Mount Hekla is a volcanic mountain. The medicine prepared
from the lava of this mountain is called Hekla Lava. I do not know of any other
kind of lava used for the preparation of a homoeopathic medicine. The contents of all the lavae are probably
identical, however, the effects of lava may differ from area to area.
Therefore, the lava of other volcanoes should also be experimented upon. Hekla Lava mainly affects the bones,
especially the bones of the
face and the jaw. However, it has an effect on the other bones of
the body as well. Hekla Lava can be of useful in the treatment of tooth decay associated
with a lot of pain and which refuses to respond to any other treatment.
Sometimes, the jaw becomes very swollen and may apparently
exhibit all general signs of Hekla Lava, yet does not benefit from the treatment
with Hekla Lava. In that condition, the most important and effective treatment
is Sulphur. Sulphur is found to be very effective against certain dangerous
conditions that the doctors have labelled as incurable. For example cancer of the jawbone that
has advanced significantly and causes severe discomfort, affecting the ears.
Once, a woman was in severe pain due to the cancer of the jaw. One side of the
face was extremely swollen causing pressure over the eyes. She used to scream
due to the severity of pain. She remained in one of the best hospitals for a
long period, but the doctors found no effective treatment for her disease.
Ultimately, she was discharged from the hospital with the pronouncement that
her disease was incurable. I gave her one dose of Sulphur CM, which decreased
the severity of the pain and within two weeks, there was marked decrease in the
size of the swelling of the face. After this, I treated her with one dose of Silicea
CM. With this the process of recovery, which had previously slowed down, was
restored. Sometime later, I gave her another dose of Sulphur CM. The disease
completely disappeared. Several years have passed since the treatment of this
patient and until today, she is completely healthy. My reason for mentioning
this in relation to Hekla Lava is that she had apparently all the symptoms of
Hekla Lava but did not benefit at all with Hekla Lava. This shows that Hekla Lava
may be effective against other diseases of the bone but is definitely
ineffective against the cancer of the bones.of its effectiveness. However, some homoeopaths adore it.
The specific symptom of Hekla Lava is stated to be the pain in the jawbones.
There is considerable swelling around the jaws and the jawbones become
thickened and enlarged.Regarding the treatment of the deep-seated bone diseases,
in addition to Sulphur, I have found Calcarea Carb to be much more effective than
Hekla Lava. I have used Calcarea Carb in the treatment of bone cancer that had
been histologically proved. Within a few months of the treatment with high
potency Calcarea Carb, the disease was overcome significantly. Such patients
should doubtless be treated carefully, over a long period. One should not just
rely on using Calcarea Carb, some other adjuvant treatments will also be required
keeping in view the overall symptoms of the patient. Thus, the focus of the
treatment would obviously be Calcarea Carb, however, several other medicines
may also prove to be very useful. Calcarea
Carb is particularly very useful in the treatment of bone diseases due to a
lack of calcium (osteopenia). Sulphur is also effective. Calcarea Carb is
chronic of Sulphur. Generally, Calcarea Carb is more effective in the diseases
of the bones of the lower legs than Sulphur. Calcarea Carb is also effective
against the cysts of the hands.
In my practice, I have not been able to use Hekla Lava
much, possibly due to the fact that I was not fully conversant with its signs
and symptoms. I do not mean to discourage other homoeopaths from using it. I
would advise them to go over the writings of other doctors about Hekla Lava and
then use it on their patients in different potencies. It is just possible that
they may successfully use it for the treatment of many more diseases, in spite
of my failure to use it much. Some doctors
have found Hekla Lava very useful in the treatment of teething problems of
children. I do not have much experience of that myself. Instead, I have found
the following prescription effective, without any doubt, in teething problems:
Kali Phos + Ferrum Phos + Silicea + Calcarea Phos +
Calcarea Fluor Additionally, the above prescription has been found very
effective against certain kinds of bone cancer and the diseases of the covering
membrane of bones (periosteum).
In the homoeopathic literature, the conditions which can
be effectively treated with Hekla Lava are: the thickening of the skull bone
behind the ears, the thickening of the outer surface of the bone, ulcers on the
nasal bones, neuralgic pains over the face resulting from the extraction of the
teeth or the caries, and neck glands which have somewhat receded after initial
enlargement. The symptoms of Hekla Lava aggravate in humid weather.