The name Abrotanum brings to one’s mind the subject of transfer of a disease from one organ to another. In English, this process is known as metastasis. It means that the disease shifts from one part of the body to another. For instance, in the case of mumps, the parotid glands (situated below the ear) swell, and when the disease becomes suppressed at this place, it transfers itself to the reproductive organs. There are many reasons for it being suppressed, for example it could be due to the use of antibiotics, or through local application of poultices. Sometimes it could be due to sudden exposure to cold in high fever. Among all medicines used in the migrating type of ailments, Abrotanum is one of the most salient ones.
Sometimes, by the suppression of diarrhoea, the patient
experiences sudden severe pain in the joints and at other times, the heart may
be affected. Similarly, sudden cessation of menstruation may result in mental
or other ailments.
We shall continue talking about the migration of a disease
from one place to another in the context of different remedies so that one may be
able to understand well, the indication and usage of remedies for shifting the
illness back to where it started.
If a patient suffers from gout or rheumatism, yet at the
same time experiences restlessness as if the blood through the heart seems to
be scraping the heart, and also he has Epistaxis or blood in the urine, then he
is very likely to get cured by the use of Abrotanum.
The basic nature of the Abrotanum patient is that loose
frequent stools (diarrhoea) give him relief by excreting the harmful products
that would have otherwise involved the joints. In such a patient, Abrotanum
will also gradually cure diarrhoea
as well as joint pains.If the joint pains are suppressed by using
some remedies, or by local heat application and the patient contracts pleurisy
instead of diarrhoea, then it becomes imperative for the Homoeopath to retrace
the course of sickness back to its origin. If the joint pains had preceded the development
of pleurisy (inflammation
of the outer lining of the lung which causes pain on deep breathing and much
more so on coughing), then surely the remedy in this case would be Abrotanum.
Abrotanum will cure the pleurisy but
may initially cause the recurrence of joint pains, which will eventually be
cured by continued use of Abrotanum,
when its basic features are also present. For the
treatment of marasmus in children, Aethusa, Natrum Mur and Calcaria Carb are
also well known remedies. In Calcaria Carb, the wasting affects the legs, while
in Abrotanum it starts at the legs but extends to the upper body. This symptom
alone is sufficient to suggest that Abrotanum is the remedy to be given in
potency 30, three times a day. This could bring complete cure, by the Grace of
God. If the joint pains get better but the heart becomes affected, one should not
ignore Abrotanum in addition to the other remedies for the heart. Sometimes on the sudden cessation of
diarrhoea, joint pains and bleeding piles develop,
Abrotanum would still be the right choice.
Such a patient feels excessive cold. His symptoms aggravate in cold and
humid weather. He often complains of backache worsening
at night. The backache of Abrotanum always worsens at night irrespective of any
specific time, but the backache of Kali Carb is specific for late night or very
early morning hours around 3-4 am. In such a patient, if we find the core
symptom of ‘amelioration by onset of diarrhoea’, then the back pain will also
be cured by Abrotanum. The general
improvement of symptoms with the onset of diarrhoea is also present in Natrum
Sulph and Zinc, but to make proper diagnosis, their salient features should also
be present in a patient. Abrotanum
pains are sometimes of cutting or piercing nature, which can involve the
ovaries, in addition to the joints. A patient having pains at the ovaries and
the joints and backache, aggravated at night, the symptoms subsiding with the
onset of diarrhoea, will also immensely benefit from Abrotanum as the cure for
her infertility.