Revisiting: The Sore Throat That Didn’t Hurt
March 16, 2010 by
Elaine Lewis
Filed under Homeopathy Clinical Cases | Hpathy Ezine, March, 2010
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Who missed last month’s monumentally meaningful quiz? Here it is again with the answer to follow:
Mom! Where are you?! Mooommmm!!!!!
I’M PRACTICING TRANSENDENTAL MEDITATION, SHANA, I’M IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM!!!!!
Mom, it’s time for the quiz! I’ve got three memos here from Dr. B! First memo, “Elaine, where is the quiz?” Second memo, “Elaine, for the 500th time, [...]
Who missed last month’s monumentally meaningful quiz? Here it is again with the answer to follow:
Mom! Where are you?! Mooommmm!!!!!
I’M PRACTICING TRANSENDENTAL MEDITATION, SHANA, I’M IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM!!!!!
Mom, it’s time for the quiz! I’ve got three memos here from Dr. B! First memo, “Elaine, where is the quiz?” Second memo, “Elaine, for the 500th time, where is the quiz?!”
YOU SEE? DR. B CAN’T EVEN COUNT, SO, WHY DO WE HAVE TO TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY?
Third memo, “Elaine! Where is the…” and then there’s a whole bunch of symbols followed by an “i-n-g”….
Oh for God’s sake! How many times have I told you not to bother Mommy when she’s in Cosmic Consciousness?! Whose case are we doing this time?
Well…there was the guy who faked having a heart attack to make sure he wasn’t having one….
Too boring.
And then there was the guy who faked Tourettes Syndrome to make sure he didn’t have that….
That was the same guy, Shana!
Here’s a patient with the flu.
That’s perfect! People can’t get enough of the flu, it’s all anyone can talk about! Who is it? No, wait, we can’t use the patient’s real name, it would scar him or her for life!
Really?
Yes! Think about it, Shana, what is worse than having the flu?
Tuberculosis?
Well, sure, tuberculosis, but, what else?!
Meningitis?
Well, sure, meningitis, but, what else?
Appendicitis?
OK, look, shouldn’t you be out shoveling snow?
I’ve already done that, Mom, and you haven’t come up with a fictitious name yet.
For what, the flu? What’s wrong with having the flu?! OK, here’s the case of Lady MacBeth.
Mom! No one’s going to believe that’s her real name!
Not whose real name?
I’m going back out to shovel snow.
Good, it will build character! Now, as usual, I asked Lady MacBeth to fill out the Acute Case Questionnaire. Why? Because if you don’t ask people to do this, they’ll give you “allopathic symptoms” only: fever, sore throat, cough…we can’t solve a case that way! Homeopathy is the science of “peculiars”, that’s why we need the questionnaire. When someone is sick, you have to know the right questions to ask; so, here we go with…
The Sore Throat That Didn’t Hurt!
by Lady MacBeth (no relation to any other Lady MacBeth you may have read about)
Acute Case Questionnaire
1. Describe the complaint or complaints in your own words in as much detail as you can. Don’t forget to include the onset–did the complaint come on suddenly or gradually?
Sore throat with pain from ear to chin. I feel heaviness in ear & in head also. It started on Monday night, at that time my body was so warm, feet were also hot, my nose is constantly blocked. I am having empty eructations almost constantly. The sore throat is reddish. I can see blisters and swelling in throat, more swelling on the right side. I have constipation. Feeling of ear pain going from ears to jaw and chin. My nasal secretion is watery and I feel cutting sensation in my nose. Feeling nasal flow falling in the throat, nasal flow yellowish with red streaks sometimes. I am not sneezing but wish to sneeze so that my nasal block and head heaviness would be reduced. I am feeling hot. I want to switch on the fan. Fever: 35.8 degrees C.
2. Etiology–this means the cause, if you know it.
By catching cold, by washing clothes, and went out while it was drizzling.
3. Sensation–
Someone is making a drilling sound in my ears, sometimes feel like my ear is opened or closed. Whistling sound in ears. Feel heaviness in external ear.
Right ear is blocked
4. Appearance– anything remarkable? Red skin, droopy eyes, etc.?
Red blister-like eruptions appear when I scratch on any part of my body.
5. Location–where on the body is your complaint located?
Throat, ears, itch in the throat cause mild coughing.
6. Modalities–
Desire to vibrate legs, desire to go out in the rain, desire fresh air, desire to open the nose, desire to lie on the chest.
7. Concomitants
My problem increases when I wake up
8. Discharges
Yellowish nasal discharge internally in throat, watery discharge from nostrils
9. Generals–
I am hot, I am not hungry, I am very thirsty. Desire to drink so much water. I am tired, I am irritable
10. The mentals
Any quarrel or dispute is intolerable. irritability
11. What have you been saying?
(no answer)
12. What are you doing?
I want to go out of the house.
13. Describe your thirst and appetite–
I am very thirsty,. No appetite, want cold drinks, taking small sips because my nose is blocked. Desire to drink too much water. Desire to eat hot and spicy food. Bad taste in mouth. Tongue is not white.
14. Fever?
No fever
15. Sweating?
Too much sweating on whole body, bad smell of the sweat.
16. Odors?
Bad odor of the sweat
17. What is most striking or peculiar about your condition?
Ear pain and blockage, Throat is not painful but blisters, redness and swelling inside.
18. Is there a diagnosis? For instance, flu, teething, etc.
I think it due to cold
19. Describe your energy–
(no answer)
Belladonna
Pulsatilla
Rhus tox
Baptisia
Dulcamara
Carb-ac.
Causticum
Here is what one of our readers had to say:
| Solution (Perhaps) to The Sore Throat That Didn’t Hurt The following few symptoms were used to form a totality.
Pain, ear, Right side Throat, swelling, right side Nose, coryza Nose, discharge, watery Thirsty+++ for cold water Perspiration+++, offensive. As per this totality, the indicated remedy seems to be Belladonna. Although the ‘painlessness’ of the throat ailment did indicate to Baptisia, but I didnt find it covering the other symptoms so markedly as Bell. did, hence the remedy. |
I am thinking about baptisia, as painless congested throat makes me think of that , and other concomitant is offensiveness. My other d/d would be phytolacca and mercurius esp merc i f because of right sided affections and pain radiating 2 ear and thirst.
with regards,
Dr Saritha.S.
The rubric throat, inflammation painless, has Baptisia and Carbolic acid in Complete 4.5. I went back and forth between the 2 but couldn’t find a good fit to rest of symptoms. That’s when I went to larger rubric of Generalities, painlessness of usually painful complaints. Bapt has the offensive breath, thirst, worse on waking, restlessness, profuse, offensive sweat and eruptive fevers (not in throat, eruptions, vesicles and not in skin eruptions, vesicles after scratching…nor is carb-ac.). Carbolic acid fits the bill except it usually describes a state of collapse, not the restlessness of this case. So…faced with a choice from small rubric of painless sore throat , my bet’s on Baptisia.
Much better! A rubric like Throat, inflammation, painless is a gift, because when all our rubrics are uncharacteristic or contain many remedies, we can’t have faith in our selection. A small rubric like this one where one of the remedies is in BOLD means we’ve found a truly characteristic symptom of a remedy that you can take all the way to the bank!
Similar examples of this would be Nat-sulph’s “Ailments After Head Injuries”, or, Coca’s “Ailments from high altitudes”; when you see a symptom like that in a case, you breathe a sigh of relief because you’re done! Not to mention that Baptisia is a very common flu remedy where you have thirst and bad odors.
Finally, let’s look at this one:
| Answers to Ezine Quiz dated Feb`10. Hi Elaine,
Im back this month,with my answer to the quiz! That’s great! Who are you? We have a nice acute case of Mrs Macbeth of her flu.. Excuse me, that was “Lady MacBeth”, no relation to any previous “Lady MacBeth” you may have read about. On reading it,we come upon the generals & PQRS symptoms which are quite characteristic.. They are: Right side affections- ear & throat. Thirsty for lots of water. Hot patient. Wet getting- a cause to the illness. Sweat profuse and offensive. Desire spicy- inspite of the throat with blisters, red and swollen. Painlessness of the throat despite the inflammatory pathology. Constant eructations which comes in as a concomittent to the case. The irritability which is an important mental symptom coming up. Out of all these symptoms, the painlessness running through the particular sector affected inspite of the inflammatory pathology seems striking.. Absolutely! That’s what I thought too! On seeing the Complete rep: Inflamation- sore throat painless: bapt, carb ac. So far, so good. I will rule out Bapt by it being a left sided remedy Ouch! Oh! OMG! You were so close! I can see what happened, you used the Complete Repertory! I just checked it. The Complete Repertory lists over a thousand remedies in “Generalities: left”, many of them as 3’s and 4’s, including all the famous Right-Sided remedies, making this rubric completely worthless! Essentially what it seems to be saying is that EVERY remedy is left-sided! Moreover, when I tried to check the “right-sided” rubric in Generalities, it wasn’t there! Look for yourself! I believe there must be some kind of error here. So, I went to Murphy’s Repertory. And I checked Generals: sides, right–and there was Baptisia as a 3! Then I checked Sides, left–and Bapt. wasn’t there. This is why you picked the wrong remedy; what a shame! So, I think you got whacked by the Complete Repertory–there can’t possibly be over a thousand left-sided remedies, including Belladonna and Lycopodium! and acts especially on the blood,GIT, mind- where the stupor condition is more prominent olong with the typhoid condition.. Yes, it’s true, Bapt. is known for stupor and we didn’t seem to have that here. BUT, we did have two other things Baptisia is known for: the thirst and the bad odors! Now, if you look up “painless sore throat”, there are two remedies, as you said, Baptisia and Carb-ac.; but, Bapt. is a 3 and carb-ac. is a 1. Which are you going to choose? Well, if you hadn’t made the mistake about the sides of the body, you probably would have gone for Baptisia. Carb acid acts on the mucous membranes of the throat etc. characterized by painlessness, foulness,flatulence, prostration.. ( Carb ac covers our concomittent of eructations while Bapt doesn’t.) Well, actually, Baptisia is in the eructations rubric, if only as a 1, but it’s there nonetheless. So my final prescription will be for Carb acid.. Hey Elaine, if I’m right this time, wow! it will be my luck.. Just your luck to use an “incomplete” repertory! |
And now, congratulations to our winner, Dr. Saritha S.!!!!! How about a big round of applause? I hope to see all of you back here again next month.
www.hpathy.com/office/ElaineLewis.asp
Never well since shingles, mono, strep and bronchitis
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Treating Acute Illness – Making Use of Laboratory Diagnosis and Nosodes
