A 26-year-old girl first consulted Dr. Dinesh Chauhan and his Resident Doctor, Dr. Devang Shah at the other song 2 years ago. She mainly complained of recurring cold which she had been suffering from over the last 14 years. No medications including Homoeopathy seemed to offer any relief.
This case has been edited for brevity. The abbreviations are as follows:
D: Doctor P: Patient HG: Hand gesture
P: I have been having common cold for the past 14 years, i.e. from 1999 and it has always been there on and off as a part of me. I have gone through a lot of medication even homoeopathy but so far nothing has helped or eradicated it completely. So after every medication I have a good spell when I don’t suffer from these problems but then suddenly they just reappear and that’s been a cause of concern lately. I have tried to analyze it as to why it’s happening and I think certain things like dust or tiny fibers, cooking, especially spicy or aromatic food, sudden changes in weather are the ones that affect me and I start sneezing. Also one interesting factor is when I was in the US and UK for a total of 2 years, I did not suffer from this problem; it’s only when I am in India, especially Mumbai, that this problem is at its worst. It may also have to do with heredity as both my dad and uncle suffer from this problem.
D: You are doing very well. Every word you are speaking is helping me to understand you; talk more about what is bothering you.
P: I am also quite constipated. I have been constipated since I have been born according to what my mom tells me. I try taking Isabgol (natural laxative), but that does not really help my cold, though constipation gets better.
I really don’t know what would I say. If you ask me questions I would answer but if you ask me to go on talking I will be stuck. Also, I am quite comfortable here, as this room despite having an air conditioner, does not have the draft on my face. If the blast were straight into my face or on my head, then I would start sneezing and develop an irritation in my nose and throat. Too hot or too cold conditions are difficult to cope; probably that’s why I did well in US and UK because it’s very clean. Yes the climatic conditions in UK were very erratic but I never had a problem there; US was very pleasant. I think my cold is worse, i.e. I sneeze a lot when I wake up. During the day I don’t sneeze as much; mornings are the toughest or till I have had my cup of tea. Steam inhalation helps only temporarily
D: Tell me something about your nature.
P: I am impatient, short tempered, possessive, and protective. I like to be organized. I am really not very talkative. Sir, I appreciate your patience (laughs) but there is nothing more to say.
D: I am just trying to understand if anything else comes up. Tell me something about yourself that you have not spoken to anyone else about.
P: I am a little insecure about future, about mom and dad, my sisters and their well being. To a certain extent about my job and career, but not that much. I am a good person; I am honest, hardworking but that’s not really a virtue because most people are so; I don’t count it as a virtue. I am not very religious; not practical either, emotional. I am a dreamer, I dream big though I can’t achieve it most of the times. I can’t let go very easily but then that does not mean I am very revengeful; but it’s always there in my mind. I always give 100% and expect 100% which I don’t get; it’s difficult to deal with. I need to sleep well at night; that’s most of it. I love freedom to do everything at all times which is difficult to get. I am very easy to befriend but I don’t usually go out and meet friends.
D: Very good, go on.
P: I am very attached to my mom and dad and my sisters. Not much to tell otherwise. I don’t know what to say…
D: No problem; tell me what dreams you get?
P: Variety of them mainly it has to do with my mom and dad and my two sisters because I am very protective about them. I am very scared for them so I get dreams mainly of accidents, death and illness and stuff like that related to all 4 of them. Sometimes I dream of myself a few years down the line about the career I have taken up. I also get a lot of dreams related to travelling and adventure sports and stuff like that which I like but I have not done so far which I would love to do. Mostly my dreams are concerned with my family.
D: So of all these dreams, which are the most striking, the ones you remember the most, or ones which have had an impact on you.
P: I dream a lot about my parents because both of them don’t keep that well. My dad has a good health and my mom doesn’t, so lots of my dreams revolve around that and I have recurring dreams of certain incidents which are scary. Even now while talking about this my hands are becoming sweaty.
D: So when you say scary what you mean?
P: Scary in the sense my dad is 60, mom is 58 and they are now showing a lot of problems like BP, cholesterol, diabetes and in the last one and half year I have lost many of my family members who have had natural death like grandparents and distant relatives but that’s kind of affected me in a not-so-good way. Quite recently, last Thursday night my grandpapa passed away. I was in Ahmedabad and I just came this morning (pause – sad). I think it’s scary because to think of anything like that happening to my parents would be like unbearable, so it’s scary in that sense.
D: Just more about when you say scary what you mean?
P: Scary because I can’t think of handling the situation; e.g. if my parents or my sisters met with an accident or severe health issues or there was a sudden death in the family. I cannot imagine what living life without them would be like. That is what scares me the most. I think I am 100% dependent on them.
D: I didn’t understand. Can you just explain a little bit more to understand this part; can I understand it little bit deeper this part; what is scary?
P: Scary. I am just scared of that part there; is nothing else I am scared of – having to live without my family. I cannot think and nor will I be able to live without my family.
D: Just be with this scare and tell me what it feels like.
P: I am not somebody who can stay alone, I have limited friends. I am closest to my parents and sisters; if they are taken away from me, then it will be scary because then I will have nobody who knows me as much as they do… or let’s say there is no one who accepts me 100% as much as they do. There is a lot of comfort and understanding with them. So I cannot think of staying alone. I have a lot of friends and relatives but there is nobody who really knows me or who would accept me the way I am. So I cannot live without my family. That is scary.
D: Meaning?
P: It is the thought of staying alone that’s scary.
D: Can you visualize that, just that.
P: No.. I would not want to anytime. I can’t. I mean I can but I don’t want to. I will be alone. There are many relatives, so I will be always surrounded with people, but there would be no one who would understand me, accept me with all my shortcomings. So I am 100% dependent on my parents. I would be very alone and scared.
D: Visualize being alone and see what comes to your mind.
P: It is like I am in a room full of people, but still alone as no one really understands me, I cannot speak freely to anyone. With my parents there are a lot of unspoken words and you do not have to be correct. They will understand you perfectly. I will go crazy in that space as I would be frustrated hoping that someone understood me, talked to me. I would really be alone. I will probably kill myself as I can’t be alone for a long while. I will probably kill myself; I am so scared of being alone, as it would be unbearable living without my parents.
D: I didn’t understand. Just go there, just that feeling neither here nor there just be with that abstract. You are going deeper, and your disease would be eradicated fast; just go there, trust me.
P: I trust you but I don’t know how to put it. It’s neither here nor there. It’s practically unavoidable and then you are unprepared for obstacles since situation is never in our control because you don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t know.
D: Allow it to come; you are doing it very well, just be there. Neither here nor there just be there. If you want close your eyes and experience it.
P: I really don’t know. It is in between, you are stuck in between. Just that much neither here nor there, stuck in between. It is like you are released from a…you know it’s a sky diving kind of thing and you are released from a parachute and you kind of lost your parachute, you are losing altitude and you don’t know where you are going to drop and then on the ground; it’s that in between.
D: Hmm… what comes to your mind with stuck in between.
P: You want to get out of there but you can’t; they are your friends and family or when they will be out but they can’t and you can’t leave the room because you will hurt them.
D: More about this; you want to but you can’t.
P: Yes you cannot because you are surrounded by people who care for you, who love you, who are there to help you, so you can’t just leave that room but you cannot stay either because though they are trying to stand you but they really can’t.
D: Anything else you would like to tell me? You think you have spoken everything you wanted to.
P: I have spoken more than I have ever spoken. I think I have spoken. It has always been rather difficult for me to open up and speak. This has been a first for me, speaking so much to you and opening up so that you understand.
D: So how was the feeling of opening up while understanding?
P: Frightening… especially talking about the part that is most scary for me.
D: What you mean by that?
P: Well this is not the first time I have thought of a lot of things which I have said, so I have been thinking about it but I have never talked about it, so this is a first time experience.
D: So how are you feeling right now?
P: I don’t know. Good, better in a way, now that I have expressed myself.
Analysis
The main complaint that the patient had was recurrent coryza over a period of 14 years, which would not be better despite trying various therapeutic measures. The only modalities she reported were aggravation in the morning and change of weather, besides exposure to dust and fibers which is very common to allergic rhinitis.
What came up as characteristic was when she was asked to describe her nature and her dreams. She dreams of accidents and illnesses and something happening to her family. Most of her dreams revolve around her family, all of which are scary, about something happening to her family. She says that it would be unimaginable for her if something were to happen to her family. It would be very scary for her. She is very close and protective of her family, and feels a lot of comfort and acceptance with them. She said that she would be absolutely unable to handle any accident or health issues and finds the fact of living without them very scary. She says that she is 100% dependent on her family. She said, “I am scared of living life without them, so now you know this scare is nothing else but of being 100% all alone without them.” This is the main fear which is reflected through her talks, in her dreams and I know that this is the centre of her case.
When I take this and try to understand her remedy, there are quite a few possibilities which spring to my mind. This is where the understanding of my knowledge of kingdoms and source comes in handy. Here, if we are to analyze, though the patient speaks of impatience, revenge, jealousy, they don’t hold true through the case. The main issue which comes up is that she cannot express freely, no one understands and accepts her with her shortcomings as her family does. For this reason, she is highly dependent on her family, for comfort and protection and she would be completely alone if something were to happen to her family. It is almost as if she were unable to live without her family, where she cannot be separated from them. This dependence is indicative of the mineral group of remedies – where the core issue is of one’s structure and need to fulfill all the functions required to maintain that structure. This creates either a lack or loss of abilities which are required to fulfill a particular function. The issues are ‘Am I capable or not?’ This is very well represented in the seven rows of the periodic table, where each row represents a stage of development of human life.
On confirming the mineral kingdom, the next step is to determine the row. The prime issues of the seven rows of the periodic table are:
Row 1: Existence
Row 2: Separation
Row 3: Identity
Row 4: Security and task
Row 5: Creativity and performance
Row 6: Responsibility
Row 7: Disintegration1
The main experience is of being alone which is very scary for her. So I thought of directing her towards her sensation by dissociating her from herself and asking her to associate with a vision of “scary” and to speak about whatever came to her. She then says that it is as if the comfort has been taken away. She is in a room full of people but has no one to talk to, no one to interact with and that is very scary. With her parents she says no rules, no boundaries, no expectations, lots of unspoken words, yet a lot of understanding, no fear of saying what is right.
I still felt this language was all at the human level and that she should go even deeper, which I encouraged her to do so. At this point she says that she will go crazy in that space. She would be so alone and scared, that she would probably kill herself. Now this is peculiar, as many remedies have suicidal tendency, but a desire to kill oneself when alone is out of place, so I tried to understand this more. The patient says it is better to kill yourself rather than being alone and what words she uses are “when I am alone it is unbearable, it is craziest thing in the world so it would be better to kill myself.” So, here I understand that we need a remedy that has so much fear and dread of being alone and is so completely dependent on others she would kill herself if she were to live alone.
So, on exploring the experience of this fear she tells me that the experience is “you are not in control, you are stuck, you are neither here nor there.” This type of dependency where you cannot stay alone it is not at all possible. A lot of dependency on others, and issues revolving around separation are features of Row 2 remedies.2 This row represents a fetus in a womb, so there is complete dependency on parents, such that it is impossible living without them. It is almost like when the blood supply to the umbilical cord is cut off, it results in complete death of the fetus. The fetus is unprepared for its future and nothing is under its control. The fact that she is completely, 100% dependent on the parents, is beautifully representative of a fetus being completely dependent on the womb. Talking further of her experience she says that it is like being stuck, being neither here nor there. The image she gives here is that of a parachute, of falling down without control, you are stuck. She relates this to being in a room full of people, yet being alone, wanting to get out, but being unable to, so being stuck.
This understanding – that being alone creates panic and an experience of being stuck, neither here nor there, brings to our attention Lithium carb. Lithium, which belongs to Row 2, column 1 has almost complete dependency on others, a 100% dependency, where the separation from the nourishing structure is almost impossible. As observed by Dr. Sankaran and Dr. Jayesh Shah, the very thought of being alone, brings about tremendous panic in Lithium. Besides, the theme of being stuck, neither here nor there, is a theme of Carbon, which is like a fetus who has completed gestation, but still is not sure whether to come out or no. There is no sign of it coming out and the uterine contractions are sluggish so the labour is delayed.
According to the Sensation Approach, if we are to look at the case from the seven levels of experience, we see that as the case moves on, the patient gives many symptoms which are representative of each level, namely:
Level 1 – Name:
- Hay fever/allergic rhinitis
Level 2 – Fact:
- Cold, coryza
- < cold air
- < a/c
- < change of weather
- <constipation
- < dust
- < strong aromatic substances
Level 3 – Feelings:
- Scared
- Alone
- Insecure
- Possessive
- Protective
- Fear of accidents
- Anxiety of health about mother and father
Level 4 – Delusions:
- As if alone
- As if really alone
- As if nobody will accept me the way i am
- Unprepared for what is going to come and situation never in your control
- Released from a sky diving and losing your parachute
Level 5 – Sensation:
- I can’t think of handling a situation
- Living life without them is scary
- I am 100% dependant on them
- You are just dependant on yourself
- In between
- Neither here nor there
- Stuck
Besides, on taking materia medica references, we see that Lithium also covers symptoms like:
- Forsaken feeling
- Perspiration of palms
The patient was given Lithium carb 200, as there was prominence of emotions in her case. She did very well on infrequent doses of the remedy and progressively found a substantial improvement in her complaints and state. The follow up from 8 months after starting the medicine had her reporting that despite frequent travelling, she has only very mild cold due to changes in weather. Earlier travelling would result in severe cold. She hardly had any sneezing now and constipation had improved quite a lot. What was more, her parents and others around her found that she was way calmer than before and has ceased reacting inappropriately to any situations. Now the thought of having to live without her family does not usher in a very strong fear. She also observed that she was much happier than earlier.
Sensation and Beyond
The Sensation Approach when used with finesse can lead to a definitive analysis, in the absence of obvious symptoms. The solution lies in understanding the deepest issue of the individual, that which is striking and that which runs through his mind and the body and connects him to his sensation or the experience which is central to him. Dr. Rajan Sankaran, the pioneer of the Sensation approach in homoeopathy has developed this approach with his colleagues. They have all made advancements in approaches to case analysis which are beyond the Sensation method. They will come together to present their ideas about their journey to the Sensation and beyond. The other song has organized Sensation and Beyond: Latest Advanced in Homoeopathic Practice, a 3 day intense learning experience on 8th, 9th and 10th January, 2016 in Mumbai, where senior and international homeopaths and experts in the ‘Sensation Method’ will put these new ideas into practice. The main purpose of this event is to highlight the advances made beyond the Sensation method, which have helped treat difficult and challenging cases. Dr. Dinesh Chauhan, a reputed international homeopath and teacher, and Consultant and Faculty at the other song is one of the speakers at the event where his theme will be “Application of the Integrative Holistic Scientifically Intuitive Case Witnessing Process in bringing out the Sensation in Different Age Groups and Different Pathologies”.
Bibliography:
1 – Rajan Sankaran, Structure : Experiences with the Mineral Kingdom – Volume 1, Understanding of Rows and Columns, First Edition 2008, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers, Mumbai
2,3 – Rajan Sankaran, Row 2, Structure: Experiences with the Mineral Kingdom – Volume 1, First Edition 2008, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers, Mumbai
About Dr. Dinesh Chauhan:
Dr. Dinesh Chauhan, by training a classical homoeopath, has specialized in the treatment of pediatric cases. He has a passion for tackling some of the most unwieldy cases in children across the board. His approach to case-taking is sometimes so informal and non-linear that he can open a very shy and inarticulate child with peals of laughter. He has successfully tackled chronic cases of ADHD, OCD and autism in children. He leads seminars in various countries and lectures on courses organized by philanthropic and charitable institutes. His rather unconventional and pioneering work on The case taking method is described as “the Scientifically Intuitive Case Witnessing Process.” Dr. Dinesh heads the ABJF foundation (Non-profit organization) with his wife Dr Urvi Chauhan where Indian Homoeopaths are taught on a non-profit basis.
About the other song:
‘the other song: International Academy of Advanced Homoeopathy’: ‘the other song’ is a world class premium medical centre which puts good health and well being at the core of an academic culture dedicated to complete patient care. Situated in Mumbai, this institute is one of a kind where a team of 35 doctors headed by Dr. Rajan Sankaran, the pioneer of the Sensation approach in homoeopathy, come together and practice homoeopathy. At the Academy, the students and practitioners are trained in advanced homoeopathic practices, using new methodologies in combination with the traditional approaches, all with the use of state-of-the-art technologies. The Academy is also a meeting point for different schools of thought in homoeopathy, where renowned homoeopaths – national and international are invited, to share their knowledge and experience, so that there is a constant flow of ideas on a common platform. For further information visit www.theothersong.com.
Your remedy selection of Lithium Carb 200 is fine. May I request to enlighten the dose particulars and how long the medicine was given in this paricular case.