CASES

 Pulsatilla pratensis

CASE1 v2

GIRL, 3 YEARS OLD

A: How much fever does she have at the moment ?

MP: I don't know, it went all so quickly, and the shortness of breath.

A: And she weeps easily ?

MP: Yes, yes, because of pain in her ears. This afternoon she hardly slept.

A: Does she want to be carried ?

MP: Yes.

A: Is she weeping much ?

MP: Yes, I just told her we will go to the doctor. Normally, it is no problem at all, but now she made a real drama of it. Usually, she is very brave.

A: Is she thirsty ?

MP: Not so much, not more than normal.

A: And you noticed that she has tearful eyes ?

Look at those eyes, pay attention to those eyes ! I saw that child weeping and it had to sit on her mother's lap.

We can start immediately "desire to be carried". The first remedy is Chamomilla, the second Cina. They have to lie with their belly over their mother's shoulder. Cina is a very important children remedy with worms. They really get cramps, because of the worms. Therefore, they toss about in bed. Also Kali carbonicum, Lycopodium, Rhus toxicodendron and others, these are remedies which have to be carried. Another remedy, that wants to be carried over the shoulder is Stramonium, also Podophyllum.

That is one thing, besides she was constantly weeping. I do not know if you noticed the tears in her eyes - "tearful eyes".

MP: I came home from my work and I saw those eyes and said, "She will become ill." And since 4.00 p.m. she has become more ill.

A: You didn't notice what came out of her nose ?

MP: I can't say. I think, it was something watery.

She can weep and laugh at the same time.

She can weep and laugh at the same time. Everyone knows this remedy ? Pulsatilla.

What do you think, what kind of constitutional remedy does this child need ? You did not see the whole child, but only the face. The face looks as if it was a fat child, but in fact she is really very thin - "thin". In the rubric "thin" we see next to Calcarea and others also a remedy that is complementary to Pulsatilla: Silicea.

We had quite a lot of problems with this child. We gave her Pulsatilla and afterwards she felt very well, later she did not react at all to Pulsatilla, then came the constitutional remedy and cured her from the recurrent coughing and so on.

It is also important to know that the child has been born too early. That is very important in the anamnesis ! When you are dealing with a child who has been born too early, the first remedy you have to think of is Silicea. It can also be Thuja, it can be any remedy. We do not know the reasons why children are born too early. It also depends on the circumstances of the mother during her pregnancy, if she had, for example, a grief and therefore had an early birth. I do not think that those children are suffering from that. But when it is a spontaneous early birth, first we have to think of Silicea, Thuja, Tuberculinum, maybe also other remedies. It is notable that those children often have a large head, very, very thin hair - you know, there is "brittleness" in Thuja picture, they also have the feeling as if their legs would break, as if they were of glass. This soft, fine picture of appearance, that is Silicea and Thuja. You might be anxious to touch them, because their legs could break, they are so thin.

"Thirstless with fever," Pulsatilla is very important there. Very, very seldom Pulsatilla is thirsty.

Do you see those tears in her eyes ? Look in the Repertory: "Lacrimation of the eyes during fever" (p. 246).

EYES, LACRIMINATION,fever, during : Acon., apis., bell., calc., cham., eup-per., ign., lyc., petr., puls., spig., spong., sulph.

MP: It starts with a snotty nose and the next day she has a shortness of breath. She starts breathing with the wings of the nose.

She says that it starts with a cold. Afterwards she has a shortness of breath and starts breathing with the wings of the nose. Also Lycopodium is complementary to Pulsatilla. Someone who is constitutional Lycopodium usually gets a Pulsatilla influenza.

There is a further development of the disease. It can go from Pulsatilla to Lycopodium, and if you do nothing, maybe Antimonium tartaricum, so when you do nothing it might come near to death. These near to death remedies are dangerous remedies, such as Antimonium tartaricum, Carbo vegetabilis, Arsenicum. With these remedies you can get someone out of these situations and then he will go back to, for example, Lycopodium and then to Sulphur in a healthy phase.

You saw the case of my daughter; she went from Opium to several other remedies and she became always healthier, so that she could produce constitutional symptoms, this means she had enough energy to produce Calcarea symptoms. And then, when you can give Calcarea, you can be delighted, because it is a very deep working remedy. 70 % of all the children need Calcarea, this means it is a remedy of early childhood. And when you can prescribe it for an older person, it means that he is a strong man. Then it works beautifully. It means, that you do not often find Calcarea with older persons. That is not right. You often will need Calcarea with older people. But we often forget it; often we only think about Baryta carbonica in dizziness with older people, but Calcarea has it also.

MP: She lies for half an hour in bed, then I pull her upwards. Then I lay her higher.

A: Is she intolerable when she is ill ?

MP: No, she isn't. When it becomes worse, in fact she isn't very intolerable. She weeps a little, but if she has seen me, she is satisfied. I pull her a little upwards, and then she tries to sleep again. No whining. And she likes caressing.

Everyone knows that Pulsatilla likes company, that she likes consolation. "Consolation amel." (p. 16): there are two remedies: Phosphorus and Pulsatilla.

But do not forget that Homoeopathy is flexible. If you have 10 times Pulsatilla, you also have 10 different appearances of Pulsatilla. Pulsatilla is not exclusively quiet, does not exclusively want company. Look in the Repertory: "Aversion company during heat" (p. 12): Conium, Hyoscyamus and Pulsatilla !

If you have negative symptoms, for example, we know of Pulsatilla that she likes company, but when you have a child with fever, tears in the eyes and has secretion - you know, Pulsatilla is a sycotic remedy with many secretions - and this child does not want the mother to be around, do not say that this can not be Pulsatilla, because she does not want anybody around. This kind of thinking is wrong. You may only take the positive symptoms, and you see, "aversion to company during fever": Pulsatilla. So, only the positive symptoms count !

Another very important complementary remedy after Pulsatilla is besides Calcarea, Silicea and Lycopodium - Tuberculinum. You surely have seen this often: you have often given Pulsatilla, the reaction was good, and then follows Tuberculinum.

MP: You already had many kisses ? She eats as well as before. Also when she got the tablet, she liked it.

Strange, but when you have given the children the right tablet, and they become ill again, they say, "I need a tablet."

She also says that she eats well, in spite of the fever. Which remedy has a very good appetite during fever ? Phosphorus.

A: Can I see you tomorrow evening again ?

FEEDBACK

A: Tell me, how did it go ?

MP: Fine. At home we let her drink the remedy twice, then she slept until half past eleven. Then, she had again a little pain. Besides, by 11.00 o'clock the fever had gone. At half past eleven I gave her again a little and then she slept until the morning. We had to wake her up. And today she is vivid and didn't complain anymore. Only the breathing goes a little too fast.

A: But it is better ?

MP: Yes, we are very satisfied of course.

A: Before, it always developed to asthma.

MP: Yes, I had to give her antibiotics that day and she would get a shortness of breath. Of course, we were very happy, that she slept the night through.

A: I give you the remedy to take home, save it. But when you have to give it again, you dissolve it in water.

MP: How long does it preserve when it is dissolved in water ?

A: Three days. I think, she still have those tears in her eyes.

MP: She isn't healthy yet, but we still have a result.

A: All right, you give the remedy when there are problems. Don't worry.

CASE2 v2

Otitis media, right

Pulsatilla pratensis

BOY, 2 YEARS OLD

This case demonstrates clearly how flexible you have to be, that a disease can develop from Pulsatilla to Calcarea, to Silicea and afterwards, for example, back to Calcarea.

This child is fatter than the other child. With Silicea you find a fine structure, the hair is fine and so on. The hair is rebellious, such as the character of Silicea. Which is the constitutional remedy here ? Calcarea, right.

A: You have this child treated here, because he couldn't sleep; according to you he was terrified. We gave him Silicea.

This child came the first time, because it woke up very often at night. I asked why the child wakes up so often and the mother said, that he was frightened by a noise. How can we find this in the Repertory ? "Anxiety from noise" (p. 7), "anxiety after fright": Silicea. Do not forget that.

I give Silicea with closed eyes when the mother says that the child suddenly starts crying 3 - 4 times a night and nobody knows why.

But I had some cases, where the parents knew why: because of a sudden noise, because of a noise in the street everything started. Since that day the child does not sleep the night through. But, as a mother do you ever know, if there was a noise, if the child has been frightened by that ? No.

Question: "Why don't you take the rubric 'sleeplessness from noise' ?"

A: No, this is not sleeplessness from noise, because the child slept well, and when there was a noise, this child did not wake up.

"Sleeplessness from noise" means, that they can not sleep from the slightest noise, but that is not Silicea. Silicea is frightened by the noise and since then they wake up regularly.

You know, that children are often beaten on their bottom after birth, and that makes a noise, and even that can be the reason for the waking up of a child.

But other important anxiety-remedies are, for example, Aconitum and Opium.

Aconitum has been frightened very much and since then they are anxious. Opium has been frightened so much that he has stool in his pants. Look in the Repertory "involuntary stool from fright" (p. 621).

I had an Opium case. A woman had a car accident and she was trembling the whole time - "trembling after fright" (p. 1408) and "shaking" (p. 1189), under "extremities": Kali bromatum and Opium.

... Another remedy is Kali bromatum, a remedy for people who lost their job, exactly the same as it often appears with Mercurius, when they are 60 years old and have to retire. Afterwards the complaints of Kali bromatum and Mercurius begin. Then, they do not have a job anymore and you see, for example, the restlessness of the hands, at the same time also, "trembling". Which remedy has this ? Mercurius and Plumbum.

A: It was all right very fast. A fortnight ago you came with the child. I didn't have time to record it. He had pain in his ears. Tell me, how did it go.

MP: First, he had problems with the sleep again and got another tablet, 3 days later he had an inflammation of the ear.

A: Did the problems with the sleep disappear after the tablet ?

MP: No.

A: On which side was the inflammation ?

MP: On the right side.

A: How did it look ?

MP: In the forenoon it wasn't so bad, he touched his ear. Then I took him to bed. In the afternoon, after he got up it started. He was weeping, clung to me and whining.

A: And he had to sit on your lap and you had to carry him about the whole time. Then, I repeated Silicea, but it didn't work anymore.

After the first consultation this child was cured immediately. The night after the Silicea he slept well.

Afterwards he got an otitis on the right side. I thought, "Why not Silicea ?" Indeed, he had Pulsatilla symptoms, was cured with Silicea so beautifully,, and now the sleeplessness starts again; but it was another sleeplessness, a sleeplessness because of pain in the ears. That is another reason.

I repeated Silicea - nothing. And then I gave Pulsatilla. That is a proof that you have to change the remedy if the symptoms have changed.

A: Then, how did it go after the second remedy ?

MP: I gave it him immediately. That night he slept very well and in the morning it was over, although I was not allowed to touch his ear. But he didn't weep. He was playing and so on.

Now, Pulsatilla cured this sleeplessness and otitis. Later he got eczema and Calcarea cured it.

A: Since then, no problems ?

MP: No, neither with the sleep.

A: He eats well, drinks well.

MP: And sleeps well.

CASE3 v2

Acute pain in the abdomen

Pulsatilla pratensis

GIRL, 12 YEARS OLD

A: 3 months ago, in July, you were here with her. This morning you called me. What is the acute problem ?

MP: From Thursday to Friday, she started to complain about pain in the abdomen. She says she had cramps in the intestines. She describes it as a stitch, appearing suddenly, disappearing slowly. After a while everything starts again.

A: Tell me, how it happens.

P: When I lie in bed I often have cramps in the intestines.

A: What do you feel exactly ? Tell me.

P: Stitches in the abdomen.

A: How does it appear ? Does it appear slowly or how does it go ?

P: Suddenly.

A: Where are the stitches in the abdomen ?

P: (Points to the region of the stomach)

A: So, in the region of the stomach. It appears suddenly. And how long does it last ?

P: A few minutes.

A: Does it disappear suddenly ?

P: No. I have those stitches a few minutes and then it disappears slowly.

We have to be sensible to the prescription of the pain. "The pain appears suddenly and disappears slowly" (p. 1377). Pulsatilla is two.

GENERALITIES, PAIN, SUDDENLY AND DISAPPE, gradually : Asaf., calc., fl-ac., puls., ran-s.

A: Since when do you have this ?

P: Since Friday in school.

A: What happened in school on Friday ?

P: Nothing particular.

A: You didn't annoy yourself ?

P: No.

A: Let me feel your hands ... When you have pain, does your mother have to be with you ?

P: I just tell her.

A: But when your mother isn't there, you can't tell her ?

P: Then, I lie down on the couch.

A: So, you don't lie in bed, but on the couch. How do you lie then ?

P: On my abdomen.

Which rubric is this ? "Lying on the abdomen ameliorates" (p. 558).

ABDOMEN,PAIN,LYING,on abdomen, amel. : Aloe., am-c., ars-h., Bell., bry., chin-a., chion., coloc., Ind., phos., plb., rhus-t., stann.

Indeed, she says she has pain in the stomach, but that is not so important. In the rubric the following remedies have to be added: Ambra grisea, Calcarea, Kali phosphoricum and Pulsatilla.

In the rubric "pain in the stomach, better from lying on the abdomen" there is one remedy: Elaps; Magnesia muriatica and Belladonna have to be added.

But we know of Pulsatilla that the pressure ameliorates when they have cramps; look under "cramping pain".

Here, in this case we have to differentiate between Pulsatilla and Calcarea.

A: And then it is better. And your mother has to be with you.

P: Often.

MP: She likes when I am around.

A: Well, she likes it. Is she such a caressing girl who wants to be taken in your arms ?

MP: She still likes it. She also wants to be a big girl, but now and then she says, "Take me in your arms." Now and then, she likes it very much.

A: What about the appetite ?

P: Very well.

A: Tell me, what you don't like much ?

P: Soup.

A: What do you like to eat very much ?

P: I like everything, but soup.

A: Does she tolerate heavy meals ?

MP: I don't know, because we will avoid that. She doesn't like Brussel sprouts, but I don't cook them, because I don't like them either. I feel it ... and she doesn't like them either, cabbages and so on ...

A: That is heavy.

MP: Yes.

A: Does she like fruit ?

MP: Yes, she eats it very much. She likes apples. We have an fruit-dish on the table and she eats regularly several pieces of fruit.

Look at the desires. She likes fruit (p. 485): Carcinosinum, Kali arsenicosum and Magnesia muriatica. "Desire sour fruit": Ptelea has to be added.

A: And on your slice of bread ?

MP: What do you put on your slice of bread ?

A: Does she like cheese ?

MP: No, she will never take it.

A: Can she tolerate the cold ?

MP: In fact, yes. You can tell it yourself.

P: Yes.

A: Tell me.

P: In winter I wear a short skirt and I am still warm.

MP: She always has warm hands.

A: She can warm you up ?

MP: Yes.

Usually, Calcarea is chilly, Pulsatilla warm. She is really warm, because she is wearing a short dress.

A: Is she a sweet child ?

MP: Yes.

A: So, a golden child. Is she also a little anxious ?

MP: Yes.

A: Tell me.

MP: For example, she has fear of spiders. She also doesn't like to stay alone at home, when I have to do some shopping. Unless, it is during the day, then she goes playing outside. She wouldn't stay long inside. She doesn't like to be alone.

One side of her face is red, the other side is pale. Look in the Repertory under "discoloration face, red, one sided".

A: That is since 3 days, today it is the fourth day.

MP: Yes, she has so much pain in the abdomen. First, I thought it would go over from itself, but then I preferred to call you.

A: It will be over soon. But I would like to see you again on Saturday.

Question: "Can it be an intussusception in this case ?"

A: That is not important. Why do you want to know it is an intussusception ? It is a pain appearing and disappearing. She has no fever, so it is nothing dangerous. I think it has an emotional background. We will see the reaction.

But an intussusception is a serious problem. Which is the first remedy ? Belladonna.

FEEDBACK (OCTOBER 10, 1987)

A: You were here on October 19 and now it is October 24, because of pain in the region of the stomach. You had to lie down and so on. How did it go after the remedy ?

P: I took the tablet. The next day I still had pain in the abdomen, the next day still a little. Then it was better, and afterwards I didn't have pain in the abdomen anymore.

A: You haven't been ill anymore ?

P: No.

A: Not after you took the tablet ?

P: No.

A: You don't feel anything ?

P: No.

A: Do you feel well ?

P: Yes.

A: Maybe, it is interesting to hear the cause . Tell me.

MP: On Thursday evening, before the pain in the abdomen started, the boys in her school had locked her bicycle with a safety-lock. She couldn't unlock it and she had to drag the bicycle home with a few girl-friends. Of course, she was completely upset, because of what happened with her bicycle, also a little panic of what will happen next. They might do it again. In the meantime we have found a solution for that. I think, that might be the reason.

As often, it is also here difficult to know what the reason was. Only with a real organic problem it is important to know, what the matter is, if it is reversible or not. For the prognosis it is not important to know, if real pathologic changes exist or not. With a perforation of the intestines, for example, with a Crohn's disease, you may be sure that you will never cure it, it has to be operated on.

I had a case, I have fought with it for 4 months. I made a wrong diagnosis and a colleague whom I sent this patient to for an examination also made a wrong diagnosis. We did not notice it was a perforation, a hard abdomen, a peritonitis. I did not see it and tried to cure her. I gave her constantly Arsenicum, after 4 months she still had the diarrhoea, I had to give her Belladonna and then Laurocerasus. That was a situation near to death. Then, we sent her to the hospital. They removed the colon and she had 15 perforations. With these 15 perforations she lived 4 months under homoeopathic treatment. It was at the time that Vithoulkas was in Belgium and I asked him to see the patient. He did not want to and I said that I will send her to the hospital. Then, he came and after he has seen her, he said that she had to go to the hospital - but she did not want to.

Since 1 1/2 years she had diarrhoea and pain in the abdomen, but she did not go to a doctor. It started, because her neighbours who are hunters, shot her dog. She was looking for him since 1 1/2 years, she tried to find her dog. Then, she came to us. We could help her a little, but she always relapsed. When she came she already had those perforations. It is important to examine the patients properly, to know if they have a peritonitis or not. It was winter when she came and we had so much work to do that I did not examine her. I noted the symptoms and the first remedy I gave her was Colocynthis. But you have to examine your patients properly.

Because she did not react to the remedy, in the way that I was satisfied, I sent her to a specialist in the hospital. He wrote that it was Crohn's disease, and when it does not ameliorate, she has to go back to the hospital. She would refuse to stay in the hospital. But he did not write anything about peritonitis, so that I thought, I can sleep with a quiet mind, because he has examined her properly. But you see, you can not sleep with a quiet mind if you do not do the examination yourself.

CASE4 v2

Aseptic osteonecrosis (sever's disease)

Pulsatilla pratensis

BOY, 12 YEARS OLD

This disease occurs more often in young people who pursue a lot of sport - an aseptic bone necrosis. The therapy consists of putting the foot in plaster and forbid him walking for 6 weeks. Afterwards, it is usually better, but later it comes back.

It is a bone problem, therefore we think of remedies like Calcarea, Calcarea phosporica and so on. But we have to think homoeopathically, and pay attention to the symptoms and not to whether it is a bone problem or not.

A: You were here on October 20, with the complaint of pain in the heel.

P: Yes.

A: That was the Sever's disease. Which heel was it ?

P: The left one.

A: It was rather aching, especially when you had been walking ?

P: Yes.

A: It was especially in the morning, when you got up and when you had been walking about. It was better when you had been walking for a while.

P: Yes, then it was a little bit better

A: And especially, when you had pursued sport, you had a lot of pain in the heel.

Look in the rubric "pain, heel, while walking", but first in the general rubric "pain while walking" and afterwards in the rubric that describes the kind of pain (stitching). When you have a modality, first you have to look in the general rubric, here also "extremities, heel" (p. 1081): two capital remedies: Rhododendron and Pulsatilla. And then you look under "on beginning to walk": only one remedy: Pulsatilla.

He says that when he starts walking in the morning he has pain in the heel. If you prescribe Pulsatilla only on the basis of this symptom you are a "key-note" prescriber; that is not good, you have to have more reasons for Pulsatilla, unless you found a typically particular symptom, for example, numbness around the eyes and this symptom is very clear, then it indicates Asafoetida and on the basis of this symptom you can prescribe Asafoetida, even when you do not have other symptoms for Asafoetida; when someone exactly says, "Numbness around the eyes." Because Asafoetida is the only remedy that has this symptom, you can prescribe on the basis of this key-note. But this here is not a typical key-note.

A: Here, it also says that you felt bad in the morning. You had the tendency to vomit.

MP: Still now, but really vomiting, I don't know.

A: Yes, I mean the tendency to vomit, the feeling. Has it probably returned now ?

P: No.

A: You always felt terrible in the morning ?

P: Yes.

A: Has that miserable feeling been away for a while in the morning ?

P: Yes.

Nausea in the morning, Pulsatilla is here capital. But there are other remedies: Calcarea as differential diagnosis is also capital, further Carbo vegetabilis, Nux vomica and Sepia. Nausea in the morning, when you drank too much the previous night, everyone knows this. In the morning when you wake up, you have headache and nausea, but usually only in bed. When you get up then, it becomes better. It is the same with Nux vomica. Pulsatilla is also capital with nausea in the morning.

A: And now, the complaints return ?

MP: Yes, since a fortnight.

A: And the tendency to vomit in the morning has also returned a little.

P: No.

A: But your mother - well yes ...

P: Only that miserable feeling, but not the tendency to vomit.

A: At that time you also said that he has a very soft character, sympathetic.

MP: Sensitive, very sensitive, but also easily angry. Often he can't control himself.

A: In what sense sensitive ?

P: When there is, for example, a film about slaves.

MP: When people are being hurt; sympathetic with the suffering of other people.

She says immediately "yes" (to the question if he is sensitive), but he can also be very angry - "offended easily". Pulsatilla is two there (p. 69);

MIND,OFFENDED, easily (See Sensitive) : Acon., agar., alum., anac., ang., apis., arn., ars., aur., bor., bov., calc-s., calc., camph., cann-s., caps., carb-s., carb-v., caust., cham., chel., chin-a., chin., cina., cinnb., cocc., coloc., croc., cycl., dros., graph., lyc., lyss., merc., nat-m., Nux-v., pall., petr., phos., plat., puls., ran-b., sars., sep., spig., staph., stram., sulph., verat., zinc.

Carcinosinum has to be added in the rubric.

But then the mother says that he is so sensitive, so sympathetic, when he watches television - "sympathetic" (p. 68).

MIND,SYMPATHETIC : Carl., caust., cic., croc., ign., iod., lyc., manc., nat-c., nat-m., nit-ac., nuph., nux-v., Phos., puls.

There are other additions: Carcinosinum, Calcarea phosphorica, Tarentula, Dulcamara, Argentum nitricum. In the rubric you see also a remedy about which I talked previously: Cicuta with this childish way, the delusions, that he still is a child, that he wants to go home. Here, you see that Cicuta is also sympathetic.

MP: When people he knows are ill, he inquires how they are doing. Also with injustice, when someone on television has been done an injustice and you can't do anything, he gets excited. Also when he has been done an injustice and he can't defend himself, he gets excited, he is very sensitive to it.

A: Does he weep then ?

MP: Yes, easier than the older.

The other daughter is much older than he and until now he weeps much more than his older sister.

A: Is he easily warm ?

MP: And also easily cold. Yes, in the morning he would go into the oven. But at night he can also perspire, then he tramples himself bare, then he is too warm.

A: May it be warm for him inside ?

MP: Not during the day, but in the morning.

When he has to exert himself while playing, he also perspires. Then he looks so pale around his nose and has red cheeks.

The differential diagnosis between Calcarea and Pulsatilla is often not so easy. He perspires easily. The mother says, that it is too warm for him in the room, but in the morning he is cold. But this character, sympathetic, weeping and so on. He is a little too soft to be Calcarea. Calcarea is also soft, but Pulsatilla has something feminine. We often mix Calcarea and Pulsatilla, I also did it and I gave him Calcarea previously. That was wrong.

A: Have you ever fainted ? When it was too warm, in church, or in a large supermarket ?

P: No, only once, when I had influenza and stood at the oven. I don't know, what it was.

MP: In fact, it occurs very little. That was the only time, it could happen to everyone.

"Fainting in warm rooms", everyone knows this rubric (p. 1361).

FAINTNESS,warm room : Acon., ip., kreos., lach., lil-t., lyc., nat-m., nux-v., Puls., Sep., spig., tab.

FAINTNESS,crowded room, in : Am-c., ambr., ars., bar-c., con., ign., lyc., nat-c., nat-m., nux-m., nux-v., phos., plb., Puls., sulph.

There are Natrum muriaticum, Pulsatilla and Sepia. Also in crowded rooms, when there are many people, there are a few remedies, there is also Phosphorus, Plumbum and others. Today there are large supermarkets. Previously, they went into the church and fainted there. Today, they do not go into the church anymore, now they go into the supermarket and faint there.

A: He is easily warm, except in the mornings, like his mother.

MP: Yes, yes.

And which remedy needs the mother ? Pulsatilla.

I have seen this woman together with Vassilis Ghegas many years ago. We both have prescribed the wrong remedy. I gave her Belladonna, because of her flushes of heat and he gave her Calcarea - but no reaction ! She needs Pulsatilla !

MP: Especially, the change of warm/cold. When you come inside, you start glowing immediately.

A: Here it says, he takes off his clothes when it is too warm inside.

P: Yes.

A: How old are you now ?

P: 12.

A: Here it also says that he likes eggs, rather fried, not boiled.

MP: No, he will never ask for boiled eggs.

A: He likes ice-cream very much ?

Ice-cream, he likes ice-cream. Pulsatilla is not in the rubric and you should not add it either. I have seen it several times in Pulsatilla cases, the desire for ice-cream, but nevertheless do not add it. Tuberculinum is also in the rubric, and also Calcarea.

A: He likes chocolate. Does he also like whipped cream ?

MP: Yes, he likes it very much. He always licks those things.

A: And butter cream ?

P: No, he doesn't.

Pulsatilla likes whipped cream, but has an aversion to buttercream. Typically, Pulsatilla likes the foamy.

A: Does he like fat ?

MP: I can't tell. The rim of fat has to be removed. But he likes fried bacon.

Pulsatilla often likes bacon, but only fried very long and spiced with pepper, they like that.

A: Does he like creamery butter ?

MP: No.

A: Doesn't he put butter on his bread ?

MP: Becel margarine. I also never used butter, because of the cholesterol. Now we take becel.

P: I take quite a lot of becel.

Pulsatilla has contradictory and changing symptoms, do not forget that, it might help you.

Pulsatilla has a desire for butter, but occasionally also an aversion to it. When someone says, "I like butter, but have an aversion to fat," that is a strong argument for Pulsatilla.

A: Do you also have fear of height ?

P: Yes, a little.

A: Tell me, where are you afraid of.

P: Of a dog.

A: Fear of dark ?

P: Yes.

MP: Yes, in the dark. But now he sleeps in the dark.

A: When you were here the last time, you had quite a lot of complaints with your heel. You were thinking of putting it in plaster. What percent is the pain less now ?

P: 75 %, I think.

A: Do you still have much complaints with it ?

P: No. Only when I do gymnastics. When I get out of the car after the motor tour from school to our house.

MP: And when he is jumping.

Pulsatilla has the same modalities with beginning motion like Rhus toxicodendron, like Lycopodium, Calcarea, Tuberculinum. All these remedies have an aggravation at the beginning of motion.

The second remedy, that is often prescribed wrongly instead of Pulsatilla, is Rhus toxicodendron. "Change of weather, wet weather", that is very strong Pulsatilla, as strong as with Rhus toxicodendron - then we prescribe wrongly.

A: Do you still have so many complaints as before or clearly less ?

P: Clearly less.

A: Was there a period in which he complained very little about it ?

MP: A fortnight later I haven't heard him complaining about it, only when he came back from gymnastics. Afterwards he could walk.

A: Alright. What complaints do you have now ?

P: I feel miserable when I get up. And also when I go in bed. Yes, headache, and ...

A: When especially ?

P: When I come into the light, in bright light. And also in the evening. And dizzy.

A: When ?

P: The whole day long. When I bend down, it seems as if something large is coming down on me.

A: Dizzy, especially when bending down. Is it on rising after bending down ?

P: I think, on rising.

A: You are not sure.

P: No.

"Vertigo on rising" (p. 103).

VERTIGO, RISING, on : Absin., acon-c., Acon., aeth., ail., aml-n., apoc., arn., ars., arund., atro., bar-c., bell., berb., bov., Bry., calc., cann-i., carb-an., carb-o., caust.,cedr., chel., chin-s., chin., cic., cina., cocc., colch., con., cupr., dig., ferr-ar., ferr-p., Ferr., form., genist., glon., grat., guai., ham., hell., hep., hyos., Ind., kali-bi., kali-c., kali-p., kali-s., lac-d., lach., lact-ac., laur., lyss., manc., meny., merc., morph., Nat-m., nat-s., nux-v., olnd., op., petr., Phos., pic-ac., plat., ptel.,puls., Rhus-t., sabin., seneg., sil., sul-ac., sulph., Tab., thuj., trom., verat-v., vib., zinc.

When the patient who was feeling well after Pulsatilla, comes back with other symptoms which were not indicated at that time, you have to search those symptoms in Kent. He also says that he has vertigo especially on rising. Pulsatilla is two there, Belladonna and Ferrum are capital. Never change the remedy as long as you do not have clear indications for another remedy.

Do not forget Pulsatilla with desires for highly seasoned food. Not only Sulphur has it ! Additions are also: Abies canadensis, Carcinosinum, Veratrum album, Alumina, Crotalus horridus, Ammonium carbonicum, Natrum muriaticum and an addition of Leers Natrum phosphoricum.

A: Other complaints ?

MP: The first weeks he still often had pain in the abdomen while sitting. In fact, it was rather his stomach. I have to say that he has been eating sweets very much.

I gave him Pulsatilla and he reacted very well, it had a very good result, also for the aseptic bone necrosis. Now, he comes with the symptom "vertigo on rising". Because it is a Pulsatilla symptom I repeated Pulsatilla; I did not have reasons to change the remedy.

CASE5 v2

Influenza

Pulsatilla pratensis

MAN, 30 YEARS OLD

You find people with baldness at the temples in Phosphorus, Lycopodium, Silicea and also in Baryta carbonica. "Hair, falling, temples" (p. 120).

HEAD, HAIR, FALLING,Temples : Calc., kali-c., lyc., merc., nat-m., par., sabin.

P: I think, I have influenza in my bones. In fact, I have had it since the day before yesterday.

Influenza remedies are: Gelsemium, Baptisia, Nux vomica, Eupatorium perfoliatum, Rhus toxicodendron, Bryonia, and others.

P: I went to bed very early, with extra blankets. I felt the coldness in my back, especially. Also perspiring last night, although, I slept very well. I thought, it would be over this morning, but I still felt weak.

A: Coldness in the back, what do you mean with that ?

P: Cold shivers, especially in the back.

He feels a coldness very low in the back, this means in the sacral region - "coldness sacral region" (p. 886): Lycopodium, Pulsatilla, Sulphur.

BACK, COLDNESS, Sacral region : Arg-m., benz-ac., dulc., hyos., laur., lyc., ox-ac., puls., sanic., stront., sulph.

P: Yes, I am cold there.

A: Especially, during the cold shivers ?

P: Yes. I wanted an extra blanket, but it didn't help. I was still cold. In spite of the warmth, the perspiring hands, the warm head.

A: Was the rest of the body also warm ?

P: Yes, the feet also.

Although, he takes so many blankets, he still has this coldness and especially here, in the sacral region.

A: Do you lie completely covered up ?

P: Normally, I'm not completely covered up. But last night, I went as far as possible under the blankets.

A: Are you thirsty ?

P: No, I haven't had anything to drink this morning. Last night, I moistened my lips, but haven't drunk or eaten anything.

A: You moistened your lips, because you had a dry mouth ?

P: Yes, also because I have problems with my sinusitis and I breath through my mouth, because my nose is obstructed. That's the reason why it becomes dry of course.

A: But last night and still now you had a dry mouth. But you aren't thirsty.

"Dry mouth without thirst" (p. 403).

MOUTH, DRYNESS, thirstless : Acon., all-c., alumn., ambr., ang., apis., asaf., bell., Bry., camph., cann-i., cann-s., carb-v., cocc., dios., dulc., eupho., euphr., guare., jatr., kali-c., lac-c., lyc., mag-m., nit-ac., Nux-m., nux-v., onos., op., par., ph-ac., Puls., sabad., sabin., samb., sanic., sars., sil., stram.

The tongue sticks to the palate - such a dry mouth with Nux moschata. Pulsatilla is capital in that rubric ...

A: Did you open the window last night ?

P: No.

A: It had to be warm ?

P: Yes.

A: How do you lie while sleeping ?

P: I have the tendency to roll up, usually on the left side.

A: Well yes, you have the influenza now. How do you feel mentally ?

P: At the moment ? Listless.

A: Is that all you can say ?

P: Yes, no motivation to do anything, not liking to do anything.

A: Do you like to be alone ?

P: Normally not. But today, the children were a little noisy, then I wanted to be alone.

"Aversion company during fever": Pulsatilla is there.

A: Because the children were a little noisy. Even in warm room you have cold shivers ?

P: Yes.

Boericke gives a beautiful description of Pulsatilla: "Chilliness, even in a warm room, without thirst." That is the first that he writes in fever. "Chilliness, even when I am covered up: even in a warm room I am cold." - "Cold in a warm room" (p. 1276). Do you see the contradiction of Pulsatilla in normal situation and in fever ? That is the opposite of Pulsatilla in a normal situation.

Together with the peculiarity of coldness in the sacral region - when you take those 3 symptoms together - thirstless, chilliness in a warm room together with this peculiar symptom, you can do nothing else but giving him Pulsatilla.

A: Very typically. So, hot on your body, but a cold feeling low in the back.

"Cold in a warm room" (p. 1276), he exactly says this. Warm room aggravates: Apis, Ipecacuanha, Secale, but also Pulsatilla.

CHILL, WARM room agg. : Acon., Apis., arg-n., bry., cinnb., Ip., merc., nat-m., puls., Sec., sep., staph.

P: Yes, that's right.

This means "chilliness in spots".

Boericke writes: "Chilliness with the pain and chilliness in spots." I do not know, if it is in the Repertory - "chilliness in single parts" (p. 1272).

Question: "What is the difference with Gelsemium ?"

A: Gelsemium is also not thirsty, but Gelsemium is tired, weak, very, very tired, can not keep his eyes open and does not see well. That is a complete different picture as in this case with Pulsatilla.

P: I think, that the perspiration was especially at hands, feet and head.

A: At both sides ?

P: Yes.

A: How is your appetite ?

P: Nothing.

I do not know, if you felt it. I asked him about his appetite. He is a Frenchman and he answers in English: nothing. This kind of answering means a kind of haughtiness. You will see this when we talk about Lycopodium. Only the fact that he uses an English expression. He was doing very well with Lycopodium for a long time. He always got Lycopodium, because of his sinusitis.

A: That is rather clear. I give you 10 M. Let it melt under your tongue. Tomorrow, I want to re-examine you.

FEEDBACK

A: Tell me, what did you feel ?

P: I took it immediately after I was here. About an hour later, at home, I was sitting in my couch and I was shivering from cold. There was only one thing to do, go to bed and cover up very well. Then I fell asleep and a few hours later I woke up wet through. I felt that apparently the cold shivers extended from below upwards and between my shoulder-blades and were expelled from the body at my arms and hands. Very strange.

It seems as if the coldness disappears when it starts here, then goes to the back and from there to the arms and hands where it disappears.

You often see this in Homoeopathy, that the complaints disappear in the direction of the periphery. You often see this with pain, numbness, then they say that the pain has disappeared, and that it has disappeared along the toes. "Back, coldness, extending up the back" (p. 885).

A: Strange.

P: I lay in bed until about 6.00 o'clock, which probably had to do with the fact that I was so listless. Then the best thing you can do is lie down. Eyes closed and think about nothing. Afterwards I ate something. I didn't have appetite yet, but wanted to have some yogurt. I did and ate a piece of toast and that was it; drank a little soup.

A: 5 hours after you took the remedy you could eat again.

P: Yes, not much, a little and different things. Still had some complaints with the warmth and the perspiring. No anxious perspiration, more wet. About half past ten I went to sleep. The cold feeling had gone, only the perspiration. About 3.00 o'clock I got up, because I was tired of lying in bed. That's understandable after all those hours I have lain in bed for the last 2 days.

He is constantly theorizing. That is Lycopodium.

P: Then, I sat on the couch, took a book and read something. About 5, half past 5 I went back to bed and closed my eyes for another few hours. It was notable that I was still perspiring. My wife changed the sheets, because they were wet.

A: The cold shivers have completely disappeared ?

P: Completely.

A: You didn't have complaints with them last night ?

P: No.

A: You felt exhausted, tired. What about it now ?

P: It is better. Not yet optimal, but I feel clearly better. Probably, I can't run a marathon yet, but I feel yet ...

A: The coldness in the back has gone ?

P: Yes.

A: You feel now clearly stronger ?

P: Yes, concerning the appetite, I eat more, to strengthen myself.

A: That is very good. Yesterday, you felt weak, tired and listless, and now you feel, that everything becomes better. That is all. Further, you don't do anything yet, only eat well.

Can you feel here Pulsatilla ? No, here is nothing of the softness of Pulsatilla. Acute, yes, but never constitutionally.

CASE6 v2

Gout

Pulsatilla pratensis

MAN, 35 YEARS OLD

A: When did the pain start ?

P: It returns every year and now two times a year. Now, it started on Thursday evening.

A: Now it is Sunday. When did it start exactly ?

P: There was a pain that lasted. And the next day it hurt very, very much.

A: Where do you have pain ?

P: In the right ankle at the outside.

A: There it started. What happened to you ?

P: On Wednesday I was wearing thin shoes and had cold feet. Then, I already had the feeling, that there was ...

A: Have your feet become cold or wet ?

P: A little wet and cold.

"Wet feet" (p. 1421), that is the cause.

GENERALITIES,WET application, getting, feet : Agn., all-c., cham., dulc., merc., nat-c., nat-m., nux-m., phos., Puls., rhus-t., sep., Sil., xan.

There is another second symptom, but you see this almost in every gout patient, namely, that the attack appears when they have drunk too much alcohol. He will tell that he has drunk too much beer. And also, when they have eaten too much fruit.

A: What about the pain afterwards ?

P: It extended to the inside and further backwards to the achilles tendon. Oh no, first to the upper side of the foot and to the toes.

A: But only at the right foot ?

P: Yes, only there.

The pain wandered from the external ankle to the inner ankle, then to the back of the foot and to the achilles tendon. What kind of remedies have these symptoms ? Wandering pain, that is the first thing we can say about the pain. Where can we find this ? Once in "extremities" and then in the "generalities". In this patient it is only in the extremities, not in the rest of the body, so that we can take the rubric "pain in the extremities, wandering" (p. 1046).

EXTREMETIES, PAIN, wandering shifting : Acon., agar., Am-m., arn., ars., asaf., bapt., bell., bry., calc-p., Carb-s., caul., caust., cedr., cham., chin-a., cinnb., colch., coloc., form., ign., kali-bi., kali-n., Kali-s., kalm., Lac-c., lact-ac., laur., lyc., mag-p., merc-i-r., merl., mosch., nat-a., nat-s., nux-m., nux-v., phyt., plb., Puls., rhod., sabin., sars., sep., still., sulph., tarent., tub., valer., verat-v.

The remedies there are: Ammonium muriaticum, Kali sulphuricum, Lac caninum, Pulsatilla, and - do not forget it ! Tuberculinum. Pulsatilla is there capital, also Kali sulphuricum and Lac caninum.

A: Previously, it appeared more as a kind of attack. Did it remain in one joint or did it jump to other joints ?

P: Last time it started in my left foot, extended to my left knee, then to the right foot, then to the right knee. I also had it once in the sequence of left knee, left foot, right knee, right foot.

A: That is a kind of gout, pain, that jumps.

People call it "flying gout". The gout is here, and then there and then there and at the end they get problems with the heart - acute rheumatic fever. When someone had "flying gout" as a child, first you have to think about Pulsatilla, then about Tuberculinum.

A: That is indeed so. I knew, what I had to give and you called for it yesterday. Before you tell me about the reaction, first I have to ask some more questions to know which remedy it has to be. It concerns namely your constitutional remedy. The cause was wet cold. What does the warmth do ?

P: It does good.

That is very interesting: warmth ameliorates. What would you prescribe now ? A remedy with wandering pain, that is caused by wet feet and ameliorates by warmth ? Kali bichromicum ? Yes, Kali bichromicum really ameliorates by warmth, so that we can think about that remedy. It has also wandering pain, but it is not caused by wet feet, so forget that remedy.

Which other remedy could it be ?

"Silicea."

Question: "Has Silicea wandering pain ?"

A: No.

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

A: No, that is theorizing now.

What is the meaning, the essence of Pulsatilla ? Pulsatilla has contradictory and alternating symptoms - "generalities; contradictory and alternating states" (p. 1351).

GENERALITIES, CONTRADICTORY and alternating states : Croc., Ign., nat-m., plat., Puls., thuj.

This means that you can expect in Pulsatilla contradictory and alternating symptoms. Normally, Pulsatilla is aggravated by warmth, but when it is a real Pulsatilla case you can find contradictions. That is why I accept this as a Pulsatilla symptom, this amelioration by warmth. Pulsatilla can have an amelioration by warmth as well as by cold.

P: We have been on holidays. And then, I still had it. I was there for only 2 days and it had disappeared. That was in Spain.

A: What does it do when you lay a hot water-bottle on the painful place ?

P: That is very good.

A: Do you have more pain when you put your feet in cold water ?

P: That causes much more pain.

We often forget that Pulsatilla is better in the south, where it is warm. With people who go to the south, to Spain in winter, we only think about Rhus toxicodendron and Calcarea, but also Pulsatilla is ameliorated by warm weather.

A: In any case, moistness and cold water plays a great roll and local warmth does good. Nevertheless, you are a person who is warm by nature.

P: Yes.

A: In general, you can not tolerate warmth so well ?

P: Yes, I do.

A: I mean, can you tolerate the sun ? Can you lie in the sun ?

He can lie in the sun. If he could really lie in the sun very well, I would think of other remedies. That is why you have to ask it seriously and very exactly.

You know, Pulsatilla is chilly, but does not tolerate the warmth inside. You see the same in Silicea. They can not tolerate when they become too warm. But he says that he can lie in the sun. Now, we have to be careful.

P: Yes, 30° ( 86 F) is no problem for me. Then, I perspire very, very much.

A: Can you tolerate a warm room ?

P: No, not so well. Inside it may not be over 20° C ( 68 F), or I am perspiring.

A: Do you stay in one spot in the sun ?

P: No, no, I walk about.

A: You can not hold out longer ?

P: Yes, I can hold out longer, but I prefer to walk about.

A: Do you like to be busy ?

P: Yes.

A: When you are in Spain, do you often go into the water ?

P: Yes, yes, I always do that.

A: Regularly in the water. And when you have been in the water you lie down again.

P: Yes.

That is exactly the question. Never forget to ask how it is exactly.

He jumps in the cold water and then he lies down in the sun again. Calcarea will never jump in cold water; neither Rhus toxicodendron; but Pulsatilla will.

50 % of the people working here in the kitchen are Pulsatilla. The director has chosen his people very well. Pulsatilla people work very much; besides they never contradict you. Third, they are always friendly when you are a little nice to them. It is very interesting to work with Pulsatilla people.

MIND,CONTRADICTION, is intolerant of : Acon., aloe., alum., am-c., anac., ars., aster., Aur., bry., cact., calc-p., cann-i., cocc., con., echi., ferr., grat., helon., hura., Ign.,Lyc., merc., nat-c., nicc., nux-v., olnd., op., petr., plan., Sep., sil., stram., tarent., thuj., til.

A: Until you have dried up.

P: Yes, until I have dried up, then I go back into the water.

A: So, you could not lie in the sun for three hours in a row ?

P: Oh no, I can't.

A: I have the impression that you are a person who doesn't have a difficult character. We talked about it a little last time.

P: Yes.

ML : (Mother in law) ... and never angry.

P: No, never.

That is his mother in law. It is the same woman you saw with the man with angina pectoris.

He brought his mother in law with him. I would never bring my mother in law, this means I am surely not Pulsatilla. Pulsatilla can do that.

It would neither happen to Sulphur. His mother in law would never sit next to him in the car.

Why ? Because he smells too much.

He comes here with his mother in law and this means something. He must have a "soft" character, he allows everything. Besides, he lives with his mother in law in the same house. That is terrible - but not for him. He must have a special character to tolerate all the gossip of this woman.

The other man was Rhus toxicodendron and you saw how he reacted. This man here is Pulsatilla and he let her talk.

A: Do you ever get annoyed ?

P: Yes, I do ... But I would not scold. Without a word; I'll teach him in my way.

Do you see those dark lips, those dark, red lips. Be careful, do not mix with Sulphur.

ML: And he easily weeps. A child had been baptized and he cried.

A: Also when you see misery ?

ML: He can not tolerate that.

P: When I see an accident or so, then I am as hard as stone, but I can't tolerate a melancholic film or so. And I don't read the paper either.

A: Do you sympathize too much with it ?

P: Yes, in a way I sympathize with it; but when I see an accident, I am not seized by panic.

A: Do you also easily weep for happiness ?

P: Oh yes, also.

Question: "He is sympathetic, but there is no anxiety behind it ?"

A: When Phosphorus sees an accident he becomes anxious immediately. But he, he is not anxious. That is the difference between Phosphorus and Pulsatilla. Pulsatilla goes immediately and helps.

And how many Pulsatilla cases have we seen up to now ? And how many of them were men ? Pulsatilla is a remedy for men as well as for women.

A: When you get something from your wife or children, you can not control yourself ?

P: No.

A: You are a kind-hearted, melancholic person. Are you a person who takes a risk, or do you rather have a little heart ?

ML: A big heart, but in many cases a very little heart.

P: If I hadn't intervened that time, they wouldn't have shot at me (with a bank hold up).

ML: He is afraid in the sea.

P: Yes, for jelly-fishes.

ML: Oh, I can still see him with his legs stilt-walking.

Is this fear of jelly-fishes or what is it ?

No, it is disgust - "disgust" (p. 37): two capital remedies: Pulsatilla and Sulphur.

MIND, DISGUST (See Loathing) : Ars., cimx., coloc., merc., mez., phos., Puls., Stram, Sulph.

P: These are so dirty animals, I'm afraid of dirty animals.

A: Are you worried concerning the future ?

P: No. I live today and tomorrow is tomorrow.

A: Do you have fear of height ?

P: No, not at all.

A: Are you afraid of the dark ?

P: No, I have never been.

A: Can you easily see horror films ?

P: Oh, yes.

A: Are you a person who is hurried or rather quiet in your job ?

P: I keep it quiet.

A: Can you easily do nothing or do you have to be busy the whole time ?

P: I can easily do nothing, watch a film on television or so.

A: Imagine, as a postman you are faced with problems in some families. How do you react ? Do you try to help ?

P: I try to help, by talking to them.

A: Do you think about it afterwards ?

P: No, I don't.

ML: He helps them, stirring the stove and so on. There is an old person who can not get up from the chair and when the postman arrives he stirs the stove and let him drink.

P: Yes, make coffee and so on.

ML: Yes, always half an hour working, get coals inside.

Do you understand how helpful he is ? He does not have to do that, but he gets coals for the old women, makes coffee and all these things.

A: So you have an open character, are sympathetic. Inside it is easily too warm. Also in bed ?

P: There I'm also too warm easily.

A: What do you do then ?

P: Or put the blanket away, or a blanket less, or put on less.

A: Your feet always remain under the blankets ?

P: Yes, they remain under the blankets.

A: You are searching for cold spots with your feet in bed ?

P: Yes, I search them with my feet.

"Hot feet in bed": Pulsatilla, Sulphur. He searches for cold spots in bed and most people would think that it is Sulphur - but then there is a strong aggravation.

A: Do you go in large supermarkets ?

P: Yes.

A: Can you tolerate it when there are so many people and when it is so warm ?

Why this question ? Because of fainting. They do not feel well in warm rooms.

P: When it is really warm in the shops, not.

A: What do you feel then ?

P: I start perspiring.

A: You have not the tendency to faint ? To even as a child ?

P: No. But when I am in a supermarket and it takes too long, I become excited and annoyed.

A: Do you also think that moist weather is bad ?

P: It is bad.

Do not forget this. Not only Calcarea and Rhus toxicodendron do not tolerate wet weather, also Pulsatilla is very sensitive to wet weather. They like sunny, clear weather. That is very important. Pulsatilla is often mixed with Calcarea and Rhus toxicodendron.

A: Do you also feel it when the weather is changing ?

P: No, I don't. Wet and cold is bad.

A: Yesterday, you got a remedy, dissolved in water. You took a spoonful. When you called me, you said that the pain had increased. I asked you to wait, but the next day it was so bad, that you absolutely couldn't wait, and I told you to get the remedy. Then you took the remedy in 10 M. How fast did the pain improve ?

P: After the first spoon it nearly didn't, but a quarter of an hour after the second spoon the pain became weaker. Then I waited for half an hour, until the pain returned, and then I took again a spoonful; then the pain became less. About 5.00 p.m. I took some more and the pain became less. Then I went to sleep.

ML: Normally, he can't do that.

P: No, because of the pressure of the blankets. I slept, but I was often awake. And today I haven't taken anything yet.

A: What percent is the pain better compared to yesterday ?

P: For 50 %.

Now, we will talk about the desires and the aversions. He drinks quite a lot of beer. Pulsatilla likes beer (p. 484).

STOMACH, DESIRE, beer : Acon., agar., aloe., am-c., ant-c., arn., ars., asar., bell., bry., calad., calc., camph., carb-s., caust., chel., chin., coc-c., cocc., coloc., cupr., dig.,graph., kali-bi., lach., mang., merc., mosch., nat-a., nat-c., nat-m., nat-p., nat-s., Nux-v., op., petr., ph-ac., phel., phos., psor., puls., rhus-t., sabad.,sep., spig., spong., staph., stram., stront., Sulph., tell., zinc.

Pulsatilla is there two. You do not expect it there, but you see, Pulsatilla is there. Besides, Pulsatilla is only one in desires for wine, whisky and brandy, but it is there. When a beautiful nun who prays very much lives in your village, and she comes to you on a visit, and you offer her a beer, a whisky or brandy, she will not refuse it, even when she is very pious.

Pulsatilla has an aversion to fat, we know, but at the same time they have a desire for butter. When you look under "desire bread and butter", Pulsatilla is there. With "desire butter" you have to add some remedies: Pulsatilla, China, Carcinosinum and Tuberculinum.

A: Where do you still have pain at the moment ?

P: At the achilles tendon and it is extending towards my toes.

A: And when you do not move you don't have pain ?

P: Yes, I have. I still feel it, so half a glowing feeling.

A: Have you put your feet under the blanket last night ?

P: Yes. I kept on my socks and put my foot flat, not upwards, otherwise there is the pressure of the blanket.

He puts on socks in bed ! But nevertheless, it can be Pulsatilla.

There is another remedy that has this gout symptoms and that can not tolerate touch at all. A remedy, that is very sensitive to the touch of clothes, blankets in gout is: Colchicum.

A: I want to give a little push. Today, you take about three spoonfuls. What about your work ?

P: I think I will take a few days off.

ML: I think he stops working, but he doesn't know it yet. Can you fill in this paper ?

A: Please inform me afterwards and come again on Tuesday.

ML: That is very well.

About the vaccinations of the child, where do we have to go ?

His mother in law asks what she should do when the nurse comes for the vaccination.

The first child got a DTP vaccination (threefold vaccination: Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio). The next day the child got a very high fever and since then it is behind in its development. Mentally, it is quite a bit backward, got convulsions and such things. It got a lot of allopathic remedies and then we treated it. Since then it did not have convulsions anymore. And one morning about 7.00 o'clock it got a little fever and died. Their first child is an example of what can happen after vaccinations.

Now, they have a second child and it is very healthy. I did not have it vaccinated, only the Polio drops by mouth.

Another child died 3 days after a vaccination. I think that people who let them vaccinate also have to take the responsibility for it. In our society we always try to put the responsibility to someone else.

We are doctors and we have to take the responsibility for everything we do, even when there are difficulties. They inject and inject, but do not believe that certain problems may arise, because of the vaccinations.

Question: "What do you think about the vaccination against hepatitis ?"

A: That is the same. And do not forget that when you dissuade the children from vaccination, that you are responsible when they get tetanus or polio. You can only do that when you work with several doctors together in a centre, where day and night, Sunday and every day a doctor is available. When you work alone, you can not do that, because one day or another you are not there and when something happens them, you are not there. So, when you dissuade persons from vaccinations you are responsible for problems that arise because of that; only tell the people when you are sure that the patients can reach you in any occasion.

A: We will take care of that. The child may not be vaccinated. What happened to you with the other child is very sad. The vaccination is not mandatory, but the drops by mouth. But postpone it until the child has developed very well.

P: I like to drink dark beer. It has already become worse two times after I had drunk some.

A: We know from the classical medicines that you get an attack of pain easier when you drink alcohol.

I forgot: What about your appetite ?

P: Alright.

A: Do you eat everything ?

P: Everything.

A: Do you have a desire for certain things ?

ML: Still highly seasoned food.

P: I like cauliflower very much.

So he likes highly seasoned food. Look at "desire highly seasoned food". There is Phosphorus, Sulphur, China, but also Pulsatilla is there, do not forget that.

ML: Everything with milk sauce.

A: What about fruit ?

ML: He doesn't like it much.

P: Seldom.

A: Are you a thirsty person, do you drink much ?

P: Yes, much.

ML: Yes, he drinks quite a lot of grenadine water.

That is not indicated for Pulsatilla; normally, Pulsatilla is not thirsty, but he can also be very thirsty; this means when he is very thirsty he can be Pulsatilla, but normally Pulsatilla is thirstless.

A: What about salt ? ...

P: ... Fried eggs or boiled, soft boiled.

A: What about the meat ?

P: Well, I like it very much.

A: Can there be a rim of fat on it ?

P: No, I don't like fat.

He has a strong aversion to fat: It has to be very capital for Pulsatilla. In the rubric you also see Ptelea. Pulsatilla and Ptelea, both have disorder stomach after fat. When you look at "disorder stomach after fat", you also see Natrum phosphoricum, Causticum, Sepia, Sulphur, Pulsatilla and Ptelea. There is one

addition: Carbo vegetabilis. Do not forget Natrum phosphoricum. Natrum phosphoricum likes eggs in a special way: fried - and has an aversion to fat.

A: How do you mean ?

ML: Not chips.

A: Do you become ill from that ?

ML: No, he doesn't like it.

P: No.

A: And cream soup ?

ML: No, he doesn't like cream soup either. I never cook cream soup.

P: No, I don't like that. I don't eat it, or I let it absorb by crackers.

A: Do you also have sometimes a liking for something, but you don't know for what ?

P: No.

Do you see how friendly this man is ? Often you mix Pulsatilla with Phosphorus. While talking they lean on your desk, Phosphorus children come and sit on your knees. But also Pulsatilla people are very sympathetic people.

A: And homestead butter ?

P: That doesn't make any difference, no difference between butter and margarine.

ML: I don't buy butter.

P: Well, a little butter on the bread, that's alright.

That is peculiar: they like butter, but they have an aversion to fat, that is strange. That is very peculiar.

That is for me a key-note for Pulsatilla, a key with which you can open the door for Pulsatilla.

A: And whipped cream ?

P: No, well no, alright, but no buttercream.

That is a peculiar thing for Pulsatilla: they like whipped cream, but they do not eat buttercream - and both are fat. It is the same with butter and fat: they like butter, but they do not eat fat. That is contradictory and therefore you have to think about Pulsatilla.

A: What is the difference ? I don't know the difference on that level.

ML: Creme fraîche is the whipped cream, the white thing, you put on tarts.

P: And buttercream is whipped butter with sugar.

ML: That is more fat.

A: So, you don't like fat. But you like butter, on the other hand you also have an aversion to it, also like whipped cream, but no buttercream.

P: Yes.

In 7 of 10 Pulsatilla cases you find those peculiar desires and aversions. Think about it !

FEEDBACK

A: I gave you the remedy again. What about it now ?

P: Now, it has completely gone, only a little bit stiff, no pain at all.

A: You have had complaints for about one week. Do you think that it disappeared more quickly this time ?

P: Much more quickly than the other times. It is still stiff, but I can ride on a bicycle now. The other times it lasted longer.

CASE7 v2

Arthritis

Pulsatilla pratensis

WOMAN, 32 YEARS OLD

A: You are 32 years old and a nurse by profession. You have 2 children. Previously, you have been treated here for a chronic cough: a barking cough.

I could not help her for years until she got an acute arthritis.

A: In April 1986, you got rheumatic complaints. You had fever, 38° up to 39.3° ( 102 F ) and a very strong pain in the joints.

P: Especially, in the lower limbs, the ankles and the knees.

A: Not in the upper limbs ?

P: Later a little in the upper limbs, in the arms, especially in the joints of the hands, but not so bad as in the legs.

A: The redness of the joints was striking.

P: And they were swollen. And when I let them hang down, they became completely blue. Then I also had pain.

A: It was a gouty affection, because of the fact that it was not always at the same place at the same time.

P: Yes, first here, then there. Not only in the joints, it concerned my whole leg. There appeared red spots, on my knee, in the middle of my leg, also on the side.

The first thing she said was, "When the legs hang down it is worse." - "limbs, letting hang down agg." (p. 1009). Besides the pain wandered from one joint to the other.

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

A: During the pain you couldn't tolerate pressure, it was very sensitive to pressure; and local warmth was very good. It improved by cold compressions. The pain was a little better, when you walked about a little and worse at the beginning of motion.

Slowly walking ameliorates; the same as with which remedy ? Ferrum. The prescription in this case is not so difficult yet, especially when we know the mental picture.

P: Yes, and when I had to get up, it was very bad. When I walked quietly, it was bearable.

A: These were the symptoms. You were also very anxious.

First, I gave you a remedy on April 1, 1986, in 10 M potency. Three days later I saw you at home. The symptoms were clearer. You cried spontaneously when we entered. You were also coughing very much. After the remedy the cough had aggravated a little. It is our habit to check up the condition of the patient in an acute disease.

She got Pulsatilla 10 M and three days later I visited her at home, and gave her Sac-lac.

A: I saw you again on April 21. You told me spontaneously that you lost a lot of weight in no time.

... You can say - we have seen the man, he was fat, we have seen the children, most of them were fat, that is Pulsatilla. This patient here also is very fat. But now she says she is loosing weight. You could say, "She is loosing weight, that is good." But you always have to be careful. When they say they are loosing weight, you always have to see what the matter is. It is not normal that someone who does not work - and lies the whole day - is complaining that she is loosing weight. That might be good, it also might be dangerous. It is the same when you have given a remedy and there is an aggravation - that might be a first aggravation, but it also might be a new disease.

A: You were loosing weight, while coughing you vomited white mucus, which came out in threads, you had to pull it out. The wandering pain remained but they were of a less intensity. It was especially in the left elbow. And while you were rather warm before, you were cold at that time.

You absolutely couldn't bear fat. The coughing is more important at the moment, because the rheumatism has stopped. Every night you had a little fever, about 37° C.

STOMACH,AVERSION,fats and rich food : Ang., ars., bell., bry., calc., carb-an., carb-s., carb-v., chin-a., Chin., colch., croc., cycl., dros., grat., guare., hell., hep., lyss., meny., merc., nat-a., nat-c., nat-m., Petr., phos., Ptel., Puls., rheum., rhus-t., sang., sec., sep., sulph.

What happened ? It changed from an acute situation with a very high fever to a fever every day. This means, it changes into a chronic disease !

STOMACH, DESIRE, fat : Ars., hep., Nit-ac., nux-v., sulph.

A: You were coughing while talking. And at night you were perspiring very much. In the morning you were exhausted.

That is very important, when you hear that: she perspires at night and in the morning she is completely exhausted - "weakness from perspiration at night" (p. 1418). Tuberculinum is there capital.

GENERALITIES, WEAKNESS, PERSPIRATION, night : Ars., bar-c., bry., carb-an., chin., eupi., ferr., merc., samb., stann., tarax., Tub.

A: Then I gave you a remedy in M potency, a remedy that follows.

She has completely the mental Pulsatilla picture: weeping, aversion to fat and so on. You give Pulsatilla, and then a few weeks later she is loosing weight, is coughing more, is coughing while talking. In the rubric "coughing while talking" there is not Pulsatilla, and in the rubric "coughing while talking loudly" there is Tuberculinum capital.

That is what I want to show you: you give a remedy, everything is alright, and then they develop to another remedy that has the same modalities.

We gave her, for example, Pulsatilla; Pulsatilla has these wandering pains. She reacts very well in the acute situation, and then she develops the picture of the next remedy, but this remedy has the same pain modalities, namely wandering pains. I showed you that Tuberculinum is there. It is rare that one remedy follows after the other that has the same modalities.

Now, she has the peculiar and important symptom of the emaciation and then the nightly perspiration with the weakness in the morning. Stannum has that also, but Stannum has not those rheumatic pains. She still has those pains; they are indeed less, but they are still there, therefore you have to take them into account to find the right remedy.

A: And on May 26, one month after the remedy, you had a very good reaction to the remedy. The cough was better, almost disappeared.

This cough that she was suffering from for many months, no, nearly for years, was a "barking cough" (p. 782). There you have to add Tuberculinum capital, also Mephitis and Medorrhinum.

COUGH, BARKING : Acon., all-c., ant-t., aur-m., Bell., brom., caps., cimx., clem., coc-c., cor-r., cub., Dros., dulc., Hep., hipp., kali-bi., lac-c., lact., lyc., lyss., merc., mur-ac., nit-ac., nux-m., phos., phyt., rumx., Spong., stann., stict., Stram., sulph., verat.

When you have someone who is coughing for a very, very long time, and it is always this barking cough, and he does not react to Spongia and all the other remedies, you have to think about Medorrhinum. When the patient does not react to well-chosen remedies like Calcarea, Tuberculinum and so on and you can find a relation with an injection, first you have to think of Thuja and then give Pertussin. This is one of the little indication for Pertussin. Normally, we are against it to give remedies without homoeopathic indications, but there are no reliable provings, no key-notes, no clear picture of Pertussin.

A: Sometimes still a little mucus, no pain during motion. The feet were not blue anymore while hanging down. You still couldn't work the whole day. You were still coughing a little while talking and now and then frontal headache. I repeated the remedy on April 21. I saw you again on May 21. The remedy was still working very well. Therefore we gave you Sac-lac.

Then I saw you again on June 16, 1986. The pain in the knees was better. The last week, problems with cold feet. The cough is completely cured. With the rheumatic complaints in general it is very good, no wandering pain and no cough anymore. But then you got a lot of condylomas around the anus. Really, an area of 20 cm section, very, very much.

I could not record this on video. It was an area, full of condylomas. I have not seen such things before in my life.

Now, you can say, "You gave Tuberculinum and now you see what happened !

But that is very good, so you can find the next remedy.

A: They were also sensitive, appeared after the last remedy. You also said you often woke up, because of a dream in which you were falling.

What is the first remedy we have to think of with condylomas ? Thuja. Now she tells us that she wakes up, because of a dream in which she is falling. - "dreams of falling" (p. 1239).

SLEEP, DREAMS, falling of : Acon., alum., am-m., aur., Bell., bism., cact., cahin., calc., canth., caps., chel., chin., dig., dulc., elaps., eupi., ferr-p., ferr., guai., hep., ign., kali-c., kali-i., kali-p., kreos., mag-m., merc., mez., nat-s., nicc., nux-m., nux-v., op., ph-ac., plb., puls., rumx., sabad., sabin., sang., sars., sep., sol-t-ae., sulph., sumb., Thuj., zinc.

A: You also said that you had headache at the left side, left above the eyes.

"Pain, forehead, left side" (p. 154).

HEAD, PAIN, FOREHEAD, left side : Acet-ac., acon., aeth., agar., ant-c., ant-t., apis., arg-m., arg-n., arn., asaf., asar., aur-m., aur., bell., bov., bry., cact., camph., carb-an., caust., chel., chin-s., chin., cic., cina., clem., coca., cocc., colch., coloc., cund., cupr., dulc., euon., eupho., fl-ac., glon., gran., grat., haem., ham., hipp., hyos., iod., ip., kali-bi., kali-n., kalm., kreos., lac-c., laur., lil-t., lith., lyc., lyss., mag-c., mag-m., meny., merc., mez., mur-ac., nat-c., nat-m., nat-s., ol-an., op., par., ph-ac., phel., phys., pip-m., plan., plat., prun-s., psor., ptel., rhod., rhus-t., sabin., sars., sel., seneg., sep., sil., spig., spong., stann., staph., sul-ac., sulph., tab., tarax., Thuj., valer., verb., zinc.

There is a capital remedy: Thuja.

That is very interesting. After Pulsatilla she has the energy to perspire, to produce new symptoms for Tuberculinum. After Tuberculinum everything disappeared and then she develops new symptoms for Thuja. So, she gets Thuja.

A: And, "I have problems with my nose, it is dry, especially inside."

She says that her nose is so dry and that it ameliorates outside - "dryness nose inside, open air amel." (p. 335), one remedy: Thuja.

open amel. : Thuj.

There is an addition: Radium bromatum.

Then she got Thuja, Thuja M.

A: Then I gave you another remedy and saw you again on July 11.

The condylomas have disappeared for 60 %. The headache left is better, but has not disappeared yet. You could sit on your knees, could work the whole day. The cough has completely disappeared, but you still were a little tired. I gave Foliata squalosa (Sac-lac.). It developed further. I repeated the remedy in M potency and in October 1986, the condylomas have completely disappeared. The cough and the rheumatism were cured.

When have you gone back to work ?

P: At the beginning of September, but before I had 3 weeks holiday.

A: I saw you recently again, on April 19, 1987. In the meantime you went for a check up. I didn't take blood, on purpose, because I knew that one or other thing would be found and it only would make you anxious. I was not interested in proving that it was rheumatism, because then you would be seized by panic. You also considered a few times what you should do.

P: Yes, really. Because they make you so anxious at work. But I trusted you, otherwise I wouldn't have come back.

A: What did the labour doctor say ?

P: He says that Dr. Geukens was lucky that I am cured. He asked what it was and I said that it was acute joint rheumatism with fever. Then he immediately asked which medicines I took. Then, he understood that you treated me and the conversation was immediately finished. He couldn't say anything to it. When someone has a throat inflammation with fever he would give antibiotics, because according to him nothing else would help.

A: To say something about the first remedy: you were here on April 19, 1987, now it is May. You told me you were feeling well, but now and then you had some complaints. Today here, tomorrow there a little pain. You still are a very melancholic person.

P: Yes, I have always been. I can't change it. Also at my work, when something happens there I start crying immediately.

A: You are sympathetic.

P: Yes, I am. When my sister comes back from South Africa or when someone dies at my service and the people have often been there, I cry.

A: Did you have this as a child ?

Do you see the appearance ? When you look at the woman who pours out the coffee here, she has the same appearance.

P: Yes, I think so.

A: So sympathetic, soft character. You are also someone who lets yourself be suppressed easily. When I see it, at your home, your husband may do anything.

P: Yes, he doesn't say anything. I don't know, I think I can stick up for myself.

A: At the moment more than previously ?

She has a husband who drinks very much, he is a little Stramonium. Now, he has bought an old car and works on the car the whole time, then he goes to drink a beer. He is not malicious, he does not beat her, but he goes his own way. He is too often away from home, he drinks, he puts all the money in the old car. She is always alone with the children, but she does not complain. Sepia could not live with such a husband, Pulsatilla can.

P: Yes, also, although I think it hasn't changed much. But when he has something on his mind, he will do so. He will go in any case. Why should I make a fuss about it ? I learned to be satisfied.

A: It was notable that you were weeping at every consultation.

P: Yes, I had bottled up everything. Whom should I talk to ? I couldn't talk to my husband, he would have said that I had to see another doctor, "Go to a respectable doctor !" Nor can I talk about that at my service. There, everything is so classical.

A: What do they say now that your rheumatism has been cured ?

P: My husband thinks it is normal, he doesn't say anything about it.

A: It is notable that you easily weep, also when you talk about your complaints. You say, "Whom can I tell it ?" Is it difficult for you to talk to other people about your situation ?

P: Yes, sometimes. Not now anymore, I'm over it. But at the beginning it was. Yes, I had to lie flat for one month, my legs upwards. It was very difficult for me to go to the toilet. After a few weeks I had to vomit as well and I had to get a nap for it. When I got up I thought that my legs would sink away. I didn't feel my legs anymore. You lie there and you see nobody. It was Easter holidays, the children were at home and then you sit there - don't ask what it costs ! Father leaves at one o'clock and returns at eleven ! See you later. And there you lie, alone.

A: You couldn't tolerate it ?

P: No. I had some help of my girl-friend. Nothing happened, but at that moment you need someone to ...

A: To talk to ?

P: Yes, yes.

A: You need consolation ?

P: Yes, I like that.

A: It was also notable that you couldn't tolerate the warmth very well, especially inside you are easily too warm.

P: Yes, although, recently, I have so a little ... because I always have to work in the heat. Previously, I was easily too warm.

We had a farm and I had to help there every day, I was outside the whole day. But later, my life has changed, I work in the hospital the whole day, there it is warm. And when you come home, there it is not so warm, and then I'm cold.

A: Do you do your shopping in large supermarkets ? How do you feel then ?

P: I don't care.

A: And when you are too warm ?

P: No difference.

A: Can you tolerate the sun ?

P: Not so well, it is so pressing.

A: I think, you are very anxious in general ? Do you have fear of height ?

P: No, but I'm not brave either.

A: Do you become dizzy when standing on a high place ?

P: No, not.

A: Do you have fear of dark ?

P: No, only when I was pregnant. Then I was very anxious.

A: Also anxious at night when you are alone ?

P: In fact, I'm never alone at night.

A: Did you cry more during your pregnancy ?

P: No, not more, when I had a bad day.

A: You also told me that you couldn't tolerate certain food. You didn't like fat. Didn't you tolerate that ?

P: I don't know. There was something in the abdomen, a feeling in the abdomen and afterwards I had diarrhoea.

"Diarrhoea from fat" and "disorder stomach from fat" - do not forget that Sulphur also is in that rubric;

STOMACH, DISORDERD, fat food, after : Caust., nat-p., ptel., Puls., sep., sulph.

RECTUM, DIAHHREA, FOOD, fat, after : Ant-c., carb-v., cycl., kali-chl., puls., thuj.

and also a remedy which has "disorder stomach from fat" and "an amelioration by sour food": Ptelea trifoliata.

P: I never ate bacon.

A: Do you like whipped cream ?

P: I like that.

A: You don't get ill from that ?

P: No.

A: And buttercream ?

P: I don't like it so much. I like it, but I only take a little. When I can choose, I prefer whipped cream.

A: Do you like ice-cream ?

P: Yes, I like it very much.

Pulsatilla likes ice-cream, but also Tuberculinum likes ice-cream.

A: And eggs ?

P: Also.

A: How do they have to be prepared ?

P: It makes no difference to me.

A: How do you prefer them ?

P: I prefer them hard-boiled.

Hard-boiled eggs: Pulsatilla; soft-boiled eggs: Calcarea; fried eggs: Natrum phosphoricum.

A: Can you tolerate rainy weather, dampness ?

P: I don't care.

A: It doesn't aggravate the rheumatic complaints ?

P: No, I also thought about it, but it doesn't make any difference. Today, I worked quite a lot, and now I have more pain in my hand.

A: When I gave you the remedy the last time on April 19, did you feel anything ?

P: The next day I had more headache when I got up and the day before yesterday I had more pain in my shoulder. I said that it has really aggravated since I got the remedy, I wanted to call you, but I thought it would go away.

Which remedy did I give her ? Pulsatilla, again Pulsatilla.

We started with Pulsatilla, then came Tuberculinum, then Thuja and now I repeated Pulsatilla again.

A: There was a push, and then there was a relapse ?

P: Today again in my finger, radiated from my neck; but I have improved very much. And then there are periods I feel nothing.

CASE8 V2

Pulsatilla pratensis

MAN, 60 YEARS OLD

This man has pain in his heart. But when people say that they have pain in their heart, normally the pain does not come from the heart.

We have to make a differential diagnosis between sternal pain and heart pain. There is a big difference. Sternal pain is usually which remedy ? Kali bichromicum.

But this man has pain in his heart and pain in his left arm.

And when you observe him, what do you see ?

Answer: "He looks pale."

A: Yes, he has a white skin, but he also has this swelling under his eyes.

A: A few days ago you worked very hard and a few days later you had pain in the region of the heart. Show me, where.

P: Here, in the region of the heart.

A: Did the pain extend to the arm ?

P: No.

A: But you also had pain in your left arm. When was it ?

P: About the same time as the pain in the heart.

A: Where did you have pain exactly ?

P: In my elbow, or below in my hand joint, or in the region of my shoulder. It went always up and down.

A: When you had pain in your hand joint, then you didn't have pain in your elbow ?

P: No, not so strong.

A: And when the pain appeared in the region of the shoulder, you didn't have pain in your elbow anymore ?

P: No, I didn't.

A: A second complaint was that your fingers were asleep. You said, the fingertips, but was it only the fingertips ?

P: No, the longer it lasts, the further it extends in my finger.

A: When especially do you feel it ?

P: At night, when I wake up, or in the morning, when I sit in my couch or sit in a wrong position.

A: So, when you sleep and also in bed in the morning ?

P: Yes.

He has pain in the heart and pain in the left arm, and sometimes he has more pain in the hand joint and sometimes more pain in the elbow and so on. They wander from one place to another place. Second, he says that his fingers are numb in the morning: "Extremities, numbness, fingers, morning" (p. 1039).

EXTREMETIRS, NUMBNESS, FINGERS, morning : Am-c., caust., cham., dios., ferr., kreos., merc., phos., puls., rhus-t., sulph.

Which remedy can you think of at the moment ? Of Rhus toxicodendron, but also of Pulsatilla.

Which remedy has this numbness in the fingertips the strongest ? Phosphorus.

A: Your leg has been amputated, because of an accident. You have problems with it. When especially ?

P: With changing of weather, with rainy and stormy weather. Also with mist and moistness.

A: Especially with changing to moist weather ?

P: Yes.

A: It is also notable that you have teary eyes. You also say that the tears come easily.

P: Yes.

A: Do you weep easily ?

P: Yes, when something happens, when something is the matter with someone else, I lay it to heart.

A: When someone else is suffering you sympathize with him ?

P: Yes.

A: You can't help it ?

P: No. I have too much sympathy for other people.

He is the neighbour of my father in law, who has died in the meantime, and he has visited him very often during his last days. Every time when he was there, he had to cry, he could not control his tears. He is a very, very soft man. His wife is Platinum and they have a very good marriage, because he is the wife so to say.

A: Can you easily tolerate the sun ?

P: Yes, rather.

A: Can you sit in the bright sun ?

P: No, of course not too long. Then I have to avoid the sun.

A: Concerning the temperature in the room, are you easily too cold or easily too warm ?

P: I'm easily too warm inside.

A: You want the door to be opened ?

P: Yes, I want everything to be opened.

A: Do you often go shopping in large supermarkets ?

P: Yes, I do with my mother, every 4 or 5 weeks. She is an old woman. Of course, my wife joins us.

A: How do you feel when there are a lot of people there ?

P: Very well. But elsewhere, when there are a lot of people, at the beach or so ...

A: You don't feel well when there are many people ?

P: No.

I had a case where someone called me for his horse. His horse had asthma, or maybe we better say a shortness of breath, and it was always knocking with his head against the door and the window of the barn to open it. When it was open he could put his head outside the window, then it could breath better. Pulsatilla also needs fresh air, needs open doors and windows. Warm rooms aggravate, that is Pulsatilla.

A: You don't feel well when there is quite a lot of rush in the supermarket ?

P: That's alright, because there is diversion.

A: Do you regularly go to your mother ?

P: Yes, two times a week.

A: What about your appetite ?

P: That's alright. I can eat normally, not too much.

A: Is there something you don't like ?

P: I like everything, I can eat everything.

A: And what about the rim of fat of meat ?

P: Well, I usually put it away. I don't like that. I don't eat much meat.

A: Why not ?

P: I have no taste for it.

A: And the fat of meat ?

P: Not at all.

A: Do you like whipped cream ?

P: Yes.

A: And buttercream ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you tolerate it ?

P: Yes. I tolerate everything. I don't have problems with it. I can eat everything.

A: Do you like it very much ?

P: What does it mean "very much" ? When there is some on the table I eat it.

A: But you like whipped cream very much ?

P: It has nothing to do with "liking very much". When it is on the table I eat it, but I will not ask for it or get some.

A: Are you thirsty or do you drink little ?

P: I don't drink much. In the morning, at noon, and in the evening.

A: Do you pray much ?

P: No, I don't pray.

A: When someone makes fun or does something impudently ( DISRESPECTFULLY ), you are sensitive to things like that ?

P: It depends on the way they do it. I like to laugh, but when there is an accident and they make fun about it, then it is difficult for me.

A: When they, for example, make fun about the fact that you lost your leg, you can't tolerate it.

P: No.

A: Then, you easily weep ?

P: Yes.

When someone shows that he makes fun about the fact that he lost his leg, it hurts him, then he starts weeping, he is so sensitive.

A: That is clear. Then, we will take care that you get a remedy.

In the rubric "extremities, left arm, heart symptoms" (p. 1049)

EXTREMETIES, PAIN, UPPER LIMB, LEFT, heart symptoms, with : Acon., agar., aur., Cact., calc-ar., chim., cimic., crot-h., dig., iber., Kalm., lat-m., lyc., med., Rhus-t., spig., tab.

and "chest, pain heart, extending to left hand" (p. 850),

CHEST, PAIN, HEART, EXTENDING, to left hand : Acon., am-m., aster., aur., cact., cimic., crot-h., dig., Kalm., lat-m., naja., nux-v., rhus-t., spig., tab., ther.

Pulsatilla is not there.

A: Did you have pain in the heart in the evening ?

P: Also during the day. When I have slept, I didn't feel anything.

He had pain in the region of the heart, but I think, that it was not really the heart, but that it was muscular pain. But the peculiar thing was that it was a wandering pain.

A: I give you a remedy in 50 M and I would like to see you again within 2 weeks. In the meantime I'll have the results of the blood examination. Psychologically, you have to feel better then and the pain has to be clearly better.

(Explanation for the auditors: Pain in amputated limbs and this sensitiveness makes one think of Staphisagria, but he becomes angry very seldom.

Which is the most important remedy in pain from amputation (Leg or foot amputation is the removal of a leg, foot or toes from the body. ) ? Staphisagria is the first remedy, then Allium cepa and also Hypericum. "Extremities, arm, after amputation" (p. 1049). Then, there is another rubric "extremities, injuries, fingers, amputated stump painful" (p. 1019).

In general, you can take this rubric for phantom pain (information from a 3 monthly course). And there are the following additions: Allium cepa, Hypericum, Aconitum, Ammonium muriaticum, Belladonna, Cuprum metallicum, Helleborus, Ignatia, Phosphoricum acidum, Spigelia, Symphytum, Veratrum album.

You see there are a lot of additions, but Staphisagria is the most important remedy.

There must also be another rubric for pain in the amputated lower limbs, but I do not find it at the moment.

Remark: "In the other rubric there are some more remedies: Arnica, Asafoetida, Kalmia."

A: Pulsatilla also belongs there.

I think that first you have to think of two remedies in pain in amputated limbs: Staphisagria and Hypericum, and then also of Allium cepa. Otherwise you have to try with constitutional remedies, often it is the constitutional remedy.

A: You get angry very seldom ?

P: Very seldom.

A: It is difficult for you to get angry ?

P: Yes, very difficult. Of course, when it goes too far, then I explode, and then ...

A: What happens then ?

P: Then, an accident could happen. But it never gets that far.

A: Seldom ?

P: Seldom. It hardly ever happens.

A: Does the amputated stump hurt, where it has been cut or the inguinalis, or the joint ?

P: Yes, it is a pain in the lymphatic nodules, it goes up and down. But at night, when I take off the prosthesis, it hurts below, where it has been pressed.

A: Yes, where it has been pressed.

P: Yes, in fact, where it started to break off.

A: Does the amputated stump hurt, or is it pain in the inguinalis.

P: When I take off the prosthesis (an artificial body part, such as a leg, a heart, or a breast implant. ), it is below in my foot, in the part that has gone. I don't feel anything above.

A: So phantom pain.

If you do not get the mental picture of this man, you will prescribe Rhus toxicodendron. Pain in the left arm with heart disease: Rhus toxicodendron; changing of weather aggravates: Rhus toxicodendron; left-sided: Rhus toxicodendron; everything is Rhus toxicodendron, except his being, and that makes the case so difficult.

FEEDBACK (JUNE 1, 1987)

Do you see the change ? Do you see, how much better he is mentally and how much better he looks ?

A: I saw you a fortnight ago. You had pain in the region of the heart.

P: And in my arm.

A: I gave you a tablet in 50 M potency. How did it go after the remedy ?

P: I felt very well. Immediately, it became better.

A: Since the next day ?

P: Yes, the pain has completely disappeared.

A: In how much time ?

P: In 8 days it has completely disappeared. The pain in the region of the heart disappeared after 10 days.

A: It still took 10 days ?

P: Until it completely disappeared. It improved gradually.

A: There was also a kind of numbness in your fingertips.

P: It hasn't disappeared completely. Usually, I have it at two fingers at one side. Right or left, it depends on which side I have lain.

A: It is on the side you have been lying on ?

P: Often, yes.

A: Are there also days on which you don't have complaints with it ?

P: Yes, there are.

A: Do you have less problems with it as before ?

P: I think, it has remained the same.

A: Then, you also had pain, then here, then there, do you still have this kind of pain ?

P: No, I got rid of it. It is only the changing of the weather I still feel in my leg stump. It hasn't completely disappeared yet, but it is not so bad as before anymore.

A: The pain in your amputated leg, which was influenced by the weather, is also better at the moment ?

P: Yes, not completely disappeared, but it doesn't last so long anymore. It may appear, but it also disappears very quickly afterwards.

He says that the numbness is still there when he has been lying on it: "Extremities, numbness while lying on them" (p. 1035).

EXTREMETIES, NUMBNESS, LYING, on them : Am-c., arn., bar-c., bry., bufo., calc., carb-an., Carb-v., chin., glon., kali-c., lyc., mez., phel., puls., rheum., rhod., Rhus-t., sil., sumb.

A: It is the pain that disappears rather quickly ?

P: Yes, previously it could last for 1 or 2 hours.

A: You also had pain in the leg, phantom pain. Do you still have that ?

P: Not at the moment. I only have it with the changing of the weather. I get it at night, when I don't wear my prosthesis. At the moment I don't have it at night anymore, because I rest better.

A: What do you mean ? That you can sleep better at the moment ?

P: Yes, I can sleep better.

A: And why do you say, "Because I sleep better, I have less pain."

P: Yes, when I sleep, I don't feel anything. Previously, I had pain the moment I took off the prosthesis and was in bed, and then when the weather was changing or with rainy weather. Then the pain came immediately.

A: At the moment it is also a changeable weather.

P: Sometimes, I feel stitches, but then they disappear again.

A: There was a numbness in the fingertips especially in the morning.

P: Yes, it also might occur during the day, when I lie in the couch during the afternoon rest, and when my arm doesn't lie well.

A: But at the moment you have less problems with it in the morning.

P: Yes. It might occur that my whole hand was numb.

A: Did you have headache after the remedy ?

P: Yes, I had, the day I took the remedy.

A: What do you mean ?

P: So in between, in the forenoon and the afternoon. The next day it had disappeared.

A: Further you weren't ill ?

P: No.

A: Also, emotionally, you feel better.

P: Much better.

A: You are not so sad anymore.

P: No.

A: Well, you will always remain someone who is sad.

What a change after one dose Pulsatilla 50 M after only 2 weeks. And what does he get now ? Sac-lac.

P: Yes, but I don't care so much. Physically, I also feel better. I can work better compared to previously.

A: You are like wine ...

P: Yes, the older the better. It has to be that way.

They are like wine, the older the better. You can only reach that by homoeopathy, with nothing else.

You see, again a Pulsatilla man.

Question: "Do you know a rubric for pain from amputation ?"

A: Yes, "extremities, pain when amputated": Allium cepa, Staphisagria.

Remark: "In the Synthetic Repertory there is a good rubric."

A: No, that is not right. The remedy which you have to think of is Staphisagria. That is the first remedy in pain from amputation. Indeed, he says he has pain from changing of the weather, that is more important and his phantom pain will disappear with his constitutional remedy.

CASE9

Stomach pain, depression

Pulsatilla pratensis

MAN, 50 YEARS OLD

His problem is stomach pain and depressions. I have already seen him before. This is a feedback video.

The last patient we saw is married very well, but I could not stand his wife for 3 hours, only he can hold out with such a woman. One day she came with terrible toothache. The peculiar thing was that at the same time with the pain there was a numbness on the right side. Which remedy is it ? Platinum. She has been cured of a large abscess with Platinum. Beautiful constitutional Platinum-symptoms appeared at the consultation.

You see that only a Pulsatilla man can be married happily to a Platinum women. This patient has depressions and stomach pain.

A: You work at the ministry.

P: Yes. They say they don't work there, but that is not case in our department.

A: You came here with complaints in the right hypochondria which have already existed for a few months.

P: Yes, here under the ribs, also in the abdomen, in the right inguinalis and the right testicle.

A: You also clearly see the swelling under the eyelids. Probably, you could say, "Didn't sleep well," but that would be theorizing. According to me the remedy has to be found in the rubric "swelling under the eyes".

With Pulsatilla it is almost the same as in Phosphorus; they bend forward when they are talking; they are sympathetic, they really bend forward. You know that Phosphorus really leans on your desk ? And even Phosphorus children sit on your lap.

Also Staphisagria comes, stands besides you and comes very close to you, very close.

A: Previously, you always had pain in the stomach while eating or drinking.

P: Yes, that's right. They told me I had a hernia. It was here, at the entrance of the stomach.

I do not think that the diagnosis of hernia is right. I also do not think that when they tell the patients that their intestine is too long. I had a patient with Crohn's disease. She had radiographs taken and the doctor said that the small intestine was too long. She came and said, that they told her, that her small intestine was one metre too long. She was cured with Sepia and suddenly her small intestine was not too long anymore, the diarrhoea was over.

So, I do not believe the diagnosis "hernia". Normally, the hernia disappears when they get the right remedy.

P: I have it especially in the morning, after I have been lying down. A strange feeling comes in my mouth and disappears, when I have eaten.

A: It appears often, do you have it every morning ?

P: Yes, every morning.

A: What do you feel in the morning ?

P: Such a bad taste in my mouth.

A: In the morning a bad taste coming from your stomach.

P: Yes, and also often pain. But when I have eaten and sit in the train that takes me to my work, it is over.

A: So, not comparable with previously ?

P: No, you can't compare. It only seldom comes back. Now, I can eat everything. Only coffee, I don't drink it of course.

A: You liked to drink a beer.

He likes beer, Pulsatilla is there. Pulsatilla also likes highly seasoned food and - like Ignatia - fruit and cheese.

A: You don't smoke anymore and you took ZANTAC and MALOX.

P: Yes, since 3 months.

A: Previously, you had heart-palpitations and a pain in the region of the heart.

P: Yes, here. So, a double heart-beat, that I was often really frightened.

A: You always had an obstructed nose, especially from a draft of air.

P: Yes, from a draft of air or when I ran about in the rain.

A: Walking through the rain was an important situation ...

P: I thought that it might be caused by that. The next day I had a headache. It started from here. I had the impression, that it was swelling here (points to the root of the nose), and that the pain was extending to my head and above my eyes and even to the filled teeth.

A: More at the right side and especially when you had walked in the rain.

You find the interpretation of this symptom on page 1421, "problems from getting wet".

GENERALITIES, WET, getting : Am-c., ant-c., apis., ars., bell., bor., bry., calc-p., calc-s., Calc., camph., carb-v., Caust., chin., colch., dulc., eupho., hep., ip., lach., lyc., nit-ac., nux-m.,phos., Puls., Rhus-t., sars., sec., Sep., sulph., verat., zinc.

A: Then you also had pain.

P: It started in the morning. I could just hold out for a day. When I came home, I didn't have appetite and took SINUTAP; apparently it helped and then I went to bed.

What kind of headache is this ? They call it catarrhal headache, headache from a cold. There are a lot of remedies, but I think, it is an important rubric (p. 137).

HEAD, PAIN, catarrhal : Acon., aesc., all-c., alum., am-m., ambr., ars-i., ars., aur., bell., bry., Calc-s., calc., camph., carb-s., carb-v., caul., cham., chin-a., chin.,chlor., cic., cimic., cina., Dulc., Euphr., ferr-ar., ferr-p., ferr., gels., Graph., gymn., hell., Hep., hydr., ign., iod., kali-ar., kali-bi., kali-c., Kali-i., kali-s., kalm., lach., laur., lyc., mang., merc-i-f., Merc., mez., nat-a., nat-m., Nux-v., phos., puls., ran-b., rumx., sabad., samb., sang., sil., staph., stict.,still., sulph., teucr.

There is a rubric "head, pain, weather, from getting wet (p. 152)

HEAD, PAIN, wet, from getting : Ars., bell., bry., Calc., colch., dulc., hep., kali-c., led., lyc., nat-m., nux-m., phos., puls., Rhus-t., sep.

: Baryta carbonica, Belladonna, Ledum, Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Sepia. That is exactly what he told us.

In the Repertory there is also "coryza after getting wet" on page 329, an incomplete rubric.

NOSE, CORYZA, wet, after getting : Sep.

We can also look under "headache from getting wet".

A: Every 4 or 5 weeks you had a lot of headaches.

P: Yes. I got such a headache-attack in an inexplicable way.

A: Then, there was also a stiffness of the neck-vertebra.

P: Yes.

A: And you had crusts in the nose.

P: Yes. My nose never runs, it is always dry.

A: Because of an accident you also had complaints with the right knee-cap.

P: Yes, in the meantime I have been operated on, on August 28.

Now, he says, that he has knee-pain, that he has been operated on his knee, on the right side. Immediately, we think of Lycopodium, but this man can not be Lycopodium, even when he has 150 complaints on the right side. That is impossible.

A: You often had problems with the complaints of hemorrhoids, especially when you had diarrhoea.

P: Yes, that's right.

A: At that time you told me, "The situation at my work is very difficult for me. There is a lot of stress at my work. The labour spirit is very good, but there are a lot of problems."

P: Yes. We have to take care of the school staff, which concerns more than 100,000 people, and they have to be paid on time. We get much more work, many more files than previously and we have less means at our disposal and less staff. And I am ... I personally feel concerned about all these complaints.

The problem is that the teachers do not get paid fast enough. They have to wait for their money. There are state and private schools and the teachers of the state schools are not paid on time. And he says, that they have to take care that those people get paid on time, and that he makes a problem out of that, that they do not get their money on time, this means that he is very sympathetic. This worries him so much that he tries to make everything ready, so that the people get their money on time. If he were Lycopodium, he would never mind so much about the fact that people have to wait long for their money.

A: You feel personally concerned ?

P: Yes. I would like it to change. I know that the situation has become worse the last years, but I am responsible for that.

A: You take it to heart ?

P: Yes. When there are complaints, indeed I know that it is not my fault, but I would rather not see them, do you understand ?

A: And you take your problems home ?

P: I brood on it at home. I don't want it, but it has its influence at home, I am irritated, short-tempered against my children, often also against my wife. But I must say, it has improved. It has ameliorated.

He says that he gets easily angry with his wife and children. He notices it. If he were Nux vomica or something else, he would not notice that he easily gets angry. But it is not his constitution, to get angry so easily. Therefore, he says that he gets too easily angry with his wife and his children. He does so, because he is so sensitive, then he explodes and afterwards he says, "Oh God, why am I so angry ?" Nux vomica would never say that he has been too angry.

A: The tears appear in your eyes again ?

P: No, not so much, but I am a little touched.

A: Why are you touched ?

P: I can't say.

A: Are you very concerned about your work ?

P: Yes, I am. It descends upon me. Also in other situations I am very sensitive.

A: How do you mean ?

"Weeping in telling about his disease"

MIND, WEEPING, telling of her sickness, when : Kali-c., med., Puls., Sep.

: Pulsatilla, Kali carbonicum, Medorrhinum and Sepia. Do not forget Medorrhinum in adults who start weeping, when they tell about their complaints. You easily mix up with Pulsatilla.

P: Externally, I might have a hard appearance, but that is not right. For example, I don't like to go to funerals, even when I have known these people. Even when I have not known these people very well, I am touched.

A: Do you weep then ?

P: Yes, the tears come into my eyes. Especially, when the priest tells about his life, that calls up feelings. Previously, when I was 20 years old, I didn't have it.

But I also might get tears in my eyes for joy. That also happens.

A: So sensitive.

P: Yes.

A: Do you tolerate the sun well ?

P: It depends. I would not lie in the sun, but I like it when the weather is good. When I have to be in the sun in summer, for example, for cutting the grass, I will always wear a hat for protection. I don't tolerate it very well when I am exposed to the sun too long.

A: But the weather has to be clear; rainy, cloudy weather is nothing for you ?

P: I can't say it that way. I'm inside the whole day, therefore the weather doesn't interest me much. But I like the sun when I have a day off, like everyone else.

Look under "cloudy weather agg." (p. 1348).

GENERALITIES, CLOUDY weather agg. : Am-c., bry., calc., cham., chin., dulc., mang., merc., nux-m., plb., puls., rhod., Rhus-t., sep., sulph., verat.

There you see Pulsatilla, Rhus toxicodendron, there is also Sepia. Pulsatilla likes clear weather, sunny weather.

A: Are you covered up warmly at night ?

P: No. The whole year I sleep with one blanket and when it is cold, I take the bed-spread. We took a very thick blanket once when it was a very strong winter, and it was too warm.

A: Your wife also ?

P: Yes.

When you do an anamnesis with a husband or wife, afterwards you often know the remedy of the other. He says that when it was a very strong winter they took an extra blanket, otherwise they only use one blanket, and in summer only a thin one, and that it was too warm with those two blankets. And then I asked him if his wife also was as friendly as he is and he said, "Exactly, like me". She also needs Pulsatilla.

A: Is your wife also a soft person ?

P: Yes, yes. We have the same character. Maybe, we are too concerned about the children. Maybe, one should try not to pay too much attention to ... But when the children are ill ... She is a nurse, therefore you will not see it externally at her, but she is as much concerned as I am.

P: Do you tolerate fat ? You don't like that ?

P: I can eat it moderately. But I don't eat gravy and so on.

A: Also the rim of fat of meat ?

P: Bah, nothing special. A piece of bacon that is more lean than fat, I would eat. But I would cut a large rim of fat off.

A: You can't tolerate it ?

P: No.

A: Do you think that you get more stomach complaints of that ?

P: No, not exactly, but I don't like it very much.

A: And what about highly seasoned food, very spicy food ?

P: I don't like it very much, for example, pepper. My wife likes it, she has been in Uganda.

A: As a nurse ?

P: Yes.

A: You don't like pepper very much ?

P: No. I would put a little pepper on the tomato-soup.

A: And what about cheese ?

P: I eat it, but not so much. I eat curds, also yellow cheese, but no special cheeses.

A: And fruit ?

P: Yes, in the season. At the moment I regularly take an apple to my work. But when the season is over and the fruit comes from a cold store, I don't eat it anymore. I don't like cherries either.

A: In winter you don't eat fruit ?

P: Apples, which we have stored.

A: Nothing else ?

P: No.

A: Then you don't eat fruit at all ?

P: No, only in the picking-season. But I like an apple.

A: All right. You keep your feet always under the blankets ?

P: Yes.

A: They never lay bare ?

P: No. But may I say something else about my feet ? You asked me which complaints and problems I still have. I forgot to tell you something. I have rather perspiring feet. For example, I change my shoes every two days.

A: That is very important. You have problems with perspiring feet ?

P: My both sons are also troubled with that. My daughter doesn't have problems with it.

A: How strong is it with your perspiring feet ?

P: So strong, that the socks and even the shoes are moist.

A: Do your feet always perspire ?

P: Yes, indeed.

When he develops to another remedy, which I do not believe, for example from warm to cold and this perspiration remains, it could be which remedy ? Silicea. Silicea is a remedy especially for - I have seen Silicea cases, for example, with a woman the perspiration was running in streams, it was really dripping, she was perspiring very much. It was so bad, that I thought, "My God, she looses so much moisture, how is that possible !", she was perspiring at hands and feet, you saw it really dripping - Silicea M and she was cured.

On page 1184 "offensive sweat, foot".

EXTREMETIES, PERSPIRATION, FOOT, offensive : Am-c., am-m., anan., arg-n., ars-i., ars., arund., Bar-c., bufo., calc-s., calc., carb-ac., carb-s., cob., coloc., cycl., fl-ac., Graph., Kali-c., kalm., Lyc., nat-m., Nit-ac., petr., phos., plb., psor., Puls., rhus-t., sanic., sec., sep., Sil., staph., sulph., Tell., Thuj., zinc.

A: Do you have cracks between the toes, because of the perspiration ?

P: No, but I was thinking about it. You mean, that there is dry perspiration between the toes after a warm day ?

A: Yes. Do you have a thick nail or so on your toes ?

P: No.

A: Do you have a nail on your toes that is little bit thick ?

P: Yes, indeed. There is one that is in front which has a little yellow under it.

A: Are your nails soft and do not easily break ?

P: No.

A: All right. On July 1, 1987 I gave you a remedy in 10 M potency. You took the remedy in the afternoon and then couldn't start.

I gave him the remedy and afterwards he got an aggravation. I gave him the remedy in 10 M potency and the next day he had an aggravation. He will tell it now.

P: Yes, the first time. It was a very sunny day. I worked outside. In the afternoon I couldn't anymore. I thought, I put on my hat, but I couldn't anymore. I was really paralysed, more than paralysed.

A: Then, you had to lie down ?

P: Yes.

A: The further reaction to the remedy was that the pain in the hypochondria disappeared after one month. And the pain in the testicles had also completely disappeared.

You know, an orchitis after measles, that is Pulsatilla.

P: Yes, when the pain in the abdomen disappears, the pain below also disappears.

A: So the pain in the testicles, that is also a very interesting symptom, pointing strongly to the remedy. The stiffness in the neck was also better. In general, you felt much better. When you came here you were depressed. You were really sad. I can't reproduce the situation when you came here. You were really sad and depressive.

P: Yes, especially, because of the strong medicines, because I had taken ZANTAC and so on for 3 months. I didn't dare to take anything or to eat something.

A: And it didn't improve. On the contrary, you felt better after the homoeopathic remedy - you felt the energy - and the pain was also better.

P: Yes.

A: So, a beautiful reaction. How are you doing at the moment ?

P: I took the remedy once again. On August 28, I was operated on for meniscus. Then I called you. You gave me the remedy to take home. I think a fortnight after the operation I took the remedy once again.

A: So, about September 14. Then you repeated the 10 M potency. Why did you repeat it ?

P: Because I had the impression that the complaints were coming back.

I gave him the remedy and he was feeling very well. Then he has an operation. Often, when the meniscus (Meniscal tears are among the most common knee injuries. Athletes, particularly those who play contact sports, are at risk for meniscal tears. ) is really broken, they have to have it operated. With this operation he got anesthesia and by this anesthesia there was a relapse. It is the same with teeth treatments, after the local anesthesia there is often a relapse. But we have observed that the toothache is related to the remedy. You give a remedy and 3 days later the patient has toothache, it has to do with the remedy. You can not say that he has something else on his teeth and give him a remedy for that; it has to do with the remedy and when you give him a remedy for that, it is a suppression and the patient will get a relapse.

When someone gets toothache after the remedy it is a reaction to the remedy and the pain will go away by itself or it is a symptom for a new remedy. It might also be - but never send a patient to the dentist !

When it is an abscess, they have to have it treated first and afterwards, maybe when the tooth is really dead, you can send them to the dentist, but only when the inflammation and the pain have disappeared. You are the dentist for the patients. Do not send your patients to the dentist when they have pain in their teeth as a reaction to the remedy. It is something else when they have bitten or have fallen, and a tooth is ruined. That is something else, that is an external injury, an accident.

He has been operated on, and after the operation he had a relapse, the pain on the right side appeared again. I do not know whether this operation was necessary, I can not judge.

A: How was the reaction after you took the remedy ?

P: I didn't become tired.

A: No, I didn't expect it. It is only the first time, when you take the remedy. Has the pain become better ?

P: Not completely, but it was better. I eat normally, I can not complain.

Naturally, not too much fat, but I eat chips only once a week, essentially. I tried to eat once mussels and chips when we were at the sea for holidays in August, to eat once mussels and chips. I ate everything and I didn't get complaints. And then we went back home in the rain. I didn't have an umbrella or a hat and I was thinking, "Tomorrow you will be ill again," but I wasn't.

A: Do you see how the remedy works !

P: I have had it only once, once I had a headache.

A: That is very clear. I will give you the remedy once again in reserve. Show me your tongue.

P: In the morning it is always a little coated.

A: That is also very typical for that remedy.

P: Previously, I always had a coated tongue.

A: In the morning ?

P: Yes.

"Coated tongue in the morning", that is also Pulsatilla.

MOUTH, DISCOLORATION, TONGUE, morning : Agar., benz-ac., calc-p., Chin., cinnb., dig., echi., elaps., hell., mag-m., nit-ac., Puls., ran-s., sel., seneg

P: May I ask you something ? With the examination of the stomach they noticed a hernia and also a little inflammation. Does it also disappear ?

A: Yes, it will disappear. I don't believe the diagnosis "hernia diaphragmatic". That is an organic change. When this was the cause of your pain, the pain wouldn't have been disappeared with the homoeopathic remedy.

The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscular barrier between the chest and the abdomen. It separates your heart and lungs from your abdominal organs (stomach, intestines, spleen, and liver).

A diaphragmatic hernia occurs when one of your abdominal organs moves upward into your chest through a defect (opening) in the diaphragm. This kind of defect can be congenital (present at birth) or acquired later in life. It is always a medical emergency and requires surgery to correct.

P: But they also noticed a slight gastritis.

A: As a consequence of the hernia ?

P: Yes.

A: Anyway, you don't have to worry. The most important thing is that you feel well.

I will give you 2 tablets home in reserve. At the moment there is quite a lot to do in the ministry. When there are problems, inform me.

The sensitiveness to rain has disappeared after Pulsatilla, also the sensitiveness of the stomach to fried potatoes.

CASE10 v2

Depression and arthritic pain

Pulsatilla pratensis

WOMAN, 70 YEARS OLD

Pay attention to the psyche of this woman !

A: You came with pain, everywhere, in the joints, in the stomach, in the large intestine.

P: Yes, yes.

A: You were also sad.

P: Yes, I still am.

You have to get this feeling, she gives exactly the same feeling as Pulsatilla: very great sadness. She was very, very sad, very, very depressed.

P: When I feel well, I don't have it, no.

A: The pain was then here, then there ?

P: Yes.

A: Not everywhere at the same time ?

P: No, it goes around. It was worse, when the weather changed. When there was snow or mist, it strongly depends upon it. And once it was snowing, it was over.

A: When it was raining you didn't have complaints ?

P: Yes, also when it was raining. But once it started raining it was better. It is strange, isn't it ?

A: The pain was changing from place ?

P: Yes, then here, then there.

A: Further you were sad.

P: Yes, very much.

A: What do you mean by that ?

P: I was very melancholic, I was thinking about everything and at the same time I was only thinking the worst. My daughter was on winter-sports and then I was so alone. It was not good. I sat there and was brooding. Later, I would sit in a wheel-chair and so on.

That is very important, "The children are gone and I am so alone, I feel lonely" - forsaken feeling.

MIND, FORSAKEN feeling : Alum., arg-n., Aur., bar-c., calc., camph., cann-i., carb-an., carb-v., chin., cycl., hura., kali-br., kali-c., lac-d., lach., lact., lam., lil-t., lith., lyss., mag-aust., mag-m., nat-c., pall., plat., Psor., Puls., rhus-t., stram., valer., verat.

A: And you easily wept.

P: Yes.

A: Your daughter was here the last time and said, "When she is with us she is better."

P: Yes, then I am quiet.

A: When your daughter is with you, it is all right.

P: Yes, then I have people around me, then I can speak. Then, I have another cup of coffee, something like that. You have to be with people.

MIND, COMPANY, desire for : Act-sp., aeth., all-s., ant-t., apis., Arg-n., Ars., asaf., aur-m., bell., Bism., bov., brom., bry., bufo., cadm., calc-p., calc., camph., carb-v., caust., cench.,clem., coloc., con., crot-h., der., dros., elaps., gels., hep., Hyos., ign., kali-ar., kali-br., Kali-c., kali-p., Lac-c., lil-t., Lyc., manc., merc., mez., nux-v., pall.,Phos., plb., puls., ran-b., rat., sep., stram., stry., tab., tarent., verat., verb., zinc.

This is the desire for company. It is very typical for Pulsatilla, the desire to be with other people.

But do not let deceive you. If you look under company, "aversion to company during heat" (p. 12), there Pulsatilla is two, with Hyoscyamus and Conium.

MIND, COMPANY AVERSION TO, heat, during : Con., hyos., puls.

Normally, Pulsatilla has desire for company, but Lycopodium, Calcarea, Phosphorus and others have as stronger desire for company as Pulsatilla.

In the rubric "when alone agg." under "desire for company, when alone" Pulsatilla is not there. That is strange. She likes to have it very warm. Do not let deceive you here either. Pulsatilla is chilly, very often chilly, but they do not tolerate the warmth inside. They only tolerate 20-22° C, although they are chilly. In bed, they often take more blankets.

A: The pain was better by warmth.

P: Yes, I like it very warm.

A: You had also flushes of heat.

P: Yes, terrible. Then I am wet all over and then it disappears.

A: You also said that you get it especially in large shops.

P: Often I am dressed warmly, when I get inside and when the warmth descends upon me, I get it.

A: So you don't tolerate it well.

P: No, the warmth, the mustiness.

A: You need fresh air.

P: Yes.

A: Are you also sensitive ?

P: Yes, my whole life long.

A: In what sense ?

P: When there is something wrong with my children, and they tell us, then I feel it. Sometimes I am very weak. Not now anymore, it is better. I have become stronger.

A: Also when you saw a film on television - you couldn't watch it.

P: I don't feel much like watching television.

The depression can be very deep in Pulsatilla, so that they have no more interest in other people. Look under "sits as if wrapped in deep, sad thoughts, and notices nothing" (p. 81).

MIND, SITS, wrapped in deep, sad thoughts, as if, and notices nothing : Aur., cocc., elaps., hipp., puls., verat.

These are very bad, deep depressions in which they sit, saying nothing, as if they have no contact with the world anymore, sit there like a Buddha, completely sad. Do not forget Pulsatilla in such cases.

A: When there was something sad on television you easily cried.

P: Yes, I did. But that is better at the moment.

A: When you were here the last time, you also cried.

P: Yes. I had difficulties. I could do my work only very slowly. I tried it again and again. I like to work. I have to be busy. As soon as I was better I started to clean again. Then, I can help my daughter again.

A: You were also sighing very much ?

P: Yes.

A: Moaning and sighing.

P: Yes.

Which remedy moans and sighs most ? Calcarea phosphorica. Moaning, dissatisfaction and sighing, that is Calcarea phosphorica, with Arnica, Pulsatilla and Ignatia, but the most dissatisfied remedy is Calcarea phosphorica.

A: What about the appetite ?

P: I can eat very well.

A: Do you eat everything ?

P: I try to avoid fat, because I had those stitches in the large intestine now and then. First, I ate bacon, but I don't do anymore. And something hearty ...

A: It has to be tasty.

P: Yes.

A: Do you like highly seasoned food ?

P: Yes, I do.

A: But you don't like things that are fat.

P: Yes, I like it, but I don't eat it. I think about my large intestine. And I also had a period in which my stomach was a little bit slower. But I also have to eat a slice of bread before I go to sleep.

A: Do you eat whipping cream ?

P: I don't eat it either.

A: But you like it ?

P: Yes.

A: And buttercream ?

P: Yes, I like it very much, but I don't eat it, because I can't tolerate it. I don't take butter, but margarine instead, because of the cholesterol.

A: You had a diverticulum (diverticulum is a pouch on the wall of the lower part of the intestine that is present at birth (congenital).) in the intestine. You also liked sweet food. And you couldn't tolerate the sun.

P: Sitting in the bright sun, no. I like the sun, but I can't sit long in it.

A: Now, you feel very well. Are you satisfied ?

P: Yes. Morally, I'm better and I have more courage.

Do you see the right eye ? That is a symptom for which remedy ? Lycopodium. Lycopodium and Pulsatilla are complementary. Later, after Pulsatilla she will need Lycopodium. This eye, the right eye has a triangle over the eyelid, and that is typical for Lycopodium.

P: I still have that pain in my neck, when I go in the bath, but that is tolerable. It's the joints, I think. But it doesn't last long. It appears and disappears again.

A: But the frequency of pain is less compared to before ?

P: Oh yes.

A: But especially, you have more courage. You are all right again.

P: Yes.

She says that the pain is much better. And the pain is something subjective; this means when we have pain, the energy fails. After the remedy the energy increases and stands above the pain.

CASE11 V2

Rheumatic pain

Pulsatilla pratensis

WOMAN, 81 YEARS OLD

A: How are you ?

P: Not so good. I have pain in my legs and knees as if there is a bandage.

A: Since when do you have pain in your knees ?

P: Surely, since one month. My son already said, I would have call but at first I thought it wouldn't be necessary.

A: Where is the pain exactly ?

P: Here, in my knee and my leg.

A: In your right leg.

P: When it is bad, also in my left leg. It extends even to my back.

A: When it is raining, with wet weather ?

P: Then it is very bad. And with mist and wind.

A: Then you also have it in your left leg ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you also feel it in your arms when it is wet ?

P: Sometimes in my shoulder (points to the left shoulder).

A: You can say, the pain is here, then there.

P: Yes, it goes around.

A: That's all concerning the pain. Further, how do you feel ?

P: I shouldn't complain.

A: What do you mean ?

P: As long as you can help yourself.

A: You are 81 years old.

P: In April, 82 years, but in the eighties nothing but misery.

A: There are many younger people who are worse.

P: Yes, I always think so. When those people can't get up anymore, only can sit in the couch.

A: Can you easily sit still, or do you have to be in motion ?

P: I always have to be in motion. I'm used to it. I have been this way since my childhood. I have worked in a slaughter-house for 43 years.

So again, Pulsatilla has amelioration from occupation. That is another symptom that can be mixed with Rhus toxicodendron.

A: Could you easily tolerate the cold in the slaughter-house ?

P: Very well. I can better tolerate cold than warm.

A: Because it is cold in a slaughter-house ?

P: Oh yes, previously, it was terribly cold there. I had always provided myself with thick shoes and so on.

A: You prefer cold to warm ? Especially inside ?

P: Yes, inside. But also outside. When I go outside, I am a completely different person.

A: Fresh air does you good ?

P: Yes.

"In the morning, when I have been outside, I feel better" - Pulsatilla wants to walk outside.

A: You like to be outside.

P: Oh yes.

A: But not in summer, when it is too warm ?

P: When it is very hot at noon, I don't go outside, only on my verandah at the back, or riding on a bicycle outside in the forest. That is ideal. The forest begins immediately behind our house. It is easier for me to ride on a bicycle than walking.

A: Yes, of course. With arthrosis it is better to ride on a bicycle than to walk. But you still can walk ?

P: Not so quickly.

A: What about the appetite ?

P: It is very good. I shouldn't complain.

A: You eat everything ?

P: In the morning I eat a slice of bread with smoked meat or cheese.

A: Do you like cheese ?

P: Yes, I like cheese very much. Also a beefsteak, or veal or so. I don't eat pork.

A: Why not ?

P: Previously, the doctor said that it was not good for my liver and gallbladder.

A: Oh yes. Don't you tolerate pork ?

P: Well yes, I don't tolerate fat very well.

A: At the gallbladder ?

P: No, they have removed it.

A: Do you notice something when you eat fat ?

P: I don't dare to eat fat. Previously, my husband said, "I can't understand that you sit there with a slice of bread and smoked meat." Because he always ate bacon and so on.

A: But you don't like heavy food ?

P: No, when you don't feel well with it, I think it has no sense to eat it.

A: Yes, of course. You don't feel well after heavy food ?

P: No, I don't. I'm afraid of fat.

A: It doesn't make you feel well ?

P: No.

A: And you don't like it ?

P: I like it. I can eat it.

A: I mean fat meat.

P: A little fat ?

A: The rim of fat of meat.

P: There is a rim of fat veal. I like it.

A: Well, anyway, heavy food is nothing for you.

P: No, nothing.

A: And what about fruit ?

P: I eat it, but no stone-fruit. No prunes, no cherries.

A: Why not ?

P: I think, I can't tolerate them very well. I prefer an apple.

A: So you like an apple ?

P: Yes.

A: Do you eat fruit every day ?

P: Yes, every day.

A: And do you like highly seasoned food ?

P: Yes, I like highly seasoned food, but not salty food.

A: So highly seasoned, also spicy ?

P: Yes, hearty.

A: But not too salty ?

P: I don't use much salt.

A: Don't you like salt ?

P: Well yes, they say that salt is not so good. In my age one has to be careful.

A: Yes, that's right.

And what about the sleep?

P: Sometimes, I can't fall asleep well. But once I fall asleep, I sleep well.

A: How are the children?

P: They are very well, but there is a lot to do. The eldest son has a slaughter-house, the youngest son also. I only have two boys and two girls. They all have quite a lot of work to do. The youngest daughter is children's nurse. She works with invalids. Everyone has something to do. Her husband comes from a farm and keeps horses and other animals.

How she does worry about her children! Immediately, she starts telling the whole story of her children.

She is so sympathetic and she always came to the consultation when there was something wrong with the children, and always wept and wept.

That is typical for Pulsatilla, that she sympathizes very much with her children.

P: You built a beautiful house, but there was a lot of work to do.

And why does she say that they all have a lot of work ? Because they do not have time anymore to go to her and talk to her, that is the reason why she emphasizes it so much.

A: Yes, there is quite a lot of work. Everyone has their own work.

P: Yes, you don't have any children. I always say, how is it possible ?

A: Do you visit your children regularly ?

P: Yes.

A: Every day ?

P: Often. Not every day. I often go riding on a bicycle when the weather is fine.

A: Can you easily be alone ?

P: Yes, that's all right. In the evening my daughter passes by.

She says that she can easily be alone, but her daughter goes to her every evening.

A: Your daughter comes in the evening ?

P: Yes, every evening.

A: That's nice of her, to pass by.

P: Oh, yes. Also for my daughter. She has four children at home. One is married and two are about twenty years old and then an after-thought child of 14 years old.

A: Then she comes to talk every evening.

P: About what's the matter with the children and so on.

A: You take it to heart when there is something wrong with the children.

P: Yes.

A: You sympatize with the children ?

P: Yes, with all of them.

A: That is your nature.

P: Yes, that is so. I have always worried about the children and that will remain so.

A: I will try so that you will have less complaints.

P: Yes, when it gives relief.

A: I will give you two tablets to take home. You take one immediately, and keep one in reserve. I would like to see you again within 6 weeks.

This was the last Pulsatilla case. I wanted to give you an impression of the Pulsatilla picture with all these cases.

extra

Because she felt forsaken, was weeping a lot and because of the discharge I gave her Pulsatilla.

Therefore she couldn't sleep. You also find this in Pulsatilla and Phosphorus. When the daughter marries and goes away from home they are doing bad.

CASES