Hay Fever.
By Herbert
Alfred Roberts, M.D.
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet(Presented before Connecticut Homœopathic
Medical Society, Oct. 15, 1935.)
Dr H. A. Roberts
Each case of hay fever
presents some symptoms in common, but not every case presents the same
grouping of symptoms, or all of the symptoms, that go to make up the
classical hay fever syndrome. Almost every case presents some typical
symptoms or concomitants that individualize the case to a degree never
considered in the textbook delineation’s.There is always a
hypersensitive state of some one or more of the mucous surfaces :
eyes, ears, nose, roof of mouth, uvula, tongue, throat, bronchi. This
irritability usually manifests itself in congestion, inflammation,
itching, and normally in increased mucous secretions. Occasionally we
find the surfaces dry and burning with the congestion, especially if
sprays or other local applications of a suppressive nature have been
used.This hypersensitivity
is always potential in certain individuals, but it is detonated, as it
were, by combinations of predisposing circumstances, such as irritating
substances plus favorable thermic, atmospheric and seasonal conditions.
Hay fever belongs to the class of so-called allergic diseases, which
manifest local symptoms of the disturbed equilibrium of health
apparently as the direct result of contact with these irritating
substances, such as certain pollen, odors, foods, etc.These allergic
conditions are often regarded as local or restricted manifestations, and
their popular treatment is frequently based on the assumption that
suppression of the annoying symptoms (which are largely localized) will
cure the condition. Careful analysis of hay fever cases who have
undergone a series of suppressive treatments of any nature demonstrates
that this form of treatment never cures, although it may seemingly clear
the annoying symptoms. The condition is merely driven from the surface
manifestation to deeper and more profound action upon the constitution.
Ephedrine and narcotic applications to the mucous surfaces tend to
lessen the congestion by drying and shrinking parts, but the patient is
fortunate if the result is only that of adding to the local discomfort.Another popular method
of treating these conditions is by inoculation. This method at least
recognizes that the local manifestations are to some extent the
outcropping of a constitutional condition, and the method of treatment
is a crude imitation of homœopathic methods. However, these patients,
if observed over a period of a few years, almost invariably develop
pathology of a grave type or deep-seated dysfunction.Considerable numbers of
people suffer annually from hay fever and other allergic conditions, but
we do not find that a majority of the people in any given community
suffer from hay fever, and certainly not at the same time. Although all
are subjected to the same air-borne pollens, only a comparatively small
percentage of the community suffers from the same irritating substance.
In other words, susceptibility is present in a certain percentage of
individuals, while in the majority of people there is an immunity
against these irritating substances.Let us ask ourselves
why some individuals are immune while others are extremely susceptible.
It is true that we occasionally find the hay fever picture actively
exhibited in an otherwise apparently healthy person, but upon inquiry we
are often able to trace the course of certain suppressions from early
childhood ; and back of that we usually find an inherited tendency
(the stigmatic or miasmatic disease tendencies). Thus we find as the
basis for hay fever a background of inheritance usually sycotic,
although it may be so far removed from the active stages that we can
trace its presence only by the disease tendencies -infiltrative in
nature- exhibited at different periods of life.This is often found in
enlarged tonsils and glands in child life ; appendicitis, ovarian
cysts, fibroid tumors ; other infiltrations and/or thickening of
the tissues and deposits as the individual passes on through life. The
eczematous conditions of early childhood are a manifestation of the
dyscrasia, thrown outward by the psoric influence and the activity of
natural exfoliative tendencies in the rapidly developing life.Careful case taking
becomes the master-key that unlocks the gates of the patient’s
disease-barricade, in hay fever conditions as in all other
manifestations, particularly chronic manifestations.In careful case taking,
then, we almost invariably find, a history of an eruptive skin lesion,
usually in early childhood ; or there has been surgical procedure
(very often removal of the tonsils) when the cause of the condition
should have been corrected by medication instead of lopping off the
results’, or there have been inoculations or vaccinations against
typhoid, diphtheria, tetanus, small-pox, or any one of several other
eruptive or septic conditions, either in the way of prophylaxis or
antitoxic action ; or offensive perspiration, of the body or feet,
has incited the patient to the use of suppressive measures ; or
perhaps long-continue emotional strain has inhibited the natural
eliminative powers, or sudden emotional shock has been followed by an
outbreak of susceptibility to certain substances, with the resulting
train of symptoms.If there is any class
of patients which needs careful individualization, because of the
peculiar susceptibility of one individual to certain substances and
circumstances that have no effect upon the other sufferers, it is these
hay fever patients. In other words, we almost always find that
individual susceptibility must be the keynote of the individual case. In
considering a case of hay fever, we immediately visualize a syndrome
composed of sneezing, lachrymation, red nose, watery coryza. So
frequently do we see this picture that we too often tend to note
“hay fever” as a single symptom on our case record. Because of
this tendency let us analyze our case records.When does your patient
sneeze ? You will find that some suffer from this symptom only
occasionally, while with others it is frequent and extremely
distressing. Some sneeze only in the open air, -or in the house ;
or in wet weather ; or in dry weather ; or when it is
cool ; or when it is very hot, ; or when he gets up in the
morning ; or when he lies down at night ; in the sun ; or
in the dark ; or in a bright light ; or when reading ; or
when looking at distant objects.In other words, one is
aggravated by circumstances and conditions that relieve another.Let us analyze still
further : why is the patient better or worse when he first rises in
the morning ? Is it the change of position, the beginning of
motion, or the change of temperature from the warmth of the bed to the
cold floor ?There is a fine
differentiation necessary even between the symptoms of location ;
not all “patients have an irritated conjunctiva, neither has every
patient swollen lids or congestion of the canthi. Some people are driven
nearly frantic with itching eyelids which swell and almost obscure their
vision ; others complain bitterly of an itching throat, or tip of
the nose, or itching from the ear to the tonsil.Not all patients
complain of the same sensations ; in most patients there is some
sensation of itching, but smarting, excoriation, burning, are among
several sensations from which they suffer, and which should make a
difference in your consideration of the prescription.No cure can be made
without the simillimum ; and no case can be analyzed with the Bœnninghausen
repertory method without the four-square basis of symptoms ; the
locations, the sensations, the conditions of aggravation and
amelioration, and the concomitants.Having considered the
locations manifesting symptoms in each individual patient, and the
sensations of which he complains, and having considered carefully all
the conditions of aggravation and amelioration, let us examine the most
frequently expressed concomitant symptoms.What are concomitant
symptoms ? Concomitant symptoms are those symptoms, often seemingly
unrelated, that appear coexistently with the syndrome under
consideration, or in some definite relation of time to that group.We frequently find in
these cases an eruption on the fingers and toes, appearing at about the
same time as the hay fever symptoms ; unusual mental and emotional
manifestations ; circulatory disturbances ; menstrual days
functions ; these are among the most common coexistent symptom
groups.It is because of the
ever-varying array of symptoms that the only sure approach toward curing
these sufferers lies in individual study of the case, and the most
accurate method of analysis seems to be the repertory study. This is a
tedious method, but quite feasible with trained assistance. Moreover, it
is the method that demands the least possible amount of the physician’s
own time, for the technician can be trained to lay before the physician
just those details for which he might search for some time.
Dr C. von BœnninghausenThe results of the Bœnninghausen
analysis in these cases seem to be superior to those of the Kent method.
This is unquestionably due to the relative importance Bœnninghausen
attaches to the conditions of aggravation and amelioration and
concomitance to those we regard as the classical symptoms. The
construction of Bœnninghausen’s Therapeutic Pocket Book demands proper
consideration of these modalities and concomitants.Bœnninghausen’s
repertory, for instance, has no rubric for hay fever ; the symptoms
must be assembled according 40 those appearing in the patient, from
several rubrics. (Kent’s Repertory), on the other hand, has a rubric for
hay fever under the general heading Coryza, but this rubric is too
limited in the remedies noted. Phosphorus, Sepia and Sulphur not being
listed.In an analysis of the
results of some ninety cases that have come to us this season, twelve
remedies were indicated and prescribed with satisfactory results, on the
basis of the repertory analysis, in approximately the following
proportions :
Pulsatilla,
29% ;
Phosphorus, 20% ; Sulphur,
19% ; Nux Vomica, 14% ; Sepia,
9% ; Silica, 5 1/2% ; Rhus
tox, 2% ; Bryonia,
2% ; Calcarea carb., 2%. Arsenicum
album, Sabadilla
and Sinapis were prescribed in one
case each, the last not on repertory analysis cut on the obvious
indications presented by the patient’s symptomatology.We can regard these
remedies as nothing less than constitutional in their action, for with
the possible exception of Sabadilla
and Sinapis these remedies are all
deeply active and are numbered among the polychrests. Moreover, the four
most frequently indicated remedies in this group, Pulsatilla,
Phosphorus. Sulphur and Nux vomica. are
probably the most outstanding remedies for their antidotal powers
against the bad effects of drugs and serums.No remedy will cover a
case of this kind to remove the offending symptoms and leave the patient
in a better state of health unless it is capable of reaching the deepest
recesses of the system. This is clearly demonstrated by the study and
comparison of the predisposing circumstances and the cure, not alone of
the hay fever syndrome, but of the patient, in a long series of cases.
It has been our experience that when the indicated remedy has been
administered in the proper potency, the patient has been generally
improved in health, showing that the action of the remedy was
constitutional.With the exception of
Sinapis, which has not been classified, the remedies indicated in the
season’s work all fall into at least one of the three groups of remedies
covering inherited dyscrasia : antipsoric, antisycotic or
antisyphilitic ; most of them have demonstrated their powers in all
three fields.
Sabadilla
in
ascending potencies was not sufficiently deep in its action to hold the
case, and was followed very successfully with Sulphur.
Other physicians who have used Sabadilla
extensively in hay fever prescribing have remarked that while it seemed
to have prompt action it did not always hold the patient well and must
be repeated at frequent intervals ; in other words, while it met
the symptomatic indications of the hay fever attacks, it did not meet
the needs of the patient as a whole. In the case where Sinapis
was used so successfully, this was the complementary remedy to Sulphur
in this case, for Sulphur had been
the constitutional remedy and had released the effects of early
suppressed eruptions.This system of treating
the patient rather than the hay fever syndrome actually cures the
tendency for hay fever by correcting the constitutional basis, and
restoring the patient to a state of health. We cannot possibly consider
any case cured until and unless we have removed the hypersensitivity to
material activating irritants. In other words, hay fever as an
individual entity cannot be cured ; but the patient having hay
fever can be cured through the action of the constitutional remedy.
Derby, Conn.
Source :
Homœopathic Recorder. June,
1936.Copyright © Sylvain
Cazalet 2001
