Revisiting: The Worst Quiz Ever!

Mom!  Where are you, we’re late with the quiz again, Firuzi just sounded the “All ashore that’s going ashore!”

Are we on a cruise ship, unbeknownst to me?  Alright, alright, I’m coming, I’m coming!  I see you’re back to looking like your old self.  I’ll miss you as a member of the Peanuts Gang!

You can still see me as a Peanuts character on facebook.

Is that soooooo????  Well, how grand!  Do you have any timely announcements to make on matters of minor importance?

No.

What?  No one died?  No one’s on tour?

No.

Well great!  That’s just great!  What are we supposed to do, just stare at each other?

I guess so.

Well this is the worst quiz ever!  Fine, I’ll just start the quiz then!

Well fine!

Fine!

Fine!

S’alright?

S’alright!

So this is the case of a teenager with heel pain from playing basketball.

Well, you gotta love it.

Here’s what his mother said:

***

Good Morning Elaine,

“Marvin” went to basketball practice last Wednesday.  Afterwards he has been complaining about heel pain.  I have given him a couple of doses of Arnica 30 CH, and massaged him with Traumeel cream.  This morning he has a hard time walking and won’t be able to play basketball today.  When I look at foot charts, it appears he is really sore on the Calcaneus bone, the outside of the left heel.

Any suggestions?

Try __________ 30C in water.  Give one dose, wait an hour, let me know if you get any improvement.  If there is slight improvement, give 3 times a day with 5 succussions before each dose; or, if it’s in a plastic cup, stir with a straw or plastic spoon before each dose.

If the pain gets worse, stop dosing, it could just be a temporary aggravation, meaning it’s probably the right remedy but too strong a potency or too much dosing.

Elaine, here’s my update.  It’s less than an hour later and “Marvin” is better.

Wow!  Isn’t homeopathy amazing?

In a message dated 10/26/2015 8:32:32 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:

Yes, he says he is getting better and better.  He still had a bit of a pain this morning, so I gave him another dose.

You can continue giving the remedy 3 times a day until he is completely pain free, then you can stop.

“Marvin” is under the impression that _____________ works.

OK, just a word of warning: Don’t use the good glassware for remedies.  The remedy will always be in that glass, you’ll never get rid of it.  You can’t wash a remedy away with soap and water.  Plus, you know you have to stir before each dose, right?  But don’t use the good silverware either.  Use a straw, etc.

________________________________________

OK everybody, what do you think?  If you know the remedy, write to me at [email protected], the answer will be in next month’s ezine.  Bye for now!

___________________

VOTES

Ruta-3

Rhus tox-2

Valerian

Symphytum

Bryonia

Hypericum

Rosa bracteata

Ledum

Bellis Perrenis

 

OK!  Who wants to be our first contestant this time on “The Remedy Is Right!”

Mom, it’s your soul brother from the UK!

Peter Dunseith, come on down!

Hi Elaine,

It’s Peter your soul brother from Wales.

You never mentioned the passing of Allen Toussaint, who was buried in New Orleans last week.

OMG! I don’t think I knew that he died!  Shana, you really dropped the ball on this one!

Well excuuuuse meeeee for not knowing things!

By the way, Allen Tousaint was a New Orleans producer, songwriter, arranger and musician with many top-10 hits to his credit including “Lady Marmalade”, a grammy-winner for Patti LaBelle in 1975.

Here’s a last gift from him to you and Shana, it’s called “Soul Sister”.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UCS1sAUVlM

Thanks, I will give a listen! 🙂

The quiz – no modalities here, so I guess we are looking for a specific remedy for a stress fracture of Marvin’s heel bone.

I don’t think we know that it’s a fracture, per se; just that the heel felt sore in the area of the outer calcaneus bone.

My suggestion is Symphytum, good old Bone knit.

Symphytum may have worked as it is in the rubric for injuries to the periosteum, but I gave Ruta as it’s in BOLD for that.  Thanks for voting, it’s always great hearing from you! Is anybody else here today?

Mom, she’s from South Asia and she named her cat after you!

Maryam from Pakistan!  Come on down!

Hi Elaine!

Hope you are fine, I guess you suggested Ruta for his heel pain.

That is correct!

I thought of Ruta because Arnica did nothing for him so it might be deep pain i.e, a bone pain.

Exactly!  Congratulations!

Regards,

Maryam from Pakistan.

 

Who else is here today?

Mom, it’s the twins from a small country near Russia!

Shana, I don’t think they’re twins, exactly; but, Miroslav and Jitka, come on down!

Hello Elaine and Shana,

Hello Miroslav and Jitka!

we are going to try a wheel of fortune of a November quiz…:)

Oh boy!  Wheel of Fortune!  I’d like to buy a vowel!

Miroslav´s bid:

I think that Bryonia helped the boy. Whereas there weren’t many clues in this case, “the classics” claim that if Arnica does not work in joint injuries (in this case probably some wrench or rheumatoid stuff …), you should administer a Bryonia.  The heel is actually a joint, moreover the symptom: motion aggravates fits to it.

Actually, I don’t think the heel is a joint.  Is it?  Soreness of Calcaneus bone is all we know.

Jitka´s bid:

This time I decided firmly hold my first thought that burst to my mind while reading your case.

I think that the remedy for the boy was Ruta.

Yes!!!  We’ve got another winner!!!!!

I found it in my notes that Ruta is called “After Arnica Remedy” which suits to sprains and strains of joints, bone bruises, or injuries involving cartilages, tendons and bone surfaces. Although I’m not quite sure that you suggested this remedy, I would probably have tried it.

And you’d have been right!  Injuries to the periosteum–Ruta.  Good for you, Jitka!  Shana, is anybody else willing to step forward?

Mom, it’s your soul brother from Australia!

Wayne Butcher, come on down!

Hi Elaine,

What about Hypericum?

Hi Wayne!  Hypericum has “excessive painfulness” according to Murphy.  Here’s a Hypericum quiz I once did to give you an idea of the kind of pain that goes with Hypericum:

https://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/revisiting-its-luke-again/

and the etiology tends to be puncture wounds and injuries to nerves and areas rich in nerves; like… picture a door slamming on your fingers–ouch!!!!  The pain would shoot upwards.  Also, a fall on the spine or the tailbone or an injection into the spine or a spinal tap headache.  What we have in this case are not the sharp and shooting pains of Hypericum but a sore pain from injury to the periosteum, which is bone covered by a thin layer of skin, like the forehead or shin.

The remedy was actually Ruta.  Thanks for voting, Wayne!  Shana, who else is here?

Mom, we’ve got two new Quiz participants.  Up first is Dr. Salma Afroz, come on down!

Elaine, I think the answer of the quiz is Rhus tox as it is due to sprain during playing…

thanks

Hi, Salma!  It can’t be Rhus tox.  Do you know why?  First of all, it’s a bone.  The sensation is “soreness” and the location is the heel bone.  According to Allen’s Keynotes, Rhus tox “affects the fibrous tissues.”  And what makes Rhus tox feel better?  Movement, motion. They are very restless and can’t stay long in one spot or their pain gets worse.  “Marvin” is not better for walking.  Plus, there’s no amelioration from heat/hot bathing that we expect to see in a Rhus tox case.

Thanks for voting, Salma!  Please come back again next time!  Shana, who’s our other first-time voter?

Ranbir Sidhu, come on down!

Hi Elaine, considering the periosteum of calcaneus bone to be damaged and inflammed, LEDUM appears to be the remedy.

Ranbir Sidhu

Ranbir, I agree with you that what we have here is injury to the periosteum.  However, Ledum isn’t in that rubric.  If I look in Murphy’s Repertory, “Bones: periosteum, injury to”, there are 5 remedies, all in plain type except for one, which is in BOLD.  Can you guess which one that is?  It’s Ruta.  Ruta is famous for this type of injury.  Thanks for voting!  Shana, who’s next?

Mom, don’t look now, but…  Vamsi’s in the house!

Hi Elaine,

Another quiz and I can’t miss it.

“Pain due to strain”

Vamsi, I don’t see the word “strain” in the quiz.

and pain also on the “left” side.

The left side doesn’t matter here.  I mean, “sides of the body” are important to us in homeopathy, but, not if the side is the result of an injury.  It’s only when the body itself chooses the side that we want to make sure we have a “left-sided remedy” or a “right-sided remedy”. For example, a left-sided sore throat might suggest Lachesis to us.  But a basketball injury on the left foot is just dumb luck.

Marvin must have been given Rhus Tox-30.

No.  What type of injury is this?

Elaine, there are lots of remedies in my mind as I write this.

This injury must be a sprain or a bone injury or a nerve injury.

If is a sprain it could have been Ruta, or a bone injury (Calc Fluor.), or a nerve injury it should have been Hypericum.

I guess it should have been a nerve injury and he should have been given Hypericum, as Marvin sounded very painful.

Please correct my understanding.

The type of injury is “injury to the periosteum”.  Our main remedy for this is Ruta.  The periosteum is the thin layer that covers such bones as forehead, shin and other bones that aren’t protected by a lot of fibrous tissue. The rubric is Bones: periosteum, injury to.  Only 5 remedies, all in plain type except for RUTA, meaning it’s really our go-to remedy for this.  The heel bone would be one such bone covered only by a thin layer, suggesting Ruta might be the remedy to try.

I don’t get the impression that the pain in Marvin’s case was over-the-top.  Hypericum has very agonizing pains, person may be crying or moaning, clutching the injured part, pains are sharp and shooting.  Nerves are involved, like dropping something heavy on your big toe.

Calcarea fluor., they say, is the chronic of Ruta; so, if Ruta was never given at or near the time of the accident, Calcarea fluor. might be needed later.

Maybe we should give a shout-out to our winners now:

Fiona

Maryam

Jitka

Congratulations you guys!

Be sure to tune in again in January for “The Remedy Is Right!”

Mom, wait a minute! Don’t you think we should end with “Lady Marmalade” in honor of Allen Tousaint?

Good thinking Shana! “He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans…”

___________________

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

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

Visit her website: elaineLewis.hpathy.com