Minutus

Hi Rosemary,
This is continuing your experience with a very bad reaction to Rocky
Mountain Spotted tick bite (not sure of the name). Nash has a nice
discussion of Typhoid leaders (in Radar). I am wondering of your
symptoms and the progress of the disease looked like what he
describes. As was mention by someone, the initial symptoms are
covered by Bry, Rhus-t (and Nux-v). Then it branches out as the
disease progresses.
Best,
Ellen

Hi, Ellen.

The Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever belongs to a group of diseases caused by
organisms closely related to the typhus bacterium. So I generally followed
rubrics and MM entries relating to typhus or to "spotted fever,
"cerebrospinal fever." Typhus is spread by being bitten by an insect (tick,
mite, etc...) that has previously bitten an infected rodent.

Typhoid is quite a different disease. It's caused by an organism in the
same family as salmonella, and is more a form of poisoning from contaminated
food sources. It also used to be called "Shipboard fever" in the days of sea
voyages lasting weeks and months!

Ultimately, Typhus, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Cholera, and perhaps even Malaria
all come together as similar diseases in that they are acute febrile
infections, basically psoric in nature, producing violent reactions in the
organism that are potentially fatal. Typhoid's primary sphere of action is
the gastrointestinal system, and typhus' main effects involve the central
nervous system and brain. But the end results, regardless, are fever, GI
discharges (vomiting and diarrhea), headache, delirium, prostration,
unconsciousness.... I ended up studying typhoid a bit while I was studying
typhus, because the old language was somewhat confusing, and some writers
used the adjective "typhoid" when referring to the noun "typhus." So our
literature is a bit non-specific and thus leads to confusion and overlap
regarding the two diseases

With Nash specifically, see if he's got a section on typhus. In that case,
I would assume he's differentiated between typhoid and typhus. If not, it's
possible he's folded them both into one section despite their differences.

Warmly, Rosemary

Dear Rosemary,

He refers to Typhus as a subcategory of Typhoid fever. As you said it is the nervous system cerebral type. And then goes on to say that their is great variation, mentioning the one that affects the stomach. From a homeopathic point of view, finding the pattern of the disease in terms of symptoms seem more important than finding the exact biological family. We may be looking at your tick disease and not know the cause. But we have to see the pattern. So if the "confused" old school homeopathic doctor is seeing a large pattern, it is worth keeping that pattern as a possibility. I am assuming that the virulence that you experienced is of the epidemic type. In any epidemic disease, there are some individuals who do not experience the violent reaction. In the case of Rock Mountain Spotted Fever, you were one of the few who experienced the violent reaction. Hahnamann defines the epidemic disease as overwhelming the vital force of a most any individual. Not an exception as in your case. So may be it is incorrect to think of your individual violent reaction as "epidemic" in that sense. Nevertheless, if it fits the larger pattern of the epidemic, then perhaps that is significant. In your study, did you see a large pattern? I see in Roger Morrison's discussion of fevers (Desktop Companion etc), he is separating the abdominal enteric fever, typhus-tick fever, tubercular types of hectic fever, Intermitten falarial types, Petechial menigococcemia, bilious remittent fever. When you see these types, do you also look at the wider disease pattern?

I'll just go over the layout of his discussion. To prepare for epidemics, this kind of study with a critical eye for modern changes might be useful. Perhaps different texts could be compared looking for the agreement on pattern if indeed there is such a thing.

As you said, the prodromal stage is the best one to catch because it does not have to go on the fever. He describes Bryonia, Nux vomica, Thus toxicod., Pulsatilla and Belladonna for the prodromal stage. In preparing for an epidemic, I suppose you might be leaning toward one of those if the collective symptoms fit. Then Bryonia, Gelsemium and Baptisia for the actual onset of the fever. The description is very much keynote basics. If Baptisia does not work for the rapidly progressing disease he suggests Arsenicum, Carbo veg. or Muriatic acid.

Then he goes into the specific organs that may be attacked. The lungs and then the brain. Belladonna, Hyoscyamus, Stramonium, Apis mellifica, Helleborus niger and Zincum metallicum were mentioned for the brain. Then he covers clinical cases and complications (liver). Finally convalescence and sickroom care.

Best,
Ellen

Hi Rosemary,

some of the confusionmay be from translation.

In German, typhoid is "Typhus" and English typhus is "Paratyphus".

Regards

Luise
--
One thought to all who, free of doubt,
So definitely know what's true:
2 and 2 is 22 -
and 2 times 2 is 2:-)
==========> ICQ yinyang 96391801 <==========

Thanks, Luise. That could explain a lot, indeed. Hmmm.... Rosemary

Hi, Ellen.
Morrison has an excellent medical as well as homeopathic grasp of the different "fever" patterns.
Homeopathically, indeed, the key is to understand immediately that one is dealing with a potentially severe truly acute febrile disease. Hahnemann in one of his writings uses the wonderfully descriptive phrase (when translated into English): "An explosion of latent psora." The prodrome is extremely non-specific, and then the disease is a devastating explosion, leaving the individual non-functional. Erica McPhee had a similar situation with her daughter when she had the purpura -- what on earth was going on? What would reach it at a deep enough level? The symptoms alone don't necessarily provide the simillimum without a knowledge of where the illness is seated. What body system or systems has/ have yielded to disease? It's all over the place. In her case, too, out of many possibilities, I think the actual disease turned out to be an acute febrile one from an insect bite that had not been perceived.
Can we call diseases like typhus and typhoid "epidemic"? Rather than being transmitted person to person, they come from specific contact sources of infection. In a "flu" epidemic, for instance, people know that something is "going around" -- by definition there's an "epidemic" But when the infective source is another person's body fluid (AIDS, several types of hepatitis), or an insect bite (typhus, malaria, encephalitis) or tainted food (Salmonellosis, typhoid), does that constitute an "epidemic?" You don't know until you get the disease that you've been exposed, or that there was a serious risk of exposure, except, in general, knowing where those different diseases are likely to be lurking (for instance, in the US, knowing that there's a heightened risk of Lyme disease in the Northeast and of Spotted Fever across the Midsouth). Many people never realize they've been bitten by a tick, even. Would it make sense to take Lyme nosode on a regular basis for prevention across the Northeastern US? Has anyone every studied the question? Does it qualify as an epidemic, given the erratic exposure pathways?
So one day you get a fever, seemingly spontaneously. No one around you has one. No one else gets one. You ask "Huh? What's going on?" You probably shrug it off and figure it will go away. There's no way homeopathically to simply treat the symptom "fever," even if it's accompanied, say by an upset stomach or by achy muscles. The prodrome is that non-specific.
When I realized I was febrile, I took Eup-perf for fever with achy muscles and bones, thinking maybe I had somehow gotten the flu. I also tried Ferr-p. Eup-perf helped very slightly at the first dose, for about 10 minutes and then nothing happened after that. I didn't have keynote symptoms for Bry or Rhus-t, either one of which would probably have been more helpful. I had no idea the virulence of what would happen, or perhaps I might have taken much higher potencies than I usually do. It literally knocked me over, and then I knew I wouldn't be able to think clearly enough to treat myself. I had always thought, as did most people I know, that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever was a disease you might worry about if you were in the Rocky Mountains (where it's actually rather unusual, it turns out).
It makes most sense to learn what acute febrile illnesses may arise in one's situation and locality, and to learn the basic remedies and symptoms for those specific diseases. Awareness of actual risks helps. I'm sure that most health care practitioners nowadays in western countries would not recognize formerly common diseases such as TB, leprosy, diphtheria, or scarlet fever if presented with them -- because we simply have seen them so rarely, if ever, in our lifetimes and places, and we've learned not to expect them. It turns out that an epidemic of whooping cough has been occurring quietly among US adults for several years. No one has recognized it or treated it appropriately when it occurs. It's generally assumed to be either a URI or aggravated allergy/ asthma. It's somewhat attenuated because the people infected were vaccinated many years ago, so one doesn't usually hear the characteristic "whooping." The symptoms mimic those of severe allergic asthma. The illness resolves in response to remedies only when one understands that whooping cough is the nature of the problem, not allergic asthma -- one being an acute infection, and the other an exacerbation of a chronic state.
And on and on. It's a vast, important topic. And in general we've neglected infectious diseases in homeopathic education and practice in western countries, because the majority of our cases involve chronic disease.
Rosemary

Hi Rosemary,

I see. Your bout of Rocky Mountain Spotted tick fever was not an epidemic by the common notion. And a prodromal fever is just too nondescript. But Nash was writing about his own epidemic experience. He was seeing prodomal symptoms because he was seeing numbers of people at the same time with the same symptoms -- ie an epidemic.

When a bird flu hits that Allopathy cannot deal with, then will see prodomal symptoms. Maybe different ones? Will we give the same remedy for the prodroma repeatedly and head off the strong bird flu. We probably won't know because our individual data base will be too small. Or will we only see the bird flus who already know about homeopathy? Obviously you have to be looking for a pattern. That is expect to see a pattern. Otherwise you are not going to be effective. Assuming people come to you. But there are too many small practices on the fringes of allopathic treatment so individuals with Nash's access to data is unlikely.

Maybe if we started by approaching the common flu by gathering an internet data base we will be prepared to organize ourselves with symptoms when there are not enough patients per homeopath to see the pattern. It would seem that we would have to have some way of gathering data and releasing it to the net before an large epidemic. Also, a large number of homeopaths would have to know how to report and how to receive the analysis. Presumabably even lay people could look at the data bank and experiment even if they did not have access to a homeopath. I would think that this kind of organization would do more for spreading homeopathy than cancer cures and other such magic.

The cold and flu sites usually just repeat the common symptoms of the remedy. There is also no report back of results. But if the problem were clearly epidemic, then the need for narrowing down a remedy for specific localities would be much clearer even to the public.
Blessings,
Ellen

>From: Ellen Madono

snip...........

-----------------
NCH has a "flu forum". Not sure how current it is.

http://nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/

Thanks. I looked at it. Hardly a data base. But a nice effort.

>From: Ellen Madono
Hi Ellen,

I think it was 2, maybe 3 years ago we had some good
info going on a flu outbreak on one of the lists.

Leilanae