Clinical Cases

Revisiting: Kelly, The Godperson of Acute Cases

Written by Elaine Lewis

Elaine gives the answer to last month’s quiz: Caralyn’s son suffers from extreme acute abdomen.

Does anybody remember last month’s quiz about Caralyn’s son and his acute abdomen?  Here it is again:

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Well, Elaine, how was your Christmas of 2006?

Don’t ask!  It was a disaster, Kelly!  I woke up to the news that the Godfather had died!

Oh my God!  Vito Corleone is dead?

No, Kelly, not that Godfather, the Godfather of Soul!  James Brown!

Godfather

And that ruined your Christmas?

Hello!  Do you know who James Brown is????  He’s the King of Soul!  Soul Brother Number-One!  I burst into tears!   

I saw him at the Apollo in 1965.  Here he is now doing, “I Feel Good”-

 

Kelly, you can present your case now.

Not yet Elaine, I’m still singing… and P.S., I couldn’t possibly go on after James Brown, I mean, really!

Kelly?

Elaine, you keep interrupting.  Frankly, I’m not in the mood to do cases right now…. “So good, so good, I got you!”

Kelly, wait!  You can be the Godperson of Acute Cases!  Kelly????  Well, great; that’s just great!  I’m going to have to call for back-up.  Hello, Caralyn?  Can you possibly come down to the Hpathy Sudios at beautiful downtown…place…and do a case for us?

Caralyn's picture

I can try Elaine, but I’m not promising anything on such short notice!  OK, hold on, let me think…hmm…. I can attempt to do the case of my son, “D”, but, I have to warn you, the case is pretty violent, so, just warning you in advance!  

D was having terrible obvious stomach bloating.  He had stomach burning, vomiting, diarrhea, writhing on the floor and moaning in pain.  It just doesn’t get any worse to watch something like that.  When he went to the bathroom the smell was awful!!!

These stomach episodes would last a long time and come like in a series.  We used to blame it on soda, vinegar (as we know D loves vinegar) or overindulging in food.  We even took him to the emergency room once thinking he might have appendicitis!  That’s how bad it was!

His stomach has been sensitive for a long time.  My mother insisted that I make an appointment with a gastroenterologist.  I told her that you had given him a remedy _______ and if that didn’t work I would consider it, but D has been fine ever since your remedy, thank heaven!  The “electrical” pains were another thing.  They occurred a lot in school and sometimes at home.  I would dismiss the complaint as odd.  I did not understand it and didn’t want to make an issue out of it in front of D.  He was definitely getting them since the last 8 months to a year.

He was in so much pain from his stomach he would moan and writhe on the floor.  D has zero tolerance for pain, but I know that he was not faking it because of the intense vomiting.  D also gets hiccups a lot.

This stomach pain has progressively gotten worse.  When he was approximately 12 months old he would poop acid.  I mean it.  D would not eat food at that time.  His favorite thing to have was orange juice.  The only milk he had at that point in his life was from me nursing him.

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Thanks Caralyn for bravely giving us this month’s quiz!  If anyone knows what this remedy is, please write to me at [email protected] , the answer will be in the February ezine.

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OK!  Caralyn gave us a great case, didn’t she?  So, who got the answer right?  This case must have terrified just about everyone because almost no one wrote in!  However, when the first two people got the right answer, I thought it was going to be a landslide but only one more right answer came in, and it was… Veratrum alb.!

Listen, did you know, in Murphy’s repertory, 3rd ed., there is only one remedy listed under:

Stomach: vomiting, diarrhea during, violent and profuse, and it’s Veratrum alb.?

Now, if you look under what I considered to be the Strange, Rare and Peculiar symptoms in the case: desire for vinegar and acid fruits–(Desires sour food)–and the “electric” pain sensation (Generals: electric, shocks, pain), the remedy is clearly confirmed as Veratrum alb, being a 3 in both rubrics. So, “D” is fine now, he doesn’t get these horrible episodes anymore; in fact, I was there at Caralyn’s for her Passover seder, and “D” missed the whole thing!  I gave him Colocynth because of the writhing on the floor in pain, it helped maybe 60%, I didn’t know about the electric-like pains then; as soon as Caralyn told me that, I said, “Veratrum alb!”

So, let’s see who our three big winners were this time:  We have Ravi Narayan from beautiful downtown Mumbai, we have S. C. Kursija and finally Lisa who wrote the following:

Hi Elaine,

I am a new subscriber to the newsletter, and also a brand new Homeopathy student (British Institute of Homeopathy). I’ve been using homeopathy for 12 years for my family for all kinds of acute situations only. I love your case examples and they are helping me learn how to use my Materia Medica better. I am going to give my best shot at choosing a remedy for the Jan. quiz. Here goes 🙂

I picked VERATRUM ALBUM based on the chronic diarrhea, intense vomiting, hiccups, stomach pain, electrical pains and the fact that he likes fruit juice (at least he did when he was younger and there’s no mention that he doesn’t like it any longer). The one thing that doesn’t fit this remedy is the foul smell as Veratrum a. has odorless stools.

Looking forward to reading the Feb. case!!!

Lisa

Lisa, you’re right about the stool being odorless in Veratrum, but, you can also find Veratrum under Stool: odor, sour and Stool: odor, offensive, even if only as a 1, it’s still there.

 


Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom

Elaine takes online cases. Visit her website at: elaineLewis.hpathy.com

About the author

Elaine Lewis

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine is a passionate homeopath, helping people offline as well as online. Contact her at [email protected]
Elaine is a graduate of Robin Murphy's Hahnemann Academy of North America and author of many articles on homeopathy including her monthly feature in the Hpathy ezine, "The Quiz". Visit her website at:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/ and TheSilhouettes.org

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