A case of recurrent pneumonia
This is a case of a 66 years old woman who was diagnosed with double pneumonia around Easter. She had not been feeling well since, suffering with night sweats, hot and cold flashes, weakness and residual coughing.
Her medical doctor suggested that she had after effects from the pneumonia and suggested she see a naturopathic doctor to help her with her immune system.
When I first saw her in early October 09 she looked acutely ill and was coughing intensely throughout the entire consultation. Her temperature was 36.5 and on auscultation her breath sounds were severely diminished bilaterally. She complained of chest pain on coughing and had to hold her side to reduce the pain. She described bright yellow expectoration for the past two days. Overall, she reported that her condition had deteriorated over the past few days.
She reported intermittent general body ache with acute weakness which would force her to rest and which was accompanied by gurgling or bubbling sounds in the left upper quadrant, followed by some gas about two hours later. She also reported a loss of appetite with immediate vomiting after trying to ingest any food. She was concerned about weight loss.
Diagnosis:
Probable bilateral pneumonia. History of frequent and severe respiratory infections and previous pneumonia. Weakened immune system.
Treatment:
I decided to give Bryonia alba 30 CH, a homeopathic remedy which covered her acute symptoms well and an herbal tincture for general immune support. I asked her to return in one week and to call me if she did not improve in the next three days. She called me on the third day to tell me that she was no better. I immediately changed her prescription to Carcinosin 30 CH, a homeoapthic remedy which was a good match for her entire constitution, keeping in mind her history of suffering from suppression of her considerable need to express her creativity, her chronic immune system weakness as well as the history of early breast cancer in her mother.
She noticed a change as soon as the took the new remedy. Withintwo days she felt considerably better. When I saw her again a week later all her symptoms had improved. Her breath sounds were more audible on auscultation but still reduced. I advised her to continue taking the Carcinosin 30 CH and added Reishi mushroom extract and vitamin D, 4000 IU per day, to support her immune system.
I saw her again two weeks later. Breath sounds were normal, night sweats had almost cleared and appetite was normal. She felt stronger overall. There was mild residual coughing and expectoration.
Prognosis:
I expect the patient to make a full recovery. I will continue to treat her
constitutionally with homeopathy to strengthen her immune system. She probably
would have benefited from this particular homeopathic remedy from the time she
was a child.
Discussion:
I have seen many patients with weakness after severe infections such
as pneumonia, over the years, all with good results. Please note that they were all
treated differently, based on their unique symptoms and general constitution.
Do not think that carcinosin as a homeopathic remedy is a remedy for weakness
after pneumonia, there are many others. In homeopathy we are not treating the
diagnosis or the disease, but the patient. However, the reader might find it
interesting to learn more about carcinosin.
The Remedy:
Carcinosin is a homeopathic remedy made from a carcinoma, a
cancer. It was first developed as a remedy in the early parts of the 20th century and
later more closely described by Dr. D.M. Foubister from England in the 50’s.
Apparently he had prepared it from a breast carcinoma. Nowadays there are
several different types of carcinosin in use, made from different types of tumours.
People who require the remedy tend to have certain qualities. They are generally
refined, sensitive to music and the arts, romantic and perfectionistic, with a strong
sense of duty. They almost always just love to dance. All these qualities were
prominent in the patient’s story. The patient has strong passions, but is sensitive
and the passions are easily suppressed by parents, spouses, bosses etc, which is
often what leads to the pathology. My patient’s intense desire for creative
expression, especially dance, was suppressed by her parents and further
circumstances in life.
Another person, less sensitive and artistic, might not have responded in the same
way. This was coupled with a strong sense of responsibility and duty which saw her
going to visit her dying mother in Europe with a toddler and a sick infant in tow when
she was not well herself after a difficult delivery. She also suffered from high
responsibility while taking care of her high need child mostly alone for many years
as well as visiting her ailing father in Europe frequently over the years.
There is often a history of cancer in the family, not that that is uncommon these
days, however, in patients who require carcinosin there may be an unusually strong
tendency to cancer in the family, and/or the onset of the cancer is very young as in
this case, where the patient’s mother was only 46 years old at the time she was
diagnosed with breast cancer.
Patients who require this remedy may come in with many different complaints. Some
of the more common are inmsomnia and a poor recovery after having a serious
infection such as mono, the flu, or, as in this case, pneumonia.
This remedy was a very good match for the patient. It is likely that both her mother
as well as her son might have benefited form the same remedy.
Anke Zimmermann, ND, FCAH