Sir, Do You Prescribe Rare Remedies?

An inquisitive student was asking me this question, as a part of an interview she was conducting before joining my clinic as a learner. That’s a very common experience now days. I remember, not more than 10 years back when I had just passed out, me and my colleagues were interested in learning whatever the physician could teach us from his busy clinic hours, but today’s learners are quite selective, and they have to be! They are much more oriented and aware about homeopathic schools, methods and techniques than what we were even after couple of years of practice.

But what exactly are RARE remedies?

Dictionary gives the meaning of the word ‘Rare’ as – ‘Not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness’ or ‘recurring only at long intervals’. If I try to apply these definitions to homeopathic practice, I find each and every homeopath has got his own repertoire of medicines that he plays with. To give an example, it might be surprising for most of you but, I have yet not prescribed Thuja, Ambra Grisea, Palladium or Medorrhinum in last 10 years of practice as a constitutional remedy. For me these are rare remedies.

The point I want to put forth here is – do we talk about rare remedies for the faculty of homeopaths or for the individual ? I think what counts the most is the later. And I thoroughly would like to prescribe rare remedies, the remedies that have been prescribed rarely by me till now, due to my ignorance and lack of knowledge about them. It takes some hard case that makes me to solve it in the learnt protocols, to find some odd remedy emerging from the process, leading to a rare remedy prescription.

I have met my colleagues who have prescribed more ‘calcarea silcatas’ than ‘pulsatillas’. I have yet to unfold the mystery behind numerous remedial forces, by rising against my blocks. Yet to discover the scope of known remedies in its true sense.

Thus, my dear student (?), YES, I would like to prescribe rare remedies. Will you help me to reach them by questioning my prescriptions ? Would you like to be my teacher ?

Dealing With Cancer Through Homeopathy

INTRODUCTION:

Cancer has reached almost every household in today’s era of lack of exercise, healthy food habits, addictions, stress and moral famine. The overall treatment options available in the medical ‘market’ outside provide pain more than the relief. Various kinds of surgeries, radiations and newer chemotherapy drugs are posing threat to the ‘quality of life’ of an individual, in their own ways and methods. Apart from the treatment options, the patient is getting bogged down by the battery of investigations and imaging requisitions, often without assessing the case clinically. The pain of cancer has thus extended, from mere physical or emotional sphere, to moral and financial downfall. The patient is getting exhausted and emptied in all sense, and what s/he gets in return? Nothing but a different form of suffering. Is there anything that we as homeopaths can offer?

Most of the patients we meet at our clinics are already in an advanced stage of cancer, or have already undergone a couple of cycles of chemotherapy for the respective malignancy. They pose three significant questions to a homeopath:

1. Do you offer anything for cancer, and if yes, what is its scope?

2. Is it safe to take homeopathy simultaneously with chemotherapy? Won’t that affect the efficacy of either of them?

3. Can you prescribe anything on the preventive basis for the patient to avoid the recurrence or to the rest of the family?

We will try to discuss all such issues…

I have heard a lot of claims by the eminent homeopaths of my city to CURE the cancer, but I think let’s not cheat patients and homeopathy. I do not doubt the efficacy of homeopathy, but if we make such claims without statistically and objectively proving it, the medical faculty will obviously accuse us for mis-guiding the patients, in turn diluting the faith of the public towards our system.

Apart from its effect against the malignant growth, I have seen homeopathy doing wonders by -

1. Dealing with the mental trauma that the cancer diagnosis causes, with further depression and hopeless mental state.

2. Reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy, especially in cases of CINV (chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting).

3. Relieving the pains in the terminal cancer cases.

The shock and the aftermath:

It is very common to have a patient in a mental state of shock and its aftereffects after being diagnosed of a cancer. There is a strong sense of approaching death leading to a mixed feeling state of fear, despair, hopelessness and sadness. Within no time, you suddenly shift to a permanently unhealthy state never to return back to your original health. The strong feeling of ‘why me?’ haunts the patient day and night, leading to a sense of guilt within.

ARNICA is the best remedy for such a mental shock, and I have used it often to relieve the state of sudden blow, when the patient least expected the diagnosis. There is a strong sense of being good for nothing in such patient, with a morose and hopeless feeling along with great apathy.

An ARSENIC ALB patient will be in a state of anguish with marked restlessness with fear of approaching death. The restlessness gets aggravated at night keeping the patient awake. Oversensitive mind with great melancholy and despair of recovery. Gets irritated at trifles, especially over untidiness around.

A patient needing ACID PHOS would be sitting quiet, with unwillingness to talk or discuss his health status. There is a strong apathy and indifference with strong reluctance to answer the questions. Hopeless state with a dread of anticipated crisis or death. There is a weeping mood at least stimuli.

ACONITE will be called in if the patient is in agonizing frightful anxious state with strong sense of death. He screams with fear and is afraid to get out of the house. It is a situation of emergency due to the state of panic and terror. There is a strong nervous state with typical prediction of death.

I have also seen remedies like SEPIA and AURUM MET working excellent to lift the mood of the patient from the sad and indifferent state. I also use certain Bach flower remedies like Aspen, Rock Rose, Wild Rose, Gorse, White Chestnut, or Rescue Remedy to relieve the acute panic and hopelessness.

CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED NAUSEA AND VOMITING:

Chemotherapy-induced nausea vomiting can negatively affect the quality of life, making it hard for the patient to function in a normal manner on daily chores, often making him to consider stopping the chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment cycles. Almost 50-60% of the patient experience severe nausea and vomiting and rank it as the most disturbing side effect of the cancer therapy.

Along with remedial measures, the patient should follow a pattern of small and frequent meals. A dry toast or crackers can relieve the nausea. One should drink plenty of fluids throughout the day and avoid eating spicy and oily stuff.

Among the top-rated remedies for CINV, I have used – IPECAC, ARSENIC ALB, VERATRUM ALBUM, RADIUM BROM and COLCHICUM.

In case of colchicum, I have often found patient craving for aerated drinks [pepsi or coke] and alcohol [which obviously should not be provided]. There is a strong nauseating feeling on slightest smell of food. Patient craves a specific food but when offered, the smell gives rise to nausea, preventing him to enjoy or relish that.

The RADIUM BROM patient shows a strong feeling of nausea that is better by eating, just like in case of SEPIA; while the patient who needs VERAT ALB would complain of a strong nauseating feeling that is triggered by starting to eat, along with marked prostration.

THE PAIN RELIEF:

I often get patients that are in advanced or terminal stages, referred for the pain relief, especially due to the bone metastases. There is a severe bone pain that is relieved by nothing in particular. No specific position can relieve the pain and it gives rise to intense physical restlessness.

I had used various remedies for this bone pain – including ARNICA, RUTA, EUPATORIUM and RHUS TOX; but the most significant relief has been achieved with the administration of SYMPHYTUM in a mother tincture form.

Conclusion:

Homeopathy has much to offer in cases of cancer, apart from treating the malignant growth. A patient or his family would often enquire about the role we as homeopaths can play in the overall treatment process; and we need to be clear within ourselves about our scope.

Utility of Phatak's Repertory in Acute Prescribing

INTRODUCTION:

Acute prescribing as always posed hurdles for a neo-homeopath, who is trying his luck (!) in this wonderful healing system. Such difficult situations often present to you right since you take admission in a medical school. Relatives, neighbors, friends and foes meet you to seek relief from their cough, cold, diarrhea or headaches. Not knowing the process, one can find lost in the jumble of remedies, and can lose the confidence in oneself, unreasonably.

Fortunately, books and repertories do come to our rescue. Yet the representation, the volumes and the philosophy can make someone sick. To help us from such drastic situations, PHATAK’S REPERTORY can present to us as a helping hand, a true friend in need and a valuable guide during acute prescription.

REPERTORY CONSTRUCTION:

The repertory is primarily based on the BOGER’S SYNOPTIC KEY, and functions on the same philosophy. The most important feature of the repertory is its alphabetical arrangement of the rubrics, thus making it the easiest way to find our desired destination. Another unique feature is the inclusion of Indian food items, thus one can identify with the picture presented by the patient in a more refined manner.

There is a mythological tale from ‘Ramayana’ about lady Shabari. She tasted each and every berry, to be sure that it is sweet in taste, before presenting it to Lord Ram. Dr Phatak has done the same thing for us. He has confirmed, tested and clinically proven each and every rubric and remedy before including it to his repertory. Thus the inclusion has either come from his own case experiences and clinical observation or if it has been strongly justified by masters like Kent, Boger or Clark. Thus it is a time-tested repertory.

PRESCRIBING PHILOSOPHY:

Dr Phatak stressed on giving importance first to the modalities – in that too the causative modalities, followed by the time modalities and later the postural ones. It is often shared by his students that he used to make his patients try various postures to check the postural modification to the symptoms. Further, his repertory has followed the concept of ‘generalization’ and thus if you can’t find a symptom at the ‘particular’ level, you can generalize it to find a suitable remedy.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES:

1. A case of an IT professional focusing on time modality

An IT professional, working in a reputed software company, consulted for the complaint of severe headache which was a part of an acute exacerbation of chronic sinusitis. His eyes were red, nose was congested and he complained of severe throbbing headache in frontal region.

Obviously I prescribed BELLADONNA, which did not relieve him at all in 24 hours. He came the next day with same symptoms, but this time the anxiety had increased. Actually he had to appear for the interview for US VISA a couple of days later and was worried about his sick appearance. Those were the days when ‘swine flu’ cases were at their peak, and he felt the red eyes and the nose will make the embassy officials worried about his health status, and it would affect his visa probability.

On further questioning about any specific time modality, he added that the headache peculiarly starts at around 10:00 am and lasts till 4:00 pm. It was a characteristic time modality.

I referred Phatak’s repertory:

Time, agg and amel - forenoon - 10 am agg - to 3 pm agg

Head - Pain - Throbbing or pulsating

Just two doses of NATRUM MUR 200 at 12 hrs interval were enough to relieve him off his entire symptomatology. He was quite healthy and fresh for his interview and is currently in the US.

2. A case of pulmonary hypertension

Mr DVK, a 66 yrs old man, was an old associate of mine. He was working as a public relation officer of the same hospital where I had done my internship. We knew each other since long time. He had seen my practice since its beginning and used to consult me for seasonal coughs and colds, whenever required.

It was last year’s august, when his wife called me for consultation. DVK had been admitted in ICU of our hospital with an acute exacerbation of pulmonary hypertension. His condition was quite critical since it was difficult to stabilize his oxygen saturation without external life supports. His treating physician did not believe in homeopathy and was thus not allowing adjunct medication. Finally DVK’s wife asked me to prescribe on the picture given by her.

DVK had become quite restless since the attack. He was constantly restless and had not slept calmly since was in ICU. It was difficult for him to lie down and the only position that was comfortable for him was a propped-up posture, keeping three-four pillows below his head. There was a marked loss of thirst since the attack.

I used the facility of diagnostic / clinical rubrics in the Phatak’s repertory:

Chest and lungs - edema pulmonary

Thirstless, aversion to water

Lying, head high, with amel

Restlessness anxious

Both ARS and ANTIM TART came strongly as the remedies covering the totality. A synthetic prescription was done with - ANTIM ARS 200 [since had a characteristic symptom totality with mental concomitant] to be given four times a day.

Within two days of starting homeopathic medication, his oxygen saturation started stabilizing like never before, his restlessness subsided and he was taken off ICU within the same week.

3. A baby with constipation

A three month old baby was brought with complaints of severe difficulty in passing the stools, although soft in nature. The complaint had started since the child was shifted to ‘Lactogen’ an artificially formulated milk, since the mother was unable to feed the child due to her long working hours. The child used to cry a lot while passing motions, which were surprisingly never hard in nature.

Along with the gastric complaints, the child was seen moaning constantly even while playing with the dolls in my consulting room. When asked about it, mother said , “he moans constantly even during sleep or while playing. There is no fixed reason behind the moaning, it just goes on almost as a background music. We have got used to it now!”

I searched Phatak’s repertory:

Constipation - infants of - bottle-fed, artificial food

Constipation - stool difficult from - though soft

Moaning, groaning - involuntary

Moaning, groaning - continuous

As indicated by the reportorial result, ALUMINA was prescribed in 200 potency to be given once a week. Within the first dose the moaning stopped and the child started passing stools comfortably. The dose was repeated in the next week, as well to complete the curative action.

The availability of a particular rubric “Constipation in bottle-fed, artificial food-fed children” was the key to the case solution, which was the highlight of the repertory. Most of the times, it is said that Phatak’s repertory does not represent particular symptoms well, but this case was an eye-opener. One must know where to find!

CONCLUSION:

If any one asks me to pick one repertory for the entire life left for me, I would certainly pick Phatak’s repertory. I have found it as the best guide while I was a beginner. Even today, after completing a decade of homeopathic practice, I find it as helpful as it was on the first day in resolving acute as well as chronic prescriptions, especially at the bedside.

It is easy to carry, easy to find rubrics due to the alphabetical representation and once you get accustomed with its language, it becomes your key-tool in resolving any kind of case that presents to you.

Dr Phatak has included each and every rubric and the representing remedies after confirming from the results in clinical practice. The use of this repertory has given me wonderful results, which have confirmed his observations and inclusions. Thus the circle is complete!!

Diagnosing Autism – Tests and Challenges

The earlier you diagnose, the faster you can start the specific line of treatment – is a universal thought process adhered to by the medical faculty around the globe. For an ailment like autism spectrum disorders [ASD], coming to a confirmatory diagnosis poses lot many problems and challenges that it at times becomes too difficult to diagnose it in time. Here, we will discuss the various aspects of diagnosing an autism spectrum disorders.

The first challenge that we face in doing so is the lack of any kind of medical test to confirm the autistic disorder. You just can’t pull blood from all children at birth and test them genetically. The diagnosis is predominantly based on the observations about the development and behavioral traits of a child, thus it becomes impossible to detect such ailment before the child attains a specific age that is more than 18 years. The reason being there has been a lot of physiological variation that one can expect in the usual or normal development of a child. Developmental delay has been a common occurrence, and is not known to cause any major obstacle in the overall growth of the child – mentally, physically or otherwise. Thus, just because a child does not start communicating till 1 year of age, may not be autism in making.

Yet another problem faced by the pediatricians is the lack of awareness in the parental community about autistic disorders – especially regarding the various forms of it. Autism is still considered an equivalent or just another form of mental retardation by most of the people. Thus if a child fails to communicate, or keep an eye contact, it will not be reported to the pediatrician immediately, thinking it just a part of slow speech development. When the child does not take interest in social interactions, it can be mis-understood as a moodiness or shyness, instead of looking at it as a possible autistic trait. Denial also plays a significant role, thus rejecting the possibility, even if the awareness about autistic traits is made.

To avoid this, every child should be screened for developmental delays and disabilities at regular intervals of 9 months, 18 months and 24-30 months of their age. Additional visits can be arranged if the child shows some traits other than the normal ones. The children who give a history of preterm birth, or low birth weight, or having a sibling with an ASD should be screened more thoroughly and frequently, including an educational session with the parents or guardians or care-takers to understand what to expect, and what not.

The child can be further directed to comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, if shows positive signs of any traits characterizing ASDs. It can be done by developmental pediatricians, child neurologists and finally child psychologists, for refined problem definition and management planning.

To conclude, I would repeat the motto – earlier we define the problem, healthier we can resolve it.

Homeopathic Cure for Canine Epilepsy

Pets are among the most favorite subjects for any pet owner, and if your pet suffers with convulsions or epilepsy, it is a quite distressing experience. There can be increased salivation, tonic clonic spasms, involuntary howling and in few cases listless state remaining for long time, with a strange look in the eyes. Being sensitive souls, dogs can anticipate the attack much earlier and get restless. Those who have witnessed these attacks would only know how scary the situation can be.

A seizure is nothing but an uncontrollable muscle activity caused by an abnormal upswing in the nervous activities from the brain. A seizure can be an individual incidence, while epilepsy is a term to indicate the recurring pattern of getting seizures, a habitual or chronic state. Seizures themselves are never life-threatening, except if the dog hurts himself badly during the fit of convulsion, by hitting to some object. The sustained seizure activity, often called as status epilepticus, can prove fatal at times, since it hampers the brain function for the significant time.

The causes for getting seizures in dogs are numerous. The potential factors include various kinds of infections – like distemper, toxoplasmosis, cryptococcosis; hydrocephalus; various kinds of tumors or growths within or around the brain; hypoglycemia; low levels of calcium; insecticide ingestion or idiopathic, where there is no firm cause identifiable for the seizure occurrence.

As regards the management of the seizures in dogs by homeopathic treatment, one needs to take a comprehensive history and base the prescription on the available totality. The pattern can be treated with a well-selected deep acting remedy, while the acute attacks can be prevented or curbed with a acute presentation remedy, selected as per the symptomatology. Let us see some cases to explain this in detail:

Dinky, a female Labrador, used to get tonic clonic seizures especially around the new moon. The attack used to start with the lower limbs, ascending to the abdomen and followed by loss of consciousness with foaming at the mouth. Left sided predominance was noted by her owner. The frequency was almost once in 10 days. Few doses of Cuprum met 200 given on weekly basis stopped the activity within a couple of months. The treatment commenced with a dose of Tuberculinum 1M [as a miasmatic remedy].

Browney, another Labrador female, used to get seizures just with foaming at mouth and a loss of consciousness. The presentation had a slow insidious pace with most of the episodes starting towards the evening. The frequency of attacks was irregular, from an attack within a week to an attack in 4 months. The dog used to stop drinking water almost since morning, whenever she got an attack. She also showed strong fear of other dogs, especially the male ones. Pulsatilla 1M prescribed after every attack cured the dog from the epileptic ailment within a year’s time.

Advantages of homeopathy:

The biggest advantage is the curative action – and not just controlling the attacks as done by the usual anti-epileptic drugs [AEDs] prescribed by the vet. It also keeps the dog in an active state, unlike those treated with AEDs, who show a dampened activity due to the effect of the drug. Homeopathic treatment, since based on the constitutional features, also helps the dog to get relieved of the concomitant ailments or behavioural problems.

After experiencing the wonderful effects of homeopathic remedies, I would certainly recommend it in the treatment of epilepsy in dogs.

Autism cure with homeopathy

Introduced by Dr Leo Kanner of the John Hopkins, in 1943, autistic spectrum disorders include a group of disorders including autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder. These disorders are characterized by varying degree of impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive or stereo-typed patterns of behavior. A lot of research is ongoing to find any kind of therapeutic measure for autism, but there has not been any significant option available. On the contrary, homeopathy does play effective therapeutic role in its treatment. Let me demonstrate this with a case example.

Nimish [name changed], a 8 yrs old boy diagnosed with mild autism with Asperger’s syndrome, presented with complaints of spells of hyperactivity and excitement, where he used to cry or laugh aloud on trivial stimulations. He had a habit of rocking himself constantly and aimlessly playing with his fingers [a common autistic feature]. He could follow complex commands easily and could convey his needs in short sentences; but he could not reproduce or rehearse a small story told just a few minutes back. His attention span was noted to be very less – except for the film songs. The psychometric assessment had also mentioned about a global developmental delay [by six months] with slow writing and ill-defined handwriting. His IQ was 60+. He could not button his shirt properly but could put on the socks easily. He was toilet-trained – but in spite of that used to get nocturnal enuresis once or twice a week.

On emotional plane, he showed a severe violent behavior when contradicted or teased by anybody. He used to throw whatever he could hold on to, and had even bitten one of his friends in such fit of anger. He showed strong fear of heights, and he liked rhythm a lot. He could dance all day on the film songs [as mentioned earlier, the attention span too was significantly better with respect to the songs].

Physically – nimish is ambithermal to hot, has aversion to sweets and sweats a bit more on scalp.

The case was referred to homeopathy by the treating pediatrician, with a doubt about the exact outcome especially with the pathology in mind. The prescribing totality was:

· Anger – violent

· Anger – contradiction intolerant of

· Anger – rage

· Music – sensitive to, rhythmic

· Music - ameliorates

· Fear of heights

· Concentration – difficult

· Involuntary movements

First prescription: [27 October 2009]:

Tarentula hisp 200 twice daily x 1 month

Follow ups:

Nimish visited his grandmother in Bangalore after the first visit, and due to some unavoidable circumstances had to stay there for next four months. His grandmother called in between reporting “slight improvement” and since no details were available from her, same medication regiment was continued for couple of months [Jan & Feb 2010].

19 March 2010:

Hyperactivity and violence has reduced a lot; Understanding has improved – could grasp the normal school he attended while at Bangalore; Now can button his shirt perfectly; Recollection of story and telling it later has improved – though makes some mistakes; Enuresis has stopped completely since Feb.

Rx: Tarentula H 200 BD x 1 month

08 June 2010: reported on phone from bangalore

Could not continue the medication for a couple of months. overall he has improved a lot. Even the neighbors can feel the difference. Recent psychometry showed his IQ in the range of 75-80.

Discussion:

There has been a lot of emphasis to understand various treatment options available in the complementary medicinal system, especially homeopathy for the autistic cases. This case clearly indicates how effectively homeopathy can deliver results in autism. I have also seen improvement in the eye-to-eye contact and social interaction in other cases, where it was the presenting complaint.

For the parents of autistic children, who are reading this article, please note that Tarentula was selected for Nimish as per the symptom similarity and thus may not help all autistic children. An individual assessment is necessary from a trained homeopath for a effective treatment.

Mental wellness of your pet

Though we may not see any of our pets smoking a cigar or sitting in a pub to relieve their mental stress, they do experience mental stress just like us. It can have some serious impacts on their lives, and eventually on ours as well. Here we will discuss the things that you can do to harbor a positive emotional stimulation in your pet on a daily basis, to promote mental wellness within your pet.

• When you bring a puppy home in his first few days on earth, do make sure that you desensitize him properly, to encourage social awareness in him. Most of the emotional traumas originate from the fear and anxiety experienced by the puppy in these tender days, due to unsocial treatments received.
• Just as exercise is must for us, it is for our pets as well. But don’t just restrict yourself with taking your dog for a morning walks; make some interesting changes in it – change the road, do jogging, play fetch-a-ball, at times make him run behind your pace-changing car… your dog should look ahead for what’s stored for him today. It will make you both happy by losing the monotony out of the daily walks.
• Your pet needs room to roam freely. A most of the times tied dog will always find it boring to spend his life within a tied-space.
• Though variety adds spice, the dogs love habits and pattern. Thus sticking to some pattern or routine will always keep their stress level to minimum. The exercise or the eating menu might change every day, but the timing should not.
• Maintain the instincts of your pet alive by designing some games like ‘hide and seek’.
• Let your pet know that you are the boss. Not maintaining the dominance hierarchy will only make the things worse.
• Have your pet neutered, since this will keep them less aggressive and frustrated, if not allowed to satisfy their sexual urges.
• If you are throwing a party at home, where you expect a lot of people visiting, keep your dog away from the crowd to avoid the stress of getting exposed to a lot many strangers at once.
• If you are planning to get a new pet, do take care of the stress-levels of the adult. A suitable Bach flower remedy combination [consisting of chicory, holly or vine] can help your pet to take the situation in much positive way.
• Give them fresh food and water.
• Last but not the least, spend enough time with them. Observe their skin, their legs for injury. Make a good touch with them, this will improve the bond between you and your pet, which will improve their health to a great level.

In spite of all this, if you find your pet having any emotional disturbance, take help of suitable Bach flower remedies.

Bach Flower Therapy in Obesity

Ishita worked for a software company and weighed 102 kg when she first reported to my clinic in 2008. Apart from the complaint of obesity, she also suffered with polycystic ovarian syndrome and hypothyroidism, both accentuating the weight-gain. She has had an excellent work record and was getting promoted on a regular basis. But due to the ever increasing weight, she could not sustain her physical stamina much and would fall into the pits of fatigue and depression quite often. The ovarian disharmony also posed a risk of infertility. She had tried all sorts of treatment options, including the liposuction, for getting rid of the extra weight. Finally somebody suggested her to try Bach flower therapy.

Bach flower therapy is a natural and thus holistic healing system that deals with regulating our emotional pattern by using flower essences. The modus operandi is to resolve the negative states prevailing in the mind by the administration of suitable remedies that can counteract those negative emotions. In other words, to provide a necessary positive quality, that can extinguish the negative mental state. For example, if a person lacks confidence in talking to a large group of people, and thus in spite of having necessary skills is not able to perform and grow professionally, a Bach flower remedy called Larch and Mimulus will help him to overcome those fears. Larch primarily provides self-confidence, while Mimulus deals with specific fears, in this case the fear of public appearance.

Thus you may have guessed it, there is no specific remedy for a particular disease, but one has to select the remedies as per the emotional state of the person regarding that ailment. If we are observant enough, the reactions of each and every person is unique and individualistic, let the stimulus be the same. For example, if a teacher scolds three students at the same time, not all will receive it the same. One may find it insulting to get reprimanded in front of all his peers, while the other might get frightened, or the third one will just ignore the scolding and will behave as if nothing went wrong. As per their individual sensitivity, they will receive the stimulus and naturally react to it accordingly. While selecting the medicine, one has to see the characteristic ‘receive-react pattern’ for that individual.

Coming to the case of Ishita, she had a very strong feeling of guilt added with inability to control when faced with sweets. She was prescribed Pine for the guilt and Cherry plum to gain the self-control. She was also treated with a suitable homeopathic constitutional remedy [calcarea carb]. Working together, it not only brought her thyroid levels to normal, but also made the ovarian cysts to regress. Her weight dropped to 88 kgs within a year, making her to find herself a new.

I can see a world-map on my tongue

Rohini, a television anchor and a news reader by profession, visited my clinic with a very strange complaint, she had never even heard about before. For the last few months, she was observing patchy white areas of yellowish white coat on her tongue. She first ignored it thinking it just due to the disturbed gastric schedule, but within a couple of months, she started getting burning or soreness in the tongue area on eating any citrus fruits like oranges or lemon. These areas were getting resolved spontaneously, but a new patch used to appear on the other region of the tongue, thus not letting the lesions resolve completely.

She had been to her local physician for the same, who first prescribed her local mouth wash, but instead of relieving the complaints, it aggravated the irritation further. She was then treated with antihistamines and topical steroids, without any significant improvement in the lesions. She was thus asked to continue a dose of multi-vitamin tablet, especially of b-complex vitamins.

Apart from the soreness, the major concern for Rohini was the dirty appearance of the tongue, which was prominently hampering her screen-image. She was once asked by the cameraman not to laugh with mouth wide open, since it made the appearance of the tongue much obvious. One of her friends then suggested her to take a homeopathic treatment and thus she came to me. Rohini suffered with what is called ‘Benign migratory glossitis’ or ‘Geographic tongue’.

Clinical features:

As the name suggests, the condition is benign [possessing very less morbidity and no mortality] affecting almost 4% of the human population across the world. It is mostly asymptomatic but patients can experience burning, irritation or soreness that gets aggravated by certain food items and astringent flavored items. Many patients also get swelling of the tongue along with the appearance of deep fissures on the tongue surface.

It is believed that it is more common in patients suffering with psoriasis, but it is insignificant to link the two ailments, since geographic tongue is seen commonly in non-psoriatic patients as well. It is also linked with hormonal changes withing the body, diabetes, smoking and spicy diet. It can be seen running in the family, but it is attributed more to the diet pattern than the genetic predominance. Females are seen getting affected more than males.

Treatment:

Ideally there is no particular treatment for this ailment. Mostly the lesions can resolve without any treatment, giving undue credit to the multi-vitamin or local steroidal preparations prescribed empirically.

Homeopathic approach towards this ailment is that of a constitutional disorder. Rohini was interviewed in detail for the constitutional assessment and was prescribed Natrum mur, which not only resolved her tongue patches but also relieved her recurrent migraine attacks.

Other significant remedies that can be useful are – Nitric acid, Rhus tox, Taraxicum, Arsenic, Kali bich and Mercurius.