The Tabla Magic
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 Jul / Aug Vol II No 4. 
Dr Bhavana Gagiwala.
` Thuj

Introduction:
Spiders belong to the group Arachnida. There is a story behind this name. It goes like this:
There was a Roman weaver woman called Arachnedo. She claimed that she was best weaver in the world. She challenged everyone and won. Success went to her head and she challenged the Goddess of Wisdom; against whom she lost. The Goddess wanted to teach her a lesson. To punish her, she made her a spider so that she would go on weaving forever. The spider family, since then, is called Arachnida.

Toxicology of Spider Poisoning:
The bite of any poisonous spider causes the following -
1^st day - In the first 12 hours there are no signs and symptoms. Later there is a pin pricking sensation and itching.
2^nd day - There is erythema, itching, induration and umbilicated eruptions.
3^rd day - Fever, red patch at site of wound, excessive sweating and exudation starts.
4^th day - Swelling increase. Fever rises. Dyspnoea and giddiness.
5^th and 6^th day - It affects the vital organs and may result in death, on the 7^thday.

The action of spider poisons is twofold-

1. Action on the blood causing septic fevers and
2. Action on the nervous system producing spasms, chorea and hysteria. There is also trembling, twitching of single or groups of muscles.

The other symptoms are-

1. Great restlessness. Constantly changes position; can never sit at one place for even a little while.
2. Weakness from sexual excitement.
3. Oversensitiveness to touch, noise especially music and bright objects.
4. This group has a great affinity for the skin. There is destruction with carbuncles, ulcers actinomycosis and gangrene.
5. Periodicity.

Case:
A 9 year old boy, M A, complained of recurrent severe headaches accompanied by irritability occasional vomiting. The headache was worse by pressure (3+) and touch (3+). The pain was more on the left side and radiated to the jaw.

Eyes - Intense photophobia with redness and watering.
Appetite - good.
Craving - Sweets (3+)
Perspiration - scanty.
Constitution - lean, thin.

Mentals - My first observation was that the boy was very restless. He could never sit comfortably on the chair for more than a minute. He used to move constantly. His mother told me that whenever he got these headaches he desired absolute silence. Slightest noise startled him or woke him with a jerk. He hated music especially loud music, since this caused a headache and made him irritable. The boy had headaches from noises.

Analysis - The peculiar modality was that a 9 year old child could have such intense sensitiveness to music and noise. In Boerickes materia medica Sensitive to noise. It penetrates the body especially the teeth". "Noises seem to strike on painful spots over the body. This is given in the remedy Theridion.

Treatment and Follow-up: 
Theridion 30 three doses were given on three consecutive nights with SL for 15 days.
On the next visit the mother told me that the boy had a severe headache once with vomiting, a week after the first dose. SL was given for another month. Later the mother came and informed me that there were no episodes of headache and strangely he has joined music classes to learn tabla!