One day I got a call from my gynecologist friend about his 9 years old son. He was suffering from recurrent throat infections (tonsillitis) for 3-4 years. I asked to bring him to my clinic.
After examining him, I found all typical symptoms of tonsillitis i.e. red, sore throat, high temperature, etc.
The conversation between me and him was as follows –
Me – I asked him what’s happened?
He – There is a pain in the throat & I am feeling chilly.
Me – Alright, anything else?
He – It’s hurting me a lot, I can’t eat properly due to this pain. I am feeling weak and tired.
Me – What’s bothering you about this?
He – I am not going to school for the last 3 days due to this.
While taking a child’s case, I used to take a detailed history of the child from the parents. Usually, a child cannot narrate his sufferings and concerns about his illness. I always used to prefer the MIND method while giving homeopathic medicine. It’s a wonderful method of homeopathic practice nowadays.
What is the MIND method in Homeopathy?
I am practicing Homeopathy for the last 14 years with this method. In the mind method, mental symptoms are taken while taking the case. The most peculiar, prominent, and prevalent mental symptoms are recorded during case taking. Whereas, taking physical symptoms for selection of medicine is a little bit difficult for the Homeopathic doctor.
We also see the patient’s IPR i.e. inter-personal-relationships. It helps us to know about his/her relationship with relatives, friends, surroundings, socio-economical status, etc. This is helpful in knowing the person as a whole which is the most important factor when treating with homeopathy.
In the mind method, we give importance to CAR i.e. Concern-Adaptation-Reaction of the patient to the disease from which he is suffering.
What is the concern of the patient? How he/she adapts to the diseased condition? What is the reaction to the situation?
It is now a proven fact that there is a relation between Mind-Body-Medicine.
I asked his mother (She is from the IT sector), what he does during illness?
She replied, “he is playing as normal he did. Though he is suffering from these troubles he plays continuously. He is not worried about his illness much. He always wants to play until he gets tired”.
“He is suffering from this every month. We have to give antibiotics and other medicines to get relief. Sometimes, when regular antibiotics fail we have to give higher antibiotics for this. He also misses his school and it is affecting his studies too. Nowadays, he refuses to take medicines saying he is bored now taking all these”.
“Now our doctor is saying, we should think about removing his tonsils”.
Furthermore, I asked about his nature, fears, moods, behavior during illness, and all.
I also asked about his likes, dislikes, any history of illness in the past, etc.
This is important, as in Homeopathy we treat the person in the disease, not the only the disease.
After thoroughly analyzing the case, I gave him medicine with 3 doses at 15 minutes intervals.
The next day, I get a call from my friend that he is feeling much better now. In 2-3 days, all his complaints disappear & he resumed his routine life.
I have to repeat the medicine for the next 3-4 months for a permanent cure. For the last 2 years, he has no complaints at all.
This is the beauty of Homeopathy.
In the very next month, he again suffers from the same, but with moderate symptoms. Then again I gave him the same medicine in higher potency.
He gets better soon after this dose of medicine.
I repeated the medicine 4-5 times, after which he never had the recurrent attacks. Whenever it happens, it is with mild symptoms and suffering.
Now, let’s have a look at tonsillitis –
Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils. Tonsils are collections of lymphoid tissue (part of the immune system) situated at the back of the throat.
They act as a defense mechanism to prevent the body from getting an infection.
Causes of tonsillitis –
The most common cause is a viral infection. Most often causes are coronavirus (Covid-19), adenovirus, rhinovirus, influenza, para-influenza, and other viruses.
The second most common cause is a bacterial infection of which the predominant is Group A β-hemolytic streptococcus.
The infection is spread between people through the air i.e. it’s a droplet infection.
Types –
- Acute: Symptoms usually last around 3–4 days but may last up to 2 weeks.
- Recurrent: A person has several different instances of acute tonsillitis in a year.
- Chronic: Individuals will have an ongoing sore throat and foul-smelling breath.
Signs and symptoms –
Common signs and symptoms – sore throat red, swollen tonsils with the pain while swallowing, high-grade fever, headache, chills, white pus-filled spots on the tonsils, difficulty in swallowing food, etc
Sometimes nausea, vomiting, pain in the stomach, change in voice, loss of appetite may also occur in some patients.
Home remedies –
- Take proper rest
- Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dryness of the throat also for hydration of the body
- Gargle with salt water to reduce pain & discomfort of the throat
- Avoid smoking
Prevention –
- Stay away from people who have active infections or wear a mask.
- If you have tonsillitis, try to keep away from others until you’re no longer contagious.
- If you have symptoms, it’s best to stay home to avoid spreading tonsillitis.
- Practice good hygiene habits like washing your hands often, especially after coming into contact with someone who has a sore throat, or is coughing or sneezing.