Homeopathy Homework due week 3

[liveonearth]

[1] Read over the otitis media case linked directly below the link to this assignment (be sure you get the proper case - it's link directly below the link to this page)

[2] Distribute the symptoms of the case about a Boenninghausen x-diagram, as we did in class (an annotated copy of this diagram is linked below this assignment link)

[3] Clearly indicate the symptoms you wish to prioritorize for analysis; you might underline these, indicate them with a prominent color, draw circles around them, &c.

[4] Look up rubrics to represent each of your prioritorized symptoms, in the Synthesis Repertory

[5] Complete a repertorization form (see the form linked below this assignment link), using the rubrics you've selected - as we have done in class

[6] Indicate on the repertorization form, the leading remedies from your analysis (asterisk them, highlight them, &c.)

[7] Briefly compare/contrast your leading remedies, and defend one as your choice for this case; referencing your materia medicas (Phatak, Boger, perhaps Vermeulen).

Turn in -
- your completed totality diagram (the x-diagram)
- your completed analysis/repertorization form
- a page discussing the leading remedies and defending a chosen remedy, as described above.

I have not provided an upload link for assignments; please turn in a hard copy.
Staple your pages together (do NOT turn them in loose or merely dog-eared together); and legibly write your full name and mailbox number in the upper right-hand corner of each page (this is so that Collin can return your graded work). Please recall that professors tend to look more favorably on neat and legible work - and find it much easier to evaluate work that they can read. approve

ALWAYS retain a copy of your work for yourself; for your learner's portfolio, and to insure against loss of your assignment. If your work is lost anywhere along the line, I will hold you responsible for being able to provide a replacement or backup copy.


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19 month-old boy
CC: acute otitis media

early October
Referred from family MD; seen there earlier this morning
dx, acute otitis media
suggested rx: (not filled) Amoxicillin, theophylline syrup

We've been through this before, he had 4 of these last winter & was on preventive antibiotics from February through May. I don't want to go the antibiotic route again, & the doctor was talking this morning about tubes. I asked about alternatives, & she sent me here.

Has had a mild cold for about a week

GENERALS-COMPLAINTS-appearing gradually (slowly)p909 NOPE

Runny nose, a little fussy on & off
Past couple of days, snot thicker, greenish-yellow

**NOSE-DISCHARGE-yellowish-green (20)p557 USED
NOSE-DISCHARGE-thick (164)

Last evening increased fussiness, a bit of a fever - 101.4 at bedtime
Didn't sleep well, up a lot with him over the night, fussy, coughing

This morning,
He's warm, 101.6 at the doctor's
Eyes were glued shut this morning, thick greenish-yellow stuff, had to wash out

**EYE-AGGLUTINATED (=sticky, as if glued together) (130)P423, VERY LARGE, MORNING, USED in combo with canthi yellow discharges

EYE-DISCHARGES-Canthi-pus-yellow (1) pus p429 good size USED
EYE-DISCHARGES-yellow (only 2 remedies mim-p)

Coughing a lot, moist, rattly cough

COUGH-RATTLING (89) USED p1229
**COUGH-RATTLING-air amel, open (TOO SMALL: arg met, kali sulph*)

Cough is much better outside (puls)

His mood really changes a lot - he'll go from being pretty OK, to being really fussy like you see now - wants his juice bottle but drops it after just a sip, nothing really satisfies him.

MIND-CAPRICIOUS-rejects things for which he has been longing NOT USED
MIND-DESIRES-full of desires-refuses when offered, but (see Capriciousness, rejecting)

STOMACH-THIRSTLESS NOT USED

He'll want his usual things, but then drops them & fusses (doing this now, with mom's keys - takes them, looks at them with apparent interest, then drops them & cries, an eh-eh-eh kind of cry). I'm having to hold him, carry him around. But he's really not happy with anything. (CHAM, HEP)

Tried warmed mullein oil in his ears last night, but he didn't like it at all - he fussed more. It doesn't seem to bother him as much if you don't warm it up first. He's better outside, generally - cough, fussiness are better.

He kept kicking off the covers last night, I'd cover him up again & he'd kick them off, finally I just left them off, he was less fussy left uncovered.
(NOT HEP)
Breastfed, taking juice and fingerfoods. Past several days not wanting solids, only breastmilk & occasional sips of thinned apple juice. I think he's getting enough to drink.
[You need to carry him around like ... ? ??? (PULS, CHAM)
Just like this (mom holding child, sitting still) PULS

Obj -
Temp 101.6 (otic)
pulse 120/minute
respiratory rate 50/minute, interrupted by occasional cough
mildly fussy, in mom’s lap (mom sitting, holding child through interview; no combativeness, no pulling away; pulling at mom during exam)
modest resistance to examination - able to get through exam with distraction & maternal
(MB NOT HEP, CHAM)
restraint for ear exam (pulling away toward mom, crying, but no struggle, no screeching)
++ thick, pudding-like nasal discharge from both anterior nares, L>R
PULS, KALI SULPH

**NOSE-DISCHARGE-copious-left not used

scant greenish-yellow, thick, pudding-like discharge in inner canthi of both eyes

no irritation or redness of skin beneath nares, or of eyelids
conjunctivae normal, no erythema or edema
unable to visualize nasal mucosa, due to profuse thick discharge

oropharynx normal, no erythema or exudate; tonsils small
tongue coated thick dirty yellow

MOUTH-DISCOLORATION-tongue-yellow-dirty, accompanied by....things he doesn't have, USED ROOT P660
MOUTH-DISCOLORATION-tongue-yellow-heavily coated NOT USED

no palpable lymph nodes in anterior or posterior cervical chains
ear canals clear, TMs easily visualized
both TMs dull red with orangish cast, full, landmarks obscured; Left bulging more than Right
TM INFO WON'T BE IN REPERTORY
Chest - no retractions
cough loose, rattling
scattered rattling, moist-sounding crackles throughout chest on auscultation, can be heard faintly by unaided ear from about a foot away; clear with cough & return shortly after
diaper, on change - yellow, mucousy stool (mom notes past 4 bowel movements have looked like this)

STOOL-YELLOW
**STOOL-MUCOUS-yellow P1016 USED, good size

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[7] Briefly compare/contrast your leading remedies, and defend one as your choice for this case; referencing your materia medicas (Phatak, Boger, perhaps Vermeulen).

The top remedies in this by-hand repetorization were Kali-bi, kali-s, merc and puls. I used Phatak's Materia Medica and Morrison's "red book" Desktop companion to compare remedies.

Kali bichromicum OM comes out of chronic sinusitis and may be associated with nasal obstruction (same as Kali-s), and has thick, stringy yellow or yellow-green mucus. It tends to be left sided and chronic. So it is a fair match for the symptoms that I repertorized ((nose-dischx-y-g, cough-rattle, eye-dischx-canti/yell/agglut, stool-mucus-yell, tongue-discolor-yellow/dirty)). However the sx outside my repetorization are not a fit. There is no stitching pain in this case, the modalities miss, it's just not right.

Kali-sulphuricum is my fave for this case. It comes from a deep catarrhal conditions with sinusitis, bronchitis or "glue ear", all of which may be present in this case. The yellowness of the discharge is specific. It's worse in a warm room--which matches the better in open air rubric that I didn't use. And the OM sufferer is described as irritable but timid in strange places, which may be why there is so little personality given for the child in the case. I would give a single 200C dose and wait for a response.

Mercury scored even with Silica but I don't think either remedy is the correct one. Merc was missing from Morrisons' OM section even though it was referred to. There are no enlarged LNs, the secretions are not acrid, it is now worse in night air, there isno ulceration. To refute the choice of silica, we have no hearing loss mentioned, there is no report of the child being sensitive or nervy or in pain or lacking in sinew. The modalities again don't match.

Pulsatilla is a reasonable option given the thick mucus that is everywhere, however it may not be "bland" as the tongue coating is described as "dirty". There is no mention of a sensation of fullness, and the child is not weepy. The open air modality and the mucus match, but otherwise there's not much to indicate puls.