The patient is a 2.5 year old boy with right sided hydrocele. I asked his father how it started? He said he did not know but for the last year the swelling increased, especially when the boy cried. There is no pain.
Any other complaint with it?
Constipation – He used to have hard stools with straining. He eats clay often since a long time. He goes to play outside and then eats dirt. Sometime he coughs. He eats okay and drinks at regular intervals. He likes to eat condiments, even raw. He is obstinate and demands things.
The mother pregnancy and obstetric history: nothing specific.
Sleeps well
Perspiration during playing: normal
They took treatment from another homeopath for 6 months but there was no change. The parents asked how long it would take.
I said I will try, but expect a minimum of 2 months. I do not have software, so I opened the Phatak repertory and took two symptoms:
Craving lime, slate etc
Craving condiments, spices etc
4 medicines covered these: Nux V, Sulph, Tarent h, Ant-C.
Constipation and hydrocele were also covered by Sulph, so I decided to give Sulph 200 single dose and placebo for 15 days.
After 15 days his father said there is less hard stool and he’s not eating much clay, but no change in the swelling. I told him to wait and I gave placebo for 15 days. After 15 days no change.
I reevaluated and gave Calc carb 30 once daily for a week, but no change.
Now his father phoned me and asked if he should take the boy for an operation. I asked about pica again and if there was there any change. The father said “no”, but this time I took the boy with me to temple, where he sat and rubbed his hands in the earth then put them in his mouth. I asked “Did you eat clay? He said,”no”.
Now that was peculiar. What was he doing? He was hiding his habit of eating clay and lying about it. On this basis I decided to give Tarentula h.
Tarentula h. 200 single dose and placebo for a month. I wanted to follow up in 10 days but I gave placebo for longer. I was sure now that the remedy would work.
After a month his father phoned me and said the swelling reduced by 60-70% and no hard stools, but he was still eating clay.
I repeated the remedy. After a month the swelling had reduced by 90% and craving for clay reduced. The photos below show the change after one month.
I learned that not only symptoms are important but that you have to develop various techniques to find the unique, characteristic symptom. Tarentula is not listed in the rubric hydrocele, but it still worked. We have to learn when to use different methods to solve the case.
