Px with suspected spider bite

[Dale Moss]

A rather frustrating case of mine recently involved a woman who'd been
bitten on the foot -- by what, we're not sure, but we now suspect it was a
spider bite. The foot blew up, turned purple, and became excruciatingly
painful on walking; couldn't stand heat, wanted cold. Lots of anxiety and
fear she'd lose the foot.

I gave Vipera 200c and told her to keep her foot up as much as possible and
take milk thistle for liver support. Fearing she might develop septicemia,
I gave her Pyrogenium to hold in case needed. She lives far from me and
couldn't get in for checkups -- she couldn't even drive herself.

To abbreviate a very long story, she called every day to report on how her
foot was doing. And it was healing, but slowly. And she was impatient,
tearful, anxious, needy -- all the things she usually isn't.

After about two weeks, her modalities changed and she did need the
Pyrogenium, but the color of her foot and her ability to walk continued
steadily to improve. She, however, became even needier, and my kinesthetic
response was irritation at her neediness, because things were going well.

Then her muscles started cramping, which interfered with her sleep at night.
She started popping Rhus-tox. on her own to get relief, which was minor. I
refused to prescribe over the phone, and told her she'd either have to come
in to see me or try massage locally to see if that would give her some
respite.

She ended up going to an acupuncturist who pricked her big toe on either
side of the nail and extracted a few drops of blood, with a view to
stimulating blood flow to the foot. It worked, for she felt immediate
relief -- and she shed considerable emotional weight.

I'm delighted that she's feeling better and no longer so weepy and
irresolute, but I'm curious as to why I had such a strong (and
unsympathetic) kinesthetic response. It wasn't simply annoyance at being
called on a daily basis -- there was something in her remedy state that was
prompting me, but I can't put my finger on it. Possibly she was in a Lat-m.
state with all the cramping and anxiety, although she was craving heat. Any
ideas?

Peace,
Cinnabar

[Joy Lucas]

Did you come into contact with her remedy in some way? Best wishes, Joy
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.blogspot.com

[Dale Moss]

Hi, Chris --

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, but my computer crashed and burned. I'm
using a loaner now to access my e-mail.

Believe me, I pondered long and hard whether this was ego, or irritation, or
frustration on my part, but this patient's behavior was definitely aberrant.
I did give her Lat-m. 200c, which dissolved her anxiety nicely.
Unfortunately, she's still experiencing muscle cramping that makes her
terribly restless and interferes seriously with sleep. Nothing at this
point seems to fit. I'll probably refer her to an MD to see if we can
figure out what's going on.

Peace,
Cinnabar

[Dale Moss]

Dear Trudy:

The patient had already taken Apis and Lachesis, neither of which worked,
before coming to see me.

Peace,
Cinnabar