A Case of Wheezing with Acute Cough

A girl with severe wheezing and dry cough reported on 12/01/2013 with her mother. She could barely speak due to continuous coughing , so her mother started to speak for her.

History of Illness:  The patient was suffering from bouts of wheezing every couple months for three to four years duration. Before that she was treated by allopaths for cough and coryza every now and then.  The allopathic doctors said there was no cure and that she would have to take medicines and use inhalers for each attack.  Her mother got worried about future side effects, so she decided to pursue homeopathic treatment.

Patient Name: “C” Age: 12  – Appearance:  tall with dark skin , dry lips. The girl is very reserved and shy, and talks only with selective persons like her grandmother, father and sister and a few of her friends.  She will not talk to strangers and gives monosyllabic answers to questions asked by relatives and others.

Symptom Aggravation: Non specific, no particular weather or food agg the symptoms. Cannot lie down, sit or walk while having the attack.

Amelioration: No position amel the symptoms.

Sleep : Position straight, on back. Desire to uncover, kicks bed clothes off.  Rattling when sleeping .

Appetite good. Desires  sweets, bakery items,  sweet and sour fruits , fat, fried food.

Rx:  Bufo 30 was given on 12/01/13 depending on one unique symptom: Rubs her nose before she gets sick.  No wheezing after taking medicine. Respiration became normal within an hour or two.

Slept well. No cough or suffering on the next day.  Rx : Placebo

On 5/2/13 , She got another attack of wheezing at midnight. She woke her mother and said she couldn’t breathe. Hot water does not ameliorate cough or suffocation. There was a whistling sound on inspiration.

Bufo 200 diluted in hot water given as 3 doses, 10 minutes intervals. After 15 minutes she went back to sleep with no difficulty in breathing.

18/03/13 : Cough and coryza started and got worse day by day. Symptoms observed:  Refuses to eat because of persisting cough, refuses to answer, vomiting food when coughing, weeping silently and does not complain about suffering. Symptoms amel only when riding in two wheeler to reach the clinic. (wants to be fanned)

After trying Thuja, Drosera and Puls, I gave her Carbo veg in LM potency which worked for a while.

On 24/3/13 she came with dry cough and accelerated respiration. After struggling for a week trying to find the simillimum , I felt despair but I decided to watch and observe carefully. I saw that her facial expression did not show suffering at all. She suffered much when coughing and forgets after a while and looks relaxed. This was surprising but there were no other symptoms and she behaved as usual.

I took the rubric Mind- Light Desire for, now well, now sick (Dr. Seghal) I gave Belladona 200C and it worked amazingly.

The girl reached puberty at the end of that week and she did well until the ceremony began. She had the cough and difficult respiration that day. The onset of symptoms is always sudden. This time I wanted to be very careful to catch the underlying cause and remove the sickness totally. I asked her mother to tell me the details about the function, talks, rituals everything. I discovered that the girl was very sensitive to admonition. Just telling her to do something affected her very much. So now the rubrics were:

Mind- Sadness, harsh word, from seemingly (Knerr)

Ailments from admonition, children in (Clarke)

Rx: Med 200C on 28/04/13.

After this the patient recovered gradually. Occasionally she got sick and was cured with Bry200 (Uncovering, kicks bedclothes off- Schmidt)

Phos 1M (overgrown ,poorly developed)  I considered that her appetite is good but she looks weak and emaciated and has ailments from anticipation. These medicines are needed after a long interval, like 3 to 4 months.

She is doing well for the last nine months without any follow ups and she can even manage the board exam stress in school and is learning with great pleasure.

Conclusion: This case mostly needed only the mind symptoms, though I used to take general symptoms some times for many acute conditions. I am convinced of the efficacy of our system and proud to practice homeopathy to cure the sick.