A Near Death Experience

A Homeopathic Case

A woman, age 45, previously healthy, had been ill for over two months with what started out as an eczema, affecting principally the lower extremities.

In the beginning of treatment by her allopathic family physician, she did not appear to be seriously ill; but as treatment progressed she became more and more ill and weak, and finally was confined to her bed. From this time on there was a steady decline of weight and strength, of loss of interest in life, and of hope, until she became apathetic, and finally comatose. Urinary secretion had become more and more scanty until it ceased, and uremic coma came on.

The treatment had been mostly topical - consisting of the application of various ointments and lotions for the eczematous areas. In consequence the eczema had been suppressed, and the systemic symptoms developed. For two days prior to my being called, she had been pronounced to be dying. On the day I was called the physician had called early in the morning and said that the end was very near. About noon he called again, and found her so nearly dead that he said she could not possibly live more than an hour, and that he would not call again. At this juncture I was appealed to by her daughter, who had been a patient of mine, to come and see if I could do anything.

I arrived about one o’clock in the afternoon. As I entered the room, I saw her lying on the bed surrounded by weeping relatives. Someone said: "Its too late, doctor, she’s gone." At first glance it looked that way, but something impelled me to go to her and make an effort to save her. Paying no attention to the relatives, I made a rapid examination. Her limbs were cold and rigid, but the body was still warm. There was no radial pulse, and no visible respiration. With the unaided ear I could detect no heart-beat, but in my haste I had forgotten to bring my stethoscope. Her eyes were fixed, the lids slightly open, and her features had the expression of death. But the thought of death was not in my mind in spite of the evidence.

I drew down her lower lip and shook a few pellets of Arsenic 45m (Fincke) upon the exposed mucous membrane and rubbed her lips against the gum. Then, following a peculiar, but impelling impulse, I talked to her and rubbed her stiffened arms and legs, presently she opened her eyes and looked at me as I bent over her, and whispered to me "I’m coming back." In ten minutes more she was talking to me in an audible voice, asking questions about herself and what had happened. I then noticed that under the bedclothes, her feet were both very gangrenous. Then I felt sure she had been dead! Here was local death, at any rate, plainly visible. I had difficulty keeping my patient quiet and had to prevent her from talking. Reaction had come on with a vengeance.

She went on to make an uneventful recovery and has led a healthy life for these 20 years past

- Stuart Close, MD