Homoeopathy the Healing Touch
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 Jan / Feb Vol III No 1.
Ranga Krishnan.
Cases.
` Rad-br.

Case 1:

Editor: Here, the patient speaks of her experience while under Homoeopathic treatment. It is a moving and insightful account, rendered more plausible, as the patient is a doctor herself. Abstracts are given for the benefit of readers.

Part I: A Personal Testimony

On 19th April 1991, I got burnt on my left leg and thigh in a fire accident. It stopped just 4 inches short of my genitals. I took a decision not to be hospitalised inspite of being an allopath.

The superficial wound healed in 2-3 days i.e. by 23rd April 1991. A plastic surgeon confirmed that the deeper burns were third degree. He suggested skin grafting but I decided not to take that option.

The wound was itching badly and the scars were thick and ugly. I could not put my foot down for long without experiencing a host of abnormal sensations. I was not in a position to stand comfortably. Meanwhile, I developed a sore-throat, then pharyngitis. Next I suffered from chicken pox. The healing process was very slow. I was low in vitality all the time and used to get tired easily. A year after the accident, I met Mrs. Ranga Krishnan on the insistence of my family in the first week of May 1992. After a look at my condition, she advised me to stay in Madras for at least two months and that if her treatment didnt work, she would insist that I go in for skin grafting.

I trusted her instinctively; it was a great relief to find someone on whom I could place the burden of my healing. After the first dose, I felt a great fatigue of my body. I slept a lot. I felt an indefinable change which slowly started within. I gradually felt more comfortable. The uneasy and abnormal sensation disappeared first. The texture felt different. The inflammation reduced. There was pigmented spot on the areas which were depigmented. The scar tissue also started thinning.

For the whole year after the accident I had nightmares. As if by a miracle these nightmares subsided though a fear of fire remained. Today I am very careful with fires, but there is no intense fear.

Since the past one year I have been under Mrs. Krishnans care. Today as I try to recollect and record the psychological changes, the mental symptoms, I am taken aback. Normalcy; what a strange word! I thought a year ago that I was a normal person like others, with my own tensions, my own plusses and minuses. While that is partially true, I realize today that there were deep seated stresses and compulsions. Strangely, I was not even aware of having them, except in those rare moments when there would be wistfulness, or a sudden anger that would startle me.

Early in the treatment, I began to be aware that things are changing within. Initially (May-June 92), I experienced a kind of mental and emotional discomfort a peculiar restlessness. Suddenly (June-July 92) there were waves of feelings and emotions- like a dam bursting. Emotions and thoughts which I had suppressed over the years through conditioning and habit, clamoured for space and I had to heed them. I was taken unawares. Yet, strangely I found that I could handle them it was not an uncontrollable situation.

This was the pattern for the whole year. There would be wave upon wave of feeling, depression and upheaval. With each wave, I found different changes. I learnt to actually observe the world and people without fear of what I would find. I learnt to accept limitations in myself and others and I learnt not to engage myself obsessively.

Today, I see that the process of freedom from compulsion is an ongoing one that lasts though life, but there is an inner firmness and detachment that remains in some sense untouched. Today I also see the reflection of these inner changes in my daily life. I am more cheerful, clearer in thinking, less different (I actually throw my weight around and Ive put on weight too!). My relationships have improved. My career (or the lack of it) had been a raw area always. Suddenly, I found the energy to activity explore alternatives and today I am clear that I want to practise homoeopathy what a deep and a wonderful science it is!

Two other changes that took place were very eloquent! I had lived for the greater part of my childhood in a very natural environment which had nourished me greatly. Through the years of living in cities and through all the experiences of my life, I had become indifferent to that vital link. Today my links with nature are re-establishing. I am beginning to enjoy the fresh breeze, the fragrance of flowers, the shade of trees, the sunshine, the sound of the birds again. The second change was that after years a rhythm has set into my day. I am beginning to be aware of my own body rhythms and to respect them.

Now to come back to the changes of my leg. As of today (May 93) there is absolutely no itching or altered sensation. I am so comfortable that I do not think of the leg as uncomfortable. The pigmentation has increased and the scar has thinned dramatically. In areas (1 inch all around the leg and thigh) the scar has disappeared and is replaced by normal skin. I am hopeful that if the present rate of change continues, the scar will disappear completely in the leg over the next one and a half years and in the thigh over the next two years.

I also wish to record in this testimony, my deep gratitude to Mrs. Krishnan and the team at Swasthyam for their unfailing availability to me, for their affection and for their skill.

Part II: The Actual Case

In May 1992, a young doctor, wife of an Air Force pilot, came with remnants of extensive third degree burns on the left leg with thick keloids of various thickness. There was a pricking sensation worse by standing, itching aggravated in dry weather. The healing process was abysmally slow, considering the fact that she had been burnt a year ago.

She also had dysmenorrhoea, dysuria and anal itching which was worse in the nights. No weather or food modalities could be obtained. There was a history of fracture of L2-L3 transverse process after a fall in 1988. Paravertebral spasms were still present and they rendered her unfit to do any activity while in spasm. Just after the burn incident, she suffered from chicken pox in 1991. The burnt parts were infected abscess formation and large induration and had while tenacious centres. They took a long time to heal.

There was a family history of breast cancer in her maternal grandmother and suspected Hodgkins disease in sister. She started getting nightmares in which she saw her near and dear ones burning. She often talked about how her health had deteriorated since the burns. The sight of the patient at the first meeting shocked me and I was reluctant to take the case. But Aude Sapere prevailed. The intense depression in one so young and intelligent was overwhelming.

The case, as I analyzed it, had the following main components-

Extensive burns, thick keloids, ugly scar tissue, very slow rate of healing, a childhood disease (chicken pox) very late in life, intense depression and a family history of cancer.

She had been extremely patient through her enormous suffering. Inspite of being a doctor herself, she rejected mainstream medicines, skin grafting, etc. Her depression reminded me of a patient who comes after radiation therapy in advanced stage of cancer. In Synthetic Repertory, Pg. 53, A / f Burns lists five remedies. Radium-brom was chosen. (Clarkes Dictionary and his small booklet on Radium were the sources that confirmed the remedy).

Radium-brom 200 single dose was given. In the course of a year Radium-brom was repeated (total six times) as and when her depression took a nose dive. The response was marvellous. Her testimony (published above) speaks for itself. The healing took place from the inner most tissue (the mind) to the outer-most tissue (skin).

On 9th June 1993, as the depression was returning inspite of the good healing of the leg, her vacillatory nature, profuse menstrual flow and yet the determination to see through the whole thing, prompted me to give her Tuberculinum 1M, one dose.

I did not hear from her till August 1993. She had undergone some emergency surgery and had a low haemoglobin count. She went through surgery without any antibiotics. Calendula 30 OD for five days, Bellis-per 200 bd once in 15 days and then Calendula 30 once in ten days. She continued this pattern for 4 months. On 16th November 1993, her Haemoglobin was 12.5 mg percent. The rate of skin healing took dramatic turns. Some areas became near normal. She was mentally well balanced and was equipping herself to work with children in the rural areas.

From the above case I concluded that Calendula and Bellis-per seem to be the natural complements of Radium-brom. As the skin just improved by leaps and bounds and so did her personality. The power of healing in the minimum dose is enormous and the satisfaction immense.

Case 2: Prescription is Skin Deep

A 23 years old research scholar hailing from a wealthy business family came with epigastric burning pains, since the past three months. These spasmodic pains lasted for 1-3 hours. The pain was better on lying prone, and with bread and cold milk. It was worse in the morning between 5-6 AM and woke her up from sleep. It was worse by eating spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, tension and worry. There was a strong desire for spicy and oily food but it disagreed with her. She preferred food that was warm and liked a moderate climate. She loved music, reading history and philosophy. There was a tendency to sprain her ankles often. All other parameters were normal.

There was a history of measles, chicken pox and mumps prior to puberty. There was a family history of gout, diabetes and cancer of stomach in grandparents. Mother had hyperacidity and bleeding piles.

She is frightened of small insects, darkness and cats. She likes to see horror movies and gets nightmares on seeing them and wakes up at night screaming. She likes people and is moved by minor illnesses in the family. She wants to open a nursery school.

She has a thick ugly scar on her face, neck, upper shoulder and forearm on the right side. Apparently at 5 years of age during Diwali she suffered a third degree burn after a fire cracker accident. Inspite of good medical help and extensive plastic surgery there was keloid formation.

When the incident occurred she was very young and so she did not feel bad about the scars. She mentioned that every wound would invariably heal with keloid.

Emotionally, she was well balanced and it was confirmed by her mother. She came through as a quiet, dignified person. Even on deep probing she never revealed any untoward anger or sorrow.

On the surface this looked like a simple case. Sympathetic, quiet disposition, small fears, burning pains in epigastrium Natrum-mur but where was the anger, duty consciousness and sadness? She loved company Phosphorus fitted better? But where was its warmth, desire for cold and the slim beauty? She was of stocky built. Calcarea-c, Silica fitted only partially.

I was missing out on the totality. As the present offered no clues, I turned to the past. The family history of Autoimmune diseases and cancer, her disposition to keloids and her burn accident were prominent. Synthetic repertory page 53 A / f Burns came to my rescue. Radium-bromatum 200 was given once four months ago.

Her epigastric pains vanished within a week and her skin tone improved. She is able to tolerate more foods and smiles often. She has even lost some weight.