Asthma Cases from the Archives.
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1995 Jan / Feb Vol IV No 1.
Lata Jaggar.
Cases.
` Nux-v / Ars / Apis / Carb-v.

Bronchial Asthma continues to remain the bane of ones life where modern medical science seems dwarfed and stunted to provide any cure to the patient, it just palliates leaving the patient more aggravated, proceeding towards more devastating diseases.

"The more you palliate, the less you cure".

Cases of asthma can be cured if we succeed in removing the miasmatic underlying condition. Homoeopathy is the only system of medicine that processes curative means of removing the miasms. Most vital thing is proper selection of the deep acting constitutional remedy, capable of removing it for each particular case. In cases where allergy plays a decisive factor, the Homoeopathic remedy will build up a resistance to the allergic element. A study from old journals brought out a few interesting cases which are presented below.

CASE 1:

Stephanie S, eight years of age came on 12th May 1988 with complaints of asthma.

The first episode occurred in April, 1988 shortly after the family moved from a bigger into a smaller home. This lasted a few weeks and then subsided. Now it has returned and she has been on medication (Slo-Bid) for the past month.

(She is a sullen child. She sits with he fingers in her mouth (2) most of the time and says very little in response to my questions. When she does talk it is mostly to contradict her mother.).

Sleeps-through the night despite asthma (2). Sleeps on right side (1).
Appetite-poor. She just wants to sit around (1).
Skin-Eczema (1) since age 2, dry (1), itchy (2) skin.
Family History-Both mother and father have allergies.
Headaches (2) 2-3 times a week. Frontal (1), Ameliorated by eating (1).
Not a complainer (1). Does not like to tell the teacher is she is ill (1).
Desires-liver (2), fruit (2), seafood (1), sweets (1), Aversion-meat (2), fish (1), chicken (1).

They moved because her father lost his job and had been unemployed. Since this move she has become quiet (2). Normally "bubbly, outgoing with a mind of her own". When ill she just gets quiet (1). She is a private person (1), averse to consolation (2), Above average student (2), Likes to read (2).

(Here I observe that while her mother is not looking she, without provocation, forcefully jabs her younger sister in the back with a stick like toy she has in her hand).

Gets frustrated easily. Irritable in the mornings (1). Musty (1) body odor from axillae.

Treatment - Nux-vomica 200c 1-89:

Used inhaler 2 times around Christmas, no other medication. No wheezing. Attitude is great (2). No longer irritable in the morning. (1). Energy is 100 percent (1). No headaches, no body odor. Still sucks fingers but 50 percent less.

COMMENT

The basis for the prescription here is fairly obvious. Sullen, withdrawn child, probably secondary to the mortification (anger) at her change of life circumstances; contradicts her mother and is malicious to her sister. Confirmed by the rubric asthma in children.

Dr. JONATHAN SHORE (MD)

(Reported in the American Journal of Homoeopathy - December, 1990).

CASE 2:

Baby PK, aged 12 years had occasional attacks of acute allergic bronchitis.

The first attack had come when she was 10 months old. Since then she started getting these attacks almost 3-4 times a month which was treated with antibiotics, cortisone and antihistaminic drugs. Plantain, citrus fruits, ice cream, grapes, curds, draft of air, cold drinks brought on the attacks.

When the child was brought to me its condition was pretty bad. She was very weak and emaciated.

Cold, cough, sudden fever. Breathlessness worse from 11 p.m. - 1 a.m. Restless, weak, sleep disturbed, Vomits after cough.

Treatment:

Arsenic-alb, 30 was given tds for three days and then bd for one week followed by placebo.

By the next visit the breathlessness was reduced. During acute attacks when she used to get congestion of throat, cough and fever, but not much breathlessness. Belladonna 1M used to control and abort the attacks. She was also given Tuberculinum 10M one dose every month for 3 months; and Arsenic-alb 1 M one dose at the end of each attack. After 6 months of Homoeopathic treatment the child remained completely free from allergic bronchitis.

Later. I advised the parents to feed the food items to which the child was allergic. The child now, did not show allergic reaction to these items.

CASE 3:

Baby MS, aged 5 years had acute attacks of allergic bronchitis since she was one year old. First visit at the age of 3 years. This child was allergic to sour fruit, chocolates, cold drinks and ice-creams. She was given Arsenic-alb. first in 30th potency then in 200th for a few days. And lastly Arsenic-alb. 1M two doses at fortnight interval were given. Tuberculinum 1M one dose once a month for three months was given as an intercurrent remedy. The child recovered completely and continued to remain in perfect health (almost 16 months). Relapse after 16 months.

Arsenic-alb did not help her this time.

A few prominent features I noticed were:

1. Bag-like swelling under the lower eyelids
2. Awkwardness
3. Thirstlessness.

I decided to give her Apis 30 tds for a week. This remedy cleared up all her complaints she has been keeping perfect health, eating every type of food.

Master RP aged 32 years. Distressing cough. Breathlessness worse 2 a.m to 6 a.m. worse ice-cream, worse citrus fruit.

OBSERVATIONS:

In other cases of allergic bronchitis which responded successfully to Homoeopathic treatment, the remedies used on indications were Ars-alb, Ipecac, Nat-sulph, Ant-tart, Sulph, Medorrhinum, Thuja, Calc-carb, Pulsatilla, etc.

Total number of cases treated was 32. Out of 32 children 26 completely got free from the affection. The remaining 6 children are still under treatment and their tendency to get bronchitis has gone down considerably. In all these six children the suppressed skin rash has reappeared.

Other observations made from the study of these cases are:

1. Family history-In majority of cases one or both the parents had suffered or were suffering from either eczema, bronchial asthma or other allergic manifestations.
2. 25 percent children had suffered from eczema or skin eruptions which were suppressed by topical allopathic medicinal applications.
3. Most of the children were allergic to grapes, citrus fruits, plantain, cold drinks, cold, draft of air, etc.
4. Majority of the children developed attacks within 6-8 hours of exposure to one or more of the exciting causes mentioned above.
5. 90 percent of children had aggravation at night.
6. Most of the cases required different remedies depending on their individual characteristics.
7. All these children had been given the best possible allopathic treatment for fairly long period before they were referred to Homoeopathic treatment.

DISCUSSION:

Though the method and principle followed for treating these allergic bronchitis cases were the same, the majority of the children responded 60 different Homoeopathic remedies.

No controls could be kept for the following main reasons.

1. Each patient requires and responds to different remedy depending on his individualistic characteristic symptoms and tendencies.
2. Allergic bronchitis is an acute disease causing extreme suffering.
3. The study of these cases was carried out after the cases were treated. There was no pre-planned conception of carrying out research in this subject.

CONCLUSION:

From the observations of the result obtained it can be concluded the Homoeopathic medicines surely have very good scope in the treatment of the affections of children.

Dr. PRAKASH S KUMTA LCEH (Bom)

Pune

(Hahnemannian Gleanings-February, 1981).

CASE 4:

Miss CM, age 17 years had bronchial asthma.

Previous History: Began suffering from asthma since five years of age. Some time before she suffered a skin condition - the itch - on the abdomen that was locally treated with ointments. She has been delicate and predisposed to colds ever since.

Family History: Her father suffered bronchial asthma when 15 years of age.

Present History: On October 24, 1939, I was called by an allopathic colleague, to see her because he had used in vain all the classic allopathic remedies : adrenalin ephedrin, ephetonine, etc. It was a desperate case. We saw her that evening at 7 oclock the eighth day of the attack. She started two weeks before with a fluent coryza that later degenerated into an intense asthmatic bronchitis. The patient lay with her head practically buried on several pillows, her eyes closed, apparently in profound sopor. Her face with marked cyanosis, even her lips and tongue were bluish, also the nails of her fingers. A loud, shallow, difficult respiration that moved her whole body. Her limbs covered with a cold sweat, especially the lower, from the knees down. The entire picture anticipated a near collapse. The room, with three windows and two doors, was almost completely closed and the air vitiated with the strong odor from a vessel where they were burning some of "Dr. Schiffmans Stramonium leaves a patent medicine. Our first move was to get rid of such

deleterious stuff and to open the doors and windows. The intoxicating effects had gone so far that we even had to resort to the use of oxygen, although very cautiously applied.

My first prescription was Carbo-veg 200. At 2 a.m the same night, the patient was worse, there was no change in her respiration and she was beginning to have some convulsive movements. Cuprum-met 200 was given.

October 25, 10 a.m. No more convulsions; cyanosis slightly less; patient began coughing , but unable to raise any expectoration; tongue totally covered with a thick white fur. Cuprum helped in clarifying the case for the next remedy. Antimonium-tart 200. At 7 p.m. the same day the whole picture had changed at the end of the first twenty-four hours. No sings of cyanosis were left. Patient was expectorating freely and was even talkative and smiling. Instructions were given for the collection of a specimen from the expectoration in a sterile glass vial for the purpose of preparing an auto-nosode.

October 30. The patient had been doing fine up to this day when she had another spell. A single dose of the Auto-nosode 30 was given and the attack subsided.

November 15th-Patient developed today a new attack of acute coryza. Another dose of the Auto-nosode, same potency and symptoms were relieved.

November 19th-At 4 a.m. another very acute attack of asthma caused by eating some spicy food (enchiladas) the night before, and one more dose of the Auto-nosode 30 was prescribed.

November 20th-Patient still worse, a dose of Antim-crud 10M, because symptoms corresponded to those of the remedy, especially the typical antimonium tongue. The attack subsided within a few hours and the patient has been free from any new attacks ever since, and without any further medication.

COMMENT:

Antimonium-crud was undoubtedly the deepest acting remedy for the case and if continued to use whenever necessary, it will eventually effect the complete cure. There is a possibility that the Auto-nosode might have acted as well if it had been used in higher potencies, them.

CASE 5: Miss AM, age 22 years suffered several attacks of asthmatic bronchitis since childhood. Four years ago she had an attack of malaria for which she was given arsiquinine.

On January 18th, 1940, she began complaining of backache and some digestive disorders, fullness in the stomach, lack of appetite, etc. Carbo-veg 200 was prescribed.

January 22nd-Patient developed today a dry cough although rales could be heard all over her chest, with difficult respiration. Kali-carb. 200.

January 23rd-Condition unimproved; on the contrary, patient very nervous, desperate, with great anxiety and fear, had not been able to sleep the night before, I sent Arsenicum-iod 200 which she too only to make her worse. Knowing her nervous temperament, her condition, when on seeing the patient personally I observed that the patient was extremely restless, with great anxiety, tossing about, her temperature had gone up and she was very thirsty, but drinking little at a time. In one word, she exhibited all the symptoms of Arsenicum. I asked the parents if she had ever been given arsenicum in massive doses, and it was then that I was informed of her having been sick never been well since that time, "the patient said, "everything that I eat seems to disagree and I have not been able to regain my lost weight".

It was a true Arsenicum aggravation that the patient had immediately after takingArsenicum-iod, because her system was still intoxicated with the drug taken four years previously. I proceeded to give her an antidote to Arsenicum, trying to select one that could also cover some of the respiratory symptoms now present. The remedy was Hepar-sulph 200 and the results were amazing. She took it about midnight and two hours later the patient was so much better, her respiration much easier and she was resting more quietly, that I left her house convinced that she was going to sleep the rest of the night. Next morning the symptoms were practically gone and the patient continued under the action of that prescription for four weeks, when I had to give her another dose of the 200th potency because of a slight cold that soon yielded to it. The young lady was married last month.

COMMENT:

I will make the comment on this case by quoting from that great Homoeopath, a personal friend and disciple of Hahnemann, Boenninghausen, when he says:

"Every beginner will probably at times have seen, what, in the case of experienced and observant Homoeopaths, is recurring more and more rarely, that even with very careful selection and apparent adaptability of remedies, success does not always come up to the expectations, and at times no action at all or even and aggravation of the patients troubles, ensues. In such cases we may safely depend upon it, either that the remedy given has been formerly misused in allopathic doses and on that account its symptoms have become habitual and very manifest, or that, on account of the oversight of one or more symptoms of the disease which would contraindicate the remedy, its choice was a mistake and therefore without effect. In the former case there will be, as a rule, an increase in the patients sufferings, in the latter no noticeable change will be observed; in the former case there must then be made an attempt to destroy the old drug disease by Homoeopathically selected antidotes, and in the latter case by a careful examination of the disease image, and by a circumspect selection of the remedy, the previous mistake should be rectified".

I have been treating two other cases where all these facts are plainly shown. A very nervous young mother. Mrs. ARB, and her twelve-year old son, EB. The mother will get into a nervous crisis and will bring on the attack, and the boy will go out of the household and eat disorderly and will soon come down with a spell. For the last two years I have been able to fairly control these two case, the mothers with Kali-carb, and the childs with Ammonium-carb, to the extent of delaying the attacks and making them much milder each time. They are so well satisfied with the results of the treatment that I am almost sure to be able to hold the cases long enough to successfully remove the miasmatic underlying conditions, by doing which we will some day effect a complete cure.

A long list of helpful remedies for asthma can be found in our materia medica, but we will always have to look for the antipsoric, the antisyphilitic or the antisycotic remedy which when used with due opportunity, will set the machinery of the patients organism on the road to complete recovery. Can an auto-nosode, as I have called them perhaps improperly, Homoeopathically prepared from the patients own sources, play this most important role in the treatment of asthma cases? I do not know, for I have used them inefficiently, as mentioned above. I have tried them because I once treated successfully a case of hay fever with the patients auto-nosode, and I present these cases in which I have used them, in order to bring the question before you to learn from your own personal experiences.

If we are to cure asthma cases, to the point of being convinced that their treatment will have to be over a long period of time, long enough to successfully cure, together with the asthmatic condition, the more chronic constitutional disease that forms and gives shape, mentally and physically, to his whole being without which he will never be cured of his asthma or ever will be able to enjoy complete health. The most proper time to institute this constitutional treatment will be the apparently healthy intervals between the attacks, when the patient usually fails even to report to the doctor because of his feeling better. How long that period of time will be, it is hard to predetermine; bit it will surely be in direct proportion to the patients cooperation.

Dr.E.GARCIA TREVINO (MD)
(Hahnemannian Gleanings-FEB, 1982).

Frequently in adult years, the asthmatic will fine that an attack subsides when he bursts into tears - real weeping - for he has managed to achieve a form of emotional release which most grown ups take a good deal of trouble to suppress. It is noticeable too that asthmatic children cry less than the average of their years. Asthma may be a substitute for weeping.