This case study of homeopathic studies is an excerpt from Pierre Fontaine’s book “Homeopathy, Sweet Homeopathy: Coming Home to Perfect Health”. Find out more information including how to purchase a copy.
MAT
(Early 70’s)
MC: SKIPPING HEART BEATS
• Fluttering
• Pain in the heart
• Palpitations
• Difficulty doing daily tasks
• Edema in the legs
Pierre: Please, tell me what brings you here.
“I have had two open heart surgeries with four bypasses in total. The first one was 28 yrs ago and the other one 10 yrs ago. A few months ago my heart started to flutter and skip beats so much that I had to go to the hospital. Ever since my first surgery 28 years ago I take my pulse several times a day, at times I don’t feel it for 2 or 3 seconds but in the hospital it was as long as 4 seconds and that is really scary to me. I also have high blood pressure but I take medication to keep it down. One doctor told me to eat rice every day to keep the blood pressure down, I did it but it is still up.”
What else can you tell me?
“I feel some pain in my heart and I have some discomfort in the upper left chest. I also experience some burning but that was worse when I was in the hospital. I can’t do what I want to do. I feel quite helpless and depressed about being incapable because of my heart problems. At this point, I can get pain in the chest at any moment.”
This is a very serious situation, are you in close touch with a cardiologist?
“I am but really there is nothing much they can do. The medication they gave me is killing me a little bit at a time. I am used to medications, I mean when you consider my history it is clear that they have done a lot for me but this is the worst I have been in my whole life. The medication they gave me in the hospital was really bad; I have never felt that bad before. I used to work in the garden and play around with mechanical things. Now I can’t do anything. I have fallen into a category and I might as well stay there. My wife works and I feel bad about that. I have to do most of the shopping for the house but even that I can’t do so much anymore because of my heart and I have to rely on her. I can’t even go to the store and carry the bags lest I get palpitations.”
Tell me about “falling into a category”. What does it mean? How does it feel?
“Being in a category is a limitation in positive and negative ways. I have the feeling of being controlled. I can only go so far in either direction and at times I laugh at my predicament. I am a deeply religious person and I offer my limitation up to God. I feel I have a purpose with my pains, I offer it up to Jesus or Mary. It’s a contribution and an exhilaration. When we gain these graces then it comes back three times more. It’s my God bank. I am happy to achieve that goal. It is a feeling of success that it will enhance me for eternity.”
Could you please tell more about that?
“There is happiness in achieving something. It is like reaching a goal but I accept the limitation and I work within it. Doing well is achieving the best situation. The more good things are done the more are put in a good place and the more it is going to enhance you for eternity. My situation reminds me of the woman in “Moonstruck.” It is a situation where a decision needs to be made to achieve the best possible result within the given limitation. It is a challenge.”
Could you tell me more about achieving the best possible, please?
“Good is achieving the best situation possible and then having to accept it. There is nothing that I can’t control. It’s like if a job is lost another can be found. There is no depression this way because you are always betting on the right horse.”
Tell me about the experience of being in a situation like in “Moonstruck”, please.
“It is a situation of trying to get her happiness back and then accept it. The brother has no right to happiness because he lost his hand. It is a challenging situation and decisions have to be made to get the best results.
REMEDY:
Tantalum metallicum.
FOLLOW UP: (one month later)
Pierre: How are you feeling?
“I am feeling so much better. The doctor took me off two medications, Novasc and Amiorodarone but I am still taking three medications. After the remedy it seemed as if the heart was more stable and able to handle daily stress. It really has made me feel better. I am so much more capable of doing things on my own. The medication was making me feel numb. I am not back to where I was but I feel about 80% better.”
REMEDY:
Continue. Repeated the remedy at different intervals over a few months.
SEVERAL FOLLOW UPS: (Several months later)
Pierre: “How are you feeling?”
“Yesterday, the heart started jumping all over the place. There is a feeling of tightness. It is quite scary. At times it feels as if death is imminent. I know the feeling well. I’ve had it in the past. I repeated the remedy, I feel better but not a great deal like before.”
REMEDY:
Aconitum napellus.
FOLLOW UP: (two weeks later)
Pierre: “How are you?”
“The Aconitum you gave me helped in the 30C potency, the 12C didn’t help at all. I feel I went through quite a moment since I was feeling like I could have a heart attack at any time. I still feel like I am recovering from all the medications they gave me in the hospital months ago. I feel I am more stable than I have been in a long time.”
PHONE CALL:
Pierre: How are you feeling?
“I am feeling well, I am continuing with the remedy. I don’t have any need for anything but I would like to get my blood pressure under control without medications. Even the edema I had ever since the second surgery got better. My level of activity is better. I can carry packages and I can even dance a little. I feel about 90%.”
REMEDY:
Continue.
DISCUSSION
MAT
(Late 70’s)
I present this case to show how homeopathy can enhance a conventional medical treatment much as in Mollie’s case.
This is a case with long standing serious cardiac problems. By the time he came to see me he had exhausted all conventional avenues. Even in such an advanced case homeopathy can be tremendously helpful and his cardiologist who had encouraged him then to come see me was pleased and able to judiciously reduce his medications.
With all the problems this man has a doctor told him to eat rice? Sometimes I hear things that are really surprising to me.
In the hospital he was given
Amiodarone (I.V.) for the fluttering. He says, “ It gave him the most trouble.”
He also was given Coreg, which according to him gave him the feeling that he was having a heart attack. Of course that was rather unsettling to him.
Other medications he currently is taking (some were also given in the hospital) are Lisinopral, Novasc, Corgard and Diovan. In other words a full panoply.
For those who think that I would not recommend seeing a doctor, hold that thought! Conventional doctors are very helpful for all matters of testing and diagnosis. In fact, they are the only ones who can do it.
One big problem I see is that people don’t want to tell their doctor when they are taking a homeopathic remedy. I always encourage dialogue even if they are expecting and often get a dose of skepticism.
He offers his pains and his limitations up to Jesus or Mary. What he is explaining is that suffering is a gift to him that he accepts and in turn gives it back as a testament of faith to Mary or Jesus.
He is not talking about achieving “the best” but rather the best possible. That is either a dose of reality or a dose of limitation. It is a distinction that makes a difference. Accuracy is tantamount in homeopathy because I need to understand the physical pain in the gestalt of the whole situation.
Trying and then accepting is a coping mechanism. For the purpose of finding a homeopathic remedy it is absolutely crucial to understand how the person is dealing with the disorder. There are many different kinds; this book brings quite a few to the fore.
As soon as the doctor heard that he was feeling better he took him off Amiorodarone, which was taken in pill form once he was out of the hospital.
I love this case for one simple reason. This man’s cardiac history is long and serious. Although no one would say that he could recover totally, the astonishing results this case provides are a great testament as to how the medical and the alternative worlds can work harmoniously together.
At times, he feels like death is imminent. As I mentioned before, his cardiologist follows him very closely. He figured he would not wait and he asked me if there was anything he could take to relieve the tightness and the erratic heartbeat.
I recommended the remedy Aconitum (when feeling scared of an imminent heart attack, it is one of the few indicated) and to continue with the constitutional remedy.
I don’t list the potency I give in the book because it is not needed to understand homeopathy. In this case it is important to make the distinction because the situation is really acute.
Aconitum was repeated several times.
I recommended that going too far without medication was not my goal. I didn’t want to push the envelope.
Two months later he reported he was holding off the remedy because he was feeling well. I don’t know if he ever got off the other medications. To me that was not the goal. My goal was a good life free of cardiac symptoms and anxieties about his heart issues. That much was achieved.
