Revisiting: Pneumonia Cured in 1 Hour With Homeopathy!

Mom, it’s time for the quiz!!!

Firuzi called in a panic, she says to hurry up!

Shana, there’s only so much I can do at a moment’s notice.

We had a month!

OK, let me see if I understand this.  We weren’t supposed to wait until the last minute.  Is that the idea?

I think so.  As you know, this month we’re seeing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones at the movies!  At least it should be this month for the Rolling Stones but I haven’t seen a theater listed anywhere.

With any luck, it’s been canceled.

Mom, don’t say that!  Still, look for a full report on the Beatles movie, “Eight Days A Week”, in the October issue.  We may be reporting on the Frankie Valli concert at the Borgata in October as well; so, stay tuned!  First I have a few deaths to announce.

Oh geez, here it goes!  What about MY announcements?

Mom, we will get to your announcements later!  Announcement the first: The Bee Gees’ mom, Barbara Gibb, died last month.

Shana, is this really “news”, given that no one knows who Barbara Gibb is?  But you, apparently?

I’m not sure why that came as a shock.  She was 95 so it was probably going to happen eventually.

Really????  Are you sure???  95, you say???!!!!!!

Still, I feel bad for Barry.  He’s lost pretty much his entire family and all he has now is his wife Linda.

…and his sister Lesley, and his kids, and his nieces and nephews, his sisters-in-law, Linda’s mother and father…who live with him, by the way!

At least mother Gibb is in heaven now with her husband Hugh, her youngest son Andy, and the twins Robin and Maurice.

Also, I just would like to point out that there are a couple of Bee Gees songs that came out after disco was over that I like.  I hated the anti-disco movement as much as you did, but at least Barry was able to produce for other artists: “Heartbreaker” for Dionne Warwick, “Guilty” for Barbara Streisand and songs like “Chain Reaction” for Diana Ross…

…which sounded shockingly like “Helpless” by Kim Weston.

Mom, nobody knows who Kim Weston is, OK? (except for me)

She recorded for Motown with Diana Ross!  Just an uncomfortable coincidence, if you ask me.

Mom, we’re getting bogged down in minutia–which is usually my job!  Oh, and Barry’s birthday was September 1st.

Are we finished with Gibb Family News now?

Announcement the second…

Hooray!

Last month, actor Jack Riley died.

Oh, what a shame!  Not that anyone cares–other than Mrs. Riley, of course–but, he will always be remembered as “Mr. Carlin” on “The Bob Newhart Show”.  Mr. Carlin was chronically depressed and cynical.

I never saw him on the Bob Newhart Show but I will always remember him as the voice of Stu Pickles on “The Rugrats”.

Stu Pickles?

For those of you who don’t know, Stu was Tommy’s father.

They don’t know who Tommy is either!

Isn’t that why I’m here?

I actually have no idea why you’re here!

Tommy is a baby, obviously.

Oh, well excuse me!  How could we not have known that Tommy was a baby!  Rick!!!!!

Do you have to call Daddy for everything?  Tommy was a very brave baby…

A brave baby??????

…and was always trying to get his friends to go on adventures with him.  You’d think people would remember Tommy Pickles from our “Odd Couple” quiz.  Anyway, Stu was an inventor but his inventions never seemed to work.

They didn’t?

He also argues with his brother Drew a lot.

I know, cuz Drew thinks Stu should get a real job, like the one he has, climbing the corporate ladder with his wife Charlotte.  Ew!  How come I know so much about this stupid show?????

Here’s a clip from the 1998 Rugrats Movie in which Stu shows his brother and father his new invention, the Reptar Wagon.

Oy.

Shouldn’t you find a clip of him as Mr. Carlin on the Bob Newhart Show?

Can’t you find it? I still have announcements to make and I’m busy day-dreaming about rebuilding my “Rugrats” collection.

Rick!!!!!

Apparently Jack Riley had pneumonia and some sort of infection.

Another failure-to-have-a-homeopathic Emergency Kit-related death!  Do you know what our quiz case is this month, coincidentally?  Pneumonia!

That really is ironic!  I also had no idea he was 80 years old.  I don’t think my childhood can take anymore deaths.

Shana, you’re actually not a child anymore.

Mom, I’m still a child at heart!

For how much longer?

Also guess what?

Oh, I have to guess?

Yiddish theater star Fyvush Finkel also died last month.

Who???  Shana, we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time!  Is this the best we can do?  Barbara Gibb?  A voice actor?  A Yiddish theater star?  What is happening here?

He had been suffering from heart problems.

How old was he, 96?

He appeared in “The Simpsons” as a voice actor playing Krusty the Clown, he was also in The Rugrats as a friend of Tommy’s grandfather, and he played the Hearing Aid in “The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars”.

The what????  OK, I am really pulling the plug on this cavalcade of B-list celebrities!

But Mom, I was about to say that “Spin City” premiered 20 years ago today!

No one cares, Shana!

OK, and now for the moment you’ve all be waiting for, the Hpathy Quiz!!!!!  As I said earlier, this is an exciting case of a boy with pneumonia.  See if you can find the remedy:

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Name: “Roger”

Age: 12 years old

Male or Female: Male

Weight: 180

Height: 5’5″

Date: 8/19/16

Email Address:

1. Describe the complaint or complaints in your own words

He began last Friday with a small dry cough. By the next day he had a fever. By day 4 we were at the doctor with diagnosed Viral Pneumonia. It is in his lower right lobe. Of course he is on Antibiotics. It is touch and go though. (This thing has been going through the house!) He should be better in theory by now, but he is worse. His cough has gotten really dry. He is not getting much up. He is coughing so much the last hour he is almost vomiting. Fever comes and goes. Right now it is 101.7. He is chilly I believe as he has laid down in bed and covered up. Eyes are glassy. Thirstless. Getting on his knees to press his forehead into the pillow because it hurts.

2. Etiology–this means the CAUSE of the complaint.

The only cause I know was the virus he got from his brother.

3. Sensation–describe the pain or other sensation you have.

He can’t tell me, but from my experience and my other children- the head feels bursting. Especially when he coughs. It is awful, but the headache stays even when not coughing.

4. Appearance– anything remarkable? Red skin, droopy eyes, etc.?

Tired. Not saying or doing much. Eyes glassy and red.

5. Location–where on the body is your complaint located?

chest, head

6. Modalities– This is a fancy word that means, “What makes your complaint better or worse?”

He seems to feel better right now in the bed. For me and my other children the warmth of the bed really helps.

7. Concomitants (other symptoms that came with the complaint, are “along for the ride”)–Another way of asking this is, “What ELSE is going on at the same time?”

headache- he says in forehead.

8. Discharges–color, odor, consistency and sensation.

I haven’t seen him cough up anything lately.

9. Generals–these are all the symptoms that begin with the word “I”: I’m hot, I’m cold, etc.

He has said “My leg hurts. My arm hurts” Different things hurt so I believe he is having aches.

10. The mentals: Is the complaint changing you mentally and emotionally?

He is quiet and staying to himself. Hardly answering me.

11. What have you been saying?

Sorry, he doesn’t say enough for this.

12. What are you doing?

Laying down and being quiet.

13. Describe your thirst and appetite–

No thirst, although when the fever breaks he drinks. Eating OK when the fever is gone.

14. Fever?

Fever comes and goes. The whole thing seems like a cycle. He coughs in between, but then the fever spikes and things get worse. I don’t have a time for when it is better/worse though.

15. Sweating?

When the fever breaks.

16. Odors?

None.

17. What is most striking, peculiar or identifying about your condition?

It seems to come on gradual, but then gets worse fast-fast. Little cough, then boom! the fever comes and it’s on! Him wanting to put pressure on his head for his headache is interesting too.

18. Is there a diagnosis?

Pneumonia

19. Describe your energy–

Right now he is just lying. When the fever goes he is more active.

20. What does your tongue look like?

Pink, normal.

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6:50 pm: Do you have _____________?  Do you have the 200C?  If so, give a dose of that and let me know what happens.

7:54 pm: Elaine, he is coughing less and his head is better. He has been getting up some.

9:22 pm: His face is a normal color, no fever, drank and ate a bit, finally played a little and just now went to bed.

Next day: Roger is out mowing the lawn. I think he’ll probably wear himself out, but there was no talking him out of it.

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What can I say?  Eating and drinking and playing?  And mowing????  If you know the remedy, write to me at [email protected].  The answer will be in next month’s ezine.  Oh, and by the way, just one more thing.  Look how well prepared this mother is!  She not only has a remedy kit at home, she has many 200C’s of the common acute remedies as well!  I wouldn’t want to be caught with pneumonia and have nothing on hand but 30C’s!  That would really scare me!  Get prepared with remedies now; don’t wait till after you’re sick!  Do a google search for “homeopathy remedy kits” and order yours today!

Mom…if the “infomercial” for remedy kits is over…I’m ready to go to bed.

I guess that’s it!  See you again next time!

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Votes

Belladonna

Bryonia-4

Gelsemium

Sulphur

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Wayne got here first this month!

Hi Elaine,

Pity I missed last month’s Quiz.

And the month before that, and the month before that….

I think Roger’s remedy is Belladonna,

I agree!

although we are not told his pupils are dilated or whether his body is hot and his limbs are cold.

I repertorized the following–

Intermittent; fever ague malaria

This is the wrong rubric.  Use “Lungs: pneumonia, right lung”.  You picked the malaria rubric!  Now, I know why you did it, because the mother said the fever comes and goes, so, you wanted “fever, intermittent” but, “intermittent fever” is the other name for “Malaria”!  Luckily, Belladonna is in both rubrics.  The rubric you wanted was “Fever: remittant”.

Bursting; pain; coughing, on

Good!  I missed that one.  “Headaches: bursting pain, coughing, on”.

Glassy , appearance during

Red; discolouration; headache, during

Use “Eyes: red” instead.  It’s not necessarily because he has a headache.  We don’t know why his eyes are red.  It could be the fever that’s making them red, or the coughing.

Aching; pain; fever during (legs)

Aching; pain; upper arms

Fever, general; agg. during

Chilliness; with fever

Pneumonia, infection, inflammation lungs; right, lung

Pneumonia, infection, inflammation lungs; right, lung; lower lobe

Forehead, headaches, pain, general; coughing

Thirstless general; fever, during

Belladonna scored in all rubrics except 3; other close remedies were phosphorus, bryonia and nat-mur.

Belladonna has pain that possibly causes fear, they enjoy the quiet, resting and lying down.

I am swayed towards Belladonna, because of the glassy eyes and redness.

You have a lot of unnecessary rubrics here, what I call “clutter”.  That’s why Belladonna didn’t cover the whole case.  For example, taking a rubric like “pneumonia, right lung, lower lobe”–that’s a little too precise, narrowing the case down too far; and indeed, Belladonna wasn’t there!  But it WAS under “Pneumonia, right lung”!  Rubrics that are too small are going to make us lose the remedy.  We especially don’t need to be so picky when there are keynotes in a case!

Let me explain it this way:  If I say to you, “Wayne, could you do me a favor?  I need you to pick up Shana from school, I’m not going to make it in time.  I’m all the way out in Japip and the traffic is terrible!”  And you would say, “OK, but, how am I supposed to know what Shana looks like?”  And I’d say, “She’s short, about 5 feet tall, cafe au lait complexion, brown hair, and she’s got an Afro.”  Now, does anything else matter?  Is anyone else going to match that description?  Probably not!  So do I have to tell you that she’ll be wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt and that she’ll be carrying a backpack?  So will everyone else!  That’s not going to help you!  It’s just “clutter”!

So, with that in mind, if I say to you:  Dry fever, comes on suddenly, thristless, right-sided, glassy eyes; what’s the remedy?

You know it right away, it’s Belladonna!  You don’t need to know anything else!  Anything else is just clutter!  Aching arms and legs during a fever?  It’s common!  Coughing with pneumonia?  It’s common!  Who doesn’t cough with pneumonia?  Red eyes?  The red eye rubric is huge, 262 remedies!  Look what happens when I repertorize just the characteristic symptoms in the case; only Belladonna covers it!

Thanks for the advice.

I don’t normally do so many rubrics.

Right, because, you see, as I’ve said so many times about The Repertory, it’s not like all the remedies are in their rightful place.  If they were, we could easily take every symptom in the case, and they would all add up to Belladonna!  But look at how Belladonna wasn’t in “Pneumonia, right lung, lower right lobe”.  Do you see what I mean?  So the more rubrics we select, the more likely we are to have a very spotty repertory sheet!  You’d look at it and say, “There’s no decisive winner here!”  There’s no decisive winner because we’ve cluttered up the case with common symptoms and small rubrics.  We’ve got to stick to the characteristic symptoms. 

What’s a characteristic symptom?  When you’re looking for a child at “parent pick-up”, you’ll never find her if you’re looking for a kid with a backpack, sneakers and jeans!  They’ve all got backpacks, sneakers and jeans!  This is how you have to look at symptoms in a case.  Muscle aches during fever?  Is that characteristic?  No!  What about a cough with pneumonia?  No, that’s not characteristic at all!  What about a headache with fever?  Again, not characteristic–except, the KIND of headache, in this case “bursting”, helps us to confirm Belladonna. 

You have to clear away everything that’s not characteristic and see what you’re left with.  What you’re truly hoping for is that you’ll see a keynote of a remedy, like “sudden onset” and “glassy eyes”.  Then, once you suspect Belladonna, you can go back and look to see if anything in the case contradicts Belladonna.  If nothing does, you’re done! 

What would contradict Belladonna?  Thirst!  If the patient was thirsty, you would have to think twice.  What else would go against Belladonna?  Hot feet!  Belladonna has cold feet.  What else would contradict Belladonna?  Pale face.  Belladonna is known for redness; though Belladonna can also be pale but more likely to be red.  What else?  Better lying flat.  Belladonna is better for being propped up, sitting up, because the blood tends to rush to the head in a Belladonna case, causing a throbbing headache, or bursting headache, so, the patient wants to be in a position where the blood can drain out of the head, downward; not make it worse by lying flat.

I usually do 6-8 rubrics, but the quizzes can be tricky & I try to find out overdoing it perhaps.

I am glad I did because I learned quite a lot, particularly about the Malaria rubric & much more. (picking up Shana)

…which you may have to do if the Rolling Stones ever come to Australia!

Thanks once again.

Wayne

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Look, Eva’s back!  Hooray!!!!!

One hour pneumonia cure: Bryonia.

D’oh!

Dry cough, wants to lie still, red eyes, <warmth, lower lobes, right-sided, desires pressure, mind: quiet – wants to be quiet.

Lovely case!

Thanks!  But, what do you think of when you hear “glassy eyes”?  Plus, there’s a big problem for Bryonia in this case: Bryonia is very thirsty but the patient here is thirstless.  So, if I say to you, glassy eyes and thirstless, right-sided complaint, what do you think now?

What I think is ‘Eeek, I should know this!’

Pulsatilla is right-sided.

Well, I believe it can be either side.  It’s a 2 under Generals: sides, one-sided symptoms.

and has everything else too, and it’s our famous non-thirsty Rx.

It’s one of our famous non-thirsty Rx.  What are the other 2?  Belladonna and Gelsemium.  Less famous ones–Antimonium tart., Apis, Ipecac, even Arsenicum and China, among others.

Belladonna has the famous glassy eyes, is right sided, but no mention of red face.

You can’t make an issue out of that because even though Belladonna is a 3 under “red face”, it’s also a 2 under “pale face”; so, if you disqualified Belladonna on that basis, you should probably put it back.

Lycopodium looks just as likely.

It’s right-sided.

Belladonna has the eyes, is also thirstless and supposedly right-sided (I never knew!)

Oh yeah, it’s right-sided alright!

I s’pose I’d go for Pulsatilla or Lycopodium.

Here’s why you’re wrong.  You missed the “sudden onset” symptom, which is here:

Question #17. What is most striking, peculiar or identifying about your condition?

It seems to come on gradual, but then gets worse fast-fast.  Little cough, then boom! the fever comes and it’s on!  Him wanting to put pressure on his head for his headache is interesting too.

“But then it gets worse fast-fast”.  “Boom!”  What’s that?  What remedy is famous for that?  Belladonna.

Aconite has sudden onset too but Aconite is thirsty.

Thanks for voting, come back soon!!!!!

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Hi Elaine,

Hi Esther!

Giving this a try again this month

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

it sounds like there was a great remedy response so your choice must have been spot on.

Ok here is my analysis;

We have a young client who is unusually quiet and inactive, even non-talkative, due to a viral Pneumonia which affects his Right lower lung.  It makes him cough something terrible but there is no expectoration, it is dry, the cough is just about causing him to vomit.  He is thirstless except for when his intermittent fever breaks.  He likes to be warm and quiet, lying down in bed.  He also has a headache affecting his forehead, which is better for applying pressure.  His eyes are glassy and he has a clean tongue.

No, no, don’t say that.  The mother says the tongue is “normal”, so we shouldn’t be commenting on the tongue at all.  “Clean tongue” can have a bad connotation.  Look at the remedies under “clean tongue”:  Arsenicum, Hyoscyamus, Ipecac, Cina, Pyrogen … some very “sick” remedies, suggesting that “clean tongue” is very pathological; so, we don’t want to say “clean tongue” when we mean “normal tongue”.

I think this little fellow may need Bryonia.

This is what just about everyone is saying; but, why can’t it be Bryonia?  There’s one big reason.  Bryonia is thirsty whereas this boy is thirstless.  And here’s another reason: “sudden onset”.  Look at this statement from the case:

“It seems to come on gradual, but then gets worse fast-fast. Little cough, then boom! the fever comes and it’s on!”

A well indicated remedy in Pneumonia/ respiratory

Known for dryness

Known for wanting to be still, not moving, not talking

Right, but do we really know for sure that he’s not moving?  He’s quiet and lying down but he’s in his bedroom, his mother has other children who are sick and can’t sit with him and watch what he’s doing; he may be moving his arms and legs, turning over in bed, etc. for all we know.  It’s somewhat common when people are sick to go to their beds and lie down; what’s characteristic about Bryonia is that they are made worse by the least motion; in other words, it’s more than just lying quietly.  You can be lying quietly when you’re sick but still able to move without getting worse. 

In Bryonia, even breathing makes them worse–whether it’s pain or nausea…whatever it is.  Bryonia is locked into place!  They say that Bryonia can’t even lift his head off the pillow!  He can’t even answer questions!  This is why they are so irritable, because you make them answer questions and it makes them worse!  So when you see a patient who’s not moving, try to discern why.  Maybe he’s just tired and wiped out.  Maybe he’s depressed, like Phosphoric acid; or bored, like Sulphur.  Don’t look at someone who’s not moving and say, “Bryonia!” unless you’ve found out why. 

It appears that a lot of people this month looked at Roger, saw he was “laying down and being quiet” and went right for Bryonia!  If that’s what you believe then you don’t understand Bryonia.  There’s a difference between lying still out of choice and lying still because to move at all makes you worse.

Has pains > pressure

Right sided symptoms

Clean tongue, glassy eyes

So, Esther, if I say to you: Right sided complaints, glassy eyes, sudden onset, thirstless…what do you say?  You can only say Belladonna!

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Hello Elaine and Shana,

Hello Miroslav and Jitka!

above all we want to thank you for a very interesting recitation of the case of Marge Simpson.

Thank you!

It was very instructive to compare constitutions of Sepia, Carcinosin and Staphysagria.  Because of our lack of understanding of spoken English we did not have a great chance to understand these differences in the character of Marge, but your explanation was very intelligible to us.

I thought it was a very educational quiz myself!

Here are our solutions to the case of pneumonia :

Miroslav´s opinion is as follows:.

“I examined the new quiz and for me came out this:

severe pain, which improves by the pressure,

Yeah, but, wait a minute, wait a minute.  By severe pain, you are probably referring to the headache.  Headaches are very common concomitants with fever.  Am I not right?  Fever, headache, body aches…it’s all very common.  I can’t make too much out of that.  It’s not the place to start.  Don’t start with that.  He’s got pneumonia, let’s start there.  Right-sided pneumonia.  In Murphy’s Repertory, go to Lungs: pneumonia, right lung.

he does not want to move or speak.

OK, don’t get ahead of yourself.  As I explained to someone else a minute ago –because pretty much everyone voted for Bryonia–just because someone is lying down and not saying much, does not mean that they are “worse least motion” (Bryonia’s grand keynote).  In fact, it is very common for someone who has pneumonia to want to lie down, we can’t make anything out of that, it’s not a clue to a remedy.  What would be a clue?  Something peculiar, characteristic, individualistic, or a remedy keynote; not something common done by almost everyone.

Temperature without sweating,

So we call that dry fever. “Fever: dry”.

thirst,

No, no, there is NO thirst!  This is a very big mistake you’ve made!  Right in question #1, we are told that Roger is “thirstless”:  “Eyes are glassy.  Thirstless.”  As soon as I saw that, I knew what the remedy was.  Here is all the information you need:  Right-sided pneumonia, dry fever, thirstless, glassy eyes.”  That’s it!  Nothing else matters!  Later on she mentions “sudden onset” which only confirms our suspicion:

Question #17. What is most striking, peculiar or identifying about your condition?

It seems to come on gradual, but then gets worse fast-fast. Little cough, then boom!

Did you see that? “Boom!”  What is the only remedy we could possibly be talking about?

viral illness,

Useless symptom.  Not even in the repertory; closest match is the flu rubric; but, we know this is Pneumonia, right-sided; so, that is our primary rubric.

headache, frontal,

Common viral symptom, doesn’t really help us.

pressure improves, right-sided pneumonia, dry irritating cough very strong,

You could take the rubric, “Coughing: paroxysmal”.

cough irritating stomach to vomit–Bryonia

You don’t know that.  The cough may nearly cause vomiting because the cough is making him gag.  That is more likely the case.  What goes against Bryonia here?  Bryonia is thirsty–very thirsty!  And our patient is thirstless.

Jitka:

I chose following rubrics because I think are relevant in this case and based on them I vote for Bryonia.

Head; bores head in pillow– Bry 2

That simply means he’s “better pressure”.

Head, pain; in forehead–Bry 3

A common symptom in fevers.

Head, pain, forehead, pressure, amel.– Bry 3

Head, pain; better pressure– Bry 3

Chest; inflammation; lungs; right– Bry 3

fever; wants to be quiet in any stage– Bry 3

Cough; intermittent; with vomiting– Bry

No.  The only way to describe the cough is “paroxysmal”, which means attacks of coughing.  And there is no vomiting here.  As I said above, I believe he coughs so much and so hard that it makes him gag.  Anyone would be gagging under the circumstances, it’s not characteristic. 

Remember what I always say: If the illness explains the symptom, it’s not a symptom.  For instance, do we care about the body aches?  No, because it’s common in fevers.  Do we care that he lies quietly?  No, because it’s common to want to go lie down and be quiet when you have a fever.  That really gives us no information.  So as far as the cough is concerned, “coughing: paroxysmal” is all we can add to our list of symptoms.  The coughing attacks make him gag, it would make anyone gag; and remember, he never really vomits; so, we should just leave it at that.

mind; quiet, peace; wants to be quiet– Bry 3

Cough, dry – Bry 3

Stomach, vomiting, coughing, on– Bry 3

As I said, he’s not vomiting.  You’ve actually left out the characteristic symptoms!  As I told Miroslav above, right in the answer to the first question we learn what the remedy is:

Right-sided pneumonia, dry fever, thirstless, glassy eyes.  That’s all we need to know!  That’s all there is to this case–that and “sudden onset” as I described to Miroslav.  What goes against Bryonia here?  Why can’t it be Bryonia?  Bryonia is thirsty and there’s no sudden onset.

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So there you have it, everybody!  I hope this was educational.  Time to congratulate our winner, Wayne Butcher from Australia!  Way to go, Wayne, you nailed it!

See you back here again next time for another great and fabulous Hpathy Quiz!

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Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.

Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: elaineLewis.hpathy.com