CASES

CASE1 v2

Sepia officinalis

Girl, 13 years old

A: When did the pain in the ears start?

P: When I rode the bicycle to jazz ballet.

A: When you rode there?

P: It already started before I got there.

P: It is the left ear.

P: Now I put some cotton in it.

A: Why did you put it in your ear?

P: Maybe this is a little bit warmer. Before it helped me a lot more than this time.

A: Does this mean that you have more pain when cold touches your ear?

P: Yes.

This is very interesting. "When I rode the bicycle to jazz ballet I got pain in the ear", and you already know the remedy. Pain in the ear from cold weather, warmth ameliorates and she likes to dance. Within the first minutes she gives the essential information. Therefore this consultation won't last a long time.

A: You are in treatment here since April. You have had ear inflammations for quite a long time.

MP: Yes, since she was in kindergarten.

A: It always concerned always the right ear and this time it is the left?

P: Yes.

A: Here it says that you tolerate the sun very well. Is this true?

P: Well yes, when I stay in the sun too long a time I become warm. Then I prefer to be inside.

A: Do you have your menses already?

P: Yes.

A: How old are you?

P: 13 years old.

A: Does she sometimes have leucorrhea?

MP: I haven't noticed.

A: Here it says that she likes fried eggs, carrots, croquettes and chocolate.

P: Yes.

A: You don't like fish, do you?

P: No.

A: You are easily too cold?

P: Yes.

A: And you like to take a hot shower.

MP: These are difficult questions. I never checked the exact temperature of the water.

A: She is rather uncomplicated.

MP: Yes.

A: And you like to dance?

P: Yes.

A: Does she have a good feeling for rhythm?

P: Surely.

A: Are you limber?

P: It's all right.

A: Do you sometimes have white spots in the summer when the sun is shining?

P: Only when I had a scab on the skin, afterwards it looks white when the scab fell of.

A: Show me your nails.

P: (Shows her nails).

A: Good, nothing particular.

Can she become angry?

MP: She is rather hot-tempered.

A: Good. Then she will get a tablet, and she has to let it melt under her tongue.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : Yes, discoloration of white spots on the skin, you often see this in Sepia officinalis patients in the summer. They get this kind of vitiligo.

Look on page 1307:

SKIN,DISCOLORATION,WHITE,spots : Alum., am-c., Ars., aur., berb., calc., carb-an., coca., merc., nat-c., nit-ac., phos., sep., Sil., sulph

SKIN, discoloration, white, spots: ... sep ...

FEEDBACK (January 29, 1990)

A: You got a remedy on December 9. Then you were seen by a colleague on December 21. He wrote down that the pain in the ear disappeared completely after two days. How did it go?

P: After I got the remedy for the second time I still had some pain in the ear for a few days. Now it is completely gone.

A: You were here in treatment because you had recurrent ear inflammations?

P: Yes.

A: This means that you haven't had any pain in your ear since December 9.

P: Yes.

A: And her behavior?

MP: There is nothing particular.

A: She remains this nice girl.

MP: Well yes, she might become hot-tempered once, but it is gone quickly.

A: You also have a wart on your finger.

P: It is still there.

A: Then everything is all right. For the time being she doesn't need to come back unless she has problems.

Once you have the feeling of the appearance of Sepia officinalis you will find the remedy very easily.

Remark: ... Phosphorus and Sulphuralso.

A : Yes, freckles on the nose or on the face. You know that Sepia officinalis has freckles on the nose. Phosphorus and Sulphur have freckles only on the nose.

case2 v2

Acute bronchitis

Sepia officinalis

Girl, 5 years old

April 19, 1987

(Child is coughing)

A: She has a bronchiolitis. She is coughing especially at night, but also during the day. A colleague gave her Calcarea carbonica 14 days ago.

MP: Yes.

A: In the past she had wheezing regularly. She likes to walk barefoot. She likes to stay up late, doesn't like to go to bed. She is better at the sea. Usually she sleeps on the right side and in the morning she is refreshed. She grinds her teeth and talks during sleep. She is a little bossy, as it is written here.

MP: Yes.

A: She has an anxiety for cocks and spiders. Whether she has a fear of heights we don't know. She weeps easily, likes to be held on the arm. She can become very angry. When she is irritated she kicks and hits. She is not tidy and speaks to everyone immediately. She likes ice cream, gravy, bread, cheese, peanut butter, spaghetti and highly seasoned gravy, further she likes chocolate a lot, eggs and bacon maculatum She has an aversion to sour things. She likes to drink cold drinks, but not icy cold. She doesn't eat marmalade, or syrup and little meat. Tell me something more about the eating of meat.

MP: She eats only very little meat. She would never eat sausages.

A: And ham?

MP: Yes, but no sausages.

A: And hacked (ground) meat?

MP: Yes. Everything which is ground she likes.

A: Does she often have sores at the corners of the mouth?

MP: Yes, also dry, cracked lips.

A: Does she also have leucorrhea?

MP: Probably yes.

A: Is she fastidious in eating?

MP: One year ago it was bad.

A: I notice that she is hanging on your lap now.

MP: Yes, she does when she is ill. Normally she is independent.

A: Does she like to dance?

MP: Yes, very much. When we listen to classical music she is always dancing.

A: Also with rhythmic music?

MP: She is always moving and she is almost always dancing when the music is playing.

A: It is a rattling cough.

I can see that she has freckles on the nose.

MP: That's right. They appeared one year ago.

Up to now we have a lot of symptoms which indicate Tuberculinum bovinum Kent: anxiety for animals, better at the sea, desire for hacked (ground) meat, this kind of ground meat and so on. Tuberculinum bovinum Kent seems to be too lazy to chew.

Many things indicate Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

What I can see is that she has dark eyes, dark hair, a crack in the corner of the mouth and freckles, and she is hanging on the mother all the time. With such an appearance I think of a certain remedy.

Then the mother also said that she always dances when she hears music. This is very clear.

A: She has pain in the ear on the left side. She complains about that most.

(examines her ears)

On the left side she has a middle ear inflammation.

I will give you a remedy to dissolve in water. After one week I would like to see her again. The eardrum might burst.

Do you see what she does?

She puts her hand on her ear, she likes it to be warm.

When you see a child with pain in the ear, who puts cotton in her ear or covers up her ear, which rubric do you take then?

Look on page 306:

EAR, PAIN, WARMTH , wrapping up, amel. : Cham., dulc., Hep., kali-ar., lach., mag-p., mur-ac., rhus-t., sep., stram.

EAR, warmth and wrapping up amel.: ... sep ...

This is an acute symptom which fits the constitutional symptoms like dancing. In this remedy children like to lean against their mother in acute diseases, and this is an expression of an exaggerated stasis in acute states.

A: Are you sure that nobody from the family has been in a sanitarium because of the lungs?

MP: Up to the generation of my grandparents I can't think of anybody.

A: Does she like to be consoled when she is angry?

MP: No, then she runs away. She is obstinate.

FEEDBACK (April 30, 1987)

A: How did it go?

MP: She complained more about pain in the ears than about the bronchitis. On our way back home she was still crying from pain. At home she was tired. I gave her the remedy by spoonfuls with breaks in between. She wanted to drink a lot, but she didn't eat anything. I gave it to her at 4:00 p.m. , then she slept a while and at 6:00 p.m. she didn't complain anymore.

A: Was everything gone by then?

MP: Yes.

A: She didn't weep anymore?

MP: No.

A: Did she still cough at night? She had a rather strong cough. How did it go with that?

MP: Rather good. She was coughing for two days. Especially at night I noticed the rattling cough. Now she is still coughing at night sometimes, but it is clearly better.

A: She is also much more vivid.

MP: Yes. I think it is a spectacular reaction, that her condition improves so quickly within two hours. She was amazed herself.

(To her daughter) You were happy, weren't you?

P: Yes. Can I laugh now?

A: Of course.

P: I laugh because I got cured so quickly. This is good for the doctor, isn't it? You are the boss of the doctors, aren't you?

A: No, no.

P: That's what I told the other children.

A: What did you say?

P: That there is such a good doctor here.

MP: She has a lot of dark yellow ear wax. Is this good?

A: Yes, yes, you leave it this way.

What about the expectoration?

MP: In fact it was not so remarkable. I didn't pay so much attention to that. Maybe it is still there a little bit.

You see how quickly a remedy can work. The fact that this remedy worked so quickly, doesn't mean that later on maybe she will not need Tuberculinum bovinum Kent. This is possible, because she has many Tuberculinum bovinum Kent symptoms. But at the moment the pain in the ear, the crack in the corner of the mouth and the hanging on the mother indicate that she needs Sepia officinalis.

Question : This hanging on the mother does this mean weakness?

A : I don't know, maybe. It is the typical appearance of ill Sepia officinalis children. Therefore you could take the rubric "weakness", but this is very big.

Question: What is the difference between Pulsatilla and Sepia officinalis? When does Pulsatilla hang on the mother and when Sepia officinalis?

A : I don't know. The way Sepia officinalis hangs on her mother, the weakness which you notice there you don't find in Pulsatilla, and Pulsatilla likes to be consoled, when she is feeling bad, consolation ameliorates.

Question: What about leucorrhea in small children?

A : This is also a Sepia officinalis symptom. In this rubric there are some additions: Medorrhinum, Carbolic acid, and Syphilinum.

Which desire does Cubeba have?

Nuts. You have to keep this in mind.

CASE 3 v2

Acute otitis media

Sepia officinalis

Girl, 10 years old

January 29, 1987

A: She had pain in the ears. Tell me when did this start? You were here in the morning at 9:00 o'clock.

MP: So on Friday, January 16, it started. She was in a bad mood the whole week, she was unbearable. She had a lot of anxiety in the car.

It started with irritability and anxiety while riding in the car.

What the patients tell you at the beginning of a consultation is very important.

Look on page 47:

MIND, fear, riding when in a carriage: Bor, lach, psor,

Sepia officinalis

A: What do you mean by "irritable"?

MP: You couldn't do anything right for her. She was very irritable and easily angry. Everything had to be done quickly. It was remarkable that she was anxious in the car. When I had to drive backwards she hid herself behind the seat. This is not normal. She never experienced an accident and I don't drive quickly either. On Friday she became ill.

A: This is very interesting. This anxiety when she was riding in the car did she have this before?

MP: Yes, she had this before, but not as bad as recently. It was also remarkable that the anxiety in the car became stronger after she got Sulphuron December 11. Because of the itching which appeared especially in bed and after bathing she got Sulphuron December 11 to which she reacted very little.

A: We didn't give Sulphur, but another homeopath did. She became ill on the 16th.

MP: She had some fever and on Saturday morning she got up ill and was very irritable. This was on the 17th.

A: This irritability, can you describe this once again?

MP: First she wanted something and then she didn't want it. She wanted a cover and when I gave it to her she said, "No, not too warm." In the forenoon suddenly she wanted to stand up and I had to switch on music, this kind of thing. "Mamma, you have to play this record", it had to be this kind of music, sentimental music. It had to be played definitely this forenoon. This was unusual.

Here you see again that she is hanging on her mother. She is lying on the lap of her mother, she is hanging on her. This weakness is typical for Sepia officinalis when they are ill.

MP: In the afternoon I went with her to a homeopath, because she had such severe pains in the throat. She didn't want to be examined. He was not allowed to touch her, nor to look in the throat. She wanted cold drinks, no warm and she had pain especially in her left ear.

A: Then she already had pain in her ear.

MP: Yes. She had pain in her ear, but it seemed to be related to the pain in her throat. Nothing could be seen in her ear during the examination, only an inflammation of her throat.

A: The doctor diagnosed a left-sided, viral angina.

MP: Yes, and because it started on the left side she received Lachesis.

A: In which potency?

MP: 200.

A: One dose or dissolved in water?

MP: I dissolved it in water and I gave her a few spoonfuls. On Saturday she got three spoonfuls, but in fact I didn't notice any amelioration, not the spectacular reaction which you expect in an acute disease. On Sunday she was very sleepy. She wanted to hear music again. Then I gave her again three spoonfuls, but I felt that there was no real change. The fever remained.

A: How high was the fever?

MP: 38.9° C to 39°C. On Monday morning I called the homeopath again and he said I should give her one spoonful again. But I noticed that this didn't help at all. She always wanted to lie bare legged, they had to be uncovered. She was scratching, but you couldn't see anything.

A: Before she didn't want to lie with bare legs?

MP: No, then she wanted a blanket.

A: Did she want to uncover her legs after Lachesis?

MP: Yes, you were not allowed to put anything on her legs, but nevertheless she felt cold. At night she got terrible itching. She almost became crazy. One night she scratched the joints of the hand, the knee and the feet until they were open. I called again and he proposed SulphurC 30. He advised me to wait a while, because sometimes a viral infection goes along with an eruption of the skin. Then I waited. On Tuesday it was as bad and during the day I noticed that she didn't recover. She was just lying there, didn't get up and was completely pale.

Then the eruption on the skin appeared and I had it checked by the doctor on Wednesday. Probably it was urticaria. These were elevated red spots, in the middle white, with quite a lot of itching. He proposed to do nothing homeopathically, but to give TAVEGILSYRUP, but I gave her only one spoonful, because I thought it was not so good.

A: This was last week on Wednesday?

MP: Yes, the itching diminished, but in fact the child didn't recover. She really wanted to go to school. She went there in the morning and at noon I fetched her. She was completely exhausted and fell immediately asleep on the sofa.

I called again and the doctor said that the bedwetting had disappeared with Lycopodium clavatum and she had reacted well to Lycopodium clavatum for one year and therefore to repeat Lycopodium clavatum. But first we should wait for a while. If she would have some complaints still on Friday we should give it on Friday. This happened on Friday. You can't say much after one day, but then she again had complaints in her ear.

A: On the left side?

MP: Yes. In the meantime it was Saturday. The doctor had duty and I called him again. He said that we had to wait, because this could be a reaction to Lycopodium clavatum, I had to be patient. On Sunday night she had very strong pains in the ear and then I wrapped her up and I came to the Center. Shortly after 9 we were here.

A: Wait. The way she was sitting resembles the way she is sitting now more or less. She was a little bit dependent and was wearing a cap. Under the cap she also had a handkerchief.

MP: She was covered up completely. She did it herself. I didn't make her wear these things.

When she came she had cotton in her ear, put something on her ear and was wearing a cap. If somebody who has pain in his ear comes and is covered up like this you can take the following rubric without asking any questions:

EAR, pain, warmth and wrapping up amel:

EAR, PAIN, WARMTH and wrapping up, amel. : Cham., dulc., Hep., kali-ar., lach., mag-p., mur-ac., rhus-t., sep., stram.

Here you see some remedies and the most important is Hepar sulphuris. You know Hepar, often together in connection with an inflammation of the throat, a purulent inflammation of the throat. They cannot tolerate the slightest draft of air. They are completely covered up, even the head is covered up, and they perspire a lot.

Also Chamomilla wants it to be warm when it concerns pain in his ear, but in toothache the cold ameliorates, this is a peculiarity of Chamomilla. They pull the air between their teeth, this makes them feel good.

You find Dulcamara pain in the ear especially in September/October.

In Magnesium phosphoricum the pain comes suddenly and the warmth and the pressure ameliorate.

Question: Can you say something about the differential diagnosis between Pulsatilla and Sepia officinalis in cases of acute otitis media?

A : Yes. When Pulsatilla has an acute otitis you will never see that they keep their ear warm. In toothache, yes, but surely not in ear pain.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : I think it is difficult to differentiate only on the basis of behavior.

Remark: Pulsatilla weeps.

A : Yes, they weep more. This girl here was angry and irritable in an acute state. Pulsatilla almost always has tears in his eyes in acute states. You can also see this in Sepia officinalis, but it is different in Pulsatilla.

A: She was very affectionate, wanted to lie on the lap, lean with her head against you, was hanging first in this direction, then in that direction. Indeed she was very irritable. Something very remarkable was a crack and some eruption in the right corner of her mouth.

(To the patient) Look here. In the right corner of her mouth. It was very clear. Maybe you didn't see it so clearly. It was also a little bit on the left side.

In the acute state she had a crack in the corner of her mouth. You find this on page 357:

FACE, cracked lips, corners of mouth.

FACE,CRACKED lips : Agar., ail., aloe., alum., am-c., am-m., ambr., ant-t., arn., ars., Arum-t., aur., bapt., bar-c., bell., bism., bov., Bry., calc-s., Calc., caps., carb-ac.,carb-an., Carb-s., Carb-v., caust., cham., chel., chin-a., Chin., cimic., colch., con., cop., cor-r., croc., cupr., dros., Graph., guare., ham., hell., ign., iris., jatr., kali-ar., kali-bi., kali-c., kali-i., kali-p., kali-s., kalm., kreos., Lach., mag-m., merc-c., merc., mez., nat-a., nat-c., Nat-m., nicc., nit-ac., nux-v., par., ph-ac., phos., plat., plb., puls., rhus-t., sabad., sel., sil., spig., squil., stram., Sulph., tab., tarax., ter., verat., zinc.

lower lip : Apis., cham., cimic., nat-c., nit-ac., phos., Sep.

middle of : Agar., am-c., aur-m., cham., dros., hep., nat-m., puls.

upper lip : Bar-c., hell., kali-c., nat-c., nat-m., tarax.

middle : Hep., nat-m., sel.

corners of mouth : Am-c., ambr., ant-c., apis., Arum-t., calc., caust., cinnb., Cund., eup-per., Graph., hell., hydr., Ind., merc., mez., nat-a., nat-m., Nit-ac., sep.,Sil., zinc.

You have to take all these symptoms into account.

MP: She had this crack already during the angina. Already one week before she had this crack. Besides she had a very severe, watery, burning coryza. The nasal cavities were sore and she was complaining that everything was so irritated. In fact it was not so bad, but she complained about that. She wanted the cold to go away.

A: How long did I see her then?

MP: Three, four minutes I think.

A: I gave her a remedy in 10M potency, put it immediately in her mouth and gave you a tablet to take home so that you could dissolve it in water. Tell me what happened.

MP: At half past 9, no, in the car it became worse, but it was bearable.

A: She had more pain.

MP: Yes. At 9:30 I gave her another spoonful and then she had a very strong reaction. She was very violent, started to kick against the door. She jumped onto my lap and down again. I had to make a hot water bottle and put it on her ear.

A: Hot water?

MP: Yes. She kept it on her ear and after 10 minutes she put it away again. It became worse and worse and because I was desperate I gave her another spoonful.

A: When?

MP: About 10:30. It became worse and worse.

A: Besides: during examination I saw that the eardrum was very tense red, and inflamed and at the consultation I said that probably it would break open or eventually it would be resorbed, but I was not sure.

MP: I gave her another small spoonful. The child didn't know what to do because of the pain. At 11:00 o'clock I called you again and you said that I should wait for a while, because now it was at its highest point and it would break open immediately. Five minutes later she sat down on the couch and everything was over. She fell asleep and slept until 5:00 o'clock. The ear discharged and she woke up at 5:00 o'clock and said, "Mommie, everything is over."

A: This was a spectacular reaction. Then you didn't tell me that she was anxious in the car, but because of her behavior and the way she looks, the crack on the mouth and the modalities of the complaints I gave her constitutional remedy, which you just mentioned. The anxiety in the car also confirms it.

MP: This week it became even worse. Yesterday I went to town. I promised her, because she has been ill such a long time. She wanted to eat an icecream with a lot of whipped cream, a very big icecream with whipped cream and on our way back home she was afraid that we would crash. "Mommie, don't drive so quickly", she kept saying.

A: This is a constitutional anxiety which has to disappear slowly.

MP: She wants to lie in our bed, she perspires a lot, she has pearls of perspiration on her head.

A: Now you can expect a lot of discharges the first two or three weeks. I think that she really reacts very well, also in general.

Later she got an eruption which itched enormously and which was cured with Pulsatilla.

I am sure that Pulsatilla and Sepia officinalis can be complementary. In a Sepia officinalis constitution it can happen that you have to give Pulsatilla and I also have seen Pulsatilla patients, which in acute states, for example, in an acute ear inflammation need Sepia officinalis. Kent writes that Pulsatilla and Sepia officinalis are inimical, but this is not right.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : It depends in which state the child is. I think it is impossible in the ear that the pus is resorbed and therefore it is good when it opens spontaneously.

Question: According to your experience are there many blond Sepia officinaliss? The child before was also blond.

A : No. In a dark complexion you have to think of Sepia officinalis, but there are also blond Sepia officinalis patients. For example, think of the first Sepia officinalis patient with the ulcerative colitis who was also blond.

CASE4 V2

Backache

Sepia officinalis

Girl, 10 years old

May 19, 1987

A: She came for backache, but before this she came for inflammation of the nails.

May I see your nails?

(Is looking at the nails)

The nails are irregular.

(To the patient) Keep them like this.

At the moment the nails are still irregular, although the inflammation has gone. They grow irregularly afterwards. The structure of the nail remains irregular. It concerns only the thumbnails.

Now she complains about pain in the back. Tell me something about it.

FP: For some time she has been complaining about pain in the back. It is not normal that a child constantly has pain in the back. She has suffered from it already for quite a while.

(To his daughter) Stand up please.

When she is standing she doesn't stand properly.

A: She has scoliosis.

FP: I don't know. I don't know which direction the vertebrae are bent, but she isn't standing properly and she doesn't walk properly. There is something wrong. There is something which disturbs her posture so that she can't walk erect anymore.

A: Did they say anything at the examination by the school?

FP: No. If she wants to sit upright she can do it, but a normal person doesn't need an exertion of will to sit upright.

A: Didn't they say anything about scoliosis or something like that at the examination by school?

FP: No.

A: You also didn't notice anything yourself?

FP: No. We didn't force her, but from a very young age we put quite a lot of emphasis on posture.

They advised us to make her train the muscles of her abdomen.

Her mother also has a definite scoliosis.

A : (To the patient) Take off your clothes so that I can have a look at your back. I have to examine you to see whether this is really scoliosis.

FP: Does she have to undress completely?

P: Yes, the upper body has to be free of clothes.

(To the patient) So, stand still and let the arms hang down.

The right shoulder is a little bit higher than the left.

(To the patient) Now bend forward.

(Patient is bending forward)

Don't forget that scoliosis often exists because of muscle tension. If you give the right remedy the scoliosis disappears.

A: The shoulder blade is a little bit higher.

FP: That's true when she is relaxed. Now, she is tense.

A: Also when she is relaxed the shoulders are not the same height?

FP: Yes.

A: This is surely not a clear scoliosis. But she has knock-knees.

So she has pain in the back. When especially?

FP: Especially in the evening.

A: As long as she is busy during the day she doesn't have any problems?

FP: No. When she is playing she never complains.

(To the child) Do you have pain then?

P: Yes.

A: Does she play a lot? Is she occupied a lot?

FP: Yes. She is always busy, always playing.

A: Where do you have pain exactly?

P: Here. (points below the belt)

A: Rather low, so lumbosacral.

Low, very low, almost sacral.

A: Do you have pain when you are sitting?

P: Yes.

A: Now at the moment you feel it, don't you?

P: Yes.

A: Lean backward and support yourself (puts fist in the back)

P: (does it)

A: What does this do to you?

P: Now it is better.

A: Clearly better?

P: Yes.

A: I just pressed my fist in her back.

Do you know this examination?

You ask the patient to sit down, put your fist in their back and ask them to lean backwards.

By this examination I made a female doctor pregnant. When I was in London at a seminar of Vithoulkas there was a woman sitting in front of me who was constantly putting her fist in her back. She couldn't sit still, she was rocking constantly on her chair. I thought, "My god, I cannot follow the lesson with somebody like that in front of me", and during the break I told her to take a remedy. She was already seeing another doctor for many years and two months after the remedy she was pregnant.

Do you know where you can find this symptom?

Look on page 896:

BACK, pain, lying, while, pillow amel: Carb-v, sep

pillow, amel. : Carb-v., sep.

When they put a pillow in the back and they lean back they feel better. This is a very important symptom for this remedy.

You have to add Eupion in this rubric and also in the rubric on page 911:

BACK, pain, sacral region, pressure amel.

pressure amel. : Kali-c., led., mag-m., sep.

"Sacrum pains, as if broken. Severe backache, must lean against something for support. Pains extended into pelvis."

(Boericke, page 280)

A: When she is supporting her back and she is leaning backward, then it is better.

FP: Probably, because the muscles can hold the back differently.

A: Do you have the disposition to put a pillow in your back?

FP: She never had this idea.

A: Also not in the car?

FP: No.

A: When she is watching television in the evening does she press her back to the rest?

P: I recline.

A: When you have pain in the back in the evening and you go to bed, how do you lie in bed in order to have less pain in the back?

P: I always lie on the side.

A: Do you have less pain?

P: No, it is the same.

A: How do you have to lie in order not to have any pain?

P: I can't.

FP: Probably it is an extending pain. She falls asleep.

A: Do you feel anything at the moment? Lie down flat on your back on the examination table.

P: (Lies down on the examination table)

A: How is the pain now?

P: A little bit better.

A: Completely gone?

P: No.

A: Is it better now? (presses his fist in her back)

Is the pain better now than when you sit down?

P: Yes, it is better.

This is the same as in Bryonia alba, whom you have to hold while moving. Don't misunderstand Bryonia alba. Bryonia alba has an amelioration from pressure while moving, but otherwise an aggravation from pressure. When you press in acute rheumatism on the concerned joint, it hurts, but when you press during motion there is an amelioration. Or while coughing, during the cough they hold their chest; or when somebody has pain during respiration and you push on the ribs during respiration, the pain is better, also in Tuberculinum bovinumKent.

Here we are dealing with the same kind of examination. Put your fist in the sacral region and let the patient lean backwards, it gives an amelioration.

A: What kind of hobbies do you have?

P: Jujitsu, Tae kwon-do, these kind of fighting sports, and I play tennis.

A: Does she like music?

P: Next year I'm allowed to play the piano.

A: Does she like to dance?

FP: A lot.

A: How do you know this?

FP: Because often I have to be her dancing partner at home.

A: She also has these little crusts at the edges of the eyes.

FP: She has had this for quite a long time. They have never really been gone.

A: I cannot put that on video, it is too difficult. These are little crusts, little scabs. It looks like sleep in the eyes.

You often see this as crusts in the eyes or as scabs on the eyelids.

A: Does she have leucorrhea?

FP: I don't know anything about that. I cannot answer this question. Regularly she changes her slips.

A: Your wife never mentioned anything about that?

FP: No.

I always ask about leucorrhea. Usually you find this in Sepia officinalis girls.

The three additions for leucorrhea in little girls are Medorrhinum, Syphilinum and Carbolicum acidum.

A: How would you describe her character?

FP: You better ask what you want to know.

A: Is she very obstinate?

FP: Yes.

A: Can she be sharp in her expressions?

FP: Yes, also.

A: Does she like to be consoled when she is really angry?

FP: She prefers to be alone.

A: Does she have logical understanding for her age?

FP: Yes.

A: Is she ahead for her age? Does she react like an adult?

FP: That's difficult. She explains things differently than her brother did when he was her age. They have two different characters.

A: Does she like to go to bed in the evening?

FP: No, she likes to stay up late.

A: Do you feel good in the evening?

P: Yes.

A: How is she in the morning when she gets up?

FP: Sometimes she is in a bad mood.

A: But in the evening she is not in a bad mood, then she is cheerful?

FP: Yes.

A: Tell me what you like to eat?

P: That's difficult.

A: Do you want me to say it? Chocolate?

P: No, I really don't like that.

A: You don't like chocolate?

P: Yes, but not so much.

A: What do you like to eat?

P: You mean what kind of desserts?

A: No, everything, what you prefer to eat.

FP: In fact both children eat everything. They eat everything that is on the table. They don't have an exaggerated sweet tooth. They like sweets a lot, but more as dessert, pudding and things like that.

A: Can it be highly seasoned?

P: No, not spicy.

A: Also no spaghetti?

FP: We don't make it so spicy. They don't like it.

A: Does she eat chips?

FP: Yes.

A: What kind of chips? Salt or paprika?

FP: Both.

A: Do you like to eat chips with paprika or salt?

P: Yes.

A: Something sour? Sour gherkins or pearl onions?

FP: Yes, I think so. We don't often buy these kind of things, but when we buy them they like to eat them.

A: Does she eat lemons?

FP: Yes.

A: Really?

P: Yes. Sometimes I get a shivering.

A: Has somebody of the family been in a sanitarium (European countries it is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis (TB) before antibiotics.) ?

P: No. A sister of my mother died of lung cancer.

A: Does she drink a lot?

FP: Not exaggerated.

A: Does she like to drink milk?

P: Yes, cold milk.

A: No warm milk?

P: No.

A: Are you afraid of certain animals?

P: Basically I'm afraid of all animals. Most of all I'm afraid of a dog, but also snakes.

FP: At home we have sheep and a dog.

A: Does she have fear of heights?

P: No.

A: Fear of dark?

P: Not really.

A: Does she like eggs?

FP: Not particularly.

A: Now I will give you a remedy. I think at the moment it doesn't make any sense to have other examinations done or to have X-rays taken, because this doesn't contribute to the cure. I think that the remedy for your nail inflammation will also help you for your backache.

FP: I choose this kind of treatment for her. In addition, she does the exercises for the muscles of the back.

A: Do you like to do the exercises?

P: Yes.

A: Then it must be good indeed.

She likes to dance, she likes to run, she has pain in the back, the crusts in the eyes and she has the character of Sepia officinalis.

FEEDBACK (July 3, 1987)

A: Her main problem was pain in the back, which was worse in the evening and better on motion. The particular thing was when you put a fist in her back and she was leaning against it she had less pain.

MP: Yes.

A: She liked to eat chips and sour things, sweets and cold milk; she was afraid of dogs, no fear of heights and in the evening she always felt better.

How did it go?

MP: Good.

A: How is the pain now?

P: It is a lot better.

A: Did it improve rather quickly or did it take quite a long time?

P: It took quite a long time.

A: What do you mean?

P: I thought it would be better immediately, but it didn't improve and finally when I wanted to go to sleep in the evening it became better. And slowly it improved.

A: How long ago did you have backache?

P: One week ago.

A: Did you have the same kind of backache as before?

P: No, a little bit less.

A: Did she complain about it?

MP: No, not lately anymore.

A: She had little crusts at the edges of the eyes. Did you notice this?

MP: Yes, it didn't improve, it is still there. The only difference is that they were thicker before. Now they are a little bit smaller.

A: It will improve. In fact it has to be this way.

MP: She also had problems with her finger.

A: Her nail improved and you don't have inflammation of the nails anymore.

P: No, it doesn't hurt anymore.

A: Do you have other complaints?

MP: She has two warts on her footsoles. They hurt when she walks barefoot, and during the holiday we want to go to the sea.

A: Show me your foot.

P: (Shows her foot)

A: Yes, these are warts. Are they sensitive to touch?

P: Yes.

A: How does the pain feel while walking?

P: It presses while walking.

A: Has something changed in her? For example, does she dream more?

P: I never dream.

A: Also not last night?

P: No.

A: Otherwise do you have other problems?

MP: No.

P: Yes. I have little spots on my abdomen.

MP: That's because of the warmth.

A: Has something changed concerning her sleep or her eating habits?

MP: No.

A: She has been complaining about the warts the last two days?

MP: Yes.

A: Does she have a headache?

MP: No.

A: Is there something which she doesn't like?

P: Yes, Brussels sprouts.

MP: And she doesn't like mayonnaise or any other kind of dressing on the salad.

A: Do you like onions?

MP: Yes, the pearl onions.

A: So you go to the sea?

P: Yes, two weeks in a recreation center.

This child came back later with a retropharyngeal abscess (collection of pus in the tissues in the back of the throat. ) on the left side with severe swelling. It had a bluish appearance like Lachesis and was on the left side. Within a few days she lost 6 kg, had pain in the throat and in the ear on the left side. On swallowing she pushed her chin to the sternum; this is the typical motion on swallowing of Phytolacca. I was doubting and first I gave Sepia officinalis, no reaction, then Lachesis, also no clear amelioration, and then Phytolacca, and this helped.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : Yes, Sepia officinalis children are normally mentally more adult than other children. We also find this in Carcinosinum.

Remark: ... (not understandable)

A : Sepia officinalis is an addition?

I know only that Carcinosinum is an addition. Besides I have seen this very often in Sepia officinalis children. They talk like an adult.

Question: Did the retropharyngeal abscess open or did it disappear again?

A : It disappeared.

The first remedy for retropharyngeal abscess for me is Phytolacca. We also see this in Lachesis and other remedies, but the first remedy for me is Phytolacca. The differential diagnosis between Lachesis and Phytolacca is not always easy, both have an amelioration by cold drinks, but the loss of weight is a very important Phytolacca symptom.

CASE 10

CASE 7 V2

Icterus neonatorum digestive disorder

Dd borx., sep., tub.

Girl, 5 months old

DECEMBER 4, 1989

The mother came because she couldn't become pregnant. She is a nurse and you will see which remedy she received.

Now she comes with her second child, which had an icterus neonatorum (the yellowish discoloration of the skin ) immediately after birth and now she suffers from anxiety, sleeplessness and digestive disorder.

A: (to the mother) You were in treatment for sterility problems in 1987. You are a nurse. At that time you were rather pale. Because of your wish for children you had been everywhere and you tried everything.

MP: Everything which was possible in classical medicine.

A: For us it was easy, because the remedy was clear. You have a particular appearance (has dark hair, dark eyes, dark tint), and you theorize in the sense that you try to find an explanation for everything. In the evening you felt good, in the morning not refreshed, and did not have a great sexual desire. You slept on the abdomen, had pain in the back after standing a long time. You couldn't tolerate tight clothes, had headaches, especially after shopping and some liver spots.

You know this typical symptom, don't you?

"Headache after shopping".

A: Now you trust me a lot, but at the beginning you reacted rather sharply.

Then I gave you a homeopathic remedy.

Being a nurse is a profession which you often see in Sepia officinalis women.

At the beginning it is very difficult to have good contact with them. You have to prove that you can cure them and when you succeed they won't let you go anymore. They call you for every single problem.

A: When did you become pregnant?

MP: 7 months after I started the treatment.

A: Is this your second child in the meantime?

MP: Yes. Now I don't necessarily want more children.

A: Everything turned out very well. The last time you needed a remedy, it was on April 12 of this year.

MP: Yes, when I was pregnant with this child.

A: Then you had early contractions. Do you remember?

MP: Did you give me the remedy or did your colleague give me the remedy?

A: I gave you the remedy. You called me and told me a very particular symptom.

MP: I had pain in the abdomen, but no pain in the back, and I couldn't tolerate them. The child was very restless.

A: You woke up because this child was kicking so much.

MP: Yes, it was very unpleasant.

A: Indeed this was the symptom. You felt the movements of the child in your abdomen.

MP: Yes, but it was very unpleasant.

A: And you woke up from that.

MP: Yes. Immediately after the remedy it was better.

It was a very strange symptom and I believe in particular symptoms when they are in the Repertory. When she called me she said, "That child in my abdomen disturbs me a lot! It is jerking and kicking so that I wake up from it. I can't sleep because of the movement of this child." Which is the rubric?

Look on page 554

ABDOMEN, movements of the foetus, disturb sleep:

Con.

MOVEMENTS of the fœtus cause nausea and vomiting : Arn.

disturb sleep : Con.

There is only one remedy.

Remark: And Thuja!

And also Medorrhinum (Ananda Zaren)

A : Thuja and Medorrhinum are additions here. So I gave her Conium maculatum and immediately afterwards everything was better.

A: The second child is now 5 months old. Are you still breast feeding?

MP: Yes.

A: This child had an icterus neonatorum. It was very yellow.

MP: Enormously. There is incompatibility of the blood groups. She is the second child and this is always worse. The bilirubin increased to 15 mg % within one day. This is high.

The incompatibility of the blood group was the cause for the icterus, but this is not interesting for us, it is only an explanation.

Do you know the rubric for icterus neonatorum?

Look on page 1307:

SKIN, discoloration, yellow, jaundice, newborn children

new born children : Acon., bov., chin., nat-s., sep.

Ananda Zaren has a lot of additions for this rubric.

Chelidonium, Nux vomica (underlined), Lycopodium clavatum (underlined), Sulphur(underlined), Phosphorus, Lachesis, Alumina (underlined), Arsenicum, Calcarea carbonica (underlined), Bryonia alba, Kali iodatum, Mercurius (underlined), Nitricum acidum, Aesculus, Selenium, Zincum, China, Chionanthus, Leptandra, Myrica sebifera, Chamomilla, Magnesium muriaticum, Carduus marianus, Dolichos, Podophyllum peltatum, Ptelea, Conium maculatum, hippozaeninum, Jodum, Laurocerasus and Medorrhinum.

A: Have you been in the hospital?

MP: Yes. Although she received plasma proteins before she had icterus with all the consequences. Within a few days she lost 1/2 kilo, she was very weak and tired.

A: Then somebody gave you a remedy?

MP: Yes, she received a remedy.

A: A colleague gave her Aconitum. Then you called me because it didn't improve.

MP: Yes. Her movements were uncoordinated, so awkward and she was completely cold. According to me it was not normal. She reacted like a child who has too little calcium.

A: Was it better the day after she received the remedy?

MP: No. First, you gave her another remedy and later you called and said that she needed another remedy. She reacted enormously well to the second remedy.

A colleague from the Center first gave Aconitum, because the cause for the icterus neonatorum in newborn children is often fright during birth, but it didn't help. The next remedy I gave her was China, because often I have good results with it, but it didn't help either.

What other remedy could I give?

Because I knew the mother and I knew that Sepia officinalis was the right remedy for her, I tried Sepia officinalis in her child. One day later there was a clear amelioration, the child was healthy again.

But now she comes for other problems.

A: How is she doing now?

MP: I think this is a completely different child than the other one. She is enormously sensitive, she doesn't tolerate any noise.

A: Is this an actual problem?

MP: I think so. For example, I just can't switch on the radio, then she doesn't want to eat or she becomes restless, when I give her porridge (pap). She has a lot of rumbling in her abdomen. One hour before stool she starts moaning and becomes unbearable. Then she weeps a little bit. When she can have flatulence it is better. In the morning she does well, in the afternoon she becomes unbearable. She doesn't know what she wants. She doesn't want to sleep, or eat, she doesn't want her dummy (pacifier) nor the breast.

A: Especially in the afternoon?

P: Yes. She especially doesn't tolerate noise. When I feed her the television can not be switched on and I can not talk. Then she releases the breast immediately. She doesn't want to eat anymore.

A: Does she startle?

MP: She just doesn't want to go on nursing anymore.

A: How does she react the moment she hears noise?

MP: She startles enormously.

The first problem is that the child is very irritable and starts weeping very quickly. When she is feeding her and she is talking meanwhile or a door opens the child starts weeping immediately.

The first symptom is startling from noises, but many remedies have this.

A: Does this occur regularly?

MP: Yes.

A: Since when is this?

MP: The last few weeks, but it is very remarkable at the moment.

She gasps air or there is something wrong. She has to eructate. It takes quite a long time, because they are very small burps. When I try to feed her again she drinks only very little and then she stops again.

A: Is her abdomen distended after eating?

MP: She doesn't have much elasticity. She has a very rigid structure, like a block. There is not so much to feel.

A: Since when does she have this problem?

MP: Since Thursday.

A: (the child is chewing on a biting ring) Does she bite regularly?

MP: Yes, a lot.

A: Probably this has something to do with dentition.

MP: Yes, I think so.

A: The problem only started on Thursday.

MP: Yes. She doesn't want to lie on her abdomen either, when she has problem with the digestion.

She is biting and drooling for quite a long time.

A: So biting, drooling (salivating), some colic.

Does she have diarrhea?

MP: No. Yesterday her stool was thinner than usual, but not really diarrhea.

A: Does she weep easily?

MP: No. She moans a little bit and then she stops immediately.

A: When?

MP: After eating.

A: She doesn't weep when you do something in particular with her?

MP: She woke up four nights in a row and when I give her something to eat and I put her on her abdomen she doesn't like it. When I hold her upright it is all right, then she sleeps.

A: When you hold her upright, she falls asleep?

MP: Then she is fine.

A: Do you have to put her on her abdomen?

MP: Then I feel more sure myself.

A: That is your feeling?

MP: Yes. When I put her on her abdomen she wakes up immediately, immediately she opens her eyes wide.

A: So you hold the child, then she falls asleep and at the moment you want to put her down she startles?

MP: Yes. I never saw this with the first child. She has also cold wet feet.

A: It has to improve this week. Call me on Friday. I would like to record the result on video.

MP: You can't do what you want with this child. It was a lot easier with her sister.

What is the rubric?

Audience: Anxiety, from downward motion.

A: Yes, look on page 7:

MIND, anxiety, motion, downward

The moment she puts the child down she starts weeping. As long as she holds the child upright there are no difficulties. It is not a problem of putting her on the abdomen or on the back, the problem is the downward motion.

There is another rubric on page 82:

MIND, starting, anxious, downward motion from

Remark: She also said that she had it from noises.

A: Yes, also. The combination of both symptoms is important. In starting from noise one remedy is very important and this together with the anxiety from downward motion, there is only one remedy.

Audience: Borax veneta.

A : Yes, Borax veneta. Digestive disorders in dentition and so on. The best description of the picture of the remedy you find in Boericke. When you read Boericke you will find all the symptoms she has told us.

Question: Which potency?

A : 200, but this is not so important.

Typical for Borax veneta is the tangled hair tips you can also see in Tuberculinum bovinum Kent and Vinca minor.

FEEDBACK (December 7, 1989)

A: How did it go?

MP: Very well. On Tuesday it was already a lot better and on Wednesday it was very good.

A: What about the startling?

MP: She doesn't do it anymore. She doesn't startle anymore when I come into her room. She falls asleep very well. It's very nice to see how deeply and peacefully she sleeps. She also has nice warm hands. Before they were cold.

A: She also wept a lot.

MP: This is over. Now she has become a very easy child. She is not so moody anymore. When she is tired you notice it. She just wants to sleep then. I put her down and she just falls asleep peacefully. Before it was always a problem.

A: Further she doesn't have any complaints?

MP: No, everything is all right. I don't understand how a child can change in its totality from one day to the other. I don't understand. I didn't make any effort to understand.

A: You don't have to worry about that, you can't understand this rationally. If you find the right remedy a lot can change.

MP: Surely, but what do you do? Do you restore the balance in the organism with one tablet?

A: We don't know ourselves exactly.

MP: I don't believe you.

A: Of course you can give a remedy which fits for particular symptoms. But what the remedy does exactly in the organism, how it works, we don't know.

MP: But it does something. You cannot compare it with a normal medicine. It works totally different.

A: Of course. It works on the energetic level. But we don't need to ask more questions when the remedy works.

MP: Yes, I learned it from you.

This was the reaction to Borax veneta.

A few months later she started coughing. You see this on the next video.

FEEDBACK (June 1990)

MP: She is coughing. For 5 or 6 weeks I have been seeing a lot of doctors. The last time she was here she received a remedy from you.

A: I repeated Sepia officinalis because after birth she also needed Sepia officinalis.

MP: Now she has a cold all the time, and is coughing. She is coughing a lot, also at night. She starts crying and she cries very loudly. I have to shake her awake and when she wakens she stops crying. In fact she wakes up from coughing. It is a loose cough which she can't get rid of.

A: Does she have mucus?

MP: No.

A: Can you hear her swallow mucus?

MP: Not really. She starts weeping immediately.

A: Does she perspire at night?

MP: Yes, at night she is very warm and perspires on the face.

A: Only on the face?

MP: I think also on the rest of the body, but it is immediately absorbed. When I touch her she doesn't feel wet.

A: We can say that she has a chronic cough especially at night.

MP: Yes.

A: How is it during the day?

MP: She again has difficulties falling asleep. When I put her down she tosses and turns. It is as if there is something wrong with her. When I give her the breast she falls asleep better. One hour later she is coughing again.

A: Does she still startle when you put her down?

MP: No, that is over.

A: Does it have something to do with dentition?

MP: In fact not, because she eats well. It is strange that before you don't see anything on her gums, there is no swelling or anything, and suddenly there is a tooth.

A: Is she thirsty?

MP: She is always very thirsty. She drinks a lot of water.

A: Does she drink milk?

MP: No, she doesn't want the bottle, only the breast.

A: Does she have teeth only above?

MP: Above four and below two.

A: Does she grind her teeth?

MP: No.

A: I just heard her coughing.

MP: Yes, but she has a heavy cough. She is coughing like an old man who has severe bronchitis.

A: Like a coalminer.

MP: Yes.

A: In what position does she sleep?

MP: Now she sleeps on her back.

A: Is she anxious?

MP: No.

A: Also not for certain animals?

MP: No. I can distract her with animals.

(The child is coughing)

MP: Let's state it this way, during the day it is rather good with the cough, but at night she has severe fits of coughing.

A: During the day the cough is loose and at night it is dry.

MP: Yes.

A: Then she wakes up from it?

MP: Yes.

A: A cold?

MP: Yes, watery.

A: Did she have discharge?

MP: A few weeks ago she did, but not now anymore. She also has purulent eyes. Now they are bloodshot.

A: In the history we see that your grandfather had silicosis. Before he was a coalminer. Did he die from that?

MP: Yes, the lungs were very bad.

A: Did he also have tuberculosis?

MP: Yes, the tuberculosis appeared together with the silicosis and was treated.

A: Does the child eat well?

MP: Yes, when I give her something she likes.

A: Is she fastidious in eating?

MP: Yes, she has always been very difficult. When she doesn't like something she clenches her mouth and you cannot put a single piece into her mouth.

A: Are there a lot of things she doesn't like?

MP: She is too little yet.

A: You don't know her desires?

MP: No. The only thing I know is that she likes sweet things a lot. She prefers warm food. I give it to her twice a day at the moment.

A: When do I see your other daughter again?

MP: She is still coughing, but less. I hope she doesn't have to come anymore.

A: I would like to see the child after 10 days. Does she like going away with you?

MP: Yes, a lot. When she is sitting in the car she is very peaceful and she sits very quietly. Otherwise she is always very restless.

Now it becomes difficult.

Surely she is Sepia officinalis constitutionally, the icterus disappeared, during dentition she needed Borax veneta in an acute state and now she has been coughing for one month. I repeated Sepia officinalis, without any reaction.

Do you see a symptom which indicates another remedy? A particular symptom?

Audience: No.

Audience: Desires sweets.

A : 150 remedies have this symptom. You cannot prescribe a remedy upon the symptom, "desires sweets".

There is not one clear symptom.

Remark: ... (not understandable) ..., that the child only does what it wants and it is worse in the afternoon than in the morning. This symptom is .... (not understandable).

A : Yes, when a child has really clear psychological symptoms you can take them, but when this is so the mother will say it spontaneously, as she told us about the anxiety when putting her down and the anxiety from opening a door. But you cannot prescribe a remedy upon these symptoms.

What do we have to give her now?

Audience: Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

A : Good, Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

In 30, 40 % of all the children you can see that first you give them the right constitutional remedy, for an acute state, diarrhea or anything else, you give another remedy and then suddenly they start coughing. Coughing, coughing, coughing, you give a remedy, nothing, you give another remedy, also nothing. Tuberculinum bovinum Kent can imitate every remedy.

When there has been tuberculosis in the family, especially in the grandparents, one day you will have to give Tuberculinum bovinum Kent. Therefore you always have to ask about tuberculosis in the family history. Often you cannot repertorize Tuberculinum bovinum Kent. If you cannot find the remedy for a chronic cough then you should have the reflex to think of Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

I gave her Tuberculinum bovinum Kent M and I repeated it a few days later.

Question: If there wasn't any tuberculosis in the family would you have given Tuberculinum bovinum Kent? Or is it a remedy which you generally often use in children with cough?

A : Yes, I give it very often. Tuberculinum bovinum Kent is the second most frequent remedy we give after Sulphur. The longer you treat the children, the more often you have to give Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

Question: Why did you repeat Tuberculinum bovinum Kent after a few days?

A : It was better, but not good enough; I mean, there was a slight relapse. Therefore I repeated it.

Remark: I don't think you can talk about a relapse four days after you gave the remedy.

A: No? When the symptoms become worse this is a relapse and I repeat the remedy.

FEEDBACK (May 16, 1990)

A: Tell me, how did it go?

MP: You can see the result. She has much better skin color. Before she had such a withered, pale color to the face. She doesn't have purulent eyes anymore, her nose isn't running anymore....

A: Not too quickly, I'm not a computer. I must write it down ....

MP: That's right.

A: What about the cough?

MP: It is over.

A: I must add that I gave the remedy on June 4. Then I talked to you here in the waiting room in between. The cough improved, but she had a relapse. I repeated the remedy on June 13, so three days ago.

It was not four days, but 8 or 9 days. I gave her the remedy on June 4, then she improved for 8 or 9 days and then she had a slight relapse. Therefore I repeated the remedy.

MP: The first time I had to give the remedy rather frequently. I gave her the remedy three days in a row. The cough was really very bad, I waited too long. Then she was a little bit better and then she had a relapse. Then I gave her another three spoonfuls.

A: When she had this relapse?

MP: I waited another two days and then I repeated the remedy.

A: How long did it last before she was better?

MP: Within one day she was again her old self.

A: Afterwards she did well.

MP: I gave her three spoonfuls in three days and the next night she almost slept the night through.

A: Fever?

MP: She doesn't have fever nor purulent eyes anymore.

A: Did she have fever?

MP: She had an increased temperature, but not what you could call fever. About 37° - 38° C. I didn't measure it. The cold has gone. She didn't have the real heavy fits of cough. Now she also has good color. Everybody says that she has been outside a lot, but this is not the case. This is her normal color. She is difficult to control. Sometimes it is really exhausting with her.

A: But she reacts very well. Although before she didn't react to Sepia officinalis. Sometimes it is strange, that children need this remedy when there was tuberculosis in the family.

MP: She doesn't need a lot of sleep.

A: Doesn't she sleep the night through?

MP: No. She eats too little during the day and then she is hungry at night.

A: Do you still breast-feed?

MP: Yes, in the evening she wants the breast. In the evening she looks for me, but when she doesn't see me, she eats something else. But then she eats too little and she wakes up at night. After 1 1/2 hours sleep she is very vivid and refreshed.

I'm curious whether she will need Sepia officinalis again after a period of time, whether she will develop again a Sepia officinalis disease. If this is so it would be very interesting and I'm really sure about that.

I already told you with Tuberculinum bovinum Kent patients that these are patients who will go to the hospital with bronchopneumonia. Normally they have very high fever and everything starts with an influenza, an influenza with sore pain in the muscles. This is the typical onset of a Tuberculinum bovinum Kent influenza.

If somebody says that he has a sinusitis or bronchitis a few times a year and every sinusitis or bronchitis starts in this way, with sore pain in the muscles and cold shiverings, then you have to think of Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

CASE 8 v2

Dd kali-p., sep.

- Woman, 28 years old

- October 31, 1987

- This was a very difficult and dangerous case, with blood in the stool and so on, everyone knows this.

- Her appearance makes you think of which remedy?

- Sepia, dark eyes, brown hair.

- What other remedy could this be?

- Carcinosin.

- Carcinosin also has a dark appearance, but she is not dark enough for Carcinosin.

- Usually, they are more dark and have café au lait spots.

- Anyhow, the first impression she gave me was a Sepia impression.

- A: This report says that you have cramps around the navel since September 1984.

- Usually after eating, together with immediate stool.

- Do you still suffer from pain in the abdomen, accompanied by stool?

- P: Yes.

- Pain in the abdomen with urging, is which remedy?

- Nux vomica.

- "Urging during colic" is a very important symptom for Nux vomica on page 633.

colic, during : Coloc., Ind., Nux-v.

- There are three remedies: Colocynthis, indigo and Nux vomica.

- The peculiarity of Indigo is pain in the lower extremities after eating.

- Nux vomica is capital and one remedy has to be added, we will add it after this case.

- A: Usually diarrhea stool, three to four times a day.

- P: Yes.

- Now it is less.

- Usually after eating something warm.

- I don't suffer from it when I eat bread.

- A: Further less appetite, easily tired.

- MP: Yes, she is always tired.

- A: And pain in the joints of the hands and the knees.

- How are the complaints you had in 1984?

- P: I still have all the symptoms, maybe a little bit less diarrhoea.

- My way of thinking was: she is Sepia, she has these symptoms and Nux vomica is complementary to Sepia, so Nux vomica.

- P: Because we have our warm meal in the evening I usually suffer form it in the evening.

- At work I eat slices of bread and therefore I suffer less form it during the day.

- She says that she has diarrhea not after eating bread, but only after a warm meal.

- There is only one remedy, I think Phosphorus, diarrhea after a warm meal.

- But when does she eat her warm meal?

- She is working, comes home in the evening and then she is having her warm meal.

- A: It is especially after a warm meal?

- P: Yes.

- Sometimes I don't even suffer form it.

- A: Is it only after a warm meal?

- P: No, also when I excite myself I have cramps in the stomach.

- She is a very mild looking girl and says that she also gets cramps after excitement.

- Which remedy can this be?

- Staphisagria, from excitement.

- From excitement and anger: Staphisagria, Colocynthis, Nux vomica.

- A: Does it occur when you are excited or when you are angry?

- P: When I am excited.

- A: Not when you are angry?

- You are not angry easily?

- P: No.

- She's not angry easily.

- This is not an indication for Nux vomica.

- A: When you excite yourself what happens?

- P: First, I have cramps.

- Sometimes I can control myself so I don't have to go to the toilet, but when it becomes worse, I have to run immediately to the toilet.

- A: Do you have stool and cramps at the same time?

- P: Yes.

- Often I can control myself.

- After some time you learn that you don't have to run to the toilet immediately, because it is very annoying when you are somewhere else.

- A: It started three years ago, in 1984.

- Why did it start at that time?

- P: From studying, because I ate irregularly.

- A: Did something happen in 1984 which changed your life?

- Because you don't get abdominal cramps so easily.

- P: I studied Germanic philology in Leuven and I failed the exams.

- A: Did it occur after you failed your exams or was it during your studies?

- P: While studying I already had cramps, but infect I didn't know why.

- It became worse and worse.

- She was at the University and worked very, very hard and then she failed the exam.

- That is what happened psychologically.

- We have to find a remedy which has this peculiar situation: hard working, studding, excitement and then diarrhea, in young people.

- A: The cause is not the disappointment that you failed you exams, but just the exertion during studying.

- You had to exert yourself too much, you had to study too hard.

- P: Yes.

- MP: It was also because of the bad food, because she ate irregularly.

- A: Anyway, something changed your life when you left secondary school and went to the university and you had to much stress because you had to study too much that was the problem.

- That is the causality, the cause.

- It is always important to ask since when their complaints exist.

- You just don't get a disease, there must be a reason for it.

- Here the reason is not psychological, there is no disappointment, otherwise we could think of Natrum muriaticum.

- She has this disease since she started working so hard and she was afraid of not passing her exams.

- That is the idea and the cause of her disease.

- A: Did you always study so hard?

- P: Well yes.

- In fact, no, but I always learned.

- But maybe, I always started too late.

- A: Did you want to study everything in detail?

- Did you want your books in order?

- P: Not always.

- No.

- A: Or you think that you are not so precise?

- If you are no ready with your work, this means that it doesn't go the way you imagined.

- P: I couldn't digest everything.

- A: Did you sleep well?

- P: Yes.

- A: You always slept well?

- P: Yes.

- Lately a little bit less.

- A: What do you mean, why?

- P: I often wake up at night.

- A: What do you study at the moment?

- P: I study foreign languages.

- A: That was all right?

- P: Yes.

- A: And now you are working?

- P: Yes.

- A: What kind of work do you do at the moment?

- P: I am a secretary

- A: In a factory or where?

- P; At the university.

- A: In Leuven?

- P: Yes.

- A: There is not so much stress, is there?

- P: Where I work there is.

- A: Do you have to work by the hour?

- P: You always have to finish you work.

- Sometimes there is not so much work, but many weeks there is quite a lot to do.

- A: Then you have to work very hard?

- P: Yes.

- A: How is you character?

- Now, since you suffer from this complaint?

- Do you think that your character has changed?

- P; Before, I laughed very much.

- Now, I laugh less, I have become a more quiet and indulgent person.

- I wouldn't be so easily a leader of a group.

- Often, I am scared, in fact I don't know for what.

- About this remedy it is written: "Anxiety, nervous dread", and then "shyness; disinclined to converse."

- Do you see the way she is: shy, anxious, she does not know for what and she does not like to talk with other people, you could think of which remedy?

- Kent writes about this remedy that they have a very good memory, study too much and then suddenly... Answer: "Silicea."

- A: No.

- Just a moment, I haven't finished my sentence yet.

- Kent writes about Silicea that they study a lot, pass the examination and afterwards they don't read any books.

- But about another remedy Kent writes that they work and work and work and suddenly it is to much, the memory comes down, they become shy and anxious.

- Which is the remedy?

- Baryta carbonica.

- Silicea works very hard, passes the examination and then it is over, they cant read anything, they get headache immediately.

- But when after over studying the memory comes down, the self confidence becomes less and the anxieties appear, it is Baryta carbonica, also in very intelligent people.

- Here it is something different.

- The memory hasn't become worse.

- She is shy, a kind of closedness.

- A: You are very precise with your work?

- P: Yes.

- A: Exactly at the hour?

- P: Yes, very exact.

- A: You do everything to be on time?

- P: Yes, exactly.

- It depends on the appointment, but usually I am on time.

- A: At the time when you were studying in Leuven, did you have a boyfriend?

- P: No.

- A: Emotionally, there were no problems?

- P: No.

- A: Have you been ill before 1984?

- P: No.

- A: Did you wet your bed as a child for a long time?

- P: No.

- A: Did you suffer from dentition as a child?

- Why do I ask questions about bed-wetting and problems with dentition?

- For which remedy?

- For Staphisagria.

- Everyone knows the black points and the black stripes on the teeth of Staphisagria, the problems of teething in Children, abscesses of the teeth on the right side and the bed-wetting.

- They are very sensitive children who pick flowers for their mother.

- When they grow up they become Causticum.

- P: Once I fell down and I lost my cutting teeth.

- A: Do you have bad teeth by nature?

- P: No.

- I never had problems with them.

- A: As a child you have never been ill in particular?

- P: Previously, I had eczema.

- A: Oh, you had eczema as young child.

- P: Yes, as a young child I suffered very much from it.

- A: How did you treat it?

- P: You must know it better, mother.

- MP: When she was very little, she had- how is the name of this ointment?

- We had a shop at that time and my mother was standing with her on her arm.

- She suffered form it very much at that time, especially around the eyes.

- Someone passed and said, " I can cure that.

- Put fresh cow's milk on it and pray."

- My mother did it and after nine days it became better.

- She also had eczema in the bends of the elbows and the knees.

- That went away as well.

- A: Did she suffer form other diseases as a child?

- MP: No.

- A: In the anamnesis, did your parents or grandparents suffer form certain diseases?

- MP: Certain diseases?

- Well yes, my father died of a heart attack.

- For which remedy do I ask this?

- For Tuberculinum, whether there is tuberculosis in the family.

- A: Further?

- Do you have other complaints?

- P: My husband is Laos allergic.

- A: And the parents of your husband?

- P: Nobody suffers.

- A: Nobody died of particular diseases?

- P: No.

- A: So no other diseases?

- P: No.

- A: You said you sleep badly.

- What do you mean?

- P: I can fall asleep easily, but often I wake up at night.

- A: At what time?

- P: Between 2 o'clock and 3.30 a.m.

- A: And what are you thinking of?

- P: I don't know.

- A: Do you think of something in particular?

- P: No.

- Maybe, I'm thinking about my work, maybe about my work the next day.

- A: Are you sure?

- P: Yes, absolutely.

- A: So you wake up and you think of your work.

- P: Yes.

- Nux vomica.

- A: So, you go to bed while thinking of your work.

- P: Yes, I go to bed with it and I get up with it, I'm only thinking of my work.

- A: Are you easily too cold?

- P: Yes, easily cold hands and cold feet.

- A: Can you easily tolerate noise?

- P: Yes.

- A: And strong light?

- P: Not so well.

- A: For example, noise and strong light in the discotheque, do you tolerate that?

- You won't get a headache from it?

- P: No.

- Sensitive to noise: Nux vomica, to bright light: Nux vomica.

- A: Do you tolerate tight clothing?

- P: Often I don't.

- A: Where does it bother you?

- P: Around the abdomen.

- MP: I forgot to say something concerning the disease.

- For the abdomen she also took SALZOPIRINE.

- P: I couldn't tolerate it.

- A: So the diagnosis is an inflammation of the large intestine.

- Crohn's disease was the diagnosis.

- MP: She has been examined before she left on her trip.

- Before, she already took the tablets for a short time and then, when she came back from the journey she was doing very bad.

- She started taking the tablets again and she didn't tolerate them at all.

- She had to stay in bed, had headache an all kinds of things.

- Then we saw several doctors, the family doctor, another doctor and the doctor on the Sunday duty.

- A: And now you don't take medicines anymore.

- P: Now I take another remedy.

- P: In the meantime she also tried acupuncture because a friend of hers advised her to.

- A: Does it help?

- P: I don't know.

- A: Could you stop it for the time being?

- P: Yes.

- A: In addition you suffer from rheumatic complaints.

- What do you mean by that?

- P: I have a lot of pain in the joints of the hands and in the knees.

- A: Especially when?

- Do you suffer form it every day?

- P: No.

- MP: You told me that you didn't sleep form it one night.

- P: I think it is worse when it is windy weather.

- A: Cold weather or wind?

- P: Yes.

- A: So cold wind or what do you mean?

- P: Yes.

- I asked her whether she really had pain in cold wind, because I was thinking of Nux vomica.

- You know that Nux vomica has an aggravation from cold wind and an amelioration from warm wet weather.

- I push her in the direction of Nux vomica.

- It is not serious, but I try to confirm my remedy.

- A: Not when the wing is warm?

- P: In fact, I don't know.

- A: All right.

- Solved.

- No coffee, no cola, no alcohol.

- Which remedy?

- Nux vomica, and it was wrong, but from wrong prescriptions you can learn very much.

Feedback (november 28, 1987)

- A: You took the remedy.

- What did you feel?

- P: The first week I felt very bad.

- I constantly had pain in the abdomen and I was nauseous and things like that.

- In fact, pain everywhere.

- A: Everywhere.

- More than usual?

- P: Yes.

- A: Did you also have a headache?

- P: I also had my menstruation and then I was really ill.

- MP: The first week she had to come home form work, also because of the menstruation.

- This never happened before.

- P: I always had very strong pain in the abdomen, but not so strong as now.

- A: That was in the first week.

- And then?

- P: The second week it was all right.

- Then I didn't have complaints anymore.

- A: You also had diarrhea, three to four times a day.

- P: Now it is less frequent.

- I still have to go to the toilet after eating, but not every time.

- A: Is the stool solid now?

- P: Yes.

- A: You always has pain in the abdomen?

- P: Not so often anymore.

- Now and then I still feel pain around the navel.

- I don't know when.

- A: Is it still accompanied with stool?

- P: Yes, I still have it then.

- A: But compared to before, is it still so strong?

- P: No.

- A: What percentage is it better?

- P: It is much better.

- A: Are there some days that you don't feel anything?

- P: Yes.

- A: What about the tiredness?

- P: I'm still very tired.

- A: Do you sleep well?

- P: No.

- After the remedy she had less pain, less stool, but still stool after eating and she is still weak.

- The complaints are better, but apparently she is not better in general.

- At the beginning there was an aggravation, then the complaints for which she came were better but not her general being.

- I don't feel happy with it.

- A: Are there other things?

- MP: Tell him about the allergy.

- Now, you don't suffer anymore form it?

- But often, when she is at home, she has something in her throat.

- Tell him yourself.

- P: Yes, when I come home, maybe it is because of the carpets, my throat starts itching.

- A: Between the ears and the throat?

- P: It is between my nose and my throat.

- Itching between the nose and the throat.

- What is it?

- The Eustachian tube.

- And which remedy has this?

- Nux vomica.

- " Itching, Eustachian tube" on page 292, Nux vomica is capital.

- This is a proving symptom, but at that moment I did not realize.

- She will develop some more proving symptoms, listen.

- A: Probably in the Eustachian tube.

- You don't suffer from it anymore now?

- P: No.

- MP: She didn't suffer form it always, not every week.

- A: This also indicated the remedy.

- So lets wait and see how this case develops further.

- But I'm satisfied so far.

- Do you still have abdominal pain when you excite your self?

- P: Yes, I still get cramps.

- A: Still so bad?

- P: No, I don't think so.

- A: How often did you have abdominal pain after excitement for the last fourteen days?

- P: Not so often.

- A: I will give you a remedy to take home.

- That you felt all right again after the aggravation means that you have the energy again to conquer it yourself.

- When it becomes clearly bad again you take the remedy and then I will see you after two months.

- All right, the next feed- back.

- You will see what happened.

- From a philosophical point of view it is very interesting.

Feedback (august 6, 1988)

- A: Originally, you came with pain in the abdomen accompanied by stool.

- The cause was exertion.

- You studied, but you didn't pass the examinations, probably studied too hare.

- Then you got the remedy Nux vomica in M potency.

- As child you suffered from eczema around the eyes which has been treated with ointment.

- But in the meantime it didn't return?

- P: No.

- A: You were doing well.

- That was the first time in October 1987, in November 1987 again Nux vomica and in January 1988 Nux vomica 10M.

- After Nux vomica 10 M you came back in March and you took the tablet twice.

- The first time after the remedy you had pain in the joints.

- You had a strange feeling, as if you didn't realize you existed, a kind of vertigo.

- In between she came back once, but I didn't take it on video.

- After the second dose of Nux vomica she had vertigo and that is a very strong proving symptom of Nux vomica.

- When I was lecturing about Nux vomica a man told me that he experienced himself how much Homoeopathy helped him.

- "What kind of problem did you have?"

- "Stomach pain."

- He looked like a real Sulphur- "I took Nux vomica and since then I don't have stomach pain anymore, but I cant drink beer anymore."

- "Why not?"

- " Because I become dizzy immediately.

- I asked him to come to the Center and I gave him Sulphur and now he can drink beer again and he also doesn't have stomach pain anymore.

- That's what happens with the wrong remedy, just proving symptoms.

- After the second does of Nux vomica she also became dizzy.

- This means to me that there was a suppression, now she is having a probing and Nux vomica was wrong.

- Question: "..." (not understandable; whether Nux vomica is a remedy for alcoholics)

- A: You have to be careful with this, because you will intoxicate them with Nux vomica and therefore they become dizzy after alcohol and that is not right.

- That is the same with ANTABUS/ANTABUSE.

- When someone drinks alcohol after he takes ANTABUS/ANTABUSE he can faint and things like that.

- This is not good.

- A normal man wont not become dizzy after one beer, he has to tolerate six or seven beers.

- A: Again you had diarrhea after excitement with stitching pains in the right abdomen.

- You woke up early.

- P: Yes.

- A: But usually you had diarrhea after you meal in the evening.

- I recognized my mistake, I saw that Nux vomica was wrong and I talked more with her.

- Then the remedy became clear.

- She says that during the day she is in the university and takes bread to work.

- She suffers form diarrhea usually when she has dinner at home in the evening.

- This is diarrhea when?

- After super.

- Look under rectum "diarrhea after supper" on page 614: Hypericum, Iris, Kali phosphoricum and Trombidium.

- A: Another big problem was the tiredness.

- P: Yes.

- A: Then we gave you another remedy, away form Nux vomica, because you became dizzy.

- Nux vomica indeed helped a little bit, but essentially the diarrhea, the cramps and the tiredness didn't improve.

- It has been away for a while?

- P: Yes.

- A: On March 26, I gave you a remedy and on May21, also two months late you were clearly better and you are much more optimistic.

- MP: Yes, that's right, she was really changed.

- That is a real change.

- She has become more optimistic, more open.

- MP: At that time she was little bit more optimistic, but now it is a little bit less.

- A: The last two weeks, before you came back in May it was a little bit less.

- In any case, in general much much better.

- The abdominal pain was gone and the diarrhea as well.

- P: Yes.

- A: Then in May we repeated you remedy.

- Tell me, how did you do from May 21 until now?

- This is more than two months.

- Tell me.

- P: Immediately after I took the remedy I had the abdominal pain for a while.

- But this is always so.

- Then I had headache again.

- A: Since then you have headache?

- P: Yes.

- A: But you were not so tired anymore?

- P: Yes.

- In fact, I couldn't sleep so well, but I didn't suffer from the fact that I slept less.

- A: Since the last remedy you also started to have a headache.

- Tell me how it was.

- The diarrhea has gone, the weakness and the pain in the abdomen are gone with tow doses of Kali phosphoricum M and one 10M.

- The complaints of this layer with the causation of the hard studying have gone, now she is doing well.

- It is over.

- She suffered form it for four years.

- Now, another remedy will appear.

- Kali phosphoricum has in the first place diarrhea after supper, but also while eating.

- She also said that she often suddenly had to go to the toilet while eating, often she couldn't hold the stool.

- If you look in the rubric " diarrhea while eating", Kali phosphoricum is there, but also in the rubric " diarrhea after eating".

- Let's read what Boericke writes "One of the greatest nerve remedies.

- Prostration.

- Weak and tired.

- Especially adapted to the young...

- Marked disturbance of the sympathetic nervous system.

- Conditions arising form want of nerve power, neurasthenia, mental and physical depression are wonderfully improved by this remedy.

- The causes are usually excitement, overwork very hard, she was anxious that she wouldn't pass her examinations and that was the cause.

- "Besides, it corresponds to states of adynamia and decay".

- This means gangrenous situations.

- "In these two directions it has won many clinical laurels.

- Remember it in the treatment of suspected malignant tumors.

- After removal of cancer when in healing process skin is drawn tight over the wound."

- This means that Kali phosphoricum pulls people out of their adynamia and weakness, who had cancer, who have been radiated, who had chemotherapy or who had an operation and had chemotherapy afterwards.

- Therefore you will find Kali phosphoricum also in leukemia in the generalities in the Repertory.

- There you see al the natrums.

- The leukemia is treated with chemotherapy and then comes the adynamia, the powerlessness of Kali phosphoricum.

- " Anxiety, nervous dread, lethargy.

- Indisposition to meet people.

- Extreme lassitude and depression.

- Very nervous.

- Starts easily, irritable.

- Brain-fag; hysteria; night terrors.

- Somnambulance.

- Loss of memory.

- Slightest labor seems a heavy task.

- Great despondency about business.

- Shyness; disinclined to converse.

- Head... Headache of students, and those worn out by fatigue."

- These are the students which have studied too much.

- "Headaches are relieved by gentle motion.

- "They go out of the room and they go for a little walk.

- "Face:... Right - sided neuralgia, relieved by cold applications.

- Stomach: A nervous 'gone' sensation at the pit of the stomach.

- Abdomen: - Diarrhea; foul, putrid odor; occasioned by fright, with depression and exhaustion.

- Diarrhea while eating.

- Dysentery; stools consist of pure blood; patient be comes delirious; abdomen swells."

- Of which remedy do we think in this situation?

- If the abdomen is swollen in chronic diarrhea?

- Apocynum cannabinum.

- Apocynum has a distended abdomen in chronic diarrhea, but also Kali phosphoricum.

- You see how important this remedy this remedy is in young people, people of 19 years old until maybe 36.

- In a kind of situation that they have to lie down, that they are worrying abut their children and about money, Kali phosphoricum is a wonderful remedy.

- Further: "Respiratory: Asthma; least food aggravates."

- You see, Kali phosphoricum is a situation after too much study, too much work and worry, they get a little symptom here and there, the diarrhea comes especially when they come home from work in the evening, diarrhea after supper.

- If you know what remedy she needs for the headache we can go on.

- All the symptoms which appeared because of a certain cause have disappeared and now the constitutional symptoms appear.

- P: Above the eyes and in the neck at the back (the headache).

- When I wake up the first thing in the morning I feel is the headache.

- A: Always while waking up.

- P: Yes.

- A: So, I suppose that the diarrhea and the cramps in the abdomen are gone completely?

- P: Yes.

- A: And the headache is at the front and in the neck.

- P: Here (points behind her ears) at the back of the head, behind the ears.

- A: Do you have a headache during the weekend as well as during the week?

- Is this always so?

- P: Yes.

- A: Immediately while waking up?

- P: Yes.

- A: How is the headache during the day?

- P: It remains the same.

- A: The whole day?

- P: Yes.

- I still have it now.

- A: And in the evening?

- P: It remains the whole day.

- There is a kind of pressure the whole time.

- A: Do you still have other complaints?

- P: Yes.

- Also in the knees I often have pain, in the right knee joint.

- When I have my menstruation I have pain in the legs.

- A: But does the pain in the right knee occur regularly?

- P: Yes.

- A: How long does the pain last in the knee?

- P: It might last for one day and then go away.

- Now and then it comes back.

- A: You don't know when it comes and when it goes away?

- P: No.

- Especially when I walk about the whole day, I might have it.

- A: All right.

- Other complaints?

- P: No.

- MP: Pain in the legs.

- A: In the legs?

- P: I already told you about the pain in the legs.

- A: Where in the legs?

- P: The entire leg.

- A: When?

- P: Especially when I have my menstruation.

- A: Before the menstruation?

- P: Yes.

- "Pain, lower limbs, menses, before" on page 1063: Berberis, Caulophyllum, Lachesis, Nitricum acidum, Nux vomica, Phosphorus, Sepia, Syphilinum, Viburnum.

- A: Do you have other complaints?

- P: Not that I know.

- A: Have you changed by character?

- MP: She has become more depressed.

- I think it is because of the headache.

- She is listless.

- A: Has something else changed?

- Is she still such an easy person?

- MP: Yes, no problem.

- She has become more depressed.

- A: Sad, or something like that?

- Do you weep more easily?

- P: No, not weeping.

- A: Do you become angry sometimes?

- P: No, in fact not.

- A: What do you do for relaxation?

- P: Nothing.

- I was on holiday in Greece.

- I have been surfing and lying in the sun.

- A: How long did you lie in the sun?

- P: Not so long.

- I have been there only for ten days.

- I went sightseeing for a few days, there was not so much time left.

- A: Can you lie in the sun?

- P: Yes.

- Usually, we lay in the shadow under the umbrella, I only put my legs in the sun.

- Otherwise it would be too hot.

- A: Do you like the sun very much?

- P: Yes.

- A: Can you lie in the sun for a long time?

- P: Normally not.

- At home I wouldn't lie in the sun.

- A: Why not?

- P: I think it is useless.

- Then I can't do anything.

- A: You always want to have something to do?

- P: Yes, I always do something.

- A: If you are at home on Saturday and Sunday, what do you do then?

- MP: Watch television.

- P: Hmm, what I do?

- (Thinking) On Saturday I go shopping.

- A: You don't have any headache when you get home?

- P: I don't think so.

- MP: Yesterday she went shopping the whole day and she had a headache the whole day.

- A: Did you have more headache while shopping or when you came home?

- P: yes, from walking about.

- A: I don't ask you why, but whether you had more headache, because you mother says that you had more headache when you came back from shopping.

- Normally, it should be a relaxation.

- P: I had a very severe headache.

- A; Also while shopping?

- P: Yes, also.

- She likes the sun, she went surfing to Greece, she cannot lie in the sun because she must be bus- occupation ameliorates- and headache after shopping.

- The mother says that she has more headache after shopping than the other days and she tries to explain herself that it is because of the walking about.

- A: How was your menstruation?

- P: I still had problems.

- A: What kind of problems did you still have?

- P: Pain in the abdomen.

- A: During the menstruation?

- P: Yes.

- A: Yes.

- A: How is the pain in abdomen?

- P: Stitches.

- I can move very well.

- I can't sit, or stand, or walk about, nothing helps.

- A: You don't have leucorrhoea before the menstruation?

- P: No.

- A: Never?

- Also not as child?

- P: I did, before, when I was 15 years old.

- A: Do you do sports?

- Dancing?

- P: When I go out, I dance.

- But I don't do sports.

- A: Do you have a friend?

- P: No.

- A: Why not?

- P: I don't know.

- A: You don't want to have a boyfriend?

- P; I don't.

- (Pause)

- MP: I think, she doesn't go out very often.

- A: You live in Leuven, don't you?

- P: Yes.

- A: Do you live alone?

- P: No, with my brother.

- A: What about your appetite?

- P: It's al right.

- MP: It is better.

- Not exaggerated, but good enough.

- A: What do you like to eat at the moment?

- P: Everything, but I'm not so fond of meat.

- A: What do you prefer to eat?

- Chocolate?

- P: Rather fish than meat.

- A: You don't eat chocolate?

- P: No, no chocolate.

- Sometimes I do, but not exaggerated.

- A: Spaghetti and things like that?

- P: Not so often, once a week.

- A: How does it have to be prepared?

- P: I prefer it without red sauce, with a white sauce, with spices and things like that.

- A: So you prefer highly seasoned food?

- P: Not too strong.

- A: Do you like to eat onions or sweet pickles?

- P: No.

- A: In what position do you sleep?

- P: I fall asleep on my abdomen I think, and in the morning I wake up on my side.

- A: You sleep on your abdomen?

- P: Yes.

- Anyway, I lie down in that position to fall asleep.

- A: How often does the pain in the right knee occur?

- P: Sometimes it can stay away for quite a long time.

- A: What do you mean by a long time?

- P: One month or so.

- A: All right.

- Do you have other complaints?

- P: No.

- MP: With changes of weather Do you have pain in the legs and in the arms and arms and the joints of the hand?

- P: Yes, in the joints of the hand.

- I always have.

- MP: Not always.

- P: Previously, I also had it.

- MP: Previously, you also suffered from it, but not always.

- A: So, in the joints of the hand.

- Especially when?

- P: When the weather becomes bad.

- A: Still other complaints?

- It is good that the mother came with you.

- She doesn't say much.

- Did she complain about headache?

- MP: Yes, about headache and about tiredness.

- P: When we flew home a travel- trunk fell down on my head.

- A: Do you only have a headache since then?

- P: I already had a headache before.

- MP: She thinks that maybe it became worse because of that.

- A: Can you tolerate driving a car?

- P: Yes.

- A: And the bus?

- You don't become nauseous?

- P: No.

- Previously, I always drove with the bus.

- A: Now, we will take care that the tiredness and the headache disappear.

- Because of the pain in the lower limbs before the menses, the aggravation of the headache form shopping and the amelioration from occupation and her appearance I gave her Sepia.

MIND,OCCUPATION, amel. : Agar., alum., aur., bar-c., calc., chin., con., croc., cupr., ferr., hell., helon., ign., iod., kali-br., lil-t., lyc., merc-i-f., mez., nat-c., nux-v., pip-m.,Sep., sil., stram., thuj., verat.

Feedback (september 1988)

- A: On August 6 I saw you the last time for a headache while waking up and now and then pain in the knees.

- As a child you had eczema which had been treated with ointment.

- P: Yes.

- She had an eruption and put ointment on it.

- Look in the Repertory, " Pain, knee, eruption, suppressed, after" on page 1072.

eruption, suppressed, after : Sep.

- She didn't say this before the only remedy is Sepia.

- Which other Sepia symptom can you see now?

- Herpes around the lips.

- Now, it is a crust, but before it was herpes around the lips.

- A: You also had complaints before menstruation, a headache and a headache form shopping.

- You got a remedy.

- Tell me how you are doing.

- P: The first day I had quite a severe headache, now it is completely gone.

- First and aggravation and now the pain in the head is gone.

- All right.

- MP; On Saturday she still suffered from it a little bit.

- A; It might be that it will come back slightly.

- P: Maybe, because I was tired.

- A: What about your right knee?

- P; Now, it is more a pulling in my legs.

- A: But what about the pain?

- P: No, not anymore.

- A: How did it go since the menstruation?

- P: I have less pain.

- It is more tolerable.

- A: I see a classic symptom, a vesicle on the upper lip.

- P: Yes.

- Before, I had one on the other side.

- A: Do you still have this regularly?

- P: Previously, I had one sometimes, I know.

- A: (to the mother) Did she suffer form it previously?

- MP: Yes, before also, I didn't pay attention to it.

- A: How are you doing further?

- P: don't have pain in the abdomen anymore.

- Only in the evening after supper I still have to go to the toilet.

- A: But no diarrhea anymore?

- P: No, I have to go to the toilet immediately.

- A: But no pain anymore?

- P: No, neither cramps.

- A: What about the tiredness?

- P: I'm still tired.

- But immediately after my holiday quite few things went wrong at my job.

- If other people go on holiday we have to do their work as well.

- I think I'm tired because I had so much work to do.

- A: How do you feel in general?

- P: All right.

- A: Would you go to the doctor with the complaints you still have?

- P: No.

- MP: She is really doing better.

- Previously, you noticed it immediately when she was in pain.

- Now, she has no cramps anymore.

- P: Sometime I still have a tickling feeling in my throat.

- A: The development is good.

- We will postpone the appointment to the next consultation.

- I see you every two months, until the complaints are completely gone.

- Her mother came with her and she is clearly Sepia.

- Sepia mothers have the tendency to depend on their daughters.

- The explanation for it is easy: because the relationship with their husband is not good they cling to their daughter.

- That's why she comes with her daughter to the consultation.

- It is typical Sepia.

- And she keeps her daughter away from the young men.

- Maybe, the mother is disappointed by her husband and therefore she won’t let it happen to her daughter.

- All right, more about that when we are talking about Sepia.

- I went to tell you something else which is philosophically very interesting.

- Yesterday after the seminar I did an anamnesis ( recollection ) of a child with leucorrhoea.

- Everything started with an eczema.

- When the mother came in with the child immediately I thought of a certain remedy.

- The eczema started when the sister went to school.

- I think that was the reason.

- She got Natrum muriaticum, and that was a well chosen remedy because Natrum muriaticum is complementary to the remedy which I think the child needed.

- Later on she also got the remedy of which I was thinking, it was Sepia, in a 200.

- There was a strong aggravation with a peculiarity and that was a Sepia symptom.

- You won’t find this symptom in the Repertory, it comes from my experience, namely the eczema is in the entire face, it is swollen, wet, only the nose and a little bit around the nose is white, yellow white.

- There was an aggravation, the parents went to the dermatologist and put ointment on it.

- What symptom did I ask for?

- Pain in the knee, but the child had none.

- What should you do in such an aggravation?

- She got Sepia 200.

- Previously, the eczema was to a certain degree and after Sepia it was worse.

- What should my female colleague do?

- She had to give a higher potency, because when you repeat the remedy in a higher potency, in such a case when the original symptoms are worse they will disappear after wards.

- She gave Sepia 200 when the eczema was not so bad and this led the whole case to an acute state.

- You let everything develop until the patient doesn't tolerate it any longer, then you give the higher potency and the complaints will disappear.

- That's what we experience in practice.

- For example, it is better to start with a C30 and let the eczema develop until the patient doesn't tolerate it anymore.

- Then he needs a more energy, more energy of the right remedy.

- You have to be sure of that.

- And she was sure about her prescription, the child was clearly Sepia, it was a little bit swollen, was clinging to her father the whole time, liked dancing, liked sour things and chocolate.

- That is clearly a Sepia case.

- I had the same with a child which I only gave a C 30, because I was afraid of the aggravation and it was terrible.

- Once I said, no matter what I give a 10M - and everything became better.

- Because of our doubt we are afraid to give a high potency at the highest point of the symptomatology.

- But this is wrong, because the right remedy gives the energy to conquer the aggravation, but only when you are sure about the remedy.

- It is indeed important to give the remedy when the symptoms are severe.

- If someone comes because of migraine the best thing to do is wait for the attack of migraine and to give the remedy at the height of the attack.

- Normally, the amelioration is prompt and clear.\\

CASE 9 v2

Sepia officinalis

Woman, 50 years old

A: What is your problem?

P: For one year pain in my back. Indeed I always had a bad back, but always while doing certain movements or after carrying things. One year ago I also had it while walking. I almost went home more often. Fortunately I'm not far from home. I could hardly get up from pain. The family doctor said it was lumbago. After three days I could walk again. It lasted another three months until it was completely gone. At home I sat on the couch and the pain in my back returned. I had X-rays taken and the family doctor said that the vertebra was calcified. The specialist said that nothing in particular could be seen. I also went under the scanner.

A: Did they find anything?

P: No.

I'm just thinking about something which I would like to tell you. These people are inclining to talk behind someone else's back. Where do you find this in the Repertory?

Look on page 81:

MIND, slander, disposition to

MIND,SLANDER, disposition to : Am-c., anac., ars., bell., bor., hyos., ip., lyc., nit-ac., nux-v., petr., sep., stram., verat.

I know a Sepia officinalis woman who starts talking about somebody else whenever I meet her.

A: Have you been ill before?

P: No, I have had an influenza, otherwise only pain in my back. I fell down once, probably it is due to this.

A: When did that happen?

P: Thirty years ago. I did heavy work. I worked in a laundry and I had to carry heavy laundry baskets.

A: How did you fall 30 years ago?

P: On my coccyx.

A: But you don't have complaints with your coccyx, but with your back?

P: Yes, low in my back. The pain was inside, but after three, four days it was always better again. I don't know what it was.

A: Are you married?

P: No.

She is not married, this is the first Sepia officinalis symptom, aversion men. If somebody tells you that he or she is not married, you have to be careful! It might be Sepia officinalis, but it doesn't have to be Sepia officinalis, for example, it also might be Pulsatilla.

Look on page 65:

MIND, men, dread of: ... aur ... bar-c ... nat-c ... nat-m ..

puls ... sep ...

MIND,MEN, dread of (See Company) : Aloe., aur., bar-c., bar-m., cic., con., dios., ign., lach., led., lyc., nat-c., nat-m., phos., plat., puls., raph., sep., stann., sulph.

I don't know why Aurum metallicum is in this rubric.

Baryta carbonica has an aversion to sex.

P: Does it have anything to do with it?

A: No, no. Why are you not married?

P: I don't know how it could come to this. I live together with my sister who isn't married either. Together we have it very good.

A: What do you do in your spare time?

P: A lot of handiwork. Maybe it is also because of so much sitting. Last week I had a lot of complaints from sitting.

A: Is it better when you are walking about?

P: Yes, then it is a lot better. When I lie in bed I don't feel anything either.

A: Is it always worse when you are sitting?

P: Yes, then it is twisting in my back all the time.

A: Do you put a pillow in your back?

P: No. I always sit upright on my chair. I can't sit on the couch at all.

It is very typical for Sepia officinalis that the pain in the back ameliorates when they put a pillow in the sacral region or when somebody puts a fist in their back and they lean back. That's why they can't sit on the couch.

Also strong pressure, lying on a hard surface ameliorates the pain in the back of Sepia officinalis.

There is another remedy which has to lean back in backache, and this is which remedy?

Answer: Dioscorea.

A : No, Dioscorea has to lean back in stomach pain.

It is Eupion, an addition of Boericke.

Remark: .... (not understandable)

A : You see this in Graphites. Graphites has to lean forwards. They have pain in the back from lifting, also like Sepia officinalis, but they have to bend forwards. I don't know whether this in the Repertory, but I have seen it at least three times, so that you can surely add it.

A: It may not sag?

P: No. I also have a board on the seat of my car.

A: What do you mean?

P: I sit on this board, otherwise the seat is sagging.

A: Do you lean with your back against this board?

P: No, I sit on it.

A: Do you sew a lot?

P: Yes.

A: That's what you did your whole life long?

P: Yes. I sit a lot and then the complaints come. Can you help me?

A: I will try.

Do you sleep on a hard mattress?

P: I have a very good lattoflex mattress.

A: Is it hard?

P: Yes.

A: When you have pain in your back and you turn over on your back ...

P: I cannot do it very well. Then I don't have pain.

A: Also when you are lying on this painful spot?

P: Yes, one year ago a particular spot was painful to touch. Now I don't feel anything in the vertebrae.

A: Must you always have something to do?

P: Yes, I cannot do nothing. This is very bad for me. I'm a member of the hobby club.

This is like Rhus toxicodendron. When they are watching television they always want to do needlepoint, sew or crotchet something. They cannot sit still. Occupation ameliorates.

A: Before did you have other hobbies besides handiwork?

P: Before I joined many associations. I was the treasurer and I collected the money. We were also in a theater group for laymen. We still do performances.

A: Can you perform in the theater very well?

P: Yes, rather well.

A: Before did you have other hobbies?

P: We also did performances in the youth association and organized feasts.

A: Have you ever been in a dance club?

P: No, I cannot dance at all.

A: While doing your handiwork do you lean against the back of your chair?

P: When it hurts a lot I lean against it. Otherwise I sit upright and do not lean backwards.

A: Before did you have a relationship?

P: No, I was not interested.

A: Why not?

P: My parents were rather old and we lived together.

A: Did you take care of your parents?

P: The last few years I did.

A: Also in the youth association you were not interested in boys?

P: No.

A: Do you have an aversion to men?

P: No.

A: The fact that you are not interested in men means that you have a particular character.

P: I don't know. I have always been too busy.

A: At feasts you always help in pouring out and dishing out.

P: Yes, I like to help with it.

A: Do you like to travel?

P: No. We are always at home.

A: Why?

P: We couldn't leave our parents, they needed us. We have never been away a long time. I couldn't leave them alone late in the evening.

A: Would you like to go away?

P: I cannot with my back.

A: And if you didn't have problems with it?

P: Then I would go on a visit.

A: And stay there for 14 days?

P: No, that is too long. I don't like to go away from home. I don't like that at all.

A: Have you ever been in Lourdes?

P: Yes, I've been there twice for 8 days.

A: You weren't homesick?

P: No, not at all.

A: How do you feel in the sun in summer?

P: I tolerate it very well. I can ride on a bicycle a long time, also in the sun. Not too long because they say that it is not good to sit in the sun a long time.

A: You tolerate the sun well.

P: Yes, very well.

A: Do you tolerate the warmth inside?

P: Yes, I do.

A: How warm can it be?

P: About 20° C. My sister always says that she is too cold and for me it is the right temperature.

A: In what position do you sleep?

P: First I always lie on my right side, to fall asleep I turn over to the left side.

A: You sleep on the left side.

P: Yes, but it takes quite a long time before I fall asleep, about two hours.

A: Do you sleep on your abdomen?

P: Lately I do.

A: And before?

P: Never.

A: What about appetite?

P: It's good.

A: Is there something which you don't like?

P: Not too highly seasoned and no foreign meals. Sweets, chocolate and chocolate biscuits I like very much.

A: What about sour things?

P: I don't like them so much.

A: Of what did your parents die?

P: My mother died of rheumatism and my father had problems with his hip, his legs were completely mortified (gangrenous) (starts weeping).

A: You are still suffering?

P: Yes. I miss them. Last year we had another misfortune. One of our nephews died suddenly at the age of 13 years. A brother-in-law died of cancer.

A: Did anybody have cancer in your immediate family?

P: No.

A: Are you sensitive in cases of death?

P: Yes, I'm very sensitive.

A: Do you have certain anxieties?

P: Yes, I don't feel well in the dark. When it becomes dark we close the roll-down shutters. They don't need to see from outside that only the two of us are at home. In the neighborhood there is quite a lot of burglary.

A: Are you anxious because of that?

P: Yes, in fact I'm not so much afraid of the dark itself.

A: Other anxieties?

P: Not that I know of.

A: Can you become anxious?

P: Now and then surely. It happens sometimes.

A: Do you stand up for yourself?

P: Yes, absolutely.

A: Has this always been like that?

P: Yes.

A: Can you reprimand somebody?

P: When I have to.

A: When somebody does something wrong?

P: Then I tell him when the occasion arises.

A: You would say it.

P: Yes.

A: Do you like to eat chocolate?

P: Yes, but I wouldn't eat a whole bar at once. I like cake with chocolate most.

A: What about a thunderstorm?

P: I don't want to see it, then I pull the curtains.

A: You don't want to see it?

P: No.

A: When did you have the last menses?

P: When I was 42 years old.

A: Did you have flushes of heat?

P: Very little.

A: And complaints from your menses?

P: Not exaggerated.

A: Did you ever have leucorrhea?

P: Now and then a little bit before the menses.

A: And you always had to be busy?

P: Yes. Is it better to do nothing? It's not good either.

A: Of course. I mean that all people are different. One likes to hear music, the other likes to do handiwork.

To me it seems that you don't allow others to cut you down to size.

P: No, certainly not. I can defend myself.

A: Do you listen to music a lot?

P: Very seldom.

A: When you are watching television do you do handiwork?

P: No, but when there is nothing on television for half an hour then I do.

A: Both of you?

P: Yes.

A: Now you have pain in the back every day?

P: Yes. I have been wearing a corset for a few weeks, but it didn't help.

A: We will see what we can do for you.

This was the typical pain in the back of Sepia officinalis.

The remedy was Sepia officinalis.

I don't have the feedback on video, but she reacted beautifully.

CASE10 v2

Eczema

Sepia officinalis

Girl, 14 years old

February 24, 1987

This is one of the most difficult eczema cases I ever had. She had thick, oozing crusts on the head, so that she had to have her hair cut. It was terrible and she suffered a lot from it.

In chronic eczema it may last many years until it is gone and the skin seems to be the weak point. I mean that it often starts itching again when they have psychological problems. You have to tell this to your patient. Tell them that their skin is the indicator, that whenever there are problems they will have itching or an eruption.

Never promise anybody who comes with a real chronic eczema that you will cure him definitely. When there is something wrong first their skin will react.

A: In September 1985 you came in treatment for severe eczema. Although I started the treatment with a rather low potency, C 30, after the remedy the head was full of crusts.

MP: Everything was inflaMedorrhinum

A: Now we are so far that it is relatively good.

(To the patient) Look this way.

The face has become relatively good, only at the throat it is dry, with a few cracks; behind in neck the skin is also dry with a few cracks, and also on the joints of the hands.

You can clearly see that the nails are crippLedum palustre

Another Sepia officinalis symptom is crippled nails. You find this in the Repertory on page 978:

EXTREMITIES, crippled, fingers nails: ... Graph ...

Graphites is the most important remedy. Graphites also has discharges, oozing, glutinous discharges.

Look on page 1311:

SKIN, eruptions, discharging, moist, glutinous:

calc, carb-s, Graph, nat-m, sulph

Only lately I discovered Carboneum sulphuratum. It is difficult to recognize this remedy in a patient, because the mental picture is not known very well. Only when you ask about colorblindness you can find the remedy. Carboneum sulphuratum is colorblind and has very strong eczema with exactly these oozing, glutinous discharges like Graphites. In these cases you give Graphites and it doesn't do anything or the eczema is being suppressed by that.

Crippled nails is a symptom which indicates Graphites very strongly, but Sepia officinalis also has this, Thuja and other remedies.

A: She suffered from eczema already from her second year on and you did everything for it.

MP: I tried everything, because the eczema was so dry.

A: I allowed you to use Vaseline, but you took Nivea. On February 11, she came with severe pain in the right knee. Now it is February 24.

She already had this one year ago, but I couldn't find the cause.

I gave her Sepia officinalis, this is clear. At the beginning I gave the remedy in a C 30 potency, because I was not sure. I wondered whether such severe oozing eczema on the head, as you can see in Viola tricolor and Mezereum, with purulent discharges, whether this was really Sepia officinalis. But Sepia officinalis was right, the eczema improved. Then she got pain in her knee, she went to see a specialist and was put into plaster. I didn't understand what was going on. Why this pain in the knee? The eczema was better and then a deeper problem, namely the pain in the knee, appeared. If in the course of a treatment a superficial problem like an eczema disappears and instead a deeper problem, for example, hypertension, appears, you are surely on the wrong track.

A: She had pain in the right knee, she almost couldn't walk. Tell me, how was her mood?

MP: What do you mean?

A: I mean, how was she on February 11, when you were here the last time?

MP: She was desperate, didn't trust the treatment at all. She thought that there was no possibility of cure at all.

She was desperate, had despair that she would not recover. Sepia officinalis also has this. There are some additions for this rubric and Alumina is the most important.

MP: She was really rebellious.

A: She was weeping a lot and was very irritable.

MP: Yes, she was everything except nice. The things which she liked to do she could only do to a limited extent because of her knees. Then she started to doubt, "Didn't I suffer enough?" and she held on to this.

A: She was very angry with me. She was angry with everybody and she was weeping from anger.

MP: And she was also sad, both together I think.

A: And then we discovered that it was because she used Nivea ointment. She fell down and therefore she went to the hospital. There they put her into the plaster and after they removed the plaster the complaints were almost as bad as before.

P: Except when I was wearing this plaster.

A: Yes, but when they removed the plaster, it was the same as before.

P: Yes. First it was a little bit better, but then it became worse.

A: It didn't help. On the X-rays nothing could be seen; no cause could be found. Then we looked for the reason for the pain in the right knee and we found out that it was because of the ointment. Anyway this is my opinion.

Can you tell me where we can find this?

Look on page 1072:

EXTREMITIES, pain, knee, eruption, suppressed, after:

Sep

According to me this was the confirmation that the remedy was right. I didn't have to change the remedy and give her Lycopodium clavatum or do any other senseless thing, I only had to stop Nivea and tell her that she had to use oil or Vaseline.

MP: First they tried to examine whether it was because of the accident or because of the suppression of the eczema. In September they concluded that it was related to the eczema, and after the remedy which she received it became better. The complaints diminished very strongly. But now, one month ago, the complaints came back.

A: Then I recognized the relationship between the suppression of the eczema and the pain in her knee clearly, because I know the remedy and saw that people with this kind of constitution have pain in their knee because of the suppression of the eczema.

Last time it was very serious. She couldn't walk, she was weeping from pain. I gave her the remedy in 10M potency. Before she never had such a high potency. How did she react?

MP: According to me rather quickly. Don't you know it yourself?

P: Yes, the first few days it didn't help and on Saturday it was all right. On Sunday it was a little bit better and since then it was rather good.

A: On Wednesday she received the remedy.

P: On Wednesday at 4:00 o'clock. On Tuesday they brought me home because I had such strong pains.

A: No, I mean after you were here.

MP: We didn't come here immediately. She has had pain already for quite a long time.

A: You were here on the 11th.

MP: Yes.

A: So the previous day you had very strong pains. They had to bring you home from school. The next day I gave you the remedy. How did it develop? In general, the pain and her behavior?

MP: In fact it went very quickly. When she said something spontaneously we listened, but otherwise we didn't ask. We heard her complaining less and less. Before she was occupied with it constantly. Suddenly we didn't hear her complaining about her problems anymore, she was in a good mood and didn't have pain anymore.

On Sunday she went to play volleyball and then the pain aggravated a little bit. She also had a blue spot on her knee and it was somewhat swollen. Probably she fell. I heard her complaining while undressing.

A: Has the eczema also improved?

MP: No, it aggravated.

A: The eczema became a little bit worse.

MP: Yes, especially in the bends of the joints. The face becomes better from hour to hour. It was bad again, so that it was itching. The face is clearly better now, but in the bends and in the hands it is worse.

A: When does it itch especially?

P: When I'm warm.

A: In the warmth?

P: I don't know exactly.

MP: Sometimes she turns down the central heating and says that she is warm and a little while later she is too cold again.

Do you see both extremes? Itching from the warmth of bed, Sepia officinalis is there.

Look on page 1329:

SKIN, itching, warm, on becoming, in bed, on becoming

Sepia officinalis is there, and this happens in her. She doesn't tolerate extreme temperatures, first she is too warm, then she turns down the central heating and then she is cold again.

A: She also told me that she goes to play some sports notwithstanding the pain in her knee, because she likes to do sports.

MP: Yesterday she participated in gymnastics again for the first time. Before she wanted me to write a note, because she just couldn't, but she can participated again.

A: And how did it go?

P: I couldn't do several exercises. I had pain on turning and bending. I also fell.

A: What kind of turning exercises?

P: On the climbing rack. There are two rack bars where we do the gymnastics.

A: She also said that the eczema is worse before menstruation.

P: I didn't notice it the last time.

MP: Maybe you don't notice it anymore.

A: What else?

MP: Her general state became worse when she was excited.

A: Does the eczema become worse then?

MP: Yes. Then she has more itching.

A: By character she is somebody who can reprimand somebody else.

MP: Yes, that's right.

A: Tell me something about this.

MP: (moaning)

A: She knows the spots where she can hit other people?

MP: Yes, it is difficult to express. Do you want me to give an example?

A: Yes.

MP: Every time she knows how to put things so that she gets her way. In this direction she is very smart. I can't tell you exactly, I can't think of an example at the moment.

A: Your husband can describe it better.

MP: Yes.

A: He described to me that she can express herself so that it hits where the other person is really vulnerable. She can hurt with words.

MP: Yes, indeed. Maybe she doesn't notice it herself.

A: Does she go dancing?

MP: Yes, there you ask something. On Sunday she went to a school party in the evening, otherwise she is allowed to go only in the afternoon now and then. She was eagerly looking forward to it.

A: Do you like especially fluent rhythms?

P: Yes.

MP: She also dances a lot at home. She doesn't like the slow music so much.

P: Yes, I do.

MP: But you don't dance slow very easily.

P: Do you want me to tell it now? I don't like to dance slow with boys I can't stand.

A: What about your appetite?

MP: Good. At the moment she eats a lot of chocolate.

P: If there is some at home.

MP: Yes, then she can eat a lot of chocolate at once.

A: And highly seasoned?

P: I like to eat spaghetti with spicy sauce.

A: And sour gherkins?

P: Yes, I also like them.

A: And fat?

P: It depends in which form.

A: When there is some fat on the meat?

MP: She eats it.

A: In what position does she sleep?

MP: On her side and the head is bent inwards.

A: Does she often lie on the abdomen?

MP: I have never seen this.

A: Do you sometimes have leucorrhea?

P: Yes, for a long time.

A: This 10M potency made her a lot better again. She is doing well psychologically and a few days after the remedy she started again to ride on her bicycle.

You cannot use the ointment anymore.

Let's see how she developed further.

FEEDBACK (March 9, 1988)

This is the result of Sepia officinalis. You can make movie stars out of your patients, when you can keep them in treatment.

A: Before I promised you that you will become a movie star. How are you doing now?

P: Rather good.

A: It is very good. You can say that the eczema is cured, can't you?

MP: When it stays this way it is not bad anymore.

P: There is very little.

A: So she doesn't hardly have any complaints from it. She received the last remedy in October 1987.

P: In the meantime I have not had to take anything.

A: It remained well for four months. Now we have to wait.

In eruptions of the skin a complete cure is impossible. According to the situation in which the patient lives the eczema can become worse or better, it seems to be an indicator for her internal balance. When she is doing badly and the eczema becomes worse it may be necessary to repeat the remedy.

FEEDBACK (December 6, 1989)

This is the last feedback. She has been in treatment since 1984, this means for 5 years. You see how beautiful she looks, this is the result.

Question: Since when did she have this eczema?

A : It started when she was three years old, and now she is 17 years. She looks older than 17. You find this often in Sepia officinalis patients.

A: The last time I took you on video was two years ago. In the meantime you had depression in April 1989. You wanted to be dead, were in a bad mood and had quarrels with everybody. This improved very much.

P: Yes.

A: Now the eczema starts to appear again slightly.

P: Yes, behind the neck and on the hands.

A: Let me see.

(Looks at the neck and the hands).

But it is very good. You don't have to worry about this.

P: But it is itching again.

A: She has had fever and fever blister.

MP: She very easily has fever blisters.

A: The crusts of the eczema are not comparable to before.

And the nails are also a lot better.

P: One nail is still slightly deforMedorrhinum

A: Do you still have leucorrhea?

P: Yes, sometimes very strongly.

A: Do you sometimes have pain in the knee?

P: Now and then I have some pain in the evening after exertion, then I must rest for a while.

A: Do you still use the ointment?

P: Yes, a fatty ointment from the pharmacy.

A: Do you still do a lot of sports?

P: No.

MP: In the last period less.

A: In general the complaints are very much less than before. Compared to before the skin is very beautiful.

MP: Yes, that's right. She is worried again, because it became a little bit worse.

From 1984 on she has had Sepia officinalis 15 times. In every relapse I repeated Sepia officinalis. I started carefully with C 30, then C 200 and then M potency.

Unfortunately I don't have a video from the beginning when she came with thick crusts on her head, but I was anxious that I didn't choose the right remedy and about the way she reacted to it. If somebody comes with such an eczema in treatment, usually it has been suppressed with ointments for quite a long time, and when you give them the right remedy it really bursts out properly.

Her father died and she has a stepfather whom she often has quarrels with. Then she is depressed and weeps easily, and when she comes then she tells me everything and if necessary I repeat the remedy. During one of these fights with her stepfather she once said that she wouldn't have this disease if her father was still alive and that he (her stepfather) is to be blamed for her disease. This was very hurtful. Sepia officinalis can really hurt very deeply and often they do it in the presence of others.

CASE 11

Chronic cold

Sepia officinalis

Woman, 25 years old

A: You were here a few months ago.

P: It was at the beginning of October.

A: So four months ago.

Your problem was an allergy, which occurred regularly every week. The allergy was expressed by sneezing. You were sneezing in the morning while getting up.

P: It could last for one hour and then it becomes better gradually by 9:00 o'clock or 9:30.

A: But there is a certain period when you are sneezing. When do you start sneezing in the morning?

P: Usually when I get up. I might also wake up from it.

A: At what time?

P: This is about 6:00, 6:30 a.m.

A: You can wake up from sneezing at 6:00 o'clock?

P: Yes.

When I saw this woman I thought of this remedy as a reflex, and then there was the confirmation: Sneezing in the morning at 6:00 o'clock.

Look on page 350:

NOSE, sneezing, morning, 6 a.m. : Sep

A: This was your problem. Sometimes you had leucorrhea and also crippled nails.

P: Yes.

A: The stool was all right. You like the sun a lot.

P: Yes.

A: You can lie in the sun for quite a long time. You could be living in the South very easily. Don't you think so yourself?

P: Yes. I would like to. I also like to go there on holiday.

A: To lie in the sun.

P: Yes, I think so, there are many women who like to do it.

A: Many women who are like you are like this.

A: Do you like to dance?

P: Before I did, but not now anymore.

A: Your husband doesn't want to go there, does he? You have been to a dance club, haven't you?

P: No, my husband doesn't want to go there.

A: Is the music switched on at home?

P: Yes.

A: You said that you sleep on the right side.

P: Yes.

A: And on the sexual level it is good.

P: Yes.

A: You never had an aversion?

P: No.

A: You are not the kind of woman who wants to be left in peace?

P: No.

A: But you also have a very good husband, don't you?

P: Whether he is so good, I don't know.

I forgot to tell you that I saw a slight eruption, herpes on the lips. If a person has this you have to think of three remedies: Natrum muriaticum, Sepia officinalis and Rhus toxicodendron. Surely there are still some other remedies which have this symptom, like Graphites, Medorrhinum and some others, but these three are the most important.

P: He has a very hard character.

A: Also when in contact with you?

P: Yes, also.

A: You said that you slept on the right side, never on the abdomen.

P: No.

A: The clothes can be tight. Further you said, "Before the menses I'm nervous." You like to eat highly seasoned food, chocolate, but you get complaints in the liver from it.

P: Yes, now I can eat more chocolate.

A: Have you tried to eat chocolate lately, after I gave you the remedy?

P: I used to eat chocolate very seldom. I just don't do it anymore. I don't feel a need for it.

A: You can also be very hot-tempered, to your husband as well to your children.

P: I think as a woman I have the right to stand up for myself.

A: Also towards your children?

P: I'm only hot-tempered towards my children when they don't listen to me, otherwise I'm not. They have to listen to me. Maybe I'm a little bit too severe. This is the tradition of the past, but I think this is the best method. My parents also were very severe and I think this is right.

A: Do you like discipline a lot?

P: Yes, I think it is important.

A: Do you have vesicles on the lips regularly?

P: I don't know why, but regularly I have vesicles at the lips.

A: I gave you the remedy and what happened to the sneezing?

P: What do you mean?

A: How is the allergy now since you were here the last time?

P: It was clearly better for two, three months, until the beginning of December, then it started again, but I couldn't come back. You gave me an appointment at the beginning of December, but I couldn't come.

A: But the remedy helped you clearly.

P: Yes.

A: The sneezing was gone.

P: It took quite a while. It didn't disappear immediately. It was gone after about three weeks.

A: Do you have problems at home? A lot of anger?

P: Well yes, my husband doesn't admit it because he is so obstinate. Internally he knows that he was wrong, but he is so obstinate, he just doesn't admit it.

A: We have seen that patients don't react as well to the homeopathic remedy when there is anger in the family. It is normal that you lose energy.

P: This could be the case with me.

A: The remedy did its work and you felt clearly better, but now it comes back again.

P: Yes.

The picture was clear.

In male or female patients you often think of this remedy because of their appearance, but this is not sufficient to prescribe the remedy. We need symptoms to confirm this idea.

CASE 12 v2

Dd ign., sep.

Case

Woman, 45 years old

October 19, 1987

A : You had pain in the veins at night.

P : Yes.

A : In the evening the veins were swollen. I can't remember exactly where. Were the legs swollen?

P : Yes.

A : And a vaginal infection with bearing down pain extending to the rectum and the vagina as if something would fall out.

P : Yes.

What is the rubric?

You find this rubric on page 735:

GENITALIA-FEMALE, Pain, Uterus, come out, as if everything would

come out, as if everything would : Bell., con., Kreos., lac-c., Lil-t., nat-c., Nat-h., nat-m., nit-ac., plat., podo., Sep.

A : When you were lying down it was better, so lying down ameliorated.

Lying ameliorates. You find this rubric also on page 735:

GENITALIA-FEMALE, Pain, Uterus, lying amel.: Agar, cimic, onos, pall, sep

A : Secondly you perspired very strongly. At night you were wet through from perspiration. You also had flushes of heat, a burning pain in the veins, a feeling of oppression on the chest, which ameliorated by walking in fresh air. You slept on your abdomen, never on the left side and you had varicose veins in the thighs.

You find this rubric on page 1223:

EXTREMITIES, Varices, Thigh: Calc, ferr, Ham, lac-c, puls, sep, zinc

A : Knitting was a relaxation for you.

P : Yes, it still is.

A : You must be occupied the whole day. Every Tuesday you go bicycling and you don't become tired from it. That's what you told me.

P : Yes, that's right.

A : I gave you a remedy in M potency. Tell me how did you do afterwards?

On page 839 you find the following rubric:

CHEST, Oppression, air, in open, amel. : Anac., chel., nat-m., Puls., sep.

She likes to ride on a bicycle and doesn't become tired from it. She is a person who likes to be busy constantly, and she has leucorrhea, an inflammation with very strong bearing down pains. Which remedy does she need?

Sepia.

That's easy.

P : Actually I wasn't doing so well at the beginning and then it improved. Now, the last 14 days the pressure is better, and also the burning feeling is better. It hasn't completely disappeared yet, but it is better. I also perspire much less.

A : Wait, not so fast. Otherwise I can't follow. So first there was an aggravation. First you didn't feel so well.

P : Yes, yes, also in general. I didn't know what was wrong with me.

A : Which symptom disappeared first?

P : First the perspiration disappeared. Of course, it hasn't completely disappeared yet.

A : It will still remain this way for a while. But it is better?

P : Yes.

A : And secondly your main problem, the bearing down pain also has improved.

P : Yes.

A : Do you still have the feeling that you have a vaginal inflammation?

P : Now and then, but - how shall I say - it is still prickling. But this occurs only one day, and then it is gone; I washed it with cold water, and then it was gone. The pressure is much less.

A : And the burning pain in the veins?

P : I still have this, but it is far from being as bad as it used to be and not so often anymore. It is more low in the veins and it extends upwards.

A : And the feeling of oppression on your chest?

P : It is completely gone. I haven't noticed anything anymore.

A : And the knitting and bicycling, you can still do this as well as you used to?

P : Yes, I can.

A : All right. I will give you Foliata squallosa to take home and I want to see you again after 2 months to see whether everything has cured.

FEEDBACK (October 3, 1988)

This is the same patient, some time later.

P : (is crying)

A : Sit down. What's the matter? Tell me what's wrong?

P : (can hardly speak a word from sobbing) My daughter left her husband ...I can't handle this.

Here we have the same problem as the other patient. Ignatia seems to be an important remedy for women about 50, 60 years old.

Her daughter left her husband and this is her reaction.

A : When?

P : Last week. (is sobbing)

A : Can you sleep?

P : No.

A : You can't eat either.

P : I lost 10 kilos already . I can't eat anything at all.

A : And you cannot sleep.

P : No. Everything is blocked.

A : What do you feel?

P : Here, everything is blocked here (points to her chest/region of the neck)

A : What do you feel?

P : It is all blocked.

Here you see what the rubric "starving" in the generalities means. She can't eat anything at all,

GENERALITIES,STARVING : Ign.

loses weight, emaciates. This means starving, and there is only one remedy.

Remark: There is also a rubric in the Mind section on page 39, "Eat, refuses to".

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

A : Yes, she refuses to eat, this is also an interesting rubric, which fits Anorexia nervosa. Hyoscyamus is there. In Anorexia nervosa also think of Hyoscyamus, anorexia from grief, from jealousy.

A : You don't eat or drink anything at all?

P : No, I can't eat.

Did you see this kind of respiration?

(repeatedly, short inspirations in a row, without breathing in between)

You also find this in children. They breathe three, four times shortly after each other and they cry on expiration. This is Ignatia.

A : Can you eat anything at all?

P : No.

(Silence)

And there has never been anything wrong between both of them. They have a son 17 years old, and there was never anything wrong with the children or at home. They built their house, there were never problems. Her husband says that she can still come back, that he is prepared to forgive her.

A : This is your son's wife?

P : No, she is my daughter.

(Silence)

A : Do you have other complaints, besides this blockage in your chest?

P : I can't stand on my legs anymore.

A : What do you feel?

P : As if my knees would give way.

A : How much do you sleep at night?

P : I'm immediately awake at half past one, and then I can't sleep anymore.

A : Since when haven't you eaten?

P : The last 14 days. A cup of soup, that's all.

A : Have you eaten fruit?

P : No, I can't.

A : Or drank juices?

P : No, only water now and then.

(Silence)

A : Good. I must take care that you can cope it again. I want to see you again on Saturday.

Which rubric can we take here?

Audience: Weakness of the knees.

A : Yes, weakness of the knees, but it is a big rubric.

Audience: Constriction.

A : Yes, a sensation of constriction in the chest, a lump sensation. That's right, but I want a smaller rubric.

What exactly happened?

In the family everything was all right and suddenly she finds out that her daughter left her husband. These are ailments from what?

From bad news. You find this rubric on page 9:

MIND, Bad news, ailments from

For her it is a fright; ailments from fright.

Then you see her respiration and the emaciation. In the rubric "emaciation from grief" you don't find Ignatia, but it must be added here.

I gave her a high potency and now we will see the reaction.

FEEDBACK (October 8, 1988)

A : You were here on Thursday.

P : No, on Tuesday.

A : Yes, on Tuesday. And I gave you a tablet.

P : Yes.

A : Tell me, you were totally bewildered.

P : Now it is better. It became looser. I can eat again, and I can also urinate again.

A : You couldn't urinate before? But you didn't tell me about that at all. Anyway, then you could hardly speak a word. And now you can urinate again.

P : Yes.

She couldn't urinate before. It was not urine retention, but the kidneys weren't functioning, they didn't produce urine anymore.

Can you understand now that Ignatia, for example, also can block the liver? That Ignatia can produce icterus? If you look in the Repertory under "Skin, discoloration, yellow" you will find Ignatia.

Ignatia can really paralyze, it is the remedy for paralysis from grief. Paralysis in the face, any organ can be paralyzed in Ignatia states, the kidneys can stop producing urine or the bladder can be paralyzed.

This patient couldn't urinate, it was a very deep disturbance. Ignatia states can be very, very dangerous and even cause death.

A : This state lasted about one week, for how long did you have problems urinating?

P : The last two, three days before I came here.

A : You couldn't urinate anymore.

P : No, it was blocked. Now it is all right again..

A : That is strong.

(Silence) Eating is better now?

P : Yes.

(Silence)

A : You had retention of the urine for two, three days and this is all right now. Has the feeling that something was blocked also gone?

P : Yes.

A : You couldn't sleep either. How is your sleep now?

P : It is also better.

You see the possibilities with Ignatia.

The wounded honor is an essential point. The family is all right, the children live their life, earn enough money, the parents are together, they have a wonderful house and everybody thinks, "Oh, what a nice family!" Then one of the children divorces and immediately she wonders what other people will think about them.

They say that this element, what other people will think about them, is a Staphisagria element, but it is also important for Ignatia.

One of my colleagues told me that she had a patient with anorexia nervosa who took drugs and alcohol, who she gave Carcinosinum after the Carcinosinum seminar. Afterwards she developed a terrible herpes zoster. Seven years ago she also had herpes zoster.

What can you do?

The easiest thing to do is to wait.

Remark: No.

A : That is the easiest thing you can do. It is a serious case. She is suffering a lot from pain and itching and there is a remedy for this kind of herpes in people who are drinking.

Audience: Ranunculus bulbosus.

A : Yes, Ranunculus bulbosus in drunkards. Can anybody give me the rubric? I forgot where it is.

Audience: On page 1315.

drunkard, in : Kreos., lach., led.

A : On page 1315 there is a rubric:

SKIN, Eruptions, pimples, drunkard, in

But this is not the rubric I mean.

I can't find it yet, but there is a rubric in which you can see that Ranunculus bulbosus is the only remedy for Herpes zoster in drunkards; also for post-herpetic, neuralgic pain in drunkards Ranunculus bulbosus is the remedy.

In these kind of patients I think it is always better to give the corresponding remedy if a clear symptom indicated this remedy. These are steps she is making, she pushes something outwards in a symptom and if you are sure about the remedy you must help her. If you are not sure and you doubt about the remedy, all right, don't do anything at all. But in this case it is so important and clear that the remedy is Ranunculus bulbosus that you must give it.

Maybe you can also help her psychologically to stay away from drinking. Maybe you only give this remedy because of the itching and in addition it will help her to stop drinking, because as long as she goes on drinking it is impossible to cure her.

In chronic cases you must give the corresponding remedy in every acute disease and at the end you will see how beautiful the patient develops.

CASE11 v2

Sepia officinalis

Man, 33 years old

November 9, 1986

This is a patient with a disease which we all are afraid of, ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis with bleeding, a disease which we don't like to see, unless we find the right remedy.

A: Now you have been in treatment for quite a long time. The problem for which you came originally was ulcerative colitis with bleeding.

This was diagnosed by a proctologist in April 1984. Can you tell me what was the cause? What situation were you in when you had these complaints the first time?

P: The thing which worried me most was the fact that there was blood in my stool. I didn't trust this. This is not a triviality, to have blood in the stool. At that time I didn't have complaints from my intestine nor with the stool. I could have stool regularly. Shortly afterwards it became more frequent.

A: When did you have blood in the stool the first time? Do you remember when it started?

P: Oh, this is quite a long time ago.

A: Do you remember the first time? When did you notice this the first time?

P: Do you want me to mention a particular time?

A: Yes.

P: It must have been in 1984.

A: And you don't know why you had this? What was the cause?

P:Unfortunately, I can't tell you. When I was nervous or during examinations I easily had diarrhea. But I cannot say exactly what the cause was for the blood in my stool and the diarrhea.

A: You can't say exactly?

P: No.

A: But you believe that psychological circumstances can cause physical complaints.

P: Yes, I'm convinced.

A: But you cannot remember a particular situation where you felt unhappy or which was a bad experience?

P: I can't remember.

A: You really haven't experienced anything bad?

P: No.

A: Were you married at that time?

P: Yes, I was in 1984.

A: For how long?

P: Since 1981, so then I was married for three years.

A: Did you have any complaints in 1981? Did it really start in 1984?

P: Yes. Before 1984 I always had a cold, I had to take something for it, but I never suffered from these complaints. As a child I already had diarrhea, I was almost dehydrated.

A: Did you have other complaints as a child or diarrhea?

P: In fact I had only the childhood diseases.

A: No particular diseases?

P: No.

A: When you were ill the first time, for example, you had the measles or something like that, otherwise nothing?

P: No.

A: Apparently there is no clue for this diarrhea, anyway not that you are aware of. It might be a constitutional, congenital problem, which does not have a particular cause.

When you had this diarrhea with blood you were rather worried about your health, weren't you?

P: Yes.

A: What do you mean?

P: Immediately I thought of cancer, of cancer of the intestines. Something must have happened, because there was blood in my stool.

A remedy which thinks of cancer and has bloody diarrhea is which remedy?

Audience: Phosphorus

A: Yes, Phosphorus is one of them, but in this man I didn't have the feeling of Phosphorus.

There are indifferent Phosphorus patients who already progressed a long way and at the the end they become indifferent to everything. But this man is reserved and withholding, therefore I didn't think of Phosphorus, but of which other remedy?

Audience: Nitricum acidum.

A: Yes, Nitricum acidum in cases with bloody diarrhea and a strong fear of cancer. When they have this kind of diarrhea what do they do to improve this diarrhea?

Audience: Riding in a car.

A : Yes, the the diarrhea improves when they are riding in a car, but not only the diarrhea improves, riding in a car ameliorates Nitricum acidum in general, all the complaints. This is a clear modality of Nitricum acidum. But in Nitricum acidum normally we see cracks and painful stool. They have diarrhea, but often also constipation with hard stool and cracks in the rectum.

A: You are a physiotherapist and work in a hospital, a long way from home. Might this have an influence?

P: Maybe I have some stress, because I have to hurry to be there on time and to come home quickly.

Do you know what profession he has?

He works as a physiotherapist in a hospital. Somebody who doesn't want to do physical exertion won't become a physiotherapist. For example, Carcinosinum won't choose this kind of profession. They prefer to sit and read or make music or to travel, but they sit all the the time, they don't want to do any physical exertion.

This patient seems to be somebody who likes to do exertion.

It is very important to know the profession of your patients and to understand why they have this kind of profession and no other.

A: Can you tell me something about your character?

P: Yes.

A: What are your characteristics as a human being? What differentiates you from other people?

In ulcerative colitis normally the local symptoms do not give you clear information which you can use to choose your remedy. It is a deeper process, and therefore it is important to understand the personality of the patient, to understand what happens exactly. Often the cause is very important as we see in Ignatia and Natrum muriaticum.

P: In fact I make contact very easily. Concerning work, I'm a little bit lazy, but when I expect something from other people I expect even more of myself. I'm a sensitive person.

A: What do you mean?

P: I take things to heart when something happens in the family or when something happens with other people. I have my reasons for practicing this kind of profession. I would like to help people who are lacking something. Before when a pupil in the class couldn't follow so well I felt sympathetic with him, I couldn't tolerate this.

A: Do you think that you are easily angry?

P: Yes, I am.

A: Under which circumstances?

P: It has to be the way I imagine things, and when this is not so I'm affected. I express this feeling, but I easily become hot-tempered towards people who are very close. Towards the people at work to whom I should say something, because they provoked it I'm more reserved.

A: Does this mean that you easily become furious?

P: Do you mean the expression of the fury or the fury itself?

A: You say that you become angry easily towards people who are very close.

P: Yes, for example, to my wife.

A: Not towards other people?

P: No. I would like to, but I withhold myself.

The information which he just told us makes us think of which remedy?

Answer: Lycopodium clavatum.

A: Yes, that's right. Lycopodium clavatum, because he becomes angry at home and somewhere else he is rather timid.

Are there other remedies of which you think?

Audience: Silicea ... diarrhea because of fear of anticipating?

A : Did he say that he has diarrhea from fear of anticipation.

Answer: Yes.

A: Good, he said that it is worse then.

Other ideas?

Answer: Staphisagria, because he ... (not understandable).

A : Yes, he doesn't show his anger.

Other propositions?

Audience: Nux vomica.

A : Yes, it could be; but it must be a remedy which only becomes angry at home, towards people who are very close.

Answer: Sepia officinalis.

A: Do you have anxieties particularly applying to you?

P: In the dark.

A: Do you have a fear of dark?

P: Well yes, I'm not a hero in the dark.

A: Do you have other anxieties? Do you have a fear of heights?

P: Not that I know of. I never noticed it, neither as a child. I climbed on roofs and in trees. When they built a house I helped to cover the roof.

A: Is this fear of dark strong? Did you have this from childhood on, or isn't it so strongly indicated?

P: No, in fact it is not so strongly indicated, but I already had this as a child. I would not easily go outside in the dark or ride a bicycle when it was dark.

(A long pause, nobody is saying a word)

I don't say anything and he doesn't say anything. Does this indicate Lycopodium clavatum? No, as Lycopodium clavatum he wouldn't shut up. He would talk and talk and try to explain everything.

I don't have the feeling of Lycopodium clavatum in this man.

A: Do you think that you are a man who likes company?

P: Yes, but I also like to be alone. When I am alone I also feel good, then I can rest. I can occupy myself very well.

A: You say that you easily become angry towards your wife.

Do you have an aversion to your wife sometimes?

P: Yes.

A: What do you mean?

P: When I felt really bad I didn't feel like sleeping with my wife. I didn't feel like it at all.

A: Was this also concerning other members of the family? Mother, father? Did you also have an aversion to them?

P: Yes, but not directly. Maybe I answered them shortly and was irritated.

A: So you could give a jab at the right moment.

P: Yes. This was not only at home, but also at work.

A: This is a characteristic of yours, that you can hit a person in their sensitive spot with words. You have the capacity - if we can call it this - to hit the sore spots. You know where to hit somebody. Spiteful.

This was the episode when he couldn't tolerate his wife. Everybody knows this rubric.

Look in the Repertory on page 9:

MIND, aversion, members of family.

Just above you can see the rubric:

MIND, aversion, husband: ... nat-c ...

But can you think of Natrum carbonicum in this man? Why can't you think of Natrum carbonicum in this case?

Audience: He is rather closed.

A: Yes he is rather closed, but what is very typical for Natrum carbonicum when he is sitting before you?

Audience: Aversion to certain persons.

A: You cannot feel this aversion towards certain people when he is sitting before you. How does Natrum carbonicum behave?

Audience: Mild and friendly.

A: Yes, friendly, very friendly. If somebody is very mild, very friendly the first remedy I think of is Natrum carbonicum, together with Pulsatilla.

The aversion to members of the family can be expressed in another way, namely, by indifference to his wife, indifference to his family.

You find this on page 55:

MIND, indifference, loved ones to: ... Phos ....

This is one of the three forms of appearance of Phosphorus on the psychological level, the indifference to their family.

Indifference to their family: Sepia officinalis, Phosphorus.

Indifference to their own children: Sepia officinalis, Phosphorus and besides Natrum carbonicum.

He has blue eyes, blond hair, and only by the appearance you could think of Phosphorus in him, but his way of talking doesn't fit. You don't feel anything sympathetic, no movement on the emotional level.

A: Sometimes you couldn't work when you had diarrhea.

P: I could always work very well, at least if I didn't have to go to the toilet.

A: You are also a person who is rather critical.

P: Yes.

A: Can you describe this more precisely?

P: Yes. For example, when there was a program on television, I easily criticize: they should do it this way or that would be better. I have comments on everything.

A: You easily criticize things which according to you should be done differently.

P: Yes.

So critical.

A: What about company? Sometimes you like to be alone?

P: Yes.

A: Under which circumstances? When do you like to be alone?

P: That is difficult to say. Sometimes my wife also works in the evening and when she is not at home I can do a lot more things.

A: How sensitive are you to strangers? Is it difficult for you to meet strangers?

P: Do you mean people whom I see the first time?

A: Yes.

P: First I'm reserved. I have to learn to know the people before I want to have contact with them.

This is a very important point in the differential diagnosis for Natrum carbonicum. He says that first he has to learn to know people better before he really wants to have contact with them. This is not so in Natrum carbonicum. They have an aversion to certain people without any reason. It is like a seventh sense. Without any visible reason they spontaneously have an aversion to certain people. This is not the case with him.

P: This is a Dutch behavior. When you met somebody one minute ago and he is already your best friend.

A: Do you think this is a Dutch behavior?

P: Yes, I think so. Even a stranger would come to you, shake hands and ask you, "How are you doing?" You can't ask this when you don't know the person at all.

A: When you are sad or despondent do you want to be consoled? Do you like company or do you want to be alone?

P: I like them to pay attention, I would like somebody to take notice of me. I wouldn't express this but internally I like this.

A: But you don't express this?

P: No, in fact I bottle it up.

A: You are rather closed by character.

P: Yes. This is a family trait.

A: Is this so in your family? Are most members of the family closed?

P: Yes.

A: How do you feel in the morning when you wake up?

P: I wake up rather early. After getting up I can easily start working. I don't need the whole forenoon to become fit.

A: Are you a leader at work?

P: I work alone. I have only an assistant.

A: When somebody contradicts you at home or at work can you tolerate this?

P: No.

A: Is this very difficult?

P: Yes, it is very difficult. I don't want to be reprimanded, also when I see afterwards that the other person was right. But at the moment when it happens it is difficult for me to accept it.

A: You are sensitive to criticism.

P: Yes.

A: This is not only to criticism, but also when somebody contradicts you.

P: Yes, yes I don't tolerate this very well.

This is another element, "intolerant of contradiction"

You find this rubric on page 16:

MIND, contradiction, is intolerant of: ... Aur ... Ign ...

Lyc ... Sep ...

Carcinosinum is an addition in this rubric.

There is another rubric, "anger from contradiction".

A: When the ulcerative colitis started did you still have hope of a cure?

P: At the very beginning I was anxious. I thought I would never become old. I also expressed this to other people, that I wouldn't become old. This was not only in relation to this disease, but otherwise.

What rubric is this?

Look on page 36:

MIND, despair, recovery

This is very important in this remedy, for example, when they have eczema.

According to me this is the most important remedy in patients with eczema, who suffer very strongly and who are completely desperate. Maybe you think of Psorinum first, but this remedy is desperate to the same extent. They are completely malicious, don't like their husband anymore, they are intolerable and spiteful.

P: But when I came into treatment, - they advised me to have a treatment in the hospital, I should have had X-rays - I told them that I would have it done, that I prefer to be treated homeopathically.

A: What did they want to do with you?

P: A course of cortisone and then a pause for six weeks.

A: And SALOZOPYRINE?

P: Yes, it might be.

A: Here it says: SALOZOPYRINE, 6 tablets a day, six weeks rest and then LAVAMENTE, cortisone, BEDNISON. This was to inactivate your intestine, but symptoms appeared in many other different ways, for example, as a perforation.

In cases of ulcerative colitis and the disease of Morbus Crohn I want to warn you about perforations when patients already have had cortisone. In the treatment of this disease you will often see acute states because of the perforations of the intestines. You can cure this homeopathically, but you must have some knowledge. When you are not able to treat these serious cases, you had better not take these patients.

Often these patients come to the Center with a perforation. Before they have been treated with cortisone, this has lead to atrophy of the muscles of the intestines and the consequences are perforations. These are very dangerous states, Mercurius, Bryonia alba states. In such a case first you have to treat the acute state and only later you can come back to the constitutional remedy.

A: Later on you could also develop fistulas and a hemicolectomy would be necessary. This is the way it normally goes in ulcerative colitis.

Are you a courageous person or are you sad now and then?

P: Now and then sad.

A: I notice that you have a small crack in the middle of the lower lip.

P: But it is not a real crack, it is more a crease.

This is a very important symptom. When I see something like that, a crack in the middle of the lower lip, immediately I look for a rubric.

Look on page 357:

FACE, cracked lips, lower lip, middle of

Additions in this rubric are: Calcarea carbonica, China, Natrum carbonicum, Nux vomica, Phosphorus, Phosphoricum acidum.

Sepia officinalis and Medorrhinum are additions of Ananda Zaren.

Don't forget that Natrum carbonicum also has this symptom, also Natrum muriaticum and Hepar sulphuris, a crack in the middle of the lower lip.

When they have clear physical symptoms, like a wart on the face or a greasy face or an eye that is turned outward, these are very important symptoms which give you ideas for a remedy. And when you have ideas you can go from one remedy to another one and see whether this is the right remedy or another one. Can this be Natrum muriaticum? Or Sulphur? You see that it cannot be this remedy, you look at the next remedy in the rubric with the physical symptoms and you see whether it can be this remedy and so on.

A: Are you a person who easily forgets, on experiencing something bad, when somebody did something to you?

P: No. I will not forget a thing like that. Of course it depends on what it was. When it was really a very serious thing, I will remember it for quite a long time. When it is not so bad then I forget it. I can't easily start talking about things which were really difficult.

A: Let's suppose you have been away, to a party, can you immediately fall asleep?

P: Yes.

A: You don't think about it anymore?

P: No. When it concerns sleep, I don't have any problems with that.

Which remedy cannot sleep, when something has happened?

Audience: Natrum muriaticum.

A : Yes, Natrum muriaticum. When they have been somewhere and then they go to bed, everything runs like a movie before their eyes and they cannot sleep.

A: When you hurt somebody it has an effect quite a long time afterwards?

P: Yes.

A: Can you easily forgive?

P: No, not so quickly.

A: What about forgetting?

P: Also not.

A: If you would have the possibility would you counter?

P: Maybe.

A: You are not so forgiving?

P: I don't think so.

In this case you must also think of Natrum muriaticum. But when you take a look at him, what is against Natrum muriaticum?

Audience: He can express his anger.

A: Yes, that is right, but what do you observe?

He always looks straight into my eyes, he doesn't look away. Natrum muriaticum can't look for 30 seconds in your eyes. This is a kind of defense mechanism on the psychological level. They don't like people to go too deeply into their feelings, therefore they turn away their eyes.

This is not the case in this patient, he has his eyes fixed on me all the time.

A: Do you often have the feeling or did you have the feeling that you are a little bit alienated from your family?

P: Yes, that's true. I've been away from home such a long time. From the age of 12 I was already in a boarding school, then I went to high school and afterwards I worked abroad. The contact with the family became gradually less and less. This was also because I met my wife, and of course I went to her instead of my family.

I thought this would change when I became older, but this was not so. I still don't like to go home. I have a somewhat arrogant attitude. The others also have their capacities and in fact I should tolerate this.

A: Do you mean that you are a little bit arrogant sometimes?

P: Yes. My wife also says, "The way I saw you before was the type who was always dressed very well and who looked somewhat boastful and somebody who showed off." Maybe this is my way of behavior. My horoscope is Leo. Maybe this also plays a role.

A: Surely there is a relationship, but it is not clear to me yet.

Question: .... (not understandable)

A : The question was whether we can take the rubric "theorize" when a patient talks about astrology.

We can, but it depends on how strong it is, whether he tries to explain everything.

From the beginning we can see that he is not strongly family minded. He says that he is alienated from his family.

You find this in the rubric on page 39:

MIND,ESTRANGED, family, from her : Anac., ars., con., hep., nat-c., nat-m., nat-s., nit-ac., phos., plat., sep.

MIND, estranged, family, from her

This remedy can have this. Also there you see Nitricum acidum, Natrum muriaticum and also Natrum carbonicum. Pulsatilla will never feel estranged from his family. Even when they are staying in a boarding school, far from home, they always want to go back home.

He can be very hard towards his wife, insensitive, abusive.

Look on page 1:

MIND, abusive

MIND,ABUSIVE : Am-c., am-m., anac., bell., bor., caust., con., dulc., hyos., ip., lyc., lyss., mosch., nit-ac., nux-v., petr., plb., ran-b., seneg., sep., spong., stram., tub., verat.,viol-t.

Up to now you cannot prescribe a remedy for sure. Maybe you can say that this is the mental picture of a certain remedy, but you cannot be sure. You need something more.

A: Do you have other anxieties?

P: No.

A: Do you easily have a cold?

P: Not that I know of.

A: What about your memory for a short time?

P: When I compare this to that of my wife .... she has a real good memory. She can remember every detail of what happened years ago, but I can't remember these things.

A: Concerning your job, are you a person who works slowly or who is always in a hurry?

P: It depends on how much work I have to do.

A: But not always in a hurry?

P: No.

A: When do you feel best?

P: When I'm tense.

A: What do you mean?

P: While playing sports. Regularly I play sports, not just running, but real conditioning training. The complaints which I have usually disappear from this. It's real tough exertion, about 1 1/2 hours straight, which makes me tired, but I feel good.

A: After sports you don't have diarrhea?

P: No.

A: How many times per day?

P: 10 times a day.

A: And when you were running you didn't have any complaints at all?

P: Maybe there was a moment when I thought, "Oh, be careful, don't push too hard during the exercises for the muscles of the abdomen, but this was only for a short period.

A: This is strange.

P: Yes, I also think so. Why is this? To antidote what?

His stasis.

And where do we find this in the Repertory?

In the generalities on page 1358:

GENERALITIES, exertion, physical, amel.

Carcinosinum is an addition. You also see Trillium pendulum, a bleeding remedy, a differential diagnosis with Sepia officinalis in bleeding, nosebleeds and so on.

In patients with bleeding where Sepia officinalis is clearly indicated, you give Sepia officinalis, but the bleedings don't stop or they even become worse; in this case you have to think of Kali ferrocyanatum. The picture is, concerning the character the same. Usually the bleeding is painless. This is also the case in Ferrum.

Which other rubric can we take in the generalities?

Audience: Running ameliorates.

A: Yes, you find this on page 1398:

GENERALITIES, running amel.

amel. : Caust., ign., nat-m., Sep., sil., stann.

You see this kind of running in athletes, long distant runners. At an athletic meet I saw a woman, who was about 40 years old and who had to run 5 km. After the first lap she was 200 meters behind, but she continued running, although she was rather obese. You know that Sepia officinalis is very thin when they are young, she has very small hips, but when they have had children, usually they become fat, they develop a fat abdomen.

Do you know the rubric?

It is all in the Repertory. Look on page 546:

ABDOMEN, enlarged, mother: ... Sep ...

She continued running and when the others had already reached the finish she was still running until the finish.

This was typical Sepia officinalis, it was wonderful. They run and run, they don't give up and they feel good with it.

This is also the case in asthma and in all other diseases. Normally asthma becomes worse from strong exertion, but not in these people. When they do very strong physical exertion the asthma becomes better. I think you will find it in the Repertory as, "running doesn't aggravate".

Look on page 771,

RESPIRATION, difficult, running, after, does not agg.,

slow motion agg.: Sep

They need this very strong physical exertion. This is also the case on the mental level.

Look in the Repertory on page 69:

MIND, occupation, amel.: ... Sep ...

They want to be occupied all the time, but it is another occupation than we find, for example, in Bryonia alba. Bryonia alba also wants to be busy all the time, but they prefer to sit and to do something, they don't need this strong physical exertion.

In the general rubric on page 1358 there are some other remedies:

GENERALITIES, exertion, amel.: ... ign, nat-m ...

But these remedies don't fit his character. You can also prescribe a remedy on the mental, emotional picture, but you have to be careful. The keynote is important and we have it in this case: running ameliorates.

P: I always liked sports, from childhood on, also before when I was in school. I was most interested in gymnastics. At home there were several boys and we didn't do anything but play football and sports.

A: Was this your life, playing sports?

P: Yes.

A: You made a profession out of it in some way, namely you've become a physiotherapist. Did you ever want to become a sports teacher?

P: You need some capacities for that.

A: Probably you don't have them and therefore you wanted a profession in which you could be physically active.

P: If I had not become a physiotherapist I would have become a sports teacher.

A: This is very interesting. Your being, your constitution determined your profession.

P: Yes.

A: Sometimes you are also a little bit cool, you ignore your wife and you think, "It doesn't make any difference, does it?"

P: Yes, fortunately.

If a man is indifferent to sexual relationships and he likes to play sports, this is strange and particularly for this remedy.

We find this also in spiritual people, people who make a lot of theories, who go to India and who want to be spiritual, because they are not interested in sexual relationships.

Also in sportsmen, marathon runners or bicyclers we often find this remedy. Does anybody know which remedy is important in bicyclers?

Audience: Thuja.

A: When they have problems usually they have problems with their tendons, the Achilles tendon. You find this in the rubric on page 1049:

EXTREMITIES, pain, tendon, expansion of: Agar, thuj

And the pain is usually in the middle of the Achilles tendon in a small spot.

There is the second reason why you often find Thuja in bicyclers. Which?

They tremble from music. You find this in the rubric on page 1214: EXTREMITIES, trembling, foot, music, from: Thuj

When they are very close to the finish, they look behind once again, they are blowing their nose - you know that Thuja always has these dry, yellow crusts in the nose - and when the music is playing at the finish they start trembling and ride faster and faster. This is Thuja - no, this is not Thuja, this was only a joke.

All right. But important information for the practice is that Thuja has pain on extending. You find these contractions also in Causticum, the contractions after burns, in Dupuytren's contracture and so on. But in Thuja the pain is only in one small spot and normally on the left side.

A: Sometimes you are very easily irritated, but not under normal circumstances, are you? Sometimes you even don't want to be talked to, sometimes you want to be left in peace. Do you often react irritably when you are asked too many questions?

P: Yes.

A: Do you easily weep?

P: Yes, it might happen, but not so easily.

A: Did you have periods when you were tired of your life? Maybe because of your ulcerative colitis?

P: It has never been so bad.

A: Is your state of mind rather balanced or does it change?

P: It doesn't change so much.

A: But you are a person who is easily angry?

P: Yes, that's right.

A: And easily excited.

The differential diagnosis with Nux vomica is not always easy. Nux vomica is a complementary remedy to Sepia officinalis. We will see this later.

A: You are restless?

P: No, I'm really quiet. I look for tranquillity and walk in the forest.

A: But you don't stroll.

P: No, no, I walk rather fast.

A: You don't want to walk slowly?

P: No.

When he goes for a walk he can't walk slowly. You find this rubric in the generalities on page 1412:

GENERALITIES, walking, fast, amel.: ... Sep ... sul-ac

... Tub ...

In the rubric below you find the following remedies:

GENERALITIES, walking, slowly, amel.: Aur ... Ferr

... Puls ...

A: Then you feel better, you do better, when you can walk in the open air.

P: Yes.

This remedy has an aggravation in open air, unless there is physical exertion. They don't like the open air, only when they do physical exertion in the open air, they feel well.

In this patient you can also feel the emotional stasis, an emotional lethargy. It is difficult to move him on the emotional level. This is typical for Sepia officinalis. If somebody proposes to go dancing they don't want to go, they prefer to stay at home, because they are too lazy to go out. But once they are on the dance floor they don't want to leave. That's their character.

A: Are you sensitive to humiliation?

P: No, well, who can tolerate these kind of things?

P: Do you like music?

P: I like any kind of music, but the circumstances have to fit. I can listen to classical music, but also to hard rock or beat music.

A: Do you dance?

P: Yes.

A: What kind of dances?

P: Also everything. I know the classical dances, the standard dances and I also like to dance to rock music.

A: Have you ever taken a course in dancing?

P: Yes and no. Once I went to a performance where they showed us how to do it, and afterwards I said, "In fact I don't want to do this, this is a little bit too - how should I describe it? - too stupid, because of this proper greeting, to keep the right position and all this stuff. This dance teacher has driven this to the extremes. I don't think I could follow such a course if I wanted to. I think I can dance well enough, even without a course.

A: Do you easily weep and you don't know why?

P: No, never.

A: Do you think that you are easily too warm or too cold?

P: I prefer it to be warm.

A: When you prefer it to be warm you are easily cold.

P: Yes.

In general this remedy is chilly, but you also find this on page 1349:

GENERALITIES, cold, heat and cold agg.: ... fl-ac ...

In general it is a warm remedy, but it doesn't tolerate the cold either. Mercurius is also there and Sepia officinalis. This is a reason for the fainting of Sepia officinalis in a warm room.

A: Do you like the sun?

P: Yes.

A: A lot?

P: Yes, you can say so. I'm not the person who likes to go the South on holidays, to burn in the sun, but I can tolerate the sun very well. I can enjoy the sun.

A: Can you lie in the sun?

P: Yes.

This is an expression which these people use very often, "I need to live in the South." And the octopus, the Calamare you don't find in the North Sea, but in the South.

These people like the sun a lot, but it could happen that somebody says that he doesn't like to lie in the sun too long, that he has to move, to do something. This can also be Sepia officinalis. On the other hand we also see in Sepia officinalis that they faint in a warm room.

A: With the colitis you also had a prolapse of the rectum.

P: Yes, a little bit.

A: Not so much?

P: No.

A: Did you have the feeling, that the intestine - so I mean the feeling, even if this was not so - that the intestine was pushed outward? From inside to outside?

P: No.

A: You didn't have a bearing down sensation?

P: No. I always had an urge for stool and a lot of flatulence.

A: You had a feeling of fullness in the rectum.

P: Yes.

This sensation of fullness in the rectum is an expression of the venous stasis. Which other remedy has venous stasis as the main idea?

Audience: Aesculus

Audience: Pulsatilla

Audience: Carbo vegetabilis

A : Yes, Carbo vegetabilis. In Carbo vegetabilis you can explain all the symptoms with venous stasis.

Here in this case there is a sensation of fullness in the rectum. You find this in the rubric on page 618:

RECTUM, fullness, stool, after: ... sep

There is also a lump sensation. You find this on page 623:

RECTUM, lump, sensation: ... Sep ...

This lump sensation is very strong in Sepia officinalis.

The sub rubric means that there is venous stasis.

RECTUM, lump, sensation, stool, not amel. by: Sep

There is another peculiarity to which you have to pay attention in Sepia officinalis men. Everybody thinks Sepia officinalis is a woman's remedy and forgets it in men. But you often find it in elder men who have had a lot of women, who went to bars, drank a lot. They come with this lump sensation, with the feeling of a lump in the rectum, with the feeling as if there is something at the rectum and say that it is their prostate. If this feeling is still there after stool the only capital remedy is Sepia officinalis. Sepia officinalis also has gonorrhea, gonorrhea in men. I think it is Kent who writes, " ... in old drinkers with headache, with threatening apoplexy. Apoplexy in men, addicted to drinking and sexual excess. With a disposition to gout and hemorrhoids."

In older people we always forget Sepia officinalis. A Sepia officinalis symptom in old people is the weakness, continuous weakness.

P: There was something which caused an urge.

A: A kind of a lump?

P: Yes.

A: Do you ever have a headache?

P: Yes, sometimes I have.

A: When?

P: When I was under pressure.

A: What kind of pressure?

P: When I was in a hurry or when I haven't eaten for a long time, from hunger.

Which is the typical Sepia officinalis headache?

Audience: From shopping.

A : Yes. This is a keynote on which you can prescribe.

You can find this on page 147:

HEAD, pain, shopping from: Sep

There is an addition: Epiphegus. Maybe you will need this after 10 years, but not now yet.

A: Of course you also have pain.

P: No, not so much. I have the feeling as if there is something in the intestine, but I never felt a real pain.

A: Do you have vesicles on the lips sometimes? So fever blisters?

P: No, I never had, only once an aphthae on the inside of my mouth.

A: Do you have freckles?

P: No.

A: What do you like to eat?

P: Sweets.

A: And what kind of sweets?

P: I like chocolate a lot, but otherwise I eat well, which was not the case in the past, when I was small.

A: What else do you like to eat besides chocolate? What kind of taste do you like?

P: Sweet and highly seasoned.

The differential diagnosis for desire for chocolate is which remedy? Which other remedy likes chocolate a lot?

Carcinosinum.

And highly seasoned food?

Also Carcinosinum.

Besides Sepia officinalis has a desire for sour things, often an aversion to fat. As far as the desires are concerned the differential diagnosis between Sepia officinalis and Carcinosinum is not easy, because often both have the same appearance. But Carcinosinum has a real strong desire for fat, while Sepia officinalis rather has an aversion and a desire for ice cream is stronger in Carcinosinum than in Sepia officinalis.

A: And what about sour things?

P: I don't like them so much, but I wouldn't ignore it.

A: Gherkins and onions in vinegar.

P: Yes.

A: Can you eat lemons?

P: No, I don't eat them.

A: Do you like to eat grapefruit?

P: Yes, I like them, but no lemons. When I make orange juice maybe I put some lemons in it.

A: So you prefer chocolate and secondly highly seasoned, very spicy.

P: Yes.

A: In what position do you sleep?

P: On the right side.

A: Never on the abdomen?

P: This is very seldom.

A: Never?

P: Never is exaggerated, but mostly I sleep on the right side.

A: How do you feel in a thunderstorm?

P: I don't have an aversion to it, I even look at it. I want to see how it develops.

A: What do you think of the lightning?

P: I think it is fascinating.

This is also a keynote of Sepia officinalis: cheerful during thunderstorm. Which other remedy has this?

Carcinosinum.

Audience: And Kali carbonicum.

A : Kali carbonicum? I have never seen this before. Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium clavatum, Carcinosinum and Sepia officinalis have this symptom.

A: On March 18, 1986 you received your constitutional remedy. You reacted spectacularly to this remedy.

P: Yes. The frequency of the stool has diminished, the blood stayed away, this urgent feeling has gone, but not only this, also on the psychological level I feel a lot more stable. I feel more like working, everything is better.

A: Before you had stool up to 10 times a day. How is it now?

P: Once, twice.

A: I gave you the remedy on March 18, 1986 and I repeated it on November 6, 1986, eight months later, because you were always irritated, had a cold, and you had an eruption on the back and some scabs on the head. I repeated the remedy, because it is your constitutional remedy and you have a disposition for relapses, as far as your general state is concerned, but the stool remained good.

P: Yes, I don't have the least problems with it anymore.

A: So this was the case.

Before I forgot to tell you something, and I want to tell it now. We all have difficulties with certain skin diseases, eruptions with scabs which start healing in the middle. Then you see a kind of annular eruptions, but you find this only in the Repertory under "herpes", don't you?

Audience: Circinate

A : Yes. Circinate. But in Sepia officinalis these are scabs, small scabs and the eruption starts healing from the center. This is typical for Sepia officinalis.

The annular herpes is typical for Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

CASE11 v2

Asthma

Sepia officinalis

Man, 45 years old

What do you see on his face?

Audience: Warts.

A : Yes, this is very important. Look in the Repertory on page 396:

FACE, warts: Calc, Caust, Dulc, kali-c, lyc, nit-ac,

sep, sulph, thuj.

Dulcamara in cough from suppressed skin eruptions.

If you see somebody with a wart on the face then you take this rubric and try to differentiate every remedy. In 90% of the cases you will find the remedy only in this rubric.

Also if you have somebody with a real greasy face, you take the corresponding rubric and differentiate every remedy.

A: The first time you were here in August 1988.

P: Yes.

A: With an allergy to house dust and grass pollen.

P: Yes.

A: Have you always had this wart on the face?

P: Yes. In fact it disturbs me a little bit.

A: Why?

P: I had one here also and while shaving I always hit it. In time it became smaller, but not this one. I asked the doctor whether I should have removed it, but he advised me not to do it.

A: You come from Bruges and every time you drove home, at a distance of 15 km from the sea you had complaints. What kind of complaints?

P: Shortness of breath. Later on I also had an allergy.

This is a very strange, remarkable symptom. He lives here in the neighborhood and his parents live in Bruges, a very nice city close to the sea. Every time he visits his parents he has asthma. Where can we find this in the Repertory?

Look on page 1344:

GENERALITIES, air, seashore agg.: Ars ... sep

The additions in this rubric are Tuberculinum bovinum Kent, Carcinosinum, Syphilinum.

P: It started in the evening and at night it became very bad: wheezing respiration and shortness of breath.

A: It already started when you were in Bruges. How far is this from the sea?

P: 18 km. I noticed it there.

A: When you were here at home you didn't have any complaints?

P: No. I noticed it when we were on the way. When I spent a holiday with my parents in Bruges and drove back home I could breath better when we were halfway, about Antwerp, and the next day it was better.

A: You drove to Bruges to visit your parents?

P: Yes.

A: As a child you had an aseptic necrosis of the femoral head. Therefore you have been to the sea for a health cure. Probably it was tuberculosis of the bones.

P: Yes.

Who can tell me which remedy has particularly necrosis of the cartilage?

There is a particular remedy in the Materia Medica in which we see this necrosis of the cartilage, besides an infiltration of the intercellular tissue, like a lymphedema. These patients have swollen joints, but this swelling is not soft as in edema. Also you see them with enlarged lower limbs, and the essential point is necrosis of the cartilage. In which place of the body do we find this necrosis?

In the larynx and in the trachea. The symptoms which caused this necrosis of the tracheal cartilage are difficult to grasp, but the expression of the necrosis in the larynx is the hoarseness.

What is the remedy?

Argentum metallicum. And on which side do they have their complaints?

On the left side, just like Thuja and other remedies. And just like Sepia officinalis they have an amelioration in the evening.

Question: How do the patients express this? A necrosis is not a symptom which the patient will tell you.

A : They say, "Doctor, it is cracking here." They say it is cracking in the larynx, in the joints.

Remark: There is a rubric on page 1385, "GENERALITIES, pain, sore, cartilages".

A : Oh yes. This rubric fits very well when somebody says that he has sore pain in the larynx.

I had a case where I was fighting, fighting and fighting. This patient came with headaches, which appeared slowly and disappeared suddenly and they were on the left side. First I gave Magnesium phosphoricum, because I understood that the pain came suddenly and disappeared suddenly, but they appeared slowly and disappeared suddenly, and this is Argentum metallicum.

Argentum metallicum is a chilly remedy, important in the differential diagnosis with other chilly remedies, like for example, Thuja.

P: In my youth I had a relative who lived in Y at the sea. When I visited him and I was tossing about in the forest I had shortness of breath, and also at night. I had it at that time.

A: When you live here you don't have these complaints?

P: No, maybe a little bit sometimes, but then it is over quickly.

Patients with tuberculosis are sent to the sea, because many patients do better at the sea, for example, Tuberculinum bovinum Kent patients. But you also see that this is not always true, for example, a Sepia oficinalis case with tuberculosis does worse at the sea.

Also Sepia officinalis can have Tuberculosis. You know the rubric for Tuberculosis?

Look in the Repertory on page 878:

CHEST, phthisis, pulmonalis

Here you can make a new sub rubric:

CHEST, phthisis, pulmonalis, gonorrhea, after

suppressed: Sepia officinalis

This addition comes from Kent.

A: How has this tuberculosis been treated?

P: I have been in a sanitarium and afterwards in the hospital packed in bandages with weights of 34 kg and regularly I had to take Streptomycin.

A: When you were in the sanitarium at the sea you didn't have shortness of breath?

P: No, not at that time. I hardly got out of bed, but I didn't have shortness of breath.

A: The hay fever appeared only after the tuberculosis was cured?

P: Yes.

A: You also had itchy vesicles between the fingers.

You could tolerate the sun very well.

P: Yes. I got sunburn, I had to be very careful. As a pilot I was in Africa for three years and after I got used to the sun I became very brown.

A: Nevertheless you often had itching after sun radiation.

P: Yes. When I got sunburn and even after a few days when I took a shower and I rubbed with whatever kind of product it started itching so that I almost became crazy.

A: You also like to travel, don't you?

P: Yes.

A: Before you had a weak liver and had jaundice. How old were you then?

P: 10 years old.

A: And the tuberculosis?

P: At the age of 16.

A: You were nauseous during the jaundice. You felt bad even when you were thinking about food. Do you still remember?

P: Yes, surely. And especially when I thought of boiled chestnuts. Then it was worse.

This is a very important rubric, also for pregnant women. You know that Sepia officinalis is often indicated in pregnant women.

He became nauseous when he was only thinking about food.

Look in the Repertory on page 507:

STOMACH, nausea, food, thought of

Another very interesting rubric for the time of pregnancy you will find on page 481:

STOMACH, aversion, food, smell of: Ars, Cocc, Colch,

Ip, podo, sep

Podophyllum peltatum is also a very important remedy during pregnancy. Podophyllum peltatum has a bearing down feeling and very early contractions.

Colchicum autumnale patients come in and they have a hacking cough. They always have to take a deep breath, it ameliorates.

Look on page 766:

RESPIRATION, deep, ameliorates

This is a very interesting differential diagnostic point, because in vomiting during pregnancy it is very difficult to find the remedy. Therefore you have to differentiate by the special, particular symptoms, like for example, the deep respiration. In this rubric we don't find Podophyllum peltatum nor Ipecacuanha and Sepia officinalis is only one degree.

Question: Did you take the necrosis of the hip as a symptom?

A : I didn't look it up in the Repertory. Is there a rubric for that?

Audience: On page 1017.

A : "EXTREMITIES, hip-joint disease" this is a big rubric.

There is also another rubric on page 983:

EXTREMITIES, dislocation, spontaneous, hip

Sepia officinalis is not in this rubric. Calcarea carbonica has this symptom and also Thuja.

Another thing you absolutely have to think of in small children is that the open fontanels is also a Sepia officinalis symptom.

Look in the Repertory on page 132:

HEAD, open, fontanelles: ... sep ...

This is very important because it is very difficult to recognize Sepia officinalis in newborn children.

A: Another strange thing was that during the period of shortness of breath your state improved when you could go running.

P: Yes. My general condition improved and I also could breathe better. Of course I still had this shortness of breath, but I could conquer it.

A: You could conquer it by running?

P: Yes.

A: That is strange. Normally a person would have shortness of breath from exertion. With you it is the other way around. The more physical exertion, the better you could breathe.

P: Yes.

A: Do you still run? Your hobby is sports and especially running, isn't it?

P: Yes. But at the moment I don't have time for it anymore. I'm very busy lately because I go to school.

A: But you like to run?

P: Yes.

A: Can you run long distances?

P: Yes. I have been working as a teacher for two years. I regularly had time to run 18 km.

A: 18 km ( 11 mile ) ?

P: Yes. I trained for that. That was the maximum.

This is exactly the point which Vithoulkas indicates as the central point of this remedy, the stasis.

If you ask your wife or your girlfriend whether she wants to go with you dancing she will say, "No, I don't like dancing, I would rather stay at home." But when you can convince her to come with you and once she starts dancing she will never stop. That is the stasis, which becomes better as soon as they start doing physical exercise.

A: And how is the appetite?

P: I can always eat very well. That is no problem. When I don't have time to eat I take advantage of that to go on a diet. Between two flights I often have only 10 minutes to eat something. Then the preparations for the next flight have to be done. Then I don't eat a lot.

A: During the flight you don't have time to eat?

P: When it is a long flight I have, but not on short flights. The food in the airplane doesn't always taste well. It is not bad, but it has so little variation.

A: As far as the food is concerned can you enjoy food?

P: Yes.

A: Are you easily cold?

P: No, rather too warm. I easily perspire. Sometimes I can perspire very strongly at night, for example, after alcohol. It smells sour. My parents didn't have a shower before. My wife also noticed that I don't reek of perspiration anymore since I take a shower at home every day.

A: Your perspiration smells sour?

P: Yes.

A: And especially at night.

P: Yes.

He says himself that his perspiration smells sour.

Look on page 1299:

PERSPIRATION, odor, sour, night: ... Hep ... Sepia officinalis..

Here you find Sepia officinalis and also Hepar has this symptom.

A: Do you have other characteristics?

P: No.

You know that Sepia officinalis is the remedy for these cases in which we gave too many homeopathic remedies. Sepia officinalis can bring back the original symptoms, for example, when you gave too many remedies in an acute case and you got stuck.

Do you also know the rubric where you can find this indication?

Look on page 1282:

FEVER, changing paroxysms, after, abuse of

homoeopathic potencies: Sep

Above you see the rubric on page 1282:

FEVER, changing, paroxysms, after, abuse of quinine:

... ferr ...

You know that quinine is given as NIVAQUIN in rheumatic arthritis and we have had cases where this was the cause of the suffering and Ferrum cured it.

A: I wrote down that you don't like milk.

P: Yes, except in coffee and as pudding.

A: Does your food have to be highly seasoned?

P: No, we use very little spices.

A: Do you like it pungent?

P: Yes, I like it, even very sharp, but only once or twice a year. But when I make the spaghetti sauce my wife always says, "You could have used more spices." I don't use so many spices.

This is a very interesting family: he needs Sepia officinalis, his wife needs Sepia officinalis and also his son, all three of them need Sepia officinalis.

A: On August 10, 1988 I gave you the remedy in M potency. Then I repeated the remedy in 1988 and since then you have been doing well.

P: Yes, until the last few weeks, and also today I have a little shortness of breath. But the last few weeks I had a lot of courses and my job also requires a lot from the nerves. Besides the preparations for the Holy Communion of the youngest. In the meantime my mother-in-law died also. I wasn't nervous in an exaggerated way, but the eruption of vesicles between the fingers came back. Now it has dried up a little bit. It improved gradually.

A: You lost some energy?

P: Yes, and also some weight; not much, only 1 kilo.

A: Well yes, it is already 1 1/2 years ago that you received your last remedy and up to a few weeks ago you didn't have any complaints as far as the shortness of breath is concerned.

P: Yes.

A: Now you have a slight relapse.

P: Yes.

A: Apparently you can conquer it yourself, because the vesicle eruptions improve by themselves.

P: Yes, but apparently it seems to have something to do with my mood. This week I still have to take three examinations. I'm well-prepared. Yesterday I didn't do anything for it. I survived Holy communion and the funeral. I notice that slowly it becomes more quiet.

Concerning the skin eruptions of Sepia officinalis there is one very interesting rubric which describes the drying up in the middle of the skin affections. You find this on page 1346:

GENERALITIES, cancerous affections, lupus, in rings

Remark: ... (not understandable)

A : Yes, Lupus is a very vague description. They say it is a skin affection with scabs, sometimes with vesicles and sometimes with induration, but there is not a clear description. It is surely chronic and usually connected with systemic diseases, in arthritis and so on. With this Lupus it is not meant Lupus erythematosis, but chronic precancerous skin affections with induration, scabs, sometimes with vesicles and crusts which are circular and the middle is free, as we can see in herpes circinatus. Think of Sepia officinalis in this kind of skin eruption.

Remark: Also psoriasis is circular.

A : When you see this kind of psoriasis you have to take the rubric "skin, eruptions, psoriasis".

Remark: I have seen this circular psoriasis often.

A : Ah, you have seen this in patients, but it is not particularly mentioned in the Repertory.

Remark: On page 1312 there is the following rubric:

SKIN, eruptions, herpetic, circinate: ... Sep ... Tub

A : Yes, good. Sepia officinalis and Tuberculinum bovinum Kent are capital remedies in this rubric. In the sub rubric there is only one remedy:

SKIN, eruptions, herpetic, circinate, spring, every: Sep

A: Does this play a role in your son because now he also has a relapse?

P: Yes, my grandmother was hospitalized on May 5 and a few weeks before she wasn't too well either.

A: Has he been at his grandmothers very often?

P: Yes, very often, every day after school.

A: Then this surely plays a role in you.

P: Yes, it might be.

You see men will also need Sepia officinalis, the typical women remedy. This patient has a classical Sepia officinalis appearance: dark eyes and dark hair. For me the appearance is personally very important, it makes me first think of Sepia officinalis, but there are blond types as well who need Sepia officinalis. You may not stick to the appearance, you have to be flexible.

Case 12 v2

Hay fever

Sepia officinalis Boy, 8 years old

June 2, 1989

As you can see this is again a boy with brown hair and dark eyes.

You will see - and it is also written - that children do not have to be so irritable, so spiteful. They can be very, very nice. We have seen cases where you could easily confuse Sepia officinalis with Pulsatilla on the mental level.

A: What is the problem?

P: I have a very severe cough.

A: Since when?

P: Since last weekend.

A: Is this the first time in your life that you have had such a heavy cough?

P: No.

A: Does it occur regularly?

P: Yes.

A: Can you tell me about this, you are the father of the child.

FP: He has hay fever. The rest of the year it is all right, but during the hay fever season he has swollen eyes, a snotty nose, shortness of breath and a cough.

A: Is this only in May/June?

FP: Yes.

A: Does he have other problems?

P: He is very thin. We always have to push him to eat something. When it has taste he can eat a lot. But this is not every day.

A: I also think he is very thin.

(To the patient) What kind of food tastes good?

P: Cauliflower, spinach, fish sticks.

Do you see how nice, how soft he is?

Immediately you think of Pulsatilla and Baryta carbonica.

FP: Sometimes it is also just ordinary food when there is a particular atmosphere. For example, when we set the table beautifully and we dress ourselves very nicely then he has more appetite.

A: Is there something which you don't like?

P: Yes, mushrooms and codfish.

A: You eat fish sticks, but not codfish. Why?

P: I don't like it.

A: Does this mean that he is a little bit fastidious?

FP: Yes.

This is the son of a pilot. His father had tuberculosis and his son is delicate in his food. Desires delicacies, Tuberculinum bovinum Kent is capital.

Now we are in a difficult position. Is this a Tuberculinum bovinum Kent or a Sepia officinalis case?

Question: Why does he desire delicacies?

A : He likes fish sticks, but not codfish. If somebody says that he likes fish, but this fish has to be prepared in a very particular way then this means that he is very delicate in eating.

Remark: I always had the opinion that the desire for fish sticks is a very normal desire in children, just like the desire for ketchup and mayonnaise.

A : No, nothing is normal, everything indicates something. But maybe I interpreted it this way, because I thought of the rubric "desire delicacies" because he is so picky in eating.

A: What kind of character does he have?

FP: He is intelligent, but lazy. He stays calm a long time, but sometimes he can become very angry.

A: Is he restless?

FP: No. He can play alone for hours and hours. He is a quiet child.

A: Do you like meat?

P: Yes, I do.

A: What kind of meat?

P: Hacked (ground) meat.

A: What about sausages?

P: I don't like them so much.

A: Also no meatballs?

FP: We don't eat them much, he takes meatballs only when we get them from a French fries stand, he takes meatballs, but only because we all have them, not because they taste so well.

A: Did he ever have inflammation of the tonsils?

P: Not that I know of.

A: (examines the boy) The tonsils are swollen, no lymph glands.

Everybody knows that the differential diagnosis here is Tuberculinum bovinum Kent.

Question: Did you also feel the glands under the arms?

A : Yes, and also in the inguinal region you can feel enlarged lymph glands.

When you know that the grandparents have had tuberculosis then you have to be careful with their grandchildren. Usually these grandchildren need Tuberculinum bovinum Kent; you seldom see Tuberculinum bovinum Kent in direct descendants.

A: Are you afraid of anything?

P: In the evening when I have to go to bed.

A: Fear of dark. What else?

P: Fear of heights, when I stand on an abyss.

A: Fear of something else?

P: Before I was afraid of spiders, but not now anymore.

FP: When he has fever he often fantasizes. Then he is afraid of soldiers who are pursuing him.

A: Are you afraid of other animals?

P: No.

FP: Maybe of a Doberman, but then I also feel miserable.

Why did I look into his eyes?

To see whether he has blue sclerae.

Audience: For Carcinosinum.

A : No. Carcinosinum can also have a weak character, but they are suppressed, suppressed by their parents.

But blue sclerae, anxiety about animals, he likes meat which he doesn't have to chew, he is lazy, these are all Tuberculinum bovinum Kent symptoms.

A: Does he sometimes bring up mucus while coughing?

P: Yes, sometimes it is sticky mucus.

A: Is his nose also obstructed?

FP: Yes. He speaks through the nose.

A: Does he perspire easily?

P: No.

A: In what position do you sleep?

P: On the abdomen.

A: With the legs drawn up?

P: No.

A: When he suffers from hay fever are there places where it is less?

FP: Yes, in school. He suffers more from hay fever when he is at home.

A: Where does he go to school?

FP: The school is in the middle of the city.

A: For example, does he have fewer complaints at the sea?

FP: No.

A: Does he grind his teeth?

FP: No.

A: Do you like eggs?

P: Yes.

A: How do they have to be prepared?

P: Fried eggs.

A: Show me your hands.

P: (Shows his hands)

A: At what age did he walk?

FP: I don't know.

A: He doesn't perspire so easily?

FP: No.

Of which remedy am I thinking?

Audience: Of Calcarea.

A : Yes, you know that the hands of Calcarea are very flexible, and there is also the desire for eggs.

A: Can he persevere in running?

FP: Yes, he doesn't have any problems. He joined the scouts and they organize runs. He can persevere very well, even when he has hay fever.

This is a very important differential diagnostic point. Calcarea already becomes tired when he sees other people running. This is not the case with him. He likes to run and he can even run long distances.

FP: Does his respiration improve while running?

FP: I don't know. (to his son) Do you know?

P: I don't have to cough, but my nose runs.

FP: In fact, he hasn't tried it properly.

A: He can run continually?

FP: Yes, surel.

A: What do you like to do most?

P: Swimming. Mom told me that before I could play in the water all alone for two hours.

FP: He likes it. He doesn't need anybody. He likes diving and swimming.

A: He likes to be active physically?

FP: Yes, always.

A: What did you eat this morning?

P: A slice of bread with pieces of banana.

A: Does he like to eat bananas?

FP: Yes.

You know that Tuberculinum bovinum Kent is an addition in desire bananas.

The differential diagnosis in this child is very difficult. I cured his father from asthma with Sepia officinalis. This child has a typical Sepia officinalis appearance, on the other hand his father had tuberculosis. The only clear characteristic is the fact that the hay fever and the shortness of breath are not aggravated from running. To be sure I gave him first Tuberculinum bovinum Kent without any result, and then Sepia officinalis.

A: Do you like highly seasoned or sour things?

P: Not so much highly seasoned.

FP: No, he doesn't like sharp things so much.

A: Do you prefer sweet things?

P: No, also not so strongly.

A: Whenever you are standing in a high place and look downward what do you feel?

P: I have a fear of falling down.

A: What is the most typical characteristic of him?

FP: He is very polite and quiet. He likes to cuddle. Whenever he goes where there are women whom he hasn't seen before he will sit on their lap after a short time. He can get along very well with women and he always finds ways to talk to them. According to them he is a very nice boy and they like to take him on their lap.

A: He likes to sit on their lap?

FP: Yes.

A: Well, maybe you are a ... Is he very attached to his mother?

FP: Yes.

A: Is he very affectionate (devoted)?

FP: Yes, yes. When we are on the point of eating he asks after a while, "May I sit on your lap?"

Sepia officinalis children are like an octopus. They always want to be lifted, they always search for contact, like Staphisagria. They always want to have very close contact, it is very difficult for them to leave.

A: Does he like to eat chocolate?

FP: Not so much, also not on bread.

P: Not so much. Sometimes I eat bananas with it.

A: Does he like the sun?

P: Yes.

FP: He can be in the sun for hours. I think he tolerates the sun better than many Africans.

A: Does he resemble you or your wife?

FP: My wife. He has something of both of us, but he has this fine structure of the body from my wife. As a child she also had to stay at home often.

A: What kind of diseases did your wife have?

FP: Lung inflammation. Therefore as a child she had to stay at home for quite a long time. The weak point in her is also the lungs, coughing.

A: And you have hay fever?

FP: Yes. I have shortness of breath. Almost the whole year through, but less coughing.

A: Is your wife also so thin?

FP: No, she has thick legs, but also a weak chest.

A: Does he drink milk?

P: Yes, cold milk.

A: How long does the cough last when he isn't treated?

P: We always went to the family doctor and he got antibiotics.

A: Is he very sympathetic?

FP: Yes. When he hears that somebody is hospitalized or when he sees a scene on television in which somebody loses a piece of his finger he faints. He reacts so emotionally. He takes this to heart a lot.

He can also be very hot-tempered. As a small child he almost fainted from anger, when he didn't receive what he wanted.

A: Now he doesn't do that anymore?

FP: No, I broke his will, I didn't allow it anymore.

A: Did you ever faint?

FP: Yes, even when I go to the hospital and see how they take blood. I react very emotionally. I was there when my children were born. I had a chair ready in case I became ill, but I was so excited that I didn't have any complaints.

P: I don't mind giving blood.

FP: But he does when they are talking about it.

P: When they talk about injections.

I knew somebody who left for Africa and he needed an injection. Then I became ill.

FEEDBACK (December 9, 1990)

A: You were here in August. His hay fever was good, no complaints of shortness of breath or cough, no cold anymore. He slept in the hay and it was all right. How did it go in the meantime?

P: Good, doctor.

A: Have you had any problems?

MP: As far as the hay fever is concerned it was fantastic. He is more cheerful. He is not so slow anymore. He remains nonchalant.

A: So really cheerful?

MP: Yes, clearly. He eats very well. He's changed for the better.

This is his mother, also a clear Sepia officinalis appearance. I had another Sepia officinalis patient who didn't come back for a long time after I gave her the remedy. She knew I gave her Sepia officinalis and she bought it herself as a tincture in the pharmacy. She took it every day and she was doing well for a long time. When it didn't work anymore she came back for a high potency. In this case you can see that Sepia officinalis can also be given in a low potency. When it is the right remedy it even works in a low potency, surely not as long as the high potency.

A: His father has also been treated here for hay fever. How is he doing?

MP: I have to give you the message that he is doing very well.

A: And further?

MP: The boy developed very well. Lately he developed a lot.

A: He remained very well for a few months. We can't expect more.

MP: No. He is really doing fine.

In soft children, usually with this kind of appearance, do not only think of Pulsatilla, but also Sepia officinalis is a possibility.

Do you know why this child is so soft and easy in contact?

It depends on the situation in which they live. In this case the mother is very concerned about the child, also the father is very happy with his son, on the whole it is a very happy family. There is no particular reason to develop the typical Sepia officinalis character. Whenever he comes into a situation where he feels that he is hurt he becomes spiteful.

Another thing which you can observe in this child is the stasis.

He is relatively lazy, slow in his motions. You find this in the Repertory under "slowness, movements" together with Phosphorus. But on the emotional level it is a very nice, soft child and nobody would expect this of Sepia officinalis. Therefore I showed you this case.

CASE13 v2

Dd alum., bell., bry., lyc., podo., sep., sulph.

Woman, 30 years old

October 13, 1986

With this case I would like to show that sometimes you need many remedies to cure a patient.

What you will see now was taken three years ago and at that time this patient was pregnant, she had diarrhea and paralysis of the fingers, Guillain Barré syndrome. In the course of the case you will see how often I had to give another remedy, always with a very good reaction, until one day she developed a symptom, a symptom which indicated the remedy which could cure the paralysis.

This is the second consultation. The first remedy I gave was Sepia officinalis. There were many reasons, but the most important were the diarrhea and the constant bearing down sensation during pregnancy.

She is still pregnant with her second child and still has a paralysis of her fingers, toes and back, so that she cannot lift her first child. It is a general paralysis, Guillain Barré, a disease where allopathy can do nothing.

A: Here we are dealing with the syndrome of Guillain Barré. You were in the hospital in Antwerp and they made the diagnosis. I gave you a homeopathic remedy before you went to the hospital in Antwerp, and then you recovered rather well.

P: Yes.

A: This is clear. The diarrhea went away.

P: Yes.

A: You could rest very well and you didn't receive any medicines.

P: No, nothing at all.

A: Later, when you came back the problem was that you couldn't rest well because your husband broke his clavicle - he is a football player - and of course you lost energy.

P: I was doing a little bit worse. Not really bad, but it didn't improve either.

A: The diarrhea didn't come back. Was there still a feeling that it would come back?

P: Yes, but in fact it stayed away.

A: Then it improved slowly. You were here on September 1 and I repeated the remedy in M potency. On July 31, I gave you the remedy in M potency and again on September 1, and on September 18, in 10M potency, because your husband had this accident. How was the reaction to the last remedy?

P: It seems that I gained more strength. Besides you can see it in my hands, I cannot yet put the middle finger of my right hand and two fingers of the left hand up properly. The first 14 days I perspired very, very much. I don't know whether this is normal, but I woke up at night wet all over. I also perspired during the day, but not so strongly. The last week it went away. Sometimes I still perspire, but not so strongly anymore.

A: The last one week you feel rather well.

P: Yes, that's right.

A: Although the date of delivery is coming closer.

P: I have quite a lot of contractions and I saw the gynecologist three weeks ago. There was an opening of the cervix of about 2 centimeters and he said that I should wait, because the other child was born two weeks too early.

A: Will this be a Cesarean section?

P: No, a normal birth, because I'm already so far. Because of this 2 centimeter opening I don't need to rest anymore. I often have contractions and I think that the cervix has opened more.

A: You can stand up better now.

P: Yes, and I can also walk better. Now I can also walk barefoot. I could already do this a week ago, but not so well. Now I walk around the desk, I can stand upright better, and you can clearly see in my fingers that it is better. Only the middle finger and on the left hand the middle and the ring finger cannot yet be put upright properly. Compared to three weeks ago I have more strength. There were things which I couldn't do anymore, for example, to spray something, now I can do it again. I notice that I have more strength. I think that the fingers are still stiff.

A: I think it will disappear after the birth. I told you that your state is bad now because of the pregnancy. This is not the only reason, but this made the bucket run over. This pregnancy took so much energy that you collapsed. You also worked very hard. I heard from your boss that you are a very good worker, this means that you did more than necessary.

P: That's right. I'm never satisfied with myself. I always want more and more and I will never stop and say, "It is good." No, it has to be better, that's my character.

A: If a boss says something like that I immediately think that you work too much, because a boss doesn't say this kind of thing easily. Besides the work at home, all this together was the reason that you were doing so bad. We know the remedy and we know that it improved very clearly after a 10M potency.

P: I must also tell you that I suffered a lot from the perspiration during the first 14 days. Now it is better. It was terrible, especially on the breast and on the forehead.

A: Also under the armpits?

P: Not so strong there, more here. The perspiration was really dripping, also on the face. I woke up at night from the perspiration.

A: Do you still sleep a lot?

P: Yes.

A: Do you sleep well?

P: Yes, very well.

A: You couldn't before.

P: Not at the beginning, no.

A: So it improved. What about your appetite?

P: Very good. I could always eat very well.

A: The stool is normal?

P: Yes. I didn't notice anything in particular.

A: All right, it's good. That is enough for me. We will see further after the birth. What about breastfeeding?

P: In fact I didn't want to breastfeed, but you advised me to do it. The last time I had many cracks in the nipples and the pain extended along my arm.

A: But I would advise you to breastfeed, otherwise they have to give you medicines to stop the milk production and this would be a suppression. I'm anxious that this would aggravate your problem. I don't think it is a problem when the milk production stops after three weeks, but of course you must be able to do it. I would advise you to breastfeed. If you get the cracks again I will give you a remedy. If you can breastfeed only for 14 days it is no problem, but a suppression wouldn't be good.

For the time being we won't do anything at all. Almost one month ago you got a remedy in 10 M potency and you are doing better. This perspiration was an aggravation, because the potency had been increased. Now we don't need to do anything else, at the moment you are doing better.

I would like you to inform me, no matter what problem appears after birth, like the cracks in the nipples or things like that. It would be best to solve this homeopathically.

I told her that she should call me if another problem occurs, because she is about to deliver, this is a new life situation, and therefore an acute problem can lie upon her chronic problem.

FEEDBACK (November 6, 1987)

A: You were here because of diarrhea with paralysis of your hands, legs and back since your first pregnancy.

P: Yes.

A: During pregnancy you had a severe diarrhea which exhausted you totally. Finally you had examinations done in Antwerp and the diagnosis was the syndrome of Guillain Barré.

P: Yes, in the academic hospital.

A: Because there was no possibility of treatment with classical allopathic medicine you came to this Center. I saw you the first time on July 13, 1986. At that time they told you that your state would improve as soon as you delivered, but they were not sure.

You told me the following: lots of headaches during pregnancy, balance disturbances, all the muscles of the fingers hurt and during the first months of the pregnancy you had constantly the feeling as if there was something bearing down in your abdomen. You had a severe influenza of the stomach and intestines during pregnancy, shortly after the other complaints appeared.

I asked you about your anxieties: you had a fear of heights, fear of dark, fear of a thunderstorm, fear of thunder and lightning, fear of mice, animals, fear of death, claustrophobia and vertigo in high places. You were doubtful about recovery, could lie in the sun for days, no aversion to sex, had never had leucorrhea. The diarrhea was very watery, the pain occurred on the slightest touch of the extremities, chilly, very wet hands. You were sleeping on the right side, could never lie on the left side, liked very much tarts, cakes, eggs, ice, grapefruit, but this was not so prominent at that time and an aversion to fish. Because of the diarrhea you were very tired, had nightmares at night, and you didn't have refreshed sleep. Because of the anxieties and the desires I gave you Calcarea carbonica, without an amelioration.

The first remedy was Calcarea carbonica, without effect, and later, after Calcarea she received Sepia officinalis.

A: You came back one week later, on July 21, and said that it didn't help at all. Because of your appearance and the bearing down sensation I gave you Sepia officinalis. You came back and you said, "I could rest very well, I feel a little bit better, I became more quiet, and could sleep better." On July 31, 1986 you received Sepia officinalis M and on September 1, I repeated Sepia officinalis M. After Sepia officinalis the paralysis improved gradually.

Then you delivered and you called from the hospital that you had an inflammation of the breast immediately after delivery, with very high fever. You were cold, had cold hands and feet, the fever appeared suddenly and was very high, and the breast abscess was on the right side. Your husband came to take a remedy for you and in how much time did the fever disappear?

P: The next day the fever was gone.

A sudden inflammation of the right breast with cold hands, cold feet and high fever is which remedy?

Belladonna.

I told her on the telephone that she should call back if the inflammation wandered to the other side.

A: This was the remedy after Sepia officinalis and I told you that you should telephone me when the left breast became inflamed, because I thought this could happen.

Sometimes it is very strange in Homeopathy. I don't know why I told her that she should call when the inflammation appeared on the left side. It was as if I felt that this would happen.

A: Three days later it was much better on the right side, and the inflammation started on the left side. I gave you a remedy and it improved very quickly, without antibiotics.

P: No, I didn't take them.

The first remedy was Belladonna and the next remedy was what?

Lycopodium clavatum.

This is routine. It has to become routine for you to think of this. If the inflammation is on the right side you may need Belladonna or Bryonia alba - there are surely some other remedies, but in acute cases it is usually these remedies - and when the inflammation goes to the left side it is Lycopodium clavatum.

A: This improved gradually and you came back on December 12, 1986 and you were desperate, despair of recovery. You felt the need to sleep with your husband, you were very precise. When your husband did some shopping he had to buy exactly what you asked for, otherwise you became very hot-tempered. You were in a very, very bad mood. I gave you a remedy for this great irritability, the enormous punctuality and your chilliness and immediately afterwards you were clearly less depressed and you said that you felt a lot better psychologically.

This was which remedy?

She came home with her child and was very, very irritable, very precise, very fastidious. She told her husband what he had to buy, and when he didn't buy the things she wanted she became angry. I gave her Nux vomica and the reaction was wonderful.

Question: Were there other symptoms which indicated Lycopodium clavatum?

A : No. She called from the hospital and I was sitting behind my desk.

Question: ... (not understandable)

A : Yes, Belladonna has this also, but she has had Belladonna before and you don't give Belladonna because it goes from right to left, but because of the suddenness of the fever and the coldness of the extremities during fever. If something goes from right to left it indicates Lycopodium clavatum. This is almost in every acute disease. In a parotitis which was first on the right side and then goes to the left side it is Lycopodium clavatum, in 90% of the cases it is Lycopodium clavatum.

A: You also had pain in the back and it improved. Everything improved with warmth. You needed this remedy once again in January 1987, again because of the irritability, you slept very little because of the children, you were cold and you dreamt about work. You are very precise in your work and you are in some way a businesswoman. I repeated the remedy once again and you reacted very well immediately. It concerned again the irritability, and then you had an acute influenza.

P: Yes.

A: With enormous pain everywhere - this was in May 1987 - and a constant feeling as if you would have diarrhea.

Where can you find this rubric?

Look on page 543:

ABDOMEN,DIAHHREA,DIARRHŒA, sensation as if, would come on : Act-sp., aeth., agar., ail., aloe., am-c., am-m., apis., apoc., asaf., bar-c., bell., bol., bor., Bry., calc., camph., carb-an., carb-s., caust., cham., cimic., cob., colch., coloc., con., crot-t., dig., Dulc., eupi., ferr., form., graph., hell., helon., Hydr., kali-bi., kali-c., lach., laur., led., lil-t., lith., lob., mag-m., mag-s., meny., meph., merc-i-f., naja., nat-s., Nux-v., olnd., onos., ox-ac., ph-ac., phos., phys., phyt., plan., plat., prun-s., ptel., puls., Ran-s., rhus-t., rumx., sabin., seneg., sep., stry., sulph., sumb., ter., verat., zinc.

ABDOMEN, diarrhoea, sensation as if, would come on:

... Bry ... Dulc ... Hydr ... Nux-v ...Ran-s ...

Ranunculus scleratus is one of the remedies for herpes zoster, zona, with boring pain in the bones.

She had an influenza with this kind of sensation.

A: And after the remedy you took a very big step forward, I mean after the acute remedy. You had pain everywhere, you had a touch of flu, you were trembling, you sagged in your legs, had a dry mouth, were thirsty and had to lie down.

Which remedy?

Dry mouth, very thirsty, pain everywhere and motion aggravated.

Answer: Bryonia alba.

A : Right, Bryonia alba. I gave her Bryonia alba and then also her neurological complaints improved a lot.

A: Then you sprained your ankle. You had stitching pain in the ankle, a sprained ankle, stitching pain, and then I gave you a remedy. It went away very quickly.

And now which remedy?

She had stitching pain in the ankle while walking.

Answer: Bryonia alba.

A : Yes, it could be Bryonia alba.

Let's look in the Repertory on page 1151:

EXTREMITIES, pain, stitching, ankle

No, Bryonia alba is not there.

She sprained her ankle and it was a stitching pain, therefore I gave her Ruta. Ruta is one of the most important remedies in a sprained ankle, besides she had stitching pain. But this was not so essential; maybe it would have improved by itself, if we had waited.

A: On July 17 you came to see a colleague and then you said that you had itching in the eyes, a burning feeling and pus was coming out. The feet were very warm, especially in the evening and at night and you had to put your feet out of the covers. The thirst was normal, you perspired a lot, had a fear of heights, and therefore you received Sulphur200.

This was a consultation with a colleague who gave her Sulphur because of the burning pain in her eyes, fear of heights and she had to put her feet out of the covers. Sulphur made her feel really bad so that she came back 5 days later. She was weeping uninterruptedly, had hot feet in the evening and at night, and burning pain in her eyes in the evening.

Look in the Repertory on page 253:

EYE,PAIN,BURNING,evening : Acon., agar., alum., am-br., am-c., am-m., ant-t., ars., bapt., cann-s., carb-s., caust., con., dios., erig., eug., fago., gamb., graph., hura., kali-ar., kali-bi., laur., mag-c., mag-s., nat-a., nat-c., Nat-m., nat-s., nicc., ph-ac., phos., pic-ac., psor., Puls., rat., Ruta., seneg., Sep., sil., sulph., thuj., viol-o., Zinc.

EYE, pain, burning, evening: ... Nat-m ... Puls ...

Ruta ... Sep ... Zinc

Look on page 1012:

EXTREMITIES,HEAT,FOOT,night : Calc., ign., nat-s., ph-ac., sep., sil., staph., Sulph.

EXTREMITIES, heat, foot, night: Calc, ign, nat-s,

ph-ac, sep, sil, staph, Sulph

This weeping on telling of her sickness was very strong, so what is the remedy?

Audience: Pulsatilla.

A : Pulsatilla? No. I gave her Sepia officinalis. You must see this kind of weeping on video. The weeping of Pulsatilla is completely different from that of Sepia officinalis. In Sepia officinalis it is miserable, desperate weeping, Pulsatilla weeping makes you feel sympathetic when they are weeping.

Anyhow I gave her Sepia officinalis 10M.

A: You didn't react to Sulphurat all. You came back two days later and you were weeping a lot, had burning pain in your eyes in the evening and had a vesicular eruption. Where?

P: On the lips.

A: You had to weep a lot and you suffered also from hemorrhoids. You didn't know what to do anymore.

P: At that time I was really doing badly, I really felt down.

A: That was on July 24. I gave you Sepia officinalis 10M with a spectacular amelioration.

P: Yes, it was an enormous amelioration.

A: And then the last consultation - and this is the most important for this course. You said, "I have strange complaints with my footsoles, especially the balls of the feet hurt so much. It hurts while walking. They are so sensitive and there is a corn on it, so a callus." I argued with a colleague who said that these corns are always painful, but I don't think that every corn is painful. You had a callus which was sensitive while walking. This is a very important symptom.

This is which rubric?

She says that it is difficult for her to walk because the footsoles are so sore, they hurt. I examined them and I found hard spots. Where do we find this?

Audience: Callosities, soles, sensitive.

A : Yes, on page 954:

EXTREMETIES,CALLOSITIES,SOLE,tenderness : Alum., lyc., med., nat-s.

EXTREMITIES, callosities, soles, on, tenderness

These calluses were very, very sensitive while walking. Up to now she hadn't had this symptom. She received Sepia officinalis, Belladonna, Lycopodium clavatum, Nux vomica, Bryonia alba and then again Sepia officinalis, and after the last dose of Sepia officinalis she developed this symptom. Before she never complained about this symptom. What does this mean?

This means that we may not run before the patient. I mean that we have to wait until the patient develops clear symptoms and then we can give the remedy.

Question: What happened with the paralysis?

A : The paralysis improved from the beginning on and after Bryonia alba it improved even more. Now you will see what this remedy did. The last remedy pushed her forward a great deal so we can say that it cured the paralysis.

There was no reason to give this remedy earlier because a clear symptom appeared now. If clear symptoms appear the patient is more susceptible to the remedy and then the reaction will be good.

A: You also said that your memory was bad, you were easily distracted while reading and you couldn't concentrate very well. Your skin was drier than before, you felt hurried. At some moments you felt as if it wasn't you or you were doubting that it was yourself. Can you describe this again?

P: It was as if I was going upward, as if I was floating. I was occupied with something and I felt as if I was floating, and I had to exert myself to keep my feet on the ground. I doubted whether it was really myself standing there.

A: Were you also wondering whether it was really you that you saw in the mirror?

P: No, not in the mirror.

A: Or when you were talking?

P: No.

Of which rubric can you think?

Of "confusion about identity". "Is this me?" - "It is as if it is not me who is talking there." It was a kind of confusion, she started doubting whether it was really herself.

Then she was internally hurried, an internal hurriedness which she couldn't put into practice and the skin became drier the last time.

Alumina is a very dry remedy, but sometimes also with extreme secretions like leucorrhea, for example. The leucorrhea of Alumina can go down to the knees and even fall to the floor.

A: You were tired, had loss of hair and you didn't like what? What didn't you like to eat?

P: Potatoes I don't like.

A: But you like French fries and croquettes.

P: Yes.

Aversion to potatoes and instead of potatoes they eat what?

Rice.

Ananda Zaren has a lot more experience with the treatment of newborn children than I do and she told me about a case of icterus neonatum in which the newborn had abdominal pain when the mother ate potatoes. The child got abdominal pain and some diarrhea. They have an aversion to potatoes and an aggravation, and the aggravation from potatoes seems to be very important for Alumina. An Alumina child suffers when the mother eats potatoes when breastfeeding.

P: In fact I never ate potatoes since my marriage until I became pregnant. Then I started eating potatoes because everybody said, "You have to eat potatoes, they are healthy, you need them during pregnancy." But before I never ate potatoes.

Everybody told her that she had to eat potatoes during pregnancy so she ate them and maybe this was the reason for the diarrhea.

Remark: There is a rubric "diarrhea from potatoes."

A : Yes, an aggravation from potatoes, this is Alumina.

At this moment I was thinking of giving her Alumina. The amelioration on Sepia officinalis was too slow to go to a real cure, and that's why I started doubting about the correctness of Sepia officinalis.

A: You liked tarts, but by what did you replace the potatoes?

P: With rice and spaghetti.

A: And you also like to eat fruit, a lot.

The desire for fruit is another very important keynote of Alumina.

As far as the potatoes are concerned they like fried potatoes, chips, French fries, croquettes and so on but they don't like boiled potatoes and they don't tolerate them.

A: This also belongs to the remedy. I gave you the remedy in 10M potency. My starting point to give this remedy was the sensitivity of the footsoles.

I forgot to tell you that she was very chilly. Alumina is a chilly remedy and it is the chronic of Sepia officinalis. I have another Sepia officinalis patient, constitutionally Sepia officinalis, who worked and worked until she finally developed paralysis. That was Alumina.

Alumina is also complementary to Bryonia alba. You see that this patient has had Bryonia alba and that Bryonia alba pushed her forwards a lot.

A: The sensitivity of the footsoles while walking has to disappear or at least has to improve when the remedy is right. What about it?

P: I must tell you that the first three weeks I didn't have any complaints with the footsoles at all, at least not as strong as before. And it was only on the left side. Now it is gone on the left side, but it wandered to the right side, only on the right side. I said to my mother, "It's unbelievable, I don't have any complaints with the footsoles." It disappeared already the next day. The next day I was walking and I remarked, "Oh dear, I had terrible pains on the footsoles." I didn't feel anything anymore, I went on and on, nothing, for three to four weeks. Then it came back on the left side, but much less and now I have again a lot of pain on the right side.

A: Every day?

P: Yes.

A: How is the paralysis?

P: It has improved, especially the strength in my fingers has improved a lot.

A: Show me your hands.

P: (Shows her hands)

A: It is a lot better. The middle finger was pointing forwards.

P: Now I can put it upright. I can almost put it upright and my little finger on the right hand is still deviating a little bit. The left leg was almost all right, but I couldn't lift my right foot. Now, I can lift it when I pull the toes. The physiotherapist said, without asking me anything, that I gained a lot more strength in my toes.

A: That's what the physiotherapist said.

P: Yes, she pushes against the toes. I didn't start talking about this subject myself, but she said, "You can push them very well."

A: Can you say that the strength from September 22 until now, this is 1 1/2 months, compared to before has increased?

P: Yes, I must really agree. I'm amazed myself. In the evening I think to myself, "Oh dear, I can already lift my right foot very well." All summer long when I was lying on the sofa I tried to do exercises and I couldn't with my right foot at all, but lately I can lift the right foot very well. I can also walk barefoot very well, I mean without heels, before I couldn't.

A: The cause of the whole state was in fact that you were pregnant and that you worked too much.

P: Yes.

A: You worked for a boss who squeezes everything out of a person. In fact you worked excessively. There were no disappointments in your history.

P: No.

A: But too much, too much exertion.

Try to understand what is going on here. We are dealing with a Sepia officinalis constitution, and Sepia officinalis likes to work, likes to be occupied. They work, work and they come into a stressful situation, and this is what kind of situation? Because of too much work and because of the stress they become irritable. This is?

Nux vomica. They work so much they develop paralysis. This is Alumina.

Do you understand why Sepia officinalis, Nux vomica, Alumina are complementary? Because it is a story. But you cannot give Alumina at the time they need Sepia officinalis, it won't work. Also in the state in which they need Nux vomica, Alumina wouldn't do anything. Only when the Nux vomica state or the Bryonia alba state is over and clear Alumina symptoms appear Alumina will work.

If she continues working so much she is incurable. This is something you see in patients with multiple sclerosis. In many patients this multiple sclerosis starts when they leave as is their house. During the day they work in a factory and in the evening they continue working at their house. This is apparently too much and then the paralysis appears.

This is very often the cause in Argentum nitricum cases as well as in Alumina cases, too much work.

It is important to give the remedy at the right moment, even when they already have an aversion to potatoes.

I couldn't give Alumina when she had the bearing down sensation and the diarrhea during pregnancy. I had to give Sepia officinalis. It is not always easy. It happens that you give the remedy at a certain moment and apparently it doesn't do anything, you give it later on and then it works. Why, I don't know, but it seems to be that there are periods that a patient is more susceptible to this remedy and then you see a good reaction. The totality becomes difficult when we are dealing with different layers.

At the beginning she had Calcarea symptoms, clear Calcarea symptoms, fear of heights, vertigo in high places, fear of mice, desire for sweets, desire for tarts and so on, but Calcarea didn't do anything.

Maybe later on she might need Calcarea when she is more in balance. The Calcarea symptoms are lying in a deeper layer and often this makes the totality difficult.

Which remedy do I have to give now? I see symptoms of Calcarea, of Alumina, of Sepia officinalis. These kinds of cases are very difficult.

Remark: ... the law of Hering ....

A : You mean that the old symptoms come back, from inside to outside, and you propose not to give the remedy, but to repeat Sepia officinalis.

Remark: ... (not understandable)

A : But afterwards the symptom appeared. It is a new symptom which she didn't have before. The new symptom indicates a new remedy. I think now she had the energy to push out a new symptom and now she is susceptible to the new remedy. That's the way I understand it.

These are very, very difficult cases, and you can only treat the patients when you are very near to the patients, when you can follow their development and see what they need.

P: I worked too much, I know it myself. I had to work very hard at work and also at home, because everything had to be very precise, everything had to be all right, and then I also want to do everything myself.

A: This is your history. The reaction to the last remedy shows that this was the remedy which really helped you very deeply and which helped you to conquer the paralytic state.

P: Yes, that's right.

The last three months she was working at the Center and at a certain moment I saw that she started coughing. She was working, working and working and I said that I would have to give her Nux vomica again if she continued to work so much, and this wouldn't be good. I had to give all these remedies because she didn't behave the way she should have. She could work, but not in a Nux vomica way, because then she would relapse into a Nux vomica state again.

In this way I agree with the physiotherapist who has the idea that you have to be careful with your own energy, that you should stop when you notice that it becomes too much. For the patient it is important that they understand that the paralysis can come back when they work too much.

A: I will wait. I will give you a tablet in a tube to take home. I don't want you to take the remedy, unless the pain in the footsoles lasts another 10 days or becomes even worse. If the pain decreases you don't take the remedy.

This is a very complicated case.

P: I still can't tolerate the cold very well. Yesterday I was outside with the children, it was piercing cold and my fingers were bent immediately and they hurt. I had to wait a while before I could move them again.

A: Good, that's it.

In the differential diagnosis with Argentum nitricum remember that Alumina is chilly, while Argentum nitricum is relatively warm. Argentum nitricum is also hurried, but on the whole it is a completely different picture.

FEEDBACK (January 20, 1988)

You see how much she has changed. She looks a lot better. She got Alumina 10M on September 22 and now it is January, four months later.

A: The last time you got a remedy was on September 22, about which we will talk in a minute. I saw you again on November 6, with a good reaction and we said that you wouldn't receive anything, because you were doing well. How did it go further?

P: I think it really improved a lot, especially in my feet. They were blocked and now I can lift them higher, not so much the toes, but my feet. In the left foot I can lift up the toes, but in the right foot I can't lift them up so well, but I think I made a lot of progress as far as the movements of the foot are concerned.

A: Have they become looser?

P: Yes, and there is a lot more strength. Even the physiotherapist said so at that time. Without asking me anything she said that it improved a lot, that I had much more strength.

A: And the hands?

P: I can put the fingers upright properly, only the little finger remains a little bit behind. When I have to do particular things, for example, washing my hair, I don't have so much strength in my fingers. When I use my fingers separately I don't have enough strength, I mean for fine motor movements. I have to wash my hair with flat hands. I also have difficulties in typing on a typewriter. When I bend one finger the other fingers also bend. I can write, but not on a typewriter, I can't do it yet the way I could before, but it is better. I tried using a typewriter, but the coordination of the fingers isn't good.

(Telephone call)

This is another Alumina patient who is just calling. She has an influenza. Which remedy do you think she will need?

Answer: Bryonia alba.

A: Yes, good.

A: So difficulties in coordination. And what about standing, the strength in the back, lifting up the child?

P: It is all right. But I must tell you that I had tiredness in my back the last few months. I had to lie down, because I had such a tired feeling in my back. But concerning the strength, I can lift my children. Only when they resist, then I can't hold them very well with my hands, then I have to push them under my arm.

A: In the morning you were nauseous, you were also a little bit as if you were drunken. How is this?

P: I think I'm better in the morning. I'm more refreshed, feel much fitter, when I get up I feel more like handling things. It was gone for a while and now everything comes back. Sometimes I feel that I need to rest. In the evening my energy is used up.

A: Are you going to bed early and can you sleep well?

P: Yes, I sleep well. The last few months I had to lie down a few times in the afternoon. Usually, I don't need to lie down anymore. I work the whole day through, but the last few months with the pain in the back I couldn't work so well.

A: There were also periods that you were very irritable.

P: Yes, there was a period that I was very irritable and I always had to make remarks. Everything had to be the way I wanted, but that went away completely.

A: And the stool?

P: It is normal, once every day.

Do you know the stool of Alumina?

Answer: Dry stool.

A : Yes, sometimes dry balls, like in Plumbum and other remedies, but the typical stool of Alumina is constipation with soft stool. The soft stool is an expression of the paralysis of the rectum. There are many remedies which have constipation with soft stool, for example, Sepia officinalis.

A: This seems to be very good. There is no reason to give a remedy.

P: No.

A: Because you also made progress within the last one month.

P: Yes, the last few months it improved a lot, and I can perform my work much better. A few months ago there were things I couldn't do and now I can do them, also at home.

She came back on July 15, I think with herpes on the lips, swollen gums, cramps in the calves, she was easily freezing, didn't want to have sex, she was better in the evening and she had been taking the contraceptive pill for two months. I told her that she was not allowed to take the contraceptive pill anymore. "But then?" I don't know, she has to use other contraceptives.

After taking the contraceptive pill for two months she relapsed into a Sepia officinalis state again. I gave her Sepia officinalis and the reaction was good. But I think in these cases you have to forbid the contraceptive pill. Ananda Zaren also said that the contraceptive pill can influence the action of the remedy, that the remedy doesn't work at all or only for a short time.

Ananda: Up to two months.

A : Up to two months and then no more.

Be careful with the contraceptive pill. It is a suppressive medicine and therefore I think the best thing to do is to avoid it.

A: What do you think, could you start working again?

P: I would like to work again, but not long days anymore.

A: No, I just wanted to know whether you feel strong enough to start working again.

P: If I only had to work a few hours a day and the work is not too heavy I could. I have the impression it would even do me good to work a few hours a day, but not full-time, I can't yet.

A: Now you still receive money from the insurance.

P: Yes.

This is the follow up. From September 1987 until July 1988 she didn't receive a remedy, this means that the amelioration from Alumina 10M lasted 10 months and then I had to give her Sepia officinalis again, because she had complaints after taking the contraceptive pill.

FEEDBACK (November 3, 1988)

A: I saw you in March 1988 and you were doing well. The fingers were good, you had slight cramps in your feet, you were chilly, the sleep was a little bit unrefreshed, in the evening you were better than in the morning, this has always been so, no problems with the footsoles anymore, the strength was clearly better. Then I saw you again on May 18. Here it says that you had cramps in the feet, legs and hands. The fingers were good and the right foot had improved. You had suffered from your footsoles for one week, but it disappeared spontaneously, and we waited. On July 15, 1988 you developed a new picture, namely swollen gums and a swelling of the palate, aphthae in the mouth, herpes around the lips, again some diarrhea, especially in the morning and for 14 days a headache. You said, "The children wake me up at night. I often wake up. Maybe this is the reason." You had cramps in the lower legs, were very critical towards your husband, also angry with your children. You were cold, but sometimes, when it was warm in bed you put your feet out of the covers.

P: Yes.

Sepia officinalis has hot hands and cold feet or hot feet and cold hands. This is particular in Sepia officinalis.

A: And you had taken the contraceptive pill for two months. It was not good on the sexual level. Well yes, maybe it was good, but I mean, you were rather indifferent.

P: Yes.

A: Because of the general state, because you also had complaints with the gums and the palate I gave you a remedy which follows the last one, but I don't have feedback yet. I heard that it was all right, but I haven't written it down. This was almost three months ago. How was the reaction to the remedy?

P: At the moment I'm doing fine. Now I have a constant feeling of warmth and then I feel good.

A: But what about the gums? How did you react to the remedy which I gave you in July for the vesicles on the lips, the swollen gums and the headache?

P: Yes, that's quite a while ago. It went away, but I can't remember how soon. I know that it helped very much. I still had aphthae for two days and then they also disappeared. The headaches disappeared and in general I improved a lot, also mentally I'm better. I don't think I was so annoyed with the children anymore. The herpes on the lips was gone after a few days.

A: And the swollen gums?

P: I know that I had a lot of problems with them, but it appeared even before the aphthae. I think it was also immediately afterwards - I don't think I noticed anything the next day. I remember that it improved immediately afterwards.

A: In the meantime on August 19 you saw the neurologist?

P: Yes.

A: The very first time you were in the hospital they diagnosed you as having the syndrome of Guillain Barré, dissociation and polyneuropathy. Now you have gone back to the neurologist who sent me this report. He writes that you are almost recovered, the deficiency symptoms of the Guillain Barré syndrome are almost cured, still some symptoms, slight dysfunction of both hands and a slight decreased strength of the right foot. That's written here, and what did he tell you?

P: I remember very well, when I entered he didn't recognize me. He asked me why I went to see him and I told him that I was there because of the Guillain Barré syndrome. Then he remembered me and asked me whether I was the woman who was pregnant at that time. He said, "It is impossible that you are doing so well." He was very, very, very astonished. I said, "Yes, I feel very well. I'm only here for a check up." I was lying on the examination table to have the tests done and he said, "I really can't believe this." He had an assistant and they were talking to each other. He explained to him that I suffered from this disease and he said, "I don't know who we have to thank, I think our Blessed Lord, because I really can't believe this." He expressed this a few times explicitly, because he was so astonished. All the time he wanted to send me to the MS hospital, even now. He said to me, "You must come back", and I answered him, "No, I won't come back anymore, I don't want to have anything to do with it." Again he said, "I can't believe this at all!" He was really very very surprised.

A: But he is also a person who is very negative towards Homeopathy.

P: I told him the first time about Homeopathy, but he said to me, "Do you believe that these tablets will help you really?" And this time I didn't want to talk about it, because I wanted to stick to my point of view that Homeopathy helped me. He didn't help me and he couldn't give me anything at all.

A: Homeopathy helped you every time, with all your difficulties when you had clear symptoms.

P: Yes, absolutely.

A: In the meantime you are employed in the Homeopathic Center and you are working on a word processor. How are you doing with your fingers in the meantime?

P: It can work very fast. In the beginning I still had some difficulties, I didn't have the rhythm like before yet, the coordination of the fingers was not so good yet, but because of this daily practice I'm doing very well.

A: It goes so well that I can hardly give you enough texts. You work rather a lot.

P: Yes, I work a lot.

A: You have to be careful.

P: Yes, maybe, but when I can work I feel good. I know that I have to limit myself. I have to be careful. My husband also says, "It's almost as if you are married to your computer." He only wants to say that I work too much. Every minute I'm free I'm behind my computer.

We were recently at the sea for two days to be away and to rest. Otherwise I also work in the evenings and during the weekends. All my spare time goes to the computer, because I like it very much. I feel fine when I can do this kind of job.

A: Further no other complaints?

P: No, not at the moment. I really feel fine, really very well. And the sensitivity to cold has also gone. Before I suffered a lot from it, but at the moment I have a real nice feeling of warmth. I feel good, as if the sun is in me. That's it, it's really true. And even my feet, sometimes they are so warm, from the ankles on they are very warm. When I'm sitting behind my computer I have very warm feet, and also at night. Often I put them out of the covers.

A: Before did you ever have eruptions on the skin?

P: No, not that I know of. And I also have - how should I say - cramps and yet no cramps, or maybe these are twitchings of the muscles? For example, when I blow-dry my hair, and I turn my hair a little bit inwards with the brush then I have these twitchings and I have to put them back in their place. These are not the same as the cramps which I had before, no, but maybe some jarring of the muscles, as if they don't go back in their original place.

A: You feel that there is something wrong.

P: Yes, I feel it on these occasions.

A: Is it the first time in your life you have this feeling of warmth?

P: Yes.

A: Otherwise you never had this?

P: No. Now I could easily sit barefoot.

A: Do you think your appetite has changed?

P: I really have to stop myself. I always want to eat well and a lot, I always want to go to feasts to eat.

A: No, I mean, what you eat. Before you didn't like potatoes.

P: No, it is still so. Last week we were discussing at home that in fact I don't like potatoes. The children don't like them so much either and my husband even less. I like to eat spaghetti and rice and things like that, for example, rice with curry sauce.

A: So highly seasoned food.

P: Yes, but we never take salt.

A: And sweets?

P: That is still the same, in fact it even became worse. Now I have more of a desire for chocolate.

A: Are you very thirsty?

P: Yes, now I drink more. Before I drank only one cup of homeopathic coffee in the forenoon and now I drink six, seven cups of coffee in the forenoon and in the afternoon also. But it has to be warm, I don't like it cold.

A: How is your sleep?

P: At the moment I can sleep very well, only my children wake me up often.

A: On which side do you sleep?

P: On the right side and half on my abdomen, by preference.

A: You never sleep on your back?

P: No, I can't sleep on my back.

A: Why not?

P: When I'm lying on my back many thoughts come into my mind. I can't sleep then, because I'm thinking so much.

A: Did you notice that you dream more when you lie on your back?

P: In fact I dream a lot. Last night I dreamt that my cleaning woman cleaned my friend's house. She wasn't satisfied with this woman and had to do everything herself again. She scolded, "What kind of cleaning woman is this!" I always dream about things that I experience during the day.

A: Never nightmares that you fall down somewhere?

P: No.

A: Do you have itching sometimes?

P: Yes, on my back I have a spot which is always itching.

A: During the first consultation in 1985 you said that you become dizzy when you stand in a high place. Do you still notice this in the meantime?

P: No, not really dizziness, but I have fear of heights. I don't like standing in a high place. I don't dare to go to high places. Since then I have never climbed to a high place, because I have fear of heights.

A: All right, let's wait for the next symptoms to come and we will see which remedy you will need then.

P: I had some complaints with the footsoles but this was not worth talking about.

A: Fine.

In May she again got Sepia officinalis because of an inflammation of the ear and now she is pregnant again (December 1989). I think that the Sepia officinalis relapses were caused by the contraceptive pill. You can never be sure, but I think she wouldn't have come into this state if she had not taken the contraceptive pill. At the time she was taking the contraceptive pill she needed Sepia officinalis twice, every time with a good reaction, although she continued taking the pill. She stopped the contraceptive pill, became pregnant and now she is doing very well.

You see how much energy you need to follow your patient the right way and that it is important to do this.

Maybe you have the opinion that I shouldn't have given Nux vomica and Bryonia alba, but this patient did very well afterwards and I had reason enough to give these remedies.

FEEDBACK (June 16, 1990)

A: You were here on April 23. Tell me about the problems which you had at that time. I also saw you in July 1989. Then you had pain in the right ovary and with the ultrasound they detected a cyst. I gave you Apis, a remedy which is complementary to the remedies you received earlier. This remedy didn't do anything. Before this pregnancy you had another ultrasound and the cyst was still there.

P: Yes, the cyst was still to be seen, but it didn't grow bigger.

A: But if the remedy was right it should have disappeared. Then you became pregnant. How long have you been pregnant now?

P: Since the beginning of December.

A: How have you been up to now?

P: Very well. I don't have any problems. I haven't been ill up to now, I haven't been nauseous or things like that. I even feel better than before. But I have a lot of contractions. I haven't told anybody up to now, not even the gynecologist, because it didn't bother me. I told only my husband that it would be exactly the same as with the two other pregnancies. Then I also had a lot of contractions.

A: Can you describe the contractions?

P: When they appear my abdomen becomes very hard and they disappear slowly. I have already had quite a lot of contractions, surely 10 to 15 a day. I didn't want to complain, because I'm afraid they would keep me in the hospital. I was in the hospital for these contractions for three weeks during the first pregnancy.

A: It seems as if you have some pain with the contractions.

P: Yes, but it is bearable.

A: So we cannot say that the contractions are completely painless?

P: No.

A: How does the pain feel?

P: Rather stitching.

A: Is it a bearing down sensation?

P: Also. It is a feeling as if I would get my menstruation, as if it is bearing down.

Look in the Repertory on page 735:

GENERALITIES FEMAIL,PAIN,BEARING DOWN,UTERUS,come out, as if everything would : Bell., con., Kreos., lac-c., Lil-t., nat-c., Nat-h., nat-m., nit-ac., plat., podo., Sep.

GENITALIA-FEMALE, pain, bearing down, uterus,

come out, as if everything would: ... Sep

... pregnancy, during: Kali-c

A: As if it would come out. So this is the first point: bearing down pain in uterus. The pain was not so strong. Was it worse during stool?

P: No, I don't have problems with that.

A: The second point is the cyst in the right ovary. You had pain on the right side of the lower abdomen?

P: I had very much pain below in the right rib cage. It was really a terrible pain and it appeared also at this time.

Look in the Repertory on page 563:

ABDOMEN, pain, hypochondria, right

She said it was a stitching pain.

Question: Why did you look in hypochondria?

A : The hypochondria is here, under the ribs, she had pain there.

P: I also had pain in my back, at the same height. I always had to look for a different sitting position.

A: Transverse pain. How did it feel?

P: Stitching.

A: This was the third element. Something else?

P: My right ear.

A: Also a problem which you had before. Therefore you received Sepia officinalis, which helped indeed, but the pain kept coming back. Can you describe the pain once again?

P: It was a burning feeling. It was especially itching. It started to itch, then it became wet and it was burning.

A: It concerned an eczema of the external auditory meatus. Point five is the diarrhea. In July 1986 you were in an exhausted state because of diarrhea during pregnancy. We treated the consequent paralysis successfully, so that the development was favorable.

P: It was the same as before. I often had diarrhea. It was not as bad as at that time.

A: What was the color?

P: Dark.

A: Not yellow?

P: Now and then it was yellow. It was variable.

A: How often?

P: It was two to three times a day.

A: Did it smell?

P: Yes, but not so strongly.

A: What complaints did you have with this diarrhea?

P: Before I had to go to the toilet I had abdominal cramps.

A: Was it the same pain that you noticed with the contractions of the uterus?

P: About. But I noticed a difference between the contractions of the intestines and the uterus. When I felt the intestinal cramps I had to go to the toilet. After the stool I felt better.

A: Weren't you tired then?

P: I was tired all the time.

A: These were the five points. I gave you a remedy first in C 30 potency and a few days later in C 200. How did you react to this remedy?

P: The same day I took a spoonful at 10:30 a.m. I still had two contractions. At 7:00 p.m. I took another spoonful and then the contractions stopped. I didn't feel anything anymore. The next morning the stool was still thin and I still had strong pain under the right rib cage. After the first spoonful I had strong itching in my right ear. It was a little bit better in the evening. After I took another spoonful the second morning I still had two contractions. After the fourth spoonful I didn't have any contractions all day long, but still itching in my ear. I had the impression that the uterus became quiet. I felt it clearly, because before I had more or less constant contractions. The stool was still thin and the pain under the right rib cage was still there. The next day I had contractions only at night, but still the pain in the right hypochondria.

A: This was the third day after the remedy.

P: Yes. The next day I didn't have any pain at all. The stool wasn't normal yet. At noon it was bright brown. In the evening I had very warm feet. In general I've become warmer. I was more thirsty.

Something else concerning the stool: I had stool twice at noon and it was really shooting out. On Friday you told me to take a 200 C potency.

A: Yes, because I had the opinion that the diarrhea should not last such a long time.

P: Afterwards, everything became better.

A: This was one week later.

P: I took the remedy in C 30 potency on Monday and on Saturday I took C 200. After the C 200 potency the contractions appeared again. On Saturday I had contractions 8 times. On Saturday the stool was very thin at 7:00 o'clock, but without previous cramps. At 9:00 a.m. the stool became normal. Since then it is better. I suffered from the pain in the right hypochondria for a few days and then it disappeared again. Now I don't feel anything about it.

A: How is the stool now?

P: Good. I can say, it is very normal.

A: And the contractions are gone?

P: At the utmost once or twice a day, surely no more.

A: And the pain in the hypochondria?

P: It's gone.

A: No stitching pain anymore. How is your right ear?

P: It is not completely cured, but a lot better.

A: You have suffered already quite a long time from it.

P: Yes, about two years.

A: The birth date is in August.

P: The expected date is August 9. I would like to deliver at home.

A: This was the story. I think we closed the circle. Probably it was originally a Podophyllum peltatum state.

This was Podophyllum peltatum. And why?

Look in the Repertory on page 745:

GENITALIA-FEMALE, tumors, ovaries, right: Apis,

fl-ac, iod, Lyc, Podophyllum peltatum

Look very closely at this rubric, otherwise you will forget it.

I gave her Apis, because I know that Apis often appears after Sepia officinalis. Xanthoxylum is an addition in this rubric.

You find Podophyllum peltatum in this rubric, and you also find it in the following rubrics on page 735:

GENITALIA-FEMALE, pain; bearing down, uterus,

come out, as if everything would: ... podo ...

GENITALIA-FEMALE, pain; bearing down, uterus,

come out, as if everything would, during stool:

Podo

come out, as if everything would : Bell., con., Kreos., lac-c., Lil-t., nat-c., Nat-h., nat-m., nit-ac., plat., podo., Sep.

pregnancy, during : Kali-c.

stool, before : Nat-c.

during : Podo

Podophyllum peltatum is the only remedy in this rubric, but the patient didn't have this symptom.

Also look on page 563:

ABDOMEN,PAIN,HYPOCHONDRIA,right : Aesc., agar., aloe., alum., am-c., ambr., arn., ars., bapt., Bell., bov., brom., bry., bufo., cahin., calc-f., carb-ac., carb-an., carb-v., card-m., cedr., Chel., chen., chim., chin-s., cinnb., clem., colch., con., crot-c., crot-h., echi., fago., hydr., iod., iris., kali-bi., kali-c., kalm., Lyc., lyss., mag-m., merc., nat-c., nat-m., Nat-s., Nux-v., ol-j., phos., phyt., plan., Podo., ptel., rhus-t., sang., sep., sil., stram., stry., sulph., tarent., thuj., trom.

ABDOMEN, pain, hypochondria, right: ... Podo ...

Question: ... extending to the back ... (rest not understandable)

A : In the rubric "abdomen, pain, hypochondria, right, extending to back" Podophyllum peltatum is not there, but with this patient the pain didn't extend from the hypochondria to the back, but were there at the same time.

After this pregnancy the cyst must disappear. We will see.

Question : .... (not understandable)

A : Thirst for large quantities is an addition of Boericke. We know some other mental symptoms of Podophyllum peltatum, for example, loquaciousness during fever. Children with very high fever are talking, talking, and talking. Tuberculinum bovinum Kent also has this symptom, besides Teucrium marum. These are children with liver problems who vomit bile, usually at night, with inflammations of the tonsils and ears on the right side. Very often we wrongly give Lycopodium clavatum in such cases, because they like sweets and everything is on the right side.

The mother of this patient is doing very well on Sulphur and so sometimes I think of giving her Sulphur. Maybe she will develop real, clear Sulphur symptoms and then the cure will be definite.

FEEDBACK (September 1990)

A: The child was born at home. How long did the delivery last?

P: Four minutes. This was it. It really went terribly fast. I had contractions, but hardly any pain. I didn't feel the contractions, only the last one right before the delivery. The midwife said it was time to lie down. Three minutes, I pressed once and there she was. Unbelievable. The midwife also said it was an exceptional birth.

A: When was she born?

P: On July 25, at 4:00 p.m. (for the astrologists)

A: This was two months ago. After the last delivery you had an inflammation of the breast, first on the right side, then on the left side. Do you have problems as far as this inflammation is concerned?

P: No. I couldn't nurse the other two children after birth. I nurse this child four times a day and she gets an extra bottle.

A: Immediately after birth there was bleeding. I mean, the midwife called me and said that you were bleeding. If she rubbed on your abdomen at the height of the uterus the bleeding stopped. And when she stopped rubbing the bleeding started. I gave a remedy and immediately the bleeding stopped.

P: Yes, the bleeding stopped very quickly.

A: And also afterwards you didn't have any abnormal loss of blood?

P: No, not at all. The midwife told me that I shouldn't stand a long time, because I would lose too much blood. But I didn't have any abnormal loss of blood and the bleeding stopped immediately after the remedy.

A: On July 25, 1990 you took the remedy for the bleeding. Do you have other complaints?

P: No, the problem with the right ear started again. I have a kind of eczema.

A: How is the stool?

P: It is normal.

A: The ear is itching a little bit ....

P: Yes, and some liquid is coming out.

A: Are you warm or cold in general?

P: I'm cold again.

A: But you have been outside very little, you always stayed in the house because of the child.

P: Yes, and also during the summer when it was so warm I stayed in the house.

A: And how are you doing with your hands?

P: At the moment my hands are very well. A while ago I was very tired because of all the visitors. The spastic cramps in my hands returned. But when I can rest, I feel very well.

A: Are you also cold while lying in bed, or do you have warm feet then?

P: No, I'm rather cold, I always want to be covered up very well.

A: Appetite and digestion are good?

P: Yes, too good.

A: Further you don't have any complaints?

P: No.

Which remedy did I give her?

We can start from the rubric on page 731:

GENITALIA-FEMALE, metrorrhagia, subinvolution:

Lil-t, psor, sec, sulph, ust

I gave her Sulphur30 because Sulphuris complementary to Podophyllum peltatum.

I would like to give you some additional information: her mother was in treatment because of chronic pain in the back and she has been doing very well for some time.

FEEDBACK (August 5, 1991)

A: How are you doing?

P: I'm doing very well. One month ago I was here because I had a lot of itching on my eyelids. It was a kind of eczema. I don't know whether it had something to do with the contraceptive pill. The itching started one month after I started taking the contraceptive pill.

A: I advised you to stop the contraceptive pill and to wait. I thought maybe it would disappear without a remedy. How did it go further?

P: After three months I stopped the contraceptive pill and gradually the itching disappeared. I didn't take anything for it.

If we consider the first consultation we see that she came here with diarrhea during pregnancy.

In the rubric on page 614 Podophyllum peltatum is a very important addition:

RECTUM, diarrhoea, pregnancy, during: Podo

This diarrhea exhausted her completely.

Look in the Repertory on page 1416:

GENERALITIES, weakness, diarrhea, from: ... Podo ...

Because we didn't give the right remedy at that time the patient went into a paralytic state, with the classical diagnosis of Guillain Barré.

During the last pregnancy a similar state threatened to appear. This time we gave the right remedy. Apparently this remedy gave her the strength to develop a so-called symptomatology, namely a Sulphur constitution.

Podophyllum peltatum is a remedy which is very much misunderstood especially during pregnancy. Typical for these women is that they want to sleep on their abdomen during pregnancy, anyway until they are six months pregnant. Another symptom of this remedy is "rubbing abdomen, amel.". They like very much for their husband to rub their abdomen.

Another symptom during pregnancy is a kind of "black out". This is expressed as a kind of "transitory ischamic attack" with hemiopia. After these transient vision disturbances usually the patients have a headache.

On page 276 you find the rubric,

VISION, dim, headache, before: Gels, hyos, Iris, kali-bi,

lac-d, nat-m, podo, psor, sep

EXCERT FROM OTHER REMEDY

What kind of picture is this, when she is telling this? Sepia, clearly Sepia, "Leave me alone, don't touch me, angry towards the children and the husband, irritability, irritable before the menses. Terrible, very irritable, very sharp. If you look in the Repertory under "mind, company, aversion to", but especially "company, aversion to, amel., when alone" (p. 12) and the aversion to the husband and the children you find on page 55: "Mind, indifference, loved ones, to" and "to relations.

Besides, she cried during the consultation. "Weeping on telling sickness": Sepia - all Sepia

What did I do? I gave her Sepia. She could not tolerate her husband anymore, she did not love him anymore: Sepia. I was sure it had to be Sepia

Also sexually nothing. "Leave me alone, don't touch me, don't touch my breast." Aversion to sex, the capital remedy is Sepia

Try to understand what is going on here. We are dealing with a Sepia officinalis constitution, and Sepia officinalis likes to work, likes to be occupied. They work, work and they come into a stressful situation, and this is what kind of situation? Because of too much work and because of the stress they become irritable. This is?

Nux vomica. They work so much they develop paralysis. This is Alumina.

Do you understand why Sepia officinalis, Nux vomica, Alumina are complementary? Because it is a story. But you cannot give Alumina at the time they need Sepia officinalis, it won't work. Also in the state in which they need Nux vomica, Alumina wouldn't do anything. Only when the Nux vomica state or the Bryonia alba state is over and clear Alumina symptoms appear Alumina will work.

Another case

This is the second consultation. The first remedy I gave was Sepia officinalis. There were many reasons, but the most important were the diarrhea and the constant bearing down sensation during pregnancy.

Another case

A : Pulsatilla? No. I gave her Sepia officinalis. You must see this kind of weeping on video. The weeping of Pulsatilla is completely different from that of Sepia officinalis. In Sepia officinalis it is miserable, desperate weeping, Pulsatilla weeping makes you feel sympathetic when they are weeping.

Anyhow I gave her Sepia officinalis 10M.

Another particular

Sepia officinalis has hot hands and cold feet or hot feet and cold hands. This is particular in Sepia officinalis.

Case by jonathan shore

Sepia officinalis

Video 18

JS: This is the cousin of the Antimonium crudum child.

MP: She is going to be nine in a couple of weeks.

JV: And what is the trouble?

PT: Well, I am wetting my bed a little bit, every once in a while, like two or three days in a week.

JV: So it comes in sort of bursts.

MP: Seems like it does. May be four, five times out of a week and then ... not happen for a couple of weeks, or three weeks.

JV: Right, what time do you go to sleep?

PT: Eight thirty about.

JV: And do you know what time you wet the bed?

PT: No.

JV: It doesn't wake you up.

MP: We know pretty well, that ...

JS: So, describe for me the child?

AD: Refined.

JS: Refined.

AD: Quiet.

AD: Soft in the voice.

JS: Soft in the voice, yes.

JS: She is sort of on the thin side, sort of bit pale, some freckles maybe, it is a little hard to see. Light coloured hair. She is sort of quite quiet and her voice has what sort of quality?

AD: Flat.

JS: Yes, her voice is a sort of a little flat. "Yes, well, it comes at a certain time ...” She doesn't seem to have very much animation actually, yes. I mean, she is not withheld, you see you don't get the feeling she is defensive, or withheld, or ... She is just a nine-year- old child, but she is still quite quiet.

MP: ... more recently again to take her to that ... around eleven, but it is about that time if we don't get to her, she ...

JV: At eleven you mean?

MP: Yes.

MP: If she is very tired, if she got a lot of excitement or something. Now that we took you ... it does make a difference, if we take her.

JV: If you wake her at that time.

MP: If we wake her at that time, then it ...

PT: When I was six, it totally stopped for a while.

JV: And when did it start happening again, how long ago?

PT: About two, or three years ago.

MP: It seems to have gotten worse in the last two months.

JV: There is no sort of external reason for that? Nothing particulary happened, no change at school, or some crises.

MP: ... mother and she has been ill with cancer, although she had some really good news yesterday, it looks like her first ...

JS: So just for the continuity. She had this enuresis and then it stopped and now it has come back again over the past few years, but especially in the past three months it has been quite bad and I ask a reason. And it is not so clear if there is a reason; her grandmother is ill with cancer. Both the Ignatia and the Antimonium crudum child, they are all first cousins. Their parents are sisters. So the grandmother is ill with cancer, it is the same question you see, is it grief?

MP: The radiation has been helpful at this point. But she was pretty severely ill and had this serious surgery and that all happened over the last three months. So, I don't know, but that is one external.

JV: Right. And you like your grandma a lot?

PT: Yes.

JV: So you have been really worried about her?

PT: Yeahhh ...

AD: She has the same face as her cousin on this question.

JS: Yes, but listen again. It is the same question, but quite a different answer. You see: no. She has to think: "What should I say?” She says: "Yeahhh.” You hear the tension in her voice and yeah, maybe she does worry about her, but it is not something which is really bothering her.

PT: I mean, I think about her sometimes, but when I see her, it is not like I get worried, it is not like I am worried that something really horrible is going to happen, or I get: "No, everything is going to be okay.” It is not like I am really scary.

MP: You just feel for her.

PT: Yes.

JV: Aside from the bed-wetting, is there anything else which bothers you?

PT: Some ... Just sometimes I get scared or something, it is like, sometimes I am not scared, but sometimes I am scared.

JV: And what sort of things scare you?

PT: Well, I don't know, I am just scared of anything and not really in particulary anything, but ...

MP: Like in the house, what is scary for you when you are in the house? For example going up and we are in the kitchen, she needs to get something in her room, it is upstairs, that is uncomfortable.

PT: Sometimes, ... like this morning when I left my shoes upstairs and ... scary.

JV: And sometimes, it doesn't matter if it is night, or day?

MP: Night I think it is a little harder. But daytime ...

PT: Like at night my sister will sleep on the conch, we have been watching television and my dad has to carry her up and he says: "Go upstairs," Gee, I don't really feel like going upstairs, I just wait on the stairs.

JV: You sleep with your sister in the room, or you have your own room?

PT: Yes, I have my own room.

JV: And that is all right, you don't ...

PT: Yes, it is fine. It is not any different.

JV: You mean, as long as there are other people upstairs, it is not so bad.

PT: Yes and I wouldn't like to have my own room downstairs and everybody else upstairs. When me and my friends are ... in the garage I don't like ... and my friend needs to go up to the bathroom or something and they have to go up, I want to go up with them, because there is not exactly a light in there. There is a small light, but that is right by the door and that is really ...

JV: Sort of "What might be in the corners," and stuff.

PT: Yes.

JV: And when you sleep, when you are in bed at night, and the wind blows and trees or something, is that ...?

PT: ... scared.

JS: So here she is, she is sitting there and stuff, but she is giving some story for Phosphorus, the data. She is afraid to be alone, she is afraid of the dark, and so I feel in the moment there I have to follow this and understand it, but you see this is not Phosphorus. Not only she is not Phosphorus, but the way she is responding to the questions about the fears, about this, is not really Phosphorus, it is not this sort of really imaginative fear. This is a very good question for Phosphorus, they are there in the room and the tree moves and the shadow comes: "Ohhh God," you know, they see the mouth and the jaws and the monster is there, you see. Her fear is different. We don't know what it is, but it is not so connected with the active imagination as we want for Phosphorus.

PT: The tree isn't nearby.

MP: A lot of wind.

JV: You are sort of worried about like you are in the garage and your friend ... What are you afraid of actually?

JS: So another possibility, you see here is a child and she is quite we think quiet, maybe we could think she is contained, sort of more in control. And now she has anxieties, anxiety to be alone and so we can think Arsenicum. Maybe it is Arsenicum. So probably I am asking some questions to see if it is Arsenicum.

PT: I am afraid of something like ... and my ... be away or something. But I don't really have any ideas of what will happen.

JV: Any special thing, right, and you just feel sort of uncomfortable. And you don't worry about people breaking into the house at night and windows and doors have to be locked?

JS: You see, still we are going through fear of robbers. After all Natrum muriaticum, strong fear of robbers, something like that, I am just feeling out what the possibilities are.

JV: No, ... to eat.

PT: Macaroni and cheese.

JS: I asked her what she really likes: macaroni and cheese.

JV: And is there any food that you just can't stand, yuk?

PT: Asparagus. She loves it and so does dad, so I get tortured ...

JV: Do you eat meat?

JS: You see this is still early, but if we think about it, because we have the video here and stuff, what can we say about her response? What are the words that she used? She says: "I don't like asparagus, but they like it, and they torture me.” Now, do you think that that is so? That they tie her down and they force the asparagus into her mouth?

AD: No.

JS: So why is she using this sort of exaggeration?

AD: ...

JS: No, we don't know, but what I am saying is, there is something here in what she says, it is a little funny. See because this is not a child who is using excessive movements. I mean if this was a child who was like: "Ohhh, yes and they torture me!!" you say: "All right, the child is overreacting and this and that.” Here she is saying and she is saying: "Yeah, you know, there is this and there is that," and I say: "What don't you like?" and she says: "Asparagus and they like it and they torture me with it.” And it is just, we open ...

PT: Partly a vegetarian.

MP: Yes, she has been wanting to be a vegetarian.

PT: Wanting?!

MP: Being, practising for the last two years.

JV: And why did you want to be a vegetarian?

PT: Because I love the animals and I don't want to ...

JV: You get on well with your sister?

JS: So you see she gives more information for being sympathetic, actually. She will eat meat if she has to. "Why don't you want to eat meat?” "Because I love animals.” Now, I thought: "Maybe Natrum muriaticum," you see, because maybe she is a little withheld, I ask about the robbers and stuff: no, it is not there. And then she gives this bit of information, but we can't really fit it in, it doesn't fit with the whole idea.

PT: Sometimes. No, I get along with her when she is nice and I don't get along with her ...

JS: I am sorry, her sister is the Antimonium crudum child. Her cousin is the Ignatia.

PT: She kills me.

JV: She is a little irritable.

PT: Not a little, a lot.

JV: She is more on the sympathetic side towards her.

MP: Yes.

JV: She worries about things and about people.

MP: She is very emphatic.

MP: You feel for people.

JS: So what can we say about her responses. You see, I don't say: "She is this and that.” I say: "She is a very sympathetic child, hey?" and the mother says: "Oh, yes, the child is sympathetic," and the child says: "What does that mean?” She shouts, there is a sharpness in her.

AD: She looks rather tired, sluggish and tired.

JS: Sluggish and tired and yet there is a sharpness in her response.

JV: When other people are feeling bad, then you feel bad.

MP: Yes. She is very observing towards that.

PT: Sometimes when I am ... on my friends, I feel like I wanna go and say: "I am sorry" to them, because they don't have anyone to play with and stuff. One time I did. I said: "You can be a little nicer," to our dad and he goes "P.!"

MP: There it is.

PT: She just hurt you.

JS: So now, what do we see?

AD: Good actress.

JS: Yes, she is quite a good actress. And now, is she sitting like this (...)? No. She is actually coming alive. But we have to see under what circumstances she comes alive. She is acting, but what is the content?

MP: I really ... insults and shy ... She is more reserved a little.

JV: Shy, no not, I see she is not shy now, but still, how can I say it. Neither is she really extroverted, right?

MP: That is right. In fact the teachers usually say to me on her first conference: "She is quiet, she is delight one came to know her." but they don't know her and by the end: "Oh, P. that and that." you know, but ...

PT: ... someone is turning, my friends are like always ... And then this other girl, M., she is like so shy. She is skinny, she is short, she is really ... My mother said: "You are wonderful acting, P. you are just great ... You should see this S., it is just wonderful!!"

JS: So what is she doing?

AD: Imitating.

JS: She is now talking about her mother. We say: "She is a good actress," and her mother says: "Yes, she is." and now she is showing how her mother tells this. What is she doing?

AD: Imitating.

JS: Not imitating, yes she is imitating, but what is she doing?

AD: Showing off.

JS: No, she is not showing off, definitely.

AD: Cheating.

JS: No, you have to imagine you are her mother, how are you feeling?

AD: Ridiculed.

AD: Embarrassed.

JS: Yes! This is the point. I say: "Who has something to say here," and you put your hand up and you say: "I have something to say," and I say: "He has something to say," and how do you feel? You don't feel so comfortable. She is teasing her mother a lot. In her own way, she is teasing, ridiculing even. That is a little strong, but teasing I would say.

JV: She is a bit, she gets away with this, hey?

MP: P. really likes athletes, moving about, she likes dance a lot, outdoors stuff.

PT: I like dance a lot, I like gymnastics, I like swimming.

MP: And now some field games too.

PT: Chickball and baseball.

JV: You like to dance a lot?

PT: Huh-huh (confirming).

JV: Or just any sort of exercise? When you do gymnastics, they play music?

PT: No, they don't really do.

MP: She likes music, she likes making dance steps to songs a lot.

JV: What about thunderstorms and things like that?

PT: I love thunderstorms!

MP: We had a classic thunderstorm.

PT: Oh yeah, we just sit there and wait for the thunder and then suddenly it will go: "Booom," and shake the windows and the house ...

JV: And that didn't make you frightened?

JS: Now you see she is much more animated. Even quite excitable. She has gone from just say: "Well, I don't know, I wet my bed ..." to "Oh, it goes booom and the windows are shaking.” Now her energy is starting to move and she is coming more and more alive.

MP: One little boy was very frightened.

PT: A boy, a tiny bit older than F. he was ...

JV: If you scold her, how does she react? I mean not necessarily if you scream or shout or something, if you ..., she does something and you say: "No."

JS: So you see here is the case of this child, and she loves dancing and I notice she has some blue sclera and I am looking for what remedy?

AD: Carcinosinum.

JS: Carcinosinum, yes. I want to see sensitivity to reprimand.

PT: I scream. Like this morning.

MP: Well, you were mad this morning.

JV: She gets angry?

MP: She gets defensive, I think, it is like: "I didn't meet you, apologetic, and don't be mad at me," and it is the flavour, I mean I get: "Don't blame me," or "Don't be mad at me," and even if I am not mad, but I am just saying: "You can't do this. You can't do that.” She is very upset, starts to cry usually.

PT: I don't start to cry! I just get mad, and just tears in my ...

MP: You don't, just very quickly ...

JS: You see the mother now is a psychologist. And I ask her: "What happens when you reprimand your child?" and she says: "Well, you see she is quite a sensitive child and if I reprimand her she gets very sad and she does like this.” And the child says: "What do you mean? I get angry!” So we have to see who to believe here.

PT: I get mad.

JV: You get angry?

PT: Yes. And I did: "Oh, I am sorry," and she goes: "Okay, it is not your fault. Now I have green paint on my purse. It is okay, it is all right."

JV: She teases you?

MP: Yes.

JV: A lot?

MP: Yes. Daily.

JV: What about ham and bacon and stuff like that?

JS: Right, now of course I am thinking?

AD: Tuberculinum.

JS: Tuberculinum, because there is a certain sort of maliciousness to her behaviour.

PT: I don't really like ham, but I love bacon.

MP: She loves bacon. If we go to a restaurant ...

JV: That is what she will order?

MP: Yes.

PT: Don't say it that way, mother. Say: "She loves bacon!"

JV: And what about the seaside, do you go to the beach?

PT: I like the beach.

JS: Anyway, the remedy actually is very clear.

AD: Sepia.

JS: Sepia. A better suggestion?

AD: Tuberculinum.

JS: No better suggestion?

AD: Carcinosinum.

JS: I gave Carcinosinum and it didn't work.

AD: Sepia.

JS: Are you sure?

AD: No.

JS: Sure it is SEPIA, absolutely. How can you give a remedy and ... then it works, you give the remedy the person comes back and they say: "No, it didn't work." and you say: "Oh, God I gave the wrong remedy.” No, this is Sepia, absolutely. I mean, the whole beautiful story for Sepia, a Sepia child.

AD: Do you see this acting also with some Sepia adults?

JS: No, this is much more like the early stage Sepia. Not worn out or dragged down, not the washer woman type, but still you see how she is sitting there in the beginning. And her voice is like this (IB: flat). And then when the live starts to come, she comes more and more animated. And this is why of course Sepia is so much better for what?

AD: Vigorous exercise.

JS: For dancing, yes, and vigorous exercise, because the movement starts the energy flowing and then they feel better and better. Even better for anger, because they feel sort of dead inside and the anger gets the adrenaline and then they come alive. And so sometimes Sepia, they like to get angry, they feel alive.

JS: And now her fears, what can you say about her fears? What is the fear of Sepia? Ghosts. What does it mean: fear of ghosts?

AD: The unknown.

JS: No, not the unknown.

AD: Fear of things she can't see.

JS: Fear of things you can't see, that is like the unknown. What is the fear of ghosts. I am not saying: "It is not the unknown, it can't be that.” But what is a ghost?

AD: Electro-magnetic.

JS: Yes! A ghost is what is left of the person on earth after they die, this is a ghost. That is why ghosts are always coming there with chains or these things, because there has been a tremendous suffering and something has been deposited and left and this is a ghost. I mean this is the idea of a ghost. It is not ghost busters or things in white sheets or this sort of nonsense. So what then, if you think about this as a ghost, what sort of people will have fear of ghosts? You have to have a certain sensitivity. It is not the unknown, in fact it is more fear of what is known. And Sepia has a sort of dullness of the mind. And what does it mean when the mind is dull? It can mean that there are not so many thoughts passing through and the mind is more empty. You see other remedies like Calcarea and Silicea have the desire to be magnetized, it also comes under this idea. But the mind is empty and because it is empty, because it is not filled with all the everyday nonsense, it is more open and impressions are coming in. And so-to-speak psychic impressions are coming in and these are people who sense things around. This is why she says that when she is there in the garage, it is very big and they play ... But this is not the Phosphorus sort of imagination. It is a sort of sensing of something there, some presence, some thing, this is ghost. Anyone who sees a ghost can be afraid. Of course, who wouldn't be. But this feeling: something is there, some influence which I can't quite understand, but I feel it and then ... So this is Sepia. And this is actually her anxiety. They say: free floating anxiety; she can't quite say what it is that she is anxious about, but it is not this psychological term: free floating anxiety, it is more this sense that something is there and she can't be quite sure.

AD: Sepia is only one for fear of ghost, shouldn't it be stronger?

JS: No, not necessarily stronger, it is not the central feature of this case, is it? But it is enough, it is there. I don't see any reason to make it stronger. Not every case of Sepia has fear of ghosts. Now dancing is definitely very common. And it should be quite high, it is a very reliable confirmation for Sepia. As is the enjoyment from what? What was her other thing that she really enjoyed? Thunderstorms. What is a thunderstorm? Tremendous: the lightnings, pzzzzzz! The thunder, pggghhh! And then something is coming alive inside. It is sort of homoeopathic.

AD: It is also an electric field.

JS: Yes, something is coming like that. Whereas of course Phosphorus is exactly the opposite.

AD: Frightened.

JS: There are two things happening with Phosphorus. One is fear. What are they frightened of?

AD: The thunder, the noise.

JS: The noise? I mean what is going to happen when there is thunderstorm with lightening? The lightening is going to come prrreeeggg and fry me. I mean, I already see the whole thing, the lightening coming, the house is on fire, my mother is dying, I am carrying them out. This is the idea. It is very quick, the mind is just going like that, the rain and the flint and the house is being swept away, the whole thing. And also of course Phosphorus are very open and the electric charge in the atmosphere is coming into them and is making them agitated like that. So there are many sort of reasons. But you see how opposite it is in a way.

AD: I know that Sepia has motion ameliorates, but under the generalities it is only a two. I can't understand it.

JS: Who would like to explain it to him? Why is Sepia so strong, but when you look under generalities, you see motion ameliorates, it is only a two.

AD: Vigorous motion ameliorates.

JS: Right, because it is not motion ameliorates, Sepia is not ameliorated from moving, they are ameliorated from vigorous exertion, that is why it is dancing and running. Motion ameliorates means quite a different thing actually. Sepia must be there, otherwise it is not right, but it is not motion ameliorates. There are many things, this is why I say about precision, you see there is the rubric people are worse from the warmth and then they are worse from being overheated and there is a very big difference, from being overheated or from the warmth.

AD: What made you think of Carcinosinum?

JS: Oh, because I was on the wrong track.

AD: Which track was that?

JS: Well, you don't really want to know about it, because it was wrong! I sort of missed the case really, only later did it become clearly.

AD: What made you think of Carcinosinum?

JS: I think in this case I thought of it, it was mixed up reasoning. I saw the better for dancing, and the better by the sea, and the thunderstorms and the blue sclera and how she was teasing her mother and I thought: "Is it Tuberculinum? It is not Tuberculinum. But she has this blue sclera and she is better by the sea.” And I put all this together and I gave Carcinosinum, but absolutely it was not the right remedy. No reason to actually give it or think of it in this case; it was stupid.

AD: Remark (...).

JS: She says this child has a real sensitivity to know what the other person is feeling. She knows what her mother is feeling and this is the so-to-speak psychic state of Sepia. This is the sort of sensitivity, the sensing of the sort of vibrations. Yes, there is a sort of an openness and they know, but how it comes out ... Very close to Lachesis. You understand how the snake is; the snake is looking, looking: paaawww! Just like that, very quick. And this is how she is. Her mother says: "Oh, she feels so sad when I get angry.” She says: "What do you mean, sad!?” Sepia, Lachesis, a lot of premenstrual trouble, a lot of hormonal things, very cutting, very direct, very sharp, very irritable. It can be quite close Lachesis and Sepia in that way. The other remedy that can have this is Carbo vegetabilis. It can also have this sort of cutting. And sarcastic, I think also Arsenicum is there, but it must be in quite a different fashion. This is a very, very clear case of Sepia.

AD: This girl sits quite stiff, only the head was moving. There is a rubric (IB: sits quite stiff; Sepia, 2).

JS: Until? Until she got excited, yes.

AD: Sepia is a two in that rubric.

JS: Sits stiff? Great. And the other thing of course which I sort of passed by, because I didn't want to give you the big clue too early, but her main complaint was enuresis. And when did the enuresis come? In the first sleep. The mother said: "We get her up at eleven o'clock and we walk her around and if we don't do that, she wets the bed.” But I didn't want to point it out to you, because then it would have been just too quickly, too obvious. But enuresis in the first sleep (IB: urination, involuntary, night, first sleep; Sepia, 3) ...

BLADDER,INVOLUNTARY,NIGHT,first sleep : Benz-ac., Caust., cina., kreos., ph-ac., Sep.

JS: This is what I am saying: Carcinosinum, I must have been not in the ... Some days your mind, at least my mind, I mean it is clear and people come and you understand the case and you give the remedy; some weeks you know. And then come some other weeks, I just can't, I don't care I can't make a decision, I have to take every case home. And then suddenly it clears and the person comes, I say: "This is Carbo vegetabilis, this is some small remedy here and another small remedy there.” Going along, and I am thinking: "Hey, I am really a good homoeopath," and suddenly, then it comes, you know ...

JS: I just wanted to just chat a little. Last night I was thinking something. In medical school I learned three things, only three things.

AD: In how many years?

JS: Six years. I will say three real facts I learned, the first was: common things occur commonly. So you mustn't look first for what is not common. I mean the polychrests are common remedies and always you look first for the polychrests. The other thing I learned was the essence of allopathic medicine, which came to me from the dermatology, from the skin diseases, and this was before cortisone, and the story was, no matter what it is: if it is wet, make it dry; if it is dry, make it wet. This is the essence of allopathic medicine. And the third thing that I learned was: one third of the people will get worse, one third will get better and one third will stay the same.

AD: No matter what you do?

JS: No matter what you do. Now, this is very interesting you see. Because if you are a homoeopath and sixty-six of your patients show some improvement, you can be very sure that you are doing nothing. You have to get better than sixty-six per cent. But this is a very tricky thing and the reason I thought of this, is that some people have come to me and now I see when I go through my results over the past few years, I get eighty per cent some amelioration; significant amelioration, eighty per cent. And this, I would say, is a figure for a sort of good homoeopath. More than eighty per cent is very, very difficult. I would say: eighty-five per cent results, eighty-seven per cent results: top class. Over that: master. It is quite easy to get eighty per cent. To go beyond that, you have to make a very big jump. And I have not ... maybe never will I make that, I don't know.

EXTRA

If people say, "I feel worse in the afternoon, but that is because of this or that," then you have to take the rubric "theorizing". He tries to explain why, and this remedy, you know, always try to explain why

MIND,THEORIZING (See Plans) : Ang., arg-n., ars., aur., Cann-i., chin., coff., lach., lyc., sel., sep., sil., sulph.

MIND, PLANS, making many : Anac., ang., arg-n., chin-s., chin., coff., nux-v., olnd., op., sep., sulph.

A: For us it was easy, because the remedy was clear. You have a particular appearance (has dark hair, dark eyes, dark tint), and you theorize in the sense that you try to find an explanation for everything. In the evening you felt good, in the morning not refreshed, and did not have a great sexual desire. You slept on the abdomen, had pain in the back after standing a long time. You couldn't tolerate tight clothes, had headaches, especially after shopping and some liver spots.

But one day you will have a patient who is very irritated before menses, who is very angry with her husband, who does not care for her children anymore, she hits the children. Then they say, "It is Sepia, because she is so hated." You give Sepia, because she has freckles in the face and Sepia has freckles and so on.

You know this typical symptom, don't you?

"Headache after shopping".

A: Now you trust me a lot, but at the beginning you reacted rather sharply.

Then I gave you a homeopathic remedy.

Being a nurse is a profession which you often see in Sepia officinalis women.

At the beginning it is very difficult to have good contact with them. You have to prove that you can cure them and when you succeed they won't let you go anymore. They call you for every single problem.

====

She is the second child, her brother is older than she and got Lycopodium clavatum, like the father. She lets herself be suppressed by him, has recurrent coughs, wheezing respiration and was dissatisfied. Sepia officinalis would not let herself be suppressed by such a brother, she would react very sharply; between a Lycopodium clavatum brother and a Sepia officinalis sister there would be a constant war; this does not fit her, she doesn't fight.

Sepia? Yes, that is right. Why? Because she was too long with her husband, aversion husband, too long time with the husband makes Sepia crazy, occupation ameliorates, aversion company, wants to be alone, wants to be busy all the time, the cleaning woman, the washing woman with the big belly, as Nash says. Yes, that is a possibility

CASES