Thursday 3 October 2013

BREAST TUMOR in a boy of 13yrs 

07-09-2013. V.B. a young boy aged 13 years was brought to me by his worried mother complaining of sharp pains in the left breast. . The boy complained that it was painful when he played football or on touch especially in class if he came in contact with friends in school. He was deeply embarrassed at the development. He could not sleep on his chest for the same reason. The boy was a plump energetic fellow with (his mother complained) an almost unsatiable appetite. If she scolded him for over-eating, he would take money from her on some pretext and go out to eat `Bhelpuri' cold drinks,  icecream or some other delicacy he fancied.
On palpation a small firm, well defined, encapsulated tumor 2 cms X 1 cm, tender to touch was palpable in the L breast.
Clinically it was a fibroadenoma. 
Repertorization suggested `Bromine ' which I gave him in the 30th potency. To come after 7 days.
15-09-2013. No change. I decided to leave the repertorization aside and gave him `Skookum Chuck' 30 - follow-up after 1 week.
21-09-2013. Mother dragged in a very reluctant boy whom the mother had told he would now need to be operated. The boy was scared. I asked him if he would like to have the tumor removed - he could only shake his head with tears in his eyes. I informed the mother that such benign tumors can recur after operation and hence it may not be the final answer. I re-assured her to be more patient. This time I trawled the Materia medica and came across a drug I had used in the past for a similar tumor in a woman - Lapis alba.(refer 1001 Small Remedies -Dr.Frederik Schroyens; Concise Materia Medica by S.R.Phatak; Materia Medica by Boericke W. ) I had the 200th potency and gave him 15 doses - 3 per day for 5 days. 
03-10-2013. The boy came into my clinic beaming - the tumor was gone. 

Several lessons can be drawn from this case 
1. Repertorization is not the final answer for all cases. 
2. Past experience counts - this last observation was Hahnemann's  concluding advice to his followers. Quite a U turn from his previous exhortations that experience was not to be relied upon for prescribing a drug..
3. Higher potencies do have a place in treating pathology 
4. Repetition even with such potencies can throw up remarkable cures with no danger to the patient as many Homeopaths claim. 

So can Homeopathy treat all cases???? Well almost!!!!!