CASES

CASE1

Hypericum perforatum

WOMAN, 30 YEARS OLD

P: I got toothache after the dentist has drilled into my tooth.

Toothache after tooth treatment. Many symptoms arise because of medicines, medical or dental treatment.

A: Since when do you have pain ? When did it begin ?

P: I had it done and a few days later it began.

A: Did you have problems with your tooth ?

P: No.

A: You just went for a check up to the dentist ?

P: Yes.

A: Then he saw a cavity ?

P: Yes, and he inserted a temporary filling. No treatment of the nerves.

A: First, he has drilled into it and then he has inserted a filling ?

P: Yes.

A: You didn't have toothache before you went to the dentist.

P: No.

A: And what happened then ?

P: Then I had to wait for one week, but it ached very much and then I went back. That was two days later. It began aching immediately afterwards, but I have waited for a few days.

A: What kind of pain was it ?

P: Toothache.

A: No other pain ?

P: No.

A: Then you went back to the dentist. What happened then ?

P: He has inserted another filling, but it didn't help much. Then, he said he had to take away a part of the gum, but I haven't done it. The second filling was the permanent filling.

The dentist proposed to cut away a part of the gum. Do you know why the allopathy can not cure migraine ? Because they can not cut off the head. They try to cut away every symptom. I even got a patient whom they took out his eyes, a long story, which started with a hemorrhoidal operation.

A: Since then you have a toothache, don't you ?

P: Yes, then he took a radiograph, but there could nothing be detected.

A: What happened then ?

P: Then there came another pain. It was a stitching pain extending to my ear and upwards. And now, since a week it has hurt here above and since two days it has hurt very much here.

A: Also around your eyes. Does this mean that you have pain in your face on the left side now and then ?

P: Yes, and very much here.

A: At the articulation joint. How does the pain arise ?

P: At one time, stitching.

A: Does the pain disappear suddenly or slowly ?

P: It disappears slowly.

The pain arises suddenly and disappears slowly.

A: Do you think you are a little bit sad during the pain ?

P: Yes.

A: When does the pain increase and when does it decrease ?

P: When it is dark the pain disappears. And during the day it aches very much here, and then I have headache.

A: Does moving, biting or speaking do something ?

P: Biting and yawning hurt very much. It was very bad on Sunday, then I yawned very much. And then it keeps hurting.

A: Are there other things hurting ? For instance movement of the eyes ?

P: When I look aside and above, I also have pain.

A: That seems to be a trauma. A neuralgia by a trauma. Pain of the nerve because of the fact that it was affected.

P: Sometimes when I breathe cold air, and it touches that tooth ... it also hurts. That happens when riding on a bike.

A: Does the heat do good ?

P: Yes.

A: Does the pain improve when pushing hard on that tooth ?

P: No, it aggravates.

Although it hurts when you touch a certain place we can not use the rubric "pain on small spots", because it is an extending pain.

A: Does the weather play a role ?

P: No.

A: Is there a numbness in that jaw and the forehead ?

P: Sometimes.

A: Does it feel the same as anesthesia ?

P: No. It seems as if it is a very severe toothache, it extends upward and then it hurts everywhere.

A: Because of that you have pain nearly the whole day ?

P: Yes. And I can't tolerate noise, when the children are screaming, or the radio is on. That gives a terrible headache. But that doesn't cause that toothache.

A: That filling seems to have quite a lot of consequences.

P: At the beginning you have it few times, but then you think this will go away, but then ... I can't tolerate the smell when the stove is burning and it is hot. Nor the radiator in the car, when it is blowing. I get terrible headache of that.

A: So you also get headache of smells ? Are there other things ? Noise, smell, you can't tolerate that.

P: Otherwise, I can tolerate that very well. The radio is always playing very loudly.

A: Are there other things, because that seems rather extensive.

P: I don't have pain while sleeping.

A: And what does movement do about it ?

P: When I have headache, jumping and so, that is terrible. Otherwise, I play very often with the children, but now ... I can't.

A: Do you have cold chills ?

P: Yes, one time I have a very warm head and I am cold.

A: Do you have palpitations of the heart ?

P: No.

A: Does it improve when you drink warm drinks ?

P: I don't know.

A: Do you have to lie on that side, or do you lie on the other side ?

P: I lie on this side. First, I warm my cushion and then I lie down on it.

A: The heat does good.

P: Yes.

A: Is it sometimes attended with tingles ?

P: No. But my ear also hurts. My earlobe at this side also ulcerates. I don't know whether this has something to do with it. I don't have it at the right side.

A: Does the pain extend to the back of your head ?

P: No, only upwards.

A: Does the pain extend to your eye ?

P: No, the eye doesn't hurt.

A: Does the pain start from your tooth ?

P: No. Now, I have pain here too. It seems a constant toothache. Otherwise, I'm never troubled with headache.

A: Are you afraid of needles at this moment ?

P: I have always been afraid of that at the dentist. That's the reason why I don't want to go back.

A: Where are you afraid of then ?

P: Of that needle. I think it hurts very much. He has to do that very slowly.

A: Do you have often palpations of the heart ?

P: No.

A: You don't feel anything at your eye, do you ?

P: No. When I look this way the little muscles ache here, and when I look the other way they ache there. But they ache most above the eyes.

A: First, I must check something and then I give you the remedy.

"Stitching pain in the left eye " - which remedy ? Spigelia. In Clarke you find the cause for Spigelia I am looking for: "Artificial complaints". There are symptoms for this acute cause, but there are also symptoms which point to the constitutional remedy. It concerns a hysterical woman.

A: It must disappear quickly. I want you to call me this afternoon. Do you smoke much ?

P: No, when I'm in a smoky room, I have very much pain. Last Thursday when I was following a course, nearly everybody was smoking, and then I got very much pain. My eyes become very watery. Sometimes, I also have that during the day. Then my eyes are itching, they are watering and then it is over. Maybe, it is because of the smell I get headache.

A: And also because of tobacco ?

P: Yes.

A: The differential diagnosis is not so easy. I give the remedy taking into account the cause of the affection. There are some modalities which refer to another remedy, but we will know that soon. You take this remedy and call me at four o'clock to tell me how the pain is. Then, I have to see you again this week.

Which remedy ? Hypericum.

Which rubric ? "Nerves, injuries to dental nerves" (p. 423): Hypericum - "injuries nerves with great pain" (p. 1369). So the cause is very important. In Belgium I showed this case to 25 experienced homoeopaths, no one found the remedy. They reproached me for not asking for psychical or mental symptoms, but the symptoms clearly arose after the tooth treatment so that I do not have to ask questions about the sexuality. Living Homoeopathy often goes quickly. When somebody has knocked on his finger I do not need information about his sex-drive. Then you can quickly give the remedy and take care about the next patient. It does not play a role how long you exercise Homoeopathy. In a centre where the patients are treated homoeopathically from the morning until the evening you learn more in one year than maybe in 10 years when working alone. Some Italians do not even need a Repertory. They know Homoeopathy by heart and can give the remedy immediately. It is the question how fast you work, how good you are trained.

FEEDBACK

A: You were here this morning at a quarter to eight. You came for that toothache that has existed for about three or four months. I gave you a remedy. Tell me what has it done ?

P: I took it at half past eight a.m. and have it melt under my tongue.

A: Had you eaten ?

P: I haven't eaten anything until noon. I did my usual housework and at half past eleven a.m. I got terrible headache. Then I lay down on my bed, but in fact I couldn't hold it there. Afterwards it has been better.

A: And what time is it now ? It is half past seven p.m. You called me and I asked you to come. And then ?

P: In the afternoon the headache disappeared.

A: It disappeared.

P: Yes, only my tooth still hurts and here also a little.

A: The pain has improved. May I ask you to call me the day after tomorrow ? To say how you are doing. I have to be certain that it cures completely. And it will, but maybe it might return slightly, so that I have to give a higher potency, although I have given a high potency already.

P: And the headache has disappeared. I couldn't bear the sunlight, but it has disappeared now.

A: All right. And then they say that Homoeopathy doesn't work quickly.

NEXT DAY

A: I don't know when I saw you the last time, but that was a few days ago. When you came back the pain in your head had disappeared, but you still had a little toothache. The sensitiveness to the sunlight had disappeared. Afterwards you didn't get anything, only that one remedy. What about your toothache ?

P: It has also disappeared.

A: You don't have any pain at the moment.

P: No, sometimes I get a stitch now and then, but not often. After eating sugar containing food. But I don't have pain in my ear anymore, neither here. On Friday the toothache had disappeared, I was here on Thursday.

A: How was it on Saturday ?

P: No pain.

A: Did you have pain yet ?

P: At noon.

A: What was the reason ?

P: Because I cried.

A: We don't know why, but at that moment it arose again.

P: Yes, I had a very severe toothache and pain here, and above my eyes. Only for a while.

A: Did you have problems ?

P: Yes.

A: Are they solved now ?

P: Yes, and I don't have pain anymore.

A: All right. So one little tablet has solved the case. Thanks.

CASE2

Dislocation of the elbow joint

Hypericum perforatum

WOMAN, 55 YEARS OLD

A: It happened four months ago. What happened then ?

P: I fell and the arm was out of joint, the elbow at least. It was completely out of place. He has pushed it back to its place and the next day he has put it in plaster, but had to cut it, because my arm was swelling. Then, they sent a nurse and a masseur for the medical attendance in the morning and in the evening. And finally, I went to Hasselt.

A: To see the specialist.

P: And with that letter I came to you and got a little pill. I can't say which, but it has helped a little. Then I got another one, and everything started to improve quickly.

A: Tell me what you felt.

P: I couldn't do anything with my hand. I couldn't bend my thumb, my forefinger not my middle finger. I couldn't bring my hand to my head, nothing.

A: And did you have a peculiar feeling there ?

P: It was numb. And there were tingles extending to the fingers, but they didn't go back. And everything pressed upon those fingers. And the pressure didn't disappear. How do you call that ? Impulses. Electric shocks, exactly.

A: And that was from your elbow extending to your hand.

P: When I pushed here above my shoulder, it began to tingle.

A: At what side of your arm especially ?

P: At both sides. And at the inside the arm was very thin.

A: When I saw you there was a typical symptom, namely, that you felt something especially at the inside, that there was something pushing downward. And that gave the hands a swollen feeling.

P: Yes, there was a real pressure. And the specialist said it would decrease at last, but it didn't. And with two little pills it has disappeared definitely. Afterwards, it appeared again for a little while and you repeated the remedy and it has definitely disappeared.

A: First, there was the accident, in fact it happened because of the stretching of the nerve. And it was especially a tingling, tickling feeling ...

P: And pushing.

A: And numbness and sleepiness.

P: Yes, a sleepy feeling.

A: In fact, you didn't have pain in it, did you ?

P: No, not really. No, it was heavy, heavy as lead.

A: All right.

P: But that little pill was something terrific, I don't know what it was.

A: I'm not going to tell you.

P: No, no, that was something terrific. The first one also did something, but the second did a miracle, because I couldn't bend my thumb, and suddenly it bent. And I couldn't bend the forefinger and all the other fingers either, and then suddenly I could bend all of them. Previously, I couldn't do anything. I was completely handicapped with that injury, until I got this remedy.

She got a dislocation of the elbow with paresthesia. You know what I mean with paresthesia ? There is a kind of numbness, pricking, a feeling of swelling and so on.

She called me first, because she had fallen. She was standing somewhere on a ladder and was doing something - and she had drunk ! She smokes, she drinks and enjoys the life. And then she fell. But she didn't tell anybody that she had drunk and fell afterwards. I knew it only a few months later.

I was not at home at that time, and because she had a dislocation, she went to another doctor and he put the elbow to its place again. But afterwards she got this paresthesia, because of the stretching of the nerves. With such a dislocation the nerves are injured, stretched and the consequences are paresthesias. Which remedy did I give her when she called ? Because it was an injury and she did not give more explanation I gave her Arnica. But Arnica did not work. Although she has had massage for several weeks, it did not improve. The specialist tried to explain it in many different ways, but nothing worked, until I gave her the second remedy and it did work.

I show you this case to give you an example to sharpen your reflexes. Now you have this reflex: someone comes with paresthesia after an injection and you think immediately of Hypericum. Then comes the next thing: injury, contusion of the spinal column: Hypericum. Stretching of the nerves: Hypericum. You have to have this reflex immediately and give the remedy after 1 or 2 minutes. That is what I mean with reflexibility.

The case of this woman is very interesting. You see, that she has a lot of energy. The first time, in 1978 - at the beginning of my homoeopathic practice - I gave her - she had 39° C fever, it was 7.00 p.m. , she was very anxious, was sitting there, was very chilly and said, "I will die." She was sitting there, with a great anxiety and high fever - which remedy is this ? Aconitum. It is never Aconitum without anxiety. Well, sometimes it is, but mostly it has this death anxiety in acute cases. She got those symptoms suddenly in the evening, after she had been outside in a draft of air. Then I gave her Aconitum D 12 in 1978, when I started with Homoeopathy and it really worked. I never believed in Homoeopathy, not even in the complex remedies. But then I discovered Kent and saw, that all those pictures where complete pictures. Why is everything mixed up ?

So, I started to study Kent at night, I studied, studied, and studied, to know those pictures of the remedies. First, I read the picture of Aconitum, then I saw this woman and said, "That's exactly the same what Kent describes." So, I gave her Aconitum.

I have a lot of experience with severe diseases and know that when you give NOVALGIN i.v. , that you have to wait for at least half an hour until the fever goes down.

So, what did I do ? I gave her a spoon of the solution of Aconitum and I swear that within 6 minutes she started to perspire. The fever came down from 39° C to about 37,4° C. I said, "My God, that is a miracle, I have never seen that in my life, and I knew how difficult it is to let the fever go down with any remedy - Valium or I don't know what. You always have to wait.

Look at the Repertory - "complaints after waiting", it is a nervous feeling. There is not only fever in inflammations. Which remedy is there ? Nux vomica. This means that in several cases Valium can decrease the fever on the basis of the cause. In Nux vomica it is excitement.

That was a proof for me that Homoeopathy really works and that the patient can also be cured in local diseases when you give the right remedy.

CASE3

Painful fingertips

Hypericum perforatum

GIRL, 15 YEARS OLD

A: How long is it ago ? Two months ?

P: Yes, the first time. The last time about a month ago.

A: Tell me your problem.

P: My finger and often the fingertips were aching.

A: How did it happen ?

P: During the holidays I drove a pile in the ground and knocked on my finger. It had to be put in plaster. When it happened my finger became swollen and blue and I had to take radiographs. It was broken, and first I got a splint and then a plaster.

A: When did it happen ?

P: At the end of August 1984.

A: And now it is the beginning of 1985. How long has the finger been in plaster ?

P: 3 to 4 weeks.

A: Did your finger ache when it was still in plaster ?

P: No.

A: And how did it feel when it came out of the plaster ?

P: Then I have been walking around with a splint for 3 weeks.

A: So 4 weeks plaster and 3 weeks splint. And then ?

P: Then I could write again, not so well. And at the end of the 6th school year it ached more.

A: So the pain has been away.

P: Yes.

A: Was the finger all right when it came out of the plaster ?

P: Yes.

A: How long did you have pain ?

P: I don't know.

A: Had the pain disappeared completely in everything you did ?

P: Yes.

A: And then the pain returned. How long ago ?

P: In the 6th year, around Carnival.

A: So the pain has been away for about 2 or 3 months ?

P: Yes.

A: And what did you do then ?

MP: We told the doctor and he gave an ointment, but it didn't go away. I was with one of my children here. And after the holidays it was so bad, so that we made an appointment for her. She couldn't write anymore.

A: How long did it take until the pain disappeared after the remedy ?

MP: The first ...

A: No, that wasn't correct.

MP: Well, after the other within a week.

P: Yes.

A: But after the second remedy she got this pain in the neck again.

MP: Then we came here and the doctor said that it shouldn't last longer than 8 days, or we had to come back.

Do you remember the case with the teeth ? It was about 4 months ago, that she went to the dentist. Also in this case she is suffering quite a long time with her finger. It is a neuralgia after an injury of the finger.

The first time she got which remedy because of the stitching pain and the pain by motion ? Bryonia. Yes. A colleague gave her Bryonia and I agreed, because the pain was very strong by motion and it was a stitching pain. And she did not have a reaction. Then she got another remedy, and got the pain she had before in the cervical region. Maybe this pain of the cervical region has been caused by an accident.

MP: But then it has completely disappeared.

A: But after the remedy she got a pain she had before.

MP: Yes.

A: Strange. And then the pain has disappeared, also the pain in the finger.

P: Yes.

A: Can you describe the pain you had in your finger ?

P: Stitching, although very strong palpitating.

A: Worse by movement ?

P: Yes.

MP: And when I cut her nails.

P: Yes, a kind of feeling as if the knuckle was pushed forwards.

A: Was the tip aching then ?

MP: It was pushed forwards. That's the way she described it.

A: So the pain was pushed forward ?

P: Yes.

A: Was the finger tickling ?

P: No.

A: Itching ?

P: Sometimes.

The pain was pushed to the tip of the fingers, this means that it was a nerve pain.

A bone pain is staying at the same place. Therefore, we need remedies like Calcarea, Calcarea phosphorica, Ruta graveolens and Symphytum. In an injury of the bone we have to see whether there is an injury of the nerves at the same time.

P: When it was cold, the finger was warm at the same time.

A: So, the finger was never cold ! The fact that the pain was pushed forwards while cutting the nails means that it must have been a pain of the nerves, not a pain of the bones. Did the finger sleep ?

P: No.

A: You are sure that the finger was tickling only now and then.

P: Yes.

A: In the meantime it has completely disappeared ?

You see, Hypericum worked wonderfully again. Also think of Hypericum after operations, when the people have been lying there with overstretched arms or when there is a pressure on the ulnar nerve. Then they have this numbness feeling and paresthesias in the hand. In abscesses caused by injections you also have to think of Ledum, but mostly it is Hypericum. We had such cases, usually with herpes and we solved this problem with Hypericum. Hypericum is also a very important remedy.

CASE4

Hypericum perforatum

WOMAN, 50 YEARS OLD

A: After the accident you had dizziness and I don't know what else more, and everything is all right now. You also had tubercles in the breasts, that is relatively good. The pain has disappeared. But now, there is still one complaint. Tell me about it.

She has been in treatment for a long time, and before she had a serious accident. Since then she has vertigo and other complaints. Which remedy has vertigo ? Natrum sulphuricum. Therefore I gave her Natrum sulphuricum. The aggravation from wet weather is very strong in Natrum sulphuricum; sadness after injuries, depressions, suicidal disposition after injuries. Natrum sulphuricum is a very interesting remedy. It has the aggravation from wet weather such as Hypericum.

P: It is the left arm, until the fingertips and the little finger. The pain starts in the upper arm extending to the little finger. And at the side I have a numb feeling.

A: How did that accident exactly happen ?

P: That was in the dodg'em cars and someone knocked into me in front and at the back at the same time. I was hospitalized, because of a burst in the cervical vertebra. I have been lying there for nearly three months. When I was discharged from the hospital I could hardly move my left arm and my left leg. Probably, because of the shock. I didn't suffer much from my left leg, but I did from my right arm. I managed well until now, where the pain arises again.

A: When you were discharged from the hospital you had other complaints.

P: Then I had much more pain, because I have been lying in bed for three months and everything had to be started again by doing exercises. In the meantime, everything has improved. I can do my housework again.

A: You became better, because you were treated here.

P: Yes, I thought so.

A: You also had headache.

P: I was always very satisfied, because you could always give me what I needed.

A: The other complaints are good now, but one complaint appears again, namely, the right arm. The rest is relatively good. Has the dizziness disappeared ?

P: Well yes, it is a little less. Lately, I can't remember well. My memory fails now and then. I have had that before.

A: Although it is not so bad, isn't it ?

P: No, but I think it has to do with the season, the falling of the leaves. I noticed that October is a very bad month for me.

She says that she comes because of her arm, and that the vertigo has not disappeared completely. Also the forgetfulness is still there. This means that besides the main problem there are other symptoms which are not so prominent, so that maybe the strong complaints disappear with the first remedy. Later we have to give other remedies to cure this woman completely. But you notice already that you can resolve the whole problem with one remedy. The symptoms of the future remedies are present in a low degree. That is what I mean when I am talking about "layers". The layers are there, but they can not be dissociated from each other. You see the symptoms of the upper layer, and those of the second and the third layer are there as well, but not so strong. We make an artificial dissociation between those layers, but in fact it is not there; it goes from one to the other. I do not mean that you have to give 3 remedies at one time. The first remedy will cure the strongest symptoms and afterwards you treat the other symptoms. Do not think that everything is so clearly divided into parts. No ! We are living and dynamic human beings. We are trying to make it straight-line, but it is dynamic.

A: We can say that the pain starts in your neck and extends to your hand.

P: Yes.

A: There is a numbness, a kind of sleepy feeling of your little finger, extending to your hand.

P: Yes.

A: To the basis of your hand. It doesn't extend to your arm, does it ?

P: No.

A: Only a sleepy feeling. It never gives the feeling as if that side of the hand is swelling.

P: No. But a glowing feeling.

A: A kind of burning ?

P: Yes.

A: When do you suffer most ?

P: In the morning, when I get up.

A: Does it improve when you move ?

P: When I move it improves.

A: What does the warmth do to it ?

P: It is agreeable, but I can't say that the pain disappears or improves.

A: The pain does not improve by warmth. Do you think that the numbness disappears completely when you are working ?

P: No, it remains the whole day.

A: The numbness is not influenced by movement ?

P: The last two weeks it has increased.

A: How do you feel psychologically ?

P: I feel well. I have some difficulties with my memory.

A: With what kind of things ? What kind of mistakes do you make ? While speaking, writing or ... ?

P: No, while working.

A: Do you write regularly ?

P: Yes, I have difficulties with that as well...

A: Tell me exactly about those difficulties.

P: Writing down something, and afterwards saying that I haven't written it down. And then I look and indeed, I have. Putting it away and not find it again, while a minute ago I had it in my hands.

A: Do you make mistakes while writing ?

P: No, I can't say that.

A: Do you think this is influenced by the weather ?

P: Yes, I always get it in October when the leaves are falling from the trees.

A: We can say it aggravates with cold and wet weather. Do you tolerate draft of air ?

P: No.

A: Do you lie still in bed ?

P: Yes.

A: You are not turning around in bed. When you are in bed you fall asleep.

P: I have difficulties with my arm, before it lies well. I can lie only for a while on the left side, but then I have to turn around and I have to lay that arm in a position so that it can rest.

A: Your husband does not say, "Lie still !"

P: No.

Why those questions ? For Rhus toxicodendron, but the symptoms for Rhus toxicodendron are not strong enough. You see that I am differentiating between Hypericum and Rhus toxicodendron. Hypericum is sensitive to coldness and dampness, Rhus toxicodendron also, but she is not restless at night. On the other hand, she says that she has a numbness in her hand in the mornings. Rhus toxicodendron is left-sided, we know, but it is better when she is working. That is very strong for Rhus toxicodendron, but on the other hand the restlessness fails. That is a negative symptom, but it is very typical for Rhus toxicodendron and it fails here.

A: Can you sit for a long time ?

P: Yes, but then I have difficulties with my arm. I have to put it on table height and then it is better.

A: But it is not so good when you let it hang down ?

P: No.

Where do we find this in the Repertory ? When the arm is hanging down it is not so good. "Extremities, letting limbs hang down, agg." (p. 1009).

EXTREMETIES,HANG down, letting limbs, agg. : Alum., am-c., berb., Calc., carb-v., caust., cina., dig., hep., ign., lyc., nat-m., nux-v., ox-ac., par., ph-ac., phos., phyt., plat., plb., puls.,ran-s., ruta., sabin., stann., sul-ac., sulph., thuj., valer., vip.

A: Do you think you are a cheerful person or rather a sad person ?

P: I can't say a sad person.

A: Although, you don't look cheerful, but maybe I don't see that quite right. Are you easily depressed ?

P: Yes.

A: Since when ?

P: It might be since four months.

A: Indeed, you give me that impression, but I might be wrong. Is there a reason for ?

P: Maybe there is. I had some difficulties with my husband.

A: Did this happen often ?

P: Not so regularly. He became difficult in the presence of the children.

A: Do you think you are more sad, melancholic since the last fortnight ? Since you have that pain ?

P: Yes.

A: How is your head ?

P: I don't have headache anymore.

A: Do you have pain in your face ?

P: No.

A: What about your hair ? Do you have increased hair loss ?

P: No.

A: How is your appetite ?

P: I still have a good appetite.

A: Do you like beer ?

P: No.

A: Neither wine ?

A: No.

A: Show me your tongue. All right. How is your stool ?

P: Very good. Previously, I had difficulties with that.

A: Do you have troubles with hemorrhoids ?

P: No.

A: Do you think that your respiration is good ?

P: Yes.

A: No shortage of breath. All right, that is rather clear. I'll give you a remedy and within a month all those complaints, the pain in the left arm, that numbness have to be disappeared. Probably, they will disappear after a few days. But I want to make another appointment concerning the feedback.

What will we prescribe ? We know the history: the accident, she has been in the hospital, there she still has the pain, the numbness of the fingers extending upwards. This is typical for which remedy ? Hypericum. I can not prescribe Rhus toxicodendron in this situation. Because of the accident - Rhus toxicodendron has also the injury of the spine - and the numbness of the fingers extending upward, I gave Hypericum M first.

FEEDBACK (October 16, 1986)

A: It is October 16, 1986. You were here ten days ago. You took the remedy and tell me what did you feel after the remedy ? How was the reaction ?

P: I was terrible ill after two days. I got a lot of pain, from the fingertips until the neck, headache, pain in the neck and in the arm. I have suffered quite a lot for two days. Then the headache disappeared, and the numbness in the little finger to the wrist has disappeared. But the pain from the arm until the neck has increased very much. And it remains very strongly. At 1 o'clock at night I'm cleaning the house.

Do you hear ? The numbness has disappeared and now she has more pain in her arm, she has to get up at night to clean - "restlessness driving out of bed at night".

P: And I wake up every three hours, because of the pain.

A: When you are in movement you have less pain ?

P: Yes.

A: What does the cold do ?

P: Nothing. Warm or cold, it doesn't matter. I have been lying on our sunbench, because I thought it might do good, but is isn't better at all.

A: How is the intensity of pain now compared to the aggravation. You had headache and pain in the neck and in the arm. Has the intensity of pain decreased ?

P: No, it has increased.

A: Did you have very much pain at a certain moment ?

P: Yes, the first two days, then I was really ill.

A: When you toss your head, does this do something to the pain ?

P: Yes, it aggravates.

A: But the tingling, the sleepy feeling has disappeared ?

P: Yes, it has disappeared completely.

A: Now there is a pain that is still aggravating.

P: When I have to sit still for two hours, I can't carry on, because of the pain (starts to cry).

A: Is there still a glowing feeling of the left side ?

P: No.

A: Then we have to give another remedy and then the pain has to ... The last time you told me that the pain does not improve by movement.

P: Yes, and now it is the opposite.

A: You see, something has changed.

P: Yes. I have to move if I want to get rid of the pain. It doesn't disappear completely, but it is tolerable.

A: I give you a remedy now, and you dissolve it. You take it immediately when you get home, then every two hours. Do you want to call me at five o'clock to say how the pain is ?

P: Every two hours a spoonful ?

A: Yes, every two hours a spoonful. It is a very interesting reaction. Do you see how it changes ?

P: I hope I can sleep better tonight. When do I have to come back ?

A: Next week.

Now she is able to give the symptoms so strongly, because she got Hypericum. Hypericum gives her the energy to push the next layer upwards.

Now she has to move, has to get up at night. Which is this remedy ? Rhus toxicodendron. If you have time, please read what Kent writes and then you will see, what I am teaching is reality or not. In his "Lectures" he gives the same description of Hypericum, what you see here in video, exactly the same sequence of remedies: Hypericum, Rhus toxicodendron and then another remedy.

FEEDBACK (October 17, 1986)

A: Did you take the solution ?

P: Yes, yesterday morning. Then every 2 or 3 hours. Then nothing. About half past seven I came home and took some before I went to bed. It didn't improve yesterday noon. I sat in the car, again that hanging down. Neither in the evening. I was glad I could go to bed. But I slept very well until seven o'clock this morning. Otherwise, I had to get up at night and walk about, taking of dust, cleaning the house, because the pain decreased by movement. The pain didn't disappear, but it was tolerable. Miserably, I went back to bed, because I was so tired. A cushion here, a cushion there and a cushion in the neck. Then I have closed my eyes for a few hours and at half past four or five o'clock in the morning I was walking with the dogs outside. And then back to bed until half past seven a.m. And when this was going on, I thought this could really last no longer this way.

A: And the previous night ?

P: The previous night I slept very well. I fell asleep and I didn't wake up until the morning. I got up and had less pain in my left arm. It hasn't disappeared, but it is tolerable. In the meantime, I got headache, which I didn't have before. And the pain in the neck has also decreased a little, but it hasn't gone.

A: So, you got headache. Has it increased now ?

P: No, it has decreased. By the evening it has decreased.

A: Yesterday it was bad. Now, you feel clearly better.

P: Much better.

A: That was all I had to know. Thanks for coming here.

P: Yes, you are welcome.

A: You only wait, this will improve further. But call me when there are problems.

You see, when you give a remedy in a high potency in an acute case, everything is finished very quickly. Do not believe it was the right remedy when you gave a high potency in an acute case and there is no reaction at all after 24 hours. Then the remedy is wrong. The more acute the case, the faster they react in very acute cases, even within some minutes.

This is the third consultation and now she will tell a long story, her life-story.

There is something else you have to be careful for: people come with an ischias (sciatica, also known as ischias ), they get for instance Rhus toxicodendron and they react very well. But afterwards so many previous problems come back that you have to deal with and that is a problem. That is why it is so easy to cure headache or any other problem. You give a small remedy, the pain disappears, but then the patients come back with all kinds of other complaints. And then you think, "My God, what have I done ?" That is a big problem. For instance, you gave Pulsatilla for a cough and then the acute rheumatism they had before starts again.

When you start treating homoeopathically you have to go through the whole life of the patient, and that is what we will do in this case. We cannot stop the treatment here. This patient gives symptoms, wants to be cured, and therefore we have to go further from Hypericum to Rhus toxicodendron and then to the next remedy. And that is what we call a constitutional remedy after the acute remedies. She comes back after Rhus toxicodendron and we will see, what she has to tell us.

FEEDBACK (October 24, 1986)

A: I saw you the last time on October 16, 1986. Today it is October 24, 1986, so eight days later. The last time you still had some headache and pain in the arm. Tell me how it has developed.

P: The arm has improved, the pain in the neck also. The headache has completely disappeared. The pain in the neck has improved, but it hasn't disappeared completely. The pain in my arm has improved very much, it doesn't hurt more than the rest of the year.

A: Does it hurt the whole day long ?

P: Yes, the whole day, also when I move.

A: There are no moments at which you feel absolutely nothing in your arm.

P: No, I can't say that and it has been there since the accident. But the pain is tolerable, and you get used to it.

A: Is that pain now as bad as a few months ago ?

P: No, I think it is better now.

A: You took the remedy on October 16, 1986, so I expect that the pain disappears slowly. In the neck as well as in the arm. My question is now, when you come to think of it, is the pain better now than before you came here in that acute situation. Do you understand ? That acute situation was another kind of pain. But before that severe disturbance you had a pain, a latent pain with a certain intensity. Is the intensity of that pain, compared to the pain before the acute disturbance better now ?

P: Absolutely. Not when I move. Then I think that I have as much pain compared to previously. At that time, I felt better when I moved.

A: Then I see something. Probably, only your constitutional remedy can solve your problem.

Do you understand the problem ? She already had pain before the accident. I do not know where the pain comes from. She will tell us later. After the accident she had Hypericum and Rhus toxicodendron, and the acute pain has disappeared, but nevertheless, she still has pain in her back. If we are doubting we can say that she has to live with this pain, because she also did previously. But it is not normal to live with pain. Every pain is curable with Homoeopathy. There are a few exceptions, for instance strong arthrosis in hip and knee. The pain may improve when you give the right remedy, but people who do manual work will get their pain back. Even with this arthrosis, if those people work carefully, they will have no pain. But people who have arthrosis are people who usually work a lot, and it is very difficult to change that. That is why you have to let them operate in these cases. But normally, you have to be able to cure every pain, if they do what you ask. She still has the pain, and we have to find the remedy.

A: We often give a remedy taking into account the cause of the complaint, second, taking into account the kind of the complaint, for instance when you have more pain. The previous time you had more pain while sitting still. You had to get out of bed. But now, there seems to be a kind of latent pain that obviously doesn't disappear, but it is tolerable. I'm not satisfied with that, I will search which remedy is necessary to eliminate the pain completely. Because you say that the pain is present in the same way as previously ... There hasn't been a real improvement of the pain.

P: Not really, you can't say that everything has disappeared.

A: All right, then, we will go further into the matter.

Did you have problems with your health before your accident ?

P: At that time I had terrible headache. You searched and found the right remedy. At that time I was sleepy, tired and had headache.

A: And a feeling of heaviness.

P: Yes.

A: At the time of your headache you became very tired. You had a feeling of heaviness and couldn't keep your eyes open.

Previously, she came for headache. With the headache she was very tired, very sleepy, the eyes were closing, and she didn't hear well. This is a picture of Gelsemium. Gelsemium is an influenza remedy, where people are very, very tired. They can not keep their eyes open, and there is something else concerning the urination in Gelsemium. What happens to the headache while urinating ? In Gelsemium the headache ameliorates while urinating.

(Drawing) This is a layer with the pain of the last accident, but underneath there is another layer, also with pain. We treated the first layer with Hypericum and Rhus toxicodendron.

She had a period with headache, but where did this headache come from ? A headache does not appear without any reason. This headache disappeared with Gelsemium - but there must have been a reason, or Gelsemium is her constitutional remedy, but that is not possible, because if it is her constitutional remedy the pain in the back also should have been disappeared. Gelsemium only took away the headache. This means that there must be a causation.

A: We didn't know the cause of the headache. Since when did you have this headache ? At what age did the headache begin ?

P: It began after my operation, after everything was removed. At that time I was 33 years old.

A: It began after hysterectomy (Hysterectomy : It is the surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes and other surrounding structures.) , probably, because of the suppression of your periods, but Gelsemium is not known for that. Maybe, because of the anesthesia, that could have been the reason for that headache. I'm only guessing. Anyway, the headache has been solved by Gelsemium. Did you have problems before that age ?

Now, we know surely that the operation, the hysterectomy or maybe the anesthesia is the reason for this Gelsemium headache. We do not know exactly whether this is the reason why she does not have menses anymore - suppressed menses -, the anesthesia or something else, but it is sure that she got headache after this operation.

And now we go back and ask if she had some complaints before.

P: Not particularly.

A: Never.

P: Pain in the back (after long thinking).

A: Do you remember since when you had this pain in the back ?

P: Also because of an accident.

A: That is something new again. Do you still have pain in the back now ?

P: I still have it, but I don't mention it. I have had that for several years and I have learnt to live with it.

People often say that, "Oh, I don't talk about this pain. I have this pain for 20 years and I have to live with it."

P: For instance, I will avoid lifting heavy things as much as possible.

A: Do you have for instance pain in the back while lifting something ?

P: Yes.

When you consider her history, there has been an accident in the past: Hypericum, Rhus toxicodendron. Before that, there was the hysterectomy: Gelsemium. And before that, many years before she had an accident and since that accident she has pain in the back. This pain in the back is a constitutional symptom. If this was not so, the pain should have been disappeared with Rhus toxicodendron, but Rhus toxicodendron did not cure it. Therefore we have to find a constitutional remedy, because she has this pain for 20 or 30 years. And you can also say, that all the other complaints have to improve with the constitutional remedy. And she gives us a beautiful modality, "I have pain in the back when I am lifting something." We look in the Repertory "pain in the back from lifting" (p. 896). The capital remedies here are: Calcarea, Graphites - do not forget Graphites, that is a very important remedy here - Lycopodium, Rhus toxicodendron and so on. Sulphur has to be added here.

That is what she said and then we have to look in the Repertory, "injury of the back" (p. 892) or "injury of the spine". The remedies here are: Apis, Arnica, Calcarea, Conium, Hypericum, Natrum sulphuricum, Kali carbonicum, Rhus toxicodendron and so on.

After the injury of which part of the body do we need Conium ? The breast.

As a student I saw such a case. A woman with breast carcinoma said to the professor that this tumor was due to an injury, but the professor did not believe it, a tumor can not be caused by an injury. But the first remedy of breast cancer due to injury is Conium. You can have beautiful cures in breast cancer with Conium - maybe it is not cancer, we do not know exactly, because we do not do biopsies. When someone comes with a tumor we do not touch it, we give a remedy, and when the tumor disappears, it is all right. But we can not say whether this was cancer or not, but it is important that the patient has been cured.

A: Pain in the back especially when lifting something. All right, the remedy becomes clear. Did you have the pain in your left arm at that time ?

P: No, then I had strong arms and wrists.

A: Apparently, the remedy that has been given after the causality hasn't been strong enough to cure you completely. That could be. Did you have other complaints previously ? Before the accident ?

P: Yes, I have my ears operated two times, because of otitis.

A: How old were you then ?

P: I was seven years old when I had the first operation, and twelve years old with the second.

A: Why ?

P: Because of a severe inflammation.

A: You got it at the age of seven.

P: Yes, it arose suddenly when I was seven years old, and I was immediately operated, at the age of 12 I had it for quite a long time before they operated me. And it was exactly the same operation, if you look at the scars. Since then, I have had a very weak memory.

A: Since the operation ?

P: Yes. I got fear of height, I didn't have it previously.

That is a very important information. Before the accident, probably as a young girl, she had this otitis media; first at one ear, than at the other, and up to now she still has problems with her ear. What does it mean ? This means that the remedy she needs for the consequences of the injury of the accident is the same remedy she needs for the complaints of her ear. Because from her childhood up to now she has had these complaints, and second the pain in the back and those symptoms which she had as a young child exist at the same time, this means that those symptoms indicate the same remedy.

Question: "Why did she had this hysterectomy ? It is a very important symptom."

A: Yes, I know, but the hysterectomy was not so important for me. If I had asked more questions about that hysterectomy, and also about the menses, probably I would have had more symptoms for this remedy, but I had other good symptoms. She says that she has pain in her back from lifting. There are only a few remedies and therefore I didn't ask more questions about the reason for this hysterectomy. The remedy she needs for the pain in her back is the same remedy she needs for her ear. But after the operation of her ear she developed another symptom - nobody can develop a symptom unless he is susceptible for it. After the operation the energy decreased, and she becomes dizzy while standing on high places. This vertigo on high places indicates a certain remedy, a remedy that has pain in the back when lifting, a remedy which has recurrent ear inflammations and probably is complementary to Rhus toxicodendron, because she reacts very well to that and when you read what Kent writes about Hypericum, you will clearly recognize this case.

A: Did the fear of height arise after the operation ?

P: I still have it.

A: Do you feel dizzy while standing on a high place ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you have other complaints because of the operation ? Things that you didn't notice before the operation ? What about your sleep for instance ?

P: I always slept very well.

A: Other anxieties ?

P: No, I haven't.

A: After the operation, which you didn't have before the operation.

P: After the accident two years ago, I had anxieties.

A: What kind of anxieties ?

P: Someone who came to me, who drove me into a corner, so that you can't get away. Oppressing.

A: Were you also anxious while sitting on a toilet, or in a small place ?

P: No.

A: When someone came to you, no matter who, that was an impression ...

P: No. It was a dream. Those were dreams that someone came to me and drove me into a corner, so that I couldn't get away.

A: Was that an anxious dream ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you still have these kind of dreams ?

P: No.

A: That was the only kind of dreams you had ?

P: Yes. And I remember when I was very little, I can hardly put into words, it was always a kind of zig-zag before my eyes. I have had this for several years.

A: You had certain figures ... ?

P: When I fell asleep they came before my eyes. I had this again.

A: "Delusions of spectres", a kind of figures. Was that before the operation ?

P: Yes, yes, before.

"On closing eyes", do you remember this rubric ? "Delusions, anxious, sees visions, on closing eyes." We saw those rubrics yesterday.

A: In fact, it happened this way. Until the operation you were relatively good, although you had certain constitutional complaints. Your otitis was an expression of your constitutional weakness. You should have had your constitutional remedy at that time. And what has the operation done ? It has pushed forward a complaint, to which you are sensitive as a person, namely, fear of high places. I am convinced you had trouble with the fear of high places before the operation, I am sure, but since the operation those complaints have become more prominent. You only get a complaint to which you are susceptible.

The operation requires a lot of energy, she has become weaker and had more constitutional symptoms. Normally, every operation makes a patient weaker - not always, but often - and therefore more constitutional symptoms arise.

A: Then you had those accidents, these are also things which called forth complaints to which you are susceptible as a person. That is the reason why I can never solve your complaint completely with remedies that only cover the cause. Here I have to give your congenital constitutional remedy.

Let's talk about your feelings as a child, you had certain imaginations at that time. You describe them as dreams, I doubt about that, because the definitions of dream hasn't been described well yet. Some people say, "I sleep, I wake up and I have dreamt." Other people say, "I have certain dreams and it seems as if I haven't slept the whole night." Then, I doubt whether these are dreams, or imaginations. I ask myself the question whether the rubric of "dreams" can be classified under the rubric of "imaginations". I can go on with this for a long time, but anyway, you had certain imaginations during the sleep.

P: I must say, when I was a young girl, I was four years old at that time. I was the eldest of the girls. And when I was five years old, I had to wash up, clean the house and do other housework. My mother went out working at that time. But she has gone too much from the household, the neighbours cried shame, that such a young child had to do all this. And I think it has caused a great tension in my childhood. My father did not help to change the situation when he came back. In the meantime I had become a slave of the house. And in this way, I have always been dominated, I had to do this and that and that. At that time my father was in a concentration camp. The children were allowed to play outside, but I wasn't. First, I had to polish the shoes, or scrub the floor, or chop the wood. I have always been more oppressed than the other children. And I think it has caused something inside me. With regard to my children I see when there is something wrong, I ask them what is wrong, but my own parents never asked me when I was a child. I could never express myself at that time. And I think that is the reason why my dreams were bewildered, puzzled. I don't know. I can't say what I saw, it was so a muddle. I also had an anxious feeling.

A: Can you describe that anxious feeling you had as a child ?

Second, do you think you had sad periods as a child ?

P: Yes.

A: What do you mean with that ?

P: Sad. That you were completely thrown on your own lot.

A: And did you feel sad ?

P: Yes, I did as a child. But I was full of life, I handled everything in a different way, I didn't want anybody to know it.

Do you know the remedy ?

A: Very interesting. "I didn't want anybody to know it." In fact, you were anxious that other people would see you were sad for instance.

P: Exactly.

Fear that other people will notice her situation.

A: Very interesting, that is the essence of your constitutional being. Now something else, you can go on talking about your youth in a minute. Does it impress you when someone points out your bodily ugly characteristics ?

P: No, it doesn't. They can't hurt me in saying that.

Why not ? She's a beautiful woman, isn't she ? She is about 50 years old, but as a young girl she must have had difficulties - the nose is too long, the eyes are not so beautiful. With this constitutional remedy people see here and there something that is not correct, but what can you say in this case ?

A: And as a child ?

P: No, not concerning this point.

A: They haven't hurt you in this way, but did they in some other way ?

P: Well, as a child I was very chubby, but I didn't mind. They called me "our plumpy", and "our chubby", but I didn't mind much.

A: As a child you were very chubby. You were rather shy. You tried not to show your neighbourhood that you were sad now and then for instance. Were you also obstinate, were you someone who had a very strong will ?

P: Yes, I had.

A: You had, as I can deduce from your behaviour. Very obstinate, maybe even a little headstrong.

"Obstinate in fat growing children." Does everyone know this rubric ? Which other remedies are there ? "Obstinate, inclined to grow fat" (p. 69).

Now, you also know the reason for the hysterectomy.

P: Yes, I was obstinate, but I could immediately forget.

A: You could be headstrong, although you were an easy and sympathetic child, you were rather sensitive.

P: Yes, that is right.

A: Sensitive.

P: Yes, I still am.

Do you feel this softness in this woman ? Is this a hard woman ? No, she is soft, internally. You feel this softness, the softness of a soft-boiled egg. The hard shell and the internal softness, that is the obstinateness.

A: I see at your eyes that you are rather sensitive, I don't know why. And that you are someone who is rather easy to live with.

P: Yes, in fact, I don't have difficulties with that.

A: Now, we go back to your child-age. You were a chubby child, obstinate and you couldn't tolerate that other people saw that you were sad now and then for instance. What else can you tell me as a child ? Do you remember for instance what you liked to eat ?

P: I ate everything. I can't say.

A: Your father came back from the concentration camp ?

P: After 5 years he came back, and in the meantime my mother went out working; she worked for the Englishmen. At home we were four children and I, as the eldest, took over the household, because our mother went out working. There was a neighbour who dropped by now and then to look if everything was all right. And then she said to my mother, that it was not fair the way she took advantage of her children, to go alone in the evening to have a drink and leave the children to their fate. And I think, there has remained quite a lot of that. That responsibility I had to take, I was too little to understand this. I think it was too much for me to process. I had to get up at seven o'clock to do this and that before we could go to school. I think it is too much for the nerves. When I see my own children, they were seven or eight years old when I said that they had to make their bed themselves. When I was that age they didn't have to tell me anymore, because by that time it was all in my mind. I think it has gone too fast, and in this way I didn't enjoy my youth, because I took everything seriously.

A: You are someone who takes the matter seriously ?

P: Yes.

A: That is completely right. Are you someone who prays sometimes ?

P: I pray when I feel like praying.

A: That is what I mean. The church doesn't interest me.

P: I pray for instance, when one of our family is in a very bad condition. Then, I will pray, but without the presence of someone else.

A: You pray especially when you are alone.

She only prays, when she is alone, because she does not want to show, that she is in difficulties. Therefore she does not pray in church in the presence of other people, because she has the feeling that people will notice what is going on.

This is not in the Repertory, but I am sure that the remedy has to be added.

In the Repertory you see "religious affections in children" (p. 71): Arsenicum, Calcarea, Lachesis and Sulphur - below you see "fanaticism": Robinia, Selenium, Sulphur and Thuja. Thuja and Sulphur are religious fanatics. If you abolish all the religions we will have peace. I mean that we should abolish the differences between the religions. Do you know the origin of war - in North Ireland, in North Africa fanaticism is the cause. That is very important. All this praying is a homoeopathic symptom - but there is not Calcarea. Aurum and Pulsatilla are capital. The nuns, the soft nuns, who are sitting on the chair and are praying the whole time, these are Pulsatilla nuns.

Then we have Veratrum album. They are crazy, they stand at a corner of a street and say, "Let's pray !" And they pray, and pray in their insanity. There is also Stramonium and Hyoscyamus. You see, most of the crazy remedies are praying remedies.

There is also Arsenicum. Arsenicum prays, "My God, give me some more money." Platinum prays, "My God, I am so good and the other is so bad, make him better !"

This patient was very religious as a child and Calcarea is very religious...

A: In fact, I mean that essentially you are religious. There is a mystical thing that you believed in.

P: Yes. According to me there must be something that has power, but not as they deluded us with false hope.

A: May I ask you another question ? Because this is politics, religion is politics, do you understand ? All kinds of belief with fanaticism as well. But there is a characteristic that you call religious, that has a form of affection, a feeling that is aimed at the spiritual, at something that is beyond us, something behind the curtains, let's say. Did you have this as a child ?

P: As a child they have drilled it into our heads. That's the way.

A: But there are children who go to church from habit. But you didn't ?

P: No.

A: As a child you were religious-minded. In the sense of having a feeling for that kind of things, because you say, I went to church. But I'm sure that many people went to church from habit and didn't believe in it. But you did as a child, you believed in it. Do you remember ?

P: Yes, that's right.

In church there are a lot of Calcarea people. In the North of Belgium you often see that people go to church, because they think, "What will other people say about me, when I don't go to church ?" And the houses of the Calcarea people are completely clean and tidy, inside and outside - "What will other people think when it is not tidy ?" Calcarea women are constantly cleaning and therefore they are working, working, and working, so that other people will say that she works very hard and is a tidy woman. And what are the consequences of this hard working ? Rhus toxicodendron complaints. Therefore Calcarea and Rhus toxicodendron are complementary remedies. Calcarea works and works and works because she likes to be a good woman in the eyes of other women - because they work too hard and live in the North, they get Rhus toxicodendron symptoms. Therefore they are complementary. What I have just said, does not count for the constitutional Rhus toxicodendron.

P: I thought it was not fair what happened in the church and I couldn't tolerate that it was really so. Then I went further into the matter and I thought, "There must be something. But nobody will ever tell us, we will never know." But when I have a very difficult period I call that person, I don't know him, I don't know who he is. Then I ask him if he can help me that day. But he is unknown to me, I don't call him pope or God.

A: Do you remember you had that as a child ?

P: Yes, I had that as a child.

A: Did it ever happen to you that you - because you didn't have an easy time - were looking for the loneliness as a child, that you wanted to be alone ? For instance that you wanted to go into the field ?

P: Yes, I have done this many times.

Question: " ... ?" (not understandable)

A: Yes, Staphisagria is the second remedy in anxieties, what other people will say about them, but Calcarea is the first remedy.

Now, do you understand why ?

Aversion to company, wants to go alone into the fields; that is Calcarea. Where can we find this rubric in the Repertory ? "Company, avoids the sight of people, wants to get into the country away from people" (p. 12).

MIND,COMPANY,AVOIDS,country away from people, wants to get into the : Calc., elaps.

P: When I was really tired and had to go to sleep, and had finished my work. My mother told me to read a book. But I didn't like reading, I couldn't concentrate on a book. I relaxed by going outside, and going into the field or into the bushes behind our house and then walk and think only about what you see around you.

A: You wanted to go alone into the fields and walk about. But at that moment you were in a kind of a sad condition.

P: Yes, not happy.

A: A kind of serious, sad condition. By which you eventually thought, what will my life be ?

P: Yes, yes.

A: You thought about that very much, also as a child ? A kind of anxiety for the future. What will become of my life ?

P: Yes, it went that way. That's right.

A: Very exciting.

"Anxiety about the future" (p. 7). That is very important in children. Children who are talking the whole time about what there will be in the future. You know the song, "When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, What will I be ?" This is a Calcarea song - "will I be happy, will I be rich ?" - anxiety about the future.

P: At the moment there is another reason for going outside. Every morning, noon, and evening I go outside. I go walking with the dogs. Then I have to go out to relax, to dismiss everything from my mind for a while, to look at the surroundings for a while, to see my animals. That is something for myself. And when I go inside, everything looks differently.

A: I take up the thread of the conversation concerning your food. At home you had chickens and pigs.

P: Yes, and rabbits and so on.

You can say now, that is suggestive, but I did not ask for chickens, but for chickens and pigs. Now she has to choose, what she will eat, there are different possibilities.

A: Did you eat eggs at home regularly ?

P: Yes.

A: How did you eat them ?

P: Usually boiled.

A: And how did they have to be boiled ?

P: For the one hard and for the other medium.

A: And what about you ?

P: For me medium. Not soft, I didn't like that.

A: But not hard-boiled ?

P: No.

A: They may not be slimy ?

P: No.

A: They had to be soft-boiled.

P: Yes, because I am rather dainty about my food.

A: You still are at the moment, aren't you ?

P: Yes.

A: You still like them that way ?

P: Yes. It has to be right, or I won't touch it.

A: What else do I want, I can go on for another two hours to make the remedy clearer. But what really is interesting, is that this remedy follows after the previous remedy that you have had. This remedy is complementary, namely, it has to complement your curing. This is also the remedy you needed as a child to cure your otitis.

P: In the meanwhile, I still have to go for a check up. A week ago I had a severe disturbance, so that an examination was hardly possible.

A: This is a risky thing, in the sense that it is the energy that you need to become a complete human being. This means that the pain has to disappear, your ear has to cure. This means that the complaint has been suppressed previously. I warn you beforehand what will happen. The complaint has been suppressed, probably there will be a discharge of the ear. This is an expulsion and will stop spontaneously. It will cure spontaneously. Consequently, you might get headache again for a short period, because you have had those accidents. This is a kind of an atom bomb, but I can't do otherwise. I have to cure you, I have to make you the same as you were as a child. It is incomprehensible for you.

I am afraid, because this has been suppressed for a long time. Every time she went to the ear-doctor and he puts something in her ear, I do not know what, she might get a strong aggravation after the remedy - I do not know. But I like to warn you that maybe she gets a strong aggravation, maybe not, we do not know beforehand.

A: So whether you say, "I quit, I don't feel up to it". But it will go fast, you are a strong woman, I know. Or you say, "All right, let's go on", and we will solve everything with this remedy at one time. Do you agree ?

P: Yes.

A: This means that you don't call another doctor if there is an aggravation. Not even the specialist, when there is something wrong with your ears.

P: Here, it seems as if it tightens. This side hurts completely, also while swallowing.

A: In the modern society there is a doctor for the ears, the nerves, the stomach, but there is none for the human being and that is the homoeopath.

P: Then you have to cure my left kidney as well, because I suffer from that very much.

A: Your complaint about your kidney will be solved too, there is no doubt about it.

P: The former time I have forgotten to tell you something else. During the day when I am busy I don't suffer from it, but when I have sat and I get off the chair in the evening, then my left kidney hurts.

A: That's right according to the remedy. Second, you are sensitive to the changing of the weather, generally.

P: Yes.

A: You feel that.

P: Yes, I feel that. But I can't say that I have more pain because of that.

A: But you feel the weather in general.

P: Yes, yes, that's right.

A: Probably, you are sensitive to draft of air ?

P: Yes.

Not only Rhus toxicodendron is sensitive to change of weather, Calcarea also is sensitive to change of weather and draft of air.

A: Do you often have cold feet in bed ?

P: Yes, always.

A: Now, I'm going to push the remedy further very fast. Do you put on socks in bed ? Hot water bottle ?

P: No.

A: When you have been lying for a while, do they become warm ?

P: Yes, they become warm.

A: Do you lay your feet bare, do you put the blankets away ?

P: Not easily.

A: Do you sometimes search a cold place ?

P: No.

A: On which side do you sleep ?

P: On the right side.

A: Your husband lies at the other side, you want to have fresh air. You don't want to breathe the breath of your husband.

P: Yes.

A: You can't sleep on your left side. When you are alone in bed do you sleep on the left side ?

P: I usually do.

A: You are not sure of it.

P: I'm not completely sure.

A: Do you think you are afraid of the dark ?

P: No.

A: Thunder ?

P: No, not at all. But I'm afraid of the lightning.

A: Are you afraid of certain noises ? In the evenings ?

P: No, I'm not the kind of person who is listening and worrying. I would rather go and have a look if there is something wrong.

A: Generally, you are a rather economical person, I think. I don't think you spent much money.

P: I can give when I have to, but ...

Avarice - which is the most avarice remedy ? Arsenicum. Psorinum has to be there also, but Psorinum has more fear of poverty, it is not real avarice. There is also Calcarea.

A: You are also a very hard worker ?

P: Yes, I am.

A: A very hard worker, always busy.

So avarice, and she is always industrious ... When Calcarea should have been given earlier, nothing would have happened.

When Calcarea had been given in a Hypericum state, nothing would have happened. When Calcarea had been given in a Rhus toxicodendron state, nothing would have happened. You have to wait. You can not cut a tree, if there is no tree. We don't have the right to say: that is Calcarea, that is Phosphorus. We have to ask for the complaints, look at the complaints and give the remedy she needs.

P: I think I have been educated in this way as a child. So, you have less time to think about things, because you are always busy.

A: How is your stool ?

P: I had difficulties, about four or five days ago.

A: Constipation.

P: Yes.

Do you remember what she said ? Before she was in this layer, she did not have difficulties with the stool, but now she does. Because now the next layer appears, the Calcarea layer, that is the reason why she has this constipation.

A: Do you have it now and then ?

P: Now and then, but now it was a long time ago.

A: This requires your constitutional remedy.

P: As a child I always had difficulties with it.

Which remedy do we give ? Calcarea.

Remark: "I think, if you would have asked other questions, you might get Natrum muriaticum as well."

A: No. I asked those questions for teaching purposes. I could have given her Calcarea after 2 minutes. I asked those questions because of you, not because of me, because you don't know the Repertory. I want to show you the rubrics.

Remark: "My problem is to make an anamnesis in your way."

A: Yes, that is indeed suggestive. When I sit there and I ask questions, how many hours do I need to indicate the remedy ? And that is the problem in Homoeopathy. You take 3, 4 hours for an anamnesis and even then you can not prescribe the remedy. And because you take 4 hours for one anamnesis, you have to ask about 10 £ for one consultation. Who can permit this ? Only the very rich people. But Homoeopathy is not only for rich people. That is the reason why I teach - to try to find the remedy quickly, and not by studying the whole time, but to see and to feel the patients, and to prescribe quickly. That is the reason why I teach with video.

Remark: " ... looks very depressive."

A: Do you think that this is the suffering of Natrum muriaticum ? No. I think that this is not a real grief for her as a child. We all suffer, but the reaction of Natrum muriaticum to this suffering is different from hers. We must not deform her information, we must take the information like she tells us. Natrum muriaticum is a complete different picture. Later, you will see Natrum muriaticum. She has one symptom of Natrum muriaticum, namely, the crack in the lip. Now, you will see the feedback. We will see what happened after Calcarea M.

Question about the reason for hysterectomy.

A: The uterus has been removed because of a fibroma. It wouldn't have been necessary, if we could have treated her at that time.

FEEDBACK (November 20, 1986)

A: Now, it is November 20, 1986. You were here nearly a month ago. I gave you a remedy and tell me what the reaction was.

P: The first two weeks the reaction was good. I felt well. I felt clearer in my head. I could think well forward. I haven't become ill of it.

A: And your arm ?

P: Tolerable pain. Yet, improved after those two weeks.

A: Has the pain increased ?

P: No, not increased, on the contrary improved.

A: Not aggravated.

P: No, and my head was much clearer the first two weeks and I could think far forward. Yes, I could think more forward. Otherwise I had difficulties with that.

If the patient says that he feels clearer in his head, that his mind is clearer, you can be sure that the remedy works very deeply.

P: And now, the last week I don't feel well. I have that pain in my left arm again. I'm forgetful and I have headache.

A: Did you feel something in your ears ?

P: Yes, at the moment I have had pain in my left ear for two days. Previously, the doctor always told me I had a kind of eczema in my ear, and I had to go for a check up two or three times a year. And then he cleaned it and I didn't feel anything for a while. But now, I saw him only a month, or a month and a half ago, and I have it again.

A: Has the pain in your arm completely been away ?

P: Not completely, but improved anyway.

A: Better as previously ?

P: Yes, it is.

A: But, a week or two after the administration of the remedy the pain has aggravated and you can think less clear. What is the reason ? Has something happened ?

P: No, nothing has happened. There is nothing I can say that is worth mentioning. And I am very tired. I was wondering whether I was getting the influenza, because I was blowing my nose and sneezing. The last week it seems as if I have never my sleep out. I am just as tired after eight, or nine, or six hours' sleep.

A: And that remains ? Or is it better today ?

P : No, I am troubled with it today as well. I was at the post office to pay something. And I didn't know it anymore. I thought, well, how terrible it is today.

A: You have been better for a fortnight.

P: Yes, even very well.

A: And then a relapse.

P: Yes.

A: When you had taken the remedy you didn't have any headache ?

P: No, nothing.

A: With the other remedies you always had an aggravation.

P: Yes, often about three or four days. And now nothing. Immediately better. I said, these are pills to pull me up completely. But it was only for two weeks. While thinking and making plans, I was much clearer in my head. And rise fresh. It was completely different. Now, there is an aggravation.

A: All right, I repeat the remedy in a high potency.

Is this good ? What is going on here ? How can we manage this case now ? A direct amelioration, no aggravation, immediately very clear, now the ear hurts again where normally she goes to the otolaryngologist every three or four months, but now, after one month she has pain already. This means that she is pushing everything out now. What do we have to do here ? I put one tablet Calcarea 10 M in a tube and said to wait for one week. If she is not better after one week, she has to take the remedy. That was 4 weeks after the Calcarea M, the first fortnight she was doing very well.

A: I think the remedy you got wasn't strong enough. And was the pain in your arm better ?

P: Yes, it was much better than it ever has been.

A: And now your ear begins to discharge ?

P: Yes, there is otorrhea.

A: Do you have this regularly ?

P: No, normally not. I have to go for a check up three times a year. I don't have to, but I do this automatically, because I know I am troubled with it by that time. Then left, then right.

A: How many times do you have troubles with it ?

P: Every three or four months.

A: And now ?

P: Now, it was sooner. I was there in September. But you also told me I would get difficulties with my ears. I was thinking about an influenza state. I am not chilly. I am just tired. I can't remember things and I have headache, in the front, not in the neck. Usually, my headache comes from the cervical vertebra. Now, it really comes from the forehead.

A: All right, 10 M. Do you want to call me next week ?

FEEDBACK (DECEMBER 1986)

A: Now it is December 1986. You were here on November 20, 1986 and I gave you the remedy in 10 M. You had to call me a week afterwards to see whether it has become better or worse. It was improving and you didn't take the remedy. How did it go on ?

P: It has improved. My arm has improved. Those things with my finger have disappeared. The pain in my neck has improved. That is very good, because I don't wake up at night anymore. Neither in the morning, I also had difficulties with that. The headache has nearly disappeared. Concerning my ears, I still have otorrhea. I don't have pain in my ears, there is only otorrhea, it is sticky. And that obstructs my hearing.

A: Do you have more otorrhea now ?

P: Yes, more than previously.

A: It is sticky and I hear less. How do you feel generally ?

P: Well.

A: Do you feel better psychologically ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you feel very well ?

P: Not yet, I can't say that. But I feel better compared to the previous time I was here.

A: Are there new symptoms ?

P: Yes, the last four days I have difficulties with the perspiration. There is a perspiration smell around me, which I can't identify. My husband says, it seems as if you have been cooking soup the whole day, such a sour smell.

A: A sour smell. Very interesting. The specific sour smell of that remedy. When do you perspire sourly ?

P: During the day, not at night.

A: Have there other characteristics appeared ?

P: Well, I have difficulties with the sight. Does it have something to do with that ? I always have to put on my glasses. When I forget to put on my glasses I always have watering eyes. Previously, I had problems with that as well. But I might need other glasses.

A: Did you always have troubles with your eyes ?

P: Yes.

A: Wait a minute. The glasses you used the last time are stronger than the last but one ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you have the last but one ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you want to put on the last but one, instead of those glasses.

P: They are at home, do I have to put on these glasses ?

A: Normally, I expect, if the treatment is correct, that your sight has to improve. Of course, you will see less if you put on the last spectacles. It would not be logical that your sight will aggravate if the rest improves.

Do you understand what is going on ? After the remedy the eyes become better. When she had strong glasses before, she will need weaker glasses now.

A: What happens now, we are in a phase of expulsion. You have more otorrhea. Your skin begins to expel, sour perspiration, but in the meantime your eyes have to improve, they may not aggravate.

P: Does those tears play a role ?

A: Yes. I suppose, anyway. I am not sure, but logically you should see better with your previous glasses. Because you say you have to get other glasses. Now, you are improving very much. That perspiration is good for you, it is an elimination. I don't know how long this will go on. Further, there has to be an improvement of the headache and the pain in the neck and the arm.

Has the pain disappeared for hundred per cent ?

P: No, not hundred per cent. But I must say, it has improved very much. It hasn't ever been so good. But I still don't have a clear memory.

A: Is that improving now ?

P: It is improving, but still it is not as it was at the beginning.

A: You are slowly climbing the mountain again. Maybe, I would have helped you more by repeating the remedy, but I didn't because I wanted to see if you would improve spontaneously. And that has happened. It is better that your memory improves slowly and remains definitely all right, instead of improving suddenly and ...

People with experience in homoeopathic reactions have surely seen this - you give a remedy and afterwards they are very good for a period and then they feel less good. This kind of sycotic reaction, this "hyper-good feeling" - why ? And afterwards they feel somewhere in between.

Remark: "It is because of the difference."

A: Yes, it is the difference. Previously, they feel bad, and immediately after the remedy they feel a strong difference, but after two weeks they forgot how strong the difference was. And then they feel well, but it is not that beautiful sensation of levitation or so as they immediately had after the remedy. When your remedy works deeply, you have this kind of reactions.

A: Do you understand ? And also your other complaints have to disappear. Your pain in the back, where you have always suffered from ...

P: I'm not suffering anymore. I have suffered from it for many years, but I'm not suffering anymore.

A: You were used to living with it ?

P: Yes, but lately I had so much trouble with it, so that I mentioned it. But I don't have troubles with it anymore.

A: You are improving very well, my prediction was right, wasn't it ? Thanks for coming.

P: I still have that little pill.

A: You may keep it, but don't take it.

Question: "Is this a sign of suppression, that the amelioration comes so suddenly ?"

A: You can not say it after two weeks. It takes a little time, to be sure that the remedy is right. But I never had a case, where they were mentally so much better.

In the section about the reactions of the remedies in his book "The scientific Homoeopathy" Vithoulkas writes that it is a good reaction when there is first an aggravation and then a disappearing of the symptoms. When there is an improvement first, and an aggravation afterwards, this is a bad reaction and normally incurable. That is what you are thinking here in this case, aren't you ? In this case all the symptoms disappeared and came back, but not as strong as previous, and that is the difference. When it is worse afterwards than previous, then it is a bad reaction, but this is all right.

Now, she relapses and we do not know the reason for this aggravation. Maybe she has a kind of influenza, a coryza or something like that.

FEEDBACK (April 12, 1987)

A: It has been a while ago. Now, it is April 12, and the last time you were here in January or February, I think.

P: Yes, I think so.

A: I have you on video, but I don't know exactly. You had influenza. You took the remedy and you have been good for two weeks. Then you relapsed and I repeated the remedy. And afterwards ? Have you had complaints ever since ?

P: No, everything went smoothly and I can't say I have problems; because everything is all right.

A: At that time you had also problems with your memory.

P: Yes, but that is all right now.

A: You couldn't think clearly, is that all right now ?

P: Yes, everything is all right. I can do my job well, I have a fresh memory again. I have no pain. I do my job very well, I don't know what to say, because I feel very well.

A: You have never felt so well ?

P: No, I can manage well.

A: Previously, you had quite a lot of problems with your ears. Normally, you had to go back to see the doctor every four months. When I have given you the remedy it already appeared after three weeks. What happened afterwards ?

P: I don't feel anything. That is very well cured. After a fortnight I didn't have any otorrhea. And then the pain disappeared suddenly. Lately, I have suddenly pain in my ears, but according to me it is because of the stress. I had it this week, and then I can't touch my ears. Even the earlobes hurt. When I try to concentrate a little the pain disappears. According to me, these are nerves accumulating there.

A: But you do not have otorrhea anymore ?

P: No, and no itches in the ears. I feel well.

A: Then, my theory was right.

P: Only a severe cold, I'm bothered with it for about three weeks.

A: Anyway, thanks for coming for the video. I didn't hear anything and I was wondering how you were doing.

P: Yes, you told me not to drink coffee, but once I started with quite a lot of water. And then one of our family came to you and told you this and you were angry and said I shouldn't have done it. And then I said, we will stop together and we succeeded. At the beginning I had difficulties with that.

I forgot it. I did not remember she drank coffee before.

P: And now, when I go on visit and drink normal coffee I stay awake at night. You become nervous. We were somewhere and drank coffee, because they thought, well a few cups won't do any harm. But at night we have been talking both of us. I said, we won't do this the next time. I has its influence.

A: All right, I give you the remedy, because you have your cold for about three weeks.

P: It is loose, but it won't get over.

A: But we can say, that since I have been treated you intensively in October '86, the complaints you were bothered with have disappeared.

P: Yes.

A: All right.

Yes, with the coffee it is a big problem, even now. On a symposium of American homoeopaths in San Francisco they said, they should allow coffee, or the patients will go away. I say that the coffee is not the problem, but we are the problem, the therapeutist. We see and work, and then give a remedy. If we let them drink coffee, and they antidote the remedy, where are we ? I mean, what is going on in your mind ? You loose your way, because we think that the remedy is wrong and we look for another one. In our centre we work as follows: if the patient is not better the first time he does not have to pay the second time - but if we find out that he drank coffee, although we have forbidden it, they have to pay.

This is a great difficulty. You give a remedy and see that there is no reaction. "My God, the remedy is wrong. Why was it wrong ? You didn't drink coffee ?" "No." So, he didn't antidote the remedy, and then you can look for the next remedy and the mistake in your first prescription. When you do not forbid coffee the first time and the remedy is antidoted, you will never know whether it was the right remedy. Where are you as a homoeopath ? With this patient you stay in the dark for the rest of your life. Maybe the remedy was right, but is antidoted and you start to look for other remedies, and give him all possible remedies. It is up to you, but I forbid coffee and afterwards when I see that it is indeed their constitutional remedy and they reacted well to the remedy, it is no problem when they drink a cup of coffee. If they relapse I know the remedy, that is no problem.

Second: When you have Lycopodium patients with liver problems you have to forbid sugar and chocolate. They will be better after the remedy, but if you let them eat chocolate and sugar they will surely relapse. Also Lycopodium patients with skin diseases you have to forbid sugar and chocolate until they have been cured - or they will relapse.

When you have someone who drinks a lot of alcohol and therefore has liver problems, you have to forbid alcohol completely. With remedies such as Nux vomica, Aurum, Sulphur, you have to forbid alcohol completely. They may not drink alcohol for three, four, five months, or they will relapse.

Also the quantity of coffee is important. One cup of coffee is no problem, one glass of beer is no problem; but when you drink too much, so that there is a reaction, that you become nervous from the coffee, then it is too much. If you let them drink alcohol and the moment they feel the reaction, so that they feel good with alcohol, it is too late. But it depends on the quantity of alcohol and coffee you drink. But I warn you that you will get difficulties if you let them drink coffee. When you let your patients drink coffee, you will stop doing Homoeopathy, because you will not be happy, you will not have good results.

Question: "What do you do with women who take the pill ?"

A: It depends on the case. If you have to do with, where you can take the rubric "ailments from suppressed menses", if for instance there is a headache and it came since her menses were suppressed, and you have to give Pulsatilla for instance, then you have to stop the pill. Also with Sepia you surely have to stop the pill. It depends on the case and the remedy. There are women who are suffering long before they took the pill and there has nothing changed since they take the pill. Then we let them take the pill and give the remedy and usually it is no problem. But if it is a real hormonal problem as we usually see in Sepia, you must stop the pill in Sepia.

The difficulty with layers is that we saw for instance in this case she already had Calcarea symptoms when the other layers were above it. From the book of Vithoulkas we learned that there is a layer on top of another layer, and that you first have to put away the first layer, before you can reach the second layer. That is a fact we see in practice. But the difficulty is that you already see Calcarea symptoms in the Rhus toxicodendron layer, and then you don't know which remedy you have to take. Then you have to work as follow: first you give the remedy for the strongest symptoms; in this case for instance the amelioration of motion, the restlessness driving out of bed. So, you take the strongest symptoms, the strongest complaints, that is the upper layer and in this case it was Rhus toxicodendron. After Rhus toxicodendron you can give Calcarea and then you can reach the essence of the problem.

We had a Guillain-Barré case - I showed it in Switzerland - where I gave Calcarea, it was clearly Calcarea - but there was no reaction. Then she got Sepia and then she felt well. After Sepia she needed acute Nux vomica, afterwards acute Bryonia - you know, Sepia and Nux vomica are complementary - she got Bryonia, afterwards Alumina - Bryonia and Alumina are also complementary - and now she is very well, the paralysis has nearly disappeared. And now we have to wait, all the Calcarea symptoms will appear. But she had all the Calcarea fears, but did not react to Calcarea. She was clearly Calcarea, also the appearance, everything, but she did not react. She reacted well to Sepia, then to Nux vomica, Bryonia and wonderfully to Alumina. After Bryonia she could produce Alumina symptoms and then the paralysis became better and better and after Alumina 10 M there was a big amelioration in a short time, but before, at the beginning she did not have Alumina symptoms, therefore she had to go through all these remedies, also Sepia - and Alumina is the chronic Sepia, it is written in Clarke.

And now we have to wait, maybe one year, maybe two years. The first remedy I gave was wrong at that time, but is the right remedy after maybe 5 years. I promise you and I will show you on the video.

This is the same with cancer. A cancer patient comes and she talks and talks and talks and gets Lachesis - nothing, no reaction. Because of cracks in her lips and the pain under the left scapula, which is going to the right side, she gets Condurango - and, beautifully, the anxieties disappear. Then she gets a metrorrhagia and nothing helps - she gets Lachesis and everything is over. Now she is cured. First, I had to give Condurango and afterwards Lachesis, because Lachesis does not have those strong cracks, pain in the left scapula, wandering to the right side. There is only remedy in the Repertory: Condurango. That is the way we have to work, that is very difficult, and in cancer sometimes we have to deal with small remedies. For instance a patient who has been treated with radiotherapy got a lot of pain after the radiotherapy. And then they took X-ray and the pain became worse and worse - and Radium bromatum took away this pain. After Radium bromatum she developed Lachesis.

When patients who have been treated with chemotherapy come and are weak, completely weak, near dead for weakness, you can try to find the constitutional remedy, but it will do nothing. First you have to give Kali phosphoricum. Kali phosphoricum has this weakness after cancer operations, it has this weakness in the body and in the mind, diarrhoea from eating, that is a key-note for Kali phosphoricum, also for Ferrum. Kali phosphoricum pushes you out of this weakness and then comes the constitutional remedy.

That is how to manipulate this; but to be able you have to know these small remedies.

... when you add a remedy in a rubric, you must be sure that this is a very important symptom of the remedy. Who is not weak during fever ? I mean strong weakness during fever. I took my Repertory and saw that Sepia was not there and I did not feel like giving it, but I did not have other indications. So, what did I do ?

I prescribed Sepia M. The next day it was better, but then the fever raised again. Suddenly, she had diarrhoea, watery diarrhoea, was very weak, a septicaemial situation. Then I noticed that it was Baptisia. I gave her Baptisia and the next day she was cured. Constitutionally, she was Sepia and when she came she had high fever, was very weak, a bad smell from the mouth, and later there was the diarrhoea; this was clearly Baptisia and the constitutional remedy did not do anything. The strongest symptom was the weakness, so I had to take that.

This was an ordinary influenza. There is no direct relation between Sepia and Phosphorus in acute cases. There were no symptoms for Phosphorus, no symptoms for Muriaticum acidum. Muriaticum acidum has these aphthae in the mouth, and is very sensitive. It is not known well as a remedy for influenza, but Baptisia is one of the most important remedies for influenza in serious cases.

So, I made a wrong prescription with Sepia, because I did not believe what I saw. I saw this weakness and Sepia was not in this rubric, so I had to go further and find the remedy, that has this weakness and Baptisia did. The differential diagnosis to Baptisia was Pyrogenium, because it was a septicaemia, because of the suppression of the inflammation of the bladder. You can suppress with a wrong homoeopathic remedy, you can push the disease inward.

Question: "What do you do with hay-fever ? Do you take the acute symptoms and give a small remedy ?"

A: Last Sunday a mother with her child came and the mother looked Sepia, as well as the child. But I can not give Sepia, because of the appearance. I asked and asked and then Sabadilla appeared. Her hay-fever had very strong Sabadilla symptoms and Sabadilla is complementary to Sepia. In this case there were two strong symptoms for Sabadilla, two desires, which are rather Sabadilla than Sepia. Afterwards when the desire and the character of Sepia appears, you can give Sepia. You can see that she will need it later, but for this hay-fever she needs Sabadilla. For instance someone else probably needs Sepia for his hay-fever according to the desires and the mental picture.

Question: "What can you do, when a disease has been suppressed with homoeopathical remedies ?"

A: If something happens like that, you have given a very similar remedy, this means, it has a great influence, but it was only a local remedy. The local symptoms have been disappeared, they have been wandering inwards and the pictures of the remedy will appear stronger, in a different way, probably on another level.

Question: " ... is it dangerous if the symptoms have been suppressed with a homoeopathical remedy ?"

A: The first remedy, to clear up the case, when someone has taken all kinds of homoeopathic remedies mixed up, is Sepia. But I do not understand your question quite right.

Question: "I mean, when someone got the wrong remedy and there has been a suppression - you said that in such cases new symptoms will arise. And when you try to give a new remedy, this means that the suppression ... ?" (not understandable)

A: No, you see, there is for instance someone with eczema. He gets a homoeopathic remedy, probably Sulphur, and then he gets asthma; then you have to take the rubric "asthma from suppressed eruptions," because you made him more ill with the homoeopathic remedy. That is all, and you have to look for another remedy. But usually - I had a Phosphorus case - before I gave Phosphorus, I gave Lycopodium, Sulphur and Calcarea and after this remedy the patient got asthma and after Phosphorus he was cured. You feel, you see it, if you suppress with a remedy, but you wait for a while, it will disappear again. Anyway, this asthma went away after a short time.

Question: "Is there a residual damage ?"

A: No, no, there is no residual damage, do not be afraid of this. But when you give high potencies and those patients are very sensitive you will touch them; when they are not sensitive, it will not touch them.

Very high potencies are very good, but it must be the right remedy, other remedies will not work. When you give low potencies, when we all take Sulphur C 30 today, 50 % will start itching or I do not know what.

Six years ago I took Psorinum and I started itching, but I am not avaricious, that is no problem, it was a proof. Also after Nux vomica I got proving symptoms.

Another case >

- Somebody told me about one of his patients who has her teeth extracted because of toothache and afterwards she had more pain, but it was another kind of pain.

- What is the first remedy we think of?

- Answer : "Hypericum."

- A : Yes, right, pain after treatment of teeth is Hypericum.

- But do you think that Hypericum would act in this case? She had pain before the extraction of the teeth and afterwards the pain was even worse and because of this pain she went to the dentist.

- Remark : "But the pain has changed."

- A : Yes, right, the pain has changed, it has become worse.

- I think that the extraction of the teeth was a suppression and therefore she will need the same remedy as before.

- Normally this is so.

- She said that it was a shooting pain.

- Shooting pain is Hypericum, first you have to try Hypericum, and then ask why she has this toothache.

- Usually you will find a mental reason.

Acute cases are often caused by external influences. If someone knocks on his thumb with a hammer you do not need to ask what kind of fears they have, whether they sleep well, on which side they sleep and so on, you can forget about that. You only have to ask why he has this pain and if he says, "I knocked on my finger", which remedy do you give then ? Hypericum. Hypericum, not Arnica, Hypericum for injuries of small nerves. When someone goes to the dentist to have his teeth cleaned or have a filling inserted in his teeth - when someone goes without pain to the dentist and afterwards gets a terrible pain, you do not have to ask about the relationship with her husband, nor about her dreams. You only have to know since when the pain exists. And if she says that she has the pain since the visit to the dentist, which remedy do you give her ? Hypericum.

A: A second point was that during the night of the accident you were paralysed in both your lower limbs, as I noticed then. The hamstring reflex and the pain reflex were totally absent in both legs. Then you got a second remedy, taking into account the cause and the cause of the symptomatology at that moment.

That was the third remedy. Which remedy ? At 3.00 a.m. I saw suddenly - the accident happened at 11.00 p.m. - that she did not move her legs, they were paralysed. She did not feel anything and the reflexes were absent. Which remedy is this ? Hypericum. Hypericum because of the injury of the spine. Look at "back, injury of the spine" (p. 892).

You know that Hypericum acts, where there are a lot of nerves. And do you know, where are the most nerves ? In the spine, and in the cervical region, because all the nerves go to the head. That is why the most nerves are at this place. I am only theorizing, but that is important. This is the most dangerous place for injury. You know that Hypericum is the first remedy for whiplash injury. Hypericum is also the first remedy after a blow in the back with broken vertebraes. Hypericum is the remedy for neurologists. If all the University Hospitals would know Hypericum, they would save more patients with medulla oblongata contusions. Before I started my medical studies I was a nurse and in Haiti, I had a lot of clinical experience and during my studies of medical doctor I worked in the University Hospital on the neurologic department and there I saw so many people who had an accident with a motorcycle. They were lying there with their feet turned inwards and were jerking. They said, "They will die, forget it." The reason was a bleeding of the medulla oblongata, because of the injury. Look at the rubric "injuries of the spine", underneath "lies on back, jerking head backward" (p. 892).

after, lies on back, jerking head backward : Hyper.

You see how important it is to have seen things in clinical training, in experience in clinics, so that you remember this state and you will never forget. It is very important to have clinical experience in Homoeopathy, because every picture relates to a homoeopathical remedy.

Hypericum is a very important remedy in elongations of the nerves. And it acts very, very quickly. We had a stove with coals and inside there was something broken. I had to take the broken thing out and put a new one in it. It fell upon my two small fingers and it was very painful and blue. Immediately, I went downstairs, took Hypericum 10 M and 5 minutes later the pain had gone. Another time I knocked a nail in the wall and I knocked on my finger, I took immediately Hypericum and everything was all right. Do not forget Hypericum in very dangerous, serious cases. Also when someone has been lying this way (...) with an operation, so that the nerves are elongated and afterwards he is complaining of numbness and pain, that is Hypericum. Also when a joint has been displaced and after the displacement there is numbness, paresthesia, that is Hypericum.

Question: "Is this also possible in chronic diseases with a carpal tunnel syndrome ?"

A: No, usually, that is constitutional. In general, the cause of Hypericum is an accident. If this stays very long, it is not Hypericum anymore, but constitutional. In the rubric "injuries of the spine" there is also Calcarea, Natrum sulphuricum, Fagopyrum - that is not constitutional under certain circumstances - Nitricum acidum, Thuja, Silicea. If you have given Hypericum in such a case and it does not act, this means, that you have to give the constitutional remedy and this will solve the problem.

That night I gave her Hypericum in a very high potency, because she was paralysed, and I can tell you that she was cured after 1/2 hour. She felt again.

Afterwards my colleague, who is an orthopedist, said that this happens often, and called it a transient medullar ischemia. It passed away with Hypericum, it was transient. Everything - the coma also - was transient.

A: In 1 or 2 hours' time the sensitiveness and the hamstring reflex were present again. That was the homoeopathic remedy number 3.

CASES