Helleborus niger

CEREBRAL TYPHUS AND ITS REMEDIES

A CLINICAL CASE ILLUSTRATING THE USE OF HELLEBORUS NIGER

Helleborus niger is another remedy which, though not often indicated in typhoid, is sometimes, and nothing can take its place. To illustrate its sphere I will give another case from practice.

This was another boy about twelve or fourteen years of age. After two weeks of a very severe run of the fever, the whole force of the disease seemed to concentrate in the brain. The loose stools stopped, and the urine, too, and he lay dead to all signs of consciousness; the eyes remained wide open and still; shoving a bright lamp right up to them made no impression upon the widely dilated pupils. He looked idiotic, and the heart beat was weak and very slow, “only the brain seems to be the invaded part of the body.”

Under the action of Helleborus niger 1000th (B. & T.) he began to pass more urine, until it became profuse, to move occasionally, and very slowly gain consciousness. The first sign that he gave of really comprehending anything was this. He was a boy that had always been particularly fond of money, especially silver money (free silver). While testing him with a lamp one evening to see if I could get his attention to anything, the father said:

“Try him with a piece of money.”

I then held a silver dollar in such a position that the lamp would reflect it strongly into his eyes, and for a second he fixed his sight upon it and laugh aloud—“Ha! ha!”

We “ha! ha!’d,” too, but it was several days after that before he could see or know enough to indicate what he wanted, or that he wanted anything. He went on improving slowly until perfect recovery under the Helleborus. This illustrates the sphere of this remedy anywhere, either in acute meningitis or in typhus, where the affection centers in the head, and with these symptoms.