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| Hpathy Ezine - March, 2007 | ||||||||
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A Case of Meniere's Syndrome-- Louise Barton |
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| 21 August 2003 – Female 40 This patient had seen me previously for Meniere’s Syndrome and had some partial relief from Nat Mur and no relief from Sulphur and Bryonia. The Meniere’s had commenced a year earlier during a very busy work period. She had the sensation as if falling to the left but on questioning she had suffered noises in her ears (high pitched, squealing) for many years. She could also hear her own heartbeat and sounds as if she were at the beach. The previous year she has nausea and vomiting and diarrhoea. At this visit she is over those type of symptoms but still suffers with regular bouts of vertigo. The vertigo modalities are < rising from bed, < stress (!), < before menses, sometimes < during menses. Her menses are light but then become heavy and can last up to ten days. She feels better after a shower but generally can’t walk in a straight line easily. She has only fallen once (middle of the night) and when the vertigo is very bad it feels as if the room is spinning. She can’t get out of bed when it is like this. If she tries she feels disoriented, then nauseous and sometimes has diarrhoea. She may be worse for salty food. Her work situation is tense – the workload is high and her employer is very difficult. She will feel very wound up inside and can’t stand noise and tension. Her sleep is poor and she feels as if she hasn’t slept. Her employer “rips her head off” and doesn’t listen nor allow time off. There is also stress with a difficult teenage daughter. Her history of stresses include the death of her father six years prior and then looking after her mother which involved lots of driving. There were issues with a new building and permits for her mother and both her Auntie and Uncle also got sick and she had to look after them. They are her only family and she feels that everyone falls back on her – she goes along with it but feels her body tensing up – she has trouble saying no. She is annoyed that her brother (who has no children) doesn’t help out but she couldn’t stand having an argument with him. As a child she says she was laid back and happy but there was always tension with her brother – he told her she was an idiot and he ruled her parents. She was jolly and jovial like her Father. Her brother treated her parents very badly – they put him on a pedestal and she never felt as good as him. In the last few years her memory is getting poor and she feels as if she can’t learn properly – even her daughter says she is stupid and she feels a lack of confidence. She can’t remember instructions and once forgot to pick up her child – she feels she is letting others down and feels strong guilt. Often she worries about trivial things and often wakes at 3am. Her sleep is disturbed by her husband who snores and does shift work. During the night she is sensitive to light and noise and has a history of being hot in bed but now feels colder. Appetite is normal but spicy food gives heartburn. She has a strong desire for fruit and dairy and fatty foods make her nauseous. History of ovarian cysts and pain at ovulation time – so bad she would pass out on occasions. Knife like pain. Before menses she is constipated and will have a strong urge to stool and passes the stool which is followed by her menstrual flow. She has a history of very irregular bowel motions. Before her menses she has headaches with an exploding sensation and a sensation of pressure. She gets heart palpitations when she is angry and when her stomach is painful it is worse for touch. She has flatus+++ again worse before menses. There is pain in her neck and shoulders < lying on it. There is a history of arthritis, Meniere’s and cancer in her family. Before her menses she can have strong contracting pain. Sometimes her anus will contract during a stool and the pain can be extreme – once she blacked out from the pain. Most of her aches and pains are on the left – she hates summer and humidity – it will affect her breathing. Her eyes are worse for glare – she can hardly keep them open. ANALYSIS There were so many aspects to this case – it seemed safer to stick with general rubrics and look at her facial analysis to determine the miasm. GENERALITIES; MENSES; agg.; before (109) GENERALITIES; SIDE; left (243) GENERALITIES; FOOD and drinks; fats and rich food; agg. (81) GENERALITIES; MORNING, five am. - Nine Am.; agg. (263) SLEEP; WAKING; midnight; after; three am. (63) GENERALITIES; RISING up; agg. (130) REMEDIES Sulph, Carb V, Nux, Calc, Sep, Graph, Lyc, Nit Ac, Bry, Nat Mur, Kali C, Sil, Mag C, Nat C, Chin, Mag Mur FACIAL ANALYSIS
Her facial analysis tells me the remedy I need is syco-psoric. I have already given Nat Mur so decide to try Nux Vom. It is interesting too that on previous visits the psoric remedies (Sul and Bry) did not suit her at all and made her feel worse. Nux Vom 1M single dose FOLLOW UP 30 Oct 2003 Two days after the Nux the vertigo stopped completely and she has had none for two months. There is still a slight swelling feeling in her ears but nothing more. She feels happier and more confident in herself. Her last period was shorter and less heavy and she has had no headaches. No remedy. 6 Nov 2003 Some return of dizziness and fullness in the ears – about 20% of what she had before the Nux but she feels it is returning. Her sensitivity to noise has increased too. She just had a period which was more uncomfortable again. She has had some pain passing a stool – this had gone away after the Nux. Nux Vom 1M single dose. 27 Jan 2004 Two days after Nux again a huge shift and all symptoms felt better. Just starting to slip again in the last week so another dose of 1M given. 12 Feb 2004 She only got two weeks relief out of the Nux 1M so 10M was given. However the decreasing time she was getting out of the remedy indicated that there would probably be another remedy that may work better for her. It is always frustrating when a remedy that previously worked very well stops in its action however some patients require a change of remedy at some point. 2 March 2004 After three weeks there was virtually no improvement on the Nux 10M. A new repertorisation was done to select another remedy – from the same miasm. She mentioned how tight she was feeling and that her last period had been heavy again. As before she was worse before menses and her vertigo was worse when rising up, lying down and when she turned in bed. GENERALITIES; TENSION, tightness (177) GENERALITIES; MENSES; agg.; before (109) FEMALE; MENSES; profuse (309) GENERALITIES; RISING up; agg. (130) GENERALITIES; LYING; agg. (248) GENERALITIES; TURNING; bed, in; agg. (59) Using larger rubrics is possible because the miasmatic analysis will narrow down the choices. The first fourteen remedies were Lyc, Puls, Sul, Con, Ferr, Nux, Nat M, Phos, Rhus t, Bell, Bry, Calc, Carb V, Cocc Only three of these remedies are syco-psoric – Ferrum, Nux and Nat Mur. Ferrum 1M was given 7 December 2004 She hadn’t booked between March and December as she was feeling so much better. Her condition had been stable for about seven months and then some major stresses had thrown her back again. Both her husband and her uncle had been very sick and her mother had been in hospital three times with a heart condition. Finally she had developed a migraine which in turn led to a cold and pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics and was getting very little sleep. One night she dreamt of her father’s funeral and was filled with grief. She had thoughts that she was there for everyone but no-one was there for her. Her Meniere’s symptoms were still only 20% returned but her sleep was poor and her physical condition low. She had a return of heartburn and a lump sensation in her solar plexus. The last period had been heavy again, painful and accompanied with constipation and rectal pain. I chose another syco-psoric remedy – Ignatia due to the grief and lump sensation. She was given a single dose of 1M and asked to ring in a month, as I wanted her to take Ferrum again if the Ignatia wasn’t satisfactory. She rang one month later to say she was feeling well again and the Meniere’s was again under control. June 2006 She rang to book her husband in and told me that since the last remedy she has had virtually no symptoms of the Meniere’s at all. Occasionally if she is tired there is a minor return but after resting she is well again. Comment This case taught me that for some patients more than one remedy is required even though the symptom presentation is very similar. Perhaps Ignatia would have been a deeper acting remedy from the beginning but as we can’t turn back time we can never know this. Each of the syco-psoric remedies given did a good job but Ignatia has done the best and lasted the longest. ------------------------------------------------ Louise Barton |
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