Case Quizes Clinical Cases

Revisiting: “Mount Rushmore”, Constantly Coughing!

Written by Elaine Lewis

Elaine answers the June quiz.

Does anybody remember last month’s quiz?  Here it is again for those of you who missed it.  Shana, roll tape!

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Shana, what are you doing?


Mom…you know that graduation is in three days, not to mention that I have to get ready for college!

All that is very nice, Shana; but, don’t you think you should be helping me with the June Quiz?!

But, my cap and gown!  My vaccination exemption letter!

Shana, Alan is getting testy.  And I need you to take a picture of breakfast.

What????  Oh geez….Most people eat their food.  We take pictures of it!

I’m telling you Shana, people don’t know what to eat anymore!  Now, here we have a very nice example of what to have for breakfast: Whole wheat pancakes with farmer’s market strawberries on the side.  Oh, Shana, take a picture of the pancake mix too.


Those pancakes do look delicious.  Who is the patient today?

Hmm… I have to come up with a fictitious name….

How about “Mount Rushmore”?

Um…well…I guess no one’s ever used that before…. In fact, monuments have been overlooked as a source of fictitious names for a long time!  OK, so little “Mount Rushmore” is 4 years old.  He has developed a cough after the weather changed from warm to cold.  His father (Mount Rushmore, Sr.) says the following:

My son, “Mount Rushmore”, developed a dry cough on Wednesday night.  And by Thursday night it became a lot of dry coughing with slight cold (blocked nose).  Yesterday the cough increased and the cold also yielded some (very little) thin, transparent nasal discharge.  I gave Causticum yesterday (single dose).  But the cough has increased a lot (I mean a lot) when he woke up this morning.  He is constantly having dry cough.  His cold is also producing some thick (may be slightly white) nasal discharge.  Just checked and he has some fever now (99.6 degrees).  There was a change in weather.  It was very hot one week and then it became cloudy and cold.  He usually gets cold/cough with these types of changes in weather.

Hot shower/bath clears up his nose somewhat.  Cough dry.  Running nose, clear and watery.

I recommended __________________30C four times a day, in water, with five succussions before each dose.

Two days later:

His cold/cough is much better now.  Thanks for recommending ___________30C.

OK, that’s it!  What is the remedy?  Do you know?  Write to me at [email protected].  The answer will be in the July ezine.  Bye for now, see you again next time!

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Votes

Dulcamara-3

Rhus tox.

Nat-mur.

Silica

Spongia

Hi Elaine, I think this quiz’s remedy is Dulcamara.

D’oh!

I voted this because I thought the change of weather was the most significant clue.

Well, it was definitely A clue.  But what else?  What were the modalities?  He was better for hot shower, and worse after sleep in the morning.

Hmmmmm Rhus tox?

YES!

It was also in the rubric of weather change aggravates in 3rd degree.

See?

I thought of hot shower but he said “somewhat” ameliorates the nose.

Well, Maria, a modality makes the symptom better but not necessarily cured!  He was “better” in the shower.  And that was the only decent modality we had!

Let’s see what Eva the Picklet had to say….

Hi Elaine,

Like a trained seal, I barked, “Dulcamara!” as soon as I saw the ‘worse from cold weather’.

But then, there is the Keynote of ‘better from warm shower/bath’, so I’ll go with Rhus toxicodendron, because that also has the weather change as aetiology.

Cheers,

Eva The picklet

Eva, you followed my thinking exactly!!!!!  Etiology: change from hot to cold weather; modality: better hot bath.

Also, Eva, there’s the “rest agg.” rubric, because the worst coughing came on after sleep when he woke up the third day.  So, YES, Rhus tox!  Congratulations!

So, let’s see what our friend Diderik Finne from New York had to say….

If it’s not Dulcamara, you’ve tricked us again!

Diderik Finne

It’s not Dulcamara and I’ve tricked you again.

Alright, I guess I’m going to have to put some work into this one!

Well…if you have to…

Here’s my full work-up:

Gen, hot bathing amel: Ars, Hep, Rhus-t, Sil, Tub (my addition)

Gen, weather, change, warm to cold: Ars, hep, Rhus-t, Sil, tub

Cough, dry: Ars, Hep, Rhus-t, Sil, Tub

Cough, constant: Ars, Hep, Rhus-t

Nose, discharge, watery: Ars, hep, Sil

Nose, coryza, discharge, without: Ars, hep, Sil

Wait a minute!  You used with and without discharge!  It’s gotta be one or the other, I thought he had a watery discharge….

Fever, catarrhal: Ars, Hep, Rhus-t, Sil

Arsenicum repertorizes the highest, but there is no mention of anxiety in the case, or thirst for frequent sips, or any other Arsenicum keynotes.

That’s true, but, he had no mentals at all, so, it doesn’t much matter what the mental picture of Arsenicum is since it doesn’t figure in the case; and, remember, just because a parent doesn’t report something doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Maybe he didn’t think the thirst was worth reporting.

Hepar comes in second, but again we are lacking Hepar keynotes, such as extreme sensitivity to cold.

True, and it’s only a 1 in the etiology rubric.

Rhus-t is a possibility, but does not have the nasal discharge that is mentioned.

Really?  It’s in Murphy’s… Nose: coryza, watery, discharge.

Silica is in fourth place, but is missing from “constant cough.”

Then there is Tuberculinum, which may be needed to address the underlying susceptibility.  Tuberculinum hardly ever repertorizes well, but it is worth considering.

So there you have it. I guess I’m still stumped.

Diderik, here is our case:  Constant cough, ailments from weather going from hot to cold, better hot bathing and rest agg.  That’s it.

Now it’s time to congratulate our winner who is none other than…Eva the Picklet!!!!!!  Take a bow, Eva!

Thanks to all of you who voted–especially Diderik Finne from New York who tried so very hard!  See you again next time!

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

4 Comments

  • Dear Elaine,

    Do you know of a good homoeopath in the locality of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England??

    Many thanks,

    Mahmooda

    • To tell you the truth, I don’t “know” any homeopaths in England except for Rochelle Marsden, RSHom. And I’m not sure where her location is. Maybe you can look her up, do a search for her here at hpathy.com.

  • Dear Elaine,

    After caust the cough increased. Does this mean that the agg is due to caust?

    Thanks
    Regards
    Sujatha

  • Sujatha, we will never know. We will never know if Causticum just did nothingl and the cold got worse on its own or if Causticum aggravated the situation and made the cold worse. What we did was prescribe on what few characteristic symptoms were there.

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