The Road to Palliation (Bronchogenic Carcinoma - 2006)
Persistent cough had made life tough for this septuagenarian lady. When she met me she just had one demand – relief as soon as possible. She had persistent cough, with expectoration of frothy and milky white sputum. Moreover, she was unable to lie on her back during the initial stages. A month before she came to me she had an episode of severe haemoptysis. She also complained of heart burn and had a feeling that something was blocking behind the sternum. When she came to my clinic, she was under allopathic treatment. She had repugnance to food, with nausea and vomiting episodes. She was neither chilly nor hot. She was hypertensive and diabetic for which she was under allopathic medication and diet control.
Appetite - diminished, preferred cold food and drinks
Bowels - constipated
Past history
She had undergone an operation for bleeding hemorrhoids.
Investigations
CT scan of the chest on 06-06-2005 showed, a large, lobulated heterogeneous low density mass containing soft tissue, fluid, and calcification in the right paracardiac region.
CT scan of chest done on 02-06-2006 showed large right middle and lower lobe mass, lesion with extension into mediastinum, Bronchogenic carcinoma, mediastinal lymphadenopathy and right pleural effusion.
Aspiration cytology of pleural fluid done on 24-06-2006 - Smear showed blood and scanty mesothelial cells.
Treatment
I gave her symptomatic treatment, starting with Nux vomica. Later, cough medicines such as Bryonia, Ars alb, Kail bich, Sanguinaria and Millefolium were prescribed, in 30 potency most of the times, since the patient was weak and debilitated with advanced pathology. Of all the medicines, Sanguinaria gave optimum relief to her and I could raise its potency gradually to 200 and later to 1M. Millefolium was given when she developed haemoptysis and she got immediate relief. Miasmatically, Thuja was also prescribed in 30 potency.
Discussion
This was another case of end-stage disease with torturous sufferings, with Homoeopathy stepping in to provide palliative care. At such pathologically advanced stages, palliation or relief is what the patient badly needs. This lady was under my treatment for one year and got immense relief till her end. She succumbed to her degenerative disease on 01-06-2007.
The main remedy which did the trick was Sanguinaria. Sanguinaria is found to be one of the best remedies for cough which comes as a complication of some underlying pathology. The symptoms are almost the same as Tuberculinum but Sanguinaria being a vegetable drug could be used or repeated safely.
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