Infertility Treatment with Classical Homeopathy – A Typical Learning Case

Background:

Hyperprolactinemia affects nearly a third of the infertile women and involves the hypothalamo – Pituitary axis. While it may be caused by number of factors such as thyroid medication, pituitary tumor etc, it can be a problem on its own. Many timeswe know that the hypothalamo pituitary axis is predominantly affected by the psychological state of the person and this is an under addressed etiology.

The Case

At her consultation on 22/5/18, a26 year old lady complained of failure to conceive even after 7 years of being married. Her husband’s reports were normal. Generally there were no other complaints except occasionally delayed periods. She had a little hair fall the last 2 years. She had dry cough – recurring every 15 days and her Prolactin was slightly high – 27. 2 ng/ml (reference range: 20 – 25 ng/ml) Her thyroid hormones were normal.

Past history showed dengue 5 years back for which she took conventional medication and she had no high fever since then. She used to have low blood pressure 3 years ago.

Family history: The only history positive for illness was that her father, who died of heart attack and he also had diabetes mellitus. Otherwise everyone else was healthy.

Generalities:

Thirst was low ++

Appetite was good

She desired salt ++ and had aversion sour ++

She had aversion milk ++ and fruits +

She was chilly thermally ++ and had increased perspiration on face, neck and palm +

Mentals:

She had MANY fears. anything you asked her she said she was afraid of it – stage fear, fear of heights, water, animals, darkness

The intense fears however were as follows:

She could not tolerate water falling on her head and face as she had to close her eyes – she felt suffocated with fear if that happened.

She would start trembling with fear if a dog came near her.

She was terrified of people quarrelling (afraid that she would get hurt).

She also slept with a light on as she was afraid of the dark.

Analysis:

Now when we see her case there is not much of a physical totality that comes through.On enquiring the root of all her fears she said that when she was very young she met with a road traffic accident and all her fears started after this episode.

This clarifies the case for us now.

Prof Vithoulkas has taught us that diseases develop in layers and it is the job of the homeopath to understand the most recent problem and what needs to be treated at this moment and select the remedy accordingly. However, he has also taught us the Levels of Health concept. This teaches us that in a very good health level, the person does not change his remedial picture much as he goes through life. That means even in old age you might see the same remedy picture indicated as he was showing in childhood. This is the case with our patient here. Though she has developed hormonal imbalance way later, the new pathology does not have a totality of its own. She still has the same fears strongly presented as they were in childhood. Such a case we know has a very good prognosis, as clearing that one layer will usually result in a deep and long-lasting cure.

Prescription: Stramonium 1M one dose

Follow Up:

16/6/18

The Prolactin level returned to normal: 21.20 (reference range: 20 – 25 ng/ml) She still had some hair fall but the cough was gone

Prescription: Placebo

21/7/18

The Prolactin was 25.91 (20 – 25 ng/ml being the reference range)

No cough; hair fall had reduced considerably; This time on asking, the patient reported the fears were a little less than before.

Prescription: Placebo

31/8/18

Increased hair fall with itching in the scalp. Generally well.

Fears were greatly reduced. She could sleep without light now.

Prescription: Placebo

Outcome:Patient conceived in December of 2018

Discussion:

When we deal with any given pathology, it helps greatly to understand the depth and complexity. Based on this understanding one can prescribe the right remedy, potency and dosage. Unlike what many people misconstrue, classical homeopathy is not about prescribing one dose of a remedy, based on mentals. It is figuring out the exact seat and nature of the disease and fitting the remedy, potency and dosage accordingly. In this case, as already mentioned, the patient was from a healthy background. Excepting her father’s illness, there was no heavy genetic load. She did not have too many diseases until the dengue treatment took away the ability to raise a high fever in her. She then started having recurrent coughs which shows that her level of health dipped down. When we saw her, she had a more complicated situation – that of hormonal disturbance. But all through these changes, the same remedy picture survived indicating a strong constitution. This gives a very good prognosis. And true to the analysis, she conceived within 6 months of the Stramonium 1 M one dose.

But, if the case were different and say had many remedies in layers and the hormonal disturbance went deeper, then, even with the same picture we would need repetitions and maybe a few more remedies in the right sequence before she could conceive, which would also take longer. Therefore, the lesson to take home in this case is not ‘what remedy’ did the trick but the idea that assessment of the depth of the pathology and addressing the exact nature of the disease (in this case pathological fears) alone can help any patient.