Revisiting: Fastest Flu On Record!

Mom, what are you doing?

Shana, for your information, this is a very important issue for the Quiz!

Is that soooooooooo…..

Yes, that is sooooooo…..

And why might that be?

Because, Shana, you know how we always bore our Indian and Pakistani readers with the latest news in the world of Doo-wop?

And Classic Rock?

Uh, yeah, Classic Rock; but today is different, Shana, because today we are honoring none other than–drum roll please:

Ravi Shankar!

Here he is with George Harrison of The Beatles (who also died, come to think of it. Very tragic!)

Ravi Shankar died?

Yes, and as you may know, it was Ravi Shankar who taught George Harrison to play the sitar. Because of that, an entire generation of Americans adopted the culture of India back in the 60’s and ’70’s. I was one of them!

I did not know that.

Shana, just look at our living room!

Is that not India?

If you say so.

And now I bring you George Harrison on the sitar, singing, “Within You Without You”. (India and Pakistan, this one’s for you!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4G2RlBKbrM

Click the link below and you will see Ravi Shankar giving George Harrison sitar lessons:

So much we owe to The Beatles for bringing the culture of India to the rest of the world. Thank you George Harrison and Ravi Shankar!

Mom, if the Death Report is over, who is our quiz case for this month?

ME!

You? I don’t remember you being sick!

That’s because it was over so fast, thanks to homeopathy, that there’s practically nothing to remember!

OK, let’s see if I can recall my case. It was about a month ago. I got really bad news about a death in the family. The first thing I noticed was a sudden lumbar weakness and aching. It was striking and rather unexpected! From that point on I had lower back pain. It was odd, I actually believed I had a new condition that I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life! I took Ignatia and it had a calming effect on me emotionally. (Yay Ignatia!) The back pain and weakness never went away though, I still had it the next morning and in the afternoon. In fact, I decided to take Arnica! It felt like I had been doing heavy-lifting! I started getting a headachy feeling as the day wore on. I got phone calls but I didn’t answer–didn’t feel like talking. By night time, there was no doubt about it, I was getting the flu!!!! The headache had gotten worse. It was mostly on the top of my head. I was feeling sluggish. My intestines felt weak. I kept going to the bathroom, again and again–no, no, not diarrhea; but, still, an on-going weakness leading to an urge to go. I went in the bedroom to lie down. Shana asked me questions but I couldn’t answer. I’d start to answer, but not finish. I felt better lying down. I didn’t want to get up. I wasn’t thirsty. I was somewhat chilly. I finally decided to take a remedy. (What took me so long?) I took a dose of ________________30C. I went back and laid down. Within a few minutes, I couldn’t help noticing that I was able to completely answer Shana’s questions! I said, “Look at me, I’m talking!” The backache completely went away!!!!!!!!!! The headache went away by about 50%. Not content with that level of progress, I took another dose–in water this time. My headache was then almost gone! There may have been 5% of it left. The next day, it ticked me off that the headache was still there so I took ____________200C and that was the exclamation point at the end of the sentence! Fastest flu on record! You people out there getting flu shots? Good luck; I’ll stick with homeopathy!

So what was my remedy, do you know? Write to me at [email protected] and tell me what you think. The answer will be in next month’s ezine. See you then, bye-bye!
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Votes

Gelsemium-6

Nat-mur.

Phosphoric acid-4

Baptisia-2

Nux vomica

___________________________________

Time’s up! Let’s get this show on the road! And the winner of the Feb. 2013 Hpathy Quiz is…. oh, wait; the phone’s ringing.

Helloooooo???????

Hi Elaine!

Hi Dr. Nigar!

This is Dr. Nigar from Bangalore, India.

Oh, Dr. Nigar from India!

The answer to the February quiz is Phosphoric acid.

The key symptoms being;
1. Extreme weakness.
2. Ailments from grief.
3. Lumbar pain with weakness.
4. Worse from talking.
5. Indifference to external affairs.

Thanks and regards

No. See, here’s the thing. I know Phosphoric acid is a grief remedy; but, I took Ignatia and the grief went away on the emotional plane, remember? So, basically, I no longer needed a remedy for grief at that point. Phos-ac. represents a kind of grief where the patient is despondent, “given up”; he has simply given up trying to live or get better, he no longer cares, he’s accepted the inevitable, lies and faces the wall, asks for nothing, speaks to no one. Now, that does not fit our picture, does it? What we have originally is, “Ailments From Bad News”. It’s the shock of the bad news that has created this case. So, the main remedies in that rubric are:

Calc-carb

Carcinosin

Gelsemium

Ignatia

Nat-mur.

Now, in my case, looking at these remedies, and knowing I already took Ignatia, which of these remedies do you associate with weakness, dullness and the flu? Also, I’m looking at your list and I see you’ve got “worse from talking” at #4–no, I wouldn’t call this “worse from talking”. This is more like, “person doesn’t have the energy to talk”. Also, “Indifference to external affairs” would be better stated as “Mind: indifference, fever, during.” We can’t lose sight of the CONTEXT that these symptoms occur in! For example, Indifference after blunt trauma?–a totally different context than Indifference during fever, right? And the remedy would probably be Arnica. The same symptom but a totally different context and therefore, different remedy. I’ve gotten other votes for Phos-ac. too. And what this shows me is that people are following the symptoms and ignoring the context that the symptoms are appearing in! Let me put it this way; If you want me to pick you up on Main Street, for heaven’s sake, tell me what city you’re in! What people are doing in homeopathy is focusing in on the street and ignoring the city! Knowing I had the FLU, you wouldn’t be so quick to pick Phos-ac., if you knew it was only a 1 in the Flu rubric! (Murphy’s Repertory 3rd ed.) Go to the Flu rubric FIRST, and ask, “Which one of these flu remedies has ailments from bad news, dullness, weakness, thirstlessness and chilliness?” Now the answer is obvious–Gelsemium, which is a 4 — a much better choice and far more likely to work.

Is anyone there?

Hi Elaine, it’s Maria!

Hi, Maria!

I thought of Ignatia first but as I continued reading I saw that you tried it. Hmmmmm…you were chilly, sluggish, thirstless, weak. I am thinking of Gelsemium now. It is under “Ailments from bad news” also, which is a very important factor – etiology perhaps.

So my vote is Gelsemium, but if I am wrong I will try again.

You’re not wrong, so don’t try again! Well, Maria, that makes two months in a row for you! Good going! Yes, “ailments from bad news” could have caused the whole thing!

PS: I too like the sitar very much 🙂

Thanks!!! 🙂

Is the caller there?

OK, this seems too easy – and these quizzes are never easy!

That’s how I feel sometimes!

But I will say Gelsemium. Weakness on all levels. If I repertorize the too frequent stool I get led away from Gelsemium

Not really, Sandra, because, if you’ll remember, I said that an on-going weakness sensation kept sending me to the bathroom and doesn’t Gelsemium have complete relaxation of the muscles? Look up “Muscles: relaxation” and Gelsemium is a 3. So, I think that might explain it. The intestines were “loose”, so to speak; too relaxed.

But I think the keynotes are there, the thirstlessness, the chills, the weakness and sluggishness, ailments after bad news. Plus, I live nearby and Gels has been working well for flu cases around here… So, there you go…

Sandy

Well, you are absolutely correct!

Do we have another caller?

Hello Elaine

Hello Vernetta!

I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t resist. I just had to jump to the quiz as I usually do. As you may remember I’m getting ready to leave

You’re still here?????

and I’m up to my ears. I did very little repertorising but just getting the sense of it I thought that Nux vomica seemed appropriate.

D’oh! Nux v. doesn’t match the mentals! If a case has mentals, the remedy generally has to match them. Nux is very irritable, impatient, and very hypersensitive to their surroundings–worse light, noise, odors, etc. What we see here is a lack of sensitivity, a dullness.

If this is not correct then I hope that you’ll let me know. Then I will work on the repertorising when I reach India.

No need to repertorize. It’s a flu with weakness and dullness. Ailments from bad news.

It must be Gelsemium!

Yes, exactly, it is Gelsemium!

I loved your living room!

Really????? 🙂

And the latest video clip with Ravi Shanker.

🙂 I’m so glad somebody watches the videos!

Thanks.

Vernetta Oberoi

Is the caller there?

Hi Elaine,

I think the answer is gelsemium

mind; NEWS; ailments from, agg.; bad (68)
mind; ANSWER, answering, answers; difficult (18)
mind; ANSWER, answering, answers; slowly (44)
Mind; ANSWERS, general; unable to answer (35; synthesis treasure)
mind; CONFUSION of mind (638)
mind; STUPOR; fever, during (23)
generalities; LYING; amel. (415)
clinical; INFLUENZA (212)

thank you

Sebastiano Di Salvo, MD, Italy

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! You got all the rubrics, especially “Stupor during fever”, “Ailments from bad news”; and, of course, “Influenza”. I don’t think I was confused though. “Stupor in fever” covers that symptom better. You are a very competent homeopath!

Who else is on the line?

Hello Mam,

I feel Baptisia is the remedy….

Thanks & Regards,

Dr. Nishita Gupta

Hello Doctor Gupta, good thought about Baptisia, it does have the stuporousness; but, what’s missing that might confirm this remedy? No sudden onset, no thirst, no foul odors and maybe most importantly, Baptisia doesn’t have ailments from bad news.

Hey everybody, Vamsi’s in the house!!!!!

Hi Elaine,

The Quiz -Feb – Fastest Flu on Record. I guess i had been quite late this time. Had been busy with my kids exams.

Ok coming over to the quiz.

Elaine, I see that the cause of problem is bad news.

Yes, you’re right: Ailments from Bad News!

I feel the mental debility first occurred and then a physical debility. The effects of grief and mental shock, i feel its “PHOSPHORICUM ACIDUM“.

D’oh!

Pls let me know.

Vamsi, if I cross “Ailments from bad news” with “Influenza”, what do I get?

I get our main flu remedy, Gelsemium. Then we can work our way back and see that Gelsemium is consistent with all the symptoms in the case! Does Gelsemium have weakness? Is Gelsemium dull? So, easy case, as Sandra Seaman said.

Thanks for voting! Ok, we have time for one more phone call.

Elaine, it’s Dr. Srikarp.

The remedy is…. Gelsemium! Thirstless, chilly, urge to stool, sudden onset of backache, weakness and heaviness of head, finally complaints after grief is also there; felt would get a good reply from you.

And here’s your good reply: YOU DID GREAT!!!!!

And finally, this just in from Veronique Bouan, and I couldn’t have said it better:

Hi Elaine,

Gelsenium

weakness
backache
chilly
ailments from bad news
and of course
Influenza

Maybe it’s time we congratulated our winners:

Kate

Maria

Dr. Sebastiano DiSalvo

Sandra Seaman

Veronique

and