Emergencies in Homoeopathy
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2005 Mar / Apr VOL VIII NO 2.
Dr Navin Pawaskar
Dr Dipti Thakker
Dr Reetha Krishnan
'Ars-a

Editor- Introduction: We have a unique set-up - a hospital in the Rural area which is Homoepathic with access to the Allopathic mode and intervention. Our USP is handling emergencies. This facility is probably nonexistent in the rest of the world. We want to give you cases of no miraculous or unique drugs but actual day-to-day drugs which wrought miracles when used rightly.

Our latest in the series was when a pair of children were brought in at 1am almost in serious state, having vomited 12 times in last 2 hrs and was in a state of Grade 2 dehydration. IV fluids were started immediately. Our hospital was chosen not out of choice but out of compulsion, there being no other choice and these were sent out with firmest belief in Homoeopathy and its efficacy in Homoeopathic system. If we could just produce this faith in our students All India then the battle of Homoeopaths straying away from Homoeopathy would be won forever.

Handling is the key and therefore we are going to describe such emergency cases, where lives are saved and reputations made.

I had just completed my internship and joined Palghar hospital as part of ICR Training. The incidence which I am going to share with you is the one which has touched me emotionally as well as motivated me and bound me to Homoeopathy forever...

There was an emergency call at 1.00 am that night...around 5 to 6 people entered the casualty at Palghar Hospital in a panic state...two small children, a boy 4 yr and his sister 71/2 were carried in. The boy was very drowsy, dull and had a toxic look; he was carried in an almost collapsed condition. He was passing involuntary stools and was vomiting since 2 hrs.

His sister was also having diarrhea 6-7 and 3-6 vomiting, weak, exhausted, Grade 2 dehydration, but comparatively less toxic than her brother.

History: They were actually tourists who had come from Pune just 1-2 days back. That day in the evening both the children had eaten a lots of fruits, bhel, oily food etc. At around 11.00 pm they suddenly started having severe loose motions and vomiting. The boy had already passed around 20 motions and vomited 10 times. The parents became very panicky as they were new to the place and even the relatives were not much aware of the medical facilities available. In this situation, someone told them about our hospital; only due to necessity having no other option that they came here. The father was terribly anxious; he did not know anything about homoeopathic treatment and he was petrified that he would lose his son.

In such a situation, the casualty officer attended the case, took the basic history, and examined the boy.

Findings: Dehydration Gr II - III, tachycardia, tender abdomen. Respiratory system normal. Child conscious but drowsy, responding to oral commands with difficulty. He called the resident Homoeopathic consultant and reported the findings. The patient was advised immediate admission, IV Fluids were immediately started to replenish loss of fluids. At the same time parents were reassured as well as made aware of the guarded prognosis of the case that if the child did not pass urine till the next morning he may go into renal shutdown.

On the basis of the acute totality available at that moment i.e.:

1. A/F food poisoning (fruits, bhel, oily food.)
2. Rapid pace of the disease
3. Prostration³⁺
4. Vomiting-profuse.
5. Stools-watery³⁺, profuse³⁺, painless³⁺, involuntary³⁺.

The boy was given Arsenic-album 200 repeatedly on the above indications. The follow up criteria was as follows: weakness, general look, thirst, appetite, vomiting-intensity and frequency, stools-intensity and frequency, urine output, skin turgor, temp, pulse. By next day morning the child had passed only 1 stool and no vomiting since admission, passed urine once. The generals were also better - he was more alert.

The parents were very happy with Homoeopathy, the hospital and the sincerity of the attending doctors. They feel converted to the Hom system of Therapeutics. They are originally form Pune and will continue regular treatment there at the Pune Hospital of ICR. When they expressed the desire to take homoeopathic medicines for the recurrent episodes of respiratory tract infection and high grade fever for which the boy had been hospitalized 3 times in the past. Along with my colleague, I started the case definition at around 9.30 pm, since they were to be discharge the next day. Their parents were co operative and were impressed about the sincerity and willingness to define the case at this hour. After defining the case Tuberculinum-bovinum 1M was given as a constitutional remedy. His sister was also treated with Arsenic-album 200 for the acute episode and was given Natrum-mur 200 as the constitutional remedy.

As for my Part: This whole episode left an indelible mark on me - It was the greatest learning experience for me - seeing how one could use homoeopathic medicine in cases of acute emergencies effectively, if one is alert and proper training for handling emergency cases is taken. The cost effectiveness of Homoeopathy impressed the parents as they were traveling with limited cash.

This kind of an experience is the best way to covert a non-believer to be a die-hard Homoeopathic follower in less than 48 hours. This was expressed in the form of a letter of gratitude by the father addressed to the hospital along with a small donation, which will stay as a source of inspiration and motivation for a long time to come.

The journey which started at 1.00am at night with tremendous anxiety and apprehension in my mind, as I had hardly seen emergencies handled with homoeopathy, was followed by the realization that through proper training and gaining of competence in clinical assessments, ancillary measures, proper knowledge of Materia-Medica, susceptibility and posology one could even handle emergencies with homoeopathy: here it was that the medicine was commonly indicated one, maybe 90% Homoeopaths would have given it; importance was of posology and the auxiliary measures of drip etc, which could be started immediately. In 36 hrs the patient, who had come in a near-death situation left the hospital walking on his 2 feet with hardly any weakness, a time period rarely paralleled by any line of treatment in the world.