A Case of Allergic Rhinitis

“My acceptance of natural systems is very high, what goes up must come down…”  – (Patient’s expression)

This case is of a 48 yrs old male who came to me with Allergic Rhinitis 5 yrs back. He was taking homoeopathic treatment for some time from another homoeopath but was not getting the desired result. He needed around 10 handkerchiefs every day as his nose would leak like a tap when the allergy aggravated. I took his case and I must say this was the first case that really taught me the Case Witnessing technique in the real sense.

Passive Case Witnessing Process

D:  So just tell me about your problem, tell me about yourself. Whatever comes to you spontaneously? I am just trying to understand you as a person?

(Physical complaints)

P:  Ok, I feel that few minutes before on a general note everything is going fine, suddenly it happens that I get this very strong sense of being engulfed by this feeling of “as if I am swimming under water”. As if I am, the distinct feeling is like that of completely blocked from all the sides.

H.g – Places both hands in front of face with fingers widespread and then moves them around face.

My head is heavy, my eyes are streaming, my nose is blocked & streaming with water and I know the allergy is coming on, and then it frequently goes away as it comes. Sometimes it persists for a while till I do something about it and then it will go off. Frequently I cannot talk any further because my nose gets blocked which is perhaps the feeling right now also.

This comes on, reaches a certain peak, a certain height and off it goes, zeros down. So I am little unable to pinpoint any particular trigger because of which it comes so I assume there is no trigger but it comes on its own and goes on its own also. It comes and goes, it comes and goes…. It irritates me only when it affects my regular routine.

D:  What else? Anything more that you can say about yourself?

P:  I think generally my comfort levels are very basic and my tolerance levels are very high because of which I frequently take any kind of physical inconvenience, reach a point of unbearable…, before I actually start getting bothered about it. Minor physical problems or minor physical inconveniences don’t really matter to me. I very clearly accept inevitabilities very quickly. I accept inevitability of situations without questioning them too often.

There is always a fall back plan for everything. I have already figured out that something will need to be done if A, B, C thing doesn’t happen. So plan B is always there. It is not that plan B is on paper but I know at the back of my mind that I can resort to this option if plan A does not work. I would want plan A to work for sure but if it does not due to some circumstance then I don’t get too bothered or hassled because of it, I can quickly adjust and go to plan B.

Inevitability is something that I think a lot in many situations. I have realised that all the time I can quickly focus on the inevitability of situation where lot of things go wrong. The minute I realise that the situation is inevitable whatever you may want to do about it, it solves lot of problems, it doesn’t create any tension further because you have just accepted that it is inevitable and carry on………it is inevitable……It will just come and go.

D:  Little bit more….?

P:  I depend a lot on time as an element to take care of lot of things whether it is my physical problem, whether it is a personal thing or whether it is professional aspect of life, I have to depend on factor of time to mature everything that we do. Being a landscape architect it helps me to grow with my ideas and give it the required time. My sites are such which need this kind of patience….a tree that is planted cannot grow tall in 2 days.

I also realise that in the recent past I have become a little paranoid about some things related to work. Somebody said there are 3 P’s to a successful project that is passion, persistence and paranoia. Unless you are paranoid or unless you focus on what may go wrong you may not be successful.

Pause for 10 minutes…..

D: What else do you feel is very peculiar about you?

P: My acceptance of natural systems is very high. I am talking on a very broad sense, what goes up must come down,

H.g – Moving hand in circular fashion in vertical plane

I believe in Ecological presence of energy, far larger picture… The things which are meant to happen will happen, they are inevitable. One would always see ‘what goes around comes around’ kind of situations. I am always, generally I am always trying to figure out that this has gone too high so it has to go down at some point of time, so that philosophy of the larger existence I think it is very strongly somewhere related to me which I look at as an ecological reality of things, of systems, of cycles….

There are a lot of things that I want to achieve; there are lot of things that I think that should happen at my routine life, personal life and profession life. I think this has been my psyche and this is sort of drilled into me that whatever is to happen will happen, it is fatalistic, it is destiny.

D:  What else?

P:  In terms of attitude, I am more worried about anything that means to me in terms of an interpersonal relationship or in terms of the outcome of a particular work more than any kind of material return. Money is always secondary to me. So in all walks of life I think that the way you conduct yourself is the most important. I completely accept destiny or fate as a sort of overall controller of things, and whether you do it or you don’t it is not going to change anything for you. Again that inevitability thing comes back. That inevitability that I look at things, it’s just there.

D:  Anything else you would like to tell us? Do you think anything else is missing out from your description?

P:  I think I have told myself lot of things even I didn’t know because I am sort of focussed on…

Active Case Witnessing Process

D:  So you have been saying all through out that, “it is inevitable, it is there, it’s just there, things come and go something that goes around comes around, something that has to happen will happen”. Talk about it in as much detail as you can, whatever comes to you?

P:  When I say inevitable I mean that you know things are not in your control, and when I say control, I mean that they cannot be changed by you. Things that you can do nothing about; so it is that fine line between helplessness and acceptance. When I say inevitable I don’t feel it to be something that I am helpless about but it’s a feeling that it is something you cannot do anything about. And that is an acceptance level, there is no dejection there is no distress. If there is distress one would feel helpless, that I want to change it but I cannot change it.

D:  Just be with it…..say more?

P:  It is something that is perhaps part of a larger picture, part of a larger scheme of things, and it is part of a larger system of things in which we exist.  It is something that has to happen, whether you like it or not is going to happen, it is something that is already set into motion and whatever you feel is about to happen is just a part of completion of the motion.

E.g. the bus must have come late or my car must have come late because of so many things that are sort of triggered off elsewhere; something that happened yesterday, something that happened day before yesterday and because of which everything must have happened. But the net result is not something that is in my control nor could somebody else have done something about it. It is under nobody’s control. It is just that it is there, it is happening, it is bound to happen. That is what I mean when I say inevitable. I see it as an undeniable movement or undeniable thing in the larger scheme of things. It is only that it is predictable. (Giving abstract imaginary example)

H.G – PENDULUM LIKE MOVEMENT OF HAND FROM RIGHT TO LEFT

Active-Active Case Witnessing Process

D:  Bit more about it. Inevitable, nobody has control over, not in my control, not in anybody’s control, the ball example, set into motion, part of a larger picture, whatever you are saying, cannot be changed, beyond control…

P: Again I constantly keep thinking about these, rhythms and cycles of the life and things that are going to happen anyway, things that are perhaps part of nature, that are perhaps part of natural systems because natural things are just there, they are inevitable. What follows day is night and what follows night is day. Low tides and high tides, it is these…it is these rhythmic repetitive things, it is part of a system, part of a periodic occurrence, it goes and it comes, it goes and it comes

EYES CLOSED

I look at it in a positive manner, I am never bothered by it in a negative way, and even acceptance of these inevitabilities is not bothersome to me. They are just something that I have to consciously, subconsciously, unconsciously do. I just accept that

D:  So just keep your eyes closed for a minute and just think about all these things together without involving you or your emotions or your intellect in it, where you said rhythmic, repetitive, periodic and something that goes and comes, goes and comes, not in my control, part of a larger picture, larger scheme of things. Something that is rhythmic, cyclic.

P:  Waves, all I can think of is waves. I can think of motion of a boat, motion of water

D:  Tell me about it. What experience does it give you deep within yourself?

P:  Of floating

D:  Describe this experience in detail. Just be with it.

P:  I have this image or memory of what happens when you are swimming and you breathe in air deeply, you are floating with your face down, with your entire body limp and you allow it to be tugged, you allow it move however the water is moving. You allow yourself to just go anywhere without resisting.

I don’t want to resist that inevitability. I don’t want to go against it because that resistance will be in confrontation and I am not confronting it. It is not going to be useful for me so I just allow myself to be controlled. I am allowing myself to float wherever the current is taking me. I am not fighting against it, in fact moulding with it to my advantage. I am going with it, it is helping me. It is not something that I am…..

Active –active case witnessing process towards Source

D:  Be with this experience, see what it connects you with.

P:  Waves of the sea.

D:  Means?

P:  Waves of the sea….waves not on the beach but the waves where things keep moving in simple harmonic motion which are going to be there all the time. That is what I can think of.

H.G – MOVING BOTH HANDS PENDULUM LIKE FASHION TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER

P:  Perhaps the way in which the water moves…..keeps moving

H.G – MOVING BOTH HANDS PENDULUM LIKE FASHION TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER

P:  It just makes things move, perhaps quieten down after a while and then again start moving. So it is something that can come back, it goes and comes back. It is something that happens again in a cycle, which happens in rhythmic repetition of some sort. It is rhythmic repetition, it is a rhythm, and it is something that is, that is…

H.G – MOVING BOTH HANDS PENDULUM LIKE FASHION

P: I am talking about the energy that is there in the water, which has the capacity to sort of make objects move, quieten down and then again move. So there is this to and fro thing. It rises to a certain high and ebbs, it is zero then it starts, goes to the peak and becomes zero. The energy quietens down.

END OF THE CASE  –  Case understanding

Passive Case Witnessing Process:  Important points –

• Suddenly it happens that I get this very strong sense of being engulfed by this problem of as if I am under water.
• As if I am, the distinct feeling is like that of a completely blocked from all sides
• The allergy, It comes and reaches a certain peak, a certain height and zeros down
• I have got a very wide threshold of acceptance, high threshold of acceptance but tolerance level is very wide
• I very clearly accept inevitabilities very quickly. I accept inevitability of situations without questioning them too often
• Inevitability is something that I think a lot in many situations
• My acceptance of natural systems is very high. It’s like a natural systems I am talking on the very broad sense, what goes up must come down,
• Philosophy of the larger existence I think it is very strongly somewhere related to me which I look at it as a ecological reality of things, of systems, of cycles of….
• Whatever is to happen will happen kind of fatalistic, kind of destinial kind of approach
• I am really worried about things that are not in my control.
• Again that inevitability thing comes back. That inevitability that I look at things this way and that I think is it is there, it’s just there

• Level of experience – Delusion
• Patient in touch with himself

During the Passive Case witnessing Process the peculiar expression which comes up repeatedly in different unconnected areas is

Focus of the case – 

• it is inevitable, it is there, it’s just there,
• things come and go
• something that goes around comes around,
• something that has to happen will happen

So I become active here..! I ask him about the focus and then I observe what he does with it. Is there any change I see in him, does he connect it all together and walk towards his deeper self?

The Active case witnessing process is the stop where i confirm my focus, and observe the changes that this peculiar expression brings about in his entire being. So during the Active Case Witnessing Process, the important points which came up were:

• Not under control
• cannot be changed by you
• not helplessness but acceptance
• Perhaps part of larger picture, part of a larger scheme of things, it is part of a larger system of things in which we exist.
• Something that is already set into motion and whatever you feel is about to happen is just a part of completion of the motion. That is what I mean when I say inevitable. I see it as a undeniable…undeniable movement or undeniable thing in the larger scheme of things

Here he connects the focus with the deeper non-human specific self and also starts joining the PQRS expressions from the passive case taking. So now I become active-active.

   Active-Active Case Witnessing Process: Important points –

• Under nobody’s control.
• set into motion
• It is only predictable
• rhythms and cycles of the life and things that…things that are going to happen anyway things that are perhaps part of nature
• regular cycle
• rhythmic
• repetitive things
• It is part of a system, part of a periodic occurrence, it goes and it comes, it goes and it comes
• Waves
• I can think of motion of boat
• floating
• you are floating with your face down, with your entire body limp and you allow it to be tugged, you allow it move however water is moving
• Waves of the sea.
• Waves where things keep moving in simple harmonic motion which are going to be there all the time.
• It is the energy that is there in the water that has the capacity to sort of make objects move, quieten down and then again move. So there is this to and fro thing. It is zero then it starts, goes to the peak and becomes zero. The energy quietens down.

Hand gestures in the Active, Active Case Witnessing Process –

A peculiar hand gesture which came up was the pendulum like movement of both hands when he was talking about the example of the ball and then while describing the energy of waves.

MY LEARNING FROM THE CASE

This was the case that showed me the real meaning of something called focus, something that comes up again and again, something that stands out in every situation and how the entire persona changes and becomes what he is, deep within, when you touch that focus, stimulate a chain reaction. What unfolded that day I would not like to analyse with words or phrases; it is the energy in it that one needs to perceive and be one with.

The beauty is how the deeper subconscious self connects with the mind and the body…..how the same rhythmic, cyclical pattern follows everywhere in his life as well as his cold. It just peaks and ebbs. He started with the localised experience in his nose, as if swimming under water, engulfed by water and the end of the case he connects with the same experience at a global level, as if swimming with face down, floating, breathing in air deeply etc.  The entire story of water as an energy source stood in front of me, he connected with his source, and it was obvious wasn’t it? The energy, the cyclical pattern, the rhythmic nature if it, the correlation with the larger scheme of events, natural systems or cycles and a direct connection with waves of the sea

Kingdom

At the end beautifully the patient connects everything to a single energy pattern, rather than being a lack or a defect in him, or a me versus you phenomenon or sensitivity and reactivity, the entire description of the patient – experiences it as a cyclical, rhythmic pattern in nature, to larger scheme of events and eventually connecting it with the energy of water, hence the kingdom is nothing but the Imponderable group of remedies!

Subkingdom – Water remedies

Remedy – Aqua marina (sea water)

Potency – 1M

Proving extracts of Aqua Marina

Hopelessness / Fatalistic / Inevitable Failure

Co-ordinator: During the proving up until the final discussion, I had the feeling that it all would be a failure no matter what I did. A sense of fatalism or hopelessness! No point trying to do anything about it either. It was like I was just going through the motions (very different to other provings I have done).

Group Discussion: It has a feeling like the futility of life – there is death at the end anyway. But we go on like the ANZAC’s (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp which are best known for their ultimately failed landing at Gallipoli in Turkey during WW1).

Acceptance / Bigger View

A huge acceptance of everything coming against me, from here to the horizon acceptable…! No emotions with this, just acceptance, understanding and OK-ness. Relief from feelings of grief over my son’s suicide (Prover’s son committed suicide 10 months previously and she had been deeply depressed since.) A feeling of – it doesn’t really matter in the bigger scheme of things; in the huge expanse of time. It is all understood and accepted.

SENSATIONS AS IF

Feel like I have a float all around my lungs; with an inability to sink from there down. Like a float in water.

Follow ups:

Follow up 1month later:

The rhinitis immediately reduced in intensity on day 3 and over the next 2-3 weeks kept getting better. His mood and energy was better than before and according to him he could concentrate better on his work.

Plan: S.L.

Follow up 3 months later:

He has had no attack of Rhinitis till date. Only a few small episodes of discomfort but it settled with one dose of Aqua marina 1M.

(Total 4 doses given so far)

Follow up 1 year later:

He was immensely better all these days. The rhinitis never really bothered him so much. During the winter season there used to be few days of aggravation but the same remedy in water dilution helped him recover quickly.

I spoke to him for almost one hour to assess the overall change in him. I could see a change at all levels. He says, “The feeling of inevitability and fatalistic efforts are all there but very less in intensity as compared to before; my cold is much, much better, it is not coming in my way of work. I can look at these things as a third observer. Whenever it comes in my way of things I am quickly able to cope with it. I feel the imaginations I had been getting transferred on my physical being even if these imaginations were in a positive way. My physical being was getting affected. Now I am able to keep it away from creating symptoms on a physical level in me”

Follow up continues…It has been 5 yrs. He continues to meet me till date. His Rhinitis is under control. Globally he is much better.

I have been practicing classical Homeopathy since 10 years and since day one of my practice, all my efforts have been directed towards understanding the diseased person beyond diagnosis and symptoms, developing my skills and technique in such a way that I have a scientific basis in my understanding.

I have been fortunate enough to have the guidance of Dr. Dinesh Chauhan in my quest. His Case Witnessing Process has proved to be of great help in my practice.  I am working with remedies prepared from water for the past two years. It is amazing to see how water in different places, water of different natures have different energies within.