Positive Health Online

Jamie wanted treatment for a pain in the coccyx – that bony region right at the end of your backbone. He was an otherwise very fit 28 year-old rugby playing Australian. He had sustained his injury, not on the pitch, but messing about with his mates, which ended up with him falling down some concrete steps and landing on his coccyx; I didn't ask how many pints had been sunk first!

The injury had occurred several months before and didn't really trouble Jamie unless he spent a long time sitting which, considering he had a desk job, was most of the day Monday-Friday. The pain was a strong dull ache, which was worse for the action of either getting up or sitting down. Even though he was a rugby player, he was quite a slim guy, fine boned with the appearance of a head that was slightly too big for his body. Another interesting feature was that he had lots of moles; several 'suspect' ones had been removed in the past, and currently he was being troubled by one on his back and one on his chest. He suffered from dry skin in general, having to moisturize a lot. In character he was inclined to be a bit irritable and didn't suffer fools. He was picky about things; when doing a task paid a huge amount of attention to detail, he described himself as being a bit 'anal' with regard to tidiness at home and in the office. He was prone to being anxious and would go into a decline over small issues ('anxiety over trifles' in homeo-pathic language). He described how he had been a small 'sickly kid' who hated milk. In general Jamie erred towards being a chilly person, feeling the cold easily.

Analysis of his case saw a remedy called Silica coming through. This remedy matched Jamie from a constitutional point of view but also has an affinity to trauma of the coccyx. I prescribed it at the 200c potency (quite a punchy strength) and waited to hear from Jamie again. He came for his follow-up five weeks later and reported that his back was much better, the pain was diminished and wasn't as concentrated at the end point of his coccyx. He could sit more comfortably and was in very little pain when sitting into a chair or getting up. His skin was less dry. However, the mole on his back had started to alter; it was becoming itchy, had altered colour, becoming darker and had enlarged. This was rather alarming information and we discussed Jamie going to see his GP just to get the mole checked out. I re-prescribed the Silica 200c and we waited again.

Jamie came back six weeks later and reported that his coccyx pain was virtually gone, that his dry skin was now confined to his hands and feet and he hadn't needed to moisturize his face and body for weeks. His general mood was much improved; the flat, where everything was always in its place, was actually a bit untidy and he liked it that way. He then said he had saved the best till last! After the second dose of Silica the mole on his back had 'gone mad'. It had become much larger and painful rather than itchy, then it started to produce puss and developed a well-defined red circle around the pigmented region. A few days later the whole thing fell out, leaving a cylinder shaped depression! Jamie still hadn't had things checked by the GP so I again said it would be a good idea to follow through with this, plus the one on his chest which hadn't altered.

This case is particularly interesting as the process of healing could be described as following Hering's Law of Cure. As the coccyx pain improved, the mole got worse, an example of things healing from within and passing to the exterior. His skin dryness improved from his head down to the torso and was now on his hands and feet, an example of things moving downwards to the extremities and 'out of the body'. The mole had been on his back for years and was there before the damage to the coccyx had occurred. This fact also leads one to Hering's Law of Cure as it states that more recent problems will solve before a more long-standing one. Silica is known as an expulsive remedy, expelling toxins, splinters, etc. When expelling things it often does so with a lot of puss-like discharge which is exactly what happened here. Although this case is not quite complete, Jamie is well on the way to recovery. I have re-prescribed the Silica 200c yet again and it might be that there is a little more discharge from that mole site, or perhaps even the one on his chest might start 'misbehaving', but at least I am sure you will agree that this is a most fascinating case.