Migraine in a Man of 24

The acute is an opportunity, a cipher to unlock the chronic case..

This is a case of 24 year old man who came to my office seeking the best homeopathy medicine for migraine. I took a detailed case history. The repertorial analysis of the case was the following.

I gave him Pulsatilla Nigricans 1m .

There was no response to the remedy after one and half months. Since it seemed well indicated I repeated the same remedy. The headache became more aggressive, and the episodes also increased after the 2nd month. He didn’t report back to me after that.

On one fine morning he came to me with an Acute eczema on his abdomen. The skin around the eruption was warm and slightly painful on touch – signs of local inflammation. On examination the superficial inguinal lymph nodes were swollen and  very painful on palpation.  I was temped to prescribe some known skin remedies like Graphites, Thuja, Sulphur etc.  I Started eliciting the characteristics.

• eruption was reddish , tiny vesicles started oozing
• Itching < at night ++
• He said “ I didn’t take a bath since yesterday. Itching used to aggravate after bathing especially after bathing in cold water”
• Very painful and swollen inguinal glands
• Generals were good

I took these three rubrics from the Phatak repertory:

The remedy Clematis Erecta was cropping up interestingly.

From checking in  Boericke’s Materia Medica, I thought Clematis fit the picture.

So he was given Clematis erecta 200, 6 doses and told to report daily by phone. These were the pictures he sent me through email:

Same day evening :

Pain and redness slightly reduced. Itching  became better.

The eruption completely vanished on the 7th day.

The Clematis not only cured his acute eczema, but also started helping his chronic headache, which was his original complaint. I looked at the headache case again. Surprisingly I saw that Clematis covered many of the symptoms in my first totality! And both the remedies are from the same family. Ranunculaceae.

Follow up after two months: The episodes of headache reduced substantially. Intensity of the pain also reduced almost 80 %. He is emotionally much more stable now.

Follow up after six months:  He said there wasn’t any headache for the last month. He is very stable emotionally. He is okay even if he is away from home. Previously he was very homesick. He feels more relaxed, happy and confident.

What I learned from this case:

My guru Dr Rajan Sankaran used to say, “A patient being treated for a chronic condition is not doing well. When he comes with an acute condition, that is the best opportunity to find the remedy that will help him in the long run.”  During an acute, it unveils its raw state.  There the vital force is loudest and clearest. In this case Clematis was his remedy, which I previously not understood. But when he came with an acute, the remedy became clearer to me.  Thanks to all my teachers, especially Dr Sankaran, who guided me through the right path and Dr Gaurang Gaikwad for being my mentor and an inspiration all down the line