List of the clinical cases
- Induration of the skin of the back of the foot – Lycopodium 30c
- Pain of the back of the foot – Sepia 30c
- Grasping at the back of the head – Ignatia 30c
- Cough ameliorated lying – Sepia 30c
- Tarsal canal syndrome – Calcarea carbonica 30c
- Lumbago – Rhus tox. 30c
- Sleeplessness – Sulphur 1Mk
- Tendinitis at rest – Ferrum metallicum 30c
- Sciatica – Sepia 1Mk
- Cough ameliorated smoking – Hepar sulphuris calcareum 30c
- Grief with big heart – Ignatia 30c
- Pyrosis – Sabina 30c (Dr Aegidi)
- Memory lost – Belladonna (Dr Bicking)
- Attacks of vomiting – Arsenicum album (Dr Schelling)
- Convulsions after a fright – Secale cornutum (Dr Helbig)
- Flatulences after cabbage and fruits – Veratrum album (Dr Samuel Hahnemann)
- Attacks of rheumatism – Causticum Hahnemanni (Dr C. Hering)
Case n°1: Induration of the skin of the back of the foot
Following a fright, the patient had a pain to one tooth, followed gradually by swelling of the dorsum of the right foot, the skin of which became thick and hard but remained white. Pitting edema. The swelling made it difficult to bend the foot and walk. She had experienced pain in her right leg in the past, suggesting the after-effects of an old phlebitis. Repertorisation with Homeorep gives Lycopodium as the leading remedy. There are no other symptoms to note. One has a purely local symptom, painless, with no concomitant to the rest of the body. The “constitutional” remedy of this patient is Sulphur, but Sulphur doesn’t work. I trust the repertory and decide to give Lycopodium 30c, 3 granules in a single dose dry under the tongue. The curative reaction begins 3 days later and the back of the foot returns to normal within a few weeks. Below is the evaluation grid provided by Homeorep:
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6 months later, the same stress had the same effect, but this time on the left foot !! There is no longer any doubt about the indication of Lycopodium. I could never have found Lycopodium at first attempt using another repertory.
Case n°2: Pain of the back of the foot
For several weeks now, the patient has had a cramp-like pain of the back of her left foot. The pain is improved by moving the foot and aggravated by walking outdoors. No pain when walking indoors; pain comes as soon as she goes outside.
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Sepia comes in first by a narrow margin. I later learn that the pain is improved especially when climbing stairs. It confirms the choice of Sepia, which clearly stands out in the chart below. Silicea is contraindicated, Lycopodium and Rhus toxicodendron are doubly contraindicated.
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After taking Sepia 30c, one single dose dry, the pain disappears within 2-3 days.
Case n°3: Grasping at the back of the head
In the afternoon sense of grasping pressure in the occiput internally accompanied by depression. Nervous exhaustion with constant need to lie down. A sighing respiration from time to time. Ignatia comes in first in the evaluation grid bellow. Ignatia 30c, a single dose dry, cures in a few days.
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Case n°4: Cough ameliorated lying
Here is the rare example of a case where the heading remedy given by the repertorisation seems contraindicated but nevertheless proves to be a possible remedy when looking up in the Materia Medica.
Patient with coryza that has lasted for several weeks. Mucus dripping in the throat from the back of the nose causes coughing. Throat is sore after coughing. Expectoration of white mucus. Coughing stops when lying down, a modality for cough which is not as frequent as its contrary (60/205 remedies in the Complete Repertory 2023). Sore spot on one side of the throat just above the larynx. She can’t stand anything around the neck. A sore spot in the back in the middle of the bra.
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Sepia comes in first but is contraindicated (shaded background) in the grid above. Can it nevertheless be the right remedy ? The rubric Aggravation while lying has a grade 3, meaning Sepia appears in many symptoms aggravated while lying, its counter-rubric Amelioration while lying has grade 1 but not 0, important difference meaning there exist one, perhaps a few symptoms of Sepia ameliorated while lying. One has to look up in the Materia Medica to decide.
In T.F. Allen‘s Encyclopedia one finds 3 symptoms for cough aggravated while lying and a single symptom for cough ameliorated while lying: “Dry day cough, which necessitate lying down, and during which it stops; at night while lying no cough, but dry coryza.“
Sepia 30c, a single dose dry, cures quickly. The contraindication was relative but not absolute.
Remedies with low degrees 1 and 2, which can be found in different localisations, sensations or modalities, should not be overlooked. Remedies with high degrees 3 and 4 can allow combination to form complete virtual symptoms with respectively a high and very high probability of existence. The use of the Medical Materia is therefore not systematic.
Case n°5 : Tarsal canal syndrome
Many years after a severe sprain of the left ankle, the lateral malleolus shows considerable bony swelling. A constant pain occurs in the bones, like a fine prick, shooting and rhythmic, > when walking long outdoors.
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After Calcarea carbonica 30c, a single dose of 3 granules under the tongue, it takes 2-3 days for the pain to disappear, but it will take many months to resolve the hypertrophy of this ankle and regain the appearance of the right ankle. This case was, you may say, not difficult to solve, and many homeopaths would have given Calcarea carbonica without consulting a book, solely on the basis of their clinical experience. Yet, the repertorisation tells us an important clinical information: Calcarea carbonica has an amelioration of neuralgic pains by walking outdoors (it is maybe an amelioration from the protracted motion of the affected part).
When lifting a small tree branch, I feel a slight electric pain in my lumbar spine. A lumbar pain gradually develops. This pain is aggravated when getting up from a seat and during the first few steps of walking. I have then to walk bent forward. The pain improves when lying on my back on the floor.
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After taking Rhus tox 30C, 3 granules dry under the tongue, the pain subsides within a few hours and has disappeared by the next morning.
Friday, January 10, 2020
For the past month, the patient has been suffering from a depression that has developed gradually. She feels tired, is sluggish and has a sensation of emptiness throughout the body. She sleeps well during the day but has insomnia at night. After her siesta, she feels groggy. In the evening, she is unable to fall asleep due to a flow of thoughts about events in her current life. She falls asleep around midnight, wakes up at 2:45 a.m., and is unable to fall back asleep. After waking up, she feels temporarily great and can then be active. She is not irritable. She drinks constantly and urinates frequently. She eats well and her bowel movements are normal. No headaches. When concentrating on her work, she feels a sense of emptiness in her brain. After lunch, she feels tired, as if she were drugged with a veil before her eyes. She is emotionally sensitive; she cries at the slightest thing, especially when talking about her problems to her office colleague. No reaction to consolation. Drawing pain in her right arm, just below the shoulder, extending to her left arm.
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Sulphur 1000k, 3 granules under the tongue at 7:16 p.m. The temporary feeling of well-being at 2:45 a.m. after sleep, although generally more noticeable around 5 a.m. in Sulphur, confirms the choice of sulphur, which comes second in the table above.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
She had a better night.
At 5:05 p.m., she reports that she feels great.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
I slept like a baby, she says in the morning after sleep.
For several months, pressing pain in the right shoulder joint, starting in the morning just after getting up, worse when stooping. It is aggravated by the movement during about 30 minutes and later improved by the movement. The pain is then aggravated at rest, while standing still and especially sitting at the desk. No pain sitting at the table during the meal. Pain when brushing teeth. The best positions are to sit in a half reclined armchair or to lie on the back, where the pain disappears completely. The pain occasionally shifts to a small point on the inner side of the right scapula. It may be accompanied by a tingling of the fingers of the right hand. X-rays and ultrasounds confirm the diagnostic of tendinitis.
 NORMAL REPERTORISATION |
 REPERTORISATION USING SMALL REMEDIES OPTION |
After Ferrum metallicum 30c, a single dose dry under the tongue, the pain disappears in a few days. Note that using a normal repertorisation, Ferrum metallicum ranks third in the left grid above. Using the “Small Remedies” option, which places an additional weight on the remedy, makes it rank first.
Right-sided lumbago for several weeks that has worsened after taking SULPHUR 30c, developing into right-sided sciatica. Positive Lasègue sign. This is a new syndrome that has emerged, triggered by taking Sulphur, and which allows for the use of the Concordances part in Boenninghausen’s Therapeutic Pocketbook. Since the new syndrome involves a change in localisations, sensations, and modalities, we have to select the rubric Concordances in general for Sulphur.
No pain upon getting up at 4 a.m. to use the restroom, but pain in the upper right calf at 8 a.m. after getting up, as soon as the patient begins to move and walk. The pain subdues in the forenoon and is absent in the afternoon and evening.
Temporary, sharp, tearing pain in the upper right calf, as if the muscles were too short, in the morning after getting up, following the flexion and subsequent extension of the lower limbs while putting on my underwear.
Vague pain in the right calf when standing still.
Surprisingly, there is no pain in the right leg when squatting, but there is a crackling sound in the left knee joint. It suggests an amelioration by physical exertion.
Pain in a small spot in the right hip joint when straining at stool.
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Monday, June 8, 2026
Sepia 1Mk, 3 granules dry under the tongue at 2:36 p.m.
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
A 70% improvement in sciatica was noted in the morning after getting out of bed.
Thursday, June 11, 2026
There’s still a slight trace of sciatica, but it doesn’t hurt.
Friday, June 12, 2026
No remaining symptoms of sciatica.
Case n°10: Cough ameliorated smoking
Dry, paroxysmal cough caused by a tickling sensation in a small spot at the top of the left side of the larynx. Each coughing fit lasts at least 10 minutes until a yellow, thick, and abundant sputum is coughed up. The sputum is particularly abundant in the morning, when, in the patient’s words, there is a morning clear-out. The cough worsens in a warm room, with strong odors, and as soon as she lies down. It improves with fresh outdoor air. She wakes up 3 or 4 times a night due to a coughing fit and has to go to the window to get fresh air, although she feels chilly. During the day at the office, she feels as if there were dust at the tickling spot in her larynx due to the air conditioning, which, as she says, stirs up debris, and triggers the cough. Particularly notable is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, which burns the tickling spot in the larynx and stops the cough. Sensation of dryness in the upper airways, worsened by speaking. Headache like a band across the forehead with pressure from inside out. Nausea in the throat upon waking in the morning. Abdominal cramps occur one after another above the navel, with watery diarrhea.
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Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Hepar sulphuris calcareum 30c, 3 granules dry under the tongue (1:00 p.m.).
She begins to feel better around 4:00 p.m. Her cough gradually improves. The coughing fits become less frequent. She no longer feels the tickling spot in her larynx. Her appetite returns. She has only one coughing fit between 4:00 p.m. and midnight. She is unusually tired around midnight and goes to bed at 0:10 a.m.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
She has had a very good night’s sleep. No coughing fits. She feels fine all day, with just one small coughing fit.
No cough at bedtime in the evening.
Thursday, January 2, 2024
During the night, she is awakened by a severe coughing fit at 2:30 a.m., which becomes continuous. The tickling sensation in her larynx has returned. She feels chilly. She coughs all day at the office. It is an irritating cough rather than one caused by mucus.
Hepar sulphuris calcareum 30c, 3 granules dry under the tongue (8:30 p.m.).
Friday, January 3, 2024
Around midnight, she feels fine and sleeps without coughing. But she wakes up at 3:00 a.m. with a continuous cough. She can’t fall back asleep. Yet in the morning, she doesn’t feel tired.
At the office, she coughs a little.
EVALUATION: Hepar has done a good work, but obviously it is not sufficient to cure the case. One has to collect the symptoms of the new picture which emerges and give a complementary remedy.
In fact, it turned out that this case was complicated, with a series of indicated remedies being administered one after another, but each having only a partial or temporary effect. I learned that this patient’s grandmother had had tuberculosis in her youth. It was necessary to administer Tuberculinum 30c as an intercurrent remedy in order to allow for a complete cure.
Case n° 11: Grief with big heart
Sadness following her father’s death alternates with anger. Anger because she was unable to see her father before he died to say goodbye to him. Anger, too, toward her eldest son, who has just been put in prison. She cries a lot. Her distress is not exacerbated by consolation.
She constantly imagines past scenes she experienced with her father. It’s like a very clear movie playing before her eyes. Each scene lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. The scenes that appear are never the same. There is no logical or chronological sequence. Scenes range from her childhood to the funeral service. Short scenes from her life accompanied by sadness.
Her symptoms improve when she is with others and generally when she thinks about something else.
She wakes up several times a night and stays awake for an hour each time before falling back asleep.
Sometimes she has a headache which comes suddenly, a grasping of her temples, making her lethargic and as if empty.
She sighs three or four times an hour.
She feels as though her heart were swollen and compressed in her chest, as if it had not enough room.
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Friday, March 14, 2014
Ignatia 30c, 3 granules dry under the tongue, after dinner.
The sensation as if the heart were swollen is a keynote to Ignatia. In the French culture people say “avoir le coeur gros” when they experience grief.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
She slept better, waking up only once at 4 a.m. and falling back asleep easily. She feels generally better in the morning.
The sadness, the big heart sensation and the sighing are better.
At 2:15 pm she experiences a sudden strong grasping headache accompanied with lethargy; she has no more energy and feels empty. But it goes by quickly.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
She feels well. She has very few visual flashes.
All symptoms disappear in a few day. She has taken Ignatia 30c 2 or 3 times.
Case n° 12: Pyrosis (Dr Aegidi)
A transitory tensive pain in the forehead, with a sensation as if the skin had grown fast, with tension in the eyes; redness of the skin around the alae nasi, painful to the touch; dryness of the mouth and esophagus, without thirst; collection of white frothy mucus, filling the corners of the mouth when talking; sensation of a body in the throat, which he tries to swallow but cannot, it offers no impediment to the swallowing of food; heartburn and sour eructations especially when sitting bent over, which likewise aggravate the other symptoms; amelioration from sitting erect, from moving and stretching the limbs, for which he has an involuntary desire; rumbling and gurgling in the abdomen. especially in the evening, in a warm room; great tiredness and laziness with a feeling of deep-seated inward trouble, which makes him melancholy and sad.
Rx : Sabina 30c
| NORMAL REPERTORISATION | SMALL REMEDIES REPERTORISATION |
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Sabina, the indicated remedy ranks 8 with a normal repertorisation and it is not visible in the corresponding grid , which shows the 7 heading remedies only. Using the small remedies option with intensity 2, Sabina ranks first.
Case N° 13: Memory lost (Dr Bicking)
Pressing, stupefying pain in forehead, particularly after mental exertion and emotions. Towards evening restless, anxious and fidgety. Sleep disturbed by dreams; twitching of the whole body; sits up in bed with anxious gestures; weeps, cries out mournfully and wants to run away. Next morning does not remember what occurred.
Rx : Belladonna
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Case N° 14: Attacks of vomiting (Dr Schelling)
During the latter portion of pregnancy; face pale, earthy, distorted, anxious; voice weak; burning, pinching, contracting pain in stomach and both sides of abdomen, with dyspnoea; drawing under the umbilicus; in attacks every half hour. Vomiting of mucus and bile with violent retching, burning in throat and esophagus like fire, thirst without desire to drink. After the attack empty eructation, retching, dyspnoea, great restlessness and sensitiveness of the abdomen, lively motion of the child.
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Rx : Arsenicum album
According to the evaluation grid above, Arsenicum album, which ranks 5 and has a contraindication, does not seem to be the right remedy. Actually, even with a well taken case, Homeorep does not give each time the right remedy as the leading remedy. Nevertheless, according to the clinical experience of physicians, paroxysms of stomach symptoms every half hour point strongly towards this remedy more than toward any other remedy. So one keeps Arsenicum album in mind while trying the heading remedies first.
We can find Arsenicum album for the symptom Thirst with aversion to drink in the homeopathic literature; it is mentioned in SR Phatak’s Concise Repertory.
Case N° 15: Convulsions after a fright (Dr Helbig)
Convulsions after a fright when a little girl, return after each confinement.
| NORMAL REPERTORISATION | SMALL REMEDIES REPERTORISATION |
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Rx : Secale cornutum
With a normal repertorisation Secale comes in a tie for second place with 4 other remedies. With a small remedies (intensity 1) repertorisation it ranks first.
Case N° 16: Flatulences after cabbage and fruits (Dr Samuel Hahnemann)
A compositor, aet. 24, lean, of pale, earthy complexion, suffered for years after eating carrots, all sorts of cabbage, especially the white and sauerkraut, every species of fruit, pears in particular; violent attacks of neuralgia; a certain movement was felt about the naval, then suddenly, always at the same place a pinching as if by pincers followed, with the most intolerable pain lasting half or a whole minute; each time it went away with borborygmus, extending to the caecal region. There occurred also a sensation of constriction above and below, preventing flatus from passing. Attacks of anxiety and pain increase from half to a whole hour, abdomen swelled and became painful to the touch. Along with all this: inclination to vomit, chest constricted, breathing shorter, more and more difficult, cold sweat, stupefaction and total exhaustion. Could not swallow a drop of liquid, much less any solid food. He lay many hours stupefied, unconscious, with a swollen face and protruded eyes, without sleep. After wind passed up or down it went off.
Veratrum album, four powders, each containing four grains of the powdered root, caused a dreadful aggravation, followed by a perfect cure.
Attacks of rheumatism (Dr C. Hering)
A young blooming woman got, as often before, a violent attack of acute rheumatism. She was left with valvular troubles already after previous attacks. After metastasis of swelling to different joints the pains now principally affect the right wrist and shoulder; the index finger is considerably swollen. Stiffness particularly in the neck. Moaning and complaining about the pains; hopeless and despairing; gets but little sleep, which is broken by whimpering. With the attacks there is oppression and dyspnoea, with violent palpitation and inexpressible anxiety. Aconitum relieved, but the spells returned. Before going to sleep she had a crawling and stinging sensation in the side of the throat. Soon after olfaction of Lachesis 30c more quiet and improved.
This was followed by an itching eruption on the left mammae. Later there came a pain as if all the tendons were contracted. Causticum completed the cure; she had no return of rheumatism after 1835.