| I have chosen this case for the quiz to demonstrate
how effective facial analysis is in finding the miasm of the patient
and the required remedy. In the past I would not have taken on a
case like this because the chance of finding an effective remedy
would have been very low. Every homoeopath has this happen to them
– a patient (or in this case a friend) wants someone close
to them to seek homoeopathic treatment but they won’t –
they won’t make the time, or they don’t believe in it
or as in this case they are just too uncomfortable to go through
the interview process. They are happy to take a remedy for their
ailment, (do you have some drops for migraines?) but as we know,
without getting the totality of the case the chance of our ‘migraine’
remedy working is quite small. Pathological classification is the
domain of conventional medicine – choosing a remedy via a
pathology (and which remedy – there are so many!) is at best
hit and miss.
I was approached by a friend to treat her husband. She had been
very happy with her treatment and was having difficulties in their
relationship because of his irritability. I suggested to her that
he make a booking to see me and she asked him but he refused, although
he said he would be happy to take something for his migraines. She
relayed this information back to me and I decided to try and find
a constitutional (miasmatic/totality) remedy for him without seeing
him in person. I had met this man a number of times socially but
knew very little about him other than that in public, he is very
quiet and never initiates conversation until someone asks him a
question.
I gave my friend a questionnaire that I use for consultations with
people from other countries or interstate and told her to get some
good photos for the facial analysis. She saw me a week later and
relayed the case to me. She actually did a good job with getting
descriptions of the symptoms (having seen me a number of times)
as she has no formal homoeopathic training.
September 2008
Male aged 28 suffers with migraines and eye problems. These migraines
are only of short duration and come on suddenly and only last around
30 seconds. He gets them 3 to 4 times a week and they come in short
intervals. His eyes are always red and dry and they feel better
from cold. His nose is always running slightly and he usually has
a small cold sore in the corner of his mouth. Once a week he suffers
with a sharp chest pain which is worse for deep breathing. After
eating he feels bloated. He has a bowel motion every second day
but if he overeats he will get diarrhea within half an hour. He
urinates very seldom – often only twice a day. During exercise
he gets bad cramps in his legs and his hands are always cold. The
skin on his face is very dry and flakey and he has a number of moles
on his back. He has a habit of constantly picking at his nails to
smooth them – he can’t stand any roughness. He has difficulty
sleeping and takes one to two hours to fall asleep – he likes
to sleep on his back. Can get very hot in bed and gets extreme heat
in his stomach which is better for cold. At times he has trouble
turning off his thoughts. He can’t always remember his dreams
and there are no real themes to his dreams. In regard to weather,
he hates rain and thunderstorms, dislikes cold and likes warm weather
with the sun out, but cloudless. His perspiration is only slight
with no odor. He fears public speaking, failure and unfamiliar social
situations. When he is stressed he becomes agitated and feels frustrated.
His passion is sailing and investing.
My friend gives her impression of him too. She says he is fastidious
with his work and the way he keeps his belongings. Very shy in public
but quite chatty in private (my observation is that he hardly ever
talks in public). His father died suddenly in his teens and he is
still finding it hard to overcome his loss – the death of
his father overshadows their own life and he is obsessive about
caring for his mother and not leaving her on her own.
Summary
I had reservations about choosing a remedy for someone whom I
hadn’t even spoken to but was pleased with the detail his
wife presented me with. The photos were done well too and so his
miasm was easy to determine. My repertorisation gave me 16 remedies.
Without the miasmatic information I would have found it very difficult
to choose a remedy with confidence. Fortunately there were only
two remedies from the miasm in the repertorisation that matched
his miasm and one of them had a few distinctive aspects of the case
as well. I chose this remedy and gave the patient a 30C to take
daily. Within a week he was more relaxed, sleeping better, all head
pain gone, eyes better, skin less dry, no stomach heat, no diarrhoea
and no cramps. His wife was very pleased because their relationship
became less stressful. He was pleased because his migraines and
eyes plus other symptoms were so much better. He took his remedy
every day because he recognized the difference it was making. After
the bottle was finished (about 6 weeks) he took no more remedy and
was well for another couple of months. Some eye symptoms returned
so he took it again for another few weeks and they immediately improved
again.
FACIAL ANALYSIS
| YELLOW (psora) |
RED (sycosis) |
BLUE (syphilis) |
| Lines forehead
Ears position
Hairline shape |
Nose
Brow
Forehead shape
Mouth
Lips
Smile
Teeth
Lines beside mouth |
Asymmetry
Bridge
Cheekbones
Chin
Eyelids |
| 3 |
8 |
5 |
Practising homoeopathy using facial analysis is much easier than
trying to define essence or determining a deep interpretation of
the patient’s state. This patient needs a red (sycotic) remedy
as classified by the HFA (Homoeopathic Facial Analysis) system.
Note that many contemporary systems use the concept of miasms
and subsequent remedies categorised to those miasms. As would be
expected where different criteria are used to describe a miasm,
to determine a miasm and to define the miasmatic properties of a
remedy, very different categories of remedies exist. HFA classification
of miasms and remedies comes from clinical application and research
– if you are not familiar with these classifications please
see Appearance and Circumstance by Grant Bentley for major polychrests.
Smaller remedies are listed on the Victorian College of Classical
Homoeopathy website
http://www.vcch.org/remedies.html
Please send your feedback on the remedy to admin@vcch.org
Next month I will reveal the remedy and the repertorisation used
to find the remedy. A lucky quiz winner will get a copy of Appearance
and Circumstance with Homoeopathic Facial Analysis
or (assuming the winner has those) a copy of Soul & Survival.
Louise Barton
Dip Hom Prof Memb AHA, AROH regd
Melbourne, Australia
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