In 1983, he suffered sudden depression with mild stroke with sweating while taking hot bath during a trip to the United States. In 1987, he was operated for cataract.

Family History: Nothing particular. 
Discussion
In this case, initially we felt that the symptoms pertained to Psora and the picture of all collected symptoms directed us to prescribe Psorinum and we did so in 200 to 10M [from 1/11/92 till 23/8/93 ] at long intervals. He felt better in the beginning but the same symptoms reappeared again and again. Since chronic of Psorinum is Tuberculinum-k, we prescribed him Tuberculinum-k 1M on 7/9/93, Tuberculinum-k 10M on 20/2/94 and Tuberculinum-k 50M on 27/1/95. He is quite comfortable and much better now. We have advised him to take Rhus-tox 200, SOS which he takes off and on according to the symptoms and necessity.

Case :3
Miss R, aged 11 years, suffering from Poly-articular Rheumatoid Arthritis, was diagnosed and treated for the last about 7-8 years at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Her condition went from bad to worse in spite of allopathic treatment for the last 7/8 years.

The patient came to our clinic on 13/5/97 with stiffness and swelling in both elbow, knee and hip joints, with deformities of fingers. Fingers were found to be bending inwards badly. She was unable to bend, sit, stand or walk on her own. Joints were so stiff that she was unable to perform her daily routine work . She was almost bed-ridden for 8 years.

Her present complaints started about 10 years back with a feeling of stiffness and pain in the right elbow joint and then slowly the other joints started becoming involved. First, the knee joints and then slowly wrist joints and cervical and hip joints also got affected within 2-3 months. She was worse in summer and sun, exertion, rising from sitting posture; better after rest and sleep. There were no marked strong likes or dislikes.

She used to cry a lot in infancy during night; she had acute diarrhoea after birth till the age of 2 ½ years; for which, she was always under strong allopathic medication and finally diarrhoea was checked. She also had a tendency to catch colds and tonsillitis till the age of 31/2 years. 

On 13/5/97, we gave her Syphillinum 200/1 dose and Abrotanum 0/3 [50 millesimal scale], thrice for one week. Her mother reported on 20/5/97 and told that there was slight improvement, but she had excessive salivation at night; because of her pathological condition, we prescribed Abrotanum 0/5 for one week and after that Abrotanum 0/7, but there was no further significant change. On 6/6/97, we gave her Abrotanum 200/1 dose followed by placebo and on 18/7/97, we repeated Abrotanum 200/1 dose. She reported on 26/8/97 with great reduction in pain and stiffness, but was still unable to bend her knees. Her eyes were red and she was suffering from acute cold with sneezing, running nose and itching of scalp. These symptoms were worse in the morning. We gave her one dose of Sulphur 200 and she improved rapidly. She reported last on 11/10/97 and is now capable of doing her routine work and cycling. She plays with other children happily.

We may add at the end that in a majority of cases we have found that rheumatism is very frequently the outcome of pseudo-psora. In a large number of cases we have found a family history of pseudo psora [ tubercular] in patients whose relatives died of tuberculosis. The same is true of the cancerous diathesis also, as the patients, whose relatives [close blood relations] had died of cancer often, developed rheumatism in one or the other form. If this diathesis is treated by specific [constitutional] Homoeopathic remedies, the tendency may be cured. Suppression will always lead to malignancy, sooner or later. We have come across so many cases of rheumatism which were spoiled by suppressive treatment and later on developed into malignant tumours, an early stage of cancer.

We have found Aurum- met, Tuberculinum-k, Syphillinum, etc. very effective in treating the rheumatic disorders but of course according to the symptoms in the 'sick' as a whole.