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Article in Homeopathy Today magazine |
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Hit by a Car! - Homeopathy Today,
March/April 2006
Octogenarian fights her way back to
health
by Valerie Sadovsky
 One
beautiful summer morning last year,
86-year-old Regina stepped out of her
house to get the newspaper. Crossing the
street to her mailbox, she retrieved the
paper and turned to head back to her
house. As she stepped into the street,
she was hit by a car traveling at full
speed. Regina was rushed to the hospital
with a severe head injury, swelling of
the brain, broken clavicle, broken ribs,
and multiple lacerations and bruises.
I visited Regina in the hospital four
days after the accident. She was lying
in bed almost motionless. Her left
forearm and the left side of her face
were purple-black and swollen, and the
right side of her face was pale but
looked dirty or discolored somehow. Her
left eye was completely shut, and she
wasn’t responding to people talking or
touching her. Since the accident, her
bowels had been inactive, and she had a
urinary catheter.
Since I hadn’t met Regina before
the accident, I asked her daughter and
granddaughter to describe her. They told
me she was a very strong, independent
woman who had lived on her own and was
very active in her community. They were
hoping I could aid her recuperation
through the use of homeopathy.
What homeopathic remedy should I
offer? I could have given Regina
Arnica right away, since Arnica
is our main injury remedy. Arnica
helps with trauma to soft tissues,
bruises, contusions, and head injuries.
A person needing Arnica typically
doesn’t want to be touched and pulls
away from a person trying to help them.
Someone needing Arnica may be
restless and have difficulty finding a
comfortable position. But was Regina in
an Arnica state?
 Unresponsive
and almost comatose
I gently pressed on Regina’s bruised
forearm—no response; I pinched her hand
a little—no response; I talked to her—no
response. I didn’t think Regina needed
Arnica, because she didn’t appear
to feel any pain, so I sat by her bed
just watching. Occasionally, her facial
expression would change to one of
anguish, and she would moan. Her left
eye was shut, but she would occasionally
open her right eye and look right
through me. She had deep frown lines on
her forehead. Her mouth was making a
constant chewing motion, and she would
frequently swallow. Sometimes she would
lift and drop her right arm. When she
wasn’t moving, Regina looked like she
was in a deep, nightmarish sleep.
I decided to start her treatment
with the homeopathic remedy
Helleborus niger. Helleborus
is indicated after injuries and blows to
the head, especially when there is
stupefaction of the brain, stillness of
the mind (no emotions), sensorial
depression, and slowness of all body
functions. A blank stare, rhythmic
motions of the limbs and mouth, and
moaning are characteristic signs of the
need for Helleborus. I dissolved
several dry pellets of Helleborus
1M in water and put a few drops into
Regina’s mouth. Soon, the chewing motion
intensified for a few minutes, then
completely stopped. Her complexion
acquired color, her pulse became quieter
and fuller, and Regina’s daughter
commented that her mother was starting
to look “more like herself.” Within an
hour, the swelling around her eye had
diminished considerably, and within two
hours, Regina began to look at people in
the room with some expression and
awareness.
From that point on, Regina’s
improvement was rapid. She was no longer
in a terrifying state of sleepiness.
Over the next few days, she started to
eat, had good bowel movements, and began
trying to communicate with family
members and visitors. In the first two
days after taking Helleborus, she
would communicate by smiling, nodding,
and pointing. On the third day after
taking the remedy, she began speaking in
simple sentences, and her family was
thrilled to “have her back.”
Once she was communicating again,
Regina began to complain of pain and a
headache, so I started her on Arnica
to help with the head trauma and soft
tissue damage. I instructed family
members to give Regina a dose of
Arnica 1M in water, three times a
day if possible. I visited her a number
of times, and her improvement was
steady. Ten days after the accident,
Regina was discharged. The bruising was
almost gone, and the lacerations on her
head and forearm were healing nicely.
Although she was weak and still in pain
because of the broken bones, she was
calm and communicative.
Deteriorating mental state
One day after Regina left the hospital,
I visited her at her daughter’s home to
see how she was doing. I didn’t like
what I saw. Maybe the stress of moving
from the hospital was too much for
Regina. In any event, her state of mind
appeared to have deteriorated greatly.
She seemed to be completely in her own
world: constantly straightening the
sheets or picking at them—and then
putting some imaginary item in her
mouth. She tried to leave her bed
several times, even though she was not
able to be up on her own.
Regina’s speech was almost
unintelligible, and she took a long time
to reflect on a question. She prayed and
said she was dying. She kept throwing
the covers off and lying in bed with her
legs completely uncovered. Her
granddaughter had heard her giggling
earlier, and Regina was making chewing
motions with her mouth again. Her
abdomen was hard and swollen, and she
was constipated.
Was this a new state requiring a
new homeopathic remedy? A lot of the
symptoms she exhibited pointed to the
remedy Hyoscyamus, which can help
a patient who is restless, picks at bed
sheets, giggles, and exposes herself. On
the other hand, Regina seemed to be
displaying symptoms that would indicate
the need to repeat Helleborus.
Helleborus can aid a patient who
thinks she is going to die, answers
slowly, relapses into stupor, tries to
escape, has no bowel movements, and
picks at the bed sheets. Despite the
fact that Hyoscyamus seemed to
match many of Regina’s symptoms, I
decided to repeat the Helleborus
because it had worked beautifully the
first time she’d taken it. When a remedy
works well and is still indicated, I
have found that it’s better to try it
again before moving on to another
remedy.
Improving in every way
Repeating the Helleborus was the
right choice. Regina started improving
immediately. The chewing motions,
picking at bed sheets, and muttering
stopped within minutes. A few hours
later, she had a bowel movement. By the
next day, all the disturbing new
symptoms had disappeared, and we could
understand almost everything she said.
Her bowels were functioning normally,
and she even got up to use the bathroom
without assistance for the first time.
Over the next 20 days, Regina
steadily improved. She received a few
more doses of Helleborus when she
had accident-related headaches and
because she sometimes couldn’t remember
words and struggled to get them out.
After a month of recuperation at her
daughter’s house, Regina was back to
normal and moved back home to live on
her own again. Her family was amazed at
how quickly she’d recovered and how fast
the brain swelling had gone down—much
faster than the doctors had predicted.
Regina’s speech and physical therapists
were also impressed with her progress.
I visited Regina 5 or 6 weeks after
the accident, and what a huge
difference! If I hadn’t known who she
was, I wouldn’t have recognized her. The
last time I’d seen her, she was still
mostly bedridden. This time, she was all
dressed up, wearing make-up, and moving
around. We had a very nice talk, and she
was absolutely coherent. She didn’t
remember the accident, being in the
hospital, or having seen me at any of my
previous visits.
“I just woke up in this room at my
daughter’s, but I can’t remember what
happened before that. I thought I was
going to die, but now I know that I can
fight it. If I want something, I fight
for it,” Regina said emphatically. As I
listened, I thought to myself, “The
right homeopathic remedy brought Regina
back from the brink of death and gave
her the will to fight for her life. What
could be more rewarding to a homeopath
than recognizing the right remedy and
using it to save a life?”
About the Author
Valerie
Sadovsky has been studying and
practicing classical homeopathy for more
than 10 years. A former software
engineer, she became interested in
homeopathy when it helped her recover
from a chronic condition she’d battled
since childhood. She attended the
Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy and
has studied with and been inspired by a
number of practitioners including
Miranda Castro and Krista Heron. She has
a private practice in Kirkland, WA, and
can be reached at
homeopathy@marlev.com or
www.marlev.com.
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