CASES

Natrium muriaticum

Case 1V2

Woman, 37 years old

December 9, 1988

This is a very difficult case, a psychiatric case. This woman is very, very depressed and was in treatment with another homeopath who came with her to me. He couldn't treat her anymore, because she fell in love with him. This can happen to everybody, and this is a big problem.

It is very difficult to treat these deep, psychological problems. We have to give the right remedy and then see in little points if the remedy acts, so that we can be sure. Besides we have to take our time to listen to the patient and we must try to explain to him how he is functioning, the depth of his problem, so that he can understand himself, his own reactions better. According to me that is the best approach for patients with psychological problems. Patients who are almost insane, who only want to walk around naked, for example, Hyoscyamus patients, you cannot explain, you can only give the remedy. But patients who are still clear in their mind, you must try to explain how they are functioning.

Try to observe this woman. Look what she does when she is talking.

A : Tell me why you were in treatment with a colleague.

P : I was completely weak. Lately I can hardly move.

A : So weakness.

P : Yes, and almost always tired.

A : Since when?

P : It must have been about 12 years old.

A : Do you feel this weakness all over your body?

P : At that time I didn't realize what it was. I couldn't take part in a game. I just couldn't.

A : Because you tired easily?

P : Yes.

A : What did you feel exactly?

P : I just couldn't take part. I don't know, how I shall express myself?

A : Was it a kind of paralyzed feeling?

P : Yes, something like that. I still have it now.

A : Yes, of course you still have it now.

P : It hasn't changed, on the contrary, it has become worse.

A : Does this only occur with exertion?

So you have a kind of weakness in the limbs.

P : No, all over.

A : Tiredness.

P : Yes.

A : And it appeared when you were 12 years old?

P : Yes, I felt it strongly then.

A : What happened when you were 12 years old?

P : I had to redo the 6th class.

A : Tell me exactly what happened. Why did you have to redo the 6th class?

P : I didn't understand myself. I was the best pupil in the class, but my father said that I had to redo the class, so that I would know more afterwards.

A : You were the best in the class and before you went to secondary school you had to redo your class?

P : Yes. According to my father my class had a lower level than all the other classes.

A : Did it start then?

P : Yes. Afterwards I could never do anything else.

A : How did it affect you emotionally?

P : I couldn't stand up to my father.

You see, every time she says something seriously, she laughs, every time.

A : Was your father a dictatorial man?

P : No, actually not, but he had problems himself at school, and apparently he wanted to spare me all these troubles.

A : Did you experience it this way at that time?

P : No.

A : And then you went to secondary school?

P : Yes, until the fourth class. Then I changed schools.

A : Why?

P : Because I couldn't follow anymore. I couldn't follow the education.

A : Your mental capacity also decreased.

P : No, actually not, but I didn't know anything at all at the examinations. I always learned a lot, but I never had good results, because I was afraid this would happen to me again. Later it happened again, I had to redo a class.

A : Were you ever ill before the age of 12?

P : Yes, I have always been ill.

A : Can you remember what kind of diseases you had?

P : I remember only that my whole arm was scratched open.

A : An allergy?

P : Yes.

A : Did you also have a cough or something like that? Do you remember anything about the period before the age of 12?

P : No, I don't remember anything at all.

A : Do you remember having any inflammation of the throat or the ears?

P : I always had pain in my ears.

A : Do you remember anything else?

P : Yes, I always had problems with my throat. I don't know whether these were inflammations, anyway I always had pain, but it was never treated.

Of what remedy am I thinking right now? Somebody with a lack of self-confidence who is not able to learn?

Audience: Baryta carbonica.

A: Yes, Baryta carbonica. And usually they have large tonsils.

P : Later I had X-rays.

A : Because of the sore throat?

P : Yes, there was something wrong with the lymph glands.

She is looking downwards constantly, she doesn't look into my eyes. This is very important, an observation on which you can prescribe. These people cannot stand long eye contact, this means contact on the psychological level with people who are not very close.

Besides, you recognize a tension in her, especially in the lips. Her behavior, her way of talking is typical for this remedy so that you recognize it immediately.

A : How did they know?

P : Because I always had a sore throat and pain in the ears. X-rays were made.

A : But externally they didn't see anything?

P : No.

A : This happened before the age of 12?

P : No, it was later.

A : And did you have problems with the throat and the ears before the age of 12?

P : Yes.

Do you see her lips? They are completely different from, for example, Bufo-lips, precisely the opposite. She can't let herself go, she withholds everything.

A : Did you ever have surgery on the throat?

P : No.

A : Have the tonsils been removed?

P : Yes, oh yes, I didn't think of it a minute ago.

A : That's what I wanted to know.

P : Yes, this was a clear question. Pain in the throat is something vague. I had it before I was 5 years old.

A : That's what I wanted to know, whether you had problems with the throat before the age of 12. The tonsils have been taken away.

That is a clear picture. I notice that you are trembling a little bit while talking.

P : I always tremble.

A : Why? Do you always tremble?

P : Almost always.

A : But there are also situations in which you don't tremble. In what kind of situations?

P : Hm. I don't know. I tremble with every little thing I do.

A : So when you do something, with the slightest physical exertion. Also when you are at home?

P : Yes.

A : Are you married?

P : No.

A : Why aren't you married?

P : That's a good question!

A : How old are you?

P : 37 years old.

A : What prevents you from marrying?

P : My disease.

A : This constant weakness is the reason that you don't have enough energy to go out. You don't go out, do you?

P : No, I really have an aversion to it.

A : What do you mean by "aversion to going out"?

P : Because I can never take part.

A : But there are also people, for example, people in wheelchairs who notwithstanding their handicap like to be among other people. They also can't take part, but they don't have an aversion to it.

Don't misunderstand this when I ask her whether she is married. I don't mean you have to be married, but you need a relationship.

A : You have just said that you have an aversion to company. Is this really so?

P : Yes, absolutely.

You see how helpful she is looking at her therapist, because I came too close to her. I touched her inner feelings and she is suffering, she starts trembling.

You find this rubric in the Repertory on page 1408:

GENERALITIES, Trembling, emotions, after : Arg-n., Cocc., ferr., hep., merc., nat-c., nat-m., plb., psor., Staph., stram., zinc.

A : .... because you are so trembling and weak. This aversion comes from within yourself.

P : Yes, how shall I say? I was very afraid of other people, especially of groups.

I'm still thinking of Baryta carbonica.

Of this remedy it is said that they don't like company, but that is wrong. They really want company, but not from anybody, only from people they like and know well. This is very important.

A : Do you think this insecurity is the essence? This insufficient self-confidence?

P : No. It has something to do with it, but it is not everything.

A : What do you mean? Why isn't this the only reason? What else is wrong?

P : I just didn't have the physical power.

A : Do you think that first the physical weakness came and the trembling was the consequence?

P : Please again, not so fast.

A : At a certain moment in your life something went wrong, otherwise you wouldn't have become ill. You understand this. It doesn't begin all at once, like a misfortune. You have to be susceptible to certain diseases, you must have a certain disposition to recognize the consequences when you are disposed to a certain negative influence. If you are standing in the rain, people who are sensitive will get a headache, others won't. Do you understand?

P : Yes.

A : In the 6th class your father humiliated you because you had to redo this sixth class. Don't you think so? Actually this was a humiliation for you, because you were the best in the class and notwithstanding that you had to redo the class.

P : I never considered it that way.

A : Good. My question is the following; "Do you have the feeling that first there was a physical weakness and trembling and then the insecurity appeared or - because you say it yourself that your insecurity is expressed in the physical weakness, that your body is insecure? But how do you explain that you can't be among people, that you have an aversion to company?

P : At home there were certain situations which made me anxious.

Do you understand the essence of the problem? Is it a lack of self-confidence?

If this was the essence, and the tonsils were taken out we would have to think of Baryta carbonica. But the lack of self-confidence is not the essence here, it cannot be Baryta carbonica, this is impossible. There must be another, deeper reason for all this.

A : Can you repeat so that we can feel what you experienced and how you digested all this; so that we know what remedy you need to become stronger? Because we must feel what the patient feels.

P : I must have been about 6 years old when we moved to a new house. It all started then. Many things were done wrongly in this new house and my father didn't want to pay. He was very obstinate. There was a big prosecution which lasted 10 years.

A : So it became a big lawsuit?

P : Yes. All the people concerned passed by and they claimed their money. I was always there and I experienced everything. The process-server wrote down all my toys.

On which level is the problem?

On the emotional. It is a deep, emotional problem.

P : Actually I never knew what was going to happen. It was always an insecure situation, anyway it was for me.

A : You were in an insecure situation. You didn't know whether maybe you had to hand in your toys the next day or not.

P : Yes, and whether we had to move out of the house or what was going to happen to us.

Can somebody give me a word that expresses what you see in this woman?

Audience: Sadness

A : Yes, right, sadness; but there is something more.

Audience: Bitterness.

A : Yes, that is exactly what you feel.

A : That was going on when you were 6 years old.

P : Yes, but it lasted much longer, it lasted for years and years. Later when they closed down my father's school this situation was repeated. This was also a fight of many against one.

Homeopathy is very strange. It fits everything together. She is better from and she likes bitter drinks and bitter food. She doesn't mention it here, but she said it another time.

P : At work I always had difficulty when two or three people were sitting across from me, the way we are sitting here. This was always very difficult for me.

A : Why was it difficult for you?

P : Because they form a group.

A : If I would sit here with you alone would this be easier for you?

P : Yes, it would be easier.

A : Do you think it is difficult to talk with several people at the same time?

P : Yes. When three people are asking something I can't follow.

A : You mean a discussion in a group?

P : Yes. I can't follow then.

This makes me think of which remedy?

Of Alumina. Alumina after long standing grief and disappointments, with confusion cannot follow discussions, they cannot do two things at the same time and they have to pull themselves together to concentrate on the one thing they are doing at that very moment. This state develops further to trembling, weakness, paralysis and multiple sclerosis.

Do you see how stingy she is with her information. It is very difficult for her to talk about this, to give some more information. She is sighing in between to gather some courage to be able to tell some more.

A : You also said, "Will you repeat the question?" This means that your capacity to understand has slowed down?

P : Yes, sometimes I hear something, but I don't understand it. If I want to answer then I start talking hesitatingly. I can't.

She also says that she becomes angry, and such anger doesn't fit Alumina.

A : Apparently it seems that the situation influenced you so much that even your mental capacity has decreased.

P : Yes, but the mental capacity decreased only in the last year, at least it doesn't work so fast anymore.

A : Are you refreshed in the morning?

P : No.

A : Can you describe this?

P : I just find it terrible to get up in the morning.

A : Yes, I also do sometimes. But how do you feel in the morning?

P : Tired.

A : Tell me about getting up in the morning.

P : Before I could just lie on the bed, but now I can't anymore.

A : For quite a long time?

P : For two years, I think.

A : When you are busy does your state improve?

P : No.

A : Do you think you are slower in the morning?

P : I'm always slow.

A : But you feel bad in the morning?

P : Yes.

These are all questions for Alumina, questions about the slowness in the morning, the confusion in the morning and the amelioration in the evening. But this is not the case with her.

On page 9 of the Repertory there is a rubric:

MIND, Bed, desires to remain in: Alum., alumn., arg-n., con., hyos., merc., psor., rob., verat-v.

A : And how do you feel towards the evening?

P : Then it is a little bit better, but actually not good.

A : Do you think there is a clear difference between the morning and the evening?

P : Yes.

A : So a clear difference.

P : Yes, but not a very big difference. I have to lie down at noon and sleep, because I just can't go on anymore. (silence)

A : The fact that you are afraid to be with several people together - here we're also together with three people - is this just an anxiety to be among people or because you have difficulty following the conversation?

P : Both.

A : Do you ever have the thought, "Dammed, why does he think so?", a spontaneous thought that you feel confused?

P : What do you mean, confused? That it is more psychological?

A : No. The way I asked you directly whether you had problems with your throat, I can't ask you immediately. I have to ask you in a roundabout way to give you the opportunity to tell your symptoms. Before I didn't ask you directly whether your tonsils were taken out and now I don't ask you directly what I want to hear.

P : I always have a headache, here, at the occiput and it extends forwards. I have a feeling as if the hair is standing vertically on my head. This happens with the slightest mental exertion, from the moment I have to think.

She didn't understand the question. If she was really confused she would have answered, "Yes, often I have the feeling that somebody else is talking when I'm saying something," or "when I look in the mirror in the morning I have the feeling it is not me." This is Alumina, a confusion about their own identity. But she didn't answer the question, therefore I didn't ask further.

A : Also with mental exertion.

P : Also with physical exertion, because I can't do anything. (Silence)

A : Do you hear well?

P : Yes.

A : Do you see well?

P : I wear glasses.

A : Do you cook yourself?

P : No.

A : Why not?

P : I detest eating and cooking.

A : What do you mean?

P : I only eat because I have to.

A : You don't have an appetite.

P : No.

This is strange, she hates eating and cooking. Her problem lies on the emotional level, "I hate."

A : Is there anything you like very much to eat?

P : Yes, but I don't eat it. I eat only to stay alive.

A : Why? (Silence) Do you have reasons for that?

P : No, it is just so.

She is a candidate for which disease? For Anorexia nervosa. Do you know the rubric in the Repertory which we can take for Anorexia nervosa? You find it on page 39:

MIND, Eat, refuses to eat : Ars., bell., caust., cocc., croc., grat., Hyos., ign., Kali-chl., kali-p., op., Ph-ac., phyt., plat., puls., sep., Tarent., Verat., Viol-o.

This is the only rubric in the mind.

In the Generalities there is another rubric:

GENERALITIES, Starving: Ign

For the rubric, "Mind, eat, refuses to eat", I would like to give you an important addition, namely Kali bromatum.

Kali bromatum is one of the most important remedies in Anorexia nervosa. If you want to study this remedy, you can read it in Clarke. Anorexia nervosa patients are the most difficult patients for me. I always start trembling from fear if somebody comes to me with this problem. It is a very heavy task to cure somebody, because their state depends very much on the circumstances in which they live.

A : Is there something you don't like at all or that you don't digest?

P : No.

What doesn't Alumina tolerate?

Potatoes.

P : Actually I eat a lot of sweets.

A : You eat sweets. What do you mean?

P : Everything which is sweet.

A : Bonbons and chocolate and tarts?

P : No, no tarts.

A : So a sweet stall, what is sweet.

P : Yes.

A : What about fruit?

P : I eat a lot of fruit.

A : Do you like it very much?

P : Yes.

A : What about potatoes?

P : I eat them.

A : And rice?

P : Only now and then.

Alumina likes fruit and has an aversion to potatoes, at least boiled potatoes. They like fried potatoes, croquettes and French fries, besides rice and fruit. But her strongest desires are sweets and fruit.

A : You prefer fruit, do you also eat a little of it?

P : No, I eat more.

A : And spaghetti?

P : No.

A : You don't like it?

P : No.

A : Do you prefer potatoes to spaghetti?

P : Yes. I will eat that.

A : Are there other things you like? (Silence)

Or which you don't like at all?

P : I can't think of anything.

A : What about thirst?

P : I am very thirsty.

A : Tell me something about it.

P : I drink a lot.

A : What do you drink?

P : I prefer cola, it quenches the thirst fast.

A : Do you drink this in small or large draughts?

P : In large draughts.

Thirst for large quantities.

A : Is the big thirst a characteristic which you've had for quite a long time?

P : Yes, but now it is even stronger.

A : Now you are even more thirsty.

P : Yes.

A : Can you easily be alone?

P : Well yes, it depends.

A : Tell me something about it.

P : Sometimes I can't be alone at all, and sometimes I don't have problems at all being alone.

A : When? (Silence)

P : It is different. At different periods.

A : Do you live at home?

P : Yes, with my mother.

A : Your father died?

P : Yes.

A : Did it affect you?

P : Yes.

A : Tell me something about it.

P : Yes, my father was a little bit father and mother at the same time.

A : When did your father die?

P : In 1987.

A : Your weakness already existed before that?

P : Yes.

A : Did it influence the weakness more? Because you said that he was father and mother at the same time.

P : The relationship with my father was much better, I couldn't get along with my mother at all.

A : Why?

P : Because I was born too early, I still have the feeling she didn't want me.

A : You were born too early?

P : Yes.

A : What do you mean?

P : I was born at 7 months and I weighed 1,300 kg.

A : And therefore you always had the impression that your mother didn't want you.

P : Yes, I still have this feeling. I felt myself expelled. Therefore I have problems with eating.

A : Therefore you have difficulties in eating?

P : Yes, she prepares dinner.

A : When she prepares it you don't want to eat.

P : No, it's not that, but I don't know how to explain it.

A : Try to explain.

P : I want revenge: You didn't want me, therefore I don't want you.

A : You want to pay her back.

P : Yes. (Silence) I just hate her. (Silence).

A : You hate her.

Now she expresses that she hates her mother. You can feel how deep the hate is.

P : Yes, my father always said that it was not bad to redo a class; the reason would be that I was born too early and then I wouldn't know as much as the others. He always said, "It is not bad if you don't succeed, then you have to redo the class."

This remedy hates until the last day of their life if they are really hurt deeply. I know a woman who was mortified by her own mother. She hated her mother for 10 years, until she died at the age of 92, and she didn't go to the funeral, deep hatred.

Question: Is it typical for this remedy that they ....

A : It is typical that they always turn away. Very big hatred, lack of self-confidence and a weakness of memory, this makes you think of which remedy? Of Anacardium. But can this be Anacardium?

Audience: No.

A : Why not?

Audience: Because she is not so angry.

A : No, I mean psychologically speaking.

Audience: She has no duality.

A : Yes, she isn't doubting. She is made of one piece. You feel this. With her it is not this, "Should I do this? I have to do this, but I cannot." She doesn't have this indecision.

P : I resisted everything which came from my mother or what she did. (Silence) I also think that I wouldn't have had such a weak nervous system if she would have carried me for nine months. Then I could do everything others can do. (Silence)

You see she reproaches her mother.

Question: Did she go to psychotherapy before?

A : She has been sick for many, many years, therefore it is possible.

A : That is your feeling.

P : Yes.

A : A deep hatred.

P : Yes. (Silence)

A : Could you see your mother drop dead?

P : Yes. (Silence)

A : Are you easily too warm or too cold?

P : I'm always cold, but I always perspire.

D : May I feel your hand?

P : Yes (gives her hand).

A : Hm, cold perspiring hands.

P : I don't know whether the perspiration is cold or warm, but I'm always cold.

A : Do you perspire constantly?

P : Yes.

A : Also when you are at home?

P : Yes.

A : Not only among people?

P : No. Now I'm also wet through, especially on the back.

A : Are you paid well at work?

P : I lost my job. I had to retire. I was in an "adapted service" (special working place for handicapped people) and this was abolished with the savings. I can't work 8 hours a day and because there is no part-time job anymore, I'm unemployed. Since October 1, I'm retired.

This is strange, it is a vicious circle. First she had problems in the sixth class, then at home, then her father died, again grief, then she lost her job, she went deeper, deeper and deeper.

It will be very difficult to cure this patient so that she really feels good and happy. We have to try to change her circumstances. Maybe she can become happy if she finds somebody who understands her well, who wants to marry her.

A : Is the pension sufficient?

P : I don't know. I hope so.

A : But before you earned enough?

P : Yes, but I have few years of service.

A : You must see how you're managing financially.

P : Not now. But I don't know what it is going to be when it is settled definitely.

A : Are you a person who easily spends money?

P : Not particularly.

A : Are you economical?

P : I buy what I need.

A : You live with your mother. How old is she now?

P : 73 years old.

A : Is she still clear in her mind?

P : She forgets a lot of things.

A : But she is not demented, is she?

P : No, I don't think so.

A : This was only a question, she could be demented, but she isn't. Do you clean up things at home?

P : Yes.

A : Does everything have to be in order at home? Is it important for you that everything is tidy and cleaned up?

P : Yes. I like everything to be tidy.

A : Are you very orderly?

P : I'm not a fanatic.

A : After you have eaten in the evening do you do the dishes before going to bed?

P : If it depends on me, no.

What remedy has this?

Audience: Sulphuricum acidum.

A : Yes. You find this rubric on page 72 in Kent:

MIND, Rest, cannot, when things are not in proper place: Anac, ars

They have to clean up everything and things must be in their proper places before they go to bed. Here you find Anacardium and Arsenicum, Anacardium is capital in "hatred".

A : You are not so precise.

P : At the moment I'm not anymore, but before it was very important to me.

A : In what sense?

P : Now, I have to overlook things, because I can't move so well. I have learned that.

A : Tell me something about it. What do you mean?

P : I wanted everything to be perfect.

A : Can you describe this?

P : In studying I wanted to do everything very precisely. Otherwise I couldn't.

A : Does this mean that your books and exercise books were in very good order?

P : Yes, very much.

A : Nicely written, no spots.

P : That's what I wanted at least.

A : How was your perfectionism expressed after your studies?

P : It was more at work.

A : What do you mean?

P : At work everything had to be perfect. If something wasn't right I could search for hours and hours for the mistake.

A : Is this tendency to be exact a congenital constitutional tendency?

P : Yes. I don't like when somebody comes late. (Silence)

A : So your chilliness - You can tolerate the sun well.

P : No, not at all.

Never prescribe a remedy only upon the mental picture. I have to draw your attention to this. Try to find something stable.

The aggravation from the sun is very strong with her. If you have some clear modalities or desires or physical complaints which confirm the remedy you can be satisfied.

A : What do you mean?

P : I just can't go outside when it is very warm. Immediately I get a headache. This is very bad. I don't see anything. My eyes close.

A : If you get a headache from the sun?

P : Yes.

A : Do your eyes close because of the sun or because of the warmth?

P : Because of the warmth, because I don't tolerate it.

A : If it is warm you get a headache and then you have bad vision.

P : Then my eyes close.

Dim vision during headache.

A : Do you have callosities or hard spots on your footsoles?

P : No, I never had.

EXTREMITIES,CALLOSITIES, Soles, on : Ant-c., ars., calc., plb., sil., sulph.

A : You don't go for a pedicure?

P : No.

A : What I just pulled out of you did you ever tell this to anybody else?

P : Yes.

A : Who?

P : The homeopath.

A : And to somebody else?

P : Yes, I did. I have been in treatment before.

A : Are you a person who easily talks about herself?

P : No.

A : Are you very closed?

P : Yes.

A : Do you suffer from constipation?

P : No, not so much.

A : What do you mean "not so much"?

P : From time to time.

A : Do you often have fever blisters?

P : Yes.

A : Where?

P : Here, on the lower lip. (Silence)

The mental and the psychological picture of the remedy is clear and now I'm asking for further, confirming symptoms. In the rubric on page 1313 there are only three remedies:

SKIN, Eruptions, herpetic, fevers, in: Carb-v, Nat-m, Rhus-t

Question: Isn't this rubric too small?

A : I don't know; the rubric is there, and I like small rubrics. It doesn't only concern herpes on the lips, but it is herpes in general.

Remark: But she has herpes on the lips.

A : Yes, that's right. I wanted to show you this rubric, because many people don't know this rubric. You can also look in the rubric on page 369:

FACE, Eruptions, herpes, lips, about: ... , Nat-m, ... , Rhus-t, ... Sep ...

FACE,ERUPTION,HERPES,lips, about : Agar., anac., ars., asc-t., bor., brom., calc-f., canth., carb-v., caust., chel., crot-t., dulc., graph., hep., ip., kali-p., lac-c., lach.,med., nat-a., nat-c., Nat-m., nicc., par., ph-ac., Rhus-t., sars., Sep., sil., spong., sulph., tub., urt-u.

Do you know what remedy has herpetic eruptions from kissing a girl with lipstick?

Niccolum. They also get herpetic eruptions when they eat French fries, because the fat is hardened with Niccolum, and if somebody is sensitive to this he gets herpetic eruptions from hardened fat and from lipstick, not with fever or things like that, only from this.

Question: Why did you ask about the pedicure?

A : Because I was thinking of Alumina. But this remedy also has hard spots on the footsoles.

A : You can forgive, but not forget.

P : Yes, that's right.

A : They hurt you and they humiliated you.

P : You say it this way, but I've never seen it this way.

A : But they caused you pain.

P : Yes.

A : Do you also weep?

P : Seldom, but once I start weeping I cannot stop.

A : When do you weep? Do you have to be alone?

P : No. If somebody touches me it is already sufficient for me to start weeping. The concerned person doesn't even have to say anything at all.

Weeping when consoled. If she feels that he wants to do something for her and he puts his hands on her shoulder she starts weeping. You find this rubric on page 93:

MIND, Weeping, consolation, agg.

A : Do you have pain in your back?

P : Yes.

A : What kind of pain?

P : I just can't stand upright anymore, I have to lie down.

A : In what position?

P : On my back, flat on my back.

A : On a soft mattress?

P : No, on a hard mattress.

These are all confirmations. Pain in the back, lying on a hard surface ameliorates, herpetic lips, headache in the sun.

A : (to the treating homeopath) May I know what remedy you gave?

Homeopath : There are two periods, one was three years ago, then she received a lot of remedies.

A : Which potency?

Homeopath : At least 200.

A : The problem is that the symptoms return.

Homeopath : The last period she received Arsenicum and this was better for 1 1/2 weeks. I repeated it and the second time the amelioration didn't last so long. Then Natrum carbonicum, but it didn't do anything.

A : All right.

I think we can be sure of the remedy. There have been many griefs in this woman and I think that the essence in her is that she is sensitive to grief. Now she is very hard. She has been hurt very deeply and she is suffering since she was young. In addition there are physical symptoms which confirm this psychological picture. Every physical symptom is an expression of the soul. This remedy wants to be loved, but seriously, it needs strong psychological support just like they need hard pressure, a hard surface for their back. This is an expression of their psyche, like you see small spot pain for Kali bichromicum. Mentally Kali bichromicum has a small spot interest for the family.

She also has dandruff on the head, an important symptom for Natrum muriaticum.

Remark: ... (not understandable) ... a woman, who hates .... who is dwelling ...."

A : Yes, it is possible. It is dwelling, all the time thinking of what happened, dwells on past, disagreeable things.

What can you expect in such a case? It will take years and years.

The consultation took such a long time because in such a case you must be 110% sure of the remedy; that she needs the remedy now at this time, and that it is only this remedy she needs and no other.

In 6% of the cases you see a remedy from the beginning, since a young child, which the patient still needs now. In this patient you can see the remedy through her whole life; but you must be sure and you have to be able to wait. In such cases you must look for some points in the feedback where you can be sure that the remedy has acted.

Slowly, very slowly, after many years she'll be better. External circumstances can also change a lot. For example, when she falls in love and marries this will be good for her.

From the feedback I will only show those parts where she says what has changed. I won't show the long conversation before.

Question: Can you say something more about the laughing?

A : Yes. She laughs or smiles a little bit when she is talking about serious things. It is as if she is laughing away her grief. She doesn't show the grief, instead she is laughing. It is a way to prevent others from going into her emotional being. There is the rubric on page 62:

MIND, Laughing, serious matters, over: ... nat-m ....

A very peculiar symptom is that she is chilly and she wants cold drinks. This is peculiar for this remedy. What is the remedy?

Natrum muriaticum.

It is Natrum muriaticum and no other remedy, you can be sure of that. She is easily chilly and nevertheless she has a desire for cold drinks. This is peculiar for Natrum muriaticum, and you also find this in Natrum muriaticum fever, - in chills - and in malaria attacks.

You know that Natrum muriaticum is the most important remedy in malaria. Can somebody tell me why?

First, Natrum muriaticum antidotes chinin, but there is a second reason.

Audience: Periodicity.

A : Yes, the periodicity, but we must try to understand what Malaria is.

In which areas is there still malaria?

In the tropics. What happened in the tropics where there is still malaria?

Suppression. Suppression for many, many years. In the areas where malaria is still now epidemic, we, white people took the native black people as slaves. You know the history of the black people, they have always been suppressed. That's the reason why you will never be able to exterminate malaria with chemical products, because 80% of malaria is an expression of the suppression, of the long-standing grief.

Before there was also malaria in the North of Holland. In the meantime it has disappeared and they say it has disappeared because of the nivaquin treatment. But that is not true. If you think homeopathically you don't believe this, the reason is something else. That's why Natrum muriaticum works in 80% of all the malaria attacks, because most people who get an attack of malaria are Natrum muriaticum people, are suppressed people. That is the reason. Or don't you believe this?

Answer: This explanation is not very satisfactory.

A : Yes, I understand, but it is true. How can you explain that we can cure acute malaria attacks with homeopathic remedies? Or aren't we able to cure? We are able to cure with homeopathic remedies and what does it mean? We do not kill the protozoan, bacteria and so on. We bring people into equilibrium so that they push away. How it happens I don't know.

The only way to eradicate malaria is to give the people what they need, and to recognize them as a person and to support them like we are doing now.

FEEDBACK (February 3, 1989)

This is two months later. I talked a little bit with her and now she will tell about the reaction after the remedy.

A : You had pain in the occiput, aversion to eating and cooking, no appetite.

P : I started cooking. It never happened to me before.

A : When did you start cooking?

P : After the remedy. Since then I'm cooking. This is crazy.

These are spontaneous reactions without realizing herself that she is doing better. She starts cooking, and says that it is strange that she started cooking, but not that she is doing better.

For us it is important to see whether the remedy really worked, so that we can be sure. The problem is that you start doubting whether it was the right remedy, then you go from one remedy to another and at the end you lose your patient.

I'm sure that the remedy acted in this woman and now I can wait until she has physical or psychological relapses. These psychological relapses are usually temporary, so that you can easily wait. For example, when the headache or the backpain becomes very bad, then it is good to repeat the remedy, because every physical complaint is an expression of internal problems. If somebody has pain it means that you don't have enough energy to stay in balance. If everything is in balance on the emotional level you won't get physical symptoms.

Question: If the physical complaints become worse and worse, but on the emotional level he is doing better and better .... (not understandable)

A : Yes, it might happen that somebody feels emotionally better at the beginning of the reaction of the remedy, but the pain becomes worse and worse; but at a certain point the physical pain must disappear, if not, your energy is not strong enough, because pain means a lack of energy. That's why you can say that the remedy was wrong when somebody is better on the mental level, but the pain stays or becomes worse.

I had a female patient with a lot of anxiety, whom I gave Baryta carbonica, and who reacted very well. Later she got an inflammation of the bladder with high fever, for which I gave Ferrum and then I recognized that Ferrum was the right remedy for her and not Baryta carbonica. Ferrum and Baryta carbonica have many identical symptoms. It might happen that you give a remedy which acts on the mental level, but nevertheless is wrong.

Question: (not understandable) If you give Natrum muriaticum and she becomes more open in the first month and the pain in the back becomes worse, is it then .................. (not understandable)

A : No, then you have to wait. If she is emotionally really better, but how can you judge? She started cooking, she does things, which she didn't do before, that's why I won't touch the case, but wait.

A : And what about eating?

P : I still have some problems with it.

A : Why did you start cooking?

P : I don't know. It never happened to me before.

A : We went on and you said that you don't like sweets and fruit very much. You were quite thirsty, drank with large draughts, you had a better relationship with your father. You wanted to pay your mother back, you had hate feelings towards your mother. You were rather chilly, you were punctual, precise, sensitive towards the sun, got a headache from the sun, could forgive, but not forget. Sadness and grief were the reasons for all this. You have a few gray hairs and blue eyes.

P : Many gray hairs.

Again something which you can observe, namely the blue eyes and the gray hair. This makes me think of Natrum muriaticum.

A : Yes. The pain in the back was better by lying on a hard surface. You received Natrum muriaticum in 10M potency.

P : Was it a 10M potency? Oh je! This is strong! I have been deadly ill. First I was completely "high".

A : First the reaction to the remedy.

P : The first time I was really "high" for two days.

A : And then?

P : Then I was so impatient that I didn't know whether the remedy acted or not.

A : And then?

P : Then it diminished, very quickly.

A : In how much time?

P : Within one week this high feeling was gone. The real "high feeling" lasted only two days, so that I thought: "Good, now I'm cured, and what now?" Then everything became worse again and it became so bad that I had to do a sleep therapy.

A : When did you start cooking? Before the sleeping course or afterwards?

P : Afterwards.

A : There was such a strong aggravation, then you did a sleeping course in the hospital for 14 days. Then you came home and you started cooking.

P : Still the same week, but not the same day I came home. Cooking and me, can you imagine this?

A : How did you do further?

P : I got a remedy for the second time.

It was Sac lac.

P : Afterwards I became very depressed. I only cried and said good-bye to people I know very well. I took care of all my business and I thought that this was the end. Physically I felt as if I didn't have power anymore. I made a summary of my life and said, "This was my life. That's what it looked like."

A : Did you have suicidal thoughts?

P : No, not immediately.

A : What else?

P : I had the feeling I could die.

A : If you would stay in this state?

P : Yes, if this would go on this way I would never come out of it. It was terrible to wake up from this sleep therapy. The waking up is much worse than sleeping. If you sleep, you don't feel the pain and if you wake up everything comes back, much worse than you would expect. I was so weak that everything was even worse than I thought. But actually I didn't break anything. Before I broke everything by hurting myself.

A : With medicines or how?

P : Nothing was left of me. How shall I say? In my imagination nothing was left of me.

A : Now I understand. Then you said, "I'm nothing", or what did you say?

P : No, not this way.

A : I remember that you said that you were bad and couldn't do anything, you reproached yourself. Do you mean that you were breaking yourself down? That you reproached yourself, that you were worth nothing?

P : I don't know how to say it.

A : Try.

P : I didn't only destroy myself, but also everything around me.

A : Did you have fun or did you have fights with others?

P : Afterwards I did, but not in the meanwhile. How can I explain this? It is as if you were anorectic, but without having any problems with food.

A : Oh I see, yes, hmm. You also called me and wrote letters to some people, that you were going to die at that time. This was also part of that.

P : Yes.

A : Once again: after the remedy you were "high" for two, three days.

P : Yes.

A : Then you were bad and you did a sleep therapy. Afterwards you started cooking and the self-destruction didn't go on.

P : No.

A : But the self-destruction was still there. You called me because you had the feeling you were going to die.

P : Yes, but I meant it differently. This not respecting myself, I didn't do it myself.

A : Something has changed, hasn't it?

P : Yes, it was different. I never experienced this. I only noticed afterwards that it was completely differently. But actually it is always saying good-bye, that remains.

A : Something else: You had a headache and my colleague said that there was also something with your eyes at the same time.

P : A kind of flickering, as if there were lightnings.

A : A kind of flickering, lightening. Before or during the headache?

P : During the headache. I don't have this anymore. I don't have headaches anymore.

A : You haven't had any headaches?

P : No. Good, isn't it? Only at the occiput it is not quit all right yet.

She doesn't have headaches anymore. You see how difficult it is for the patient to judge whether the remedy has acted or not? The headaches are indeed better. For me this is a sign that the remedy is right, also when she says that she is not better.

If you give the right remedy - and in this case it is really constitutional - a shot in the right place in a high potency, it will not antidote. In the meantime she did a sleep therapy which didn't antidote. If the remedy really works deeply, I don't think you can antidote it.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : Yes, that is what we often see. After the right remedy they start to feel the difference between light and dark. Suddenly they are doing very well, they feel they are cured and then the sensitivity to the difference compared to before gets lost and they feel bad again. That's what you often see in right prescriptions, this is very typical that they say, "The first few weeks I have never felt so good and then it went back to where it was." In cases like this it can be very difficult to judge, this means that you must be sure of the remedy. Beginners of homeopathy will spoil these cases one after the other. For example, Mercurius - or Alumina cases with multiple sclerosis, or Plumbum cases, deep psychological and chronic neurologic cases. If you are not completely convinced in these cases that the remedy is right you start doubting, you change the remedy and the case is spoiled.

Question: Couldn't this also be Ignatia?

A : This Ignatia? No, surely not. Ignatia is sudden. The main point in Ignatia is the sudden reaction. A grief, and then suddenly a paralysis. In this case it is something very deep continuous, very chronic. All right, she is sighing, this is an Ignatia symptom, she has a lump in her throat, but this is Natrum muriaticum also. Both remedies have many symptoms in common and they are complementary. Natrum muriaticum can come in an Ignatia state after a big grief. I will show you this.

I think to be a good homeopath first of all we must cure ourselves and change our mind. The first stage which we can reach by serious talking and working is to become serious. Surely you know the patients which you feel are not serious. These are people from big cities, ministers, cabinet chiefs and so on. They only want their eczema or their headache to disappear, they want to get rid of their superficial complaints, but they do not really want to become healthy, not really cured. For these people it is too early to go to a homeopath and usually they are sent or forced by other people. If they come by themselves they open up and they give you the right keynotes and you can find the remedy.

The homeopath is also only a human being who wants to cure and the only thing we can do by doing homeopathy is trying to cure ourselves.

I hope you understand the difficulty in these cases, which also Vithoulkas describes, namely the second consultation. He says that you have to wait absolutely. As long as you see that the remedy works you don't have to do anything and you have to repeat the remedy in a real relapse. You have to be very careful and you can wait only if you are able to see whether the remedy works or not.

Question: What does it mean the feeling that she is dying?

A : She would like to die. I think it is a feeling not to be so dependant upon her surroundings. Somebody who is doing better is less dependant upon others. Freedom means to accept everything and not to be dependant upon beer, cigarettes and women and so on. That's the idea of freedom. For example, our body says to go to bed at 10:00 p.m. so that we will be fit the next day, but if we absolutely want to go out with some friends to drink beer, or to make love, then we will become a slave to our desires. But if you know it is better to go to bed at 10:00 o'clock this means you have strength and independence from all the things you think you need. I think that what she said goes in this direction; anyway I understood it this way, but I may be wrong.

We have to be careful with the definition of freedom and health, because it doesn't mean to sit down and to meditate. Meditation actually means to think of nothing, just to be there, be peaceful, be happy, not because you are lazy, but because of a state of independence.

To sit and to think, think, think this is not creative, this is not healthy. Health means being creative, being in connection with, going on, and to experience moments of feeling good, without any thinking.

Today there are so many religious movements, discussions and fanaticism in this direction, which I don't consider as healthy, but as hyper intellectual. If a Carbo animalis patient is sitting there and meditating, it is not good. This thinking about the children, about the parents and all the past events is not being creative. We are here NOW and we have to stand with our feet on the ground and lift our head, this is the real connection.

When I was in the North of India I gave some beggars a few rupees. When I came back after some time they were still sitting there. 90% of these people are sitting there the whole day doing nothing. They have long hair, beards, they are not washed and they just do nothing. What they do has nothing to do with meditation - they just need Sulphur!

They take advantage of the others, and we admire them because they are able to do nothing.

case 2 V3

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Eczema, coordination disturbances Boy, 13 years old

April 19, 1987

This boy has coordination disturbances and a lot of other problems, also eczema.

If you have seen this remedy often you will recognize the appearance and right from the start you think of this remedy.

A : In a letter from a colleague he says that he has difficulties in learning. He has had these difficulties already for quite a long time. He has problems with grammar and writing.

MP : He has problems with writing, but not with grammar.

A : Yes, and he has difficulties in concentrating. Concerning the history here it says that he could walk only at the age of 19 months and he said his first words when he was 17 months old.

Everybody knows the rubric on page 1223:

EXTREMITIES, Walk late learning to: Agar, bar-c, bell, Calc, Calc-p, Caust, Nat-m, nux-v, sanic, sil, sulph

Agaricus because of neurological, twitching problems.

Baryta carbonica because of the combination of not knowing how, not understanding and weakness.

Belladonna, I don't know why.

Calcarea carbonica because of weakness.

Calcarea phosphorica also.

Causticum because of neurological problems.

Don't forget Causticum in children with fear of animals!

Further Natrum muriaticum who are late in learning to walk because they don't know how to walk.

Nux vomica because of spasms.

I don't know why Sanicula.

Silicea also because of weakness.

Every remedy has its own reasons why it is late in learning to walk. Calcarea carbonica, Silicea and Calcarea phosphorica are remedies related to the bones, to make the bones stronger.

Calcarea phosphorica is a very interesting remedy for children. Usually they have red hair. These are very difficult children, very discontented. This is expressed in the rubric on page 92:

MIND, Wander, desires to: Calc-p ...

They cannot play a long time with the same toy, they always want something else. Calcarea phosphorica has the desire to travel like Tuberculinum, but the difference between these remedies is that Tuberculinum is happy as long as he's traveling. Tuberculinum goes to Rome, he's happy, then he goes to Venice and there he is happy too and so on. Calcarea phosphorica goes to Rome, but he doesn't feel well there, he is discontented and therefore he has to go somewhere else. Tuberculinum is a contented and hopeful remedy, and precisely here is the differential diagnostic point. Calcarea phosphorica needs constantly something else, they are not happy when they are in Lourdes for three days.

You find Calcarea phosphorica also in the rubric on page 37:

MIND, Dullness: ... Calc-p ...

It might happen that these children are sitting immovable and doing nothing when you put them somewhere. You find this in the rubric on page 38:

MIND, Dullness, children: ... Calc-p ...

You may misinterpret this and prescribe Baryta carbonica. Baryta carbonica also learns to walk late and if you put them somewhere they also sit immovable, but the difference with Calcarea phosphorica is that Calcarea phosphorica are very obstinate and Baryta carbonica are not. If Calcarea phosphorica wants something they cry and cry and you can't calm them down. Especially during dentition they are very obstinate and cry a lot.

The differential diagnosis with Baryta carbonica is not so difficult, because Baryta carbonica children are backward in their development, also on the mental level.

The differential diagnosis with Calcarea carbonica on the contrary is not so easy, because Calcarea carbonica are also obstinate.

You find this in the rubric on page 69:

MIND, Obstinate, children, inclined to grow fat: Calc

But usually these are blond children, 90% blond, while Calcarea phosphorica children have a red tint in their hair which makes you think of Phosphorus.

This patient was not only late in walking, but also late in talking. You find this in the rubric on page 86:

MIND, Talk, slow learning to: Agar, bar-c, calc-p, Nat-m, nux-m, sanic

I have never made a successful prescription of Sanicula and I hope that one of my colleagues will show a case of Sanicula one day.

Calcarea carbonica is not in this rubric, Calcarea children are clever children. Maybe you remember the cheerful eyes of the child with Osteogenesis imperfecta. I made an addition of Medorrhinum in the rubric, "talk, slow learning to talk". You don't have to do it, but I did it for myself.

A : Probably he had a concussion of the brain at the age of 2.

MP : Yes, that's what it said.

A : Then he went to kindergarten and later to school. He didn't like to go to school, it was difficult for him to make contact. He was a child who was not very social.

MP : I wouldn't state it that way. I think he was like that because he was a little bit an outsider. In his class there were only six boys and twenty four girls and that was a problem.

A : Does he make contact easily now?

MP : Yes, I think so, he makes friends easier than our daughter. I think that this problem is solved now.

(To the son) Or don't you agree?

A : Although he is still very withdrawn.

MP : I would rather say shy.

A : Rather shy, maybe a lack of self-confidence. I see something on the lower lip.

You see the crack in the lower lip.

The plethoric lips are typical for this remedy and therefore you might mix it up with Sulphur, but in Natrum muriaticum the face is rather pale or the skin of the face is greasy.

Besides you can see an external strabismus of the right eye. It is as if they do not want to see, as if they do not want real contact, they turn away one eye. That is the psychological reason for a spontaneous symptom on the level of the eye, for the divergent strabismus.

A : There is a small crack in the middle of the lower lip. In the clinical neurological examination it was remarkable that he was left-handed and grasps things with four fingers. The movements come from the joint of the hand. Maybe there is a lack of fine motor.

MP : He always does that when he holds his pen.

A : He has bad writing technique.

This is the awkwardness which you find in the Repertory on page 953:

EXTREMITIES, Awkwardness, fingers

MP : I think he does this because he is not sure of himself.

A : This child seems to be dependant upon you, as you can see and he is timid.

MP : Is it my fault?

A : No, you didn't make your child that way. Every child has his own character. Your eldest daughter has had the same education as he, but she is different. You raised your daughter in the same way as him.

MP : But she isn't doing well either.

A : But she conquered her shyness, didn't she?

MP : Yes.

A : In converging the left eye was weaker.

(To the patient) Look at the tip of your nose.

A : Does he have problems with his eyes?

MP : Not that I know.

A : He has eczema on his legs, doesn't he? Is this strong now?

MP : Yes, now it is strong again.

A : Tell me where is it the worst?

MP : On the feet.

A : Which one?

MP : On the left.

A : On the back of the foot or the footsole?

MP : On the upper part.

A : So the back of the foot.

Here we have the EEG, but we are not interested, it doesn't say anything.

His general dynamic coordination corresponds to a child of 8 1/2 years old. In this case he is a little bit backward in his development. But don't worry, it will be all right. He has a dissociation of coordinated movements.

MP : What do you mean?

A : This means that the movements are not so fluent. Coordinated movements means, for example, to move the arms and legs at the same time.

MP : Like in skipping rope?

A : Yes.

MP : He can't do it.

A : That is exactly what is meant. The articulation is weak and he is lisping.

MP : Every time somebody comes to help him to speak more clearly he runs away. He doesn't want to exercise anymore.

A : Probably the exercises don't help much. According to me the homeopathic remedy must clear this problem completely. What we know up to now points very strongly to a certain remedy.

A : Do you still need this letter?

MP : Yes.

A : Let's make a copy of it. What about drinking? Is he thirsty?

MP : Let him talk himself, otherwise he will be even more dependant on me.

A : Are you thirsty?

P : Yes.

A : Do you drink with large or small draughts?

P : When it is cold in large draughts, and when it is warm in small draughts.

A : When it is not so warm you can drink in big draughts. How is your appetite?

(Silence)

You prefer cold drinks to warm, don't you?

P : Usually I drink tea.

A : Can it be warm?

P : Yes.

A : And what do you like to eat?

P : Usually I like to eat everything.

A : But what do you prefer?

P : French fries.

A : Do you put salt on them?

P : A little bit.

A : Do you always put salt on it or not?

P : My mother always puts salt on it.

MP : But not too much. I don't put extra on the table.

A : Does he want salt?

MP : No. I always put some salt on the food in the kitchen, but I don't put it on the table, because my husband likes to put a lot of salt on French fries, and this is not good.

A : And your son?

MP : I don't know. He never asks for it.

A : Do you like nuts?

P : My mother doesn't buy them often.

A : But he likes them?

MP : Yes.

A : Do you like salted nuts?

P : All kind of nuts.

A : And chips?

P : Yes.

A : What kind of chips do you like? With paprika or with salt?

P : Both.

A : Do you like fish?

P : Yes.

A : Do you prefer fish to meat?

P : It depends on the meat.

A : What kind of meat do you like?

P : Chicken schnitzel.

A : Can there be a rim of fat on the meat?

P : There is no fat on a schnitzel.

A : But if there is some fat on the meat?

P : I like to eat bacon.

A : When it is fried well?

P : Also when it is not fried well.

A : Do you eat the fat?

P : Yes.

A : Do you also eat the rim of fat on the meat?

P : Yes.

A : Do you like fat?

P : Yes. When it is a big piece I cut it away, but when it is only a little bit I eat it.

A : What kind of sweets do you eat?

P : Chocolate.

A : Do you like it?

P : Yes.

A : What do you drink?

P : Cold or warm?

A : No, I mean do you drink lemonade or what?

P : Lemonade.

A : Do you like it when it is a little bit bitter or do you prefer sweet?

P : It doesn't matter.

A : Do you prefer to eat a warm meal or bread?

P : I like a warm meal.

A : Also bread?

P : Yes.

A : Of course chocolate, that is obvious. Can the soup be warm, hot?

P : Yes.

A : Do you like spaghetti?

P : Yes.

A : Very much?

P : Yes.

A : Before I asked you what you would prefer to eat and you told me, "Everything", but you like spaghetti very much, don't you?

P : Yes.

A : What kind of sauce do you like?

P : Tomato sauce.

A : Do you like it spicy or not?

P : I don't mind.

A : Do you like fruit?

P : Yes.

A : Does he like fruit very much, so that he asks for it? We know that you are worried about him getting enough vitamins.

MP : When I buy grapes in the summer they are gone immediately.

A : So he likes fruit.

MP : Only oranges, they don't peel them, I have to do it.

A : Does he like milk?

MP : He doesn't drink it since he was a little child. He has an aversion.

A : Are there other things you don't like?

MP : He doesn't like pumpkin soup.

A : Did you ever drink wine?

P : Yes.

A : Do you like it?

P : Yes.

A : In what position does he lie in bed?

MP : I can't answer that question, it is different every time. In the morning all the covers are gone.

A : Can you tolerate the sun well?

P : Yes, but I don't lie in the sun. Otherwise I can tolerate it well.

A : But you don't sit in the sun?

P : No.

MP : When he is playing he is walking about. Yesterday we went visiting and this woman was really burnt by the sun. He couldn't do that.

A : What do you feel when you lie in the sun? Have you ever had a headache from the sun?

P : When the sun is very strong, I have.

He has what we call a Cleopatra neck, emaciation in the cervical region. It is typical for this remedy that they have a very small neck. You find this in the Repertory on page 887:

BACK, Emaciation, cervical region

If you look at him you see that he is tall and lean. I made an addition of two remedies in the rubric on page 1370:

GENERALITIES, Lean people: Nat-m, ph-ac

He is tall and lean and has a very small neck.

A : You can sit down again and turn your chair. Your neck is what we call a Cleopatra neck. May I see your nails?

P : (shows his hands)

A : There are little pieces of skin, also on the other side.

You can observe all this, without asking anything: the crack in the lower lip, the small neck, the divergent strabismus, the hangnails, nails with white spots, lean people. There are so many physical symptoms pointing to the remedy.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : In hangnails small pieces of skin are hanging around the nail.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : No, there are people who bite these pieces of skin and others who bite the nails. When I want to ask something immediately he looks downwards, just like the previous case. When in small children the eyes are turned downward of what remedy do you think?

Audience: Aethusa.

A : Yes, Aethusa.

A : Does he have dandruff?

P : No.

A : Is he easily too warm inside?

The white dandruff is another peculiar symptom which you often find in this constitution. It is a physical symptom, but for me it is important to work quickly. You find this remedy on page 114:

HEAD, Dandruff, white

HEAD,DANDRUF,white : Kali-chl., mez., Nat-m., phos., Thuj.

You have to differentiate this important symptom with some other remedies, and the most important differential diagnosis is Thuja. The white scabs are a keynote of Thuja. Besides they have a greasy face.

Other important remedies are Mezereum and Phosphorus. The Kali chloratum in this rubric must be Kali muriaticum.

A : Does he tell much? Only to you?

MP : No, now to my husband, but usually he doesn't have time. He tells a lot to my mother.

A : To certain persons, not to everybody?

MP : Yes, he also talks a lot with my mother's sister, then I don't count anymore.

A : His heart does not lie on his tongue, only for certain persons, he tells very little to others. Is that right?

P : Yes, that's right.

MP : I think he easily fights with his sister. It is desperate, I don't know who starts it. He says that she started it.

A : Well yes, it is rather clear. I'll give him a tablet, in 50M potency.

So 50M, a very high potency. This is necessary here, because it is a neurological problem.

A : You'll see that he'll improve gradually. As a parameter to prove the remedy is right we'll take the eczema.

MP : He doesn't walk properly with his foot, he doesn't use it like before.

A : Well good. I'll give him a remedy and I want to see him again after two months and see what happens to the eczema. Then it has to be better, but the remedy will improve the development especially.

MP : His self-confidence.

Don't misunderstand me. Of course the internal neurological symptoms have to improve first, but it is much more difficult to observe the amelioration of the coordination problems than the amelioration of the eczema. Therefore I took the eczema as criterion for the amelioration, because it is much more visible.

A : You said something else which is important, namely he regularly has aphthae in the mouth. Did he ever have them on the lips?

MP : Yes, he had them last week, in the right corner of the mouth.

A : But did he also have them on his lips?

MP : No, I haven't seen them there.

A : So in the mouth and in the corner of the mouth. How often does he have them?

Where is the typical place for aphthae in Natrum muriaticum? On the gums. Not on the cheek, but on the gums is the typical place for aphthae in Natrum muriaticum.

MP : This is different, but they always return.

A : This is also an important indication for the homeopathic remedy he needs.

FEEDBACK (June 24, 1987)

A : Tell me how did he react? His problem was disturbance of coordination and eczema. These were his main complaints, I thought.

MP : Yes.

A : And a certain difficulty in making contact, also a little bit shy. How did it go? What did he feel or what could you observe immediately after the remedy? He received a 50M potency.

MP : Immediately afterwards it was better, and about May 1, he relapsed. Actually I wrote it down, but I forgot my paper. At the beginning of May he was ill and received a remedy.

A : This was Foliata squalosa.

MP : Afterwards it went downwards again, I think.

A : What could you observe immediately after the remedy?

MP : He was doing much better.

A : In what sense much better?

MP : More refreshed and more vivid. Now the eczema is almost gone.

A : This is good. Do you have less itching?

P : None at all, no itching at all.

A : And before you had quite a lot of itching?

P : Yes.

A : Did you still have aphthae?

P : Yes.

A : When?

P : Last week.

A : Did they last as long as before?

P : They disappeared quickly, more quickly than usual.

A : The way he is looking is very peculiar. How is his coordination? Has something changed?

MP : I think it has improved.

A : He also goes to massage?

MP : No, to movement therapy. He has to do some exercises.

A : What does the therapist say?

MP : He says that he is improving. When he moved one hand the other was moving as well, and this is improving now. He also knows better what he wants. Also at school he is more in the front.

A : This is also better?

MP : Yes.

A : Before he was discontented?

MP : I wouldn't say discontented, he just didn't want to do anything. He only wanted to play.

A : But in general you are very satisfied with the development.

MP : Yes. I think it is much better. I hope that he agrees.

This was a very clear case. He had all the typical physical symptoms of Natrum muriaticum and if you know them you recognize the remedy immediately.

I have the impression that we give very high potencies when we are sure about the remedy and low potencies when we are not so sure. In this case I was so sure that I gave a 50M, and the reaction was very good, concerning the coordination disturbances as well as the eczema. You see that even with high potencies no aggravation is needed first when the remedy is right.

Since then this boy is very good. A few times he had a Bryonia influenza, Bryonia is a complementary remedy to Natrum muriaticum, and I think, I repeated Natrum muriaticum once when the eczema returned. Up to now you have observed in every patient that they don't look into my eyes, they always look downward.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : No, there is no rubric for the symptom, that they don't look into your eyes.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : Which rubric do you mean? In the German Kent?

Audience: Doesn't want to be looked at?

A : Hmm. I don't think that this rubric corresponds with the symptom that he always looks away. His emotion doesn't allow him to look into your eyes for a long time. It is an expression of the defense mechanism on the emotional level.

Remark: I didn't find Natrum muriaticum under white spots on fingernails.

A : Natrum muriaticum is not there?

Audience: No. Is it an addition?

A : I thought it was in the rubric. There must be two rubrics (is looking in the Repertory). I must have been mistaken.

Remark: It is an addition from Jahr.

A : It might be. I always thought it belonged to Natrum muriaticum, but I can't prove it.

CASE 3V2

Headache

Natrium muriaticum

Case 1

Man, 23 years old

June 26, 1989

P : I have a lot of headaches. Now it is a little bit better. Since the beginning of February I stopped smoking and then it improved slightly, but they are still very strong.

Again you see the dark lips and the crack in the middle of the lower lip. Usually the color of the eyes tend to be blue, and the hair is dark; dark hair with some gray streaks.

A : Since when do you suffer from this?

P : For two years, I think.

A : How old are you now?

P : I'm 23 years old.

A : You have had these headaches for two years.

P : I think so. I also had headaches before, but not so often.

A : Before you also had this?

P : Yes, but seldom.

When he is talking his eyes are walking all the time. You really don't have the impression that he is a closed person, but while talking he doesn't look into my eyes for a long time.

P : It starts in the neck and extends to my head.

A : If I see it right you have blue eyes, don't you?

P : Yes, I think so. Do you call this migraine or what? I don't know whether it is a real migraine, but my wife says so.

A : Do you have pain on excitement?

P : I have a headache especially on Sunday, when I do very little or nothing at all. I have it especially in the morning when I get up and towards noon it becomes really severe.

A : If you sleep a long time in the morning? Do you sleep longer on Sunday?

P : Yes, longer than usual. I get up later than normal.

A : When do you get up usually?

P : At 8:00 o'clock, 8:30.

A : What kind of job do you have?

P : I'm a salesman.

A : You get up at 8:00 or 8:30. And during the week?

P : This is during the week.

A : But I mean on Sunday.

P : Sometimes at 10:00 o'clock.

A : And then you have a headache when you wake up?

P : Not immediately. After a while the muscles become stiff and there is a contraction.

A : Is it worse during your holidays in the summer?

P : I can't say. I might have difficulties for a few days, but actually not.

A : You get up at 10:00 o'clock. Do you ever have a headache during the week?

P : Yes. It depends, I have a headache in many situations. I think it depends on the exertion. When I almost had an accident I also had a kind of contraction of the muscles.

A : At what time are the headaches worse? You say that when you get up at 10:00 o'clock on Sunday they appear a while later.

P : It is really bad about 2:00 p.m. , not immediately in the morning. Maybe I feel something, but it is not really bad.

A : Do you have other complaints?

P : No.

A : No other complaints?

P : No.

A : Did you ever have pain in the back?

P : Yes, I think it goes together. It starts in the back and it extends upwards.

A : You also have pain in your back?

P : Yes.

A : Did you ever have dandruff on your head?

P : Yes.

A : What color?

P : White.

A : Did you ever have acne on your face?

P : Yes. It is not so bad anymore, but I still have some.

A : Do you have greasy skin?

P : Yes, rather greasy.

Greasy face. This is an important objective symptom. You find this rubric on page 375:

FACE, Greasy

I don't have any additions for this rubric.

A : You look like a person whose heart doesn't lie on his tongue.

P : Yes, you're right.

A : What do you mean?

P : If there is something wrong, it lasts quite a while before I talk about it.

A : Are you married?

P : Yes, since October 14 last year.

A : For how long have you known your wife?

P : For 6 years.

A : That's quite a long time, isn't it? How many women have you known in the meantime?

P : In the meantime none.

A : And before?

P : Before I had three girlfriends.

A : Were they serious relationships or not?

P : No.

A : Are you the kind of person who, - well, today they easily take another girlfriend.

P : For me this is a serious matter. We have a very good relationship, we understand each other very well. I don't have any problems.

A : I think this is something which corresponds to your character, the fact that you were together with one woman for 6 years.

Laughing.

A : You are laughing too early. This is a very important point to know Natrum muriaticum. They hold on, they stay with only one woman and they don't go from one woman to another. It takes quite a long time before they open, before they let you into their emotional world; but when they do and there is a good connection they don't go away so easily, they hold on. That's why the grief is so deep in Natrum muriaticum, because their relationships on the emotional level are so serious, it is a catastrophe for them when a partner runs away. There is no other remedy which holds on so deeply in an emotional relationship like Natrum muriaticum. These are very "faithful" people.

P : Personally I think it is good.

A : But there are many people your age who have another relationship.

P : I don't mind when other people do.

A : What do you think of people who change partners?

P : This is not for me.

A : You are rather closed, at least concerning your feelings.

P : Yes, that's right.

A : Can you tolerate the sun?

P : Not very well, no. I don't like the warmth much.

A : On which side do you sleep?

P : On the right side.

A : Can you sleep on the left side?

P : Normally not. I always fall asleep on the right side. Sometimes I try to sleep on the left side, but then I turn over to the other side.

A : How is your appetite?

P : It is not bad, I should say.

A : Is there anything you don't like?

P : Mussels, I don't like them.

This is an aversion to what?

To slimy food. They have an aversion to all kinds of organ meat like liver, kidneys and these kinds of things. "Aversion to slimy food": Natrum muriaticum, Medorrhinum and Calcarea carbonica.

A : Only mussels or also fish?

P : I don't like fish so much. I like some fish, but not so much.

Aversion fish.

A : Is this the only thing you don't like? What about slimy food?

P : No, bah.

A : What do you like a lot? How does your food have to taste?

P : That is not so easy. Nice.

A : How does it have to be prepared? Does it have to be sweet, or highly seasoned?

P : Just normal, not so spicy.

A : And you don't like salt either?

P : I eat it, but ...

A : What are you fond of?

P : Salt, but I hardly eat it.

A : I didn't ask you what you eat, but what you like to eat.

P : Well, I like salt.

A : Do you put extra salt in soup?

P : No, actually not. I don't do it, because my mother suffered with kidney problems and she is not allowed to eat salt anymore. Therefore we eat everything saltless at home.

A : Do you have other complaints? How is your stool?

P : It is good.

A : No problems? Every day?

P : Yes.

A : Can you become angry?

P : Yes, I can.

A : And also forget quickly?

P : Yes, very quickly.

A : Very quickly?

P : Yes. I'm angry for 10 minutes and when they leave me in peace for a while, it is over.

A : You must be left in peace?

P : Yes. Also when I'm ill or when I don't feel well, I want to be left in peace. Then it will go away.

A : When you are angry they cannot approach you and give you a pat on your shoulder?

P : No, it must go away in peace.

A : And when you really hurt somebody?

P : I must have the opportunity to see this person again and be able to talk to him. With people whom I see regularly it lasts for one day, with others it might last longer.

A : How often do you have a headache on average?

P : I think at least once a week. Now it has changed because I stopped smoking. At the time I was smoking I had a heavy head every day when I came home and now it has improved.

A : But we can say once a week on average?

P : Yes.

A : If the remedy is right you might get a headache after the remedy and afterwards it must be better. I have to see you once again and then it must be cured, because it is a very clear case.

The case is clear, and you see that the consultation didn't last too long a time.

FEEDBACK (August 22, 1989)

A : Did you have a headache after the administration of the remedy?

P : No.

A : So there was no aggravation. You haven't been ill, nothing?

P : No. I've just worked.

A : You have had a headache once?

P : Yes, once.

A : The last two months. You were here in July and now it is August 22.

P : Yes, during the holidays, on July 17 I had an attack.

A : Was it as bad as usual?

P : Yes. The whole week before I worked at the building, and then I got it.

A : Before you had an attack once a week and now it is once in two months. Other complaints?

P : No. Only the muscles of the neck are stiff, and also of the back. But now the headache doesn't come through like before.

A : You felt that the headache started in your neck?

P : Yes, it started in the neck and then the headache appeared.

A : You feel that it is still there, but it doesn't come through anymore?

P : Yes.

A : And how is the dandruff on your head?

P : I didn't pay attention to that. I don't think it is as bad.

A : You don't notice it anymore.

P : No.

A : You also had, I thought, or am I wrong, let's see, pain in your back?

P : No.

CASE 4V2

Case 2

Man, 25 years old

February 28, 1988

A : I have never seen you before.

P : No.

A : And you come for headaches. Tell me.

P : I have attacks of headaches, I have bad vision, I have spots in the vision, and a tickling of the limbs.

A : Tickling, bad vision, spots before the eyes. What kind of spots?

P : Black spots, so that I don't see anything at all on this spot. When I look I can't read what is written on the concerned spot, but I can read what is written before or after. If I have to describe this it is a loss of vision.

A : And these are spots?

P : Yes.

A : And it goes along with a tickling of the hands?

P : This comes afterwards. It starts with these spots and then I know I will get an attack.

A : An attack of what?

P : Of migraine, I think.

He says that suddenly he gets black spots before his eyes, his vision becomes dim, and then the migraine appears. You find this rubric on page 276:

VISION, Dim, headache, before

This is a very important rubric, but some remedies are missing. Stramonium is an addition of Boericke and Ananda Zaren showed a patient in whom this symptom was cured with Medorrhinum.

So here we have dim vision before headache and then the typical black spots. You find this in the rubric on page 272:

VISION, Colors, black: ... Nat-m ...

black : Agar., arn., cina., clem., lach., merc., Nat-m., phos.

A little bit lower you find the rubric:

VISION, Colors, black, spots: ... Nat-m ...

spots : Agar., am-c., arg-n., asc-t., aur., bar-c., bell., calc., camph., chel., chin-s., chlor., cimic., cocc., con., cupr-ar., cur., dulc., elaps.,Glon., hell., lil-t., lyc., mag-c., med., meli., nat-c., Nat-m., nit-ac., petr., phos., psor., Sep., sil., stram., stront., syph., tab., thuj., verat.

In the following rubric on page 272 you only find Psorinum, but Natrum muriaticum has to be added of course:

VISION, Colors, black, spots, headache, before a: Psor

Now look at the patient on the video. The way he is sitting there you notice the crack in the middle of the lower lip, and he also has rather plethoric lips.

P : Afterwards I have a tickling in the limbs, usually in the right hand.

A : And then?

P : When these two symptoms have disappeared and I lie down the headache appears. It goes along with nausea and vomiting. These always follow each other.

Did I already give you the additions for the rubric "Numbness, hands, before headache" or didn't I?

On the basis of some cases from practice I made a new rubric with Natrum muriaticum and Sepia on page 1038:

EXTREMITIES, Numbness, of the hand before headache

This patient also mentions this symptom, numb hands before headache.

If you look at his right eye you see that it is more turned out than the left.

P : First I thought it was stress and then I did things more quietly, but I also had it. I did things more slowly for a few days and then suddenly I had it so strongly that we had to call a doctor.

Again he's looking downward. You will find this again and again.

P : My wife's former family doctor came, he gave me an injection and said that it was a migraine. It didn't improve at all, it became worse. This was the worst attack I ever had. I was hospitalized and they said it was a migraine. I still have the papers. I had a lot of examinations and every day I had to take tablets, but yet it remained the same.

A : As a consequence of the INDERAL which you had in the hospital you had bradycardia.

P : I always had.

A : In the letter from the hospital it says that sometimes you don't have pain when you take INDERAL.

P : I took INDERAL, but I had the attacks anyway.

A : How often do you get these attacks?

P : Lately the periods are shorter. On January 19 I had a very severe attack and then again one on February 13.

A : And in the meantime?

P : I feel good. Now and then I have a slight attack. Then I only have this tickling, but I don't have a headache.

A : How often does that happen?

P : Every two weeks.

A : We can say every month you have a severe attack of migraine.

P : Then I have to stay in bed all day, I'm really ill and the next day I'm really exhausted. Every time I want to fall asleep I have a tendency to vomit. I can't calm down, I always have pain and then I feel deathly ill. This gives me a real breakdown.

A : Since when have you had these attacks? Since childhood?

P : It started about one year ago. We were still living in the old house. We married in 1982/1983. We were living there and I never had this before. After we lived for about one year in our new house, at the beginning of 1983/1984 it started.

A : This is strange. Was there any cause?

P : I can't think of a cause.

WP : We have one son and he can't bear when he makes too much noise with his toys. He can't bear traffic noise either. The child cannot make any noise.

P : Especially the high tones, this screaming, I can't bear this.

WP : He becomes rather aggressive.

P : Well yes, aggressive, I don't beat him.

A : Can you tolerate the sun well?

P : I can't tolerate the sunlight well.

A : And lying in the sun? With your head in the sun?

P : Now I go on holiday to Spain.

A : And how long do you lie in the sun there?

P : Maybe four hours a day.

A : In a row?

P : No, no.

A : (To his wife) But you can.

WP : I can, but he can't. He doesn't lie much in the sun.

P : I can't tolerate this. Also my skin doesn't tolerate this.

A : Do you sometimes get a headache in the sun?

P : I never do.

A : Do you think he tolerates the sun well?

WP : No. I don't think that he does.

A : Why?

WP : He can't lie down a long time. Soon he must get up again to fetch something to drink.

A : Are you always thirsty?

P : No, but I can't lie still well.

This is typical. I was with a Natrum muriaticum person in Spain. He was lying on the beach and after 10 minutes he was really dried out and had something to drink. They have to drink constantly.

The best way to learn a remedy is to live together with people for whom you know the remedy. Then you recognize all the little details and understand why they do this or that.

You cannot really learn homeopathy by sitting behind your table. You have to learn it together with your patients, while drinking a beer or doing things like that.

FEEDBACK (April 11, 1988)

Now you can see the crack in the lower lip more clearly, and if there is no divergent strabismus on the right side, I'm blind.

A : You had headaches and loss of vision, black spots before your eyes.

P : I think it was migraine. It started with these spots.

A : You took the remedy on February 28. What did you notice?

P : Nothing, nothing at all.

A : You didn't have any headaches afterwards?

P : No, nothing.

A : You haven't been ill either?

P : No. It was as if I hadn't taken it at all.

A : And then? How did it go further with the headaches?

P : Very well. The whole time I didn't have any attacks at all. But also in the past the attacks might stay away for 1 1/2 months.

A : How often did they occur on average?

P : In the last period of time it occurred once a month. Before I came here I had the impression that the distance between the attacks was shorter.

A : You were here on February 28, so at the end of February. Before this, when did you have an attack?

P : On January 19 and in February.

A : But there is not one month in between.

WP : In the 1 1/2 months before he came he had two attacks.

A : What else could you do? You don't have to be ill from the remedy necessarily. If it is the right potency there doesn't have to be an aggravation. You also took very few painkillers.

P : I took them very seldom.

A : Most people suppress their migraines with painkillers, and if you get a homeopathic remedy you get an attack. So it is not bad, isn't it?

P : The remedy helped, I think.

A : Yes, of course. The aim is that the migraine disappears. Usually there is an aggravation first and then an amelioration, but it doesn't have to occur necessarily.

P : Once I had these initial symptoms.

A : Did you have this also before, or did it always come through?

P : In the past it didn't always come through.

A : How often did you have these initial symptoms?

P : After the administration of the remedy, once.

A : I will give you this remedy in a tube to take home, but don't take it now. Wait for about two months, then come back. If you have an attack in the meantime you can take this tablet.

P : When I have an attack immediately afterwards?

A : No, during the attack. How long does it last?

P : One day.

WP : The whole day and he doesn't feel well the next day either.

I think this is clear. He himself doesn't understand well why he doesn't have any headaches.

CASE 5 V2

Headache

Natrium muriaticum

Case 1

Boy, 11 years old

A : You came in January 1982 for headaches. Where did you have the headaches?

P : Here (points to his forehead)

A : In which circumstances did you have a headache?

P : When it was warm.

A : No matter what type of warmth?

MP : No, especially in the burning sun and in oppressed dry air.

A : Then you had a headache?

P : Yes.

A : Could you see normally with your headache?

MP : No. We saw an eye-doctor once for that problem to find out what was wrong. He says it's as if there is a veil. He doesn't see well with the headaches.

A : Before or during the headaches?

P : (Looks at his mother)

MP : During the headaches. Before his headache he isn't fit, then he feels weak.

A : He has a headache especially from warmth. Does he sometimes have a headache at night?

MP : No, only during the day. Usually he comes at noon and says it.

A : You are a teacher?

MP : Yes.

A : And then he comes at noon?

MP : About 12:00 o'clock he comes and says, "I have a headache."

A : Do you know when the headaches start? When you tell your mama you have a headache have you already had this for a while?

P : Yes.

A : Do you think the headache starts in the forenoon?

P : Yes.

A : Before 12:00 o'clock? Maybe about 10:00 o'clock?

MP : I don't know.

A : Anyway he comes at noon and says that he has a headache.

MP : About 4 o'clock he is really bad, but it starts before 12:00 o'clock.

A : Then we can say it starts at 10:00 o'clock.

Laughing.

A : Yes, yes, here I pushed and pushed. At that time I often did, but this is not so important. It is important that we know that the aggravation time of Natrum muriaticum is 10:00 o'clock.

A : What do you have to do when he has a headache?

MP : He wants it to be dark. Sometimes we have to use an extra curtain and it has to be quiet in the house. When I look at him he sleeps deeply. After his sleep usually it is gone.

A : Does it have to be cool or does he want it to be warm in the bedroom?

MP : No, it doesn't have to be.

A : He is warm-blooded. Can he tolerate the sun and the warmth inside well?

MP : No, he doesn't need a cap, or gloves, no extra pull-over. As soon as it isn't necessary anymore he doesn't want to wear pajamas. When I give him one he says, "No, I don't need it, it is too warm."

A : Does he perspire easily?

MP : Yes, when he excites himself.

A : Where does he perspire?

MP : Here, at the margin of the head and on the face.

A : Do you think you have to wash your hair often?

MP : Once a week.

A : His hair is not easily greasy.

MP : No. He just played football and he perspired a lot.

A : Is his face dry sometimes?

MP : No, he doesn't have dry skin at all.

A : And on the body?

MP : He has beautiful smooth skin. It is always a little bit greasy, like oily.

A : From childhood on?

MP : Yes.

You know the rubric on page 375:

FACE, Greasy

This is an important observation.

A : I also notice that he has a split in the middle of the lower lip. This is almost a crack. Does he often have a crack?

MP : No, very seldom.

A : It is very remarkable he has a split in the middle. Does he often have vesicles?

MP : No.

A : Did he ever have aphthae in the mouth?

MP : Yes, sometimes he has aphthae. Not particularly often, but sometimes.

A : He has always been thin. Can you lift your head?

P : (lifts his head)

A : The neck is not particularly thin, but he has the tendency to be thin. Does he eat well?

MP : Normal for his age, I think.

A : How is his stool?

MP : Also normal, no problem.

A : Can he go to the toilet somewhere else? At school?

P : If I have to yes.

MP : He has problems with that. At home he doesn't.

A : He doesn't dare to go to the toilet at school?

MP : No, he never does.

P : Yes, I do.

A : The last time you also told me you noticed that.

MP : Also when we go on holiday he doesn't go to the toilet one or two days and then he goes, then there are no problems.

A : It seems that it takes quite a while before he adapts himself when he comes into a new situation when away from home.

MP : Yes, actually he has to adapt himself everywhere.

A : How does he lie in bed?

MP : Before he lay on his abdomen very often and now he pulls up his knees.

A : On which side does he sleep?

MP : Usually on the right side, with the face to the cupboard.

A : This is on the right side?

MP : Yes.

A : Does he always say so little?

MP : At home he is never quiet, not at all. Actually he can speak very well.

A : Who does he talk to?

MP : To his friends, within the circle of his friends.

A : Does he talk about himself or about superficial things?

MP : About his tractors and airplanes.

A : Does he talk about himself?

MP : Never.

A : He is rather closed?

MP : Yes.

A : Who does he talk to about himself at home?

MP : Sometimes to me.

A : Can anybody else be there?

MP : No. Only when we are alone. He has a younger brother and a sister and he will only talk to me when they have gone to bed.

A : Then he talks to you about things which are not superficial.

MP : No, about small problems he has with his friends or has at home. Problems may be very important for him.

A : What do you mean?

MP : At school for example, there is a boy in the first class.

(to her son) What did that boy say?

P : He is looking for a fight. He is too wild.

MP : He can digest those problems, but it takes quite a while. This must be solved at home in the evening.

A : He doesn't show it so much, he hides it slightly. He shuts up and then thinks about it.

MP : Yes.

A : Also in his relationship with friends? He is not somebody who has another friend every day?

MP : No, he is a very faithful friend. Also with his toys. He has a cuddle animal, he has had this since he was very little and he never wanted another one. This is also with his clothing. He doesn't want any new clothes. We want him to buy something, but he never wants to wear something new.

A : He holds on to familiar things.

MP : Yes.

A : He is very faithful, towards friends and things.

MP : Yes, he also has his habits. I think this is so since he was still in the cradle. When his best friend moved this caused quite a lot of problems. He still writes him very confident letters.

A : He doesn't show his emotions?

MP : No. When he has grief or when he is angry he leaves. You see it in him, but he goes away.

A : You may not give him a pat on the shoulder to console him?

MP : No, he wants to be left in peace.

A : He must be alone, when he has grief or when he is angry.

MP : Yes.

A : So he doesn't like to be consoled?

MP : No. He speaks with his dog.

A : He speaks with his dog?

MP : Yes, he tells everything to his dog.

This is also very typical. The first Natrum carbonicum patient also had a cat. I didn't show it, because otherwise it would take too much time, but she loved her cat in a way which makes you think of Aethusa, but Aethusa is not as embittered as Natrum muriaticum. Natrum muriaticum loves animals, because they can talk to them without being hurt. For this reason Natrum muriaticum likes a cat or a dog that they can unburden their heart to and say everything they want, because the animal doesn't respond. They can't bear to be hurt emotionally.

MP : Sometimes he weeps in his room and he tells his dog about his grief.

A : He weeps when he is alone, never in company?

MP : Not never, but almost never. Sometimes he becomes angry, but then he goes away.

A : Now he has a red face. Is this because of the warmth in this room?

MP : I think so.

A : Is it too warm for him in here?

MP : Yes. He is still wearing his jacket.

A : He is very sensitive, isn't he?

MP : Yes, I think so.

A : More sensitive than other children?

MP : His brother is like him, his sister is different.

A : Can he live a situation?

MP : Yes, very strongly. If there is only a little bit of bad atmosphere in the air he feels it.

A : He doesn't react?

MP : No, no, but you can see that he is unhappy. If my husband and I have a quarrel he comes to me and he says, "Mama, there is something wrong."

Another very sensitive point in children is the divorce of the parents. This is a catastrophe for these children. They are very sensitive to these kinds of things, because Natrum muriaticum normally is very faithful. If the children are in this kind of situation probably at the beginning they react in an Ignatia way and then they go into a Natrum muriaticum state, or they can go into a Natrum muriaticum state immediately.

A few days ago I saw a child who was completely stiff and had pain all over the body, a headache and pain in the back. Because of the pain in the back the child had to lie flat on the ground. The consultation was very difficult, but the symptoms were so clear that I was sure of the remedy, only I didn't see the reason why.

The mother was weeping during the whole consultation - probably she was Pulsatilla - and afterwards she said, "Doctor, I must tell you something, I've just divorced." Then I knew the reason. The child had these symptoms since the divorce of the parents and they didn't realize the connection.

A : Do you dream sometimes?

P : Very seldom.

A : Do you sleep well?

P : Normally.

MP : I think he dreams. You can see it when he is lying in bed. He jerks. Once he is asleep he sleeps through very well; but he doesn't like to go to sleep in the evening.

A : How is his thirst?

MP : He is very thirsty.

A : Does he drink with small or with large draughts?

MP : He drinks a full glass at once.

A : So thirsty?

MP : Yes, and especially milk.

A : And does he prefer it from the refrigerator?

MP : At home the milk is always room temperature, but I think he prefers it from the refrigerator.

A : You prefer to drink something cold?

P : (is nodding)

A : It might be water or lemonade, as long as it is something cold, is that right?

P : I can also drink something warm, it depends what it is.

A : What do you mean? Is there something you prefer to drink?

P : I like cold milk most.

A : All right, cold milk. And how is your appetite? What does he prefer to eat and what doesn't he like to eat at all?

MP : Cheese.

P : Onions.

A : You like that.

P : No.

A : You don't like that.

P : An omelet.

A : What did you say?

MP : He likes eggs, but they cannot be soft-boiled. When the others already have their eggs, his is still in the boiling water.

A : You like eggs, but they have to be hard-boiled or well-fried.

MP : Yes, they must be really hard.

A : When they are still a little bit slimy, you don't like it.

P : (is twisting his face)

A : It's disgusting, isn't it? So he doesn't like slimy things. What about bound sauce?

MP : He doesn't like these kind of things. Actually he doesn't eat sauce at all. He likes things which have a prominent taste, for example, blueberries with sugar or beans without sauce, just beans; well yes, he likes things with a prominent taste.

A : And what about sweet, sour and pungent food?

MP : It doesn't really have to be pungent, but very well spiced.

A : And what about salt?

MP : We don't use that in the soup.

A : You didn't notice that he likes salt a lot?

MP : He puts it on his egg, and when he is eating somewhere where he can just take the salt because it is on the table he will put some salt on his food.

A : But he doesn't lick it immediately?

MP : Not that I know. But wait! I have never thought about that: the stock cubes which you put in the soup, the paper is also salty. Both children lick those papers, his sister also.

A : They like to lick the papers. Do you see he likes salt?

MP : Yes, really. I have never thought about that.

A : (to the patient) You like that, don't you? And what about sweet things?

MP : He also likes sweet but not overly. He likes chocolate or chocolate products, anything with chocolate. He takes a slice of bread with chocolate to school and the others take sandwich filling.

A : This is strange. So he likes more salty things.

MP : Yes.

A : Is he also very tidy, for example, in his school tasks, or when he is writing?

MP : Hm, no, not too much, but for example, when he is painting a tractor, he is very detailed in the painting, in a way very few children can.

A : So it must be precise.

MP : Yes.

A : When he takes a bath does the water have to be warm?

MP : Normal, I think.

A : (to the patient) Are you easily too warm?

P : Yes, sometimes. I don't like it too warm.

A : And he prefers to play outside?

MP : Yes.

A : He is not inside so often, is he?

MP : On every occasion he goes outside, a nature person.

A : Hm, he prefers to go outside ... He is not untidy, is he?

MP : That is different. Nobody can touch his toys, his model making or his books. These are his toys, but he doesn't mind about his clothes.

A : All right. I gave him a remedy on which he reacted very well.

MP : Yes, very well.

A : Before also. Then we deviated slightly, in the meantime we gave another remedy, we went back to his remedy, and then I repeated his remedy two months ago, and he reacted very well, has almost been without any complaints.

MP: Yes.

CASE 6 no grief v3

Case 2

Man, 20 years old

Quickly another case to show you another typical aspect of Natrum muriaticum headaches.

This patient is a very well-known Belgium football player. I don't show him for this reason, but because he has very typical symptoms of a headache.

A : You were here on August 10; this is now 1 1/2 months ago. You are a professional football-player, and the headaches disturb you a lot in your profession. You call this migraine and it always returns. You told me - and this is very remarkable - "my left hand falls asleep."

P : Yes, that's right. I see badly with my left eye, my hand falls asleep and the left part of my lower lip ... is stiff.

A : This appears before the headache starts.

P : Yes.

A : First you have numbness and then dim vision, numbness on the left side.

P : Then a headache.

A : The headache starts with vomiting.

This is typical. Dim vision before headache which disappears during the headache and numbness of the hands before the headache. On the basis of this case I made an addition and I have more cases with the same complaints.

First dim vision, then numbness of the lips, numbness of one hand which disappears and afterwards appears the headache. This is typical for Natrum muriaticum. Therefore I added a new rubric, namely:

EXTREMITIES, Numbness, hand, before headache": Natrum muriaticum, Sepia.

A : And when the headache starts all the other complaints disappear?

P : Yes, they disappear.

A : Also the dim vision?

P : This stays for a certain time, but then it also disappears.

A : When the headache begins you start seeing well again.

P : Yes, yes.

A : Do you have problems with any kind of weather?

P : Yes, especially when it is warm.

A : Oh, when it is warm.

P : And when it is cold and rains. But also when I get hit on my head.

This is a typical combination. When he hits the ball - so injury of the head - and at the same time when it is very warm, this is a typical combination for Natrum muriaticum.

Look on page 128 of Kent:

HEAD, Injuries of the head, after: ... nat-m ...

HEAD, INJURIES of the head, after : Arn., cic., hyper., nat-m., Nat-s.

A : You don't have complaints in winter?

P : I wouldn't say so. It never happens in winter.

A : How often do you have this migraine?

P : Four times.

A : At what time?

P : At the beginning of the second half of the year.

A : At that time you were 12 years old.

P : Yes, and lately I have had it more often, in the last few years.

A : Oh yes. So it is worse with warm weather. Do you also think that the warmth in the house is not good?

P : Yes, I don't tolerate the warmth in the house.

A : You also told me that you don't drink much.

P : Yes, not so much.

A : So you drink little, but when you drink you drink with large draughts, you told me.

P : Yes.

A : You like French fries, fat, sweets and regularly you eat salt. What do you mean?

P : I like it on French fries. I don't eat it immediately, but I like it.

A : As a child did you ever lick the salt?

P : Not that I know.

A : But you don't put extra salt because you know it is not good for you.

P : Yes, I don't use salt too much.

A : But if salt was good for you, would you take more salt?

P : Yes, if it was good for me.

A : I mean you like the taste?

P : Yes.

A : And you sleep on the right side?

P : Yes.

A : The way you talk indicates that you are a person who is not always open.

P : That's right. My mother is different.

A : Yes, your mother is different. Indeed! You have a more closed character?

P : Yes.

A : Do you have many friends?

P : Well yes.

A : I mean real friends you tell everything to?

P : Yes, I do.

A : How many?

P : Three.

A : Three. And you also show your feelings to these friends?

P : Yes.

A : Oh you do; but not many, this is a limited number. Have you had these friends for a long time?

P : Yes, a very long time.

A : When you have a friend you hold on to him, don't you? You are rather faithful?

P : Yes, yes.

A : This is very typical for this remedy. Do you perspire easily?

P : Yes.

A : So I gave you the remedy and since then you haven't had a headache.

P : No, I have not had one since.

A : And you feel well in general? You are in top form while playing football?

P : Well yes, not so well, but ....

CASE 7 v3

Impatient, hurried, curled hair,

Crohn's disease

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Man, 23 years old

July 24, 1988

P : I have chronic inflammation of the small intestines.

A : So Crohn's disease.

P : Yes. That's what they told me. The stool is not good.

A : Do you have diarrhea?

P : Not real diarrhea, but it is soft.

A : The stool is not really bound?

P : Yes, and sometimes I have abdominal pain, here below.

A : Under the left costal arch.

P : Yes.

A : Since when have you had this complaint?

P : The last 1 1/2 years.

A : How did it start?

P : I don't know. At the beginning the stool was not good and I went for an examination. This was their diagnosis.

A : You did not get this without a reason. Before you didn't have this.

P : No, before I didn't have this.

A : What is the reason for this complaint? What do you think? Because you don't get a disease without a reason. Something must have happened for you to react in this way.

P : I might have eaten too much fruit. I work in a factory with oil. I work on the assembly line and it smells of oil. I always am in contact with oil.

A : How long have you worked there?

P : Four years.

A : And you have had this complaint for 1 1/2 years?

P : Yes.

A : Normally this doesn't occur because of oil or things like that, but because of psychological causes. Did you have any problems at that time?

P : Maybe there was a little bit too much stress and maybe I was too busy. I think so because I'm always very hurried.

A : What changed in your life 1 1/2 years ago?

P : I'm more hurried. I'm also married.

A : 1 1/2 years ago?

P : About one year ago.

A : And how long have you known each other?

P : Three years.

A : Is there much stress in your job?

P : You are hurried all the time. You have to work. The assembly line has a tempo and you have to follow it all the time.

A : You can't follow well?

P : The assembly line goes faster than the machine on which I'm working, and to follow the assembly line I have to hurry very much.

A : Since then you have had problems with stool and the pain in the abdomen. What did you do?

P : I went to see the doctor; he took some blood and he diagnosed Crohn's disease. It was confirmed in later examinations.

A : What medicines did you take?

P : I brought them with me.

A : (looks at the medicines) Do they help?

P : I stopped taking them.

A : Why?

P : I stopped taking them two weeks ago because I had an eruption; in my mouth and below, vesicles and red spots.

He had diarrhea, took a medicine to suppress it and then he got another symptom which points to the same remedy. This often happens. The more you suppress, the more symptoms of the same remedy appear. He got aphthae.

A : Where do you have these vesicles?

P : On my mouth.

A : On the lips?

P : Yes, and also in the mouth, a big red spot on my tongue. And below also an inflammation. I never had it before.

A : So aphthae on the lips and in the mouth. Did you also have them on the gums?

P : On the gums? No, not that I know of.

A : Where else do you have aphthae? Below, where?

P : This inflammation appeared the same time as the aphthae.

A : Where exactly? On the penis?

P : Yes. It always appeared the same time as the aphthae.

A : So you also had vesicles on the penis.

He had herpetic eruptions . We find this in the rubric on page 697:

GENITALIA, Eruptions, herpetic

herpetic : Anan., crot-h., crot-t., dulc., graph., hep., nat-m., nit-ac., Petr., ph-ac., sars., sep., sil., tell.

A : So an inflammation. Like this?

P : First it was a red spot and then they turned into vesicles.

A : Where did they occur on the penis? On the glans or on the penis itself?

P : Both places.

They were on the penis as well as on the glans.

A : (Is thumbing through the Repertory) And also in the mouth?

P : Yes. (Silence)

A : You never had constipation?

P : No.

A : Do you have other complaints? You had these vesicles in your mouth and on your penis. Other complaints?

P : Then I also had a problem with my intestines.

A : Something else?

P : My hands. I bite my nails.

A : The nails are completely bitten down.

P : I always have.

A : Since childhood?

P : Yes.

A : Are you nervous?

P : I think so. (Silence)

A : How do you lie in your bed?

P : How do I lie in my bed?

A : In what position?

P : On the right side; on the side and on my back.

A : Not on your abdomen?

P : No. Sometimes, but only seldom. It depends on how it feels best.

A : In which position do you fall asleep?

P : On the left side and on the back.

A : Tell me something about your character.

P : About my character? If they ask me to do something I do it, but I'm also hot-tempered.

A : What do you mean?

P : I'm easily offended.

A : Is there something you don't tolerate? What excites you?

P : Waiting. I can't tolerate to wait somewhere a long time. Then I get excited. If there were 10 people waiting, I would turn and leave.

A : You cannot wait?

P : No.

A : Have you also had this since childhood?

P : It was not remarkable.

A : Since when have you noticed it?

P : The last few years I notice that I really don't tolerate it.

A : Another peculiar thing about your character? Up to now we know that you are impatient and hurried. Tell me, what do you mean exactly?

P : For example, when I come here I'm in a hurry before I leave. Or when I have to go somewhere else I feel in a hurry. Or I walk about and have a few drinks.

A : What do you feel?

P : I'm nervous.

A : Is this an anxiety?

P : I don't think so.

A : If you have to go somewhere you often drink something. What else do you do?

P : I often have to urinate.

A : How often?

P : A few times in a row.

A : But no stool?

P : No. At work you often have to wait half an hour until you can go to the toilet, because somebody else has to replace you, and if they don't want to or if they don't have time it might be a long time.

A : If you are at home are you quiet?

P : I'm more quiet anyway. Now I'm on holiday and then everything is much better and I feel much more quiet. Now I also feel well.

A : What do you do the whole day?

P : Not much. Watch television. With this kind of weather you can't do much.

A : Which programs do you watch?

P : Films.

A : Do you rent videos?

P : No, I watch them on television.

A : Do you have cable television?

P : Yes.

A : Which films do you like to watch? What kind of films do you look for?

P : Action films.

A : Violent films?

P : Yes.

A : Have you ever had an inflammation from biting your nails?

P : Where? On my fingers?

A : (Is nodding)

P : No. Sometimes my finger is a little bit swollen.

A : Has a nail ever been removed? May I see your nails? They were never inflamed?

P : No, I never had anything like that.

A : The fingers were only swollen. What did you do?

P : I bathed my fingers and put an ointment on it, then it went away. I think it was saltwater. Is this possible?

A : How are you on the sexual level?

P : (shrugs his shoulders)

A : Bad, average, good, very good?

P : Good, as far as I know. Only when I'm very tired I don't need it, and now, not with these inflammations either. Now it is almost gone.

A : Were you interested in sex at a very young age?

P : No.

A : At what age?

P : At 17, 18 years.

A : Not before?

P : No. I was really interested when I had a girl-friend.

A : Did you masturbate a lot as a child?

P : No, not too much.

You say it is not Bufo, but you don't know it yet. I have another patient, a young man whose appearance is exactly the same as this man here, whose remedy was Bufo. He has epileptic attacks.

All right, his sexuality developed at the age of 17 years, but nevertheless the biting of the nails and the herpes indicate Bufo.

A : As a child were you also nervous?

P : I might have had this nervousness since childhood.

His sister is Baryta carbonica.

A : Show me your tongue.

P : (Shows his tongue) And I also have too little fat in my blood. They also detected it with the examination.

A : And why?

P : They think it has something to do with the inflammation. I take vitamins.

A : How did you treat the vesicles on your penis?

P : Not at all.

A : You didn't treat them?

P : No, they disappeared by themselves.

A : Did they reappear?

P : Yes, after a while they came back. I had them a few months ago and then suddenly they appeared again.

A : So they appear at the same time in your mouth?

P : Normally they occur first in my mouth and then on my penis.

A : Do you lie still in bed at night?

P : It depends on the weather. When it is very warm I can't calm down. I can't tolerate it when it is too warm; then I can't sleep, anyway not so well. Like last night. It was so warm in the room that I woke up often and then I tossed about.

A : You don't tolerate the warmth well?

P : Normally I can. It is also warm in the factory.

A : But not last night.

P : When I want to sleep I can't tolerate it. I would never go into the sun.

A : You don't like the sun?

P : It may shine, but I can't stand in the bright sun.

A : Are you a person who doesn't mind other people talking about you?

P : What do you mean? Strangers saying something about me?

A : Yes.

P : No. I would never talk in the presence of strangers, anyway not so easily.

A : But with other people you know well?

P : Yes, when I know them better it is much easier. But I won't talk easily in the presence of strangers.

A : Have you ever had a headache?

P : Lately I have them regularly. (Silence)

In the past I almost never had any. Then I had an accident and since then I regularly have headaches.

A : What kind of accident?

P : A car accident.

A : Were you unconscious?

P : No, not that I know of.

A : And now you have headaches?

P : (Is nodding) Yes, regularly. They didn't find anything with the examination.

A : Hm, good. Does your wife think you are an open or a closed person?

P : I'm not so shy.

A : What about with other people?

P : With those who know me. (Silence) With those who know me, who know that I will say something, it is not so bad.

A : You mean, you don't shut up.

P : Not so easily. I will say something or chat.

A : You like to do that?

P : Yes, I do. (Silence)

Those who know me, they know, but it is different with strangers.

A : I understand. Tell me about your food habits. Do you like to eat everything?

P : No.

A : What don't you like?

P : Certain vegetables.

A : What kind of vegetables?

P : Brussels sprouts.

A : You don't like vegetables in general?

P : No, I leave them on my dish.

A : What else do you dislike?

P : White cabbage and cauliflower.

A : What else?

P : (Is moaning)

A : What do you like to eat?

P : French fries, croquettes, and meat; and now those new potatoes.

A : And how should the meat be prepared?

P : It doesn't matter whether it is fried well or not.

A : And how do you like it spiced?

P : (Is rocking with his head) I don't eat anything which is spicy. I don't tolerate spicy things. The doctor also says so.

A : Let's keep the doctor out of this. I mean what tastes good to you?

P : I don't like spicy things. I never have.

A : Also no salt?

P : Yes, but I don't like very strong spices.

A : Neither pepper?

P : It is all right, but not the other strong spices.

A : What about fish?

P : (Is laughing and rocking his head)

A : You don't like that?

P : Well yes, I can eat it.

A : But you don't like it so much?

P : Well yes, once in a while, but not constantly.

A : Do you think you are shy?

P : (Is rocking with his shoulders) More or less.

A : As a child were you ever shy?

P : Yes, very shy. (Long pause)

P : There is something else I'm afraid of: diseases.

A : Of which disease? Of AIDS?

P : No, of cancer. I'm more afraid of cancer.

A : You mean ...

P : Yes, you don't hear anything else.

A : Are you worried about your health in general?

P : Yes, I am and that is not good. It can't be good.

A : Yes.

FEEDBACK (August 27, 1988)

A : You were here on July 24, one month ago. You received a tablet. Your problem was Crohn's disease. How did it go?

P : It was better for one, two days, and then it became really bad. I don't know whether I ate something wrong, but anyway it was very bad and then it improved gradually. Now I have it only slightly. I have almost no problems anymore.

A : It was better for two days and then very bad. Gradually it improved.

P : Yes.

A : How strong are the complaints now?

P : Almost none.

A : No complaints? It's completely fine?

P : Only today I have some, otherwise not.

A : Probably because you had to come here.

P : Yes.

A : You have had this 1 1/2 years. Since when have the complaints gone?

P : The last 14 days.

A : So the last 14 days you haven't had any complaints.

P : I'm surprised myself.

A : Why?

P : I didn't believe in it.

A : Not even now?

P : Now I do. Now I have to believe it, otherwise it would have been the same if the remedy hadn't worked. I still have a cold for one week. I haven't taken anything for it.

A : You may not take anything for it.

P : And something else: I drank a cup of coffee by mistake.

A : When?

P : 14 days after I took the remedy.

These people, when they say they won't drink coffee, they don't drink coffee. They are very loyal.

This was not so easy, was it?

If you don't have the picture of Natrum muriaticum in your head you have problems. If you have seen many Natrum muriaticum patients, their skin, their way of looking, and also the curled hair is a characteristic of Natrum muriaticum. The football player also had this curly hair.

This patient is a relatively primitive man. His father was cured from an ulcer of the stomach and backache with Natrum muriaticum. His mother received Carcinosinum and his sister Baryta carbonica. She didn't talk, had acne and was biting her nails very strongly.

Natrum muriaticum is a capital addition in the rubric:

Biting nails

You find the additions in the Synthetic Repertory; you also have to add Bufo. It is not in the Synthetic Repertory.

Remark: Bufo, Brom, China, Magnesium carbonicum, Antimonium tartaricum, Hura and Lyssinum.

A : Yes, Hura. I'm about to give a child Hura, because she is very aggressive. She is biting her nails constantly, but not only her fingers, also her tongue and so on. Constantly she tries to hurt herself.

Hura is a very interesting remedy, I think, one of the most important in auto-aggression. They have a spontaneous tendency to hurt themselves, they don't withhold themselves. It is as if they are obliged to hurt themselves.

Now you have seen some Natrum muriaticum patients and developed a certain sensibility for Natrum muriaticum. In this case there is nothing against Natrum muriaticum: He is a relatively closed person, aversion sun, aggravation sun, headache after injury, the aphthae, herpes on the penis, desire salt, aversion fish, this is all Natrum muriaticum. He also has this thin neck and the cracks, but you can't see it clearly.

Often it is more difficult to discover Natrum muriaticum in people who are more or less primitive. I mean who didn't go to school a long time, who are not so well developed intellectually. In this patient the picture is not so clear, it is more difficult to see.

He has had Natrum muriaticum twice since 1988, always when he relapses.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : Oh no, Nitricum acidum is a completely different type. They are very discontented. Natrum muriaticum is also discontented, discontented with everything, but the way of presenting himself is totally different. If you are together with a Nitricum acidum patient, you certainly don't feel well, because he is complaining all the time and criticizing everything. Besides the cracks are very important in Nitricum acidum, the cracks in the rectum, and normally they have bleeding with diarrhea and also with constipation. Nitricum acidum doesn't have the aggravation from the sun, and usually they like fat, and of course also herring.

Question: Can you give the additions for "biting nails"?

A : Important are Natrum muriaticum, Sulphur, Veratrum album and of course Medorrhinum.

All right here is the rubric: Aconitum, Ammonium bromatum, Antimonium tartaricum, Arsenicum, Arum triphyllum, Baryta carbonica, Brom, Bufo, Cina, Hyoscyamus - Hyoscyamus is also capital - Lycopodium, Magnesium carbonicum, Medorrhinum, Natrum muriaticum, Sanicula, Stramonium, Sulphur, Veratrum album and Senecio. Carcinosinum is the last addition I have.

A : Did you still have aphthae?

P : No.

A : How do you feel at the moment? I mean, the diarrhea is a symptom which has almost disappeared. But how do you feel yourself?

P : How I feel myself?

A : I mean do you have the impression, for example, that you feel more quiet or better in general?

P : More quiet? Well, actually yes. When I had these complaints I was always in a hurry, but now I think it is better. I think I'm more quiet.

A : Are you more quiet at the moment?

P : Yes, yes, it might be. I think so, but not so much.

A : You are still nervous. I think it is your character. Did you start working again?

P : Yes.

A : And the stress is still the same?

P : Yes, that's right. So I am more quiet.

A : It has to be. You will get a tablet in a tube to take home and for the first time you don't need to make an appointment only when you have a relapse.

CASE 7 v3

reserved appearance, alcohol opens up,

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Man, 35 years old

June 15, 1988

P : It started in 1975, but I don't know exactly. I took a desensitization course. What else did they tell me at that time? To what did I react? I brought a letter with me. Let's see. (Is sighing) I don't think I have it with me. Well, anyway I had an allergic reaction, a shock or something like that.

A : Anaphylactic shock.

Here again you see the curly hair. He is wearing glasses, has blue eyes and a reserved appearance.

Remark: And a crack.

A : Yes, a crack; immediately you can prescribe the remedy.

A : Hm. An allergy to pollen and grass. Desensitization. Shock risk and eosinophilic.

P : At that time I was 14 years old and the children's doctor who took the blood advised desensitization. The family doctor gave the injections twice a week. I reacted to the last injection.

A : And how did you react?

P : I fainted.

A : Then you stopped them immediately.

P : Yes, of course. I looked for other possibilities, and then I had to stay away from the dangerous areas of pollen. I had to go to the sea or to the mountains.

A : Was it better at the sea?

P : I have been at the sea for two years and I did have fewer complaints.

A : Also in the mountains?

P : It's difficult to judge because I was there at a time when I normally have this allergy.

A : What time is that?

P : From the middle of May until June, the end of June, beginning of July, it depends on the weather. In April of this year I thought it would be better, but this year again I had strong symptoms. It depends very much on the weather. When it is dry I have more complaints.

A : And what kind of problems do you have?

P : Itching in the nose, the nose runs, I have to sneeze constantly, a quarter of an hour straight. After a while it is stable and then it is more like an obstruction of the nose.

It seems to appear every year, annual hay fever. You find this rubric on page 326:

NOSE, Coryza, annual (hay fever): ... Nat-m ...

NOSE.CORYZA,annual (hay fever) : Ail., All-c., ars-i., ars., arum-t., Arund., bad., brom., carb-v., cycl., dulc., euphr., gels., iod., kali-bi., kali-i., kali-p., lach., naja., Nat-m., nux-v.,Psor., puls., ran-b., Sabad., sang., sil., Sin-n., stict., teucr., wye.

Additions are: Kali carbonicum, Aralia racemosa, Tuberculinum, Medorrhinum, Phellandrium, Senecio and Sulphur.

P : My eyes are more sensitive and I have problems with my throat and my voice.

A : What do you mean "problems with your voice"?

P : I lose my voice easily. I also must say that I smoke. Normally I don't have difficulties with my voice, but now I can't talk without drinking beforehand. It has happened a few times.

A : Do you easily have red ears?

P : Yes, I think so.

A : Do you have this often?

P : Yes, when the sunlight falls on my ears and when it is warm.

A : What kind of job do you have?

P : I'm a salesman and I sell telephone devices.

A : Do you make contact easily with other people?

P : I have changed where I work. I'm still employed in the same factory, but in another department. I sold information material for 1 year and 4 months. At the beginning of this year the data base department of the factory was sold to an international concern, except the Belgian department. The big clients knew; it also appeared in the press that the data base department was sold, and since then the factory has stagnated, there was less work. Everybody was looking for a solution, what would happen to us? The management sent me to another department. My work consists of - there are loyal clients, 40 to 50 wholesalers with 200 telephone devices who I sell replacements and some other fittings to. At the moment I don't have problems with it.

A : And before?

P : Also not.

A : Normally do you make contact easily with other people?

P : Yes, I do.

A : You don't have difficulty?

P : No. I must tell you, if somebody is a complete stranger to me and if I find very little similarity at first sight or if I have to discover first what is interesting to both of us, then I'm not the person who starts talking straight away.

A : But in your job you don't have problems with this?

P : No.

A : And emotionally? Are you communicative concerning your emotions?

P : Yes. But of course it depends on who it is with. I don't have problems with my wife. I didn't have problems with my friends before either. I always had many friends and I never had problems with that.

On the professional level he is rather talkative. When he entered I thought, "This is the remedy and I have to prove it is this remedy that I'm thinking of." Therefore I immediately ask questions about his personality. When he is talking about materialistic things, for example, his profession, then he starts talking; but is he also open when it concerns emotional things? I try to get this information.

You can also see that he has red earlobes. There are only two remedies.

A : You are an open person.

P : No, not really. Open in the sense - I already told you that I won't talk about the weather with everybody. Everybody can see what kind of weather it is. I don't approach people in this sense. But when it concerns a new camera, if there is any point of contact, I do, but not about something trivial.

A : You told me that you feel well at the sea. How do you react to the sun?

P : I can tolerate the sun well.

A : What do you mean?

P : In the beginning it is a little bit difficult because of the skin, because it becomes red. I get sunburned. Not to the extent that I get sunstroke, but the skin becomes red. But this is better the next day.

A : Can you lie in the sun?

P : Yes.

A : How long?

P : I don't know.

A : I mean to lie still in the bright sun?

P : The whole afternoon, maybe for three hours.

A : Do you go into the water in between?

P : Normally yes.

A : You don't stay in the sun for hours at a time?

P : No, no. You asked me how long I can lie in the sun. At home I've lain in the sun the whole afternoon without any problems.

A : How is your appetite?

P : It is not a problem for me.

A : Do you eat everything?

P : Yes.

A : Everything?

P : There are very few things which I don't like.

A : What don't you like?

P : I must think. In the past I didn't like red cabbage.

A : Are there things you don't like to eat?

P : Yes, the red cabbage, before also compote with blood sausages, ground meat, meatballs.

A : And what about slimy food?

P : I don't mind.

A : Do you eat it?

P : Yes, I do.

A : How do you like your meal?

P : A lot of vegetables and a nice piece of meat or fish. I like fish. Before I took a lot of gravy, but I don't anymore.

A : You said you are very fond of fish.

P : Yes.

A : Are you a person who is thirsty?

P : I don't know. I don't drink so much lately. Before when I was a student I drank considerably, regularly.

A : What do you like to drink?

P : I like a beer, it might be more than one, but not only at home. It is fun when I'm in the pub and talk with somebody.

A : When you have drunk a few beers is it easier for you to talk?

P : It is much more agreeable than sitting there so dry.

A : Do you think you are more open, that you give yourself some courage by drinking a few beers?

P : No.

This is another keynote for Natrum muriaticum, as well as for Medorrhinum. You know that Medorrhinum also has this anticipating fear. I had a Medorrhinum patient, whenever he came he always smelled of beer. Before every consultation he had to drink three or four beers. This is also very typical for Natrum muriaticum. If you want to talk to a Natrum muriaticum person you have to give him beer and after the third beer he won't stop drinking or talking. In practice it is indeed very difficult to offer your patients beer so that they can talk openly to you. Soon you will get the reputation of being an alcohol doctor.

I have a Natrum muriaticum friend who never talks about his problems unless he drinks six beers. Then he starts talking and he never stops.

Natrum muriaticum needs the alcohol so that he can express himself. The anxiety about expressing their feelings is a little bit anesthetized by the alcohol. This is very typical, also for Medorrhinum.

A : On which side do you sleep?

P : As long as I can lie with my face to the outside of the bed I don't have problems. When I lie on the right side of the bed I lie on my right side, and when I lie on the left side of the bed, I lie on my left side.

A : Have you ever had a headache?

P : I have had them for a long time, it appears now and then. My wife says that I act like a child then. When there is something wrong with me it is as if I would die.

A : Are you also anxious then?

P : No, I just feel miserable.

A : From what do you get a headache?

P : For a long time it went along with the hay fever, it extended from the sinus cavities to the forehead. Later just from stress, I think, the few times I had a headache.

A : Do you have a headache on one side or all over your head?

P : On one side. Especially above the eyes.

A : Above both eyes?

P : Yes, above both eyes.

A : You said you eat everything. What about sweets? Do you like to eat sweets?

P : Yes.

A : A lot?

P : I can stay away from sweets, but in general I say yes.

A : What kind of sweets do you like?

P : Icecream, chocolate. Not real sweets like sour drops; only icecream and chocolate.

A : A lot of icecream?

P : Yes.

Sometimes the differential diagnosis with Phosphorus is really difficult. Phosphorus also has dandruff, the crack in the lip, but the appearance, the psychological picture of Phosphorus is completely different. Nevertheless the differential diagnosis can be difficult sometimes.

The combination of dandruff, hay fever (IRRITATION/TROUBLESOME FROM RUNNING NOSE , EYES AND SNEEZING

) and a crack in the lip is typical for Natrum muriaticum, also the combination of headache, backache, and dandruff. When these three symptoms appear together it indicates Natrum muriaticum very strongly, and of course the aphthae.

A : Did you always like it?

P : Yes. We all like sweets in the family.

A : Particularly icecream?

P : Yes. We always ate ice cream at home.

A : Does your food have to be spicy?

P : Yes, slightly, but not too much. You could say that I eat spicy food more since I have known my wife.

A : What would you take before?

P : Just pepper and a little bit salt. Especially pepper, but not so much.

A : You are not so fond of salt?

P : No. I order a helping of French fries without salt.

A : Because you don't like it or because it is healthier?

P : I don't like it so much, and also for health reasons. I will never put extra salt on my food. I can't understand why some people immediately grab for the salt as soon as the soup is put on the table without trying it first. They don't know whether there is enough salt, they just put extra salt in it.

A : Before your studies you were in Brussels. Have you been at a boarding school?

P : Yes. Because I followed conservatory I was at the boarding school for the last two years.

A : Were there any problems?

P : No.

A : Did you ever have problems with urination, that you couldn't urinate?

P : No.

A : No problem in public toilets?

P : No.

A : When somebody is standing next to you?

P : No, never.

A : Did you ever have any problems with your skin?

P : No.

A : Itching?

P : Well, problems with my skin, hm. Maybe during an infection. Or how do you call this? Impetigo? As a consequence of a big wound on my leg.

A : Do you have dandruff?

P : Yes, I have.

A : What kind of color?

P : Just white.

A : All right, that's clear.

You know the additions to the rubric on page 1344:

GENERALITIES, Air, seashore amel

The additions are Medorrhinum, Brom, Carcinosinum, Lycopodium, Natrum muriaticum, Tuberculinum, Veratrum album.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : The additions for "Air, seashore agg" are: Tuberculinum, Carcinosinum, Syphilinum and Magnesium sulphuricum.

As you can see Natrum muriaticum has both symptoms, the amelioration as well as the aggravation, the desire as well as the aversion to salt and the desire as well as the aversion to fish.

FEEDBACK (August 22, 1988)

A : So a strong desire for fish, white dandruff, aversion to salt, but lies in the sun.

Lying in the sun for Natrum muriaticum is something special. They have to drink constantly or they have to go into the water often. You can see how the salt appears on their lips when they stay in the sun for a longer time.

They can also lie in the sun at the sea when there is wind. This is also important for Pulsatilla. The itching of Pulsatilla is aggravated by the sun, by the warmth in general. In general Pulsatilla is aggravated by the sun, but at the sea there is always some wind and this is the reason why they can lie in the sun at the sea.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : Yes, this is also Natrum muriaticum. Normally they have light skin and they get sunburned easily.

A : How did you react to the remedy?

P : I think the result was rather good, although it is difficult to recognize, because as I told you last time it depends on the weather and the time that I'm allergic is not steady.

A : So why do you say that the result is good?

P : I think it is good, because since the remedy I haven't had complaints.

A : How do you notice this amelioration?

P : When the reports about the pollen on the radio or from the weather forecast were positive, and the times I usually would have had problems, I noticed that I didn't have any.

A : And now you don't have any complaints?

P : No.

A : Did you have problems last year in August?

P : No. Usually it stops in July.

A : But when you were here in June you still had problems with it.

P : Yes.

A : And how long did you have it after you were here?

P : Actually I didn't have any problems anymore. Only at the beginning, but it is not worth mentioning.

A : No complaints at all?

P : No complaints at all I would say.

A : Was the allergy gone at the beginning of July in the past?

P : Yes. Of course it depends on the weather.

A : You could still have it in July?

P : Yes, but normally it lasted from the middle of May until the middle of June. It also could be a little bit earlier or later.

A : Well yes, actually we will only be definitely sure whether you are cured next year. But anyway, I know that the remedy is right and apparently you haven't had any further problems. I'll give you the remedy once again in a tube to take home, but you should not take it unless the hay fever starts again. Then you must take it again.

P : This will only be in May next year.

A : Have you been ill since the remedy?

P : No.

A : Try to remember.

P : You told me that maybe I would get a headache. I had a slight headache, but almost imperceptible. I didn't have a severe headache or anything like that.

A : But you told me ...

P : Yes, I had a headache after I took the remedy.

A : But not bad?

P : No.

A : Did you have a headache which you normally wouldn't have?

P : I can't remember precisely. Maybe it was so because I can't compare. I had a dizzy feeling, a vague feeling in the head.

A : How do you feel in general?

P : In general I feel well. I have the impression I have more appetite since I took the remedy.

A : You feel well?

P : Yes. I want to run a little bit more, to lose some weight.

A : Well yes, we can't do anything else but wait.

From time to time I see his father-in-law and from him I know that this patient is doing well. Until now (June 1990) he hasn't had to repeat the remedy.

CASE 8 V2

“doesn't show his feelings, his grief, his misery” ,

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Man, 60 years old

You see, not all the Natrum muriaticum patients have to be tall and narrow. Usually they are, but not this patient. Sometimes there are stout Tuberculinum patients.

A : You have had heart problems for three years and it started when your son went bankrupt.

P : Yes.

A : You say that between 3:00 and 4:00 o'clock ... Is this in the afternoon or at night?

P : In the afternoon.

A : It is as if somebody puts a sack of cement upon your shoulders.

P : Yes.

Look at his left eye (it deviates).

A : There is a heavy feeling and you perspire so much that it drips on the ground.

P : Yes.

A : Fifteen minutes later everything is gone.

P : Yes.

A : In the past you also perspired especially in the afternoon.

P : Yes, before also. And then this jerking ...

A : About your character your wife says - she can explain it better than you do -, that you are a good-hearted person, this means people take advantage of you; she also says - I underlined it with a red pencil - "He carries his grief under his clothes!" This is a particularly good description.

This is a very beautiful Flemish expression, "He carries his grief under his clothes!" It is a very striking Flemish expression which is not so easy to translate. He doesn't show his feelings, his grief, his misery.

A : He tolerates the cold well, but not the sun. At night he has salivation, he likes to eat salad and beans, doesn't like cabbage ...

You see that Natrum muriaticum also has salivation at night. You find it in the rubric on page 418:

MOUTH, Salivation, night

MOUTH,SALIVATION,night : Arg-n., bar-c., canth., cench., crot-h., dig., Merc., nat-m., nux-v., ptel., puls., rhus-t., ruta., sulph.

A : You have fear of heights and you haven't been able to sleep at night since the problem with your son. In a nutshell these are your complaints. How long have you had problems with your eye? I mean this squinting. Have you had this since birth?

P : No, it was caused by an accident.

A : Oh yes. Tell me, what did you feel after the remedy?

P : I had abdominal pain, and I had stool.

A : What do you mean?

P : I had diarrhea.

A : What else did you feel?

P : Yes, what else did I feel? The first 14 days I couldn't sleep, I had to take a sleeping tablet.

A : At that time you cursed me because of the aggravation, didn't you?

P : Yes, I wasn't prepared for that.

A : Because I didn't tell you before.

P : I found it terrible. I had to get out of bed three to four times.

A : Did you have any other complaints? For example, a headache?

P : No, nothing at all, but terrible abdominal pain.

A : Did you notice anything else besides the abdominal pain and the diarrhea?

P : I think that maybe this tablet is spent now. I feel more tense again.

A : So it came back. Did you still have attacks of heaviness?

P : No, not so much.

A : It hasn't been as bad? You mean not so heavy anymore?

P : Yes, yesterday I worked and perspired, but the tension isn't there anymore.

A : Before you took TEMESTA and during this time you had to take it again. You couldn't do without it.

P : Yes.

A : And now you don't need it anymore.

P : No.

A : Let's say that you haven't had any attacks of heaviness the last 14 days.

P : Yes.

A : Have they completely disappeared?

P : Well, sometimes they still occur, but not as strong as before.

A : And how is your sleep?

P : During the first fortnight I couldn't sleep, but afterwards - well yes, I sleep well at the moment.

A : At the moment do you sleep like before?

P : Not like before, but I can sleep. I cannot complain.

A : Now seriously: the sleeplessness was a big problem for you.

P : Yes, exactly. I couldn't fall asleep.

A : And now you still don't sleep as well as before. By what percent is your sleep better now?

(To his wife) You can tell it better than he does.

WP : Oh God, now he sleeps from 11:30 p.m. until about 6:00 a.m. , much longer than I do.

A : Does he sleep so long? Before you couldn't say he did.

WP : No, surely not.

With the last cases I wanted to show you that the divergent strabismus is a very strong symptom of Natrum muriaticum. You know that grief is the cause in Natrum muriaticum, for example, headache from grief.

CASE9 V3

Horton syndrome

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Man, 50 years old

This is a very interesting case as you will see. This patient has a reserved appearance, a crack in his lip, he doesn't look into my eyes ... - if such people enter you can smell Natrum muriaticum immediately.

P : It started on the right side and after a few years I also got it on the left side. The last few years I have had it on the left side mostly.

A : Then you have a deviation of your right eye, but this was caused by an accident, wasn't it?

P : Yes.

A : Do you see well with your right eye?

P : Yes, yes.

What is wrong with his right eye?

Audience: Divergent strabismus.

A : That's right. Divergent strabismus is a keynote for Natrum muriaticum. You find this in the rubric on page 266:

EYE, Strabismus, divergent: Agar., alum., coloc., con., graph., jab., lil-t., merc-i-f., Nat-m., phos., rhod., ruta., seneg.

If I see somebody whose eye is turned a little bit outward, first I think of Phosphorus.

Indeed you will say that the cause was an accident, but a Natrum muriaticum patient will get divergent strabismus after an accident, while a Cicuta patient will get convergent strabismus.

In the rubric "Injury of head" you will find Natrum muriaticum as well as Cicuta; and what kind of strabismus a patient will develop after an injury to the head depends on his constitution. Therefore you cannot neglect such a symptom.

Such an injury of the head for Natrum muriaticum is a kind of grief and causes symptoms.

A : In 1982 the pain was above the right eye.

P : Yes.

A : And later it was on the left side.

P : Yes.

A : Do you remember that the pain changed from right to left during the attack?

P : Yes, sometimes the pain disappeared on the right side, and then started on the left side.

A : During these attacks?

P : Yes, yes.

Where do we find this? The headache starts on one side and during the same attack it improves on this side and wanders to the other side.

Audience: Headache, changing sides.

A : No, he doesn't say that the pain changes sides, but that during an attack the pain on one side becomes less and increases on the other side.

Audience: On page 166 ... (not understandable)

A :Yes. You find this rubric on page 166:

HEAD, Pain, sides, ceases on one side, becomes more violent on the other: Lac-c, nat-m

You know that the pain of Lac caninum goes back to the first side during the same attack. With Natrum muriaticum it goes from one side to the other side and stays there.

A : It becomes better on one side and then it appears on the other side.

P : Yes, then it appears on the other side.

A : You have sour eructations?

P : Yes.

A : And at that time you had constipation.

P : Yes, at that time I did.

A : Also pain in your back and so on. Your headache was exactly above your eye.

P : Yes.

All right, the rest is not so important. I gave him many remedies before I thought of Natrum muriaticum. I found it because of the peculiar localization of the headache.

He reacted very well to the remedy.

Question: (Beginning not understandable) ... could it be more forehead above eyes?

A : No, above eyes is here.

Remark: (Beginning not understandable) ... forehead, above the eyes, above the right, then above the left."

A : What remedy?

Audience: Natrum muriaticum also.

A : Many remedies?

Audience: No.

A : On which page?

Audience: On page 159.

A : Ah, on page 159 you find the rubric:

HEAD,PAIN,FOREHEAD,EYES,ABOVE RIGHT,then left : Calc., lac-c., nat-m., ptel., sep., sin-n.

HEAD, Pain, forehead, eyes, above right, then left

Actually this is the same, there are only a few more remedies.

CASE 9 v2

Dd ign., sep., natrium muriaticum

Case

Woman, 35 years old

October 4, 1985

Now I would like to show you real practice in homeopathy, what it means to follow a patient for years and years, not just to see him once and after two years once again, but to really follow him really in his development and you will see how important it is to be flexible.

The first video is from 1985, where she came for an ovarian tumor on the left side. First she went to a gynecologist, who diagnosed this tumor and then she came into treatment with me.

After her complaints were gone I sent her back to the gynecologist and during the examination he became very angry and he said that she shouldn't think that this tumor would disappear every time, but she noticed that he didn't feel a tumor during the examination.

Afterwards she went to another gynecologist who clearly noticed there wasn't any tumor. She was cured. This was the case.

Of which remedy do you think when you see her?

Answer: Sepia.

A : Yes, Sepia. What else?

Answer: Platina.

A : Platina? Yes, maybe because of her clothes, but to be Platina she must lift her head higher.

When she starts speaking you notice that she isn't Platina.

A : You came here for pain in the left iliac fossa, you had pain on the right side and there was an elevation on the left side. You had very strong pains in the abdomen, although you took tablets. They seemed to be induced because of an inflammation, but even after the tablets the pain remained. The second problem was leucorrhea.

P : It had a very strong smell, also during the menstruation it had a very strong smell.

A : Watery, transparent, not yellow, not itching. The second day you had heavy menstruation with lumps. First the blood is bright red, then it stops and then the lumps appear. Pain in the right hypogastrium.

Look at the vesicles on the lower lip. This is a very important symptom.

A : Emotionally, now and then hot-tempered, but you could tolerate a lot. Aversion to sex, because you had pain during coition. Dreams about accidents, sleeps on the right side. Numb feeling in the right arm, when you had lain on it.

P : Last night I had a numb feeling in my whole arm.

A : Restless in sleep; hard, swollen abdomen before menstruation. You liked sour things a lot, highly seasoned, biscuits and chocolate; fear of heights on the balcony, fear of dark, a little bit of mice; you liked to watch horror films. The pain was like contractions.

You came back and you said that the pain had disappeared, also during coition the pain was completely gone. Therefore your sex drive is much better now, but you are not a person who is very active on this level. This is typical of your constitution. The contraction-like pain has disappeared completely.

P : I especially paid attention to this pain and also to the pain during coition.

A : The feeling as if there is a ball has also gone?

P : Yes.

A : Now you have the feeling of - how did you express this?

P : Of emptiness. It feels as if it is empty, but only during coition, otherwise not.

This sensation of a ball is typical for Sepia. They have it everywhere, here and there, everywhere very strongly.

A : Do you still have a lot of leucorrhea?

P : It has diminished.

A : Last time you still had leucorrhea and pain the week before the menstruation. How was the menstruation this time?

P : Normal, but this time there was quite a lot of pain.

A : But there are no lumps anymore?

P : No. First it was less and is still less, but I think there are still some.

A : Do you think that the menstruation is normal now?

P : Yes.

A : Do you like your husband embracing you?

P : Now and then.

A : Otherwise not?

P : No.

A : You have a very good husband, who you also like a lot, and who is good to his family and takes care of the children. Actually he is too good of a husband. Nevertheless you are a woman who wants to be left in peace.

P : Yes.

D : Do you like to dance?

P : Well yes, now and then.

A : And as a child, as a young girl?

P : I wasn't allowed to go out.

A : Your husband is Italian.

P : Yes.

A : First I thought you also were of Italian origin.

P : No.

A : Before you never had the opportunity to dance a lot?

P : No.

A : Can you sit still now and then or do you always want to be busy?

P : I can sit down.

A : Do you have to knit or to do these kinds of things?

P : No, I get pain in my shoulder from this when I shrug them. I become tired.

A : Your problem was a fibroma, and we have to make sure that you won't have any more problems. On which side do you sleep?

P : On the right side.

A : Never on your abdomen?

P : No. Before I did, but now it seems to go from here to there, a kind of pulling feeling. Therefore I don't sleep on my abdomen anymore. I don't feel anything when I lie on my side.

A : Do you often have the feeling that you can't tolerate your children? You are also still working.

P : Yes, but with the children it is all right.

She has the feeling that this ball goes from one place to another when she turns around. Do you know this rubric?

You find this rubric on page 541:

ABDOMEN, Ball, as if, rolling in

rolling in : Aur-s., lach., lyc., sabad., sep.

A : Do you have this often on your lips? (feverblisters)

P : No, this is the first time. I never had this before.

A : Did you have fever?

P : No.

A : It appeared just like that?

P : Yes.

A : What about stool?

P : It's all right.

A : Of course you like the sun very much. Can you lie in the sun a long time?

P : Yes.

A : You are appropriate for the South.

P : Yes.

A : Can you eat a lemon without distorting your face?

P : Yes.

A : You haven't taken peppermint or drank coffee?

P : No.

This was the first consultation, where you can clearly see that she needs Sepia. The desires, the chilliness, her character, the vesicles on the lips, that's all Sepia. She received Sepia three or four times, Sepia M and Sepia 10M.

FEEDBACK

A : Tell me what happened in the meantime. You had a sore throat.

P : Yes, terrible. I never had such a thing in my life.

A : Where exactly?

P : Here, on the right side, and it extended to my ear and my head.

A : On the right side. Only on swallowing?

P : Yes.

A : Further you had fever, 39° C, perspired a lot. The right tonsil was inflamed. Open your mouth again, please!

(looks at the patient's throat)

It has completely disappeared. You wanted to be left in peace and had pain everywhere. You had pain everywhere?

P : Yes, as if the whole skin was gone. Especially on the extremities it was terrible.

A : It also hurt when you touched it.

P : Yes.

A : And the warmth did you good.

P : I put a cover upon me because I thought it would disappear.

A : I gave you the remedy on Friday, today it is Sunday, how quickly did it disappear?

P : I took it at half past 10 and at 3:00 o'clock. It was still as bad. In the evening I took another spoonful. I called here again, because I thought, it won't cure, I was anxious. But then the pains in my ears were gone also. I was afraid I would have to face another bad night but at night it started improving. I still felt some soreness in my throat, as if it had been torn open, it was like an after pain and yesterday morning it was completely gone. After I got up I took another spoonful.

A : The next day everything was gone?

P : Yes. I still feel something at a distance, something which has been there and now is still a little bit reverberating.

A : So you reacted rather quickly.

P : Yes.

A : All right, that's all I have to know.

P : May I tell you something about my husband? At the moment he is taking antibiotics, because he has a very severe sore throat.

A : I don't give any; I haven't given any the last 8 years.

P : But he has very strong pain on both sides. He can't tolerate it anymore.

A : But I don't give any antibiotics.

P : Does he have to make an appointment?

A : Yes, he can make an appointment so that I can check it. But I won't give him antibiotics.

P : Lately he has taken so many medicines, this won't matter anymore.

A : It is against my principle and against my conviction. I can't do it.

FEEDBACK (January 1987)

A : First I must tell a little story about you. You have been in treatment here for quite a while. You came here the first time in 1982.

P : In 1982 I was pregnant and I have been here before. So it must be before 1982.

A : In 1982 you had bleeding during pregnancy. I gave you a remedy and the bleeding stopped immediately. The gynecologist thought it couldn't be stopped, probably the child would be aborted.

What I want to tell you about is flexibility. If you start doing homeopathy, you are happy if you find the right remedy, and if the situation is different after a while you are mixed up.

Constitutionally she received Sepia, became pregnant and suddenly she started to bleed. On the basis of her description about the bleeding I gave her Phosphorus, Phosphorus M, and the bleeding stopped immediately. It was her second child and there was no problem with the delivery.

The situation changed and she needed another remedy.

Is there a relationship between Sepia and Phosphorus?

Audience: Yes, they follow each other.

A : Phosphorus is complementary to Sepia.

The first complementary remedy is Gelsemium, this means a constitutional Sepia patient might have a Gelsemium influenza, or Gelsemium anxieties before an examination.

The next remedy is Ignatia. After a grief they might need Ignatia; Kalium carbonicum for problems with the eyes.

Natrum carbonicum is also complementary. I don't see the relationship, but there are many Natrum carbonicum symptoms which you also see in Sepia, especially in connection with the relationship to the husband and sexuality.

Natrum muriaticum after longstanding grief, Nux vomica in throat inflammations or influenza, Phosphorus in cases of bleeding. If Sepia goes into menopause they might need Psorinum. Psorinum is one of the most important remedies in climacteric flushes of heat.

Or if Sepia has eczema they might need Psorinum , or if they go to the sea and it starts itching very strongly.

You know that Pulsatilla is complementary. A Sepia child might get Pulsatilla ear pain and also visa versa, a Pulsatilla child might get a Sepia ear inflammation.

In which cases is Sabadilla complementary?

In hay fever. Aversion onions, Sabadilla, you know this.

Sulphur is surely also complementary, and Tuberculinum, if there has been tuberculosis in the family.

These are the complementary remedies to Sepia, and they might need one of these remedies according to the situation in which they are, but to recognize this you must be flexible. Which of these complementary remedies you need depends on the circumstances: climacterium, bleeding, pain in the eyes, sore throat, stitching pain extending to the ears in Kalium carbonicum, also in Nux vomica.

A : And your second child is now the little boss. The delivery only lasted a quarter of an hour and she was born.

P : Well, half an hour.

A : And with your other child it lasted nine hours. Then, in November 1985, the gynecologist said that you had an inflammation in the oviducts, many polyps in the cervix of the uterus and a benign swelling, a myoma in the uterus. You had pain in the left ovary, in the left iliac fossa. Although you took tablets and also drops you had very strong abdominal pain. The pain remained even though you received anti-inflammatory tablets.

You had a lot of leucorrhea, watery, transparent; very heavy menstruation bleeding with lumps, especially the second day. Pain in the right lower abdomen and a ball sensation. You had the sensation of a ball, probably this was this myoma. Sometimes you had a headache.

Emotionally you were hot-tempered now and then. On the sexual level you weren't interested, on this level you are not so active. You said this was because of pain during coition.

You dreamt a lot about accidents, slept on the right side, had a numbness in your arm, especially when you had lain on it and you were restless during your sleep. Sometimes your abdomen was swollen and hard, especially during menstruation.

You like chocolate very much, highly seasoned and sour and of course you also like tarts.

You have a fear of dark, some fear of mice, some fear of heights. The pains were contraction-like.

This was the consultation of October 4, 1985.

Does anybody know the rubric for this pain?

This is a pain as if they have contractions.

Audience: Pain, labor like.

A : Yes, labor like or bearing down. It is as if the child is being born. You can find this under "abdomen" as well under "uterus". We will come back to this rubric later.

Question: The dreams about accidents, is this also Sepia?

A : I don't know. The rest is Sepia, but whether Sepia dreams about accidents I don't know. Is it in the rubric?

Audience: No.

A : (is thumbing in his Repertory) Indeed, Sepia is not there.

A : I gave you a remedy in 10M potency and you came back on December 30, 1985. The pain has completely disappeared. Four weeks after the administration of the remedy the pain was completely gone, even though you stopped the tablets and the drops. The ball sensation also has disappeared.

P : Yes.

A : The pain during coition has disappeared, on the sexual level it was better, although you were never particularly active. You reacted well and then you had itching on your head for a while, even after you washed your hair. I gave you Sac lac for this complaint on December 30. You came back on February 26, 1986 after you went to the gynecologist. The gynecological examination turned out to be all right.

P : Then I went to H.

A : To another gynecologist, because the former gynecologist wouldn't admit that the myoma was gone.

P : I also doubted whether the myoma was gone when I went there the last time, because he reacted so strangely.

A : I gave you the remedy, the complaints disappeared, and then you went back to the first gynecologist. He became angry and said, "You think this will go away, but it will never disappear." It was quite strange to you.

P : Yes, he reacted so strangely. I think he was more astonished. He didn't want to show it so he started to explain it in an irritating, impolite way.

A : Harshly and brutally, and he said that it wouldn't disappear, even though you didn't feel anything at all.

P : Yes. And so I came back to you.

A : I advised you to go to another gynecologist.

P : Yes, and then I was at ease.

A : I have the report here: normal uterus volume, no myomas, the ovaries are all right, nothing peculiar was detected.

P : I had myself examined three times and I didn't tell them anything at all. I thought, I'll have another examination, because they might find something, but they didn't.

A : In the report from February 26, 1986 which you gave me, it says further: no pain, no leucorrhea, nothing in the right hypogastirum, nothing in the left iliac fossa.

So far the history is Sepia.

If with this appearance and mental picture the tumor disappears with Sepia we can say that she is Sepia constitutionally. Everybody will agree.

Remark: Sepia is not in the rubric "fibroid tumor".

A : Sepia is not there?

I think if your prescription takes everything into consideration - I mean, the appearance, the mental picture, the kind of pain and so on - and you give the remedy, it really works deeply, it can cure everything, almost everything. You will see patients with hemorrhoids and icterus who have been cured with Ignatia, even if Ignatia is not in the rubric.

Remark: We don't have to add Sepia?

A : You may add it, but don't forget that the mental picture has to fit. That's the most important. She has been cured with Sepia, but now comes another story.

A : Gynecologically everything was all right and you came for different complaints on September 15, 1986; we will talk about that now. You said, "I have ringing in my left ear." This becomes very important philosophically. The remedy you received was your constitutional remedy, and because it helped you so well, I said, "Good, I will repeat this remedy." I repeated it on September 15 in 10M potency, but you hardly reacted to this remedy. You came back on December 8 and I repeated the remedy again in 10M potency, and then you became ill. This means that the former complaints returned. All the previous complaints returned gradually and disappeared gradually, but the ear ringing remained.

Philosophically this is very interesting, a philosophy based on practical experience. Before she was in a Sepia layer and she has been cured with Sepia and now she has another problem, the ear ringing. First I gave her Sepia, Sepia 10M. It didn't help, and I repeated Sepia 10M. Then all her former complaints returned. Maybe you say this is a good reaction, but afterwards there was no amelioration. This means there is a new layer. She is sensitive to Sepia, and therefore she will develop Sepia symptoms, will develop a Sepia proving if you give her too much Sepia. These symptoms disappear again, but there is no cure, the original symptoms remain. This means that a new layer upon the so called constitutional layer was formed. Now we have to find out what happened, what circumstances exist and which remedy she needs. Therefore it is important to ask what happened every time, when it happened and what affected them deeply, to develop these symptoms.

A : This means that I gave you your constitutional remedy at a time when you didn't need it, and therefore you got this aggravation. The complaints disappeared slowly, but I gave your remedy when you didn't need it. I said, "This is stupid, now I have to see why you got these noises in your ears." I thought about it and asked you when exactly they started. This was the consultation of January 17. I wanted to see you again one week later, because I was sure that this remedy would improve these complaints.

Tell me, when did this problem begin?

P : Since I came back from holidays.

A : Don't talk so fast.

She talks too fast. You know that this is a Sepia symptom, hasty speech. Therefore I tell her to speak more slowly.

A : In which month was this?

P : In September.

A : You went on holiday in Italy, where your husband comes from, and when you came home, the noises in your ear started.

P : Yes. I had been home for two days, it was the second night, when I slept in my own bed, and then I thought, "What's going on?" I had the feeling of a lump in my ear.

A : And itching in your ear. You bored with your finger in your ear and it was closed.

P : Yes, it was closed.

A : And then these noises appeared.

P : Yes.

A : What did you do then?

P : I just waited. At work they said it would be gone within two weeks and I waited. Then I went to the ear doctor to have it checked and he said that there was an obstruction between the Eustachian tube and the throat.

That is interesting. In allopathy they try to explain everything. An obstruction of the Eustachian tube. How do they know?

He explained and explained, without asking what happened, without worrying about her personality.

Don't feel that you have to explain everything. If you do that it only means that you don't know which remedy you have to give.

If somebody is squinting outwards after an accident it is not the accident, but it is Natrum muriaticum, Alumina, Phosphorus or another remedy.

P : I came here on September 15.

A : And you took the remedy twice which didn't help.

P : Yes.

A : What else did the ear doctor say?

P : I had to take tablets, it was a cold. I had to take them and if they didn't help they would prick the eardrum.

A : Something must have happened because you don't get something like this just like that. Tell me what happened.

P : During the holidays I went with my children to the beach and my husband went fishing. When I came back somebody crashed into my car and just took off. I fetched my husband because I couldn't express myself so well in Italian, but the police didn't do anything at all. The more he tried to get rid of us the more I became angry. I have been upset about this for four days.

A : Were you still angry when you came home?

P : Yes. I was still furious. I couldn't forget that nobody did a thing. It cost 30.000 B.F. to repair my car and the police didn't do anything at all. They sent us from one person to another - well yes, you know how it goes. I just couldn't digest this, I just couldn't hide that they always said, "Yes, yes" and didn't do anything at all. I was thinking of getting a lawyer to take the matter to court, but how should you do this? We only had two days left and had to wait until we arrived in Belgium again. When we came home we notified the insurance and they forgot to send it on.

A : Anyway you became very, very angry.

P : I have never been so furious in my life.

A : And during that period when you were so angry these noises in your ear started.

P : I didn't relate it then.

A : I asked you whether your appetite had changed and you said, that everything was still the same, that you still liked sweets, highly seasoned and chocolate. The noises in the ear were still present and it was as if there was water in my left ear. You also said that sometimes it opened like a small lid which opens and closes.

P : At the moment I still notice it. I paid extra attention to this. Now it feels as if there is a lump which has become smaller.

This is very interesting. You know this lump sensation in Sepia and it seems that in complementary states the same feeling appears, but needs another remedy. I have seen this very often in Homeopathy; for example, if you give somebody Ptelea for disorders of the stomach from fat he will develop into another remedy which also has this symptom, for example, Sepia.

In this patient the first lump sensation was cured with Sepia, but it was a real lump, the ovarian tumor. Now again she has a lump feeling, this time in her ear, and now it is a psychological lump. After the remedy the lump became smaller.

A : If you pick up the telephone you bring the receiver to your left ear. So to which ear?

P : The one where I have these noises.

A : It seems you hear better with this ear than with the other.

P : Yes.

A : That is strange. You also said that you smell and taste less. It is as if the left side is anesthetized, as if you were feelingless. You don't have a problem at night in bed?

P : I paid attention to that a few times, but I didn't have problems.

A : For me the remedy was clear and I gave it to you on January in 10M potency.

That is strange. She says that she has noises in her left ear and that she doesn't hear well with this ear because it is as if it is obstructed, but when she telephones she brings the receiver to this ear. This is strange, isn't it?

Anyway it is contradictory. If somebody ate too much, doesn't feel well as a consequence but he is better when he stands upside down, this is also a contradictory state. It happens in this remedy. Or they have complaints with their stomach, have a weak stomach, and when they eat something heavy they feel better. That is contradictory.

She has noises in her left ear, a lump sensation and doesn't hear well with this ear, but when she is making a phone call she puts the phone to this ear.

Remark: ... on page 323 there is the rubric, "hearing, impaired....." (not understandable)

A : Yes, very well. That is the first rubric:

HEARING, Impaired, voice, the human , except for

There is another rubric on the same page.

Audience: Hearing, Impaired, mortification, after

A : Yes, that's right, impaired hearing after mortification.

The rubric "Hearing, Impaired, voice, the human, except for" is a very important rubric, for example, there are children who don't hear well, but can hear all kinds of other noises very well. It happens with this remedy, also Phosphorus is capital, and Chenopodium anthelmintica. They can't hear what somebody says, but they are very sensitive to the rattling of vehicles and other noises. There is another remedy which has to be added in this rubric, Theridion.

Remark: ...there is also ... "deaf to voices".

A : Yes, deaf to voices. On the previous page you see Chenopodium anthelmintica with stitching pain under the right scapulae.

P : When I drove here - that was about 4:00 p.m. - it stayed open for 2 hours continuously and then it closed again for a while. On Sunday it remained closed almost all day long and on Monday it opened slowly. Today it was closed for only two hours and since then it has been open the whole time. Sometimes it closes again; for example, when I drink or swallow, then it comes back, without thinking of it beforehand. Then I think, "Oh, now I can hear again, there are no noises anymore."

A : What percent has it improved within the last four days?

P : More than half. Before it was open for a maximum of two minutes and then it closed again and now it stays open a longer time.

A : You never had a headache?

P : No.

A : Further you didn't feel anything else?

P : No.

A : Then it is all right.

Now she needs another remedy, namely Ignatia.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : Contradictory and alternating states in the Generalities. The most typical remedy for contradictory states is Ignatia, but there is also Pulsatilla, Natrum muriaticum, and some other remedies. You find this rubric on page 1351:

GENERALITIES, Contradictory and alternating states: Croc, Ign, nat-m, plat, Puls, thuj

You know the bleedings of Crocus, like strings; besides Crocus has the sensation as if there is something alive in the abdomen.

Nowadays the main idea of Ignatia states is wounded honour, effects of wounded honor. This means that Ignatia basically is very proud.

But it is not necessary to prescribe Ignatia constitutionally. With every other remedy, Graphites, Calcium carbonicum, Sulphur or any other remedy, an Ignatia state may occur from wounded honor.

Ignatia, Nux vomica or Staphisagria these are the three remedies for ailments from wounded honor.

Remark: And Aurum.

A : Yes, I added Aurum. But with Aurum it is something constitutional. You will see.

A : Another thing we have to say is that this remedy is complementary to your constitutional remedy. This means there are layers. I will hear from you. Whenever there is something wrong you call me. And if it appears again you can repeat the remedy, but actually we don't need to worry. If this has improved so much within 4 days it will disappear completely. I think it will be cured completely within 10 to 14 days.

FEEDBACK (October 1988)

Now comes the next problem.

What do you observe?

Compared to before she is thin and you can see some hard lines in her face, some bitterness.

A : (Repetition of the story: Fibroma, impaired hearing with noises in her ear, a ball sensation in her ear and so on.)

The problem with her ear was cured in February 1987 with Ignatia. Now it is October 1988.

You know the ball sensation in Sepia and Ignatia, and Ignatia also has it in the throat, as if there is a lump in the throat.

Question: Do you have additions for 'ball feeling in the ear"?

A : I think if you ask the patient what's going on you will get much more information instead of looking into your Repertory. If they tell you a peculiar symptom, we have to look for it, but first we must try to understand what's going on. On the other hand you might understand your patient without knowing Materia Medica, but you will never find the remedy. First you must study Materia Medica, then try to understand the patient and then see if the remedy fits the case.

A : At the end of 1987 this was the story about your ear and now it is October 1988. Now you come back because of the noises in your ear. Tell me your complaints exactly and what you have done. But don't talk so fast.

P : I thought it was the same as before. It goes away for a while and then it comes back. I didn't worry about this.

A : Don't mention the cause yet, only the symptoms.

P : At the beginning of January 1988 I was hospitalized.

A : You had the same complaints as last November. What kind of problems?

P : Noises and burning and many other things, so that I almost became insane. In my left ear.

A : So noises.

P : It was constantly closed. I had to yawn constantly, so that it opened again. It was an obstructed feeling.

A : The symptoms are identical to before., but you didn't come for this.

P : No, I thought I would have to live with it.

A : But you were hospitalized for these complaints.

P : Because I wanted to know what was wrong. In the hospital they said that they couldn't do anything about this.

A : Where were you?

P : In the university hospital in M.

A : What explanation did they give you?

P : It was congenital. I was not allowed to dive. They said it would end critically, I would become deaf.

Wonderful, just wonderful! A congenital deviation.

A : How old are you now?

P : 35 years old.

A : And now at the age of 35 a congenital deviation seems to appear. This is an interesting theory. And the diagnosis? What was the diagnosis?

P : Nothing. They didn't say anything else. A congenital deviation. I had to learn to live with it and then I thought, "I will try." Four months ago it became very bad.

A : What exactly became bad?

P : My ear. When I was sitting like this and reading with my head downwards my ear was ringing terribly and I had pain in my throat.

A : Then you got a sore throat. Where exactly?

P : From here to there (from the throat to the shoulder, on the left side). It was pulling. When I was sitting there reading something it just started to pull and my ear became very bad. I just went to bed and lay down.

A : Was it better on lying down?

P : No, it was the same. But when I lay down I could sleep.

A : Did the pain in your back, high in your back, improve when you lay down?

P : No, it stayed. If I turned my head to the left and two hours later if I wanted to turn my head to the other side, I couldn't. It was as if everything was stiff. I had to turn very carefully to be able to lie on the other side.

A : This started in January and became worse and worse. What have you done?

P : Nothing. I came here.

A : No, you have been somewhere else.

P : That was for my legs, not for my ear. When they said that they couldn't do anything about my ear I didn't go anywhere.

A : So ringing in your ear, pain in the region of the left scapulae.

P : It went in a line upwards to my ear.

A : Then again you had a numbness in your hands.

P : You gave me something for that.

A : So you came back.

I repeated the last remedy, but it didn't help at all. Then I repeated the first remedy, and that didn't help either. Again the same. I repeated Ignatia: nothing. I repeated Sepia: also no reaction.

What was going on? Didn't homeopathy work anymore?

Often you hear the statement that the remedy the patient needs hasn't been discovered yet. But surely this remedy exists, we just try to find an explanation and to excuse ourselves.

With her it must be something else.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : No, this was no longer the the question. She did not hear, but while making a phone call she didn't put the receiver to the impaired ear anymore, but to the healthy ear. It must be something else.

A : The first remedy didn't help either, so I said - this was on October 17, three days ago, because this can't happen without reason, so I asked you when it began and what changed in your life which might explain this. Tell me.

P : I was irritated and became angry.

A : When?

P : Last year after the the holidays.

A : When was it?

P : Maybe it was September/October.

A : Not with your husband, not in Italy.

P : No, at work.

A : What happened exactly?

P : I was a little bit nervous ... I listen to everybody, everyone tells his problems to me.

A : Do you speak with everybody?

P : Yes, I talk to everybody, listen to everything and stay alone with my own problems. When I have a problem they just say, "Oh dear." Everybody comes to me, but I can't go to anybody.

A : Don't talk so fast. So you can listen for hours and afterwards think of this for hours. You sympathize if somebody tells you about his problem, but you can't tell your own problems to anybody. And when you have listened to their problems you are left with them.

P : Exactly. When they tell it to me it is all right, but when I have to listen to their problems for two, three weeks from morning until evening, then ... At that time I had a problem with my husband who had an operation. He had an inguinal hernia and a fracture of the the nose. He is such an anxious person. Then the others kept coming to me telling their problems and I became very irritated and expressed this. Afterwards I became very quiet.

A : Yes, but wait, you were irritated at work.

P : Yes, I sent my friend away. He was a friend of mine for 18 years.

A : What do you mean by "friend"?

P : We told everything to each other, if one of us had a problem or when there was something wrong at work, he told me everything. He also wanted to talk about his problem with somebody. He always told me everything, and once I sent him away. For him it was very, very bad.

A : It was very bad for this man?

P : Yes.

A : Did you have another relationship besides this friendship?

P : No.

A : He wasn't in love with you?

P : I don't think so. People say, "yes", but actually I didn't feel like that. At that time I had a very good relationship with another man and this man couldn't bear it. My husband said that he was just jealous, because I talked to another man. I'm not aware of any guilt, for me it was normal.

I won't go further into this matter, but everybody who saw this said, "Talk to him." I talked to him two, three times and said that now I prefer this other man, but we are still friends.

A : You say that you can't talk about your problems with anybody. Your husband doesn't listen to you?

P : When I talk to him he says, "Oh, go away, don't talk to me about this, I'll get a headache."

I can understand that her husband gets a headache from all this fast babbling.

If somebody talks like that maybe you will think of Lachesis, but it is also a constitutional Sepia symptom.

A : You are a very sensitive woman - when I'm not right you correct me -, you must tell your deepest feelings to somebody and you can't tell them to your husband, because he is too superficial.

P : He just wants to be left in peace.

A : You need somebody who is on the same wavelength as you, who you can tell your problems to and who understands you.

P : I don't have anybody like that.

Do you understand the situation?

She is Sepia constitutionally and married to a nice man who takes care of the children and whom she can talk to about anything, but on the emotional level she has a relationship with somebody else. She has talked about her emotional problems with another man for 18 years, who she works with. She doesn't feel sexually attracted to him, she just needs this deep, emotional contact. When she has problems she goes to him and tells him everything and when he has problems he goes to her to talk about his problems.

Then she met another man who she talks to about her problems. The first one is angry because of that and wants to leave her, this means she has been fighting with him for a while.

This is another kind of grief, not a sudden mortification as in the Ignatia situation. Somebody crashed her car and the police didn't do anything at all. That was something else. Now it is something deeper, which has developed slowly.

Besides her husband had an operation. And so many things came together.

A : But wait. The condition is that you feel that this man understands you and that you are sure that he doesn't talk about the things you tell him. Why did you have a friendship with this man?

P : I started working there, there is always somebody you like. He was foreman and I thought, "Let's become friends, it is always better at work." He visited us with his wife, but that's over now. The last few years he always came to visit us, and now all of a sudden it is over. Now he irritates me by giving me all this work which I don't like to do.

A : Was this happening already before New Year?

P : Yes.

A : You told him that he had to leave you alone with all his problems.

P : Yes, and then I met this other person who also works with me. I told him more that the other one. Actually I haven't told anything to my old friend anymore, because I was so angry that he irritated me so much.

A : Then you became a closer friend of the other man?

P : Yes.

A : Have you personally suffered from the fact that you ended the relationship with the first man and became a friend of the second man? You had to end the relationship with the other man.

P : Yes, because he always reacted so badly and I had to work with him.

A : Did you think it was a pity you had to end the friendship?

P : No. If somebody hurts me I'm really headstrong. He wanted to talk to me again two times, and I said "no". He wanted us to become friends again, but I don't want it anymore.

He always comes back and wants to talk to her, but she doesn't want to listen. What does she do?

She just doesn't want to hear anything at all. This is a frequent reaction of the remedy, that they become aware of something, try to push it away and then develop corresponding bodily symptoms. These symptoms are an expression of what is really going on with the emotional level. She doesn't want to listen to him anymore, so she doesn't hear anymore. This is a clear transformation of the psychological to the physical.

A : The problem started when he was always challenging you.

P : Of course I don't show it.

A : That is the way you react. You don't show it.

P : Yes, but I get a breakdown from it.

A : I think that was the real cause.

P : Now I also believe it was caused by this.

A : I tried to explain to you that this was the real cause of your suffering. Do you also think that since then your character changed?

P : Yes, very strongly. Everybody notices it.

A : In what sense?

P : I have become much more quiet, I don't talk so much anymore.

She has just said it herself that her character has changed and also her appearance changed. I already said that the appearance, the expression of a person means something, it is the expression of the internal being.

Now she is thinner, not so round anymore in her face, as we see in Sepia. You can see she is suffering, she is thinner and paler.

P : Before I was always laughing and making fun, but now I don't laugh at all. I don't know, but I really say very, very little. If they tell me I have to do this for one hour and the next hour that, usually I would have been furious, but now I say, "Well yes, I will do it."

A : Now you are working without being present with your whole being.

P : Usually I enjoy my work. I go to work, but only because I have to. I don't defend myself anymore. Before when they told me to do this or that I would have screamed and reacted very strongly, but now I don't do that anymore.

A : You have become much more quiet.

P : Yes, very much.

A : You also talk less.

P : Yes.

A : You have become more closed.

P : Yes, very, very strongly. Everybody notices. Everybody wonders whether I'm sick. I just tell them, "No, I've just become more quiet."

A : You say that you have become more quiet, but you don't feel well with it.

P : Well yes, I think I have to be satisfied. The bad feeling which I had a while ago, I don't have anymore.

A : But now you have pushed it into your ear. If the remedy is working, my explanation is right. Internally you suffered a lot. You said, "We will see, because I'm headstrong," you gave a firm impression and you could live with it emotionally, but you pushed everything to one organ which has something to do with contact, namely your hearing. You don't want to hear anymore. You say that you don't want to hear his lamenting, so one organ which has something to do with contact must be affected, your eyes don't want to see anymore or your ears don't want to hear anymore. Your body solved it this way by saying, "Well yes, if you don't want to hear anymore, I'll make sure you don't hear anymore." Then your left ear started ringing and you had impaired hearing in this ear. I think that is the essence of the case. You may laugh about this, but ...

P : Yes, I believe you are right. It might be so.

A : Something else has changed. Before you could lie in the sun for hours and hours, but this year you couldn't at all.

P : No, I couldn't at all. I sat under the sunumbrella. When they said, "Let's go to the sea" I didn't feel like it at all. I went there for the children, but only at 5:00 p.m.

A : And then something else: You had the feeling that your neck was stiff. You were becoming stiff. The flexibility you had before, the cheerfulness, the weakness disappeared. You have become harder, more quiet, and have diminished flexibility. Your neck became stiff.

P : Yes, it was very bad.

A : Like your emotions have become stiff, you pushed it again to the physical level. Indeed you felt good internally and said that it will go its way, but you have pushed the complaints to your neck which became stiff. You say, "I don't defend myself, I let things go over me." Another problem was extreme loss of blood during the menstruation. You had sterilization because you thought the bleeding might be less.

P : I had a sterilization in June.

A : And since then you have had very heavy bleeding. They did a curettage, but didn't find anything. The increased bleeding hasn't stopped despite the curettage?

P : No.

A : So heavy bleeding?

P : Yes.

A : That was the story. On October 17, after the analysis of the case I gave you a remedy in 10M potency. That was three days ago. How did you react to that?

P : Good.

A : What do you mean?

P : I feel better. My ear is still closed, but it doesn't ring anymore.

A : Has the ringing disappeared? How fast after the remedy?

P : Since yesterday. Actually I noticed it yesterday. Yesterday it was open the whole day and I didn't have any ringing. Maybe it returned because I'm tired. Yesterday I paid attention and I didn't notice anything. It also might be the day before yesterday, but when I don't feel anything then I don't pay attention to it.

A : What about your stiff neck?

P : It is gone, I can turn my neck. It still pulls a little bit, but I can turn my head without waking up when I lie on the other side.

A : In two, three days. Here you see how fast it goes. What about the loss of blood?

P : I have to wait for the menstruation.

A : We don't know yet. Have you cried in the meantime?

P : No.

A : No reaction?

P : Yesterday I was really in a good mood, I was laughing, I was more cheerful and said, "It can't be true!" Yesterday I really could have fun again.

A : So yesterday it returned. You see what it might provoke.

P : Often I also laugh from nervousness.

A : But before you didn't laugh?

P : No, before I was quiet, but yesterday I was in a good mood. I said, "It can't be true!"

A : In the future don't go to all these learned people anymore, whenever there is something wrong you just come here.

P : I only wanted to know what was wrong with me.

A : You went to them to ask what was wrong with you and they told you that it was a congenital deviation. Then you come here and in one visit this congenital thing disappears. What did you gain with the explanation they gave you there?

P : Nothing, but you should not neglect anything, I think.

A : So this was the case, I don't need to know more. Stay away from the coffee and so on. If there is something wrong with you again I really beg you to come here, for your own good.

What was the remedy?

Natrum muriaticum.

Do you see why I doubt there is ONE constitutional remedy for one person?

For one and the same person Sepia is the remedy for one episode of his life and Nux vomica for another episode. I often told you the Hypericum story about the hammer, there are also big influences on the emotional level there. If these influences are so strong that somebody can change the remedy also will change.

We have to be very careful with the word "constitution", I think, if we understand the background we can use it.

I think that this patient has a Sepia constitution, because Sepia cured the tumor. Everybody will agree that Sepia worked very, very deeply. The reason she developed this tumor and needed Sepia was not an emotional influence like a grief or anything like that, the tumor appeared just like that. There were no special circumstances which you can take into account for the causation of developing the tumor.

All the other situations, the sore throat, the numbness and so on were consequences of certain external circumstances and therefore they needed another remedy. These are the so-called complementary remedies, but you must also be careful with this concept.

When we talked about Alumina I showed you a patient with rheumatism who has had rheumatic complaints for many, many years and who was cured with Ferrum. Afterwards she got dry skin, eczema and a different kind of vertigo than what she had before. It was cured with Alumina. What is the constitutional remedy here?

I don't know. Maybe Ferrum, maybe Alumina.

Or a child who has been coughing from birth on, with asthma and so on. I didn't see the remedy clearly. I gave Tuberculinum, because there was tuberculosis in the family, but it didn't cure deeply. Every time the child was ill acutely, it needed Bryonia, and after two years finally I realized it was Bryonia constitutionally. The behavior was clearly Bryonia. Then the parents came back with their child, the lungs were all right, but the eczema which also existed from the beginning was very much worse. It was clearly Alumina. What is the constitutional remedy here?

I don't know.

Another girl who came for asthma from suppressed skin eruptions had vertigo on rising and so on. She received Ferrum, the asthma disappeared, but the skin became worse; Alumina and the skin improved again.

I think we shouldn't be too much Sulphur, we don't have to explain everything, but we must see what happens in practice.

What does complementary mean? Our Homeopathic forefathers saw in practice that after Sepia you sometimes need Phosphorus, or Natrum muriaticum, or Kali carbonicum and so on. This is experience which you can't explain. Try to accept this, to study Materia Medica and to learn the remedies one by one.

Yesterday they begged me to give more differential diagnoses, but it is of no use to give differential diagnoses if you don't know the remedy. You must have seen many cases of a remedy to understand, to think of the remedy. If you don't think of it in a patient you will never find it. Even if it is in the Repertory you will overlook it. You must develop a sensitivity and therefore I will show you more cases of the same remedy.

Finally, I want to give you one problem from practice:

A colleague has a small patient with fever, skin eruption, and cough who is teething. It is a very vivid child, who turns around in bed the whole night, and is very restless.

What is the remedy? What rubrics can we take? The fever has been very high for three days. What rubric can you take for that?

Look at the rubric on page 1285:

FEVER,CONTINUED FEVER,exanthemic : Ail., Apis., arn., ars., arum-t., Bell., bry., calc., carb-v., chlor., euphr., lach., merc., mur-ac., nux-m., ph-ac., phos., Rhus-t., sec., stann., sulph.

FEVER, Continued, exanthemic: ... Apis, calc,... Bell, ... Rhus-tox ... sulph.

There is Apis, Belladonna - I asked about the color of the child and he said that the child was pale all over, so we can forget Belladonna - so there is Rhus toxicodendron, Calcarea carbonica, Sulphur.

The child is coughing and is teething. What rubric can we take for that?

Audience: Cough during dentition?

A : Beautiful. Look at the rubric on page 785:

COUGH,DENTITION, during : Calc-p., calc., cham., cina., hyos., kreos., podo., rhus-t.

COUGH, Dentition, during: Calc, ... rhus-t.

Which remedies are left?

Calcarea carbonicum and Rhus toxicodendron.

The child is very restless at night, so Rhus toxicodendron. My colleague gave Calcarea this morning and we will see what Calcarea does. But I think, probably it is a Rhus toxicodendron case.

CASE10 v2

Natrium muriaticum

Case

Woman, 64 years old

A : Since 1982 you have had numbness in your hand and fingers and pain at night, from which you wake up. You also had stiffness and pain in your fingers especially in the morning; better by warm water, worse by cold and wind. You have suffered from these complaints already for three, four years. You always have to be in motion, you knit. Sometimes you also had problems with your knees and ankles. That was in 1982. You came back in January 1983 and you were doing well. You said, "Sometimes I still wake up at night, but during the day I'm doing better. I don't have pain in my knees and ankles anymore. When it is foggy it is worse during the day. In the morning I'm still stiff, but in general it has improved a lot."

With Rhus toxicodendron.

A : The remedy you received at that time which improved the problems was Rhus toxicodendron.

You came back in May 1983 and again you had numbness in your hands. I repeated Rhus toxicodendron, again it improved. In September 1983 you came back with complaints indicating Rhus toxicodendron.

You didn't come for one year and then I saw you again in October 1984, or you were seen by a colleague for a cold and cough. He gave Nux vomica. In 1985 you came with pain in your right upper arm, especially when you held your arm before your body, so when lifted up forwards, on writing, better when knitting; you had no problems when you were busy during the day. It was more lateral. I thought it was tendinitis and I gave Rhus toxicodendron M. It was clearly better by movement. But nothing improved after the remedy, nothing at all. You didn't have problems at night at that time. "Pain, right deltoid."

I gave you Sanguinaria, but without any result, later Chelidonium, also without any effect. Gradually it became a difficult case. You also had a tired feeling in your fingers.

In January we did a new consultation and went deeper into the matter. Tiredness in the fingers, especially while writing, there are two remedies: Fagopyrum and Kali carbonicum. The pain extended upwards to the hand and the arm: Arnica, China sulphuricum and Glonoinum and other remedies. When you let your hand hang down it improved.

Stitching pain in the right shoulder with unexpected exertion, no fear of heights, the right eyelid is a little bit lower than the left, so a slight paralysis of the right upper lid, sometimes also complaints with the left arm; in the past numbness in your hands, a sleepy feeling in your hands, which is better now. You also had roughness of your lower lip, "chapped lips". You said that you were straightforward and we talked about it and a certain problem arose. You said, "My husband hasn't talked to me for 6 years. We live like brother and sister and we haven't had any sexual contact for 6 years." This could be the cause. You said, "I bottle everything up." That's what you told me at that time. You also have a slight swelling of the thyroid gland. This proves that indeed you kept things to yourself. "Once they reject me I can't ask for anything."

P : That's right.

A : That's your character. Once they have mortified you ...

P : ... or once they hurt me I cannot anymore.

A : You don't lie in the sun, you sigh often, you had some shortness of breath on ascending stairs and said, "My confidence has gone." And it hasn't returned yet. "I can't weep anymore," you said.

P : No, I can't, because of the story with my husband. That's over definitely.

A : Before you cried because of the slightest thing and now you don't anymore.

P : No.

A : In the morning you had mucus in your throat and it was difficult to bring it up. "Mucus, throat, morning." When you had to urinate you had to go immediately. You liked dancing a lot, this is part of your nature.

P : Yes.

A : You couldn't tolerate tight clothing very much. In the past you had jaundice from an accident.

P : I didn't have an accident myself, but the accident happened right in front of my house. I had problems with that for quite a long time before they were completely gone. I was in the hospital for observation for 8 days; because of the fright I got problems with my nerves. I couldn't forget it. My husband and my brother also suffered, but with me it didn't go away. (Silence)

A : I gave you a remedy on January 5, 1987. On March 11 you came back and said that you haven't been ill since the remedy and in general you felt stronger. The numbness in your hands has disappeared completely. Before you couldn't write anymore; it was like the beginning of a paralysis in your hands. You said it yourself, "Now everything is good". Also the pain in the shoulder disappeared after the remedy. You were really very satisfied. Then something happened. Your sister got cancer of the pancreas and you took this to heart, because your sister was a second home for you. Six years ago you lost your mother and when you came at that time you had mucus in your throat so I repeated the remedy. Then you really did well. When your sister died I gave you an acute remedy which followed your constitutional remedy. It is typical for you as a human being to be very sympathetic.

P : Yes. Then I get - how can I explain it? I do everything I can, but my husband doesn't give me one smile, not one friendly word and then I bottle things up. Actually I only expect a friendly word or a smile.

A : In addition your daughter had a viral disease for which she is in treatment in Leuven.

P : Yes, and my father died also.

A : It was typical that you had the feeling of a lump in your throat. The feeling extended upward as if it was rising. "Lump, rising". I don't know what it was, but the reason was that you bottled everything up.

P : My daughters have a lot of problems, every time new problems arise.

A : In your character there was a combination; on one hand you are too sympathetic so that you suffer from that and on the other hand you withhold too much.

P : Yes, exactly.

A : Therefore you have problems because you are too sensitive, but you can't show your sensitivity.

P : I can't digest it myself either.

A : On November 13 I gave you the remedy in 10M potency once again because you suffered from one misfortune after the other.

P : I came back three days after the last remedy because I had severe headaches.

A : I gave you a high potency of the remedy again, 10M.

P : The headache was located above the right eye and after two days the headache was gone.

A : How did you feel afterwards? You also had mucus in your throat.

P : Yes, some days I still have it.

A : But there are also days you don't have it.

P : Yes.

She doesn't have the appearance of Natrum muriaticum. She talks a lot and likes dancing. She gives me the impression of Sepia, constitutional Sepia.

Interesting in this case is that her husband hasn't spoken to her for six years, since 1981.

I saw her in 1981 and I gave Rhus toxicodendron, a superficial prescription, and the numbness disappeared, but she hasn't talked about her real problem for six years, and I ran into this the wrong way.

The modalities are clear Rhus toxicodendron modalities, if you don't take into consideration what kind of woman this is. When you prescribe Rhus toxicodendron you have to ask about the personality, whether the patient has a Rhus toxicodendron personality. This was again a case where I repeated Rhus toxicodendron often and the complaints disappeared, but the patient wasn't cured.

She was in a Natrum muriaticum state, but she didn't talk about her problem, and my anamnesis was not correct. I should have tried to understand her character and should have asked what kind of problems she had because there is something behind every physical problem, unless it is caused by an external influence.

On the basis of these modalities you would never have found Natrum muriaticum in this case by repertorising. You find it because of the grief, the long-standing grief and her behavior because of this grief, I mean, holding in of emotion. She didn't talk to her husband anymore, she kept everything to herself, and then this goiter comes up. That is typical for Natrum muriaticum.

According to me Natrum muriaticum is the first remedy in acute hyperthyroidism also with goiter.

But don't forget Natrum carbonicum. There are other remedies, of course, but Natrum muriaticum is the most important, because it is an expression of her holding emotions in. A goiter always means something that they can't swallow. At least this is my idea of a goiter.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : A Sepia woman? Yes, I think this is only a layer, a Natrum muriaticum layer. I think she is a Sepia woman, but I don't know. I cannot know. Later you will see how difficult it is to decide what her constitutional remedy is.

EXTRA

- A child who suffers from the fact that the father and the mother are separated is 99% which remedy?

- Answer : "Natrum muriaticum."

- A : Yes, Natrum muriaticum.

One of my female patients got an accident, a 12 year old girl. She was in coma. She had a car accident and was hospitalized. She was lying there for a few days, I think for 4 days already, and the second day her father called me and said that his daughter was in coma, if I could not give her anything. I gave him Arnica - no reaction.

The next day he called me again and said that nothing had changed and asked me to come in the hospital. I agreed, but asked him to ask the permission from the surgeons who were taking care of her. He asked them and they said it was all right, I should call before. So, I called the surgeon and asked if they agreed I should come. He asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I would probably give her a remedy of a certain material, but dissolved and very, very diluted. He started laughing and said, "Well, well, why not, you may come as you like."

I went with H. in the hospital. The patient was lying there, and she was connected with the monitor. When she moved, the pulse frequency increased very much, from 90 to 150 and when she was lying still, it decreased again. That was the only symptom we had. Then we saw the very, very dry mouth. The lips were dry and a little chapped. I also looked in the Repertory under "pulse, accelerated, motion agg." (p. 1394).

GENERALITIES,PULS,FREQUENT,motion agg. : Ant-t., arn., bry., dig., fl-ac., gels., graph., iod., lycps., Nat-m., nux-v., petr., phos., sep., staph., stram.

You see a capital remedy: Natrum muriaticum. And we know, that Natrum muriaticum is one of the most important remedies with coma and unconsciousness. You see it in "black fever", in malaria. The first remedy in malaria is ... - there are 2 remedies. You have not seen it, but I saw it in Zaire. This is typical for China and Natrum muriaticum, these are the two most appropriate remedies in malaria attacks, in malaria attacks with unconsciousness.

Natrum muriaticum cured this child in 24 hours. After 24 hours she came out of coma and 2 days later she was back home. This case was easy, because I made the anamnesis before and so I knew it was Natrum muriaticum.

EXTRA

SKIN,ITCHING,exertion, after : Nat-m.

HEAD,DANDRUF,white : Kali-chl., mez., Nat-m., phos., Thuj.

SKIN,ERUPTION,CRUSTY,white : Alum., calc., mez., Nat-m., tell., thuj.

SKIN,ERUPTION,hairy parts, on : Agar., calc., kali-i., lach., lith., lyc., merc., nat-m., nit-ac., ph-ac., Rhus-t., sil.

MIND,CONSOLATION agg. : Arn., ars., bell., cact., calc-p., calc., cham., chin., hell., Ign., kali-c., lil-t., lyc., merc., Nat-m., nit-ac., nux-v., plat., Sep., Sil., staph., tarent., thuj.

STOMACH,DINNER,dinner, after : Aloe., anac., canth., cast., cycl., ferr., gamb., mag-c., mag-m., nat-c., nat-m., plb., psor., thuj., zinc.

FALLING,ASLEEP,reading, while : Ang., cimic., colch., ign., iris., lyc., mez., nat-m., nat-s., plat., prun-s., ruta., sep.

SLEEP,INTERRUPTED,thirst, by : Nat-m.

CHILL,BEGINNING,feet : Apis., arn., bar-c., bor., calc-s., calc., chel., cimx., dig., Gels., hyos., kali-bi., lyc., mag-c., Nat-m., nux-m., nux-v., puls., rhus-t., sabad., sarr., sep., sulph.

BEGINNING in and extending from, hands, and feet : Apis., bry., carb-v., chel., dig., ferr., gels., Nat-m., nux-m., op., sabin., samb., sulph.

GENERALITIES,SUN, from exposure to : Agar., Ant-c., arg-m., bar-c., bell., brom., bry., cadm., calc., camph., carb-v., clem., euphr., gels., Glon., graph., ign., iod., ip., kalm., lach., lyss.,mag-m., Nat-c., Nat-m., nux-v., op., psor., Puls., sel., stann., sulph., valer., zinc.

MIND,IMPATIENCE : Acon., act-sp., all-s., ambr., anac., apis., ars-h., ars-i., ars., aster., aur-m-n., aur., bar-c., bell., bry., bufo., calc-s., calc., carb-v., Cham., chin-a., chin., cimic., colch., coloc., cub., dros., dulc., gels., hell., hep., hura., hyos., Ign., iod., ip., kali-ar., kali-bi., kali-c., kali-p., kali-s., lach., lil-t., lyc., lyss., manc., med., merc., nat-a., nat-c.,nat-m., nat-p., nicc., nit-ac., Nux-v., onos., op., osm., pall., ph-ac., plan., plat., psor., puls., rheum., rhus-t., sang., sars., Sep., sil., spig., spong., stann., staph., sul-ac., Sulph., tarent., tax., thuj., vac., viol-t., zinc.

NOSE,CORYZA,uncovering the head, from : Hep., nat-m.

GENERALITIES,HARD bed, sensation of : Acon., agar., Arn., ars., bapt., bar-c., bry., caust., con., dros., ferr-p., ferr., graph., ip., kali-c., lyc., mag-c., mag-m., manc., merc., nux-m., nux-v., op., phos., plat., puls., pyrog., rhus-t., ruta., sabad., Sil., spong., stann., sulph., tarax., thuj., verat.

THIRST,perspiration, during : Acon., anac., Arn., ars-i., bry., cact., calc., cedr., chin-a., chin-s., Chin., coff., gels., iod., ip., kali-n., mag-m., Nat-m., op., ph-ac., puls., rhus-t.,sec., sep., Stram., tarax., thuj., Verat.

THIRST,large quantities, for : Acon., Ars., bad., Bry., camph., carb-s., chin., coc-c., cocc., cop., eup-per., ferr-p., ham., lac-d., lycps., merc-c., Nat-m., Phos., pic-ac., sol-n.,stram., Sulph., Verat.

CASE11

A milkman aged forty-five years has had every day for two weeks fever with headache; aggravated by noise and heat.

Sensation as if there were a seam in the skull surrounding the vertex, and the brain would burst through it.

The pain comes on at 10 a.m. and lasts until 3 p.m. He must lie down and sleep it off.

This patient has had many attacks of intermittent fever treated with quinine, cinchonidia, et cetera.

Considering his malarial history and the time of onset of the bursting pain in the head, one remedy only is possible.

Natrum muriaticum cm Fincke, one powder in the evening.

Not a single return of fever or headache followed the prescription.

CASE12

A brown haired electrician aged twenty-five years has had frequent attacks of chills and fever for five years; always cured by quinine.

Steady hard pain in lumbar region for more than a year.

Worse from walking, carrying a weight, while lying on the back.

Better from hard pressure on the painful spot.

Back feels too weak to support the body.

Easily chilled.

Feet dry and hot; formerly they sweat profusely.

Inordinately fond of salt.

Pain in the back better from hard pressure indicates most prominently Dulcamara, Kali carbonicum, Natrum muriaticum, and Sepia. Of these Natrum mur. and Sepia only are worse from lying upon the back. The craving for salt belongs only to Natrum mur. Natrum mur. is one of the remedies most frequently needed for suppressed foot sweat or malaria; Further inquiry brought out the fact that the type of chills indicated that remedy.

1904, Feb. I. One powder Natrum muriaticum cm Fincke.

March 10. In a few days an itching eruption covered the person and the feet began to seat as of yore. The back then stopped aching.

Saccharum lactis.

May 10. The backache returned a few days ago after overwork.

Natrum muriaticum 275m Fincke, one powder.

Oct. 25. He has been very well until a few days ago when the backache returned.

Natrum muriaticum 5cm Fincke, one powder.

Since then, three years, he has been in excellent health.

Jonathan Shore cases

CASE13v2

Video 1 (see picture 1)

MP:She got a fever and she didn't get rid of it really fast. She seemed fine, and then I think a week later she started ... She basically had a fever all this time, not high.

JS: I myself can't hear. Some of it doesn't matter if you can't hear. You look at her. This is the main thing.

JV: So, sore throat, yes? Where is your throat sore?

IB: She points to her throat.

JV: Just right there. And it is sore all the time? Or when you talk, or when you eat, or ...?

PT: All the time.

JV: All the time. It feels like what?

IB: Gesture with her shoulders (see picture 1), to indicate that she doesn't know.

JV: Like a knife, like someone scratching, like someone squeezing?

PT: Like I swallowed a big bouncy ball.

JV: Like a ball, a lump.

JS: We look at this little girl, maybe we look at her again, because I realize not very much time has gone by. But still it is very important, you see here: doesn't matter whether we get the remedy or we don't get the remedy. So you are free to practise. But it is really like that: when the patient comes in, the first moment you see the person, immediately you have to start, to work. Not when they are sitting down and you have got your pen out, like that. Immediately you look: what do you see? What is the first impression? And you already start taking in the impression. So here we have a minute or something like that, but it doesn't matter, you have already formed a certain definite impression of this person.

JS: She is coming because she has been sick for a little while. Some fever, three weeks maybe, some sore throat. Who would like to describe for me this little girl. How old is she do you think?

AD: I feel a kind of loathing for the person who is next to her.

JS: Yes, but first I want to know: "Is it a girl or boy? How old is she?” It is very important, this, as far as I am concerned, because we go too quickly to a sort of psychological impression, which may or may not be right. If we start with our feet on the ground, the chances are that we will have better psychological impressions in the end. So I want to emphasize this point very much. I am not saying that it is not a good observation, but I want it in order.

AD: I thought it was a boy to begin with, but it appears to be a girl.

JS: It is a girl, yes.

AD: She is about ten years, nine years old.

JS: Yes, eight, nine, ten years old. And why did you think it was a boy?

AD: That was my first impression and then you said it was a girl.

AD: I also thought it was a boy.

JS: You also thought it was a boy.

AD: She is not very female.

JS: Not very female. She has dark hair and she is on the quiet side.

AD: Shy.

JS: She is shy, yes.

AD: Reserved.

JS: Reserved, yes.

AD: A low voice.

JS: A low voice, yes. So let's watch just a little more. I must tell you that I am sitting here (...), she is sitting there (...) and her mother is sitting there (...). This is the arrangement. I am here (...), she is just to my left, maybe in that position and her mother is directly in front of me.

JV: Like a ball, a lump, a lump in the throat.

MP: ... She has very low energy and she is very sad a lot. She is not really sure how to tell ... She is not really sure what she is sad about. But she gets sad ... low energy, low-motivated.

JV: And now, since you have been sick with your sore throat and stuff, you have still been sad?

IB: She nods her head, as to confirm.

JV: Yes. You cry?

PT: Sometimes.

JV: Yes?

JS: Now, she looks sad? Yes, I mean a little. It is not your first impression, that she is sad. But it is true that she is quite a quiet child. And you will see as we go on, what the difference is. It is actually very nice, it is very interesting for me to make these videos myself, because I learned a tremendous amount, just watching the sequence of one type and another type and another type; you realize how different people are. She is sort of shy. You see, you ask a question and she is shy. And where is she looking? Is she looking at me?

AD: No.

JS: Where is she looking?

AD: At her mother.

JS: At her mother. So children who look to their parents.

AD: Natrum muriaticum.

JS: Before the remedy: why? Why would a child look to their parents?

AD: To get support.

JS: To get support for what?

AD: She is sitting across from this new doctor ...

JS: I have known her for a long time, but still ... So you are saying shy, yes? But if you are shy and I ask you a question, what will you do?

IB: Movement: look down.

JS: Yes. But to look to the mother is a different sort of movement. So, I am not saying she is not shy, but it is a certain sort of shyness here; she is not bashful. Bashful is to kind of look down. Yes, she is shy, but she is not afraid of me. It is not like Baryta carbonica or this sort of thing. She can look because she is shy, this is one possibility. Another? Lack of ...?

AD: Self-confidence.

JS: Lack of self-confidence. Timidity you mean, like that. Other reasons?

AD: Critical.

JS: Critical of what?

AD: Of the doctor.

JS: You mean she is looking and she is saying: "Oh god, that idiot!” This is not that look.

AD: If she is using the right word.

JS: If she is using the right word? Yes, of course if they look there is looking for two things, probably. One may be for support. The other thing, however, is for approval. "Am I being good? Am I doing the right thing?” Not so much necessarily lack of confidence. You can say it is a lack of confidence, but it is not quite. It is: "Am I doing the right thing? Is this what you want? Am I pleasing you?” Mostly, I believe, this is the reason the kids look like this. You will see other children in whom it is different. They don't look, but when the mother speaks, the mother says: "Yes, he likes eggs," and he says: "Fried eggs.” Or the mother says: "No, he doesn't, he drinks two cups of milk a day," and so he says: "Four cups.” And then you see they look to their parents, but it is to be critical of the parents.

JS: Very rarely is the child critical of the doctor, in my experience. This has to be a very special kid, really, Platinum, something like that. You don't really see haughty children. This is what I said before: children are freer. They haven't quite developed the real defences of the adult. I mean to say, haughty is really a terrible state, a serious illness! When you walk around and: "Worms ...” I mean, this inner state of the person who is like that, is very bad! So this sort of state is for me in a way a quite serious psychological state. If you look at what it might be to be really healthy, is the idea of compassion as a higher emotion. This haughty is more or less the exact opposite. So, I want to make the point that children mostly haven't quite developed to this stage of pathology, but they often want this looking to please the parents. "Am I doing this right?" is really the question. And of course the question "Am I doing this right?" maybe has underneath it a possibility of a fear of rejection. Not necessarily a confidence of the mind, but confidence of the feelings. Now this is one way of saying it, and of course this remedy is?

AD: Natrum muriaticum.

JS: This is Natrum muriaticum; it is a fear of rejection and so they want to please; these are good children, and they look to the mother. And you have to see (maybe I will see it more clearly here on the video, because now she is looking), but sometimes it is just the eyes. You see, you ask the question and the eyes go "poom, poom; poom, poom" like this (IB: the eyes go to the mother and back). This is looking to the mother.

AD: Is it the fear of rejection, or may it also be the fear of blaming the parents, if their statements don't agree? That they blame the parents for saying something different? I mean, if the child says: "I don't like this," and the mother says: "But you do," there is a confrontation.

JS: Yes, very good. What she says is that there is a sort of anxiety, a reluctance to have a confrontation. And so the child is concerned that she will say: "It is like a lump," and the mother will say: "No, it is like scratching," and then there is a confrontation. Yes, I would say I agree. Fear of rejection; fear is a very strong word; maybe it is too strong. But there is this tendency in this remedy to be hurt - and of course confrontation is just that: to take it personally and to feel cut off from the other person. And this is why I believe for Natrum muriaticum, that they do not even like confrontation so much. Especially in the younger age, because there is this very quick tendency to feel separated.

AD: If she knows you very well, ... she feels uncomfortable in the situation.

JS: I wouldn't say she knows me very well, because the child has actually been quite healthy. But I have been the family doctor since she was two or three years old, so it is not the first time. Yet of course she does feel uncomfortable in the situation. And why does she feel uncomfortable in the situation?

AD: Because there are still private things.

JS: Yes, of course, because she knows that the real problem is not that she has a sore throat, but that she is feeling so sad. And of course this is an edited video; this is now maybe twenty minutes into the interview. For you it just comes likes this, but it takes maybe twenty minutes before we get to the sadness. But yes, she feels uncomfortable and this is a very important point. That the discomfort of this remedy comes, because they know that there are things that they are going to have to tell, which they don't want to. You won't see it in the children so much, but in the adults there is a very characteristic gesture. In the children it is looking to the parents. In the adults it is what?

AD: Wringing of the hands.

JS: It is like this (...). It is not wringing the hands, but it is a kind of a playing with the fingers, it is a sort of a squeezing. And what is going on here? Mostly of course you can't see, because they don't hold it up here (...), it is down on their lap and you see how they grip the hand like this (...). You do this for yourselves, you try now. You squeeze your hands, but you put it down on your lap too and you do this, and what is happening? You see the tension is very strong, but now they are often talking a lot about things which are very sad and they are not crying and maybe if you are a superficial observer, and it is early on, they look more relaxed to you. Yet here is where the tension is coming out: in the hands. It is as if the tension in the body is transmitted and they are restless; there is a restlessness, and I don't know why, in this remedy it is in the hands; very characteristic and very interesting. So you see with the child, the child is not so tense, not so armoured. And so the kids don't do this sort of thing (IB: the squeezing of the hands). They don't need to do this sort of thing, they have more possibility for movement. But still you see she feels uncomfortable, definitely. And now, how is the sore throat?

AD: ...

JS: Like a lump. Now a lump in the throat and sadness, the remedy is ...?

AD: Ignatia.

JS: Ignatia, yes. So this is a question here. "Is this Ignatia, is this Natrum muriaticum?” The other thing which is interesting for me about this case is the shape of her face. Can someone describe for me the shape of her face?

AD: Round.

JS: It is round, yes. You will see, we will put it back on. And is this actually characteristic or not for Natrum muriaticum? Not really. She has more a sort of a round face. Usually Natrum muriaticum has this sort of shape (...). Natrum muriaticum have more like me, a long face. And the jaw tends to be more square. And so you see, this is the face, a kind of serious face. And also they can have quite big front teeth, because this has to do with the thinking, the intellect. So this little girl actually has an unusual face for Natrum muriaticum. But when I was thinking about this, I remembered another case; I have seen adult Natrum muriaticum with the same sort of face, almost exactly. I am not sure, but I think this sort of face has to do with a softer, with a younger ... Well, it is a little too speculative, I really don't know. You can have this rounder face in Natrum muriaticum, but there is their eyes: they look sad. Where sometimes those kids, the people with the more square face don't necessarily look so sad, and they laugh a lot. You know, laughing at serious matters is Natrum muriaticum.

AD: Is it Natrum carbonicum that laughs more?

JS: No, I don't think so. What does it say in the book?

AD: It is in the materia medica and I have some experience with this type of cases.

JS: That they laugh at serious things or that they are laughing?

AD: They are laughing, they look happier.

JS: This is not what I am saying. When I say with the Natrum muriaticum, they will laugh, but it is not appropriate. So if you look superficially, you will see: "Gee, this person is quite happy.” And then you think: "What are they laughing at?” Every time they say: "Yes and it was terrible when my father died, the funeral was such a mess. Ha, ha, ha ...” And you see it is a kind of defence. I think that when they are softer like this, there is not such a need to make this hysterical type of defence. I don't want to say too much, because I don't really know too much, except that this sort of round face can be Natrum muriaticum. It must a certain type of Natrum muriaticum.

JV: What sort of thing makes you cry?

IB: She looks to her mother, makes a gesture with both her shoulders and shakes her head.

MP: Can you tell what he just said? Can I tell? I know that you are sad, you have to be honest and tell of it. When she is concentrating on something real hard, all of a sudden she just gets really sad and will just cry.

JV: For no reason actually? Can you remember when you last had this sadness?

PT: Can't remember.

JS: Can you remember?

MP: I don't really see that. I am not with her at the school and I don't see that at home. I just see her energy being low. Not really wanting to show or talk about it either. It is really a hard time ... to talk about ... So it is very hard to find out, I think for her too.

JV: Is there anything that happened to you that upset you and since that time you have been feeling this way, or did it just come slowly like that?

IB: She nods her head.

JS: What am I looking for?

AD: ...

JS: Yes, for the causation, because maybe this is Ignatia. Now, if it is Ignatia, then in a child like this, this age, with this sort of softness, there was maybe some big grief. I don't know, for instance the dog died, there was a big grief. It is an Ignatia state and actually underneath is another remedy altogether, not necessary Natrum muriaticum; I am just looking, because I am not sure. Especially because it is at the moment of the interview and so it is not so obvious to me as it is now. And this is just a question for the causation. So we understand: "Why is this little girl so sad?” You have to say that this is very unusual. Unusual in terms of what is healthy or not, for a little girl like this to be so sad.

MP: ... I see she is very nervous, not sleeping. She has a really hard time going to sleep. ... A couple of years ago she gave that up and then it became this real anxiety and still yes, she reads a lot. But she has a lot of anxiety over going to sleep. Not having a book to read, or what if she is never going to be able to go to sleep. Of course obviously she always does, but she has a lot of anxiety about, a fear of going to sleep.

JS: What does it mean, this child has anxiety about going to sleep?

AD: Maybe fear of nightmares?

JS: We know the remedy, so we can talk. What is the insomnia of NATRUM MURIATICUM? What is happening? The child is very sad and she is not telling the mother. The mother says: "I can't get the information from this child, why she is so sad. She doesn't want to talk about it.” Then the mother says: "She has anxiety going to sleep.” But is it anxiety? It is probably not. This is the mother's interpretation about what is happening to the child. Because the mother is Calcarea carbonica actually and the mother has lots of anxiety and illness and disease and this and that. So of course the anxiety of Natrum muriaticum, the difficulty in going to sleep, is very characteristic and it is what?

AD: Thinking about unpleasant things.

JS: Right, thinking about unpleasant things. "What has happened in the day?" it is very characteristic. And not only what has happened, but it is more than that. It is like: "They said this to me, now if only I had said that to them, then it would have been this way. But now they said that to me and what I should have done, is I should have done this or that, but ...” This is the sort of thinking. Because at the moment, I say to you: "Well, you don't know what you are talking about" and you go: "Oh God ...” and you feel it, but you can't react. And then after the class you go and you lie down in bed and you think: "What I should have done, is I should have stood up and I should have said: "How the hell can you say ...?” Or: "I should have gone to him afterwards." actually is even better, not stood up. "I should have gone to him afterwards, I should have said: "Now, did you really mean that, you see, I mean, how do you know who I am? After all you are just coming here this minute.” I should have had this conversation and settled that.” This is the sort of thinking that Natrum muriaticum has. Now, of course we don't know what is going on with her, but it is a safe assumption that something of this nature is going on. And of course after the remedy the sleep is fine. So we know that this is a symptom of Natrum muriaticum.

JV: And she is not going to go to sleep.

MP: Like she is afraid she is not going to ... How do you get: "I can't go to sleep. I have so much trouble going to sleep."

JV: When do you go to bed actually?

IB: She makes a gesture with both her shoulders, as to indicate that she doesn't know.

JV: Six o'clock? No.

PT: Nine.

JV: Nine. And then you read?

PT: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: And then finally you put the light out and you lie there. Yes? And what do you think about when you are lying there?

IB: She makes a gesture with both her shoulders, as to indicate that she doesn't know. She smiles. Finally:

PT: My book.

JV: Your book. What book are you reading now?

PT: Doctor Dolittle.

JV: Oh, I remember that ...

JS: You see, she doesn't want to say, actually. I ask her, because I know, but she doesn't want to say. But now you see in retrospect, how is she when I ask her that question? You see, what is she doing?

AD: Laughing.

JS: Yes, she is not laughing, but she is smiling. What is funny in the question? What is there to smile about? Nothing really. It is embarrassment. It is a sort of Natrum muriaticum type, but it is not so strong, this is all. In the child it is the same idea (IB: laughing at serious matters), but not so strong necessarily.

AD: Remark (...).

JS: Yes, this is what I am saying, this is laughing at serious matters. Yet of course it is not so, she is not laughing and the matter is not so serious, but the idea is there, very much.

AD: She knows what you know and she is kind of flirting with you.

JS: He says: "She knows what I know and she is flirting with me.” It is an interesting thought, but I would guess, probably not. For what remedy would this be really true? If she was Pulsatilla, I would say: "Absolutely. This is what is happening. We are having this sort of game you see, where we don't look and then we look and then we see our looking and then we look away."

AD: It is more pronounced, it is more obvious.

JS: Yes, it is more obvious (IB: in Pulsatilla), but here I feel she is too shy and the matter is too serious for her actually to be playing consciously like this. Or even semi-consciously. I think this is probably embarrassment actually. Still, it is a thought. I say what I say, because I know the remedy that I gave her worked. Yet on the observation of the case, it is a very valid observation.

JV: And when you wake up in the morning, how do you feel?

PT: I usually have a sore throat ... and I drink some tea or some hot chocolate and then the sore throat will go away.

JS: You see now? What is interesting about her response? You see, it comes very freely. I say: "How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?” She says: "Oh, I feel like this and I feel like that, and I feel like this.” Now why, before is she like this and like that and now, what is the difference? It is not important, what I am asking her. It is easy for her to say; there is no charge to it. She is sort of: "Pfff. We are back to the sore throat now and I can say: "Yes, when I wake up I have a sore throat. And it feels like this and then I have my breakfast.” The level of questioning has shifted. And it is very important to know yourself; you must know when you are touching the soft spots and when you are backing off. If you are just in there waving your sword around, who knows what you will cut without knowing it; it is a very delicate business. This is a way; now I probably have made some assessment and I have backed off and I am just asking some more data questions and so the answer comes much more easily for her.

MP: I feel one of the big things that are going on, is she has a hard time, feeling uncomfortable with the kids and she is like a real adult person. She gets along with every adult in the world. Which is wonderful, I mean how can you say: "Well, you should be just a kid and be a creep to the teacher" and that kind of thing.

JV: So it is with the children that it is hard to be social?

MP: Yes.

JV: But not shy with adults.

MP: No, not really, I don't see that at all.

JS: What is she doing? Biting her nails. And now of course, she is like adults and she is not so comfortable with her peers (with children of the same age). She is a serious child, she reads a lot. The adults are more contained. But what do the children do?

AD: Tease.

JS: They tease. I say they are more free: it is true, and so both the good and the bad comes out more easily. And so they tease. Of course for some children this is very difficult. The other things that children do, not only do they tease, but what? How do children form their relationships? One day they play with this child and the next day they have another friend. They move a lot and they are not so much concerned about: "Oh, I played with Annie yesterday and she will be upset, because now I am playing with Margaret.” No: "Margaret has a better toy." or "Harry has a better toy and I am off.” And of course there is a lot of potential for rejection there.

JV: And what about the kids, you feel shy with them, or you just think they are kind of stupid?

IB: She makes a gesture with both her shoulders, as to indicate that she doesn't know.

MP: Can I say what I think? I am not really totally sure. I think she is shy with them. I think she doesn't know how to just go up and interact with the kids. I mean, she will have one good friend and if that is all fine, it is fine. But then of course if that one good friend isn't friends with her ...

JV: Then there is a lot of trouble.

MP: Yes. I mean, to be a part of a group of children, is not J.'s thing. And of course in schools you know, a lot of it is, the kids get in these groups and they get tied, you know I mean I see that even at my school sometimes. Hard to break into.

JV: So J. gets sort of disappointed?

MP: Is that disappointing? Not being able to just play with your friend?

IB: She nods her head.

JV: And that is what happened a couple of months back?

MP: Well, she went to a new school and had a really good friend and then I took her a month ago, is that what you are reminding me? You know, we had a big fight.

JV: You think that could be some of the sadness? Yes?

MP: What do you think really? Sometimes you are sad about your friends? Or that you think you should have more friends, or play with kids more, some of that?

JV: Some foods that you really like to eat or don't like to eat? What is your most favourite?

PT: Spaghetti.

JV: Spaghetti, farinaceous food, right?

JS: Right, you see again how we ask the truth: "Now you are really sad when you are with your friend?" "...” I say: "What do you like to eat?” "Spaghetti!” You understand, the difference in the response is absolutely what we can say the essence of the matter here.

MP: Farinaceous.

JV: Those sort of ...: spaghetti, pasta ...

JV: What don't you like? Yuk!

PT: Meat.

JV: Any kind of meat?

PT: And fish.

JV: No meat, no fish. You don't like to hurt the animals, or you don't like the taste?

PT: I don't like the taste and I don't like to hurt the animals.

JV: So the combination.

JS: You see, of course this sensitive child feels the suffering, her suffering and of course maybe she feels the suffering of other things too, Natrum muriaticum especially has great love for ...?

AD: ...

JS: Animals! Yes. Who has pets? Horses, dogs, who has?

AD: ...

JS: Not so many. With cats it is a little different. But with dogs and I think horses too, but especially dogs, if you look at them, it is just love that comes out of their eyes. They never reject you, you go to hug them, they don't go: "Off! Go away!” You kick them and they come back ... (IB: still loving you). So for Natrum muriaticum, or for all of us actually it is very good to have pets.

AD: May I interrupt? We have a veterinary homoeopath here and so he might get angry.

JS: Why would he get angry?

AD: Because you said that you can kick the dog and nothing happens.

JS: I didn't say: "You don't hurt the dog.” I said: "The dog still loves you.” That is why they say: "To treat someone like a dog," because if you treat someone like a cat, and you kick the cat: that's it!! You never get a second chance. You can't treat someone like a cat, but a dog - they give you many, many chances.

AD: ... three dogs and ten cats.

JS: Aethusa. Three dogs and ten cats, yes, Aethusa.

AD: Carcinosinum?

JS: No, because they are too fastidious. You see, three dogs and ten cats, your house is a mess. Take my word for it. Your love of animals has to exceed every other pathological characteristic that you have. Unless of course you are very, very wealthy and then it is a different matter, but most of us can hardly handle one or two.

JV: No sorts of fish?

MP: How about those fish-cakes that you can like?

JV: Not so hot, right? And chicken, no chicken?

MP: No, she really doesn't like chicken, I have never seen her eat that.

JV: She has never liked meat?

MP: Not really, hot dogs and lately she is kind of ...

JV: Are there some things that you are afraid of?

PT: Yeah ...

JV: What?

PT: When I was at camp this summer, I was really afraid that something horrible was going to happen at my house.

JV: You mean at home, while you were away? Like what?

PT: That the house would burn down, or something.

JV: Or that something would happen to your mother?

PT: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: Do you worry about your mother a lot? Quite a bit, yes? You think: "Maybe she will die," or something.

PT: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: Maybe that makes you sad too?

IB: She makes a gesture with both her shoulders, as to indicate that she doesn't know.

JV: Sure, it makes me sad.

MP: To talk about it ... She doesn't want to talk to me when I know she is in a bad ..., just because she doesn't feel like being with anybody and she doesn't ... be with anybody. So it is not like: "Do you want to talk about anything?"

JV: She spends a lot of time alone?

MP: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: She has always been a little on the quiet side, so it is in her nature.

MP: Calm. Can hang out by herself. Can create being by herself and have fun. You know doing little projects and really stay busy, like that.

JS: Of course the main remedy for wanting to be alone and liking to be alone, is Natrum muriaticum. They enjoy their own company. The other remedy, Sepia for instance, is ameliorated when alone. It is different. Sepia don't enjoy their own company; they can't stand the company of others, because the others irritate them so much, that they just have to go and be alone, and then they feel better. Natrum muriaticum takes positive pleasure in being alone. These are the people who put on their hat and take their stick and go walking miles and miles over the hills. They like exercise and they like to be alone. They walk and they go hiking, walking on the cliffs, miles and miles and this sort of thing, very characteristic Natrum muriaticum and they will say that they like that. They are not necessarily running away from anything.

JV: Is she responsible?

MP: I would say, in general she is very responsible. For her own things, not particularly very well at all. I mean, she will go out and take care of the world, but taking care of her own things ... of her little states.

JV: You say: "Take care of the world." what does ...?

MP: You could say: "You take care of those kids." and she would make sure they were fine and everybody was happy and everybody was safe. And you can go say: "Go help that person." and she would go and you knew you could trust her to take care of them.

MP: She hurts her ankles a lot and her feet.

JV: Her ankles are weak?

MP: Huh-huh (confirming).

JS: Of course the Natrums all have weak ankles. It is a characteristic of the Natrums. Some stronger than others, but the Natrums generally have weak ankles.

PICTURE 1 NATRUM MURIATICUM

"I don't know ..."

CASE14v2

Video 2 (see picture 2a and 2b)

JV: How old are you, S.?

PT: Seven.

JV: Seven. When was your birthday?

PT: Sunday thirteen.

JV: Did you have a good time?

PT: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: And what is the trouble?

PT: I have a dry skin.

JV: Your skin is not good, whereabouts?

JS: What is happening? Where is she looking? To her mother (see picture 2a). And what is the question? "Where is the skin troubling you?” How old is she?

AD: Seven.

JS: What is going on here? This is not shy, she is not bashful, it is not that she doesn't know, but still she is looking to the mother. Very interesting.

MP: ... cortisone.

JV: And how much cortisone have you used?

MP: Very little. I can think even one jar, years ago. We tried a lot of things, but ...

JV: And the main place?

PT: Back.

MP: Back and arms.

JS: Describe her a little, just quickly.

AD: ...

JS: No! Describe her for me.

AD: Oh, physically.

JS: Yes, physically - always begin physically. What do you see? She has blond hair, yes? And she is a young child, blond hair and she has more of a long, squarish face. And then physically there is something else which we see in this child, which is what? Her eyes are moving a lot: there, there, there ... What is going on?

AD: Very alert.

JS: Yes, she is very alert and she is looking out. In other words there is an anxiety there, it is true, but it is not only that. Here, she is cautious and she is alert and she is observing what is going on (see picture 2a).

AD: And the mouth keeps closed.

JS: She is sort of there and then she is looking: there, there, there.

AD: It is not a kind of curiosity, looking around like that?

JS: No, it is not like Sulphur. Sulphur is like: "I wonder what about that?" and then: "Oh gee, what about that?” No, this is, that there is a feeling here that someone is sitting inside and they are looking out there, they are watching. She is watching, is better than looking.

JV: Do you sweat?

PT: Sometimes.

JV: What will make you sweat?

JS: See, always, she looks to her mother.

PT: When I run around ...

JV: And then, whereabouts, do you sweat on your hands, or on your head?

PT: On my face.

JV: On your face.

JV: What do you like to eat?

PT: Pasta and water.

JV: And do you like cold water, or just any water?

MP: Cold water.

PT: Yes.

JV: What about sour things? Lemons, pickles, lemonade?

JS: You see, in this child it is much more characteristic than in the other one. She doesn't answer a question without referring to her mother. And she is more tense than the other kid. Actually her pathology is more. I saw her maybe four years ago and gave her NATRUM MURIATICUM. She was much worse then: she got very dry skin and eczema and there was a strong reaction. She was very angry for about a week. The intensity was really surprising, and then it settled down. The skin got better and she was much more relaxed. She got a bladder infection, which I treated. And after the bladder infection, which we treated with Apis or something like that, she relapsed. And she would not come back and see me, because she didn't like the questions that I asked. She said: "No, I don't, I am not going.” And now, four years later she says to her mother: "Now the skin is so bad, I want to go back and see that doctor.” So this is actually later and she is now really freer than she was then. But still you will see, she is ...

JV: What are you afraid of?

IB: She hesitates quite a long time.

PT: I don't know.

MP: At bed at night sometimes. You want the light on sometimes ...

PT: I don't know.

JV: You don't know?

MP: I think the light sometimes makes her feel better.

JV: The dark, you don't like the dark.

MP: Just last month she walked in her sleep for the first time.

FOLLOW-UP

JV: Four years and three weeks.

JS: Oh, forgive me! That was the first interview. And now she is coming back four years later. The first bit was when she was younger.

MP: I remember, the remedy did take on S. and it worked really well at the time. But she had, I guess it was a bladder infection. And at the time it was hard coming here for S., sharing things and stuff which was ..., so we just let it go and recently she said she would come back and I was ready to do that.

JV: So tell me the trouble.

PT: Well, I have dry skin.

JV: Where is the worst?

PT: Where is it the worst? Probably on my legs and calves and my arms.

JS: You see, so now it is four years later and of course she is a bit older, but also you notice ... How would you say, what is the difference? The thing that strikes you?

AD: She is not looking so much.

JS: But she is still looking, yes, sure!

AD: More confident.

JS: Yes, and as a result of that confidence, she looks how?

AD: She is looking at you.

JS: She looks softer.

AD: More feminine.

JS: Yes, someone said: "Feminine.” She is not so tight as she was when she was younger. Which is unusual, because usually the older you get, the tighter you get. So we see the remedy has had quite a good action actually, on some levels; she is more relaxed. And more relaxed, you see, then she is more confident. But where are her eyes?

JV: And the skin is dry or it itches you? Or ...?

JS: I say she is still looking at her mother. But what did I say now? You see, it is not the head, but you see when I ask the question her eyes go: "Poom, poom - like that - poom, poom.” This is exactly what I was describing.

PT: Well, it used to itch me, but it doesn't any more.

JV: So it is just that it is dry that bothers you?

PT: Yes.

JV: What food do you like to eat?

PT: Like pasta.

JV: And how is it at school, do you like school?

PT: Yes.

JS: You see how her eyes go. "Poom, poom."

JV: You do well at school?

PT: Yes, pretty good.

JV: Pretty good or very good?

PT: Good.

JV: Good, where do you come in your class?

PT: Where do I come?

JV: Yes, do they have that sort of thing? Grades that measure people? No?

MP: She is in a gifted program at school. She does well in school, she does very well. She is more private and if she is mad it is more of a huff, you know. And I am doing something that is a quick response. But it is usually kind of quick and done. Maybe she sometimes goes up to her room and slams the door or something like that.

JV: Do you cry much?

IB: She hesitates.

PT: No.

JV: Not much; you don't like to cry.

IB: She laughs.

PT: No.

MP: I agree, I don't think S. likes to cry. Because I sometimes say: "It is okay to cry." and she is quiet about it.

JS: How would you say, what sort of feeling do you get from this child? She is what sort of person? Let me rephrase the question. Do you like her, or don't you like her?

AD: I like her.

JS: You like her. I say: "What sort of feeling do you get?” This is what I mean. You like her. You sit there and you feel: "This is a sweet, a gentle person actually.” She is a very sensitive child and you have that feeling that she is a sensitive child and a sweet person actually.

JV: Yes, she takes things too hard in a way, certain things.

MP: She is sensitive. ... you can tell that she is feeling for somebody. She will relay something and you can see somebody is hurting, so just be relaying and you see it and then she ... you see it come up and then it stops.

JV: Yes, you seem like a very sensitive person actually. Very sweet.

JS: You see, someone made an observation there. What is she doing?

AD: ...

JS: Yes, she is doing this (...) with her hands. And now what is happening? It is not that we are asking a question, but we are talking about her and about how she feels inside.

MP: Yes, she is, just great.

JV: Sympathetic. And if one or your friends says something that upsets you?

PT: Then I will be mad at them. Well, if they said something like mean ...

JV: But you don't cry about that?

PT: No, not really.

JV: Do you tell them, or you just keep quiet?

PT: I usually don't say, keep quiet.

PICTURE 2a NATRUM MURIATICUM

Looking to the mother for approval.

PICTURE 2b NATRUM MURIATICUM

Biting nails.

CASE15v2

Video 3

JV: Long time since I have seen you. Can you remember how long?

PT: No.

JV: And what bothers you about it, actually?

PT: It is not fun for me when they cheat.

JV: Because they win, or because people shouldn't cheat?

PT: Well, they always end up winning because they cheat a lot, but I don't really care if they win as long as they are not cheating.

JV: As long as they don't cheat. So it is important to be honest.

PT: Yes.

JS: So you see this guy just a little here; how would you describe this guy?

AD: He is more adult.

JS: How does he look? Just what do you see.

AD: A small face.

JS: Thin, narrow, not much flesh. And how is his expression?

AD: A little bit sad.

JS: It is a serious kind of child. What sort of things concern him?

AD: Honesty.

JS: Honesty, right. You see, there is a seriousness about him and his face is the same, that sort of characteristic appearance. And it is true, he is more in a way fairly adult, but it comes from this seriousness. But from what he says here, what is actually the remedy that you think of first?

AD: Causticum.

JS: No. Aurum is a good thought, but actually just off the top of your head? Kali carbonicum. Why?

AD: The rules.

JS: Yes, the rules. You see: black and white. They cheat, they don't cheat. They cheat: it is bad, they don't cheat: it is good. They like the rules. This is the remedy that comes to my mind, just on that statement.

JV: Used to be difficult to sleep from those kind of worries, but not so much from worries any more, like this person ...

MP: I don't think so.

JV: And now, there was a time when he would get in these moods where he just cried and couldn't stop crying and go to his room and ... Now, has that been happening?

MP: No, not so. He has been crying, not to that extreme, but he is certainly crying hard, and he hid behind the wall when J. came out of the kitchen and M. jumped out and went "Booo" and J. ...

PT: Went: "Ahhh."

MP: And that really upset M.; that he said it in such an unkind way.

JS: So this is M. and his little brother is J. And M. is playing with his brother, is sort of teasing him and his brother walks out and M. jumps out and says: "Booo!" and his brother says: "Ahhh.” And what happened?

JV: He said what?

PT: "Ahhh.” Like he was saying it, like ... sarcastically.

JV: You mean he didn't get a fright.

PT: No.

JV: He just went: "Ahhh."

PT: Yes.

MP: Similar, yes.

JV: Like that. And that really upset you, hey?

PT: Yes.

JV: And what was so upsetting about it?

PT: I guess the way he said it.

JV: You mean you felt he hurt you, he didn't like you?

PT: No, I don't know.

JV: He shouldn't be allowed to do things like that with you?

PT: I don't know.

JV: You don't know.

MP: It is just irrational.

JS: You see, this is a fairly characteristic response of this remedy too, in the kids. I actually didn't see it before, but now I see it now that I am watching this video. What do they say: "I don't know.” And they say: "I don't know" to things which you know in a way, that they must know. You can say: "Well, it is just a child, he doesn't have the insight, this or that.” But for me it is not quite satisfactory. These are not such delicate, abstract philosophical questions, they are questions about the feeling of the person. They say: "I don't know" and it may be that they don't know; but if they don't know, they should know. So either they don't know, because already they have blocked it off, or they say: "I don't know" but they do know, yet don't want to say. And I can't really say which one is which, but it is very characteristic, this thing: "I don't know" to things which you have to know.

JV: It just really upset him and then what happened? He just started to cry?

MP: Well, he got real quiet and he didn't want to brush his teeth and go to sleep.

JS: So, I will tell you just a little bit, because it didn't come out in this interview. It is very difficult to collect this material, you would really be amazed about how hard it is to get videos of kids. Sometimes I have this great video and then the sound doesn't work. What happened was: his brother came and did this to him and he just went into a kind of hysterical thing. He refused to brush his teeth and he was crying and sort of shouting. And this is NATRUM MURIATICUM, a hysterical remedy. Any remedy which has this tension like that between the inside and the outside, it can become hysterical. That is why Ignatia is so much the example. But in the kids, a small thing may set it off, because they are not so armoured and so their expression is more. And so a Natrum muriaticum child, a young child can have tantrums; it doesn't mean it is not Natrum muriaticum. Because in this way the expression just comes out, they can have it. In this little child, you see what happens; he is teasing his brother, his brother goes: "Ahhh," and it really hurts him! "It was sarcastic," is what he said. This is what upset him.

AD: Question (...).

JS: Oh I am sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you. This is Natrum muriaticum. But what I said was, when he made that statement, that they break the rules and this upsets him; this statement by itself like that, is Kali carbonicum. If you abstract that out of the case and you say this sort of thing, you think immediately: "Kali carbonicum.” Because Kalis like the rules and Kali carbonicum especially has a very black and white type of thinking. Kali carbonicum has no grey. That is why policemen are very good Kali carbonicum. "There is the law, you broke the law and ..."

AD: Question (...).

JS: Do I consider that the hysteria is a sort of awkwardness like incoordination? Absolutely! This is the whole thing. And the reason I don't bring it up, is because you don't see it so much in the children. But in the adults you see ... Last time when I was in Holland I showed the videos of the Natrum muriaticum adults, and that is why I didn't bring them this time, because I didn't want to repeat too much. But you see the sort of behaviour like this. When they move, they don't move like this (...), the movement is rather stiff. This comes from muscle tension, from being withheld and then wanting to express themselves and as they start to express, something stops. And so you get this sort of jerky movement and of course, this is what we call hysteria; this inappropriate response is simply an exaggeration, that it builds up so much inside, that it can no longer be contained and some incident which is not so big produces this big reaction. It is just bursting out, it is an awkwardness of the emotions. Very much so.

JS: In Natrum muriaticum like that, while we are on this question, for me the image is of a door which has rusted hinges, or which is stuck. This is how these people relate socially. It is very difficult for them and so they want to relate in a way and so they push at the door to open it and it doesn't open, and then they push and push and finally they push and the door opens, and they come out and it is very uneasy, it is uncomfortable. They say the wrong thing, or it comes out in the wrong way. You will see in Natrum muriaticum that they try to tell a joke or something and it may be funny, but the way the timing goes, it is not funny. This is the stuck-door syndrome, there is very much awkwardness.

AD: Remark (...).

JS: He is saying: "If he were making a big fuss and he were left on his own, he would calm down much sooner than if he were given consolation.” I would say: "Yes.” That is why we asked the little (IB: Natrum muriaticum) girl before: "What happens when she gets upset?" and she goes to her room and she slams the door. This is the Natrum muriaticum way. Of course, if you follow them and you say: "Oh let me help you" or this, for sure they will fuss even more.

CASE16v2

Natrium muriaticum

Case 1

Ana F. age 17 years

Urticaria (2) three to four times a week:

Aggravated scratching (2)

Brought on by bathing

Brought on by undressing

Huge red welts which itch (2) and burn (2).

Headaches

Aggravated 7-10 p.m. (2)

Vertex (1) left side emphasis

Aggravated vexation (1), light (1), riding in a car

Ameliorated alone (1), music (1), sleep (3).

Weeps from anger (1) averse to consolation (2).

Depressed (2) hates school, the other kids seem smarter than she is.

Shy, loves animals (2). Loner, prefers to be alone (1).

Averse to salt (3), fat (2), butter (2), sour (2), milk (1), eggs, chicken, fish.

Desires coca cola, cheesecake, fruit (2), shellfish (2), bacon (1).

Thirst for cold.

Angry and depressed with parents' divorce at age six.

Kept this in for years. Never shows her emotions (1).

Irritable in the morning (2), has to be left alone for an hour in the morning. Must be quiet.

Exercise induced asthma since eight years old.

Sleeps sides and back with arms over head.

Constipated (2), can go weeks without stool.

Hates tight around the waist (1).

Suicidal thoughts by shooting.

Better by the sea (2) in general.

Exercise ameliorates (1).

Weeps from music.

Remedy?

EVALUATION

JS: Who would like to discuss the case? Not: "This is the remedy, that is the remedy.” The remedy of course is very important, but much more important than the remedy, is how we arrive at the remedy. You can get the right remedy through luck, you guess the right thing and it works, and then the next patient comes in and you don't guess the right thing, and it doesn't work. If we think correctly, if we aim ourselves in the right direction, sooner or later we will get there. This is very important. So I am not so interested in the remedy; the remedy is obvious, should be obvious, but the question is: "How to think about this case?” So who would like to say, how they thought about the case?

AD: I separated out the symptoms in mind, in particulars, in generals and keynotes. The most important mind symptoms were: depressed, shows no emotion, suicidal thoughts by shooting, weeps from music and anger, consolation aggravates, better alone and love of animals.

JS: So the mind symptoms which are important are almost all of them, including suicidal thoughts by shooting and this sort of depression, which is better alone, and the effect of the music and the love for animals. Good, and now I will say: "In this, do we have a remedy?” Having got this far, because this is I would say a reasonable approach, do we have a remedy?

AD: Natrum sulphuricum.

JS: Yes, Natrum sulphuricum is a definite possibility. Other possibility?

AD: Natrum muriaticum.

JS: Natrum muriaticum. Other possibility?

AD: Medorrhinum.

JS: Medorrhinum. Other possibility?

AD: Carcinosinum.

JS: Carcinosinum, yes. Good. So we can say here, we have good information for an essence of a remedy. We can say that we have a good feeling for the psychological state of this person, in a way. This is an adolescent who is depressed and rather withdrawn and who has affection, because she loves animals, is sensitive to music and averse to consolation. I mean, we have to say: "This is Natrum.” This is definitely Natrum. Of course it can be Medorrhinum, or Carcinosinum, but not really. This story here is Natrum muriaticum actually, or Natrum sulphuricum. Now we have the question. And when I say for those, why it is Natrum, not Carcinosinum or Medorrhinum, well, we will see. This question will become stronger and stronger, as the cases get more and more difficult. You see, if I stand here with an apple and someone is in the back row and their eyes are not so good, they see something round. And I say: "I have a fruit here.” And they say: "Something round, it is fruit ... It is an orange!” I say: "No, it is an apple. It is obviously an apple!” And they say: "How can you say it is an apple and not an orange?” And this is why this is Natrum and not Medorrhinum or Carcinosinum, because it is very clearly an apple and not an orange. Now, what makes it Natrum sulphuricum?

AD: The shooting.

JS: The shooting, yes. In the whole case, what makes it Natrum sulphuricum?

AD: Averse to salt.

JS: Averse to salt, Natrum muriaticum is averse to salt. What makes it Natrum sulphuricum?

AD: The desire for fat is not so common for Natrum muriaticum.

JS: She is averse to fat. Yes, if it was a strong desire for fat, you are right, it would go towards Natrum sulphuricum, because of the Sulphur component. But no, she is actually averse to fat, so that doesn't help us.

AD: The anger?

JS: The anger, where is she angry? Yes, there is a grief. And Natrum sulphuricum has grief. Oh, you think Natrum muriaticum can't be angry? She says: "Angry and depressed with her parents' divorce.” No, this can be either, Natrum muriaticum and Natrum sulphuricum.

JS: Now what goes against Natrum sulphuricum?

AD: The sea.

JS: Right! How can this be Natrum sulphuricum? Natrum sulphuricum is one of the main remedies worse from what?

AD: Wet weather.

JS: Wet weather, from damp. Natrum sulphuricum complaints come on from the damp, from living in damp places. So much so, that they can have diarrhoea from eating green leafy things, or things which grow in rivers and so on. So sensitive to the damp. So can this be Natrum sulphuricum, really?

AD: No.

JS: No, there is not enough evidence for Natrum sulphuricum to overwhelm this characteristic.

AD: Also the kids seem smarter to her, other kids.

JS: Yes, but for me this is still ... It is the damp, she is better by the sea. Very interesting. Now of course, what can we say for Natrum muriaticum? They are worse by the sea, yes?

AD: Or better.

JS: Or better, right. More commonly worse, but here it is the relationship to what that is important in the sea?

AD: Salt.

JS: Salt, you understand, it is the relationship to the salt. And Natrum muriaticum can crave salt, or they can be averse to salt, no matter. It is the fact of the relationship which is important. And so the sea here can actually be a confirmation for us, rather than something which goes against it. Of course this case is a very clear NATRUM MURIATICUM case.

AD: Should it be either or, in both cases? So, she has an aversion to salt, should it be: worse by sea?

JS: The question is: "In this particular case, she has an aversion to salt; shouldn't she be worse by the sea?” And I would have to say: "No, because the remedy worked very well.” So the point is that that becomes too much of a theoretical question. And in fact the practical evidence that we have, is that it doesn't have to be that way.

AD: Remark (...).

JS: This is what we can say: "Splitting hairs in a place where it is not helpful for us.” Sometimes it is very helpful, we have to be exactly precise. Other times it doesn't matter. And this is where the art comes in. But here I must say: "It is the relationship, the fact of the relationship, which is far more important than the content of the relationship.” This is the issue here.

JS: So this case is of course a clear case of Natrum muriaticum: essence, totality, keynotes, everything confirmed. You expect this little girl to get better and quickly. There is nothing in the case which goes against this remedy, nothing where you can say: "This case, Natrum muriaticum, should not have this symptom.” And so this case is a case which is very easy and it is easy because it has order to it. Do you understand what I mean by order? That the parts are all falling into place and that they are not contradicting each other. It is very important to recognize this sort of thing. That is why we start with a simple case, because simple cases are simple, because they have order. The more difficult the case gets, the more disordered. And this is an indication of the vitality of the person, because the more disordered the case, the lower the vitality.

AD: Natrum muriaticum can also have ailments from discord of parents.

JS: Ailments from discord of parents. Of course, why? Why do I say of course?

AD: Answer (...).

JS: Because of the conflict, yes. Because these are sensitive people who feel their emotions strongly, especially as children, who can't bear the thought of losing one parent or the other. When they see the parents fighting, then of course they are going to separate and divorce and then comes the grief and even the anticipation. And this is what is important, you see why I say: "We can't know everything about the remedy.” Yet if we understand the guiding principle, then we can say even if we don't know that symptom exists or not, it doesn't matter, because we know that it is quite in keeping with the idea of the remedy.

AD: Why not Medorrhinum, for example? There is some very strong information for Medorrhinum.

JS: So he says: "Why not Medorrhinum?"

AD: I mean, she is sensitive; Medorrhinum can be a sensitive.

JS: Why not Medorrhinum? I answered your question. Why is an apple an apple and not an orange? This case is Medorrhinum, because your vision is blurred. I have to tell you, this is the only answer I can give you. It doesn't matter: they are both fruit, they are both round, they both have skin. And you can say: "There is tremendous information here! It is round, it is fruit, it has skin. Why is it not an orange?” And I am telling you: "It is not an orange, because it is an apple.” And that is it. When you really know what is an apple, it is not a question. So it is not the information, it is how the information comes together, and the feeling that one gets from the case in a way. And this is not a Medorrhinum case, definitely, even though there is information of Medorrhinum.

AD: What kind of aggravation did she have after the remedy?

JS: I don't really know. This was a case I did in consultation and I don't think it was very big. Maybe she had a bad rash for a few days, or she was a little more upset, but you don't expect big aggravation in this case. Why don't you expect a big aggravation?

AD: A clear case.

JS: Yes, it is a clear case, it is well-ordered, it is a young person, there is not much suppression. Why should there be a big aggravation? I am not saying there cannot be a big aggravation, because sometimes there is more going on than we realize. Yet I would say on the evidence, on the surface of this, there should not be a big aggravation in this case.

AD: Question (...).

JS: The question is, the question about Medorrhinum. And "What is Medorrhinum and what is Natrum muriaticum?” Why don't you ask me that question at the end of the week? If you still have that question at the end of the week, we will discuss it. Because I feel now, it is just beating a dead horse - it is not going to move. If you still have this question, you need information which I have not given you yet.

AD: You want me to be patient ...

JS: It is not quite like that. I remember when I was in medical school. Some time in medical school, I went to a lecture from a man who was giving evidence for the existence of God. I listened to this lecture and he was a doctor, Ph.D. and in those days, if you had a Ph.D. it wasn't just anyone who had it. Very few people had it. A very bright guy. And I listened and: "Ah, shit ... I mean, what drivel is this guy talking? He says this and he says that and he has got a Ph.D. ...” And I would say maybe ten years later, if I were to give evidence for the existence of God, I would have said exactly what this man said on that day. So how would you convince me at that time that there is a God? I give you every fact and you say: "Nonsense.” This question that you ask now, we have to have a different way of thinking and a different understanding to really answer the question.

CASE17

Jason F. age 9 years

First visit 4/22/87

Chief complaint (mostly history from mother):

People tease him (2).

Kids push him around.

He gets mad but doesn't cry. Never cries much (1).

Does not like to be told how to do things (2).

Likes to figure it out for himself (2).

Uncooperative (2), sulks and broods (2).

Social anxieties (2), holds back from group participation (2).

Rational thought is strong point (1), scientific, mechanical mind.

Earlier had a vision problem, was focusing on the wrong side of the page. His reading skills were in the 7th percentile, now in the 67th.

Fears germs (2).

Won't eat food that someone has touched. Won't drink from someone's cup.

Neat and tidy.

Everything has to be just right (2).

Bears grudges (1).

Serious person.

Doesn't like the sun (1), pulls the shades.

Desires macaroni (2), noodles (2) hot dogs (2).

Averse to fish (2), cooked vegetables (2).

No thirst, although has dry lips and skin.

Remedy?

Follow-up 6/3/87

Dramatic difference. His teacher is amazed.

Has really come out of himself. Making friends. Having a good time.

EVALUATION

JS: Who would like to say something about the case, how they approached it?

AD: This little boy is very precise and wants things to be just.

JS: Right.

AD: He sulks and broods. He has a fear of contamination.

JS: Fear of contamination, right, of germs, seems very strong, yes.

AD: Quite withdrawn as well. He feels like a victim.

JS: So what I am understanding is, when you are thinking of this case, you are thinking first of the sort of emotional symptoms?

AD: Yes.

JS: We are looking to see: "Do we feel we know something about this person? About their inner state?"

AD: Not a lot.

JS: But we can say something, yes? What you said, is this enough for us? So what do we have: he is nine years old and mostly his mother is doing the talking, an important point. So you say that he is withheld?

AD: Yes.

JS: He gets mad, but he doesn't cry, he never cries much. Yet he sulks and he broods. What does this mean: sulks and broods?

AD: He feels hard done by.

JS: No, what is it: sulk. When it says: broods. It says in the repertory, but even if it doesn't, what does it mean: sulk? Or when it says: broods? It has broods there, right?

AD: Remark (...).

JS: It is in the repertory. You see, now I use the computer a lot and Roger Morrison has put all these additions in and I no longer know what is in Kent's repertory or what is added, but I know that broods is there. And sulky is there too. And broods? Now we digress a little. How do you tell what a rubric means? How do you say: "This rubric means this and that rubric means that?"

AD: By the remedies.

JS: Sure! By the remedies. So sulky, you see Antimonium crudum; sulky, pouting. There is a sort of aggressiveness to sulky. Sulking is not a completely passive activity. Brooding is different. Also, brooding has to do with the circulation of the thoughts. Sulking has to do more with the feeling. This is interesting. So: uncooperative, sulks and broods. So he does both. Social anxieties; he holds back from group participation. So here is a child who is withheld, who doesn't participate well with his peers and who tends to go off by himself and to kind of think about these things that are wrong. You agree? Anyone disagrees? So we can say quite a lot actually. Then we see he bears grudges and that he is a serious person and so the remedy that we are thinking of is Natrum muriaticum. This is a remedy that is coming to our mind, but now there are certain things that concern us.

JS: Another thing we see is, he does not like to be told how to do things; he likes to figure it out for himself. Could this be Natrum muriaticum? Sure! It could be Natrum muriaticum, there is no reason why it couldn't. They tend to be rather intellectual, you would say more likely, if you just had this information, it would be what?

AD: Sulphur.

JS: Just this information is more Sulphur. However, if we take it in context, there is no reason to make it Sulphur here. And then he says: "Fears germs. Won't eat food that someone has touched and won't drink from someone's cup.” Right. Now this is fairly odd in a nine-year-old child, isn't it? So this is something which is what?

AD: Peculiar.

JS: Peculiar. So here we have a case, we look, can we see the essence? Yes, we think we have an idea for an essence. But at the same time, as we run through our little scheme (IB: see case-analysis), what I try to say is that of course not everything happens in sequence. Here we see there is this peculiar feature. Now, is this peculiar feature going against the idea that we have for the case? Is it going against the idea of Natrum muriaticum?

AD: No.

JS: Why not?

AD: It makes me think of another remedy, but it is not definitely ...

JS: It is not going against it, is it? And in fact can we find it anywhere? Is Natrum muriaticum listed? Fear of infection, is it there? It is there, right? Now we see that the remedy is listed for this symptom. Now our question is what? How do we think about this? You see, even a simple case can become very difficult if you think too much. It is a terrible thing. I mean, sometimes after you have been practising for a while, you study a case for two hours and you come up with a remedy, and someone who has done homoeopathy for six months will say: "That is the remedy." because they don't think and they get the right remedy.

AD: I don't find Natrum muriaticum for fear of infection in the repertory.

JS: Vassilis Ghegas has added it. So let's accept that it has been added, we put it like a one (IB: gradation). This is the question now. "How peculiar is this symptom, and how strong is this symptom in the remedy that we are thinking of?” Fears germs twice - that is pretty strong. Won't eat food that someone has touched. Won't drink from someone's cup. Now maybe this is where we have to separate out our pathology, because for me this is weird. Doesn't bother me at all - someone leaves some food, I will eat it. You know, someone has a cup there, who cares? I drink out of the bottle. My mother says to me: "But someone else has to drink out of the bottle, you don't ...” I mean, it doesn't bother me. But still I feel this is peculiar here. When there is a little child and someone drinks from the cup and they say: "No, no I won't have it, you have to put it in a fresh cup.” You don't feel it so odd?

AD: I think fear of germs is more peculiar.

JS: Yes, but why do you think he won't touch food that someone else has eaten? He is afraid of germs. This is just supporting the extent of his anxiety. His fear is so strong that he won't touch something which has been contaminated. It is quite strong. So the question is: "Is this symptom in Natrum muriaticum strong enough to meet this symptom in the case?"

AD: Can we say disgust instead of fear?

JS: No, it says: fear. I think that we have to take it here as fear, because there is no real evidence in the case for disgust. Even if we read the rest of the case, we can't justify changing the symptom. Sometimes we can, but in this case there is no real justification for it. It doesn't come out as disgust; he fears germs. And this other evidence is supporting the fear, not the disgust. This point raises a question about Natrum muriaticum. But then we go on and we see what? He bears grudges, he is a serious person, he is neat and tidy; all this is very good for Natrum muriaticum. Then it says: he doesn't like the sun. He pulls down the shades. You would say: "This is peculiar in a child, isn't it?” Sure, it is peculiar. Most children like what? At least where I live? They like to run outside and play. And you ask them: "Do you like summer or winter?” Mostly they will say they like summer, because they get to run outside and to swim and play and it is just a natural thing for a child. Here is a kid you see, who is sitting and sulking and brooding and doesn't like to be with the other kids. He wants to be by himself and he is sitting there pulling down the blinds, so the sun doesn't get in.

JS: So now we have to weigh this against the fact that there is the peculiarity of the fear of germs. Is this peculiarity confirming enough for our essence, that we can put the other one more into the background? This is how we think about this.

JS: And then he craves what?

AD: Farinaceous.

JS: Farinaceous, and then he is averse to fish. And then unfortunately he has no ...?

AD: Thirst.

JS: Thirst, right. Not so good for our remedy. But we have to say that basically this is a fairly clear case of NATRUM MURIATICUM. There is essence which is confirmed.

JS: What do I mean when I say confirmed?

AD: Aversion to the sun, desires farinaceous, averse to fish.

JS: Yes, there is physiological evidence for the remedy. This is what I mean, when I say: "Confirmed.” That the pattern of your remedy is matching not only the pattern of the psyche, but the pattern of the physiology as well. And then we see that that remedy - Natrum muriaticum - we know it is a remedy which can be picky and can be fastidious and in fact someone has even added it. A reliable source for fears of germs. And so we see how even this is sort of subsumed. We can take it in as part of our idea. So we have to throw out our reasoning that this is so unusual or peculiar that it outweighs the remedy, because the evidence for the remedy is much stronger than this unusual or peculiar thing. So we see an essence which is confirmed. It is very easy, it is very clear.

AD: Remark (...).

JS: He says that he doesn't disagree with me, but at the same time there is a point which should be brought out and that is, there is some evidence in the case for Sulphur and then there is the desire for hot dogs which represents a desire for fat. And then there is aversion to fish, which is good confirmation for Sulphur. So would you give him Sulphur or Natrum sulphuricum?

AD: I wouldn't give him Natrum sulphuricum just because there is Natrum and Sulphur.

JS: You would need what?

AD: ...

JS: You would need a characteristic symptom of Natrum sulphuricum. If there was in this case something which was really characteristic of Natrum sulphuricum; maybe he had this constipation and whenever he had a stool he felt so much better, we could think maybe Natrum sulphuricum here. But that is not here; it is not a case for Sulphur, even though he likes to figure things out for himself and he is rational; but Natrum muriaticum is also rational. I am giving an example of a case whose essence is confirmed here.

JS: What is the essence of Sulphur?

AD: Polarity.

AD: Theorizing.

JS: Of course Sulphur is a very big remedy; it has many different aspects. For sure, Sulphur has egotism. No matter what form of Sulphur you see, there is egotism. And for me personally, this is a very important tip-off for this remedy. Either they are egotistical in their critical nature and their judgementalism, or they are people who are apparently egoless. They work eighteen hours a day in a centre to help the homeless people and get very little paid for it and they are working and working. But when you suspect the remedy and you look in there, you will see that what they need is what?

AD: Recognition.

JS: Yes. This is their food. People say: "Man, we couldn't do without you. This place would not go without you. You are just doing a great ...” In this case, we do not see this sort of egotism. This social anxiety, holds back from group participation; sure, who says why? Because he is so judgmental and critical he feels the other kids are not worth playing with? This is not really Sulphur, why? If he were forty years old, maybe. With later Sulphur, they come to this state where they feel they are superior and no one else really knows anything and so why bother even to talk to them. But a child can't come to that state yet, really. So this sort of isolation is not because he is so judgemental and critical in his mind, but because he fears the rejection. In children it is much more likely that they fear the rejection than that they are hypercritical of their peers. I am not saying that it is impossible, but the odds are that it goes that way. So for that reason, we see here the essence of Natrum muriaticum and not the essence of Sulphur. And when you see an essence which is well confirmed, there is no reason to look further. If you start to look further and further you could make any case into anything. So that is why when we start, we look for an essence. We look to see if we understand this person, and if we understand it and it is confirmed, the remedy is going to work, unless our understanding is totally off the wall.

AD: I was troubled by this case and I still am, because I feel some aggressiveness; he gets mad and he broods and he sulks. So somehow that doesn't feel right for Natrum muriaticum for me.

JS: She is bothered by the case because she feels an aggressiveness in the case that he is brooding and he is sulking and she feels behind it there is a sort of aggressiveness and this doesn't feel right for Natrum muriaticum. Now what sort of aggressiveness is brooding and sulking?

AD: It might be several types to me. It might be turning down the world. "Okay, here I am, you just get lost and I don't care a fig any more.” Or it might be: "I don't want to come out with my aggression."

JS: But both ways, is this an active outgoing, or is it an interning?

AD: Interning.

JS: It is an interning. Is this with Natrum muriaticum, or against Natrum muriaticum?

AD: ...

JS: You see? So you can't say: "Natrum muriaticum can't be aggressive.” Sure, they can get angry. You look under hatred in the repertory. What does it say? It is a two. And let's look under anger. Natrum muriaticum is a three. So can we say: "No, Natrum muriaticum is not angry?” No. But the question is: "How.” And the manifestation accords perfectly with the essence of the remedy, with the way in which the energy is transformed in this organism. We have to look a different way to say what is essence. Each organism is a sort of a transformer for energies which pass through it, and according to its nature it transforms, or distorts, or perverts or however you want to say it, these energies in a certain way. And so it is true, if this child was going around bashing the other kids on their nose and kicking the animals and so on, we would say: "Probably this is not Natrum muriaticum."

AD: Can we say that the pathology is strong on the mental level?

JS: No. This is not a mental case. The centre of gravity of this case is emotional, definitely. Mental, centre of gravity which is in the mind, is confusion. They can't think, they are confused, they come in the room and they think: "What am I doing here?” And they walk out into the next room and they think: "Jesus, where was I?” This is the mind. Or delusions, hallucinations. For instance if I feel now that your words are coming and they are somehow entering into me and poisoning me; this is the mind. Here the centre of gravity is on the emotional level.

AD: I was asking because of the focusing of the eyes.

JS: However, weakness of the ocular muscles: what remedy do you think might be there?

AD: Natrum muriaticum.

JS: Natrum muriaticum, you see, why do we need to go further? When you see a case where the remedy works really well, I know you all had this experience. And you go back over the case and you think: "How could I have doubted for a moment that this was the remedy. Every symptom is covered, those that I looked up, those that I didn't look up. Every symptom.” When the remedy works really well, the whole case is really covered by that remedy.

The differential diagnosis with Natrum muriaticum is also not easy under certain circumstances; for example, in this case you could also observe a crack in the middle of the lower lip and often they have aphthae in the mouth, aphthae on the inside of the lips and the inside of the cheeks. Also because of the hypersensitivity you have the tendency to prescribe Natrum muriaticum and as you can see in this patient here, they have a reserved appearance. When they are well-educated they can give you an appearance of Natrum muriaticum. It is a very important differential diagnosis.

- He sleeps well, in the morning he is still tired, the desire fish is rather strong, he doesn't tolerate the sun, talks very little, is very closed.

- This is which remedy?

- Answer : "Natrum muriaticum?"

- A : Yes, then he got Natrum muriaticum, but we don't know yet how he reacted to this remedy.

He likes salt a lot, highly seasoned food, pasta and milk. As a child he liked fat a lot. In fact he doesn't eat it anymore. Now he doesn't desire it at all. He likes cheese a lot, smoked meat, smoked horse meat, sausages, very clearly salty smoked meat and milk. He is very thirsty and he still is. In fact there are no anxieties, he has a little fear of heights, it must be rather high, he can climb on a ladder or a roof. He is quiet and he makes contact with other people very easily. When he is sad he stays by himself, he doesn't want to be consoled. He has many friends. When he has been hurt or offended he doesn't forget about it. As a child he had an allergy and he had a course of desensitization. He was here once before for eczema on the feet. Then he received Natrum muriaticum and the eczema on the feet improved very well.

-------

A: Are you a person who easily forgets, on experiencing something bad, when somebody did something to you?

P: No. I will not forget a thing like that. Of course it depends on what it was. When it was really a very serious thing, I will remember it for quite a long time. When it is not so bad then I forget it. I can't easily start talking about things which were really difficult.

A: Let's suppose you have been away, to a party, can you immediately fall asleep?

P: Yes.

A: You don't think about it anymore?

P: No. When it concerns sleep, I don't have any problems with that.

Which remedy cannot sleep, when something has happened?

Audience: Natrum muriaticum.

A : Yes, Natrum muriaticum. When they have been somewhere and then they go to bed, everything runs like a movie before their eyes and they cannot sleep.

In this case you must also think of Natrum muriaticum. But when you take a look at him, what is against Natrum muriaticum?

Audience: He can express his anger.

A: Yes, that is right, but what do you observe?

He always looks straight into my eyes, he doesn't look away. Natrum muriaticum can't look for 30 seconds in your eyes. This is a kind of defense mechanism on the psychological level. They don't like people to go too deeply into their feelings, therefore they turn away their eyes.

This is not the case in this patient, he has his eyes fixed on me all the time.

- Natrum muriaticum is the most important hay remedy in practice.

- If hay fever is accompanied by migraine you can forget everything and give Natrum muriaticum; the same in hay fever or asthma with eczema and a headache.

- Yesterday someone told me about a child with these complaints: asthma, eczema and a headache.

- The first remedy of which we have to think is Natrum muriaticum

- Trust is something very important for me.

- Of which remedy could we think?

- Of Natrum muriaticum.

CASES