Trauma
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 Jan / Feb VOL VII NO 1.
Dr F M Kulay
'Phos / Arn

Case 1: Rishab Jain, 3 years old.
On 30/9/97, his mother put the geyser on and went into the kitchen, forgetting the smoke-emitting geyser. This boy playfully went under it; burnt his left side of the face, chest and back.

A member of the child's family was under my treatment. She coaxed them to bring him to me. And he came within 30 minutes of the episode. Babita, who got him obliged me in yet anothe way. she mixed, as advised, some drops of Canth in a bowl of milk cream and gently applied it all over the affected areas. Result? No blisters. He was all right in six days with a dose of this or that remedy [esp Phos 1M once.] My reward! He would go back home, and say, "Doctor is dirty, he smokes"
In 1963, a child of about 8 years had sever burn injuries by turning a bucket of boiling water on himself while playing in the open space in which wate rwas being boiled in a large vessel. He was afflicted on the whole of the left side from the shoulder down to the foot. This was the first time that I mixed cantharis in a bowl of milk cream and it worked. So using the hunch in Rishab's case, I am happy because it worked. In a casual converstion with an eminent practitioner, when I told him of this, I didn't know he would take note of it. Later on he frankly said that he "learnt" the use of milk cream. I felt good. 

But why Phos? - Inimical to caust, though not a remedy with laurels for burns. The child was, or so appeared to me, to be a phosphorous. active, sympathetic and a few other obervations of Phos symptoms, therefore, in between cantharis 200, a dose of Phos 1M was pushed in . I had a fear when I first saw him that not only his left face , chest and back may need plastic surgery, but that he might lose the left ey.e On the 6th day, it was difficult to believe he ever had such severe burn injuries.

Case 2: Traumatic cases, however grievous, are, nevertheless, results of accidents, not of disease-states, and usually can be controlled by oral medication to the surprise of all. A young girl had her left ankle damaged in a rickshaw accident; was brought to me. She came in limping; the pain writ large on her face. a severe open, bleeding wound, already dressed by an expert surgeon. Arnica 200, two doses [for the wound] and Aconite 200 two doses for the shock , given in alternation, four hourly, and the next day, she was much better, though the limping continued. Some more prescriptions and she was all right in a few days. The point made here is not to emphasise one' s prescribing ability , which amounts to fine art when dealing with disease states, but to highlight the efficacy of the trauma-drugs in the Homoeopathic repertoire.

Once, my wife's brother's son was in my house with his paternal aunt. The child fell, got hurt on the forehead and had a 'loud' haematoma ie one that was easily noticeable. The two sisters were alarmed because thier brother's wife would atleast inwardly accuse them of neglect. A dose of Arnica 200 left no trace of it after two or three hours, and both had a glint in their eyes of thankfulness to me, instead of to Arnica.

Dr Sarabhai Kapadia has reported a few cases in his Homoeopathic reminiscences. given below are 4 short cases:
1] a young healthy athlete developed morning fever, going down in heath diagnosed TB.
i] not well since last monsoon
ii]In the previous winter, he allowed his chest hammered in a competition of physical display. Since then health began to worsen.
Prescription : Ruta and >>> rounded off by Bacil 

2] A boy of four head hurt by a stone causing an open wound. not properly stitched, inflammation and suppuration set in, inspite of Arnica and Calendula. Drugs such as Hep s , Sil, Merc sol would help temporarily but suppurative process would recur. Symphytum helped for a longer period, but there was pus formation again. Finally Ruta helped. 

3] After a kick by a horse 10-12 years ago on the calf-muscle, a suppurating sinus developed. Bellis Perennis cured. 

4] Dr Margaret Tyler cured a case of Necrosis of hte Lower jaw 'after an accident' by Symphytum, when Sil, Tub, had failed.
Therapeutics of post-trauma complaints [pain, swelling, haematoma], deeper traumatic consequences [internal haemorrages], head injury threatening cerebral/neurological complications, nerve-injuries, injuries to bones, joints, tendons etc constitute a very special forte of Hom. Even emergency surgeries have been averted. Silica is well known for helping to eject a foreign body from within a part. In one case, a thorn peice near the heart, causing occasional bouts of severe pain and threatening a major surgical itervention came out through the pus of a small boil on the chest formed after Antim curd 200 , prescribed ont eh basis of a callosity on the affected area of the chest. [This was a non practising friend's case, reported by me through Medicina Futura Homoeopahtica. Vol 7 No 2 [Oct 96] 

It is a pity that this extraordinary field of Hom marvels should remain so little known. even the miracles conjured up by Arnica alone should be sufficient to make any non-hom curious, and to attract him to this subject. Yet, hom has been characterised variously, often derogatorily: it is a total failure in acutes. It is good only in non-surgical chronic cases. it has no medicinal efficacy, yet it works by psychological impress. It cannot help in toxicological and surgical cases. all this is painful to encounter, but who is responsible for such prevalent views? Emphatically, we. We, who know a few remedies useful in acutes, af ew deep acting ones a bit of repertorising. Our failures rightly overshadow the greatness of Hom. Have you ever heard someone prescribing Calc flur 1M, 6 times a day, Intermnably/ I have. Recently, a patient revealed this to me, who had been under a senior homoeopath for seven years for arthiritic complaints. During the long period, the duo became freindly, and in the last 4-5 months, the prescriptions were "announced" on the wire: CF 200 , 6 times daily, next NM 1M/1 dose daily, then NS 1M/4 times a day, and last CF 1M, 6 doses per day, roughly each taken for a month until he saw me, and made these revelations. Such repetitions are called for sometimes, yes: but these were rewardless repetitions.

Back to the Homoeopathic forte in the field of Trauma, from the minor to the most serious cases. Dr Dorothy Shepherd witnessed the incredible results of Homoeopathic remdies during the first world war, with soldiers arriving like Chirapunji rains, became a Homoeopath. First she wrote a booklet on Homoepathy in first-aid. The titles of her next books reveal her excitemetn, for books in medicine, engineering, law etc do not bear peotical names "Magic of the Minimum Dose"- and ,MORE magic of the minimum dose."

MERA BHARAT MAHAN -All Indians seem to be too great to know, let alone acknowledge, another, who is greater. Graham Greene [England] used to keep everything aside to read R.K. Narayan as soon as a book of his arrived. A galaxy of great Homoeopaths of India,however , has gone unnoticed, except that some of their disciples extol their virtues from time to time. 

After "Homoeopathy for the first-aider" [Dr Shepherd] a few articles [to my knowledge] adorned the pinkish horizons of knowledge and experience at seminars and conferences. It was, it seems, left to Dr D Lakshminarayanan to bequethe to posterity his "Homoeopathic Therapeutics in Traumatic Diseases and their sequelac" shortly named: TRAUMA. 

Years ago, a man had his first phalange of some finger chopped off while working on some machine. Rushed to a hospital, had dressing done, and came to me. Two days passed after Arnica and other traumatic remedies. Then, shyly, he disclosed that it pains in the lost phalange, ie pain IN what is NOT there - amputatED. A few doses of Allium Cepa 200 relieved him [Also see Hyp, Phos-ac, Symph.] 

A few years later, a young boy on a motor bike collided with a truck, had his left leg injured -multiple fractures - the leg amputated from the knee. He complained of the pain in the calf, dorsum of the foot, toes which were not there. He revealed this shyly because he feared that the doctor will laugh at his childishness. A few doses of Allium Cepa 200 releived him completely. Pain the the amputated limb, therefore, has always meant to me pain in what is non-existent, pain in the part that is no more there. There were a few such cases over the years, but I fail to recall them.