COVID-19 in a Woman of 44

A 44-year old female Indian patient living in UK consulted Dr. Prajakta Vaidya and Preety Shah for her symptomatology due to COVID19. She is a Registered Nurse and is working with COVID19 patients. She was referred to us by an existing patient who was a suspected COVID19 patient with severe pneumonia-like symptoms who was helped with homeopathy.

Day 1, 19th Apr   Came back from hospital with cold & low temperature, tiredness

Day 2, 20th Apr   Mild cold & low temperature, fatigue continued

Day 3, 21st Apr   Asked to leave her hospital duty as symptoms aggravated

Day 4, 22th Apr   Breathlessness, fever with rigors

Day 5, 23th Apr   High fever & breathlessness- hospitalized – started on Antibiotics.  She tested positive for COVID-19.

Day 6, 24th Apr   Discharged.  The same night an attack of excessive sweat, breathlessness & tiredness

Day 7, 25^th April: First Homeopathic Consultation on Skype:

Patient was not able to talk much. Her speech was so slurred that we were not able to understand much. She was hardly able to speak …as if words were not coming out (short video clip – of not much use)

History given by the husband:

She doesn’t have the energy to talk. She is extremely tired. She is unable to pronounce words properly. The problem is she is unable to talk properly. Voice is not coming out.

She was ill from last Sunday, she had normal cold, no cough nothing. No other COVID19 symptoms. Normal cold, little bit nose running. Then she went for duty on Friday, Saturday also. Sunday morning (19^th Apr) she had cold, from ward and they sent her home. She was tired so she rested for a couple of days.

Then on 23^rd Apr she was too much tired, while talking she was wheezing, while walking wheezing was there. While lying she was okay. She had high fever.

So, when I called the hospital, they asked to take her to Emergency. They discharged once all other lab investigations and X-RAY came normal. Kept her under observation for 1 day.

Hospital Discharge Summary 1: (first hospitalization)

“They gave her some Antibiotics- ? Amox may be. 3 doses, they gave some blood thinner. Then she was discharged as lung is clear there is no problem and she was okay.

When we came home, she was okay. We had dinner together. She took one paracetamol and we slept. She slept in a separate room. At 3 am I heard her scream. When I came running to her room. She was standing at the door.  She said, she is feeling dizzy.  She was feeling breathless and suddenly she collapsed on the floor. She didn’t look okay and she was responding but not properly.

She was like unconscious. We will ask her questions, she will say “Hmmmm”. By the time I called the Emergency and paramedics came home it took 10-15 mins. She was sweating a lot that time.

When they came home, her SPO2 was normal- 93, 94, 95%.  Then paramedics examined her, asked her some questions, she was able to respond and she could walk back to the bed herself.  They wanted to check her name, DOB, year, address to rule out stroke maybe. They checked her blood glucose. She was all clear.

She had cup of tea and she slept around 4am”

The husband continues to say “She woke up at 8 am today, took breakfast, took paracetamol and slept again. Now, she is just lying and watching TV.  The problem now (present time when they consulted us) is that she is tired and she cannot talk properly. She is talking in a broken way. If she has to say my full name XXX YYY…She will say XXXXXXX………..YYYYY. It looks like she has too much weakness. Maybe that is why she is talking like that. As if too much tired, weakness…when she is talking, she has to take long pauses”

D: You said she is better when lying down (wheezing) < walking, talking?

P:   Yes, better while sleeping. She always sleeps on one side- Right or left. That is her comfortable position in general too. Nothing different right now.

D: Any mental changes:

Perfectly fine. Only thing is tiredness. She doesn’t have any behavioral change. No fear or anxiety. She will say “I am fine, only my voice is a problem”.

D:  Anything you can tell about her nature in general?

P: She is a normal lady. Lovely lady. Nothing wrong in her nature 😀

She is a very strong person. Very independent. During COVID time also she is working in hospital. Not scared or anything. She did not want to get admitted, as she thinks it is quiet boring.  I put a TV in her room so she is watching all Indian channels, movies, Kapil Sharma shows and passing her time.

App: Not hungry.

Thirst: 2 liters throughout the day. She is in general thirsty. She had 1 bottle of water today, lemon juice, She had some ginger, mint concoction.

Chilly.  She is always Chilly, even if she has no fever. If everyone needs 1 blancket, she will need two. She will wear a sweater at home, when I am only wearing T-shirt.

The only medication she is taking is Paracetamol. She has mild headache. Temperature at the moment is 37.1

As the patient was based in UK and we were in India, with the lockdown, it was difficult to find the remedy and get it for the patient. Several homeopaths helped in this endeavor. However, before she could get the homeopathic remedy, the patient deteriorated as below:

Hospital Discharge Summary 2 (Second hospitalization)

Day 11: 29^th April – Remedy was found and given to the patient.

Case Repertorization:

There were three remedies that were going through our mind – Camphora, Phosphorus and Gelsemium because of the symptom presentation and repertorization. Phosphorus came high in repertorization, but the sudden collapse and complete exhaustion made us think of Camphora. We also know Gelsemium, as a good remedy for weakness, paresis and loss of speech, so even though Gelsemium did not come in the reportorial sheet, we wanted to study all these 3 remedies before finalizing.  We studied these 3 remedies on Reference work and below are some key pointers:

The main presenting complaint for the patient was “SPEECH”, “WEAKNESS” & “EFFECT ON RESPIRATORY”

Speech:

Camphora from Reckeweg, which summarizes and confirms the selection of Camphora:

These are seen first of all in slowing of the pulse, pallor of the skin and lowering of body temperature there is later there is a reaction, with quickening of the heart -beat and raising of the body temperature.

Camphora is also indicated at the beginning of colds e.g. in acute fluent coryza with increased discharge of watery mucous from the nose with or without sneezing.  However, it is also indicated in congestive coryza and catarrh irritations of the laryngeal and tracheal mucosa, with short dry coughs and constrictions in the chest. Camphora is always indicated when death threatens through rapid depression of neural activity or pulmonary or cardiac activity

Based on the study, Camphora was clearly indicated.

Prescription:

• Camphora 1M was given in water dilution
• 1 spoon every 1 hour for 3 days.

Based on the study, Camphora was clearly indicated.

Follow-up