He had excruciating radiating pain with numbness from gluteal region extending into thighs, legs and soles.

A 77-year-old patient Mr. S. M. (PIN no 12793) registered at Life Force for the treatment of prolapsed inter-vertebral disc in the lumbar spine. He had excruciating radiating pain with numbness from gluteal region extending into thighs, legs and soles. It was severe on left side compared to right. This accomplished with intermittent pain in legs (called claudication), numbness and stiffness. The most incapacitating pain that he had was at night, when he would wake up to urinate. The pain was so severe while getting up from the bed and reach to the rest-room. Peculiarly, his pain in the back (extending down to the legs) was even more severe after passing urine. Due to the pain, the entire time spent on completing the task of visiting the restroom used to take about half an hour. And, he would require passing urine for about 2-4 times due to his enlarged prostate. His life was like a hell due to the pain. He would experience cramps in feet and soles with severe pain in limb many times in a day, restricting his movements. He also suffered from sensation of sensation in legs and thighs along with this pain. This pain increased on initial motion, ascending, after urination, standing and was better after massage, warm fomentation and sitting down or taking rest. The MRI Report dated 25 th Sept 2009, stated that he had developmental bony canal stenosis: with narrowing and compression of nerve roots. There is bulge in lumbo-sacral spine causing narrowing in that area. This was associated with outgrowth of immature bony processes from the vertebrae, reflecting the presence of degenerative disease and calcification. For MRI report, you can refer link. He was on conventional medicines for the same and was explained the mechanical nature of canal stenosis and need for surgery in this case. Along with this, he also suffered from benign prostate hypertrophy, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia and taking regular medicines for the same. He was a vegetarian, with average thirst and appetite. He craved for spicy and sour food. He was sensitive to hot weather. He often faced complaint of on and off constipation. He had disturbed sleep due to his complaint. By nature he was a confident, perfectionist person. He was authoritative person, honest and very ethical personality. He had faced many stresses in life since childhood but always handled them efficiently. He always remained busy with some or the other work, and always liked to remain occupied. Even at this age, he works with his family business. In case, due to the severe extent of canal narrowing (stenosis) of the spine, Dr Shah suggested that he would rather go for surgery, as medicine would have little or no role to play. However, the patient insisted to receive medicines till the time he prepares himself for surgery. Dr Rajesh Shah studied the case and prescribed Calc-Flor-200C, along with his research based medicine, on basis of the pathology as well as constitution of the patient. Within 3 weeks (on 14th November, 2009), he reported about 20-30% improvement. The treatment was continued. He reported over 50% improvements in his complaints in next 6 weeks. His stiffness, crampy pain in lower limbs decreased drastically. He started getting sound sleep. His painful episodes at night while getting up for urination reduced dramatically. In about 4 months of treatment, he almost forgot that that he had problems due to the disc compression (herniation)! Gradually he was able to reduce his dependency on conventional medicines. This case illustrates the effectiveness of homeopathy in cases of surgical cases as well. Symptomatic relief along with ease of the patient was the sole aim which was achieved effectively with homeopathy. It may be noted that homeopathic medicines in such cases cannot reduce the mechanical compression or narrowing. In many cases, even relief of pain to significant extent (as in this case) is very important, especially for those patients who are not suitable for surgery.