From Falcon to Phoenix: A Case of Falco peregrinus

“Then falcon would have no returning

unless transformed to phoenix it aspire out of ashes

its nest to make!”

~ Falcon and Falconer, a proving by Misha Norland

Interviewed in the Student Clinic of NYSH; A case solved using Big Ideas and information from the proving This case was initially taken by a 4th year student homeopath, supervised by Susan Sonz in the NYSH clinic. It was solved with information from the proving. The patient’s name has been changed.

Several short forms or punctuations might be used throughout the case. This NYSH legend below explains their usage.

Legend:

S= The client

CAPITAL LETTERS= The homeopath’s questions

Writer’s comments are in [square parenthesis]

HG = Hand Gesture

SD = Spontaneous Denial

bold = Significant statements made by the client

CONF= Confluence or repeated idea

BACKGROUND:

Samantha first came to see us at the NYSH Student Clinic on January 12, 2008 and has been coming regularly for over 3 years now. I first observed this case in clinic as a 4^th year student and now manage the case. Samantha has not been the easiest clinic patient to stay in touch with, but she is always open and forthcoming when she does check in.

INTERVIEW

Observations/First Impressions

Samantha is a 26 year old woman of Hispanic descent. She is of average height and slim build. She has several visible piercings and tattoos, including a piercing in the outer corner of her lower lip, and tattoos on the inside of both forearms. She wears lots of silver jewelry, rings, and leather wrist bands. She is dressed in black and white, and her nails done in black and white designs. She looks very serious but also laughs often in a short, nervous way.

Samantha sits with arms crossed tight across her chest but her legs crossed in an open posture, ankle on knee. She chews on her lower lip where the piercing is. At the beginning of the interview she is answering in short, brief responses, even monosyllabic.

Patient’s Chief Complaint:

I’ve had recurrent yeast infections since childhood. I never felt comfortable discussing it until I was in my early 20’s.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST NOTICE THE PROBLEM? I was probably about 6 when it started.

HOW DID YOU REALIZE THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG? The first thing I noticed was a weird discharge.

[She shrugs her right shoulder in a “so what” kind of gesture in response to initial questions.]

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE PROBLEM A BIT MORE? A weird vaginal discharge – yellow, changeable from thick to thin. Fishy odor. Doesn’t itch. Thought it might have been an STD but I’ve had it checked out and that’s negative.

[She has been treated medically 5-6 times but only gets temporary relief. Finds it very embarrassing – didn’t get it checked out because she was too embarrassed to talk about it. Worse during periods of stress. She is very open about her sexuality and talks about being a lesbian.]

[Samantha tells us that she smoked pot every day from the age of 23 until about a week ago. Does it to deal with her “numbing, stifling job”. She says that she is not interested in doing that anymore. She realizes this is not a healthy behavior. She drinks alcohol once or twice a week. Drinks coffee once a day.]

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING? I hate my job. It’s ‘Corporate America’ – grey walls and a computer. It just sucks, there’s no creativity involved.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO? Art, writing, learning how to play an instrument, painting. That doesn’t really pay bills, though.

[She would like to learn how to play an instrument but doesn’t have the time. She likes to play the guitar and drums. She writes a lot.]

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT? Sadness. Heartache, pain, loss, anger; usually ends up being about sex – it’s weird.

[Samantha seems very unhappy and angry, and has a very “dark” energy. She sits almost totally still and makes no gestures.

The student homeopath asks her about anger and Samantha explains she bears a lot of anger towards women – someone that she knows, specific people, in fact. She is being very reticent and answering in monosyllables. She says that she’s had a string of seven bad relationships.]

S: I stopped wanting to have sex – I want to, but I get self-conscious about my issue [meaning her vaginal discharge]. This has been going on for a year. I just wind up hating me so much so that I don’t want to share that with the person I’m with. I don’t know how to deal with it. I don’t know how to fix it. You feel so much for someone and it kind of scares me. I just wind up hating me – I don’t know how, I don’t know why. I hate myself physically.

[Samantha says that she feels inadequate, even though relationships always start out well. She always blames herself when it goes bad.]

S: I have trouble talking about my feelings. I put up walls. Not allowing anyone to go near me – I don’t like people to really see me – I have huge body issues. These feelings of inadequacy get worse as the relationship progresses.

PUT UP WALLS? The wall is sex – I want to, but I can’t perform – I’m impotent. I can’t have orgasms. I don’t usually let anyone touch me. It’s always me giving. I get tired of not enjoying it; not being able to trust someone like that – this person deserves better and we end up hating each other and it blows up in my face. I get angry and start exploding at the other person.

[She says she becomes openly rageful. Screams, throws things, breaks things. She becomes physically stronger when she’s rageful. She feels remorseful afterwards.]

S: The other persons didn’t deserve all that. I say some really vicious things. Like curse words, call them names or say, “one of these days I’m going to punch you in the face”. I don’t mean them and I feel really bad afterwards.

Susan interjects to ask a question at this point:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULD? I want to choke her to death and watch her stop breathing. I would never do it [SD]. I may apologize right away or stay angry for 2-3 days. Then my anger turns into sadness. I don’t like to be vulnerable. [She becomes very sad, lost in thought and withdrawn]. Sometimes I don’t apologize – sometimes I feel justified.

[Samantha reveals that she was sexually abused as a child by her male cousins. It started when she was six years old, and continued for the next six years, finally stopping when the cousins moved out of the country. Then Samantha began to engage in a pattern of abusive behavior with men throughout her teens.]

S: I can’t really call it rape. [SD] I would get drunk and do things with men I didn’t really want to do. I always wanted it to be painful; it wasn’t anything I was forced into. [SD] I never felt comfortable saying no even when I was forced into it. I would say things like ‘hurt me’.” I was about 9 when another cousin who was about 16 abused me too. He kinda just coaxed me into it.

Another cousin saw what was going on and instead of intervening, he used it to blackmail me into doing things with him too.

[This is clearly difficult and painful for her to discuss, yet she often punctuates her comments with inappropriate, short bursts of laughter.]

I believe my grandmother and aunt knew about the abuse but it was always a “don’t tell” situation. I was always scared that someone would get mad at me if I said anything. My cousins would be in my grandmother’s house when I got there, and they would always try to start up with me. I would lock myself into the bathroom for safety. I feel bad because I never told them to stop and maybe I felt some curiosity too. At 20 I decided to give up men.

My father was physically abusive and hit us. [He left when she was eight.] I sometimes loved him – he taught me how to read and paint [she becomes teary]. At other times I was scared of him.

He was the life of the party, then he’d just ‘tic’ and be a monster. I think he has post traumatic stress disorder from serving in Viet Nam at the age of 17. He was a drug and alcohol abuser. He would beat my ass for no reason. He would beat us, leave, then come back and apologize. It was bizarre – I never knew what to make of it. I was happy for my mom when he left, and I was angry with him. I started to realize that not all fathers do things like that. I was pretty angry towards him. He would suspect that my cousins were doing stuff, but he would hit me for it.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MEN IN GENERAL? I like flirting with them, but I have no respect for them or emotional attachment.

AND YOUR MOM? I love my mom. My mother inspires me. Mom went a little crazy after my dad left and was locked away for a while. When she came back she was very cold and uncaring, as if she had had a shift in her personality. I was left with my aunt while mom was hospitalized. Mom had been hearing voices and the doctor was afraid she might commit violence. I don’t know a lot about my mom’s childhood. She won’t talk about it and is very closed off emotionally. I suspect she might have gone through the same things I did, but she won’t talk about it.

You can choose sadness and pain or you can suck it up and stop being a baby and get on with it. I made the choice to suck it up. I find something beautiful in my heartaches and loss – that’s when I write the most. I attribute it to my Venus being in Pisces.

RELATIONSHIPS? I’ve been in all these relationships. I have to stop – I have to grow up. I don’t even have any furniture or anything. My friend gave me furniture. I need to achieve independence – not being in a relationship for a while. I have to stop putting so much energy into other people and expecting other people to save me. It’s like an arrow thing. [HG – palms together, arms outstretched in front of her, fingers pointing outwards, then turning it back towards herself – she explains that she must stop directing ill will towards others, turn the negative energy around and direct it back towards herself].

ENERGY? I’ve been interested in astrology since the age of 17. I do charts for people. It helps me accept people for who they are. I believe I can think of bad things and make them happen to people – three people who have hurt me have been in car accidents. But then something bad happens to me immediately afterwards too. If you send vibrations out, then stuff comes back and it’s cyclical.

[She obsesses about doing bad things to those who have hurt her. She turns that energy around and takes it back into herself.]

When I aim it back at myself it manifests as a painting or a drawing, not as negative stuff. I want to use my hands to do something, not just sit at home and sulk.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR HANDS? My hands are really important to me – I write with them, I paint with them, as a lesbian I make love with them. I got scholarships in basketball in high school with them. I have to keep my hands busy. When I’m not using them I just sit and sulk and obsess about stuff.

I can obsess about all the ‘what ifs’ of my life and go to a very dark place. Sadness and loneliness are really the only emotions I experienced as a child so I find some comfort in it, because it’s all I’ve known, so I just go to it. I’ve got to stop doing that.

Susan takes over the case from the student homeopath at this point.

WHEN YOU OBSESS IS THE SAME THOUGHT RUNNING OVER AND OVER FOR YOU? It’s the same situation and I keep going what if, what if, and I don’t get anything done and I sit at home and sulk. I get angry and I keep thinking of really bad things to do.

AND YOU IMAGE IT AS A DARK PLACE? Yeah, stabbing – rage. I think about stabbing that person. I start picturing them sleeping with someone else – the things I did with them they’re doing with someone else and it’s really painful. I know it’s happening and it makes me really angry and I imagine stabbing the other person repeatedly.

DESCRIBE DARK. Bright red. Crimson.

[After she imagines all this she can’t eat which is not normal for her – she loves food, especially red meat. This can go on for weeks or even months. Everything tastes like cardboard even though she wants to eat. Eating makes her nauseous, even though she’s hungry.

She directs her anger towards others. She has never hit anyone but she “has punched a couple of holes in the wall”. She’s frightened that if she ever hit anyone she wouldn’t stop. Once she’s emotionally invested in someone – after about a year – things tend to go badly.]

HOW OFTEN DO YOU BLOW UP AT YOUR PARTNER? Maybe about once a week. That’s pretty incredible now that I’m being asked to think about it in such depth.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR MOTHER? She was pregnant with my sister when she packed up the car and left for the U.S. She got a job and survived. She’s tough. For a long time I resented her because she wouldn’t hold me or touch me, but that’s just who she is. I respect her. She’s a tough broad. I respect her for surviving. She’s a bad ass! [She laughs]

Susan turns the case back over to the student homeopath.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TATTOOS. I have seven tattoos. This one is “For You I Would” in Spanish, this one is “3” – that number has always followed me throughout my life. This one is the Japanese symbol for death – the thought that you can die tomorrow frees you up to live in the moment. I have a flame under my belly button, “To Live for Today” at the back of my neck, a stone dragon on my back, and an eagle in the small of my back.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PAINTING. I paint with lots of red, lots of fire. Sometimes I put a word in there. Recently I painted a huge, screaming mouth with the word ‘help’ tiny in the middle.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HAPPY IN A RELATIONSHIP? Even when I’m happy I still obsess. I want to spend every waking moment with my partner. I stop doing all the things I love and what makes me happy, and focus entirely on the other person. Eventually I begin to resent them even though I recognize that it’s not their fault. I put all my energy into the other person and expect them to save me.

DESCRIBE HAPPINESS. Happiness is blues, yellow and daisies, purples and whites. Happiness is tropical and white linens – the ocean. Tropical island and sunlight is perfection to me. Happiness would be coming to a place where I could share with someone but still keep my individuality – being independent and trying to grow up.

ARE YOU SCARED OF ANYTHING? Of making too much noise – so much so that the government finds me. I am scared of something happening to my nephew – sometimes I have dark thoughts like that – something bad happening to my family. I think I would like to stand up and scream revolution, but I’m scared to because of what might happen to my family. Watching my family die and being helpless would be the worse thing for me. I haven’t had my father in my life for a really long time, but I have the same interests as him; like wanting to have a revolution. Anyone who’s every tried to stand up and fight has wound up dead. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because I obsess about all the bad things that might happen to my family because of my actions.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE OTHER PERSON IN YOUR LIFE TO SAVE YOU FROM? I’m attracted to people who need love – someone I can wrap my wings around and shield them from all the hurt and pain. That’s what I want to have someone do for me. I want to break this cycle of failed relationships I’ve been in.

[Samantha broke up with her last partner over Christmas. She believed that she had nothing and that was when she painted her screaming mouth picture.]

I see myself as this little thing in a big world screaming for help.

DREAMS? I have trouble falling asleep quite often. I have lots of recurring dreams:

There’s a man chasing me – I can’t see his face – I run into a bathroom and lock the door. I try to scream but I can’t. I’m terrified.

Huge tidal waves and my family’s there and I can’t help them which drives me insane.

My teeth are crumbling and falling out of my mouth. Usually within two days after this dream I get sick.

WHAT ARE YOUR PERIODS LIKE? Long, painful periods; heavy.

________________

What is difficult to convey on paper is how sad and poignant Samantha’s case was. Her whole persona was one of terrible sadness and mistreatment. While she appeared rather fierce and cold, even hostile at the beginning of the interview, she gradually lost her “hard” demeanor and seemed much more vulnerable.

We were very concerned about what might happen if Samantha continued to go untreated. Her talk of violence, stabbing people, smothering people and her self loathing, did not leave much to the imagination. We were very concerned that she not hurt herself or anyone else.

When she left the room we all just sat there stunned by her pain and sorrow.

CASE ANALYSIS

Repeating Words/Phrases & Themes

obsess, obsessive

angry, anger

independence

sadness

remorse

dark place

beat, punch

stab

kill

choke to death

protection

survival

family

sulk

RUBRICS: (COMPLETE MILLENIUM REPERTORY)

We chose these rubrics to represent the big ideas of the case.

MIND; AILMENTS from; domination by others, a long history of

MIND; AILMENTS from; mortification, humiliation, chagrin

MIND; DELUSION, abused, being

MIND; DREAMS; pursued, of being

MIND; RAGE, fury

MIND; THOUGHTS, general; persistent

MIND; VIOLENCE, vehemence; general

FEMALE; LEUCHORRHEA; constant, chronic

FEMALE; LEUCHORRHEA; offensive; fishbrine, like

We felt that Samantha’s energy and expressions were indicative of an Animal Kingdom remedy; her whole story being one of survival, attack and defense, and violence. She had been treated cruelly, been abused and humiliated for a long period of time, and was now inflicting violence on others.

Using the above rubrics, Sepia comes up first, followed by Falco-p. We felt that Samantha did not have any of the themes or expressions of Sepia or the sea remedy grouping. But she did fit into the raptor grouping very well, with its themes of violence, murder, sudden attack, responsibility and freedom, desire for independence, etc.

Samantha had expressed homicidal thoughts and fantasies, along with the feeling that she was really making a last ditch effort to fix a situation that was beyond salvage and without hope. That describes the syphilitic miasm, and Sankaran puts all the raptors in this miasm.

At the time of the interview, Samantha’s remedy was recognized as Falco-p from the proving information. Rubrics were then selected as confirmation of the remedy.

Remedy

Miasm: Syphilitic

Kingdom: Animal

Sub-Kingdom: Birds

Family: Raptors

Rx – Falco perigrinus (Falco-p)

Potency: Initially given a single dose of 200c, now taking one dose of 1M monthly

Natural History of Falco Perigrinus (source: Wikipedia, with personal amendments)

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the “Duck Hawk” in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey in the family Falconidae. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean “wandering falcon”, referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations.

It is a large, crow-sized falcon, with a blue-gray back, barred white under-parts, and a black head and “moustache”. Bird-eating raptors, all are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males.

The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching speeds of over 200 mph during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom.

While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the Peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human-made structures.

The Peregrine Falcon was used in falconry for more than 3,000 years, beginning with nomads in central Asia. Due to its ability to dive at high speeds, it was highly sought-after and generally used by experienced falconers. In order to tame a raptor for use in falconry, certain pieces of equipment are traditionally used. A hood is used in what is called the “manning” process (acclimatizing to humans and the human world) and to keep the raptor in a calm state, both in the early part of its training and throughout its falconry career. Of all the falconer’s aids, the hood is the most important piece of equipment.

Strips of strong leather called jesses are attached to both legs. They are used to tether the bird to a perch in their mews (the construction in which the birds are housed). They are also used to help hold the bird in place on the falconer’s glove when hunting and to prevent it from flying off.

A raptor is trained by keeping it tethered and hooded in the mews. It must learn to accept food only from the hand of the falconer. Once the bird’s spirit is broken and it has learned it can’t escape and must depend on its keeper for food and water, it can be trained to hunt for the falconer.

PROVING INFORMATION

The following information comes from the proving of Falco peregrinus, conducted by Misha Norland at the School of Homeopathy in 1998, as published in ReferenceWorks (KHA).

Norland states that the impetus for the proving came out of the need to help a particular client. In his introduction to the proving he states:

“I set to thinking about a situation which is even more extreme than that of the chained dog (Lac Caninum had been a remedy which had helped in the past)…And I came up with the trained Peregrine Falcon…most of all I brought before my mind’s eye the picture of the training of the falcon, involving starvation, being tied by the ankles and kept prisoner in a dark place. I thought of the perverted bond of persecutor and victim – the ‘no escape’ situation of the bird until, once trained, it is allowed its flight, yet returns when summoned by conditioned reflex to sound of whistle and sight of lure.”

“The remedy was prepared from the blood and feather of a Peregrine Tiercel (male) that had been bred in captivity and trained to hunt in the traditional manner.”

“The sense for the provers was of being humiliated, scorned, undervalued, even menaced. There is an unfeeling aspect to the remedy, compounded by a sense of being above it all, detached. From this perspective human life may seem cheap, impoverished and dirty.”

In an interesting bit of possible source information, Norland reported that:

“The proving dose was taken over the weekend – on Sunday morning seven of the group (two of them men) came to class with painted finger nails – emblematic of the falcon’s death delivering talons.”

[Samantha came for her initial interview with elaborately decorated nails (although her nails were short) with designs in black and white on them.]

1^st FOLLOW UP, MARCH 07/08

Samantha has taken 3 doses of Falco-p, 200c, before 3/7/08.

[She is wearing more color. She is quite cheerful and claims that she is generally feeling much better. She is remembering childhood incidents and is having a lot of anger towards her mom. Not rageful – a normal, healthy anger.

She feels her energy level is way up (her pace is much faster in this interview). She says that, in general, she hasn’t been as rageful since taking the remedy. She is laughing and joking during the follow up. Her gestures are strong, fast paced – tapping hands on chair, twiddling foot, strong hand gestures. She looks totally different.

She stopped eating red meat. It was making her sad and angry even though she loved it. Now she identifies with the cows because “they mourn”, and she no longer enjoys it.]

S: ‘I relinquish control’; this phrase has changed things for me. It’s such a weight off my shoulders. I never realized how powerful I am.

WHAT ABOUT THE DISCHARGE? The discharge stopped completely, then came back but not as badly. Lingering still. Much less and thinner. Smell has changed too – like vinegar now. It seems to come back whenever I see my ex. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m in love with her and can’t be with her right now. I’ve learned to operate on a different time scale – immediate gratification isn’t always good. Once I said, ‘I relinquish control’ it was amazing – it’s great! I’m making much better choices – it’s easier for me to see the power struggle in relationships now.

I’m having lots of animal dreams now – dogs, snakes and alligators. I feel they represent either deception or a shedding of my old skin. I love animals.

[Samantha shows us her new tattoo that now covers over her old eagle tattoo – it is a huge tattoo that starts in the small of her back and the wings wrap around her waist to the front. Her design for this tattoo came to her after a meditation, but before she knew the name of the remedy, and it filled her with white light. The student homeopath called her a few hours later to tell her the remedy was Falco-p. The image she drew reminds her of a Phoenix.]

After seeing the tattoo, Susan says, “But what if we’re wrong about the remedy? She immediately responds, “You’re NOT wrong!” and she laughs a real laugh, not a nervous laugh.

HOW ARE YOU FEELING, IN GENERAL? There’s a pep in my step. [she moves her arms up and down in a jaunty manner.] I just move through life and the world easier. I don’t feel as weighted down. It felt heavy. I feel stronger, like I’ve survived. [She laughs]

[She’s learning how to play the drums and is reading more. Reading helps her to be more descriptive and to write more and better. She used to write just when she was sad and wallow in the negative energy. Now she understands that the negative feelings will just pass and it’s much easier to deal with. She used to feel this way in high school when she was playing basketball.]

S: I flourish with boundaries which is weird. You need boundaries ’cause otherwise your brain goes to all these different places and it’s hard to focus.

[Before the remedy she couldn’t understand or put her finger on what was making her angry or sad. Now she realizes things change and it’s nice to not be afraid of that change. Now she feels that she can understand what makes her feel the way she’s feeling and can take steps to change what needs to be changed.]

No need to re-dose at this time.

2^nd FOLLOW UP, MAY 04/08

[Samantha looks very happy. She tells us that she has started drumming (something she always wanted to do). “Rock music – quick and fast; angry rock. And funk too.” A friend whom she met recently is helping her. She just listens to her music and picks up the beat.

She still hates her job but she has a friend who’s helping her re-work her resume and plans to hunt for a new job as soon as that’s done.

Things have improved dramatically. The discharge still happens but it’s much better and she deals with it in a much calmer way. It happens about every other day. It still happens when she’s frustrated or excited. It’s now more watery, thinner and less excoriating. Her periods have become more “constant” and her cramps aren’t as bad as they used to be. More regular and much lighter and of shorter duration. ]

S: One episode of discharge then it’s done. It’s not constant. It’s really annoying and frustrating but I don’t go, ‘I suck – this is horrible, I’m disgusting’. It helps that I’m single and I’m trying to stay single. If I was with a girlfriend and this happened… I was going to get a dog but then I got my drum set.

HOW IS THE TATTOO? It’s FABULOUS! [She shows us – much more of it has been colored in]

DID IT HURT TO HAVE IT DONE? Hell, yes! [She laughs] It’s not really about pain – this thing is so important to me – it means so much to me. I’ll be the coolest grandmother ever. It’s like a gift that I’m offering to the next person I sleep with. [She has drawn her feet up to her seat and is perching on the edge of her chair] I’ve been designing tattoos lately. I think that’s something I might like to do. It’s an artistic expression that’s good for me. I’m such a rock star! [Her confidence is so much higher – she is joking and laughing; so much lighter]

ANYTHING ELSE? I used to get these things back when I was the ‘old me’ – sharp chest pains. They disappeared when I first took the remedy and they’re back just the past couple of days or so. Sudden, sharp pains. They cause shortness of breath too. They’re shocking when they happen.

My right eye was swollen and puffy for a couple of days and I thought, ‘What am I not seeing in the universe right now that I need to see?’ And as soon as I thought that, it cleared up, and I thought, whoa! This remedy is like saying, ‘Wake up, wake up!’

No repeat at this time. Monitor chest pains closely.

3^rd FOLLOW-UP DECEMBER 06/08

[Samantha tells us she’s feeling better since taking another dose of 200c. She’s had no cramps this month. However, she did sprain her right knee. But she took a dose of 200c and it helped. She still seems much lighter and more relaxed. She tells us she’s back with her on-again-off-again girlfriend.]

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND? She pisses me off. She’s young. She called me and we eventually kind of went back. The first two months were fantabulous…and now it’s getting a little irritating. The remedy has been cool. When I took it I was more calm and I was able to kind of separate from her. If someone is having an issue, then I have the issue – ‘what’s the matter, what’s the matter?’ I stopped doing that. It’s a general feeling of it’s going to be o.k. – that’s how I feel whenever I take it. As opposed to grrrrrrr, I’m going to kill her. I like that feeling – not being totally crushed or whatever by what happens. That’s a new development.

DISCHARGE? Very little. That’s awesome. My period has been o.k. No cramps dude!

BEFORE THE REPEAT? We were fighting and I got so mad at her and we – me – kind of got physical. I threw her across the room. It’s awful but I don’t feel bad about it. I guess she didn’t really respect me that much. Ever since I asserted myself like that she respects me more. It was sad. That had never happened before – it had never gotten to this point.

[Samantha does seem to have some of her old sadness back, but not as despairing as before. The report of physical violence concerns us.

She reports that the chest pains haven’t returned. She is still drawing and painting and playing her drums.]

4^th FOLLOW-UP JANUARY 24/09

[Samantha’s dysmenorrhea has returned.]

ANY CRAMPING? Yeah, on Thursday it started and I haven’t had that for a while. It feels like it used to. It’s a rusty spoon scraping your uterus.

HOW LONG IS YOUR CYCLE? Seven days. When I first started taking the remedy it shortened to five but it’s back to seven now. No cramps at all when I started to take the remedy. This is the first time it’s gone back. I notice that my ‘issue’ comes for about a week right before my period [Meaning the leucorrhea].

5^TH CLINIC FOLLOW-UP OCTOBER 4^TH, 2009.

Samantha had lost touch with us for some time. Because of the seriousness of the case, Susan asked me to take over management as of June, 2009.

[Samantha continues to improve – no complaints at this time. Samantha wants to quit smoking and asks about homeopathic support, we recommended a repeat of the 1m.]

UPDATE – FEBRUARY 1, 2010

[Samantha had fallen out of touch and hadn’t responded to emails/calls from me since mid-December. She finally got back in touch on February 1^st.]

HOW ARE YOU FEELING? The remedy helps give me more conviction but then it fades. But I’m dealing with everything better and I’m not as sad and depressed as I was.

[Susan agreed that Samantha should repeat a single dry dose of 1M. We discussed the idea that Samantha might benefit from a regular, monthly dose of the remedy.]

6^TH CLINIC FOLLOW UP, FEBRUARY 21, 2010

Chief physical complaint is much improved but still not totally resolved. Emotionally she is much improved. The remedy doesn’t seem to be holding as well as it used to. She is advised to take a monthly dose of Falco-P, 1M, at the beginning of each month.

ACUTE – SKIING ACCIDENT, FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Samantha went snowboarding on Sat., Feb. 27, and suffered a fall from the lift as she was getting off, landing on her right knee cap, then twisting it beneath her as she fell over onto her back. Samantha initially repeated a dose of Falco 1M on Feb. 28, and again on Mar. 01 which seemed to improve her emotional state, but did little to alleviate the physical trauma. She took Arnica 1M, one pellet 3x per day for 2 days, March 02-03, to alleviate the pain and swelling. She responded very well to the Arnica.

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, Samantha emailed to report:

“My MRI showed that I had a bucket handle tear in my meniscus in addition to a partially torn ACL. The pain has pretty much subsided and the swelling has gone down completely. (SUPER quickly once I began taking the arnica).”

“Emotionally, I’ve been all over the place, but I think that has to do with HAVING to slow down when I want to plow through things…I’ve been super angry with my girlfriend…I still plan on moving out in April…I’ve also been angrier at other people…I’ve just been overall less patient, BUT I’ve been able to detail those emotions when trying to explain them and immediately felt a release.”

I advised her to keep me posted and to call me about her monthly repeat of Falco-P 1M, at the beginning of April.

UPDATE – APRIL 1, 2010

Samantha reported that she must stay on crutches until her knee surgery in May. Her ACL needs to be reconstructed and the tear in her meniscus repaired. She said that the repeat of Falco-P the night before made her feel more “up” and less angry. She was all packed up and ready to move over the Easter weekend.

UPDATE – JUNE 1, 2010

Samantha had surgery on her knee on May 5, 2010. She responded well to Arnica 1M, pre and post surgery, and did extensive physical therapy. She continues to have limited range of motion in her right knee but has recovered well, and is now generally pain free.

Samantha advises that her leucorrhea has disappeared for the first time. Her dysmenorrhea has not been an issue for some time now and her periods are “not a big deal”.

UPDATE – JULY – OCTOBER, 2010

Samantha feels the remedy continues to give her more and more clarity about her life and the calmness and mental stability to do what she needs to do to keep moving forward.

Throughout the fall of 2010, Samantha continued to be in and out of a relationship. Her discharge returned, but she described it as not being nearly as severe as before and odorless. She began psychoanalysis and said she finds it very helpful. She also began working out again, smoking less and less, and started doing her artwork again.

7^th FOLLOW UP, NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Samantha has returned to school and is taking five courses so she has lots of homework. She has a new girlfriend. Her discharge had returned briefly but improved after she repeated the remedy..

She is moving into a new apartment, and is also planning on running a 5k race. Smoking is still an issue for her. She continues to go to therapy once a week.

At this follow up Samantha is smiling and laughing, and speaking in a positive way about life. We are all amazed at her transformation.

UPDATE- April 19, 2011

Samantha had broken up with the new girlfriend and gotten back with her most recent ex. But that was short lived. She is going to Miami with a friend in May. She emailed to say:

“I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m excited!

I moved in with my friend, who is awesome…I bought a new bed, my first big purchase solely for the purpose of sleep! It’s been great! I love my new apartment and it is super conducive to my growth as an artist, which I have thrown myself into!

One of my assignments has been to create a children’s book teaching them about an aspect of art. I decided to go with primary colors and use my dogs as inspiration. It’s coming out really well.

I haven’t redosed, but some interesting news is that my ‘issue’ has completely stopped since February 27. Interestingly enough, on Feb 27 of last year, I hurt my knee. So I’m going to keep track of what goes on for me every February 27 from now on.

Anyway, I haven’t had any issues since then, which, again, is interesting. Not sure what it means, but I’ve been focusing on myself since that day, so maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe it’s my body telling me that my girlfriend was a distraction, who knows?”

IN CONCLUSION

We have been very happy to follow this remarkable case. Samantha has been transformed from a dark and violent woman to a happy and productive person. While her problems are not completely resolved, they are very much improved, and the remedy continues to encourage slow and gentle progress on all fronts. We look forward to being able to observe her continued transformation.