This is a case of a 28 yr old female (Patient Identification No: L-6274) who reported to the clinic on November 26, 2004, with complaints of itching and burning sensation esp. after scratching all over her body for the past 1 ½ years. This would be so severe at times that she would experience some stinging or pricking type of sensation all over her body.
These episodes used to last for as long as 15- 20 minutes. Her complaints would be more at night and her urticaria would be triggered if she used to take curd, bread, or any sour foodstuffs. She would be much better by cold applications and even cold bathing relieved most of her complaints for a short while. To get some relief from her complaints she was forced to take T.Cetrizine /T. Levocet (antihistaminic) daily and she has been doing this for the past 1 yr but still suffering from similar complaints to no avail.
Associated with these complaints she had a very severe hair fall for the past 6 months after an episode of typhoid. She used to lose more than 500 strands a day and she reported that about 50 % of her hair quantum had reduced. She also complained of terrible back pain for the past 1yr and it was worse by prolonged sitting, by any kind of exertion and she would be remarkably better by lying down.
In addition to all these complaints, she suffered from many gastro-intestinal disturbances wherein she had eructations all throughout the day. Occasionally she complained of pain in the upper abdominal region esp. on deep breathing. This pain would be worse in the morning hours.
She was a good eater and had a remarkable craving for sweets and ice-creams. She was a chilly patient and could not tolerate cold in any form. Her menstrual cycles were regular but she used to have a thick white discharge which was profuse in quantity esp. 1 day prior to menses and would lessen as the cycles would commence. Her white discharge would stain the clothes yellow and the stains were indelible.
She would stay in a joint family with her husband and both in-laws. She was working as a software consultant and even her husband was working as a software engineer with a renowned company. She was also planning for her family by now since she had been married for the past 3 years and had no issues as yet.
During narrating about her personality she said that she was very sensitive by nature. She was short-tempered too esp. when things would not go right and she would get angry often when she had to face many financial problems after marriage. To this, she added that they were always financially sound and she had no problems whatsoever until her husband lost his job and they had nobody to rely on. She used to feel trapped all the time due to these various problems which were surrounding her and even her parents were not informed about all this, so this made her all the more helpless.
But she said that things were quite ok currently and these financial constraints were a major factor to even postponing her pregnancy. But now as things were going fine she decided that she could well plan her pregnancy without facing any difficulties whatsoever. She wept a lot while venting out all her emotions and feelings which had been bothering her all this time. She stated that she gets irritated very fast and even trivial things make her terribly tense.
Her past history was not very significant except for an episode of typhoid which she suffered 6 months back. Even in the family history, her father suffered from various allergies, he was a known hypertensive and was even suffered from ischemic heart disease.
On a thorough and detailed analysis of her case, taking into account the mind-body equation, a constitutional homeopathic medicine was selected and she has prescribed a dose of Natrum Muriaticum in the 200th potency and based on her symptomatology to cover her ailment of urticaria, she was given Apis in the 200th potency to be taken for a period of 3 weeks.
After completing these medicines for 3 weeks she reported that her urticaria was the same and she had to take the antihistaminic as she used to do previously. However her hair fall was much better, even there was a remarkable improvement in her back pain and the gastric disturbances that she used to suffer from all this time. She was very positive as all her other complaints were much better with the medication so even her urticaria would be better in the coming days. She was also very happy to report to us that she had amenorrhea for the past 2 months and that her urine pregnancy test was positive. Her joy knew no bounds to tell us that she was pregnant after so long after she got married and it was like a dream come true for her.
She was continued on a similar line of medication and she was asked to get back to us after a month from now. Her follow-up was due on the 1st of January 2005, and she reported that this previous batch of medication that was given to her had worked wonders for her urticaria far beyond her expectations. She said that she was over 95% better. By now she had even tapered her dosage of antihistaminic to alternate days.
Gradually she was instructed to taper the dosage in a similar manner and eventually she discontinued it together. Her episodes had stopped occurring completely which was reported by her on February 2, 2005, and she could now hope to lead a normal life that is urticaria free.