I should have known there’d be a Part 2!
Well, friends, I began getting suspicious when I couldn’t get more than 85% improvement with Pyrogen, regardless of how high up in potency I went!
I made an appointment to see my dentist on Saturday, Feb. 28th–2 weeks ago. I was afraid I might need a root canal. He took an X-ray and poked around with the periodontal probe and when he got to my infected tooth, the probe completely disappeared! In other words, there was an extremely deep pocket, demanding immediate surgery! (I hate it when that happens!) But I wasn’t worried because the last time I had surgery, Arnica 10M dealt so swiftly with the post-surgery pain that I felt invincible; so, full speed ahead.
Without a doubt, the worst part of the surgery were the two novocaine injections into the lingual side of my gum–you might as well say the roof of my mouth. “There are no nerve endings there,” they say. That’s what they always tell you! How can they be so misinformed? After the surgery, the pain from those 2 injections never stopped! It was because of them that I needed Tylenol 3, which gave me an unbelievable headache the next day!
When these pains still hadn’t gone away by Monday, I began to get suspicious. I looked at the roof of my mouth using two mirrors and a flashlight, and there it was, the surface of the moon! Well that’s what it looked like–all white with hills and valleys! “Good Lord!” I exclaimed!
I couldn’t eat.
Anything that touched the area caused intense pain and burning. Drinking orange juice, because of the acidity, was practically out of the question. My diet consisted of yogurt and ice cream. Tuesday, I went back to the dentist. “Could you look at the roof of my mouth and tell me what’s going on?” I said.
“Blisters. Actually, herpes. Actually, herpes zoster.”
“What???? Shingles???????????” No way! How could this be? (If anybody knows the answer, please write to me!) “Well, that would explain the pain,” I said.
I came home and looked up herpes zoster in the Merck Manual. Did you know that this condition lasts from 2-4 weeks? And after that, there’s no guarantee that the pain will go away, even though the blisters are gone? It’s called “post-herpes neuralgia”.
Cheers!
Well, I looked in Morrison’s Desktop Companion… and studied all the herpes remedies. There was only one remedy that mentioned herpes zoster in the oral cavity and that was Mezereum. So, I dropped a couple of Mez. pellets into water and took a sip several times but it seemed to be doing next to nothing. Borax was another one I tried with no luck; Shirley told me to take Rhus tox—which actually made me worse (and because of that, Shirley Reischman shall remain nameless!), and then I said to myself, “You know, Elaine, everybody knows that Nat-mur. is the main remedy for this.”
I replied to myself, “Of course I know that, but Nat-mur has never done anything for me ever and I have absolutely no indications for Nat-mur!”
“Just try it already, will ya?!”
“Well fine, if everyone’s going to become hysterical!”
Well, ladies and gentlemen, as a result of this enlightened back-and-forth I had with myself, I actually got better!!!!!!! I–I mean, homeopathy–did it again! Do you know that there is supposedly no cure for this disease? The next morning, I went to breakfast as usual and bravely drank my orange juice, bracing myself for the sharp pain I had come to know, when suddenly I realized that I was drinking with only minor discomfort! This is less than 24 hours after the Nat-mur 30C I had taken the night before! From then on, the improvement was continuous and swift and I can tell you that as I write to you, roughly a week later, the pain is no more and the roof of my mouth feels normal, and actually, I’ve been eating normally for quite a number of days now! The dentist had given me a prescription for something to deaden the area so I’d be able to eat but I never needed it!
Some of you may be asking yourselves why a remedy should work when there are no constitutional indications for it and even the local presentation doesn’t match it! As much as we like to say that in homeopathy we prescribe for the patient and not the disease, in truth we obviously do have remedies for diseases, and this is a case in point!
To be sure, Nat-mur. isn’t the only remedy for Herpes Zoster. Rhus tox. is another big contender, and there are still many others. But Rhus tox. and Nat-mur. should be thought of right away! Each of the remedies have their own characteristics, or keynotes, which can guide you to the remedy most appropriate for you. For instance: herpes with burning pains, better by warm applications should make you think of Arsenicum. Herpes of the face with severe burning pains, bettter by cold applications should make you think of Apis. Itching along with the pain should make you think of Rhus tox. Think of Ranunculus bulbosus when the eruptions are on the chest along the intercostal nerves. Sulphur eruptions would be worse by the heat of the bed covers. Lachesis eruptions would be purplish in color. Nat-mur eruptions are known to be large and water-filled; and yet, that was certainly not in evidence in my case! My case matched no remedy in particular and yet Nat-mur. alone effected a cure, and very swiftly and unambiguously; so, I have to conclude that, yes, sometimes a remedy is, in fact, a “disease” remedy, and there’s no other way to look at it!
OK, see you again if I ever get another toothache!
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Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom
Elaine takes online cases. Write to her at [email protected]
Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com
