Clinical Cases

Two Quick Cases of Arnica or Why You Should Always Have Arnica in Your Pocket

Written by Samantha Spencley

Homeopath Samantha Spencley presents two cases where Arnica rescued children in trouble.

Case 1: The Nintendo Pen

A family I have been assisting with their health care for over 3 years now, called me one night while I was making a house call to another family. I literally was stepping up the porch when I answered the phone and the mother was frantic, her 2 year old poked himself in the ear and possibly injured his ear drum with a Nintendo DS pen. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a handheld game console that has a plastic pen to use on the screen. I could hear the panic in her voice, but of course I was on the stairs of my next appointment. I told her to give the child Arnica 200 every 15 mins and I would come over after my appointment.

When I got to the house an hour and 15 mins later, the child was curled up on his fathers lap with a blanket and a very painful look on his face, tears streaming down his sweet cheeks. This child is very mischievous, rambunctious and resilient, but the look on his face was otherwise on this visit. I proceeded to check his inner ear with my ophthalma scope and saw what was normally pink with yellow discharge from previous checks, was black this time, which meant to me that he was suffering from a blood clot in his inner ear.

The parents said that he had had roughly 6 doses of Arnica 200 at this point and that he had gone from an intensity of 10 with the pain to about a 7. I raced home, got Arnica 1M and returned to the house. By this time it was nearly 9pm and the child had been in pain for 2 hours. I told the parents, no matter what time it was during the night, that they were to call me, even if they were choosing to go to the hospital, I wanted to be able to guide them along their way. Well, the next morning came without a midnight wake up call and in the morning I called the family for an update.

The Mom said she gave him the Arnica 1M once after I left and he fell asleep and didn’t wake up through the night, ( he tends to be a restless sleeper). I asked for her to bring the child by my office so I could check his ear out for myself. Once she brought him in, he was smiling and laughing, running around as if nothing had happened. I asked him to let me see and he cocked his head in anticipation of me looking in, and I tell you, it was pink with yellow discharge again! I asked him how he felt and he said, “Good”, with thumbs up. A week later, I spoke with the father and he said that his son is being his normal mischievous self, and that there was not any residual effect from the Nintendo pen. Gotta Love Homeopathy and Arnica.

Case 2: The Bumper Cars

A patient called me in distress about her son being hit from behind while on a bumper car ride at an indoor carnival. The child wasn’t talking, he was angry and he was refusing to take the Arnica 200 the Mom was attempting to give to him. She mentioned that he was on the ride with his father and that when they got off, even the Father’s head was sore and he took a dose, but that their son was refusing any assistance. While we were talking, she paused then returned to the phone saying that his eyes were blacking, like he was getting a bruise mask. I warned her that it’s likely he’s suffering from an acute concussion and that she must get the remedy into him immediately.

Her husband plugged the child’s nose and when he opened his mouth, in went the Arnica 200. They began their ride to my office for an examination and 10 minutes into their 45 min ride, he began to talk and tell them that his head hurt. Once they arrived at my office it was apparent that the child was suffering from a minor concussion as he had darkened eye sockets that extended to the bridge of his nose and across his upper cheek bones. I immediately gave him a dose of dry Arnica 1M and then proceeded to check his pupils and his occiput. His pupils were dilated and not restricting when a light was shined on them and when I touched the back of his head, he hit me. I redosed him with the Arnica 1M dry and sent them home with a vial of it for further usage, and told his parents that he would have to be watched throughout the night and that his pupils would need to be checked hourly for change. By the time they were getting ready to leave, I checked his pupils one last time for myself and they were restricting this time.

I spoke with the parents again before bed time and they said he was back to his normal self, fighting to go to bed and being a monkey as per usual. He was not having any common symptoms of a concussion such as listlessness or ataxia, he ate his dinner and he was chatty as he is usually. Even the blackening of his eye sockets was non-existent. It seemed all was back to normal before bed, but I said that they should redose once more with the same posology and that we should still check his pupils during the night and if there was any change, that they were to call me immediately and go to the hospital.

Well, I’m happy to say that Mom reported the next morning that his pupils were restricting at each hour check and that they were all tired and wanted to sleep in for the morning. After the last dose before bed that night, the little guy did not need any other assistance and he was back to his normal, high energy self, and it was the same report a week later when I called for an update. Imagine the implications for athletes such as hockey players, boxers and football players if their trainers and doctors knew how Arnica and homeopathy can be effective for trauma and reviving the body from the sport.

About the author

Samantha Spencley

Samantha Spencley, HonsBA, DSHomMed, R.H.N, has been studying and practicing classical homeopathy and holistic nutrition for five years now. A former performer, she became interested in homeopathy when it helped her to conceive. She studied at the University of Toronto, Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine, and Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. She is a sought after speaker on holistic health and recently has been published in the 2012 publication of The American Homeopath Medical Journal. She practices in Toronto Ontario and can be reached at [email protected], www.inthehousehomeopathy.com, www.bloorwestwellness.com

10 Comments

    • Thank you, Arup. They were both very intense cases, but Arnica is amazing and it does the job!

  • Hello, My question is, what do you mean by Arnica 200? I carry Arnica granules in my purse, but at
    only 5CH or 7CH. Do you name dilutions differently in Canada than we do here in France?

    Thank-you.

    • Janet,

      Yes I am in Canada and I use the CH scale. 200 = 200CH. The potency scale starts in the range you carry, and anything over 12CH no longer has any original molecule of the Arnica plant, so it is pure energy and the higher the dilution, the stronger the dose. As you can see, both of these cases were very intense and they needed higher strengths, thus why the usage of 200 and 1M potency’s. Hope I answered your question…if not, ask away 🙂

  • The cases showing very good information in both conditions and also deep knowledge for using ARNICA in emergency condition where usually we refer for modern treatment.

    • Thank you. They were great examples of Arnica and how the body can be assisted in a gentle, non dramatic way.

  • really interesting. I too had confirmed the use of arnica in my children and patients too. As you have said it prevents many complications after injuries.

  • hi…those were very nice and informative cases ..can you plz sugest the use of arnica in cases of normal labour…or in which stages of labour arnica is adviced to give and in which potency…

  • In the second case the boy was given a second dose of 1M within minutes. Again further 1 M doses were advised. Would water divided doses have acted faster here with their increasing potency?

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