Homeopathy Papers

Merry’s Christmas

A case with a surprise ending!

Hi everybody!  Kelly is here to tell us about her daughter, “Merry’s”, Christmas.  Take it away, Kelly!

Thanks, Elaine!  Merry’s Christmas began with all the promise of the joyous holiday season!  I refer, of course, to my 12 year old daughter, “Merry”.

But she woke up in the morning with watery eyes, itchy, clear, runny nose that caused the skin below her nose to redden and chafe; itchy throat, some coughing and a lot of sneezing.  She also had a mild headache.  Thinking of the bland eye discharge and the corrosive nasal discharge, I gave a dose of Allium cepa, which is famous for that combination.  Poor “Merry” spent the day in misery.

She looks awful!

I had given a total of 3 doses of Allium cepa during the day.  Later in the day, she told me that she also had a red rash on her right calf that had started the day before.  As the Allium cepa didn’t seem to be working, I gave a dose of Sulphur based on the redness, itchiness, red, cracked lips and, plus, it being her constitutional remedy….  She developed a headache shortly thereafter and I noticed that she had become stuffed up.

Boy, you were just striking out all over the place!

Elaine!  We’ll never get to the end of this if you keep interrupting!  

Was I interrupting?  Again?

Ugh!  Where was I?  OK.  The headache was worse when she coughed.  After deliberating for too long, I gave the only potency of Nat-mur I had, a 200 C.  “Merry” went right to sleep and slept well all night. 

When a person takes a remedy and falls right to sleep, that’s always a very good sign!  Why Nat-mur?

The headache, worse for coughing; the dry cracked lips and the excessive sneezing led me to give it a try.  The next morning, the headache was gone (hooray!) but the cough remained and she had a little stomach ache.  She was also still stuffed up.  Merry said her stomach felt “empty”.

Stomach: emptiness sensation

…like there was a “pit” there.  She had been drinking quite a lot of ice water.  As you can probably guess, I gave a dose of Phosphorus 30 C — known for its coughs, desire for ice cold drinks and it’s in bold under “emptiness sensation” under “Stomach” in the Repertory.  Her nose remained stuffed up but the cough was better.  Her overall mood was good and she was up and around more than the day before.  This was quite a relief for me.  She had a total of 4 doses of Phosphorus.

“Merry” returned to school the next day but came home feeling miserable! 

Oh geez!  What a disappointment!

Yes!  It was!!!  Her head hurt, she had a stomach ache and her throat was quite red!

Dear God!  This case is murder!!!

I redosed with Phosphorus and found no improvement.  The headache was primarily in the temple area though it hurt everywhere.  She was better sitting and actually began to feel a little better until she stood up suddenly to answer the phone.  The headache returned full force and she grabbed her head with her hands and then sat back down.  Luckily, I was nearby pouring over the Repertory and saw the whole thing!  I looked up “Headaches: rising, after, sitting, from”.  Belladonna was the only “2” and all the rest were “1’s”.

I gave a 30C dose of Belladonna and she felt better almost immediately! 

Wow!

Her appetite returned!  Her mood improved and both headache and stomach ache vanished!

Amazing!

It was the “homeopathic miracle” we all pray for when we’re trying to help a sick child.

Elaine, I have been thinking about whether it could have been Belladonna all along.  Merry had a history of Chicken pox when she was 7.  It was a very bad case–sudden onset, high fever, complicated with cellulitis.

Holy cow!  That sounds like Belladonna alright.

“Merry” was given antibiotics.

Of course, what else?  Never mind that they’re totally useless against a virus.  It now seems apparent that they suppressed the case!  Merry may have had sub-acute chicken pox ever since!

In fact, Elaine, get this:  Every acute “Merry” has had since then seems to begin with a red rash on her right leg!

Wow.  Does the rash look like chicken pox?

Actually, it does–red and itchy. 

OK.  I don’t think this acute was Belladonna all along.  I think, that if you think in terms of Hering’s Law — that healing takes place in reverse order — then as soon as the current acute cleared up with Nat-mur and Phosphorus, the old Belladonna state came to the fore — as it apparently keeps trying to do every time Merry gets sick; and the lesson here would be that this is what happens when you use suppressive treatment to stop a disease–it just keeps coming back.  Sometimes it comes back in disguise, not as the original case, but still as the same remedy picture that occurred the first time.  Dr. Elizabeth Wright-Hubbard mentions this in A BRIEF STUDY COURSE IN HOMEOPATHY, page 10.  She says, “If the picture of a chronic disease includes a suppression, especially if the suppression is due to drugs, the chronic remedy — acting according to the third law of cure — will sometimes restore the original discharge or eruption.  The percentage of cases in which this return is from the original channel is relatively low.”  In other words, “the return of old symptoms” may not look identical to the original case, but learn to recognize it for that anyway.  When it comes back in a different place, she calls it “a compensatory vent”.

Thanks, Elaine, I think I get it! 

Maybe the “chicken pox” is finally gone now!

Yes!  We’re going to stick with Belladonna this time and blast off this chicken pox layer once and for all!  I hope this is the final chapter in “Merry’s Christmas”!

Great case, Kelly!

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

About the author

Kelly Young

Kelly Young

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