This 17-year-old patient came to be with a patch of eczema on the right hand. She had a history of eczema on the left ankle and the left wrist some years ago. She had been treated for those eczema patches and had developed scarring over the lesion on the left wrist. Her family now wanted her to have Homoeopathic treatment for the new lesion on the right hand. It had started with itching, followed by vesicle formation which gave out a non-sticky discharge. The lesion still itched, more so when dry. There was a family history of eczema from her father’s side. Her mother was diabetic. She had come to Bombay about 6 months ago and was living with her aunt and uncle.
She loved spicy and sour food and had an aversion to milk. She slept on her abdomen. She had her first menses at the age of 15 and said that recently her cycles were getting delayed by about 2-15 days and they lasted just 1-2 days. She had dysmenorrhoea which continued for 2 days.
She liked the company of friends and said she was social, though she appeared to be a quiet, soft-spoken person. She was particular about being on time. She was not easily angered and when she did get angry, cooled down fast and held no grievances. She wept easily and was scared of the dark and of ghosts. She was studying in Class XI in the science stream and had not yet decided on her future career plan. She enjoyed travelling, sewing and embroidery. She liked being in open air. She was the eldest child of her parents with a younger brother and sister who she said was even more quiet than her.
My first prescription on the 4th of February 2005 was Phosphorus. On the 14th of February, she reported that her eczema had increased and her periods which had started on the 1st, re-started on the 8th and continued till the 13th. Her eczema patch was oozing a watery and sticky liquid. I then gave her a dose of Graphites 30 to be taken in water. A fortnight later she was better but a month later, her eczema had increased again. I switched remedies and this continued until mid-March with not much improvement; Graphites helped her temporarily but did not help the improvement to go further.
In mid-March, her aunt was rather perturbed because her periods were very erratic. She had some spotting and then a scanty flow set in which just did not stop. I probed more into her history and she revealed that her periods had become scanty since over a year. Her eczema was also fluctuating.
On the 1st of April, I reviewed her case again and gave her Pulsatilla in a high potency as a single dose. On the 11th, she came for a follow-up and reported that her periods had finally stopped on the 6th, having lasted almost 23 days. After the Pulsatilla, her eczema had flared up for about 3 days and then grew progressively better. I repeated the dose of Pulsatilla again in mid-May. In June, she mentioned that her periods had settled into a 5 day flow. The active eczema lesion had cleared up almost completely and the scarring on the other wrist looked fainter according to her relatives, though I was not too sure about that.
I decided to terminate the treatment here as she was going back to her home in North India. She was asked to keep me informed and the last time I heard from her relatives (they are also patients) she was doing fine.