Minutus

Hi Shannon,

I'm probably behind in recommendations and may be everything resolved
till now, but anyway...:
The regionary lymphnodes hadn't been involved or was there a swelling?

After cat bites or scratches that are healing badly and when the
lymphnodes are involved, this is due to the Bacterium Bartonella
henselae (a zoonosis:"Cat scratch disease", although there transmissions
from a dog have also been published). A lot of people have antibody
titers against it( meaning, there had been a contact, even without any
known animal scratches), but sometimes this bacterium causes severe
diseases, usually within 2-4 months after the contact. (Allopathically
successfully treated with antibiotics, BTW).

But I assume you didn't have any more problems after the cat scratch had
healed.
I'd focus on the 'Causa' aspect first...stings of insects, and look
closely at the remedies within this rubric.

When I read your description, I thought of Carb-ac (has the burning,
itching, the causa etc.)

Best,

Gaby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler,DVM
Germany
rottler@curantur.de

http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Gaby

Do we have a nosode made from the Bacterium Bartonella henselae?

I have a patient who is NWS cat scratch fever and have been doing some
reading about how the bacterium (which has a propensity, apparently, for
long-term residence in the gut), has been linked to long-term depression.

Any thoughts/information would be welcome.

kind regards
Patricia

Dear Patricia,
not that I know of.
From some the European manufacturers that normally carry most of the
nosodes nobody has it ... perhaps it's available in the US.
Well, I'm no advocate of the isopathic use of nosodes, at least when
there are 'normal' symptoms available - because about our nosodes we
don't know very much (or most often nothing at all) about their
characteristic symptoms, as no provings are available in the majority of
the cases.

Helpful, especially when dealing with zoonotic diseases, are the
mechanisms involved.

If you have a patient whose symptoms are mainly depression after the cat
scratch disease (treated with trimethoprim or homoeopathically?), I
would still gather the entire picture the bacterium is able to produce,
similar to collecting the symptoms in an epidemic.
So, bartonella henselae has already caused neuroretinitis, nephritis,
osteomyelitis besides of its affections of the lymphatic system - if you
can gather 'real' symptoms from these cases this probably would be
helpful.

In cats, though most of them are asymptomatic carriers (about 20-30%),
after experimental infections the following symptoms appeared: fever,
hyperplasia of lymphnodes and follicles in the spleen, cholangitis,
disturbances of fertility etc.

As Bartonella belongs to the Rickettsiales, it may also be important to
look at other zoonotic rickettsioses, like Q-fever, rocky mountain spot
fever and others, to get a better understanding of the class of
bacteria.

The main vectors are often ticks, fleas and company, so the rubrics of
stings, bites etc.should always be considered in a not too narrow way.

Another approach wouldbe to look at the main symptom Bartonella is
causing (starting with the lympadenopathie), and look for remedies that
have an infectious background and specialize in lymphnodes (e.g. Tub and
family) and try to match one of these to the characteristic symptoms of
your patient.

Hope that helps,

Gaby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler, DVM
Germany
rottler@curantur.de

http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Gaby for your prompt reply; much to ponder on!
I agree with the sentiment that constitutional treatment is best and that's
what's being done. However, when things don't move through, I often find the
intercurrent use of an appropriate nosode helps to shift the case along.

regards
Patricia