Homoeopathic infection

treatment of ocular in guinea-pigs

A N T H O N Y C A M P B E L L , M.R.C.P.

The experience descr ibed here is t h a t of a beginner in Homceopa thy . I hope, however, t h a t i t m a y have some in teres t since the pa t i en t s were, l i teral ly, guinea-pigs, and hence suggestion as a factor in the cures m a y be e l iminated .

C A S E S

1 The first case m a y be regarded as a control, to the ex t en t t h a t i t shows the na t u r a l course of the disease. The an imal in quest ion was normal a t bir th , bu t some weeks la te r was found to have a bluish opac i ty of the r ight eye, toge ther wi th dullness of the cornea. I appl ied chloramphenicol o in tment , bu t wi thou t effect. The opac i ty g radua l ly became more pronounced, and wi thin a few weeks the cornea had become to t a l l y opaque. Over a subsequent 3 -month period, the surface became somewhat i r regular and puckered, and the an imal was clear ly a lmos t b l ind in t h a t eye.

2 & 3 These animals were born in the subsequent l i t ter , some 3 months af ter the b i r th of Case 1. Bo th were found, soon af ter bir th , to be suffering f rom wha t appea red to be exac t ly the same disorder as in Case 1 : the eyes were s t icky and a lmost closed, and the corneas were dull and bluish. Chloramphenicol o in tmen t was again appl ied, and again there was no response.

A t this t ime I had jus t comple ted m y first in tens ive course in Homceopa thy , and I therefore decided to make a t r ia l of th is form of t r ea tmen t . I gave bo th animals Silicea 30 once da i ly for 4 or 5 days . A t the end of this t ime there had been a marked improvemen t ; the an imal which was the less severely affected of the two had recovered ent i re ly , and the o ther had only a s l ight res idual dullness of the cornea. Af te r a fur ther week 's t r e a t m e n t wi th Silicea 30 this, too, had d isappeared . The animals r emained en t i re ly well, w i thou t fur ther t r ea tmen t , over the subsequent 3 months .

I also gave Silicea 30 to Case 1 for several weeks, bu t there was no discernible improvement .

4 & 5 These animals were born in a stil l l a te r l i t ter , to the same paren ts ; soon af ter b i r th t h e y were no ted to have exac t ly the same disorder as the ear l ier subjects . On this occasion I gave Silicea 30 b.d. as soon as the t rouble was found; improvemen t was a p p a r e n t wi th in 48 hours, and complete recovery occurred wi th in 5 days . There was no re lapse over a 2 -month period.

C O M M E N T

I t seems difficult to avoid the conclusion t h a t the d rama t i c recovery seen in Cases 2-5 was due to the use of Silicea. The only o ther feasible exp lana t ion would be spontaneous recovery, b u t th is seems to be excluded b y the close

L O W B A C K P A I N 6 9

temporal relationship between recovery and the administration of Silicea, and by the course of the untreated disease in Case 1.

The patients were not seen by a veterinarian, and no swabs were taken; hence i t is difficult to give an exact diagnosis. However, in view of the marked exu- dation it seems very likely tha t the condition was infective and was probably acquired during delivery; it would thus be analogous to human ophthalmia neonatorum. I do not know how common eye disorders of this kind are in gninea-pigs, but if they are common there appears to be an opportunity for a fruitful clinical trial.

Low back pain Experience in homoeopathic practice

J A C Q U E S H U I B O N H O A , M.D.

First of all, i t is necessary to point out that we have limited our study to cases of pain affecting the lumbosacral region. We have thus eliminated cases with pain radiating to a lower limb or limbs (sciatica), in spite of the fact tha t in either case organic lesions localized at the level of the lumbosacral spine are involved. This was done because from the point of view of homceopathic therapy, with which we are concerned, different groups of remedies are used. We have also eliminated occipital headache, Arnold's neuralgia, cervical pain, cervicobrachial neuralgia or radiculalgia and high dorsalgia.

The finding which impressed us most is the outstanding usefulness of a group of three remedies: Nux vomica, Sulphu~ and Rhus tox. Between them, they cover about 40 per cent. of cases; with 15 per cent. for Nux vomica, 13 per cent . for Sulphur, and 13 per cent. for Rhus fox. The other remedies, although obviously important, come a long way behind these three aristocrats, with Calcarea carbonica 4 per cent., Sepia 4 per cent., and Colocynthis 3 per cent. These figures only have relative value since we have not really carried out statistical analysis. In a third group, we will classify the remedies which we consider important and which deserve to be known since we come across them from time to t ime in our daily practice. They, too, are irreplaceable, and include Cobalt, Calcarea fluorica, Berberis and Phosphorus. A certain number of remedies will be omitted, since our aim is not to give a lecture on the homceopathic t reatment of lumbago, but merely to record our own experience in the homceopathio treat. ment of this condition.

Let us now go through the different remedies we have mentioned.

N U X V O M I C A

First of all, •ux vomica. I t is the Prince of remedies for lumbago and rheuma- tology in general. We prescribe it when we find this keynote: T U R N I N G IN BED aggravates. The patient who justifies Nux presents an aggravation when