Renal calculi cured by the homoeopathic remedy. By Harvey Farrington, M.D.

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Renal calculi cured
by the homœopathic remedy.
By Harvey Farrington, M.D.
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

(Read before I. H. A., Bureau of
Surgery, June 8, 1935.)

Dr H.
Farrington

Text-books on homœopathic
therapeutics form a useful and necessary part of our literature, but the
indications for remedies are usually meagre and unsatisfactory to the
careful student of Materia medica. Moreover, they are apt to lower the
standard of prescribing with those who are lazy or lacking in the
fundamentals of correct prescribing. Although at times it may be
possible to remove calculi from the kidneys by administering one of the
remedies recommended in treatises-on renal diseases, it is by no means
certain that the patient’s general health will be benefited at the same
time.

The two cases herewith
presented were prescribed for symptomatically and the cure established
and confirmed by x-rays. I have treated many cases of renal colic and
others where clinical symptoms and the passage of gravel indicated the
presence of stones in the kidney and their disintegration, but these are
the only ones in which the proof seems irrefutable.

Early in May, 1918, a
man 45 years of age came to my office bringing with him an x-ray of the
right kidney, confirming the diagnosis of renal calculus. The stone was
fusiform in shape, lay near the spine or about where the entrance to the
ureter should be and about half an inch in length. He gave a history of
several attacks of renal colic, always attended with much flatulence
and, previous to the attacks, considerable red sand in the urine. There
were a dull pain in the back over the right kidney, rumbling of flatus,
distress in the stomach from drinking cold water, much belching and
sense of fullness after eating a small amount of food.

He was apt to be worse
from 3.30 or 4.00 until 8 or 9 P. M. The prescription was easy. He
received a dose of Lycopodium 10M. on May 15. Improvement was almost
immediate. The flatulence subsided and in a week or so he was able to
eat a normal amount of food without distress. On June 18 another picture
was taken and the shadow of the stone, so clearly visible in the first
one, was absent. The curious part of it was that during the time he was
under the action of the remedy, he passed no crystals of any sort and
the urine failed to throw down any sediment, even after standing for
several hours.

On hearing of this, Mr.
L—.’s employer immediately sent his wife to try and see what homœopathy
could do. She had spent months in trying to get rid of stones in the
right kidney and was about to go to the hospital to have the kidney
removed. She was a woman 40 years of age, with light brown hair and blue
eyes and weighed 113 pounds. For four years she had suffered with severe
attacks of pain in the right kidney which, her family physician told
her, were of “malarial origin”. About two months before she
came to me, she had consulted Dr. Bass, some where in Texas, who was
specializing in kidney diseases and claimed to have a secret remedy for
the cure of calculi. She thought that she had received some benefit from
his medicines.

A resume of her record
follows :

July 12, 1918. Mrs. G.
N. M—., age 40 ; brown hair, weight 118 lbs. Attacks of severe
pain in the region of the right kidney with occasional passage of small
calculi since February 1914 ; pain may extend toward the
bladder ; blood and pus in the urine off and on since Nov.
1916 ; x-ray shows three stones ranging from 3/8″ to 3/4″
in diameter ; many smaller ones. Much flatulence in the bowels
since typhoid fever when she was 15 ; some belching.

These symptoms are
always worse before or during an attack. Menses regular, profuse,
painful ; accompanied by herpes about the mouth and
irritability ; ending occasionally in a headache ; followed by
marked weakness. A urinary analysis made by Dr. Clifford Mitchell of
Chicago showed specific gravity, 1012 ; reaction slightly
acid ; urea, 0.008 grains per 24 hours ; chlorides 0.095 per
cent ; phosphates 0.093 per cent ; a plain trace of
albumen ; considerable pus ; a whitish sediment containing a
few crystals of triple phosphates. A note at the end stated,
“Feeble acidity favoring deposit of phosphates”. Aching here
and there, in joints of calves of the legs when the weather changes from
hot to cold or becomes damp. Psorinum
10M.

July 17. Pains and
bloating much worse after the remedy, then greatly improved ;
passed 3 or 4 small stones, with little pain. Sac.
lac.

July 26. Has been
feeling better than for many months ; some flatus ; slight
distress in right kidney ; passed three small stones. Sac.
lac.

Sept. 6. Passing stones
now and then without pain ; the largest one yet, about 1/4″
square, 1/16″ thick, with rounded corners, causing sharp pains in
the bladder until it was washed out. Fullness in region of ascending
colon, sharp pains in the right kidney and more bloating would indicate
that another one was on the way. Psor.
42M.

Sept. 14. Not so
well ; flatulence greatly increased ; much belching. Carbo
veg. 1M.

Oct. 1. Had la grippe
and symptoms worse ; herpes about lips and nostrils.
“Side” hurts ; flatulence. Carbo
veg. 1M.

Oct. 7. Much
better ; may have passed a few crystals. Sac.
lac.

Dec. 2. Some pain in
side ; passed two large stones, but menses less painful than for
several years ; no weakness following. Sac.
lac.

The Carbo
veg. was repeated on Dec. 31 and Feb. 11, 1919 in the 10M.
potency with continued improvement, but occasional passage of the flat
squarish stones which would fall to powder as soon as they dried out.
Three doses of the DMM. of Swan were administered on March 18. They
relieved flatulence and distress in the ascending colon but headaches
became more frequent and severe. The record continues :

March 25, 1919,
headaches relieved by hot applications. Psor.
CM. and Sac. lac.”

April 23. Headaches
have been much better ; flatulence also. Sac.
lac.

May 16. Headaches
worse ; two or three severe ones during the past two weeks. Psor.
CM.

May 27. A headache
which lasted five days. Hiccough all day today and much flatulence. Now
weighs 140 lbs. Carbo veg. 10M.

July 11. After a week
of distress in side, passed large crystal ; weak, sleepy and
restless before it passed. Sac. lac.

August 13. Still
passing stones. Analysis shows that they are composed of urates and
phosphates. Carbo veg. CM.

Oct. 25. Not so
well ; more crystals ; one headache (took aspirin). Carbo
veg. CM.

Dec. 5. Passed five
stones. Sac. lac.

Feb. 23, 1920. Carbo
veg. CM.

March 1. Passed several
stones, two of them large and followed by some blood ; still the
pain was not very severe. Sac. lac.

March 19. Many stones,
but little distress in side. Sac. lac.

April 13. Perfect
avalanche of stones for two weeks, all shapes and sizes. Sac.
lac.

May 5. Had spell of
agonizing pain, passing two or three large and numerous small
stones ; they are harder, many white like chips of egg shell. Carbo
veg. CM. Belladonna was
given as the attacks continued. When this failed to relieve, a nearby
physician was called and he administered morphine.

June 26. Headaches more
frequent, worse left side of head ; much flatulence. Examination of
urine shows it to be alkaline, specific gravity 1008, urea 0.9 per cent
and some pus. Feet burn at night in bed. Generally feels worse in
morning. Sulph. 10M.

Remarkable improvement
followed this dose of Sulphur. The
patient went off on a 4000-mile motor trip, reporting on August 11 that
she had been very well, had had but one headache and passed several
stones with very little pain. The remedy was not repeated until January
25, 1921. Then a long interval elapsed in which I heard from the patient
once or twice by telephone, but did not prescribe.

She came to the office
on Feb. 27, 1925, saying that she found that she couldn’t get along
without the medicine. She received five doses of Bursa
pastoris and a liberal supply of Sac. lac. This seemed to
have been of some benefit for the next visit was June 12 ; hot
feet, some suggestions of hot flushes and a few other symptoms showed
that Sulphur was still her remedy.
She was given the millionth potency. This was repeated Oct. 12, Dec. 2,
and Jan. 20, 1926 ; with continued improvement until March. Then a
new and peculiar symptom was noted. The record states :

March 31. General
health remains good. Has been passing a few stones, preceded by the
usual fullness and discomfort. Flatus now comes from bladder after
urinating. Sars. 10M.

May 16. Bubbling from
bladder again. Sars. 10M.

Jan. 14, 1928. Air
passing from bladder again ; feet burn. Sars.
10M.

Another long interval
elapsed. Then Mrs. M—. came to the office and told me she had passed
at least a half a cup-full of gravel and had been free from all
symptoms. The menses had ceased shortly after her visit in January
without flushes or discomfort. She received one more dose of Sars.
CM. on Jan. 25, 1929. Unfortunately some of the urinary analyses have
been lost. The last one taken in June 1929 showed the urine practical
normal.

During the past seven
years I have prescribed for Mrs. M—. two or three times for some
trivial ailment but there has been no return of any of the old symptoms
and she is apparently in Perfect health.

---

DISCUSSION.

Dr A. Pulford

Dr. Alfred Pulford :

About two years ago I reported a case here that had been for some
time among different physicians and complaining of a pain in each renal
region ; they couldn’t make out just what the conditions were. The
character of the pain was particularly clutching, concurrent. No matter
what you think of Kent, anything spasmodic will be relieved immediately
by the appropriate remedy.

The indications were
for Belladonna and he received Belladonna
thirtieth with the injunction he should cease the remedy as soon as the
result came, but he didn’t, and for the first three days he received
wonderful relief, but after that he had wonderful aggravation. He came
back at the end of the week and he got a dose of Belladonna
10M. It was still indicated. He said” the next morning he felt
something give way in both renal regions and he went to work the
following morning and worked like a horse all week long without any
inconvenience.

He came back on
Saturday and I gave him a dose of placebo, and the following morning,
Sunday morning, he went to the urinal and passed a stone pretty near
half an inch long, rough as could be without any particular pain, and
all the inconvenience there was, the passing of blood ; two hours
later he went and passed the second stone and hardly realized that he
had passed anything-Those stones were just as rough and rugged as they
could be.

Dr C. P.
Bryant

Dr. C. P. Bryant :

I
want to report two cures I have had, and this is a coincidence, they
both happened to be by Phosphorus.
One was a patient operated on the right kidney and a large stone
removed. Both kidneys were to be operated. His recovery was so slow and
his suffering so great that he came to me and told me he would die
before he would have that second operation ; never would submit to
it, and asked me what I thought I could do.

He gave a nice clear
picture of phosphorus, the restlessness and apprehension, craving for
sour things, and craving for salty things, so I went to work and the
upshot was that in a very short time we had the stone out of the other
kidney and I said, “Now take that to the surgeon-” (he
happened to be a surgeon I knew in my own city) “-and tell him he
got $400 for the operation and I got §7 for the other one.”

The other case I have
to report was a hotel case. I was called in an emergency and when I got
to the room, the patient said, “Give me a hypodermic and give it to
me quick. I have had this stone for a good many years and it is trying
to get into the ureter and can’t get down.”

“It is entirely up
to you,” I said, “and I have the hypodermic, but let’s try
something else ; that is not what I want to do.”

“How long will it
take ?”

“I don’t
know.”

I used Ocimum
canum, and while I was there he passed the stone. I have
heard from that man a good many
times since.

There is one danger
about all these kidney stones. I happened to have a patient with a stone
that completely filled one kidney, started at the calices and extended
into the kidney substance, and the kidney was a complete, calcareous
mass, and the other kidney also had a stone, and in a case like that it
is extremely dangerous to suggest any operation for the good kidney. He
had only one kidney.

The same is true of the
gallbladder stones.

I suggested to the
patient that he be not operated on and he said the surgeon wanted to
operate, with a large stone in there the size of a guinea egg.

I said, “If you
want me to do it, I will be glad to operate on you, but I don’t think
the stone will ever produce symptoms.”

It was found
accidentally during an x-ray examination. That patient didn’t have
sufficient faith in me. He went to the University of Pennsylvania and
got the same advice there, so we justified sometimes in leaving stones
in.

Dr. Farrington

: There is not very
much for me to say except to point out the fact that in these cases the
homœopathic indications were clear enough so that the simillimum
could be found and the stones came apart or were dissolved, and passed
away. That is different from giving a remedy which relieves the pain in
the passing of a stone through the ureter.

What Dr. Bryant has
just said reminds me of a case I am treating now, a man forty-eight
years of age, who has a stone which is apparently the size and shape of
the pelvis of his right kidney. When he came to me he had distress. He
had a very few symptoms. His urine was loaded with blood, pus, and
albumin, and had a great deal of those little shreds that show that the
man has had suppressed gonorrhœa before.

All of these symptoms
have cleared up under the action of the medicines I have given him, but
the stone remains there in its place and I have not been able to do
anything to budge it. He has been told he wouldn’t live two weeks if-he
had not been operated upon and it is now two years and he is in better
health than he was before.

I feel that unless I
can get some symptoms to reach back and take out the old sycotic
condition, I will not help him.

Dr Harvey Farrington
Chicago, Ill.

Source :

Homœopathic Recorder, June,
1936.

Copyright © Sylvain
Cazalet 1999

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