Swine flu?
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:19 pm
Because of recent e-mails on the genus epidemicus for Swine Flu, I'm posting a case of mine from early June that may have been Swine Flu. The patient is a very slender, intense woman, probably in her 40s (the case was taken over the phone because she was in another state and is not a regular patient of mine).
Fever of 101.5 F. for 48 hours; she's incapacitated and cannot walk for more than a minute.
She did not sleep well the night before she became ill. She'd had a beer that evening to be sociable while working outside and, in our unusually cool spring, had become chilled. The following day, she had heart palpitations and could not raise her arms above her head - she had no strength at all, and any mild exertion worsened the palpitations. She was chilled, and when she took a nap in her car, she awoke shaking like a leaf. When she reached home, she jumped into a hot bath, which helped her chills.
She was better after sleeping a bit. By 6:30 PM that evening, she was aching all over, especially in her back, and had a dull headache in both temples, over her eyes, and extending to her sinuses.
She is parched and very thirsty. She cannot stand the thought of what she ate before becoming ill - just thinking of it makes her want to vomit. All she's eaten since becoming ill has been a couple of pieces of toast. It's no fun eating. Her stomach is slightly nauseated; in fact, she feels nausea rather than dizziness. She's also been drinking diluted grapefruit juice, which she wants cold.
She sweats on the outside but feels cold inside, though she's sleeping with a hot water bottle, which helps somewhat.
She has a canker sore in her mouth on the left side that's "bugging me." She tends to get them when she's run down. Her tongue is coated white, and she feels reduced to tears. She was pale at the outset, but not now.
She feels a deep coldness in her chest and back, particularly the small of the back; it is better lying down. The bed feels comfortable to her. She is moving around in the bed a lot and wants to sleep on her left side but cannot do it for long; sometimes she sleeps on her stomach.
"I felt like I have a lot of congestion, a pressure inside as if I'll erupt."
There is no cough and no soreness in her throat.
She complains because she's staying temporarily with her mother, whose ideas about food are very different from hers. The patient is a vegan who wants fresh vegetable juices and quinoa, which her mother doesn't have.
The first step was to tell the patient to stop taking Tylenol because she needed to run a higher fever. The next was to consult Dr. Vijayakar's book, A Theory of Acutes, which I find helpful in narrowing down the universe of possible remedies in acute situations like this. Then I repertorized.
These are the rubrics used:
HEART, palpitation, < slightest exertion
MOUTH, coated, tongue
MOUTH, aphthae
STOMACH, thirst
STOMACH, thirst during fever
THROAT, dryness
CHILL, shaking, shivering rigors
CHILL, perspiration, with
CHILL, sleep, after, amel.
CHILL, warmth amel.
GEN., food, drinks, water, desires
RX: Nux vomica 30c, the highest potency available to the patient's mother.
I had her repeat the Nux several times in the course of the day, and her fever, after rising, broke after one day. The patient reported that her headache and body aches were gone and that she was feeling much better, though still weak and running a slight temperature. "I'm weak, but I feel somehow incredibly rested." Nux, she added, made her temporarily even more sensitive to smells than she is normally but also gave her "incredible dreams."
She made a quick recovery with no other remedy needed.
Peace,
Dale
Fever of 101.5 F. for 48 hours; she's incapacitated and cannot walk for more than a minute.
She did not sleep well the night before she became ill. She'd had a beer that evening to be sociable while working outside and, in our unusually cool spring, had become chilled. The following day, she had heart palpitations and could not raise her arms above her head - she had no strength at all, and any mild exertion worsened the palpitations. She was chilled, and when she took a nap in her car, she awoke shaking like a leaf. When she reached home, she jumped into a hot bath, which helped her chills.
She was better after sleeping a bit. By 6:30 PM that evening, she was aching all over, especially in her back, and had a dull headache in both temples, over her eyes, and extending to her sinuses.
She is parched and very thirsty. She cannot stand the thought of what she ate before becoming ill - just thinking of it makes her want to vomit. All she's eaten since becoming ill has been a couple of pieces of toast. It's no fun eating. Her stomach is slightly nauseated; in fact, she feels nausea rather than dizziness. She's also been drinking diluted grapefruit juice, which she wants cold.
She sweats on the outside but feels cold inside, though she's sleeping with a hot water bottle, which helps somewhat.
She has a canker sore in her mouth on the left side that's "bugging me." She tends to get them when she's run down. Her tongue is coated white, and she feels reduced to tears. She was pale at the outset, but not now.
She feels a deep coldness in her chest and back, particularly the small of the back; it is better lying down. The bed feels comfortable to her. She is moving around in the bed a lot and wants to sleep on her left side but cannot do it for long; sometimes she sleeps on her stomach.
"I felt like I have a lot of congestion, a pressure inside as if I'll erupt."
There is no cough and no soreness in her throat.
She complains because she's staying temporarily with her mother, whose ideas about food are very different from hers. The patient is a vegan who wants fresh vegetable juices and quinoa, which her mother doesn't have.
The first step was to tell the patient to stop taking Tylenol because she needed to run a higher fever. The next was to consult Dr. Vijayakar's book, A Theory of Acutes, which I find helpful in narrowing down the universe of possible remedies in acute situations like this. Then I repertorized.
These are the rubrics used:
HEART, palpitation, < slightest exertion
MOUTH, coated, tongue
MOUTH, aphthae
STOMACH, thirst
STOMACH, thirst during fever
THROAT, dryness
CHILL, shaking, shivering rigors
CHILL, perspiration, with
CHILL, sleep, after, amel.
CHILL, warmth amel.
GEN., food, drinks, water, desires
RX: Nux vomica 30c, the highest potency available to the patient's mother.
I had her repeat the Nux several times in the course of the day, and her fever, after rising, broke after one day. The patient reported that her headache and body aches were gone and that she was feeling much better, though still weak and running a slight temperature. "I'm weak, but I feel somehow incredibly rested." Nux, she added, made her temporarily even more sensitive to smells than she is normally but also gave her "incredible dreams."
She made a quick recovery with no other remedy needed.
Peace,
Dale