Revisiting: Sick Headache!

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Mom….The holidays are here!  You could be wrapping my presents while I’m making my important announcements!

Don’t I have to cook dinner first?

Yes!  Good idea!  Especially since this first announcement probably won’t mean much to you.  The co-founder of Wings died.

You’re right, Shana; nobody cares about Paul McCartney and Wings!  By the way, who died?

Denny Laine.

 

Did you say “Penny Lane”?

No, Denny Laine!

Right, Penny Lane is a road in the Mossley Hill suburb of Liverpool that Paul McCartney wrote a song about.

Mom, either buy a hearing aid, cook dinner, or sit down and be quiet as I have a lot to say.  Now, as I was saying, Denny Laine was 79 and he also co-founded The Moody Blues.  He sang lead on their first song that went all the way to #1.

Wait a minute, wait a minute!!!!  Hold on a minute!  Are you saying that the guy who sang lead on “Go Now” is dead????

Yes, that’s what I’m saying!

Well why didn’t you say so?  “Go Now” was a huge hit!  It was one of the the best songs to come out of the British Invasion of the ’60’s!

 

I don’t wanna see you go but darlin’ you better

GO NOW!

 Mom!

What a shame Denny Laine died.

That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!

Well who knew he was a member of Wings?  Geez!

Well, on another sad note, we lost Norman Lear at 101.

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played…

Songs that made the hit parade…

Mom, stop interrupting!  What my mom is trying to say is that we have a lot to thank Norman Lear for:

“All In The Family”

“The Jeffersons”

“Maude”

“Good Times”

“Sanford and Son”

and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”

Gee, I hope I haven’t left anything out….

It’s plain to see that the public had an unending appetite for shows produced by Norman Lear.  And you know why?  He was a crusader for social justice!  We’ll play an excerpt from one of his shows going out, but we shouldn’t keep Pam waiting any longer.

What?

Didn’t I tell you?  Pam’s in the Quiz this month!

On Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 01:36:08 PM EST, Pam wrote:

Hi: Elaine 🙁

I woke up with a bad headache—neck/disc issue and sinus issue, and was feeling a bit dehydrated, but NONE of my usual remedies nor drinking water are HELPING.  Here are the weird unusual symptoms with this headache, as I usually do NOT have these:

1. I feel VERY NAUSEATED. I need to eat, but any small amount of food feels as if it won’t go down past my throat. If I bend forward, the food feels like I will throw it up. 😞  I managed to get a few slices of apple and a small piece of cheese in my stomach, but that is all.
2. I feel FAINT and WEAK in even a slightly warm room, or in a hot shower! I always feel better in a cooler room, and worse in a very warm one, but the house is just barely warm right now. You know, the hot shower usually makes me better.  The steam DOES make my sinuses feel better as usual, but it is the heat that is making me feel weak.  It is not that hot in the house….64F, but we have radiator heat and it just makes the rooms too hot.  It is 38F and I had to open the window.  The cold air made the faint feeling go away.
3. ALL SMELLS are making my headache WORSE!

I usually love light fragrance, but today ALL smells are making me sick.  Even the light fresh scent of shampoo and bodywash are making my head throb worse.  ALL food smells are making me want to throw up, regardless of how light a smell it is.  Even the apple smell made me nauseated. 🙁

1. I hope you can help me, otherwise I have to take Excedrin soon. As usual, the neck/disc headache is jumping around, from one area to another, but Pulsatilla did NOT help this time.

Thanks

Pam

On Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 02:26:00 PM EST, Elaine Lewis <[email protected]> wrote:

Pam, I finally downloaded my homeopathy software.  The remedy that seems to match your case is ________________ 30C.

On Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 06:24:04 PM EST, Pam wrote:

Hi Elaine!! 😃

Hi Pam! 👋

______________ 30C worked great!!!  I only needed ONE dose!

Really?  Incredible!

Amazing, considering how horrible I was feeling from the headache pain, nausea, and weakness.  It took about 15 minutes for the nausea to stop, and about 30 minutes more for the headache to completely go away!  YAY!!!

This is your body telling you what it considers to be the most important symptom in the case.  It considers nausea worse than headache.  This is what Hering’s Law is all about:  Illnesses don’t go away all at once, they go away in order of worst (or most limiting) symptom first, then the next worst symptom and so on.

Thank you very, very much Elaine! 😊  I was able to eat without any issues.  😁  Fragrance and food smell issues have completely resolved. 👍  I was able to have a good lunch, and then I began working on the rest of the Christmas decorations, as I was now headache-free.

😊 Headaches are the worst, I’ve experienced them myself!

Thanks again!  That was quite an ordeal this morning. 😳  I was worried I might faint, and as “Mitch” would not be back from work until late afternoon…. 😱

MUCH thanks again Elaine!!!

This will make a great quiz!

Yes, it surely will!

(((Hugs)))

Pam 🌼

___________________________

Alright, that’s it everybody!  If you know the answer, write to me at [email protected], the answer will be in the January issue.

Going out, in honor of Norman Lear, here’s a small snippet of
“Sanford and Son”, featuring the legendary comedian, Redd Foxx, as Fred Sanford. 

How Redd Foxx and childhood friend, LaWanda Page, ever kept a straight face through these scenes, I don’t know!

_______________________________

VOTES

Ipecac

Colchicum-3

Phosphorus-2

 

Hello everyone and welcome back!  Who wants to be first with their Quiz answer?

Hi Elaine,

Hi, Edina!

Here’s my first try: Ipecacuanha 30c.  Am I far off?

No, I’d say you’re far on; or rather, far out!  As in, far out, man!  (Hey, I’m from the ’60’s, OK?!)  Yes, you totally nailed it!

Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

Thanks for thinking I have any! 

Oh look!

It’s Dr. Abhishek Choudhary!

Hi, Elaine.  Considering the aggravation from odors, whether it is the nausea from the smell of food or the headache aggravating due to odors, the remedy prescribed was:

Colchicum.

Tell me, am I right?

No.  I doubt that Pam even has Colchicum.  You have to look at it like this:  You’ve got a headache with the concomitant of nausea.  Try going to “Stomach: nausea, headache, during”.  Colchicum’s not there!

What do you think now?

OK, I used Kent’s Repertory to repertorize and considering all three aspects of the case i.e, Nausea with headache, better by cold air and aggravated by odors… I came to PHOSPHORUS.

Hope I am right…

Dr. Choudhary, you should not be using Kent’s Repertory.  It would be like driving a car from the ’30’s, it’s out-of-date.  No flu rubric, no mention of Medorrhinum, Carcinosin and other remedies we take for granted….

Any edition of Murphy’s Repertory would be preferable.  What do we have here, what are the elements of the case?

Headache with nausea

worse heat,

better cold

worse odors

If we repertorize this, what do we get?

We get Ipecac.  In fact, any time you hear that the concomitant in the case is nausea?  Your first thought should be Ipecac.

Ok, Thanks for explaining.  Although I use the Complete, Murphy’s and Synthesis in my practice but because you mentioned that the average person does not have Colchicum at their home, I used Kent’s Repertory (as it contains commonly used or you can say well proved remedies) and now that’s you, yourself, who is saying that Kent’s does not have remedies like Medorrhinum and Carc. or any nosodes (which I believe again not everyone has at their home)…so your statement is a bit contradictory.

Huh?

But I get it what you are saying.

You have beautifully explained the crux of the case that yes in every case where Nausea is concomitant then we must first think of Ipecac….

Right!  Let’s stick with that!  You know, I probably never should have said it can’t be Colchicum because it’s unlikely that Pam has it.  It should be of greater importance to us that Colchicum isn’t in the rubric “Stomach, nausea, headache, during”, it would be better to reject it for that reason and not because Pam probably doesn’t have it.

Thank you for your reply.

 

Hello… Elaine?  My Answer is PHOSPHOROUS.

Thanks, Shivani.  No, it wasn’t Phosphorus.  There just aren’t any keynotes of Phosphorus in the case.  What we have here is a case of headache with nausea as the concomitant.  Modalities are: worse heat, worse odors, and better cold.  She says the nausea is really bad; but, if we go to “Stomach: nausea”, Phosphorus is only in italics.  There are about 30 remedies in Bold and about five that are Bold/Underlined.  We would probably be wanting one of those.  You know, if you take almost any complaint where the concomitant is nausea?  What is the remedy likely to be, what would be our first thought?

Thanks Elaine for the correction.  One more try:  Is Sulphur  is the remedy?

I don’t see many keynotes of Sulphur in the case.  What keynotes of Sulphur would we be looking for?  First of all, Sulphur is fire.  We expect to see burning sensations and aggravations from heat in Sulphur.  Burning red lips; burning hot feet, worse hot showers/warm rooms—though she did say that heat was bothering her more than usual….Is that why you picked Sulphur?  But, Sulphur doesn’t seem to be bothered by the smell of food.  I’m looking under “Stomach: nausea, food, smell of” and Sulphur isn’t there!  That was a big part of the case.

I am looking forward to the answer.  It’s interesting.

Be sure to check “Revisiting: Sick Headache!” in the January issue!

With warm regards,

Dr.Shivani Lakhtakia

Hyderabad, India

 

Hey everybody, Vamsi’s in the house!!!!

Dearest Elaine…

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024 to You and Dear Shana too………..🌟🌟🎉

HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT START..

Thanks, Vamsi, happy new year to you too!

Want to get back to my decision of answering the Quizzes.  Hope I continue relentlessly without any exigencies.

Ok, SICK HEADACHE

Striking symptoms which I see:

1. ALL SMELLS seem to make her heachache worse..
2. Another striking symptom – neck/disc headache is jumping around, from one area to another,

( Rheumatic conditions changing from one place to another.)

COLCHICUM is very sensitive to smells and is nauseated by all kinds of smell, and has changing rheumatic locations.

Would go for COLCHICUM.

Please let me know and looking for yet another wonderful journey with you this year too.

Thanks a bunch and lots of love..

Vamsi.

Vamsi, you’re very close.  It’s true, Colchicum is worse from odors.  But what is the worst thing in the case?  What did she list as Point-1 when giving her symptoms?

Hi Elaine.  Yes the Worst thing was – She is unable to swallow small amounts of food and it looks like she will throw up if she bends forward.

Vamsi, the worst thing was “Nausea”—“very nauseated”, she said.  That was the worst thing.  The failure of the food to go down, per se, wasn’t the worst thing.  We really don’t know why the food wouldn’t go down; but, the truth is, most people with nausea can’t eat.  It would be very peculiar if a person with nausea was able to eat!

And if this symptom is taken into consideration (can’t swallow)…is it Throat Paralysis?  And if so, it would indicate CAUSTICUM….paralysis of individual parts.

Please let me know, dear.

Let’s look at the elements of the case.  Here is how we would state it.  Note that we start with diagnosis and the concomitants, followed by the modalities:

Headache with nausea, weakness, faintness and sensitivity to odors; worse heat, better cold, worse smell of food.

Here’s our repertorization:

Now, it might be easier to simply state that when you’ve got nausea as the concomitant, whether it’s a case of menstrual cramps or headache or asthma or whatever it may be, our first thought should be Ipecac.  If we give Ipecac and it doesn’t work, then we can start digging into the weeds.  But more often than not, it’s going to be Ipecac.

But, if Ipecac contradicted the modalities?  For instance, if Pam was better heat/worse cold (like Arsenicum) then we might want to change our minds and switch over to Arsenicum.  Robin Murphy always used to say, “Don’t go against the modalities!”  But here, fortunately for us, Ipecac is worse heat, better cold/fresh air like Pulsatilla.  In fact, Ipecac is an awful lot like Pulsatilla in terms of being worse in a warm, closed room, better fresh air.

Elaine, I understand that Ipecac is very good for Nausea, but Ipecac has other prominent symptoms of disordered stomach and constant cough which produces Nausea and Vomiting.

Why are you concerning yourself with the other symptoms of Ipecac?  Ipecac has a lot of symptoms, as do all remedies.  It has hemorrhaging of bright red blood, whooping cough, dyspnea with wheezing and so on; it’s never our goal to match every symptom of a remedy to a case and then say, “Uh-oh!  She’s not hemorrhaging, it can’t be Ipecac!  Oh no!  There’s no wheezing, it can’t be Ipecac!”

What we do say is, “Our patient has a headache with nausea, does Ipecac have headache with nausea?  Yes.  Our patient is worse heat with a feeling like she might faint, does Ipecac have that?  Yes.  Our patient has an aversion to food, does Ipecac have an aversion to food?  Yes.”  And so on.

Now, you mention Colchicum being very strong for aggravation from smell of food, which is true.  But guess what?  Colchicum is cold and desires heat, just the opposite of our patient!  Our patient is worse from heat.  And if you go to “Headache, nausea during”, Ipecac is a 4; Colchicum isn’t there at all, a zero.

Nausea during headache: that’s the chief complaint!  The nausea is the worst thing; and the proof is, after the remedy was given?  The nausea went away first!  Not the headache, the nausea!  Why?  Because according to Hering’s Law, the worst thing almost always goes away first!

Paul Herscu says, “Your remedy has to match the worst thing.”  He gives the example of a patient who loves eggs and eats eggs every day; and you’re thinking, “Oh!  I know what that is!  It’s Calc-carb!”  But the worst thing in the case: the patient hears voices that insult and criticize him; well, that’s not Calc-carb, that’s Stramonium!  And that is clearly more serious than the desire for eggs; so, that patient will get Stramonium.

So, sure, Pam has a marked aggravation from the smell of food; but that’s not the worst thing.  The worst thing is nausea.  The nausea was worse heat—Colchicum is not worse heat.  The nausea was worse for smell of food, Colchicum goes for that but so does Ipecac.  In Murphy’s Repertory, go to the Food chapter and scroll down to:

“Aversion to food, smell of”

Ipecac is in Bold!  And you know what?  Just parenthetically, Ipecac is worse for TALKING about food too!  Don’t even mention food to an Ipecac person!

Probably the main thing that goes against Colchicum is that in the rubric “Headache: nausea during”, Colchicum isn’t there.  What Colchicum seems to be known for is hypersensitivity to odors; but in fact, Colchicum is hypersensitive to all impressions, just like Nux vomica is!  It’s hypersensitive to rudeness, to light, to odors, to noise… and is very cold, just like Nux vomica, and wants warmth!

In fact, if I could make a fine distinction here: Colchicum seems to have nausea from the smell of food, Ipecac has nausea from headache, WORSE for the smell of food!  So, in other words, if you have a headache with nausea, chances are you do not need Colchicum but you do need Ipecac.  Now, if the modalities contradict Ipecac, then you might want to look for a better matching remedy.

As I may have said earlier, no matter what the diagnosis or disease?  If the concomitant is nausea?  Chances are the remedy is Ipecac!  Look at what Robin Murphy says:

“Wherever ailments are associated with the presence of constant nausea, Ipecac is very likely to be of use.”

Here is what Allen’s Keynotes says about Ipecac, and in all capital letters:

“IN ALL DISEASES WITH CONSTANT AND CONTINUAL NAUSEA.”

All diseases!  So, no matter what the diagnosis is, Allen says, if it’s accompanied by constant nausea?  It’s Ipecac!

Now I am a bit confused.  When there is severe Smell sensitivity, why was Colchicum not considered…??

Should we not prioritise based on the most prominent and striking symptoms?  And I see she is very particular about the smell and nausea too.

So smells inducing nausea is what I considered when I repertorised and zeroed in on Colchicum…

Elaine Please help me understand!!

Well, I tried, is all I can say…..

You tried and tried exceptionally well.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Thanks for taking the time to explain to me so vividly.

Now I am able to understand the fine nuances of remedy selection.

It’s always a challenge!

Your explanation has given a new perspective in my approach.  I truly understand the case now and really appreciate your keen intellect in selecting the Correct remedy.

This will stay with me forever…

IN ALL DISEASES WITH CONSTANT AND CONTINUAL NAUSEA.

You touched on so many keen points too.

New learnings are always interesting.

Yes, so true; thanks Vamsi!  Oh look!  The gang from Slovakia is here!

 

Hello Elaine and Shana,

Hello Miroslav and Jitka!

to begin with, we would like to wish you a lot of happiness, health and success in your homeopathic work for the New Year 2024.

Thanks, I could use it!

Our answers to your last quiz from last year are as follows:

Miroslav´s answer is Phosphorus.

Headaches, nausea with

Headaches, warm room aggravates

I would try Phosphorus.

Miroslav, let’s look at the two rubrics you chose.  Headache with nausea, worse warm room.  Let’s see what we get.

Do you see what we have here?  We have a 6-way tie for first place!  We have no definitive answer!  So, we’ve got an incomplete case.  What are the elements of this case?

 

1. Headache with nausea
2. Warmth agg.
3. Warmth makes her feel like fainting
4. Better cold air
5. Aversion to food
6. Aversion to the smell of food
7. Sensitive to odors

So, let’s repertorize this:

The winner, and it’s not even close, is Ipecac.  Now, here’s the other thing, Miroslav; there’s not a single keynote of Phosphorus in this case!  Do we really want to pick Phosphorus with no burning thirst for ice cold drinks?  No desire for cold food, like ice cream?

Now, everybody, listen to me and remember this:  When your case has a concomitant, and it’s nausea, the first remedy you should think of is Ipecac.

Jitka anwers: Colchicum

The first remedy that came to mind was Colchicum.  I remember it as one of the most sensitive remedies for odours and frangrances, which cause nausea.

I found in the “Food” chapter the rubric :

Food, Aversion/dislike to food, smells food :

There are 16 remedies in this rubric, only four are in bold:

COCC. COLCH, IP, SEP.

Cocculus is more for nausea from travel, Ipecac is a good remedy for nausea that is constant…

Well, hold on a minute, Jitka; isn’t that what she has?  Constant nausea?  She says she is “very nauseated”.  To me that suggests the nausea is constant.  If you’ve got a case with nausea and aversion to smell of food, and you’re between Colchicum and Ipecac, how are you going to choose?  Well, guess what?  Colchicum is better for warmth and Ipecac is worse for it!  That was a big part of the case: worse hot showers, worse in warm house, was afraid she would faint….  Here’s what Murphy says under Ipecac:

Summer heat or hot room causes fainting.

And here’s what Pam says:

Thanks again!  That was quite an ordeal this morning. 😳  I was worried I might faint, and as “Mitch” would not be back from work until late afternoon…. 😱

***

Well, listen everybody, I think it’s time for us to congratulate our winner.  Edina, come on down!  You’re the Winner of the December Hpathy Quiz!!!!

Be sure to give this month’s quiz a try, and we’ll see you back here in a month!

Bye-bye!

____________________________________

Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom

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

Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com