Hello,

I have a friend who has a hairline hip fracture, and wants a homeopathic remedy for it. She's in extreme pain, and cannot move, to the point that she has to be taken to the washroom by a family member. It's extremely sharp pain on motion, and a constant pain while sitting.

This person is on a lot of meds and low vitality (she has Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and a whole host of other things).

Please let me know of a remedy(s) and the posology. I'd appreciate any help I could get.

Thanks in advance.

If it were my patient I would give Symphytum 6 to take three times a day between meals for a couple of weeks and also Calc Phos Tissue Salts (cell salts) to be taken as directed on the package. Remember to tell your friend to suck the pillules not swallow.

[ 17. April 2003, 20:30: Message edited by: Ricky ]

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RSHom - Registered Homeopath

I would caution against using such a large dosing repetition schedule as suggested above with a person who alrready has significant organic pathology and low vitality. You risk creating more havoc than you can possibly imagine.
You haven't mentioned the age of the person, especially heed this caution if you are attempting to treat an elderly person with organic pathology in their constitution.
Use a conservative 'test dose' that is, one dose, or one series of 3 doses, then wait and see the effects BEFORE repeating the remedy.
This "take X remedy 3 times a day for 3 weeks, one-size-fits-all" mentality has no individualizing quality to it - which is the basis of all homoeopathic prescribing.

Also Jessica, the sensation of pain in the homoeopathic Symphytum proving is "pricking". If this is not what your friend is experiencing then Symphytum is not homoeopathically indicated. From the little you have described it sounds more like Arnica. It would be wise to do a differential between all the acute 'trauma' remedies based on the symptoms before prescribing anything.

The homoeopathic Symphytum remedy is difficult to obtain here after a naturopath incorrectly prescribed the remedy in a ridiculous posology schedule and caused stomach ulceration and internal bleeding in a patient. The AMA does not need any more help to discredit us, and regardless of which country we live in, we owe it to ourselves to take heed of our own science and art of prescribing first and foremost and not play into anybody else's hands.

Arnica is a good idea, but be prepared with Bryonia if Arnica fails.

I prescribed a daily dose of Symphytum for my daughter's teacher who fell down the stairs and broke her foot. The day the cast came off, the dr. told her she wouldn't be able to walk without 2 weeks of physical therapy, but to everyone's surprise, she walked right away!

Snoopy

Chris - this is an acute situation rather than a constitutional problem which is the reason for the poseology suggested. I have used this schedule many times and have yet to have any problems with it except a positive outcome. Conservatively using Symphytum in potency will mean that a fracture is healed in 2/3rds of the time but I often find it is even better than this.
Synphytum, as the herb Comfrey is difficult to obtain as it can cause problems when taken as the raw herb for a long time. In this case we are talking about taking it in a homeopathic potency which does not cause problems. However I have to say that a weak tea made from the herb does a good job in alleviating stomach tenderness if taken occasionally.

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RSHom - Registered Homeopath

Ricky, I wrote a naturopath incorrectly prescribed homoeopathic Symphytum <that is, homoeopathic potency of a homoeopathically prepared remedy> and applied it in a ridiculous posology schedule and caused stomach ulceration and internal bleeding.
This is consistent with a homoeopathic proving of this substance. If you want to co-jointly do a proving we can compare results.
Any properly indicated remedy will achieve good results when applied properly. I've also seen fractures and sprains heal in double quick time to the astonishment of doctors and patients alike. This is old news to any homoeopath.
My point is that Jessica's post was scant on information regarding the age of the patient. But she did mention that the patient had low vitality and a great deal of organic pathology. Now we all know this means the risk of stirring up secondary psoric ailments increases, don't we? What is the point is pushing through the rate of healing time to the bone fracture if you wreak havoc in other areas, the diabetes, the rheumatoid arthritis. This is not rapid, gentle healing, it's more like a bull in a china shop, and for what purpose...so we can claim another success with Symphytum? I'm suggesting that regardless of what is perceived as an acute or a chronic condition the centre of the case is always going to be the patient, their vitality, their state of overall health. If we ignore the patient we are not doing homoeopathy. We are more like allopaths who are content to merely "fix" a limb at the possible expense of the greater health of the patient.
I'm saying it is our task to be cautious with repetition of the dose in such cases, and apply any acute remedy, as always, on homoeopathic principles. There was an example here on this site not so long ago wasn't there, where the right remedy may well have been given, but the elderley patient did not respond very well. Can't remember the details, but this is the kind of situation I'm talking about.

I agree that elderly patiets can be problematic and I always start low. However this patient is in pain so I think it should be treated and 6x potency should not cause problems.

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RSHom - Registered Homeopath

Ricky, I said this person can and should be treated too. Did I say otherwise?
Homoeopathy as I understand it, is based on symptom similarity. We prescribe the most homoeopathically similar remedy in a dosage that complies with the overall condition of the patient. If there is recognized organic pathology, low vitality, a lot of allopathic suppression (look for drug contraindications before applying heroic doses, e.g. the patient may be on some sort of aspirin medication to reduce blood clotting), and then use caution when repeating the dosage.

Hello all,

Thanks for all your suggestions. By the way, the patient is about 55-60 years old.

I'm thinking of starting with symphytum 30CH 3 doses, 1 each day; and calc phos tissue salt.

How does that sound?