 |
| tumour in the os uterus |
– BENERJEE.P
Mrs.-; age 33; mother of three daughters, and the age of the youngest was 7 years. All the three daughters were born at intervals of two years each and the patient had not conceived for 7 years at a stretch after the birth of the youngest daughter. The present troubles were:-Pain in the piles and profuse bleeding, and a tumor in the os uterus.
This is the history of the case-“I was first pregnant at 19, and before that I was in pretty good health. All my troubles commenced from after the birth of my first daughter. I menstruated after 7 months of the birth of my first daughter, and I remember what a painful menstruation it was! I was treated allopathically, and it was after three days of that treatment that there was some relief of the very agonising pain that attended the menstruation. There was no discharge,-only some spots in the linen. The pain was simply agonising; it was a cutting, stitching and pricking pain, and there was violent shivering. However, at the next course too, the same painful process was repeated with a similar absence of discharge. The same doctor was called in this time too, and he prescribed some medicine and hot fomentation. But there was no relief, or more correctly, the relief this time was much less than at the first occasion. The third course was also like the first and the second-or perhaps severer, and two patent medicines were prescribed this time. When, however, there was no benefit from these, even after 3 or 4 months, I was placed under the treatment of a reputed specialist. I continued to be under the treatment of this specialist for 8 long months, but there was practically no relief of my sufferings, except that the discharge only had increased slightly. This treatment was then abandoned and Ayurvedic treatment resorted to. Then Allopathic treatment again when there was no improvement from Ayurvedic treatment. And it was about this time that I became pregnant for the second time. The second daughter was born, and then re-appeared all the troubles of menstruation from the sixth month of delivery. But with these troubles, there was a new trouble now. It was piles. I never knew what piles was, because no body in my father’s family had it nor had I ever seen anybody suffering from it. However, during the period intervening between the two menstruations, I began to have additional troubles from piles. There was severe pain and some discharge of blood too. The menstrual discharge almost stopped, while the menstrual pain continued.
It was about this time that my father, who came to see me, proposed to my husband a regular course of treatment in the hospital. I am unable to say what tremendous troubles and expenditures have been borne by my husband, on my account. However, I was kept in the hospital for six long months, and was treated allopathically in all possible ways, but all for nothing. And when nothing cured me, I was sent to Waltair for a change. There was, of course, some physical improvement from this change, and I became pregnant for the third time, so that I could not judge if the change had done me any benefit in respect of my menstrual troubles. However, the third daughter was born, and I menstruated eight months after her birth. All the troubles of menstruation were there, but, it seemed to me that the severity of the troubles was not so great. It might be that I was not feeling the troubles so severely, having been used to them for such a long period of time. All the doctors whom I had consulted so far, advised me that no treatment should be undergone for piles, because it was a disease that was never cured, and there was no other help than to suffer from it quietly. But I could not pursuade myself to believe that a disease was there without a remedy.
However, I continued without any medicine for some time, because there was no improvement from any treatment, and because having been used to my sufferings for such a long period of time, I was bearing up with them comparatively better than before.
I was, however, re-examined by the specialist who had treated me at the beginning, and was told “You have got a tumour in the os uterus, and it has to be scraped”. I seemed to understand what exactly was meant by scraping, and I could not venture on it, because, about this time, I was having fever almost daily, and was growing weaker and weaker. At last, I heard that tumours are often cured without scraping or operation, by internal use of Homœopathic medicines. I then placed myself under the treatment of two of the leading Homœopaths of Calcutta. I have been under their treatment for seven months, but, as there has been no improvement yet, and as I feel there is no prospect of any improvement, I have been coming to you.”
This was the history of the case, and no doubt it was a difficult case too, and it was with a deal of hesitation that I registered it and recorded the symptoms.
Symptoms:-
“Slight fever every evening. Want of taste in the mouth. Everything eaten seems tasteless, and there is no craving for any kind of food. The fever has been continuing practically for about a year and a half, but it has been so regular for the last 3 or 4 months only; it lasts for an hour or so. There is a creeping chilliness, and then there is remission with a slight perspiration. And then there is a severe prostration. The pain in the lower addomen is continuing, only that it is a bit less severe, and that is all. It is a pricking, stitching pain, relieved by pressure and heat. But again, there is such a pain in the abdomen at times, that even the slightest touch is not tolerated. At night, I have often to walk about on account of this abdominal pain. I then begin to think that my husband is being put to all sorts of expenses and various family discomforts on my account only and it is therefore better to put an end to my life, but I am gradually overpowered by a fear of death. And thus the inclination for suicide comes to nothing. However, while walking about in the open, I begin to feel better, and as a matter of fact, I have a preference for open air, but I am afraid of having much of it, for fear of catching cold. I cover up my person carefully and sit in the open air, as I seem to refuse to enter the bed room. Though there is no particular hour for the onset or aggravation of the abdominal pain, it is, however, decidedly clear that I feel worst in the night. As a matter of fact, I am afraid of the approach of night. There is vertigo, and it is worst from bending the head to the left. There is another very peculiar symptom, which I cannot quite express. It is this. In the evening, or at night, or after some close thinking, I feel that all the blood in the system is rushing up towards the head. It is a most wretched sensation, and I cannot explain it fully. Fortunately, however, it is very transient. There is a slight perspiration on the forehead soon after this, and I then gradually recover from the fit.”
From enquiries made from the husband, it transpired that the patient’s temper was quite genial before the decline of her health, but she had grown almost intolerably irritable for the last 4 or 5 years. She was morose beyond all expression, and did not want to take any medicine, and was used to talk about death,-“It is better for me to die” and so on. In the ear, there was a very fetid running, and the breath also seemed to be equally fetid.
“The piles are very very painful, and the pain is worse from touch. It is a stitching pain, and the slightest touch brings on a flow of blood and watery discharge. When the piles are worst, I have to pass the night very carefully, lest the touch of the bed should aggravate the pain and the bleeding. Application of heat on piles seems to give some relief. But when the pain is most severe, I feel even better from open air, than from application of heat, or from lying down on the bed. I do not feel any decided change in my condition in the different seasons, but it may be that I am generally worse during the rains or immediately after it. These are my present symptoms in brief.”
The first dose prescribed was, Aurum Met. 1000 on 26. 6. 17. , and one placebo every morning. Instructed to report after 15 days.
9. 7. 17. No change. Aurum Met. 1000, another dose.
23. 7. 17. No change. Thuja 1000, one dose only and instructed for a report after 15 days.
30. 7. 17. Information was received after 6 days that the patient was having comparatively better sleep. Some placebo and instruction for a report after a fortnight.
PAGE 342
14. 8. 17. Feeling better gradually. Appetite also seemed to be improving. But mentally, she was even more morose and despondent. Aurum Met. 10m one dose only and sufficient placebo for a month.
10. 9. 17. The patient was worse; all her troubles were severer, but no fever for the last 4 or 5 days. Placebo for another month.
8. 10. 17. The abdominal pain had almost disappeared; much better in other respects too. Placebo for another month.
10.11. 17. The running of the ear had much increased and the menstrual flow appeared. The discharge was not very meagre, but it was attended with some pain in the addomen. Placebo.
11.12. 17. Much better in all respects. Placebo.
19.12. 17. Plenty of menstrual discharge, but the tumour was yet as hard as before though the pain was totally gone. The troubles of piles also had disappeared, and there was some improvement also in the physical appearance of the patient. She looked comparatively healthier.
3. 1. 18. The tumour was painful again and some condylomatous growths appeared here and there on the body. Placebo.
24. 1. 18. Menstrual discharge again, but not very sufficient, and the tumour was yet almost as painful as before. Aurum Met-c. m., one dose, and placebo for 2 months.
After three months, all troubles-the tumour, the running of the ear, the addominal pain etc.-disappeared, and the menstrual discharge became regular. The body was however, now covered with a lot of condylomata. Two doses of Thuja 1000 were given at an interval of one month and the lady was completely cured.
Remarks:-(1) It is a highly interesting case. Though there was no history of any miasmatic infection, the symptoms unmistakably pointed to all the three of them with predominance of Sycosis.
(2) The superficial physical symptoms would put one in mind of Magnesia Phos., but a selection of that would have been wrong, because, in chronic cases, it is the mental symptoms that should lead the selection. Besides, Magnesia Phos. is not so deep acting as to produce tumours. It may, however, be possible that Magnesia Phos., if given in the beginning of the patient’s troubles, would have stopped the subsequent developments and the formation of the tumour.
(3) The patient must have acquired Sycosis and Syphilis from her husband, because, her troubles dated from her first pregnancy.
(4) There was no response until Thuja was given, certainly because Sycosis was predominant. But Thuja was not repeated, as it did not correspond to the case, while Aurum Met. did. The use of Thuja was like the use of Sulphur in acute cases. The report of 14. 8. 17, namely that “Mentally she was more morose and despondent”-indicated that it was Aurum Met. and not Thuja that was being called for.
(5) The modalities in respect of the “bodily locals” and the “generals” of the patient were different in this case. The patient had a craving for cold and open air, but the piles were better from heat. And, as the “general” symptoms are always more important than the “local symptoms”, the general symptoms were taken into account and Aur. Met. selected, and this cured the piles too. If the patient had even some more local symptoms besides piles, then those too would have been cured by Aurum Met., as Aurum Met. was the medicine for the whole personality of the patient-and not for any particular manifestation of that personality in the shape of any symptom in any particular locality of her body. Aurum was the medicine for the patient and not for any disease. It was the medicine for the sick person and not for the sickness.
(6) In cases, in which the chosen remedy does not act unless some other remedy (e. g., Thuja in this case) is interpolated, the remedy interpolated, should be allowed sufficient time to act. The time, when this will have to be stopped and the selected remedy repeated, will have to be ascertained by a study of the mental condition of the patient. As soon as the mental condition of the patient (after the use of the remedy interpolated) points to the selected remedy even more clearly than it did at the first prescription, the time for a fresh dose of the selected remedy will be considered to have come.