Stroke, Arnica, Disorientation/Head injury Nux moschata, Helleborus
Homeopathy for Head Injuries: Two Cases
By Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, ND, MSW, and Robert Ullman, ND
Lingering, Invisible Symptoms Post-Injury
Head injury, traumatic brain injury, post-concussive syndrome—these are the diagnoses of our patients who come for homeopathic help, usually months, or even years, following the accident. The head injuries that we present here are not life threatening. However, patients complain that the symptoms linger, interfering significantly with their thinking, functioning, and normal life. They share with us their dilemma: the accident has passed, they look normal, but they are not. Those around them, and they themselves, expect that the injury has passed, but the dysfunction and limitations persist. These patients are typically frustrated and fear they will never fully recover. We have seen consistently excellent results with homeopathy, regardless of the specific symptoms.
If you ask anyone familiar with homeopathy which are the most common remedies for head injuries, they will likely tell you Arnica and Natrum sulphuricum. And, indeed, it is a great idea to take Arnica internally in the highest potency that you have immediately following a head injury. We even recommend it immediately after a stroke. Arnica 1M will have a more powerful effect than just a 30C potency. But these patients, and others, responded very well to other remedies.
Christina
Christina, thirty-two, was referred by her mom, who is also a patient. She recounted:
I’ve suffered two head injuries over the past nine months. First I ran into a plastic slide. It wasn’t serious, but I felt depressed afterwards. My chronic back pain got markedly worse, too, after I hit my head. The dizziness and nausea lasted for two weeks. Then, six months later, two months before she began homeopathy, she had a car accident. I experienced a severely reduced capacity to think… to do any cognitively complicated tasks. Like reading. Walking and talking at the same time were difficult. Driving was impossible. I couldn’t watch videos. I still can’t listen to music without feeling dizzy. After three to four weeks, what doctors consider normal concussion symptoms resolved. I had no dizziness, photophobia, memory loss. I’ll feel fine for hours. Then I need to do a task with a high cognitive load, like helping to prepare tax returns, since I’m a bookkeeper, and I’ll hit the wall. Everything just kind of powers down.
My functioning improved a lot after I took a vacation, but I still can’t function at 100% capacity. When I hit that wall, I can’t form any new thoughts. Moving my body feels weird. Sometimes I get dizzy. It is difficult at those times to deal with uncertainty or with the frustration and negative emotion of others. It is difficult to take on projects because I get so anxious about completing them. It’s hard to express the scope of it.
My body starts to feel heavy. As if messages from my brain to my body are communicated too slowly. I become lightheaded. This past month I’ve ended the day with a pretty significant headache. I imagine it’s all part of the post-concussion stuff.
My thinking will go in circles. I’ll start to cry. Or just want to go to sleep. I almost fall asleep. Lately it’s so bad that I can nod out in class. I have to pinch myself or bite my tongue to stay awake. When I feel anxious, I lose track of the foundations of my life and of reality. I lose some sense of my body. I won’t notice my feet, my arms. I know they’re there, but I stop feeling them. Stop paying attention. Instead of walking on solid ground, I’m walking on a platform supported by tethers and the tethers start to snap. For three to four weeks, I couldn’t close my eyes without feeling weird. I wasn’t sure I was standing up straight anymore. I’d close my eyes and things would start to tilt. Feel swimmy, unsteady. The way your body feels in water. I didn’t know where my head was situated. After the head injury, I would forget the shape of the room around me… which way my head was pointing. I didn’t know what was going on outside of me. Where’s the door? Where’s the wall? My senses would go hazy, disintegrate. Where am I in the world? END QUOTE
We chose Nux moschata (nutmeg) for Christina. Like other members of the Magnoliadae family, there is a general feeling of bewilderment and confusion. A blankness, floating, stupefied sensation. Nux moschata is well known for experiencing an overpowering sleepiness, such as one sees in narcolepsy. The terrific anxiety that Christina experienced about her disorientation is described in the Sensation of Plants by Rajan Sankaran: “Something strange, bewildering, and confusing must be solved immediately. Once the situation is tackled, she is at ease. Feeling of being lost, like a child.” Interestingly, Christina loved spices: “My favorites are cinnamon, fenugreek, cumin, and cardamom. I used to have a spice-of-the-month subscription. Every month they would send freshly ground spices.” Because Christina was highly sensitive, we prescribed Nux moschata LM3 to take daily.
Christina’s next follow-up visit was a month later:
I had a really interesting experience a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like another part of my brain came back online. Now I can watch videos… I’m able to work longer hours and to hold my mind in multiple projects, like several tax returns. A month ago, I would have forgotten one project once I started on the next. I’m not sensitive to bright colors anymore. I feel like things in my head are more crisp. In higher definition. END QUOTE
We prescribed a single dose of Nux moschata 200C and Christina continued taking the LM3 potency daily.
Six weeks later: “The bigger dose of the remedy was amazing! I remember saying it was like I had a whole new brain. More clear-headed and capable by a really large margin.” We gave Christina another dose of Nux moschata 200C, to hold in case she needed it in the future, and instructed her to continue the LM3 potency daily.
Four months later: “Cognitively I’ve improved by leaps and bounds. I’m working ten to fifteen hours a day since it’s tax season. The last dose of the Nux moschata set my tilt right again.” We told Christina to take the 200C dose she was holding and gave her a 1M dose to hold.
Ten months later: We last spoke with her 10 months after her first appointment (12 months following the car accident). She has taken Nux moschata 1M twice. The Nux moschata has made a dramatic difference in her post-head-injury symptoms. Who would think nutmeg could have such a powerful effect with head injuries?
Maya
We first treated Maya off and on, along with her mom and brother, when she was seven to eighteen years old for ADHD. Her mom again suggested that she contact us for homeopathy when she was twenty-two.
I was involved in a car accident eight months ago. There was a deer in the road. I swerved and flipped the car. It was totaled. I had a pretty bad concussion. I had to go back to school a week later for student teaching. I’ve been seeing a physical therapist since then, but I still don’t feel completely right. Everything is a whirlwind. I have difficulty focusing and concentration. Light bothers my head. It gives me migraines. Sometimes at night I have trouble looking at a screen. The other night the noise of a highlighter on a book was driving me crazy. Emotionally it’s been hard, too. Socially. too.
I was coming home from a friend’s house when I saw the deer in the road. It was too late. I went off the road at night. There was blood all over me. They put eleven staples in my head. I don’t remember anything after that. I was in complete shock. I didn’t even know where I was. I hit my head so hard that it cut the top of my skull and middle of my forehead. I did miss the deer but lost control of my car and ended up in a ditch.
Initially I was diagnosed with a concussion and whiplash. The headaches were very severe. I had trouble sleeping because of the neck and back pain. Light would trigger a headache. Then I would need to lie down in a dark room. The same was true with loud noises. I still struggle with my neck being very sore. When I’m in the car, I can’t listen to music or look out the window or it makes my head spin and triggers a headache. I have trouble focusing. All of this has caused a negative attitude and a feeling of instability. I get irritable quickly and lose my patience.
I was doing so well before my accident. Then my life got turned upside down. I ended up getting a Staph infection in the site of the stitches. It seemed never ending. I have not felt the same since. My upper shoulders and back ache. I have difficulty lifting heavy things. I can’t walk on the treadmill. Daily tasks and working out have been very hard. I have a hard time thinking, processing, controlling my emotions. Everything shuts down. Everything is just too much to handle. The headaches completely limit me. I just want to be in a closed room by myself with the lights off. It all fell apart at once. The accident was very traumatic to me. It’s scary even to be in a car sometimes.
I only remember bits and pieces of what happened. I hit my head so hard. It’s hard to believe that I even lived. The headaches are splitting pain that radiates all over my head. It’s almost like a fog comes over. A blur. I’m not all there. Sounds are amplified. I get overwhelmed if people get too close to me. And I still dream about being in the accident. END QUOTE
We prescribed Helleborus (black hellebore) 200C and LM4 daily for Maya. It is a member of the buttercup family. Those needing remedies from this family can be highly sensitive, as if their nerves were raw. They experience a variety of pain sensations, including sharp, stabbing, stitching, and splitting. However, the other side of this exquisite sensitivity and pain is a numbness or blunting. Maya described this as a fog or blur.
One month later: “I’ve been good. I’m feeling a lot more relaxed. Not as much anxiety. The headaches have gone down a lot. I’m not experiencing as much light and noise sensitivity as before. The light really hasn’t been bothering me. Driving is better. My back is getting better also. I still have soreness in my shoulders and neck. I’m sleeping better. And I feel a lot happier.” We suggested that Maya continue the Helleborus LM4 daily.
Two months later: “Things are going well. The headaches have decreased even more. I’m able to focus and get my work done without feeling so stressed. I’m not so anxious and on edge about everything.” We sent Maya one dose of Helleborus 1M, and she continued the LM4.
Three and a half months later: “I’ve been doing well. I am really busy with my internship. I would like to work with special ed kids. I haven’t felt much anxiety. I’ve really been able to focus…. I’ve been more able to focus. Now I can work out at the gym and run again. I think the remedy has really helped. I’m not getting flustered like I was before. I can mentally de-stress myself.” We repeated the Helleborus 1M and continued the LM4.
These are just two of a number of head injury cases we have treated successfully. It is good to remember that homeopathy can be extremely helpful and to seek out care as soon as possible following the head injury. It is very compatible with chiropractic, physical therapy, and whichever other modalities you may be using. Homeopathic care is gentle yet powerful. And, as you can see from these cases, it is highly individualized, depending on the specific symptom picture. And highly effective.
Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman are licensed naturopathic physicians, board certified in homeopathy. We have written eight books on homeopathy as well as Mystics, Masters, Saints and Sages—Stories of Enlightenment. We also have an app: Natural Travel Doctor. Apple version: https://tinyurl.com/l7song8 and Android: https://tinyurl.com/m7cnexh.
We practice at The Northwest Center for Homeopathic Medicine in Edmonds, Washington, and by Skype. The Edmonds office address has just changed, as you will see on our website. We live on Whidbey Island, Washington, and in Pucón, Chile. Visit our website www.healthyhomeopathy.com. Please friend us on Facebook at Healthy Homeopathy. Call us at (425) 774-5599 or email us at drreichenberg@gmail.com or drbobullman@gmail.com.
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