Minutus

I'm wondering if anyone can suggest rubrics, remedies, or anything else.
Background: Last year I got a cat scratch so tiny I didn't even notice it
until that night, when it started to burn. I scrubbed it and went back to
bed. Over the next week or so it grew into a sore which gradually enlarged,
and the skin was gradually eaten away in an irregular area which soon had
nothing to do with the original size or shape of the tiny little scratch!
As it continued slowly growing, I treated it to an increasingly desperate
barrage of "everything i could think of" -- internal herbs and etc.,
external soaks and poultices (no remedies as I had no ideas what might
suit), and it finally yielded to (apparently) a combo tea tree oil and
antibiotic cream, leaving behind a roughly inch in diameter, irregularly
shaped discolored (brownish-red?) and slightly pitted area.

Now I seem to be at an early stage of a repeat performance with an infected
mosquito bite (which i don't think I've ever had before)! My usual measures
are again not working. At this point there is a depressed and whitish
center (where the bite was) surrounded by an inflamed and slightly itchy
area containing pus (if I squeeze it the skin tears and oozes). There's
also a slightly itchy, slightly sore area about half an inch away from the
reddened part. Zounds, I do not want to go thru that again...

I've had *lots* of cuts in my life, and these are the only two I've ever
seen act this way! Seems like baby sister to the "flesh eating strep"
thing.

So, rubrics, remedies? These are my rubric thoughts so far, but I'm not
sure they really cover the situation:
SKIN; CICATRICES; ulcerating
(it's not a scar/cicatrice, but I'm trying to get at the idea that
healthy skin is dissolving)

SKIN; ULCERS; scratching, after
?? Trying to get at idea that this "ulcer" (if that's what one would
call it) is from either mechanical trauma or infection???

SKIN; ULCERS; elevated indurated margins, with
That developed fairly early the last time, tho so far this one is only
inflamed

SKIN; ULCERS; itching
Dunno if this would be called an "ulcer", and it's actually the skin
*around* it that itches (presumably from the pus forming), not the
depressed area.

Maybe this SKIN; ERUPTIONS; pustules; malignant: Anthr., apis, Ars., bell.,
bufo, canth., carb-v., cench., crot-h., Lach., maland., myris., phos.,
ran-b., rhus-t., sec., sil., tarent-c.
(In this context "malignant" would mean "spreading", perhaps???)

Would the term SKIN; ULCERS; phagedenic ("spreading, obstinate ulceration")
apply, or is "ulcer" not the term I should be chasing?

All thoughts appreciated!!!
Shannon

Dear Shannon, what other sensations are with the skin - heat/cold, is it
burning like the first experience, any pain; what does the inflamed area
look like, e.g. blistered or ?? and what kind of pus is coming out when
pressed, any odour or colour?

Does Ledum or Hypericum fit the picture?

Best, Joy

www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
on 19/6/04 4:49 PM, Bob&Shannon at shannonnelson@tds.net wrote:

edited

Now I seem to be at an early stage of a repeat performance with an infected
mosquito bite (which i don't think I've ever had before)! My usual measures
are again not working. At this point there is a depressed and whitish
center (where the bite was) surrounded by an inflamed and slightly itchy
area containing pus (if I squeeze it the skin tears and oozes). There's
also a slightly itchy, slightly sore area about half an inch away from the
reddened part. Zounds, I do not want to go thru that again...

I've had *lots* of cuts in my life, and these are the only two I've ever
seen act this way! Seems like baby sister to the "flesh eating strep"
thing.
All thoughts appreciated!!!
Shannon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi, Shannon.

The fact that this seems to be occurring for the second time for you, and that it has not been a lifelong issue makes me think that you should treat it constitutionally rather than as an acute. FWIW... Rosemary

Hi Shannon
GENERALS - WOUNDS, bites
" - INFLAMMATION, wounds of
" - ITCHING, insect, after bite of
" - ERUPTIONS, antibiotics, from
" - ERUPTIONS , pustules, white

Using a combo of Tea Tree Oil and antibiotics may well have suppressed, not
healed.

Just my thoughts.
Christine Wyndham-Thomas
www.dogsonholiday-uk.com

How about Arsenicum? The fact that both times the cuts have involved
animals and that there is burning and the ulcers are malignant as you
say-
my first instinct is for Ars. Anthracinum etc.

Boericke talks about - ailments from stings, illeffects from animal
matter, septic infections,Poisoned wounds....
--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Bob&Shannon
wrote:
else.
notice it
back to
enlarged,
soon had
scratch!
desperate
might
and
irregularly
infected
measures
whitish
itchy
There's
from the
ever
strep"
I'm not
that
would
is only
skin
the
Ars., bell.,
phos.,
ulceration")

Dear Shannon,

There is one in Boericke.
CICATRICES

Affections -- Caust., Fluor. ac., Graph., Iod., Nit. ac.,
Phyt., Sil., Sul. ac., Thiosin
But, I would think before using this. The sensation and
the modality are the main things here. Boger's says this

Skin: Spots: Red: Brownish:2 canth,5 nit ac,4 pho,2 thu
(this for the remnant of the old scratch)
For the present scratch(what's going on)
skin Red:
skin: Itching
skin: Tetters,suppurating
also: cicatrices: cracked: kali c
: depressed: kali bi
My choice is between Fluoric acid and Kali bi.
kali bi - Boger mm
Skin.-- Brown spots on. Measle - like rash Hard pimples.
Deep ulcers, Having a punched - out appearance and penetrating
to the bone, with overhanging edges and a dark center, painful
in cold weather, leaving depressed white cicatrices, with adherent
secretions
Fl Ac for its principal cicatrice affection. MM of Boger
Generalities.-- Feeling of heat, with desire for cool air or
cold bathing. Deep seated pains in bones, sutures, etc. Localized
congestions. Symptoms in spots. Acrid, excoriating discharges,
sweat, etc. Numbing weakness. Feeling of warmth in internal organs.
prickling, burning, itching sensations, or pains shooting like
lightning.
Symptoms often ascend or are right - sided. Impulse to walk
rapidly, which relieves. Better: From cold or cold washing,
open air. etc., motion and walking. Worse: Standing, sitting,
spirituous drinks.

Skin.-- Crawling in. Tormenting itching. Itching pustules.
Cicatrices turn red around edges, itch and are covered with vesicles.
Sensation as if a burning vapor were emitted from the pores of whole
body.
Excoriation. Roughness and desquamation, especially in spots,
Red blotches. Naevi materni. Thrombi. Varicose veins. Flesh warts.
Enlarged capillaries
Hope it helps. All the best.
Venkat

infected
measures
whitish
itchy
There's
from the
ever
strep"

Hi Joy,

Well, things are a bit changeable, partly because it's still "evolving" and
partly because I keep messing with it! But here's what I see so far:

on 6/19/04 11:11 AM, Joy Lucas at joy.lucas@ntlworld.com wrote:
There's some heat in the central, most inflamed area (about 3/4 cm across?).
The sensation varies some. At first itching was the main feeling, but other
times some stinging or perhaps burning, or sometimes just "irritated" (maybe
"stinging" covers it best).

There are also two sore areas about 1-2 cm away from the bite, or maybe it's
just that the soreness extends that far in those directions. Altho I can
use the wrist normally (the bite is on side of arm slightly above wrist),
sometimes I feel mild soreness in the muscle during certain movements.
No blistering.
The main inflamed part is circular, pink, appears slightly raised or puffy,
with slight depression in the middle. Initially the depressed area was
greyish white but now looks more pink, maybe a hint of thin scab (pus pulled
out?).

There is a very faint reddened area that extends out about three times
farther than the areola, very irregular, sort of amoeba-like. I can't
reallly see anything unusual in the areas that are sore; they're not within
the fainter reddened area.
Whitish pus will slowly collect at the top, but under that is clear and
thick, reaccumulates only slowly. I don't notice any smell.
Not the parts I'm familiar with; no coldness/> cold of ledum, no shooting
pains that would make me think of hyper. But I don't know either picture to
any depth, I'm afraid.

Now here's an odd thing... This afternoon for absolutely no particular
reason, I smeared it with castor oil, and that's been the most helpful thing
yet! It made some initial improvement, and seems to have held steady since
then (whereas before that it had been slowly but steadily worsening).
Odd... Anyway, so at this point the depression hasn't grown any more, and
for some hours I wasn't even aware of it; now the "irritated" feeling is
back some.

Thanks, Joy!
Shannon

Hi Rosemary,

It does seem that "susceptibility" is coming in here, doesn't it! (No one
else in the household has had anything like this.)

By treating it constitutionally, do you simply mean take my overall/chronic
remedy, or how would this figure into the picture? (I don't see any obvious
connection between these episodes and "the rest of my case", except that my
immune system can get a little "iffy" and there are some hints of syphilitic
stuff in my family history.) I and several homeopaths have been looking for
"my constitutional" for some time (heaves a big sigh...). I hafta say that
if this present search had been the *start* of my "career" as a homeopathic
patient, I wouldn't have held on for this long. But had those really great
years before this stage, so "hope springs eternal"! But I'll run this by my
present lucky prescriber and see what he thinks... Would also love to hear
how you might use it (in general outline, I mean!).

Cheers,
Shannon

on 6/19/04 1:08 PM, Rosemary C Hyde PhD at rosemarychyde@mindspring.com
wrote:

Those have been my first thoughts, too. Using one of my favorite
rubric-finding techniques, it was an extraction on Anthracinum that gave me
those rubrics at the end, as I couldn't think what terms might describe the
way it was spreading; and I was starting to feel a bit arsenicum-y a while
back -- the stinging and worsening was making me feel anxious. Then I did
my castor oil thing and got busy and distracted

Can you (or anyone) describe the difference between "malignant" and
"phagedenic"?

Thanks!
Shannon

on 6/19/04 2:35 PM, hahnemannian2002 at hahnemannian2002@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi, Shannon.