| For those of you who didn't get to see last month's
quiz, here it is again with the answer to follow:
Kelly, you look kind of tired!
This is my "before" picture, Elaine. I'd say
"tired" is an understatement!
Which brings us to my exciting news!
What exciting news?
I'm branching out, Kelly! People have been
asking me to mentor them!
Wow! Really? You're going to need a good advertising agency
to handle your promotion! Have you thought of McMahon and Tate?
Kelly, I think I can come up with my own
advertising slogan! How does this sound: "Be in the know, give
Elaine your dough!"
I'm calling McMahon and Tate.
Have a pain? Contact Elaine!
Since you mention it, I am having a pain! And what does
this have to do with my case anyway? Now, if there are no further
"announcements"....
Wanna feel bettuh? Send Elaine a lettuh!
What, you're Barbra Streisand now? You're from the Bronx?
Uh-oh! I've seen that look before! You're going to sing
the whole sound track to "Funny Girl", aren't you?
Hey, I've got 56 expressions: 'sweet
as pie' to 'tough as leathuh'! And that's 6 expressions
more than all them Barrymores put togethuh!
Somebody kill Miss Streisand's mike!
Instead of just kicking me why don't they
give me a lift? It must be a shock, cuz they're scared that I got,
such a gift! Well I'm miffed! Cuz I'm, the greatest star....
Security! Please pull the plug on the Ziegfield Follies?
Thank you very much. May I start my case now?
Ahem!
As some of you may know, I am the mother of 3 active, albeit
accident-prone, and yet somehow, athletic but otherwise "normal"
children (I know, hard to believe!) and I am also the daughter of
two elderly parents whose health is starting to fail. Consequently,
from time to time I suffer from insomnia, worrying about my family.
Recently, I did just that but it lasted for over 3 nights!
By the last morning I had a headache in my forehead and diarrhea
as well. I was very fatigued. I felt weak and "out of it"
and had no motivation to do anything! My body felt so weak as if
drained of muscle.
I was very chilly and had to wear layers of clothes to
keep from shivering.
I had absolutely no appetite but wanted warm tea and cider.
I happened to mention this to Elaine who suggested _______30C.
I took one dose and was amazed to find my headache gone
within minutes! The diarrhea had also stopped. The headache returned
later on while at a doctor's appointment for my son (hey Elaine,
maybe next month's quiz??) but subsided by the time we returned
home.
I have also been sleeping better in general-- more soundly
and without thoughts keeping me awake. Hooray!!!
So, that's it! I call this episode a "one-dose wonder"!
(which i'm sure Elaine will "creatively" edit out!!)
Hey! Why would I do that? And now for our
next big surprise!
What? Who is it now, Milton Berle?
No, Kelly, Sumita Chaudry from India!
Does she do impressions?
No, she's one of our regular quiz participants.
You're sure. She's a real person?
Yes! She sent us her case! It's a bonus case!
Here she is now:
I'd like to begin by saying that
this is not my picture. Who is it?
Milton Berle.
And, who is Milton Berle?
Mr. Television.
I see.... And who is Larry Tate?
Darin's boss on "Bewitched".
You know, I find this whole section
of the ezine mysterious; so, I think I'll just start; not that I'm
not deeply honored to be here on "The Quiz"! Well, for
the past so-many years (10 perhaps) I've felt sick during and after
a trip -- nauseous, weak, drowsy with my head feeling like lead
-- especially taking a flight or by any air-conditioned mode of
conveyance. Now that I'm introduced to homeopathy and I had to go
for a longish trip to Singapore from India, I looked up my symptoms
and identified ______ as my remedy. I was not sure about how or
when to take it, which Elaine guided me through a month back. (I
don't do well in a car either, though I'm better if I'm the driver.
Circular motions I can't take, nor exhaust fumes.)
I took the remedy in water once,
an hour or so before, and as a matter of abundant precaution once
during the flight. On the return trip I just took one dose while
boarding the flight. I enjoyed the food and the Singaporean Sling
(an alcoholic drink) unimaginable earlier when even the smell of
food was sickening. And I've lived happily ever after!
My problem was at its peak when my
mother was ailing with cancer (1996-97) and I had to travel frequently
for work while my husband took care of her. At that time it would
take days for me to actually recover from the aftermath of a journey.
____________________________________________________
I loved that I had two cases this time to demonstrate the same
remedy. Yes, the same remedy! I know, these cases appeared to have
nothing in common. Sumita had travel sickness and Kelly had diarrhea
and a headache, but what one thing did they have in common? There's
one thing that ties these two cases together and that is--the
cause! (Or, what we homeopaths call, the "etiology",
also known as the "Never Well Since" or "NWS".)
This is what I've been trying to explain in many articles I've written
in these pages--that "etiology overrules the totality of symptoms";
that etiology is at the top of the symptom hierarchy, and nowhere
is this better illustrated than in last month's quiz. Two cases,
same remedy, no symptoms in common--except for the cause, and what
was the cause?
Worry/anxiety over the parents' health!
We have a name for that, we call it "night-watching"
or, "ailments from night-watching". It means your family
member is sick, and you're up all night with this person, full of
anxiety, worrying about him or her, you're losing sleep; and the
loss of sleep is leading to a decline in your health; exactly what
or how is not important.
Now, what is our main remedy for "Ailments from Night-Watching"?
Cocculus!
Don't be misled. Not all etiologies will lead you to a remedy.
For example, Kelly's toothache case from two issues ago, where the
etiology was tooth decay, was of no help to us at all, as there
were over 100 remedies in the rubric toothache from tooth decay.
But, some etiologies are very reliable, and this is one of them!
This is why a very important question in homeopathy case-taking
is, "When did this start and what was going on at that time?"
When I asked Kelly that question, she told me that she was losing
sleep, worrying about her parents' health. My mind went immediately
to Cocculus! That was all I needed to know!
What are some other very reliable etiologies? Ailments from acute
loss, Ailments from blunt trauma, Personality changes after injury,
Ailments from rudeness, Ailments from abuse, Ailments from chronic
grief, Ailments from humiliation, Ailments from loss of wealth,
and so on, all these etiologies narrow down the remedy choice to
a predictable few. From 3,000 remedies, you might be down to 5 just
because you found out what caused this condition in your
patient! A person can come to you with a variety of complaints which
you can feel absolutely overwhelmed by and wonder how in the world
you're ever going to help him. Finally you say, "When did this
start and what was going on in your life at that time?" He
says, "When we lost our house in the flood." That's Ignatia--ailments
from acute loss ! You scarcely need to look any further, and it
doesn't much matter what he told you his complaint was! Headache,
diarrhea, stomach pains...when the etiology is clear, unambiguous
and stated emphatically, go there in the repertory and see which
remedy best matches or is ranked highest for that etiology, and
make that your first choice.
Now, let's look at Cocculus. What is the Cocculus
person like? They don't so much have anxiety about their own health,
according to Margaret Tyler in her Drug Pictures, their
anxiety is for the health of others. She says, "But there are
causes: Nursing: night nursing: worn out by anxiety, worry and loss
of sleep."
Sankaran says in his Soul of Remedies, "Cocc. persons
are very sensitive to the sufferings of others. Sympathetic, alert
and anxious for the feelings and health of others, they can stay
awake for nights, anxiously nursing the sick. 'Anxiety for the health
of others' and 'Loss of sleep agg.' are two leading indications
for this remedy."
Now, having said that, we do have confirmatory symptoms for Cocculus
in both of our cases. Cocculus is a chilly remedy, and
you'll remember Kelly saying she was freezing, wearing layer upon
layer of clothing. Cocculus has paralytic weakness, and
you'll remember Kelly saying that her muscles felt drained of energy.
And for Sumita Chaudry, she had the famous Cocculus motion
sickness, the famous Cocculus vertigo, the nausea at the
sight and smell of food, nausea when having to look at moving objects.
Let's see what some of our quiz participants had to say:
------------------------------------------------
Dear Elaine,
I think the remedy for both november cases
is Cocculus. They have practically the same NWS: loss of sleep (sleeplessness
or insomnia) from cares or anxiety about others, about health, even
if in the last case this etiology is expressed a little later .
The other symptoms are practically due to
loss of sleep and when is about weakness from loss of sleep, or
ailments from loss of sleep, Cocculus stands first, even single
(K 1419).. Also in head, pain after sleep, loss of. Is like this
this insomnia was a kind of night watching.
Chilliness and desire for warm drinks, appetite
wanting are all there.
I didn't find something clear about diarrhea.
And I didn't find all symptoms PQRS, but then I thought at the fact
that they were intense, because loss of sleep explains a lot of
general symptoms.
I was disappointed that this time I didn't
found great help in Murphy's Repertory. Maybe I didn't know to use
it fully. And I must add that I was looking in Luc de Schepper's
little repertory for "ailments from". There Calc carb
stays first for ailments from cares and worries especially about
family members. So maybe is useful to see that only loss of sleep
is from cares and the others are ailments from loss of sleep? I
know Calc is not really acute, but also that this classification
in acute and chronic remedies is not the best thing. Maybe you can
be more specific about this rubric and the case.
The second case is more characteristic with
travel sick, nausea, heaviness of head, drowsiness and smell of
food aggravates.
Thanks a lot. isn't it possible to learn
us online on a regularly basis? Is amazing how nice you can simplify
all you are talking about.
All the best,
Anca Ticu Romania Thanks a lot, Anca
------------------------------------------------
Yes, the Cocculus was for both cases - I
thought that's why you put them together. Kelly's deals with anxious
worrying causing lack of sleep and the other with travel sickness.
Gail Allen
------------------------------------------------
Dear Elaine!
In my opinion the given remedy was Cocculus.
Some features of Cocculus which suit the case:
- worried about others (children and parents)
- ailments from cares, worries + physical
stress (Managing a family with 3 children is a really big stress
both emotionally and physically)
- extreme weakness
- chilly
- motion sickness (nausea, weakness, drowsiness)
- nausea from smell of food
best regards:
dr. Ella Okos
Hungary
------------------------------------------------
Hi Elaine
I'm back. I picked Cocculus for both cases. Here are the rubrics
I used. For Sumita's case:
Stomach/nausea/riding in a carriage, agg
Head/heaviness/motion, from
Sleep/sleepiness/riding, while
Generalities/weakness/riding from
She also mentioned that air conditioning
aggravated her condition, which is kind of an unusual thing, so
when I looked at Cocculus I was pleased to find that it is worse
for cold air or open air.
In Kelly's case, the main two rubrics are:
Sleep/sleeplessness/weakness from and
Generalities/weakness/paralytic (as if drained of muscle..)
Again, Cocculus is the main one.
I know this remedy, it has the oddest feeling..
When I had babies, I wasn't fortunate enough to get babies that
slept through the night (they didn't even nap!). My son slept through
the night at about 3 years of age, and before that, he was up 5-6
times every night. When he was 3 1/2 I had my daughter, and she
was the same. I think she slept through the night at about 4, so
I had about 7 years of not one night of solid sleep. I couldn't
drive a car anywhere, because if I had to sit still, I'd fall asleep
in a matter of seconds! (I didn't even have to lie down!)
Anyway, I could be sitting in the middle of a conversation with
someone, and my tongue would literally "fall asleep."
It felt like it would suddenly become paralyzed, and I couldn't
form the words I was trying to utter. Or, my eyes would simply close
by themselves, and I couldn't keep them open, no matter how hard
I tried. My husband even tried to make me watch Harry Potter 3 evenings
in a row, and I sat, sleeping, through the whole movie. I still
don't have a clue what Harry Potter is about.. But, back to Cocculus
- it saved my life, and my sanity, on more occasions than I can
count!
Mati Fuller
------------------------------------------------
I want to thank all the people who participated and especially
our winners: Mati Fuller, Dr. Ella Okos, Gail Allen, Slavica Peic,
Maly, K.V. Natarajan, Judith Trojnar, Anonymous (again!), Sergio
and Anca Ticu. Please see Sunil
Anand's article in this month's issue on Cocculus,
and thank you everybody! Dr. B, what have our winners won?
----------------------------------------------------
This month's winners will get a special 30% discount on one order
of books from Hpathy Mall.
Click Here for
Prize Guidelines
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