Acute Kidney Pain in a Woman of 81

History: This is a case of possible kidney stone in an 81-year-old female patient, who contacted me via video conferencing for her treatment. Her pathology started after the passing of her husband more than a decade ago to whom she was very attached. She already suffered from high blood pressure and insomnia for more than a decade, for which she takes allopathic medication. She is quite frail and has suffered from herpes zoster in October, 2022. For that she relied on allopathic medication as well as Apis Mel and Mercurius which relieved most of her symptoms. She suffers from constipation off and on.

20th December, 2022 – Patient suffered from acute throbbing pain on the right side in the abdominal area, extending from the kidney region at the back to the hips. The pain started suddenly around 2 pm and was so violent that the patient was crying in pain. Her pain caused nausea, which led to vomiting. Her face was clearly red and her pain worsened by touch. Moreover, she had no thirst and her extremities were cold to touch (as reported by her son).

Prescription: Belladonna 30, dissolved in water and repeated every half hour till pain subsides. According to Boericke’s Materia Medica, the Belladonna patient has characteristic symptoms of sudden and violent throbbing pain, redness of skin, no thirst, and worse by touch.

Also, cold extremities have been mentioned in the materia medica, under Belladonna. Since the case was acute, frequent repetition of Belladonna 30 was advised.

First follow up: 20th December, 9 pm: Patient reported reduction in pain by around 25%. She was not crying with pain this time. As all the other symptoms remained the same, apart from some reduction in pain, prescription remained the same. However, frequency of dosage was reduced to increase the gap between dosage to 2 hours.

Second follow up: 21st December, 2 pm: Patient reported complete pain relief and good sleep at night. She had normal thirst and appetite, though she felt pretty weak, dizzy and very drowsy. She also reported general soreness in the body. She had slow, weak pulse also. She reported feeling better with windows open, which indicated that her symptoms were better in open air.

Prescription: Since the intensity of pain had reduced considerably and the redness etc. were no longer present, Belladonna was stopped. For weakness, in conjunction with drowsiness and dizziness, as well as general soreness, Gelsemium 30 was prescribed.

Gelsemium is well indicated for weak pulse of old age. Moreover, modalities such as feeling better in open air, also helped reinforce the decision to prescribe Gelsemium. A few pills dissolved in water and repeated every two hours.

Third follow up: 22nd December, 2 pm: Patient reported considerable relief in soreness and reported that her energy levels were almost back to normal. Gelsemium was stopped and no further treatment was prescribed.

Dedication: This first case of homeopathy, is lovingly dedicated to my late grandfather, Shri V. Soami Prasad who practised homeopathy throughout his life out of passion, prescribing medicines for free to all. He inspired me to learn homeopathy.