Clinical Cases

Doctor, why did I get Sulphur ?

In a dialogue with his patient the author describes the remedy picture of Sulphur and why it has been prescribed.

Translated by Katja Schütt and Alan Schmukler

José: My dear doctor, when I was young and visited you in your practice for the first time, I was accompanied by my mother. During this first interview, which lasted for about two hours, you were listening to me and later asked some questions about my life, from the time when I was born until the day of the consultation, when I was 10 years old. To me you appeared to be very conscientious with your observations of my behavior, my birth, the diseases I suffered from during the first years, the relationship with my parents and siblings, and my food cravings etc. Do you remember that I did not enjoy bathing ?

Doctor: My dear José, all these questions I asked you about were for the homeopathic clinical history. The physician needs to know everything about your life to construct a biopathographical history and to find the remedy which corresponds to this history.

José: And why did you give me Sulphur?

Doctor: When I saw you for the first time, you were a hot child; you did not tolerate the heat of clothes and you were sleeping uncovered. You were disturbed by the heat of your feet and you even put them out of your covers in winter. You got a headache from exposure to sun, and when you had the flu one day, your head was hot and your feet cold, and you had a fever which got better from cold applications.

When I was examining you as a very young child all your body orifices were red. You liked sweets, salty and spicy foods, and especially fats. You were very hungry at 11 a.m. Your mother told me that you were often eating without being hungry, and even hidden from your parents. You did not tolerate milk and farinaceous food. You had bad breath when awakening, and perspired with bad odor, which smelled like a wet dog.

All your symptoms appeared on the left side. As a child you had white spots on your nails, and there was always dirt below your nails. Your mother came to consult me because you were suffering from asthma, which always appeared at night at which awoke you from breathlessness.You had funny dreams and were often laughing during sleep.

When you were driving in a car you could not stand to cross bridges. You were an untidy child, egoistic, and you did not like to lend your toys. You were proud and when your mother put clean clothes on you in the morning, they got dirty immediately. Because of all these facts you got Sulphur, which cured your asthma, and transformed several aspects of your life and relations, so you were better able to share etc.

José: Today, 25 years after the first consultation, and after not having seen you for 22 years, you prescribe Sulphur again. Why ?

Doctor: I believe that when the homeopath has identified the patient’s constitutional remedy, this remedy will be indicated all his life. I think this is the reality in homeopathy, apart from some exceptions.

José: But today I consult you because of my gastritis which has nothing to do with my ailments during childhood, when I suffered from asthma and which has been totally cured ?

Doctor: Homeopaths think that the disease is the expression of the disturbed vital force, which can manifest in different ways. There are many different diseases which also have a miasmatic order.

José: I don’t understand the miasmatic aspect and I’m not interested in it. But I would like to know what did help you to make the same remedy diagnosis as in childhood, and is going to cure me again 25 years after our first encounter.

Doctor: José, today the disorder manifests in different ways than in your childhood, in the opposite way. You are a very tidy person, very neat. You are an executive, who always wears an impeccable suit when coming to the consultation, but some things did not change, like the heat, your desire for sweets and salty food etc.

José: And with regard to personality ?

Doctor: Well, José. You are of a different age today, and you spoke of other symptoms like anxiety of conscience.

José: What about this feeling of guilt and where does it come from, doc ?

Doctor: Do you remember telling me that you constantly reproached yourself, that you were angry about your own mistakes, and that you were a very impulsive person, but who felt regret rapidly. All these symptoms relate to anxiety of conscience.

Today, you do not tell me about your egoistic behavior of not wanting to lend your toys, as it has been in your childhood. But now it finds its expression in your fear of poverty despite being an economically well situated man, your anxiety about business and the reappearing avarice in adulthood, which could not have been identified in your childhood. You also speak of anxiety of conscience, fear of death and lack of confidence. These characteristic symptoms form a strong image for the prescription of Sulphur.

José: Doc, I truly do not understand it. I know that my gastritis was cured after two months, and that the relationship with my wife and children got much better. I would say that I became much more supportive with suffering and modest/humble people, and that the treatment finally brought about a complete change in my life.

Doctor: This is what homeopathy can effect with the well chosen remedy – it can produce a change in the totality.

José: What is the totality you speak of?

Doctor: This is a bit difficult to explain because it is something where the psyche and the physical aspect exist simultaneously. Some authors ascribe it a place in the biological sphere and others in the psychic region. I think it is possibly a semantic problem because for homeopathy the evolution is inscribed in each person and their different expressions..

José: I still don’t understand. Why did homeopathy cure me ?

Doctor: Because I identified your symptoms with those described in the pathogenesis of Sulphur, and the similar remedy cures based on the Law of Similars.

José: Doctor, could you explain to me the Law of Similars ?

Doctor: It is the law that applies when the healing process occurs, since the symptoms that the doctor identifies in the patient agree with the symptoms of the given remedy. What I mean is that it is the true law of love, since homeopathy cures through the love of a similarity.

José: Why would you use this metaphor of love?

Doctor: Because the word love means no death; they are the paths of life that we walk in order to escape death.

José: Thank you, doctor. This is enough for today. Till the next time!

Doctor: Till the next time!

About the author

Sergio M. Rozenholc

Dr. Sergio Mario Rozenholc is a homeopathic physician, practicing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He graduated as a physician at the Medicinal Faculty of the University Buenos Aires in 1991 & as a Unicist Homeopath at Escuela Meodica Homeopática Argentina "Tomás Pablo Paschero" in 1991. He specialized in Psychosomatic medicine in 1996. Since 2000 he works at the Chirurgical center providing for clinical medicinal & psychosomatic care. He is an active member of the Liga Medicorum Homeopáthica Internationalis. He is the founder and director of the journal "El Homeopático", launched in 2001 & serves to distribute homeopathy by means of actual homeopathy articles written by famous professionals from Argentina and Europe.

3 Comments

  • Good Morning Doctor,
    such type of case presentation is very comprehensive 4 freshers like me.it is not so detailed but enough 2 uunderstand.
    thank u

  • “Why? … and why this …? … why did you …? Why doctor? … Why …?”
    One of the most remarkable patterns in the language of Sulphur is his never ending question for the “Why?”!
    There are some scientists and philosophers that shows the typical Sulphur traits (Einstein, Schopenhauer, …).

    If we would create a repertory rubric especially for scientists, then it would perhaps look like this:
    – Asks for the why: sulph(3)
    – Goes into the deep: thuja(3),sil(1)
    – Doesn’t care what others says about his work: sulph(3)
    – Lost in details: sil(3)
    – Theory with no practical appliance: sulph(3)

  • its very interesting!a nice way of explaination,specially for new comers in the field of homeopathy, thanks for sharing.

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