Mr. ASP – Male; 66 yrs, Retired Police Inspector. Tall lean person with pox marks on face, consulted on 28.11.95. His case History as submitted by him is as follows:
C/C:
When I was in police service, many a times I suffered from hypertension but for time being – sometimes due to family problems such as my wife did not want my relatives to be entertained or for supporting them. At present I am under tension because my son aged 38 yrs does not want to get married. He never realised our wishes. He is the only person staying with me and my wife. We wish that he should get married, have a wife, children and he should live happy and prosperous life but alas, our wishes are not fulfilled. On the contrary now he has an affair with a married girl having two kids which I do not want at all.
Associated C/O:
Whenever I suffer from cold, throat problems are created like hoarseness, throat pain and irritation. I suffer from cold and cough once or twice a year. Sometimes backache at the lumbar region sometimes on the right side of the trunk. Pain in joints of Right knee, Right shoulder, Right ankle, Right Sole near the toe. Sometimes fingers and toes get contracted and then become normal after sometime.
Past H/o
Smallpox 8 yrs. of age. Backache 55 yrs of age. Cholesterol increased 60 yrs of age.
Family H/o:
Has 2 sons and 2 daughters except youngest son all are married.
Father – died at age of 67 yrs. Heavy bidi (locally handmade cigarette) smoker, cough and weakness.
Mother – died at age of 69 yrs., Paralytic for last 4 yrs. bed ridden suffered very badly in last days.
4 brothers – 1 died of smallpox – 8 yrs. of age. 1 died of accident. 1 has leucoderma.
3 sisters – 1 died of Malaria – 12 yrs of age; 1 Leucoderma, nervousness.
Generals:
Weather – Likes cold weather, rainy season, but aversion to thunderstorm.
Appetite – Normal, cannot remain without food for long time; Eats fast.
DESIRES: Milk ++, Vegetables ++, fish, onions, sweets.
AVERSION: Oily, fried food.
HABITS – Tea 2-3 cups/day. Smoking before 25 yrs. Alcohol once a week
1- peg.
Thirst – I never drink water when I take food. 1 hour after food I become thirsty. Drink at least 5 glasses of water during the day.
SLEEP: Sound sleep but sometimes disturbed, sleeps on sides.
DREAMS: Mostly I see dirt, STOOLS, gutter toilets and I try to run away from that dirt.
– Once I saw many snakes in my sleep.
– Once I was struggling to escape from rogues and I woke up struggling.
– I feel as if I am flying in sky in my dream.
– Sometimes dreams are related with the happenings of the day, some
dreams are remembered and some are forgotten.
– Once in dream I was carried away by flood and then got stuck with
branch of a tree and got out of water.
– Whatever does not happen in reality, I see in dream. It is said that
whatever you think you see in dream but I see in dream that never
comes to my mind.
-Once in a dream an event that had occurred in my life 50 years back reappeared exactly as it had happened. This event goes like this:
“Before marriage I had proposed to a widow teacher. Our society would never like this. There was a great uproar against me. I had decided to take her to Bombay and marry her, but before that her brother took her to her elder sister’s place”.
This story I saw in my dream. In dream I caressed that girl and in this age I had seminal emission. It is beyond my intelligence to correlate all these dreams.
– When emotions explode such dreams are seen.
– Once I dreamt that I got acquainted with a girl while travelling in a bus (I have written a poem on this). Like that I am a very dreamy person. Even while awake I get a thought and/or emotion and I start dreaming I get absorbed in those dreams and then I write poem.
– Once I saw an English movie “Born free” and at night I had a dream that I can never forget. In dream I love a lioness, I caress her, she also licks my body and loves me like the lioness in the movie. But then horrible! that lioness attacks me and I start running …. and in dream I got drenched with sweat.
ABOUT NATURE:
I get angry with people who speak lies, are deceitful, sly, hypocrites, who overeat; I also get angry when people behave against my wishes; make much noise.
After many years of past experience I try to be quiet by sitting quiet, doing meditation, yoga and even then if can’t control my anger then I become Violently expressive.
I do not have any fear.
If someone tries to hurt me physically then I try to retaliate but if it is mentally then I repent and /or sever the relationship.
I feel depressed when there is a problem in my house; when I see other’s children prospering and my children are unsuccessful; also because my wife is illiterate and when I compare my wife with other literate ladies.
I get suicidal thoughts though I try to quickly put them aside by religious thinking. I do not want to commit suicide; I want to have natural death.
Emotions make me weep, I feel better after weeping. I like very much if someone offers me sympathy.
There are lot of differences of opinion of severe nature with my wife. Occasional exchange of good emotions with daughter and sons. I love my grandchildren, other relatives are disliked.
INFORMATION RECEIVED DURING INTERVIEW:
He started working as police constable in 1947. Then joined night school did S.S.C. and then B.A. After that he joined for training of Police Sub Inspector. In leisure time he learnt yoga.
During young age I got into bad habits due to bad company – mainly Alcoholism and irregular food habits and eating non veg.
’75 – had bleeding piles and slip disc, I had become obese and out of shape. I was hospitalised. Since ’77 did yoga regularly. Even though I was doing yoga regularly I felt pain here and there.
I get attacks of unconsciousness. I am able to see but the things do not register. Also there is paralytic weakness of tongue. This is going on for 5 yrs.
I go for swimming and feel greatly better, but before one month there was giddiness and severe headache. Headache is due to injury to head while diving – before 1 yr. – I had much pain in head and neck then; there was a great jerk when I received injury.
Right side of body is mainly affected and pains in all joints and all limbs better by pressing.
We were very poor when we were small. We could not get education. Our father was very obstinate and he suffered a great loss in business. He had loans to repay of about Rs.4- 5000/- in my young age. At about 8 yrs. of age I got smallpox that has made me ugly and has left a complex in me (weeping). I started looking ugly, people started talking about me. Someone used to say something and I started becoming a loner. I grew up and then it was time to marry. I started feeling that I do not have choice, because 2-3 girls refused me, looking at my face. So finally I decided to marry a widow.
I am totally unhappy as per my family life. I want all my relatives to be very close, but that is not possible due to my wife. I have a constant feeling that I have some responsibility to fulfil. My children are little educated and my expectations regarding them are not fulfilled. Younger son and his affair trouble me more. He says “I do not have any affair with her; we have just a friendship”. But can I not make out from his expressions after talking to her on telephone? I am very much upset about it.
ANALYSIS:
He had osteoarthritis of knees < right. He was limping while walking. He was much affected by vertigo and “attacks of unconsciousness”, unsteadiness while walking and his joint pains were mainly the ailments that had brought him to me by his friend. But he seemed more affected by the behaviour of his wife and son, his relations with relatives. His sore throat etc. was of secondary importance. He wants his relatives including wife and son to behave the way he wants.
When we closely examine what the patient has said we see that he is a very SENSITIVE and DISSATISFIED PERSON. Why? What is he expecting from his wife and children? He expects that his children should be prosperous like others. He is unhappy with wife because she does not treat his relatives properly and that she is illiterate.
The dreams are interesting. That has been a major part in his case. His dreams are vivid and varied. He dreams from flying to seeing snakes. He makes love in his dreams. He has even written a poem on what he saw in his dream. When we read the dreams we see that he is a romantic person, and we know that he is a very sensitive person too. In the dreams that he mentions there is a love and romance. This is what he does not get in his real life. What he wants is love. He is AMOROUS.
Let us now look at his life. When he was 8 years old he was disfigured by small pox. People used to comment, so he started becoming loner. He started avoiding people, not the family members. What an 8-yr. old child misses when he becomes loner? Obviously his playmates. Thereafter when this child becomes adolescent he started looking for a partner, but 3-4 girls refused him because of his face. That time in desperation he decided that he should marry a young widow. What was this young man was longing for? A loving companion. Thereafter he got married and he got a companion but still he was not satisfied. Why? Just because she is not literate. Now what is a relationship that cannot exist between a literate husband and illiterate wife? – Only of friendship. When we look into these important situations in the life of the patient we are easily led to the COMMON THREAD. In this case the thread is that he is feeling FRIENDLESS in all the three situations.
When I came to this understanding, I thought to myself that I now know the patient well, so let me find out his remedy. I did not know any remedy that had this state so prominently with all the aspects as described. So I looked into the SR (Synthetic Repertory) for rubric: Delusion; friendless he is. There were only 2 remedies – mag.m. and Sars. I wanted a remedy that does not have forsaken feeling in it because patient didn’t have it. So I looked under Forsaken, feeling and to my surprise both the remedies were there. I was little nervous. Then I saw that Sars. was an addition taken from Boger-Boenninghausen’s Repertory. I looked in that repertory and found that the rubric is Forsaken, friendless etc. I looked in Kent’s repertory and there Sars. is not under forsaken feeling. The construction of Kent’s Repertory and Boger-Boenninghausen’s repertory are based on different principles so this confusion occurs many times with all new repertories. But this encouraged me. Then I saw the symptom Amorous – desires love in Boger-Boenninghausen’s repertory. Sars. is listed whereas mag.m. is not. Then I went to see the section of dreams in SR. The most frequently repeated dream is that of Stools. Sars. is also there. I wanted to see whether Generals, side right is covered by Sars or not as it is a very strong general symptom in the patient. To my utter surprise Sars. has 3 marks in that rubric. Now I was very much sure of the remedy. I gave SARS.1m, 1 dose.
Follow-ups
He visited again on 6-12-95. His pains were reduced. He had severe headache on 3rd day of the dose. His tensions were greatly reduced. I asked him “What about your son? Has he stopped calling the girl?” He said “No. But I don’t worry about it now.” Very little giddiness. Thereafter slowly his complaints reduced. Initially the pains in lower limbs were reducing faster but then they stopped improving and thereafter the pains in upper limbs stopped and then those in lower limbs.
On 15-5-96 Irritation in throat, body ache, feverish feeling for 3 days. MERC.SOL.30, 3 doses. This is a common practice that we used to follow. Give an acute remedy when acute picture is there. But we never used to see what is behind the acute. So obviously it failed and I had to give Sars. 1M again but no relief. The action of 1M was over. I gave 10M and he got better. He did not need any medicine thereafter. His lipid profile also was within normal range. His “attacks of unconsciousness” disappeared. His joint pains stopped. He was able to walk much better and for longer distances. He became cheerful.
such a good case. thanks