December 2006 

Manganum phosphoricum in a 68-year-old woman with aplastic anaemia

In September 2002

The 68-year-old patient suffers from aplastic anaemia. The normal value for the blood corpuscles is 42; hers was 14. Every two weeks she requires blood transfusions of five units of haemoglobin. Since 1984 the patient has had an enlarged thymus gland; it was to be removed in two months because there was a chance of bringing the aplastic anaemia into remission. (The surgical procedure brought no improvement and left the patient very weakened.) In the previous year she had suffered pneumonia twice, which had to be treated with antibiotics. Since childhood she has had retinitis pigmentosa and is gradually going blind. She can only vaguely recognise facial features and now reads Braille. She has cramps in the toes that are relieved by warmth. She experiences severe, cramping pains during bowel movements.

The patient is of Indian descent and grew up in Guyana, but left the country because of the political situation there. She is a lovable, light-hearted and spiritual woman. She practises TM and has a radiant aura. Her presence has something hypnotic. Although she can hardly see, she looks you straight in the eyes. Also notable is the dark discolouration of the skin around her eyes, which makes her look like a raccoon.

She describes herself as a calm, rather passive person. In Guyana she and her husband taught homeless children. She was very close to her brother; she describes his love for her as unconditional and his death as the loss of a soulmate. She feels that she does a lot for others and sometimes does not feel appreciated. She is friendly and talks a lot and gladly. She was accompanied to the initial consultation by her husband.

Dreams: of deceased relatives; of her parents and her brother. She feels their presence, particularly strongly in the past two weeks. Dream: her deceased father wants to protect her. A recurring dream in her life is of an evergreen forest in which she gets lost and cannot find her way out; she feels hopeless and helpless. Dream: of a white doll, voodoo. She is afraid of snakes.

She believes she might be ill because a friend sucked blood from her at a distance. She says, "I believe that God will protect me."

At first we worked with the rubric 'Eyes, discolouration, black, under'.

After several months another rubric appeared: 'Eyes, discolouration, dark, under'. Phosphorus was therefore present and she was definitely a 'Phosphorus-type', but which one? During a follow-up it emerged that the patient's life had always revolved around helping others (Mang) and that as a young girl she was so flexible that — sitting next to her brother — she could lift her leg so far that she could throw it over his shoulders like an arm (Lou Klein describes Manganum as extraordinarily flexible). Furthermore, Manganum is a major remedy for anaemia (it stands alongside Ferrum) and the brother had been like a soulmate to her.

Mang-phos C12 was prescribed, to be taken once daily. Within three weeks her blood values rose from 17 to 28 and three months later they had reached above-average normal values (44). Then she travelled to Guyana (even though she is blind)!

Three years later the patient had several large blood clots in the lungs; Mang-phos was given again and within a week the clots had disappeared. The doctors were surprised.

The dark discolouration around the eyes improved dramatically, and the cramps during bowel movements stopped.

An unusual aspect of the case is the voodoo or vampire idea, which, as we know, is not covered by Mang-phos. Perhaps this idea was culturally determined, perhaps it can be attributed to the slight impressibility of Phosphorus. It is also interesting that the life-threatening anaemia and the dangerous clots were cured, but the long-standing retinitis did not improve.

Remedies previously given were: Pituitary Anterior for the aplastic anaemia (Lou Klein describes it as a remedy for the loss of a soulmate and compares it with the snake remedies; he also describes it as hypnotic), Lecithin, Holy Basil or Tulsi (because of the voodoo component).

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Category: Remedies

Keywords: aplastic anaemia, raccoon eyes, flexibility, Manganum phosphoricum

Source: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/68_old_female_with_aplastic_anemia

Photo Sickle cell anemia: Shutterstock_414192448_Copyright Kateryna Kon