Hi, Shannon --
I can help out here, I think.
(1)
Here is Liz's original post, of 11:07 p.m. GMT, 5 December:
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I have to say here that I have had a very successful resolution of a severe case of dermatitis/eczema after giving Nat Mur 6C daily for weeks on end (dry dose)
Liz
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Liz's next post containing anything about the case, from 7:10 p.m. GMT, 7 December (parts pertinent to the question of proper evaluation in magenta):
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Sorry Chris - I didn't mean to 'control' you!

But you could have replied to my original post in a less confrontational way - it's a bit rich you calling my prescription 'allopathic' when you know nothing at all about the case, on what basis I prescribed as I did, and what the outcome was. So in that sense, your comparison of my prescription and yours, so radically different, was worthless.More to the point, it's unscientific. You can't compare (and that's what I meant by keeping such comments to yourself) because you don't have any facts. I, on the other hand, have the full facts of my case to hand - so I can say that dry potencies work - they cure. And they are not allopathic.
No doubt you would like me to explain in detail - quite honestly, I don't really want to - don't have the time. But here are the basic facts, just so that you know I'm not inventing anything, and so that you can understand why I will not accept 'blanket statements' such as "Dry potencies do not work/cause aggravations/are allopathic/harm the patient/are suppressive" or any other such remarks that have been made.
CASE: This was a middle-aged woman - PC was dermatitis, which had broken out severely on her scalp (she had had milder outbreaks in the past) since her husband had been arrested and put into prison for pornography online. Her hair had started coming out and her shoulders were covered in 'snow' from the scurf and she was acutely aware of it and embarrassed. Very stressed and ashamed of the whole situation etc. Would not look at me directly, sat sideways and avoided eye contact.
She intially had Nat Mur 30 - 1M over 3 days, plus IM to hold and take weekly till next visit. To ring me after two weeks to report.
She did not ring - contacted me 6 weeks later. Was feeling much better - stronger emotionally. Not weeping every few minutes. However, the dermatitis had spread down the back of her neck (> on top of head) and broken out under her breasts. Still very scurfy - looked terrible. hair not falling out so much.
Prescription changed to Nat Mur 12C b.d. in order to deal with the physical expression of her grief, plus Ignatia 200C to hold for when she felt the grief was overwhelming. (the courtcase had been delayed, police had come round to get his computer etc. etc. Very emotional situation)
Also prescribed Oil of Evening primrose to help with dry skin plus some aromatherapy base oil with Bach Flower Crab Apple to rub into her scalp.
Phoned two weeks later. Improvement continuing - oil a big help for her scalp.
Returned two months later. To my surprise, a different woman. Much happier - looked me straight in the eye. Dermatitis has cleared off her scalp and moved further down to her abdomen, then to her groin, the ends of her fingers (now cleared but nails are pitted) and her legs have now begun to break out and itch a little.
Presc. Continue as before. Nat. Mur 12C b.d.
Subsequently, she did not return as things had got so much better - she sold her house, changed jobs and was doing very well when I ran into her again by accident a year or so later.
Liz
Next visit
Liz
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And Liz's next post, from 9:17 p.m. GMT, 7 December (parts pertinent to the question of proper evaluation in magenta):
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Dear Joy
I see you have to have it spelt out - must be a hole in your knowledge somewhere.
The - whole - case - was - following - the - direction - of - cure. Got that? Don't understand? The nails were the last part of the upper extremities to manifest. You have a problem with that? Go read a bit more.
Oh - and by the way, she actually didn't have any misery - was very happy. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
Liz
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A clear case of judging that the suppression of the dermatitis using allopathic polypharmacy AND a medicinal rub into the dermatitis was a cure purely on the basis that she now had pitting of the nails -- itself, as Joy points out, a symptom to be concerned about.
And no, there's no mention of whether Liz checked whether the patient had applied the cream to all the new outbreaks of dermatitis; having based her evaluation of progress on checking so little else, I highly doubt that she bothered with that, but we shall never know.
I can see from your post after this one, Shannon --
"The definition of "suppression" is *not* "symptom goes away"; the definition is that "symptom goes away ***and is replaced by new disorder in a more essential organ***. At least that's how I learned it..."
-- where some confusion may have arisen. If you were taught that suppression requires the immediate appearance of new symptoms in a recognisably more serious location, then you were taught wrongly. (But so may Liz, and others, have been.)
First, when the expression of a symptom is suppressed, it means simply what it says; this is a matter again of turning to the dictionary. One doesn't have to wait around with a stopwatch for the sequelae.
Second, the known result of the attempt at suppression was the suppression. And, yes, the patient was not gravely ill as a result when last heard from. This may due to the shortness of the follow-up period; or it may be, more fortunately, because...
Third, as you know, the symptoms did in this case continue, fortunately, to re-express themselves in the skin (at last consultation, known to be present on the thighs).
Fourth, had the symptoms not re-expressed themselves, what Liz might reasonably have expected, based on the many cases that Hahnemann quoted in Chronic Diseases and others that dispassionate observers have noted since? She might reasonably have expected that within a couple of years, possibly within a week, the result of such suppression would be illness of a more serious -- and commonly recognisably related, as in the pattern in which asthma commonly ensues upon suppression of eczema -- occasionally fatal nature. Grave illness may ensue even upon the first suppression, but is liable to do so particularly upon a subsequent suppression. Was this the first such suppression? Did Liz enquire? No, she did not.
(2)
I think that clearing up the meaning of suppression adequately clears this second question up: we know that it was suppression not by the patient's keeling over and dying a week later but by the fact of the symptom's having been successfully suppressed.
Cheers!
John
2009/12/11 Shannon & Bob Nelson >