Revisiting: “Wonder Man” Has A Very Severe Cold!

Mom, are you ready to start the Quiz?

What quiz?

The Hpathy Quiz!

Is it time for that again?

I have a few announcements to make first.

This better be good, Shana!

It’s Little Richard’s Birthday!

Little Richard’s?

And P.S., Little Richard’s big hit, “Tutti Frutti”, was in “The Brave Little Toaster”!

I should have known!

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the real king of Rock ‘n’ Roll, who turned 85 this month on December 5th, Little Richard from 1956 with his big hit, “Long Tall Sally”!  Wait a minute… I thought “Tutti Frutti” was his big hit!

Everything he did was a big hit!  Wait, Shana, before you play it, let me write out the second verse for our listeners, because it’s very hard to understand:

“Well, Long Tall Sally she’s, built for speed, she’s got, everything that Uncle John needs, oh baby, yeah baby, ooooo baby, I’m having me some fun tonight….

Hit it, Richard!

Happy Birthday and many, many more!  You’re the greatest! Always imitated but never duplicated!  And now for The December Quiz!

Mom, who’s in the quiz this time?

Remember Wonder Woman?

The one who was attacked by chickpeas?

Yes, that Wonder Woman!  Well, this is her husband.

“Wonder Man”?

I guess so….

***

Acute Case Questionnaire

Name: Wonder Man

Age: 38

Male or Female: Male

Weight: 165lbs

Height: 178 cm

Date: 10/25/2016

Email Address: ****@gmail.com

1. Describe the complaint or complaints.

Severe cold, body pain, heavy head, stuffy nose – mucous is not thick, but clear and runny, sneezing – or feel like I want to but don’t end up doing it (irritation inside my nose), sore throat – felt like a lump inside my throat when I woke up this morning but did some gargling and spat out some phlegm (mix of clear and thin but mostly thick and yellow) – feel better now. Blocked ears, hear a popping sound when I yawn.  Had 99.5 fever all night and when I woke up this morning and it’s gone up to 101 now.  Dark yellow colored urine.  Not feeling hungry but thirsty from time to time. Feel a chill throughout my body from time to time.

2. Etiology–

My son is just recovering from a viral and maybe I got it from him.

3. Sensation–

No pain in my throat when I’m not doing anything but my voice has become gruff sounding and I feel some pain at the back of my throat when I talk too much or gulp down water (even warm water)

4. Appearance–

Droopy eyes, runny eyes on and off

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

Nose, throat

6. Modalities–

Sitting up makes it easier for me to breathe, lying down on my back makes the front of my face feel heavy and nose stuffy. I went out in the cold (it was 42 F at the time with the wind-chill bringing it down to 38 F) but that did not make me feel any colder or make my cold worse.  I keep trying to clear my throat and it makes me feel better, drinking something hot hurts while I gulp it down but makes my throat better for some time after that.

7. Concomitants:

Heaviness in head, Headache with irritability, very tired, body pain, sneezing, stuffy nose, throat irritation otherwise and sore when I gulp down something.

8. Discharges–

Runny nose, clear water, lips are chapped, the front part of my face along my nose, temple, brow hurt whenever I cough or sneeze.  My ears are blocked and hear them pop when I drop my jaw to yawn.  Dark yellow urine. Spat out some thick yellow phlegm the moment I woke up in the morning, had a lot of coughing at that time.  Coughing has reduced since then – I have coughed maybe 10 times an hour on an average for the past 6 hours.  And sneezed the same number of times during this time. Running eyes on and off.

9. Generals–

I’m tired, I feel weak, I feel the chills from time to time, my nose its stuffy, the entire front part of my face feels heavy and hurts, ears are blocked, feet are cold but head and neck are warm.  I’m irritable.

10. The mentals:

Per above

11. What have you been saying?

Feel like sitting down because my head hurts if I lie down.  Don’t feel like doing anything, maybe just sit down on the recliner and watch TV (which I very rarely do otherwise!)

12. What are you doing?

Per above

13. Describe your thirst and appetite–

Not feeling very hungry since I woke up but feeling thirsty on and off.  I drink a lot of water on a usual day at work but don’t feel like doing that today – I just feel like sipping something warm/ peppery/ minty every now and then.  Don’t feel like drinking cold water, I normally always drink water (16 oz cup) with about 4-5 ice cubes in it around 5 times a day on a typical work day.  Don’t feel like today.

14. Fever?

Feeling warm, feet are cold.  Fever was 99.5 yesterday night before I went to bed, 101.5 F when I woke up and 100.5 right now (at 1415 EST)

15. Sweating?

Don’t have any body odor but breath smells bad/ stuffy.  Don’t sweat much otherwise and not sweating now either.

16. Odors?

Breath smells stuffy/ bad

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

Stuffy nose, runs from time to time, throat irritation, heavy head (facial region along my nose through to the top of my head), blocked ears

18. Is there a diagnosis?

No idea

19. Describe your energy–

Tired, weak, a bit irritated

20. What does your tongue look like? (color/coating/pattern, crack/s, shape, etc.)

Looks fine, bit of a white coating on it

21. If you have a cough, please tell what it sounds like

It definitely makes my head hurt but my cough is loose and brings up a little bit of mucous into my mouth (mostly white, not very thick with a little bit of thick yellow mucous mixed in it)

22. If you haven’t already said if you’re hotter or colder than usual, or if there’s an issue with your body temperature, like hot feet or cold feet, cold hands, shivering, etc., say it now.

Colder than usual, feel chills throughout my body maybe once every 30 min or when I pee.

________________________________________

OK, now it’s your turn!  Write to me and tell me what remedy got Wonder Man back to work the next day!  My email address is [email protected].  The answer will be in next month’s ezine.

Mom, you’re forgetting something!

What?

It’s Hanukah!  I don’t know if any of our readers know about Shari Lewis and Lambchop?

I’m just guessing nobody!

Shari was a famous puppeteer/comedian and television host. When I was little, she used to have a show on PBS called “Lambchop’s Play-Along”.  I’ll tell you about her other PBS show next year since that will be turning 20 years old in January.

Good grief.

Anyway, this is from the 1995 Hanukah special.  I remember I really loved the “potato latkes” song.  Can we have potato latkes for dinner?  Are we Jewish?

Oy vey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAGk1JVzHjE

See you next year, everybody!

Don’t I get to say good-bye too?  See you next year, with more announcements!

Aaaaaah!!!!!

—————————-

Votes:

Gelsemium-4

Belladonna

Arsenicum-3

Mercury

Lachesis

Hi, we’re back again with another exciting Hpathy Quiz Answer!  What could the remedy have been this time?  Is anybody out there?

Hi Elaine and Shana!

Hi Maria!

I had 3 remedies in mind when I read the quiz.

OK, let’s hear them!

Gelsemium, Arsenicum and Nux-v.

Nux v. is very close.  It’s irritable, cold.  It has head pain.  But what doesn’t fit for Nux vomica?

Case lacks the typical Arsenicum mentals.

Right!  Which are??????

I will vote for Gelsemium because the whole picture fits better I think.  Thirstless, heaviness, tired, droopy.

And cold!  But, why not Gelsemium?  What doesn’t fit?

If I am wrong I will try again 🙂

You’re wrong, so try again!!!!

Could it be Antimonium tartaricum?

No, I don’t see any indication for Ant-t.  Ant-t. has the well-known rattling respiration and rattling cough (but they can’t raise any phlegm), OR, they’re raising phlegm constantly with no end in sight!  Our patient is raising phlegm without difficulty.  And when asked what’s most striking about the case, he doesn’t mention his cough, just major congestion in his head.

Ant-tart. is the classic case when none of the big guns fit exactly.

But a big gun does fit!  But you haven’t told me yet why it can’t be Gels. and why it can’t be Nux v.

He has the sipping of water, irritability, the cough, the mucus, clearing throat….

He could be clearing his throat because of a post-nasal drip.

…but without the anxiety and desire for company etc. …

And that’s how we know it’s not Arsenicum.

We don’t see the apathy and sleepiness of Gelsemium.

Bingo!  And the mentals don’t match, there’s no stupor/dullness.  Gelsemium tends not to be irritable.  You hardly hear a peep out of them!  They’re just lying there, uncomplaining; or, they’re asleep.  Also, Gels. doesn’t have the head pain on coughing.

I really don’t know, I can think of Belladonna…

Yes, that’s it!  It’s Belladonna!!!!

But where is the red face?

Well, for one thing, Maria, he’s Indian!!!!!!  But he DID say he felt heat in his face, right?  Maria, here is why you should think of Belladonna, now listen very carefully:  Hot Head, Cold Feet!

When I saw that, I knew right away it was Belladonna!  Then I simply looked to see if I could confirm Belladonna with anything else in the case:  Head pain on coughing, thirstless compared to how thirsty he usually is, must sit up, worse lying down, irritated, no perspiration, and then the peculiar: chills while urinating!

And the glassy eyes?

Maria, he didn’t say he DIDN’T have glassy eyes!  Anyway, always great to hear from you, even when you’re wrong, which doesn’t happen that often!

Is anybody else here today?

Hi Elaine…

Hi Neil!

Not that confident about this month’s quiz but going for Belladonna because of hot head, cold extremities, worse lying down and worse swallowing.

You’re right!!!!  You’re absolutely right!!!!  That’s just what I did:  Hot head–cold feet, worse lying!  Also, head pain on coughing, thirstless, no perspiration, etc. and then there’s the peculiar “chills while urinating”.

Hi Elaine.

Hi Dr Abhishek Choudhary from India!

I think the remedy is probably Arsenicum alb.  (I am not sure though).  It covers the pain while swallowing and amelioration from warm drinks.  Also the patient has thirst for small quantities.

Actually, the thing to take note of here is that his thirst is considerably less than usual.  You might even say, he’s lost his thirst.

Every now and then, headache and face hurts while coughing (sinusitis probably).  Patient is also tired and weak.

Not too unusual for someone with a bad cold.  I don’t know how much importance we should attach to that.

Also I am unable to find out about the ear pop symptom while yawning.

We’re not obligated to make every symptom matter.  We’re hoping to find keynotes of remedies.  When I hear a patient say “Hot head, cold feet” that can only mean one thing:  Belladonna!  Then you simply have to check back with the rest of the case and see if Belladonna fits.  It does.  Moreover, we’ve got mentals in this case.  If a case has mentals, the remedy has to match those.  Arsenicum mentals are unmistakable!  They have a fear of death and a fear of being alone; they must have company, someone to reassure them, though they are not easily reassured, and because of that, they will insist that you stay and continually try to reassure them!  In short, they are clingy and needy–everyone’s worst nightmare!  Our patient, however, says only that he is irritable and irritated.  No hint of Arsenicum.  Now, you know, Pulsatilla is clingy and needy too.  But Pulsatilla is actually BETTER for reassurance!  They don’t make you feel trapped the way Arsenicum does; plus, the pitiful Pulsatilla actually makes you feel sorry for them and want to be of help.

Hi Elaine,

Hi Krista from Nebraska!  Welcome to the Hpathy Quiz!

I had a chance today to look at the quiz for December.  At first glance several remedies popped into my head.  I tried to remember what you said about what is characteristic in the case.  I decided that Gelsemium is the best because it has the droopy eyes, heavy head and thirstlessness which is unusual for him.

I’m glad you noticed that he was thirstless and that it was, indeed, unusual for him.

Is this important to prioritize?

Yes; thirst, or lack of it, matters.  And especially anything that’s changed from normal, unless it’s a common symptom of the disease; for instance, muscle aches in a flu patient.  Do we care?  They all have that!  We wouldn’t pay any attention to that, unless it was extreme, more than expected.

Pulsatilla is thirstless.

Right, but the mentals don’t match Pulsatilla.  And if a case has mentals, the remedy has to match them; unless, again, they’re common, or minor.

Also he has the hot head and cold feet.

Right, and that’s a keynote for what remedy?????

I only know of Belladonna.

Yes!!!!  It’s Belladonna!!!!  And Belladonna is thirstless too.  If I go to the “Fever” chapter of the Repertory, and scroll down to “dry”, Gelsemium is there only as a 1.  Not a very good score.  You know, he may have droopy eyes and a heavy head, but, he doesn’t have the dullness and dopiness of Gelsemium.  You know, Gelsemium can’t even answer you.  They say, “Huh….?”  Or they start to answer and then fall asleep, or they just stop talking.  “Wonder Man”, however, seems very present.

Nux vomica has dry fever, better for head being up.

Actually, Wonder Man has to sit up.  Worse lying down.  What remedy is that?  Is Gels. worse lying down?  No, in fact, all they want to do is sleep.

Why does he have to sit up…for cough? for nose?

He sits up because his head is full, congested; and I guess if he’s sitting, some of the congestion drains downward and his head feels less full.

When you look at a basic cold is there something you put more emphasis or prioritize first when trying to look something up?

Well, I tried to explain this once before.  The symptoms in a case are like a hand of cards you’re dealt–all out of order and random!  So what do you do?  You put them in some kind of order to see what your strong suit is!  Maybe you’ve been dealt 4 aces!  Maybe a king, queen, jack and a 10.  Maybe you’ve got all spades!  You don’t know what to make of your cards until you put them into order and see what’s most compelling, most striking about them.  In this case, what we’ve got that’s compelling is keynotes of Belladonna, chief among them: hot head, cold feet.  That’s probably the ace of spades right there!  And then, you’ve got a supporting cast of thirstlessness, head pain while coughing, dry fever, and a peculiar symptom: chills while urinating!  You can’t build a case for any other remedy!

I love the analogy about the cards.  Ya know the first class I took online was Sheri Nakken’s where she uses Miranda Castro’s book and Sheri basically teaches that the most matches to the remedy in the Repertory wins.

I would say: That’s ONE way to win!  Like I said about organizing your cards, you may find that your strong suit is that all your cards (symptoms) fall under one remedy; but sometimes, you have an Ace (a keynote of a remedy) like, “Hot Head–Cold Feet”: Belladonna! and that’s all you need to win!  Or, there may be strong mental symptoms in the case.  If they go for a particular remedy–like Pulsatilla’s pathetic crying–that’s all you have to know  because the mentals over-ride everything else!  My Tidbits article–“Repertory Round-Up part-4” will explain more fully if you’d care to read it.  Thanks for voting and be sure to come back again!

Oh look!  It’s Sarah Q from Jordan!

Hi Elaine, Happy New Year!  Wishing you and Shana health and happiness in 2018.

Thanks!  We’re freezing here right now.  7 inches of snow just left its mark!  Temperatures in the teens and dropping!

So Wonder Man looks like he has a sinus thing going on.

That’s part of it.  He’s got a fever of almost 102 F and chills, that should tell you he’s got the flu which includes sinus congestion.  Actually, his whole head is congested.  Even his ears.

He has a white coated tongue and bad breath, I am thinking Mercury.

Why don’t we like Mercury?  No thirst!  No salivating, no sweating, no intolerance to slight changes in temperature!  In fact, he went out in the cold and it didn’t affect him at all!

If not Merc, I would probably say Aconite, since winter, fever, and the ear thing.

He says he’s irritable, not sure that matches up with Aconite.  Also, Aconite is thirsty, our patient isn’t.

I am so lost on this one honestly; I think I must have switched remedies at least 5-6 times already.  All the symptoms are kind of common with the exception of going out into the cold and not being affected at all negatively, as you said.  I tried to look that up, but have no idea how I would do that.  Its not that he was better by cold, just that it didn’t make him any worse than he already was.  Even if I look at modalities, I still get about 15 choices. (Chamomilla leading the pack; he didn’t seem to be suffering enough to be a chamomilla though).  Perhaps you can tell me what symptoms stood out for you.

The first thing I saw was hot head, cold feet, and he can’t lie down, he has to sit up.  He’s thirstless and there’s no perspiration.  All of that spells Belladonna!  Then there’s the peculiar “chills with urination”.

Thanks for participating!!!!

Oh, look!  It’s the Slovakia Gang!

Hello Elaine and Shana!

Hello Miroslav and Jitka!!!!

Belatedly we wish both of you a very Happy New Year, good health, lots of money and many cases with good results.

Hear, hear!

We send our solution of the Wonder Man case.

OK, let’s have it!

We  applied your explanation from the previous case about “cities and streets” to our solutions, so our types are the same.

Miroslav says:

The “City” is the flu.

Correct!

The “streets” are: irritating nose and eye discharge, irritability, headache – lying aggravates, odorous smell from the mouth, desires hot drinks – amel.,

Yeah, well, I gotta tell ya, a lot of these streets are the roads to nowhere!  Where’s the Expressway?  Though you do make a good point–desires hot drinks, as he normally drinks lots of cold drinks with ice during the day and now he doesn’t want any.  So that’s a very important symptom, “aversion to cold water”.

Cold feet … My guess is Ars. alb

You left out “hot head”.

Jitka says:

At first reading, I was thinking about Hepar sulph, but then I found that Hepar was not in the “City” rubric (“Influenza”)

Good!  See?  There ya go!  Look how easily you can eliminate remedies that way!

So then, Arsenicum went out as most similar remedy from all 8 to 10 remedies in these rubrics.

Quotation: Arsenicum: profuse watery nasal discharge that burns the skin, nose feels stopped up; irritation and tickling in the nose, frequent and violent sneezing; nasal discharge may be thick and yellow; dull throbbing frontal headache; cough from tickle in larynx or from deep in chest, may be loose or dry; burning chest pain; chilly.

OK, well, here’s the problem.  Arsenicum has a very well-known remedy picture and Wonder Man just does not match it!  See, we have to talk about something else here besides “streets”, we have to talk about MAIN Streets!  Let’s talk about the Expressway and the Parkway, the Avenue and the Boulevard!  You’re taking us down little alley-ways and dead-end streets; roads that lead to nowhere.  Here’s the point: almost any remedy can have the symptoms of a cold or the flu: runny nose, stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, headache, sore throat….  You can make a case for almost any remedy using “small streets” like these!  You can even use symptoms like these and make a case for Arsenicum!  But, why can’t it be Arsenicum?????  Because Arsenicum has a very clear remedy picture with the flu or flu-like illness: Fear of death, anxiety about health, desperate need for company, restlessness, prostration, and also, most likely, diarrhea.

Now, the problem is, you and Miroslav apparently are not familiar with a very well-known keynote (“Expressway”) of Belladonna: Hot head, cold feet.  It’s in the Repertory under “Feet: cold, hot, head”.

Now, when you see a keynote of a remedy, all you have to do is ask yourself, “Does this remedy cover anything else in the case?  Is it in the flu rubric?  Is it worse lying down?  Is it thirstless?  Does it have an aversion to cold water?”  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!  And then, there’s the peculiar symptom, “chills while urinating”, and Belladonna is there too!

So, know your remedy keynotes, people, is all I gotta say!

Neil is our big winner this month.  Neil, you’ve won “You’re My Remedy” by The Marvelettes!  See you again next time!

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

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

Visit her website: www.ElaineLewis.hpathy.com