Case Quizes Clinical Cases

Revisiting: The Seven-Hour Headache

Did you get the right answer to last month’s quiz? Revisiting: The Seven-Hour Headache

Mom, it’s time for the quiz.

What, again???

I guess we should start with the Death Report.

So soon?  Well, if we have to…

There’s no easy way to say this.  The King of the Blues, B.B. King, died at age 89.

It’s the end of an era, Shana!  He lived a long life, had a 70 year career and was still singing ’til just about a month before his death, he was on the road constantly, he was the most successful blues singer of all time, he was beloved in all parts of the world.  Do you realize this is the end of the blues?  A genre has become extinct!  They’re all gone now! Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Johnny Taylor, Bobby Blue Bland, Denise LaSalle, Little Milton, Ray Charles, Z. Z. Hill…Who else was there?  Guitar Slim, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Mississipi John Hurt…

Mom, I think we get the idea, they’re all gone now.

Well trust me, they’re all gone, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Tarheel Slim, Buster Brown, Slim Harpo…

Mom, we’ve got it.

All gone.  It’s fitting that the King of the Blues was the last to go.  It’s shocking.  The Blues. Dead, no more.  Yeesh!  Here’s BB King with his biggest hit, “The Thrill Is Gone”.

I think he died from complications from diabetes.  I remember seeing him on that one episode of the “Cosby Show”.  I think he used his real name, Riley, for his character.  I saw the Classic Rock circles responding to his death, Eric Clapton said, “He was a beacon for all of us.”

There’s MORE unfortunate news.

What is it now?

David Letterman retired from the Late Show.

It’s the end of an era (again)!  He’s been doing late-night television for 33 years!

I loved his last monologue featuring Homer Simpson laughing at Dave’s pencil throwing/window-breaking shtick.

And what’s even better is how my favorite talk show host, Conan O’Brien, thanked Dave for saving him from obscurity.

Again with Conan O’Brien???

And, well, let’s have dear old Coney say it for himself.

Dear old Coney???????  OMG.

Do you understand how much my love and respect for Conan has skyrocketed at this point?

No one cares, Shana!!!!

It’s got to be off the charts by now.  He literally told his viewers on Letterman’s last night to turn him off and go watch Dave!  Then he and comedian Patton Oswalt proceeded to act like idiots, spilling water and knocking things over because, presumably, no one was watching, so, what was the point?

Indeed, no one was watching.

In happier news, now that we are in the month of June, there are only two months left until the James Taylor concert at the Borgata.

Oy vey!!!!!!!!!!!

Whose case do we have this month?

“Cara” is here with a headache, which somehow seems appropriate.

How nice. I have to go watch “The Brave Little Toaster” now.

Dear God!!!!!  OK, so here’s Cara reporting on her rather unusual headache:

****************************

Elaine, it might have been a shorter headache but I had to deal with the septic tank fiasco, “Joe” showing up, getting our septic tank emptied, and (hopefully, knock on wood) our plumbing issues resolved, which have lasted for 9 months now!

I’m starting to get a headache too!

Yesterday was “day 2” of my cycle, and my body apparently decided to do nearly all of its bleeding in a 24 hour period. It was the heaviest I have ever bled, in a short amount of time.  This is not typical for me at all.  By the end of the night, I was zonked and got super-irritable, so I took Sepia 30c before I fell asleep.  In the night I could tell I had bled more and so I took Phosphorus 30c while half-asleep because it was beginning to concern me how much blood I was losing.  I woke up with an occipital headache.  A cup of unsweetened white tea (caffeine) did not help.  My headache was so severe that I forgot to eat breakfast until about noon, at which time I made a smoothie.  It felt like the sort of headache I get right *before* a period starts; but I got no such headache before my period this time (or in recent cycles).  So it was definitely hormonal, though I wondered if it was caused by the heavy bleeding.

I took a dose of Nat-mur 30c but it didn’t help.  The bleeding is very minimal today; it really was a sort of major 1-day bleeding session.  It was not dark and clotty; it was pretty bright/fresh looking, which was another reason I chose Phosphorus.

Sabina has bright red blood also.

After Nat-mur, I tried Nux-vomica 30c.  The headache then nestled all in the nape of my neck and I did not feel it in the back of my head anymore. So I tried Gelsemium (thinking of how stuporous and dull I was feeling, could not think) and the headache disappeared from my neck and landed back in the back/base of my head again!  So it felt like I was just chasing it around but not resolving it.

It was really hard to think; I didn’t want people chattering at me; it just felt oppressive.

I jotted down some other contenders based on different rubrics in Murphy’s repertory.  Then I got on abchomeopathy.com and tried repertorizing.  Then I took the trash outside.  It is in the low 80’s today and breezy; idyllic!  When I went from the air conditioned house to the outside warm air, my headache eased momentarily!  Realizing also that I had been uncharacteristically chilly all day, I decided to take _________30C, 3 pellets.

Hey it has been a few minutes and I just got caught up in reading an article online and forgot I had a headache!

Wow! That’s incredible!

I am “testing” it by being aware and seeing if I still have something going on but I don’t think I do! RELIEF!!!  That headache was nearly 7 hours long!

Kent says “The ______________ headaches are stupefying, they are benumbing; they bring on confusion of mind.”  I did say stuporous in my description!  I said a few times how I couldn’t think!  Which is the ultimate irony, having a headache and trying to focus on rubrics.

Ugh!  Trying to read with a headache!  The worst!  OK, everybody, if you know what the remedy is, write to me at [email protected].  The answer will be in the July issue!  Bye for now!
———————————-
Votes

Calc-carb-9

China

Sulphur

Helleborus

***************

 Well, you know what?  From the looks of it, we seem to have a lot of very smart people here at Hpathy.com, a lot of winners this time, but you know what I found out?  People are “solving” the case by googling the quote from Kent!  (Good grief!)  OK, line up cheaters, who’s first?

Hi Elaine and Shana!

Oh look, it’s Miroslav and Jitka!

I hope that you are looking forward to our answers…

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing…

…just as we are always looking forward to your quizzes… 🙂

Aww……

Here are our answers:

Miroslav says: Helleborus

Rubric . Headache, stupefying, staggering, occiput – Helleborus

But he left out the strong modality in the case.  He left out the etiology, he left out the concomitants…

Jitka: says: Calcarea Carbonica:

You are correct!

I compared crisscross rubrics and remedies, but none exactly fitted into the picture of this case.  Finally, I used a very unprofessional way to find the remedy.

You did?

I put to Google what Kent said about this remedy: “The ______________ headaches are stupefying, they are benumbing; they bring on confusion of mind.“  The first link on Google was Kent’s Lectures on MM and the remedy with these symptoms is… Calcarea Carbonica!

Is this how we’re solving cases now?

Subsequently, I found rubrics in Murphy’s Repertory in the “Headaches” chapter and in Kent´s Reversed Repertory under Calc-carb:

Head, pain, occiput, extending, upward

Head, pain, stunning, stupefying

Head, pain, stunning, stupefying, motion, and rest, during

Head, pain, stunning, stupefying, reading, while

You know, we’re blowing the “problem with reading” way out of proportion.  No one can read with a headache!  Am I right?  I know I can’t!

Head, sensitiveness of brain, menses, before

No, no, this is going a little too far afield.  We don’t know if she has sensitiveness of brain, I don’t even know what that means; and it wasn’t before menses, it was the first or second day of menses.

Mind, confusion of mind

Even in the event that my answer will be correct, I´m not sure if I deserve such a nice song like last time…

Well, Jitka, to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that most of our right answers were arrived at the same way; so, an appropriate song will be forth-coming!

I have come to the result by such a simplified manner… 🙂 

Yes, it’s called cheating!

Best wishes Jitka

 

Hey everybody, Vamsi’s in the house!

Hi Elaine,

WOW!! its soooo nice to be back.

We missed you for sure!

Had been away from Hpathy for a long time.  My Mother-in-law underwent an emergency hernia surgery (Incisional & Strangulated)

I hate it when that happens.

And I had been taking care of her hospitalisation till her recovery.  She is fine now.

Good!

And I am back to hpathy.

Ok coming over to this month’s quiz, quite interesting.  I will try to crack it.

The keyword is “chilly”,

Yes, you’re right, she made a big issue out of that, saying she wasn’t normally that cold.

and she had a congestive cold headache, which was relieved when she came out from the air conditioned room to a warm weather.

That’s the important fact!  Warm weather amel.  An important observation, yes, thank you!

She must have administered “Calcarea Carbonica”.

Yes, you are right!  Good for you!

Calcarea is also a great oculist, this must have eased her reading exertion, because she was unaware of the headache after she took her dose of 30c.  Kindly provide your valuable comments.

Well, I’m not sure how valuable they are….”Headaches: warm, weather, amel.” only lists one remedy– Calc-carb!  The modalities are soooooo important in a case!  And then she was also chilly as you pointed out, which also goes for Calc-carb, and she had difficulty thinking, which goes for calc-carb….so….Calc-carb it is!

Thanks a lot, Elaine, you made my day!

Vamsi

 

I see my soul brother from Australia is here!

Hi Elaine,
I think the answer to this month’s quiz is Calcarea Carb.

You are correct, sir!

This was not an easy one!

No it wasn’t!

I repertorised:

Anticipation, general chill, from

No, that just isn’t part of the case.  There’s no anticipation, and certainly not from chill.  Look, let’s take a step back and get the big picture.  What do we have here?  A tremendous hemorrhage, a profuse loss of bright red blood, which in the morning resulted in an occipital headache with two concomitants: chilliness and confusion, and a single modality–better warm weather.  That’s it!  There is nothing else to this case.

Warm, open air ameliorates.

I’ll bet that’s a big rubric. You looked in “Generals”, right?  See, if you had gone to the “Headaches” chapter and scrolled down to “Warm”, you’d have seen Calc-carb as the only remedy under Warm Weather amel., and you’d have been pretty much done at that point.

Menses, general; profuse, coldness of the body with

Now, here’s the trouble with that rubric. There are only 3 remedies listed–Nux v., Silica and Coffea.  The main rubric, “Menses, profuse”, is a large rubric and there are many, many chilly remedies there, making this subrubric terribly incomplete!  For one thing, the chilly Calc-carb should be there!  So should the chilly Sepia, the chilly Arsenicum, the chilly Cocculus, the chilly Mercury, the chilly Veratrum, etc.!  So because of that, I wouldn’t use that subrubric at all.  Now, maybe we are to take this subrubric literally, as in the BODY is cold!  Sometimes you’re chilly but your body is not necessarily cold to touch!  Since we don’t have this information about the patient, I would stick to the main rubric, “Menses, profuse”.

Menses, general; profuse, menopause during

I don’t think she’s actually menopausal.  She might be pre-menopausal.  I read the case over 3 times and didn’t see the word menopause.

Menses, general; short, too

I don’t think that was the problem.  No one’s mentioned etiology yet.  Clearly there was a tremendous loss of blood.  If you have Murphy’s Repertory, 3rd ed., go to the Clinical chapter, scroll down to “blood, loss of blood, ailments from”–and though China and Ferrum are the main remedies, Calcarea is there as a 2.

Confusion, mental

That is such a big rubric, with over 300 remedies, it’s actually meaningless. What would be great would be if there were a subrubric “Confusion, headache, with”; well, there is such a rubric, but, Calc isn’t there!  Personally, I think it’s a mistake!  And yes, there are mistakes in the Repertory!  For instance, Calcarea isn’t listed in the Procrastination rubric, and Calc is the biggest procrastinator of all!

Occiput, headaches, pain general; menses during

Good, that’s a good one!

Haemorrhage; blood bright red

Good.  In Murphy’s it’s “Clinical: bleeding, bright red blood”

The top 9 remedies were, nux-v., bry.,sep.,ars.,bell.,nat-mur., phos., calc.
Many of those remedies had been tried without result.  Others just did not match because of symptoms.
Calcarea Carb., although the numbers were not high, and appears weak in repertorisation, had haemorrhage, bright red blood, occiput headaches, mental confusion, profuse menses and open air ameliorates.

The important fact was WARM weather, if she had walked outside into cold air, there would have been no amelioration, I assume.

In addition the clue you gave about Kent’s headache description confirms this prescription.

Well, for me, I just looked up “Headaches: warm, weather, amel.” and calc-carb was the only remedy!  Ta-da!  And then, all you have to do is go back and see if Calc-carb covers the rest of the case and, yes, it does cover the rest of the case, so, there you have it! Modalities are very important!

Best wishes Wayne

 

We have time for one last participant.  Why?  Because it’s time for my snack!  So, who wants to come to the microphone?

Hi Elaine and Shana!

Hi Maria!

For this month’s quiz I vote for Calcarea Carbonica.

You are correct!!!

I looked at Murphy’s Repertory and under stupefaction/during headache Calc was not there…

Maria, I wouldn’t go so far as to say “stupefaction”.  That sounds a little extreme.  Go to Mind: dullness, headache, with.  Calc is there as a 1.

…neither was it there under confusion/with headache.  However, it was only in 1st grade under dullness/with headache among maaany others.

Oh!  So you did see that rubric!  OK!

I know, repertories aren’t perfect… Anyway my point is that I wouldn’t have found it in a million years.

And yet somehow you did!

The rubrics for the cold air aggravation, chilliness or the menses, etc. have so many remedies under them.
I would love to see a screenshot of the repertorization she made!  Wow, if it wasn’t for Kent’s quote …

OK, that just about does it!  Enough with Kent’s quote, already! 

Let’s congratulate our winners (or should I say our “googlers”):

Maria, Wayne, Vamsi, Jitka, Dr. Soniya Bhagchandani, Zoe, Shweta, ABH, Anurag and Parinita.  Here’s your appropriate song, “The Cheater”!

 

______________________________________

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.

Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: elaineLewis.hpathy.com

About the author

Elaine Lewis

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine is a passionate homeopath, helping people offline as well as online. Contact her at [email protected]
Elaine is a graduate of Robin Murphy's Hahnemann Academy of North America and author of many articles on homeopathy including her monthly feature in the Hpathy ezine, "The Quiz". Visit her website at:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/ and TheSilhouettes.org

About the author

Shana Lewis

Shana spices up the Hpathy Quiz with her timely announcements and reviews on the latest in pop culture. Her vast knowledge of music before her time has inspired the nickname: "Shanapedia"!

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