A rare Homeopathic Medicine for a case of ulcerative colitis

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  May, 2004  by Robert Ullman,  Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman

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A New Style of Casetaking

John was a 34 year-old factory worker with a family to support. His ulcerative colitis was really cramping his style, not to mention his bowels. We took his case using a new casetaking method that focuses on examining the patient's chief complaint in detail in order to determine the vital sensation that runs through the entire case. The vital sensation helps to determine the kingdom and family from which the correct medicine may be found.

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This method has been in development by Dr. Rajan Sankaran of Mumbai, India over the past few years, Studying it during live case seminars in Mumbai, and applying it in our practice, has allowed us to arrive at homeopathic medicines that we could have never before prescribed. Using this method, the words of the patient are examined in detail, asking him to define and redefine the significant words, expressions and gestures that he uses while recounting his symptoms.

John's Case in His Own Words

"My ulcerative colitis started three years ago. The doctor recommended Prednisone and Asachol. I have not been on Prednisone for eight months and it is terrible right now. I stopped the Prednisone because it made me fidgety. I've lost 30 to 40 pounds since stopping. I have also tried treatment with two other homeopaths without any results, and some herbal teas. I have been avoiding spicy food, but my diet doesn't seem to matter. I try not to eat much so I don't have to go to the bathroom all the time. My stool is loose, but not as watery as it was originally.

"This colitis is really getting me down. It's really hard for me to handle. Usually, at work, I will go to the bathroom four to six times a day. When I have to stop my work to go to the bathroom, it's inconvenient and slows me down. I'm down to using vacation days for sick days. All I can do is go to work. I can't really even go to my kids' baseball games. The colitis has tied me down completely. I have to have a bathroom nearby, or I just don't go there.

"It is very hard for me to hold in a bowel movement. My stool can be so urgent, I might have to go by the side of the road. I get pain through my mid-section and stomach area. It's like a sick feeling, like an upset stomach, but lower down. Sometimes it gurgles before I have a bowel movement. It's like my colon is being squeezed or wrung out. Could it be bloating putting pressure on the outer walls? It feels wrenching, like it is squeezing or bulging.

"It feels tight and sore in there. My colon is damaged. It feels like it has been bruised or something. The bruised feeling starts before or during stool, but can hang on afterwards as well. The right side of my stomach also feels cool to the touch before or during a bowel movement.

"When I am pushing, I feel like I am pushing up against a block wall, like it is plugged. When I try to quit pushing, it is hard to stop. It gets pretty painful down there. It is so intense that it makes me bend over. It's like someone is punching you in the rectum, and I feel it the whole time I am pushing at the end of the bowel movement. It is like it is plugged, and I just have to push. Then a few more drops come out, and I'm finished. Sometimes my rectum clinches at the end. It is really annoying. Sometimes there's mucus or blood in the stool.

"My stool is explosive. The gas is like a whoopee cushion going off! Then I get the pain. It is like I am pushing up against nothing, but it is blocked. I'm trying to do two things at once, push the stool out and stop it at the same time. The pain in the midsection comes when I try to hold it back. The squeezed or wrung-out feeling comes on during the stool and occasionally afterwards. When I'm pushing and nothing comes out, I get brief chills or goose bumps from the pushing, either all over or just on my arms and legs.

"My stools haven't been normal in a year. When it first started, I figured I had the runs, but it got worse and worse. It seemed to start after a dental cleaning where I swallowed a bunch of stuff. Shortly afterwards, the colitis started. At first, I just had a little blood here and there. The colonoscopy showed that the walls of my colon are damaged on the right side, where it hooks to the small intestine and the left side of the transverse colon.

"I feel very weak. It is draining on my body. I don't have any energy at all. I feel so weak that I don't even want to leave the house. Yesterday was a very good day, but I felt sick this morning and couldn't get going. When I try to get going in the morning, I feel like I could sleep for another five hours. My sleep is disrupted by having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night to pass stool.

"My wife and I were not getting along at the time the colitis started. Her counselor told her I should move out. I even thought she had a boyfriend at the time, and I thought of moving on to be with someone else. I felt pretty terrible. I was very nervous about it. This was my second marriage, and I didn't want to split up for the sake of our two young kids. It was very hard on me the first time. When my first wife left me, all I had was my drinking. When I met my present wife in a bar, I resolved to quit drinking and marry her.