Gelsemium

A Bryonia patient fears suffering. Cocculus has fear of sudden events and the Gelsemium patient fears losing his self control.

Losing: Something or someone going away, something or someone slipping away from one’s possession, failing to hold on, not in a position to hold a thing with command anymore, a situation where defeat is inevitable, not able to attract a thing / keep a relationship due to loss of charm or affection.

A cloth loses its color means it has no more strength to hold it or the external agents (soap, sunlight etc.,) robs away its colour.

A mother says, “My children are going away from me, they do not love / listen / respect me as much as they used to.” She feels her grip loosening over them. It could be that they have grown up or she is too occupied to give them sufficient time.

When a wife starts missing her husband’s love she thinks she is losing him.

Self: Pertaining to oneself, limited to an individual

Control: Regulate, to check, balance, to keep under supervision, to guide.

For a Gelsemium patient it is very important to maintain his balance. He will therefore not do any activity (talking / moving etc.), which can upset his balance. It could be physical, mental or both.

For a Gelsemium patient, the balance depends upon his Will. If his will is strong he can keep his balance intact. He can move or talk easily until his mind is away from the body. For example, a sick lady keeps working in the kitchen so long as her mind is away from her problems but the moment she realizes that, she will collapse. If she continues to do so she stops work and returns to bed.

–WILL, muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away

To understand it in a better way we can read this rubric as:

-BETTER, feeling of, till the mind is away from the body(s*)

Actually the condition of a Gelsemium is like a pendulum (oscillates to and fro). If his will (mind) gets strong (due to positive light) he gets exhilarated and the body gets tilted towards better feeling but the moment the will gets weakened he gets embarrassed and the body goes into the state of torpor. Now if we look into the whole symptomatology of Gelsemium, the concern for maintaining self control is visible.

There are many kinds of fear in a Gelsemium patient like:

Fear that his heart will cease to beat if he is not constantly on the move.

Fear of being alone

Fear when going to the church or opera

Fear in a crowd, in public places, of appearing in the public, of downward motion, of falling.

Fear of an impending danger

Fear of thunderstorm

It is in a bid to maintain self control that all these types of fears creep up in his mind while facing problems. The impact of the fear on his mind gets so strong that he loses his sense of security. For this reason he cannot live alone. He needs someone around so that if an emergency arises he can be taken care of. For this reason he clings to those near him.

– CLINGING, held wants to be

Clinging: Sticking or coming closer by embracing. To adhere closely or firmly as if glued. To have a strong emotional attachment or dependence.

Why doe a Gelsemium patient need to cling? He fears that he may lose self control. For comfort: from someone who can really care for him. Who can understand his needs. Whom does he cling to? To a person who can provide him comfort, give him attention and show him the way.

• ATTENTION, amel.
  
  When does he give up clinging?

When the light (attraction) fades or he does not get proper attention.

Or

When there is an apprehension that the person to whom he is clinging may leave.

–FEAR, of being rejected (s*)

-FEAR, falling, child holds on to mother

Gels is in:

-CLINGING, held, wants to be

but not in CLINGING, grasp at others

Arsenicum is the only remedy that covers both

Hold: To keep watch, support with hand or arm, adhere to something

A patient who likes to be held wishes that the person providing him support should always be there beside him. It makes him sad to hear that person say he has to leave. On hearing this he will plead / request that the person not leave but stay with him for some more time. Grasp: grip firmly; embrace, to keep in possession once in the grip (physically / mentally).

A patient who shows this behaviour will grip the attendant’s arm or hand not allowing him to go away. Such an action requires an effort from the person. He has to extend his hands or arms to do so. Once a thing / idea come into his grip he does not let it go easily.

For a Gelsemium patient it does not matter who is around him, whether it is a little child or an older person. If asked how he expects to be helped by a small child or an old person who are too weak to even take care of themselves, he will tell you that he does not expect any physical support from them but at least their presence is enough in case something happens to me then they can call the neighbor or phone someone.

-CLINGING to a person or furniture etc.

How and why does a person need to cling to the furniture?

Clinically it has been observed that a Gelsemium patient likes the presence of those persons who can understand him or his needs very well. He does not want those people’s support who have no idea about his needs. A lady suffering from menstrual pain told me that when in pain she felt like resting on a particular chair, which belonged to her mother. She said, “Today I asked my mother to send it to me.” When I asked her what it was that she found so particular about that chair,
she replied, “I do not know but whenever I used to get sick, sitting on that chair gave me a lot of comfort. I feel it is like my mother.”

This is again a case of fear of losing control. The thinking behind it is that if the other person fails to support him then at least an inanimate object can save her.

-FEAR falling of

Falling: To come or drop down suddenly to a lower position.

For this reason the patient takes the support of table / chair near him as he knows they are strong enough to prevent his fall.

What is etc. in the above rubric (CLINGING to person or furniture etc.)

Etc: Other than (a person or furniture) that if he has to walk up to the toilet or get up and move to do something important, he takes the support of a wall.

If we visit a Gelsemium patient we will find only one person sitting beside him as an attendant.

He wants that a person sitting beside him should be absolutely quiet. He should not do anything. He should not move at all. He should not watch television, hear music, read newspaper or do anything else. If he finds the other person indulging in any kind of activity he asks him to leave the room. He wants 100% attention of the person with him. He also does not like artificial or mechanical support / care. He likes natural affection and assurance, which exhilarates him and makes him cheerful.

-LIGHT desires (positive)

The word positive is an addition. It means he loves things in which there is no negativity. This patient asks the doctor if his problem will get better. He wants to hear a positive answer from the doctor. He feels good by reassurance from the doctor. The other meaning of positive is something that has a natural effect, no artificial love, affection or care. A Gelsemium patient likes to have natural light coming from outside his room during the day and at night he likes to have a light which is soothing.

The Gelsemium patient likes to have quietness around him.

-QUIET, wants to be

He cannot tolerate even the noise of a running tap as it takes away his self control. He is indisposed to talk and averse to being spoken to. He does not like to be touched. He wants to avoid every kind of disturbance which can affect his composure and state of balance that he is trying to maintain with so much effort.

-DISTURBED, averse to being

-IRRITABILITY, spoken to, when

-TOUCHED, aversion to being

Events, whether anticipated or of the past, affect this patient both ways. When anticipating she is doubtful of her capacity to face them and after they have passed away, she becomes over conscious about how she could face them and if she will be able to face them if they occur again.

-EMBARRASSED, ailments after

As this patient tries very hard to maintain his composure, anything, which shakes his composure, leads to embarrassment.

An example:

A lady is asked to cook for a few guests. Initially she feels that it would not be possible for her to cook but then somehow she manages it. After that when she gets exhausted she warns the family members to not expect it from her again. She accuses others of not understanding how difficult it was for her to do it.

It has been observed that if during the problem this patient attains a state of comfort she does not like to leave it. She will take care at all costs that no one disturbs her, even to the extent of not answering the call of nature. She will only move when it becomes necessary for her. It is only when her will gets strong or diverted that she moves. But because of lack of energy she fails to hold herself up for a long time and then falls back on the bed. This embarrasses her so much that she decides not to move again even if it is important.

In bad health he goes into a state of:

Stupefaction

Dullness

Sluggishness

Confusion of mind

He cannot open his eyes and concentrate on anything. He cannot take any mental / physical exertion. In this state he has to suspend all his activities.

We call this state: TORPOR

It is a state of temporary loss of energy.

A Case: An old lady suffering from Herpes Zoster said, “I have all types of pains due to the disease.”

When questioned how she experiences her sickness and how she feels about it,
she replied, “After many days of turmoil I have realized that I should not worry about this body. It is not me who is sick, it is someone else. It is my body, the mortal being or my deeds (karmas). Let it bear it. I will have to leave my body when I am dead so what have I to do with it. I tell myself that I am the soul and not the body.”

-DELUSIONS, sick someone else is

Then she told me that she tries to get over the pain and do things but her body does not cooperate with her will. She fails to even lift her body. In her words, “The pain I go through is quite distracting and if I am not able to control my mind, it is not my fault because the pain is really very severe and even the strongest of the willed cannot withstand it. I wish something could relieve the pain. I have been having attack after attack and after every attack I feel embarrassed at the thought of getting another attack. There is always a desire for work but it seems impossible because of the pain.” This patient was able to move only when something strong diverted her mind.

WILL, muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away

-EMBARRASSED, ailments after

Another thing to note about a Gelsemium is that he is happy only living in the past; he does not live in the present nor is he interested in looking ahead to the future. Two rubrics EXHILARATION and MIRTH denote the sense of happiness.

Exhilaration: it means a sense of elation. He derives pleasure recalling his successful adventures of the past.

-EXHILARATION can recall things long forgotten

It is the wind of `exhilaration’ which comes out of the happy thoughts of his golden past on which he floats and flies and the mirth gives him the sense of enjoying those ideas in his mind.

A patient says, “I feel energetic the moment I recall my past. Like while talking to my friends or family members about the way we used to enjoy or the way I spent my good days before getting sick I get cheerful. I feel very good after I remember those days when I used to walk for 10 km. at a stretch without getting tired. But then when I think about the present I get very sad.

-CHEERFUL, alternating sadness, with

Means, he feels contented with what has passed, but he is not happy about his present. The wavering of his self-control leads him to cling to his past and to gain control over himself. Another thing which makes him feel good is compliments from others for his past deeds. But if he gets the slightest opposition he finds it difficult to manage himself even though he knows the opposition is baseless.
One more thing that disturbs him is bad news.

-AILMENTS, bad news from

The news may not actually be bad in the real sense, yet it can be bad for him in the sense that it is a disturbing factor in his present peaceful state. A Gelsemium patient likes every moment to take him upwards (like the rising sun), where light i.e. hopefulness and optimism dwells and shines and not downwards towards darkness (despair) where he loses confidence in himself, and cannot even maintain his balance. He is a confused person and the more he attempts to come out of his confusion the more confused he becomes. He even doubts his own identity. He thinks that his real self is missing, that someone else is residing in him, that he is not a single person but two. Also, that he is lying in his own grave. About his sickness, he believes that it is someone else who is sick.

 

Case 1

A 25 year old man came to me for the treatment of a mental sickness in which he suffered convulsions. He said, “While riding on the scooter a vacant feeling comes upon me all of a sudden, say for a minute or a half as if my entire consciousness is reduced to half and that I must stop the vehicle”.

I asked him to give me more details and he replied, “It is as if I am trying to understand what is going on but in spite of my repeated efforts the brain remains locked and does not open.”

“How do you react to it?” I asked.

“Not very seriously, because I know by now that it lasts just for a few moments and vanishes on its own.”

“How does it affect you?”

“It is embarrassing. I may have an accident or get into a bad situation being in the middle of the road that it becomes impossible for me to save myself.”

“But how do you manage?”

“I am able to manage because I feel that it is by the force of sheer will that I am able to get over this temporary loss of control and carry myself onto the road side.”
It means it is not a complete loss of consciousness. That there remains some sense enough to drive you to the side of the road and wait there till you are in a position to see the world as before (to reopen your eyes).

“That is exactly so, sir.”

Gelsemium 30, one dose, removes all the above symptoms within 3 weeks. The prescription was made on the following rubrics.

1. STUPEFACTION, eyes cannot open (s*)

2. EMBARRASSED, ailments after

3. FEAR, losing self-control

4. WILL, muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away

 

Case 2

The patient’s version is, “I fall ill very often and disturb everybody. Disturbing others is still more disturbing to me. Do you have any medicine that can freeze my memory and all sorts of sensations which cause this behaviour?” “This is where your system lacks because it doesn’t have any medicine like that. I remember in my old days when I was young and unmarried I used to take sleeping pills and lie down quietly in my bed without disturbing anyone. That way I could keep my problem to myself and not bother people.”

Gelsemium 30, which removed all the above symptoms, was prescribed on the following rubrics:

1. DISTURBED, averse to being.

2. QUIET, disposition heat during.

3. EXHILARATION, can recall things long forgotten (Exhilaration, by recalling things of the past.)

 

Case 3

A child of 6 years who suffered from bronchial asthma had cough with difficult breathing. (1) He would not leave his mother, would not even allow her to go to the bathroom. (2) He wanted her to hold him all the time and while being carried (on all occasions) he would clutch onto his mother’s dress. (4) He would cry if any sort of change was attempted on this position. (5,6,7,8) He would not allow anybody to talk to his mother either and would remain quietly resting his head on his mother’s chest. The above observations were converted into the following rubrics:

1. CLINGING, to person or furniture

2. CLINGING, grasps the nurse when carried

Clinging: Sticking or coming closer by embracing

Grasp: To hold firmly

Nurse: A women who has the general care of a child

3. DISTURBED, averse to being

4. QUIET, wants to be

5. QUIET, disposition.

6. SPOKEN, to, averse to being.

7. TALK, indisposed to, desire to be silent, taciturn

Gelsemium 30 put all the above symptoms to rest and relieved the patient.

 

Case 4

A boy of 10 years, complaining of pains in the upper part of the abdomen (diagnosed as acute pancreatitis), was brought to my clinic. Although he was being carried by a male relative, yet (1) he was clinging to him by garlanding his neck with both of his arms. He was put in the chair in front of me and the boy sat with (2) his head resting on the table and his hands at the site of the pain. This boy had gone on bearing the pain for as long as he could keep it under control by pressing his hand on the painful part. (3) But when it was no longer possible to hold on any longer in that condition he got up and moved about the room, bending double, and ultimately when the situation went out of his control (5) he clung around the neck of someone near him.

Miraculously, Gelsemium 30 relieved the pain within 5 minutes, on the following rubrics:

1. CLINGING, to persons or furniture

2. DISTURBED, averse to being.

3. WILL, muscles obey the will when attention is turned away

4. FEAR, losing self- control

 

Case 5

A young girl of 20 suffered from menstrual disorder with unbearable pain before and during menstruation. The pain would become so acute that she would go into (1) delirium with redness of the face. (2) Would go on talking to herself deliriously and unable to open her eyes. (3) Would not allow anyone to enter her room other than her mother. (4) Would like her mother to just sit by her side and only talk about her personal affairs. (5) Attempt at maintaining her balance. She would get (6) delusions about her personal identity, and ask her mother to feel her to assure her that it was she in her frame and not someone else as she suspected. Another moment she would say (7) she was not in her bed but in her grave and would go on talking like – (8) “There are snakes around me, don’t you see”, and go on to say, ” There are three inside me also.”

If you asked her something, she would not answer (9) properly and then suddenly say something incomplete just once or twice with a red face and become mum thereafter. (10) One could see her making efforts to answer further questions and ultimately give up after finding herself unable to do so. (11) She would get up for her frequent urge to urinate which gave her relief.

The prescription was made on the following rubrics:

1. DELIRIUM, face, red

2. DISTURBED, averse to being

3. STUPEFACTION eyes cannot open (s*)

4. CLINGING, to person or furniture

5. FEAR, losing self-control

6. DELUSIONS, identity, errors of personal, someone else, she is

7. DELUSIONS, grave he is in his

8. DELUSIONS, snakes in and around her

9. ANSWERS, abruptly, shortly, curtly

10. CONCENTRATION, difficult, on attempting to, has a vacant feeling.

11. DULLNESS, copious flow of urine ameliorates

 

Case 6

A business executive complains of his (1) difficulty in concentrating upon his thoughts. The more he attempts to do so the more he feels his (2) thoughts have vanished and that his head is vacant. (3) He gets fatigued from mental work and after that (4) confusion of his mind begins. The more he tries to arrange his thoughts the more confused he gets. Ultimately there starts a (5) disinclination towards mental work. It is a paradox that on the one hand he is finds it (6) impossible to continue with his mental work but on the other hand (7) the desire to indulge in it remains, because basically he loves mental work. (8) His memory is weak and the condition aggravates after (9) mental work which tires him.

His power of retention does not match the number of pages he has to go through. Therefore it is all useless for him to read so much. Yet his desire for it never dies. He has a type of dullness of mind and memory (10, 11, 12) which can be called slow, sluggish and his helplessness to feel or act (13). It is after a lot of effort that he is able to achieve clarity of ideas and thoughts regarding the decisions he has to take and to reply to his correspondence. It is after many days that a moment like this arrives and he sits at his table to clear his work. He keeps the doors of his office room closed, and does not allow anybody in because (15) he does not like to be disturbed, for the fear that he would lose the clarity of ideas achieved with difficulty. (16) He likes to cling to his thoughts and put them into black and white promptly. (17) He has no confidence in his ability to hold them long enough. Fear of losing control of his thoughts hangs over his head because he knows his memory is short. He has poor concentration and that is why he keeps himself constantly engaged till he finishes his job. Moments of losing will-power come in between but for fear of losing his self control he holds on, reinforcing his will, and avoiding disturbance of any kind. The following rubrics cover his mental state.

1. CONCENTRATION, difficult, on attempting to has a vacant feeling

Concentration: The act of keeping the mind fixed on something.

Difficult : Not easy, hard to be done, requiring labour and pain

On attempting to: By making an effort

Has: To posses

Vacant: Empty, free thoughtless

Feeling: Act of perceiving

2. THOUGHTS, vanishing of, mental exertion, on

3. CONFUSION, concentrate the mind, on attempting to

4. WORK, aversion to mental

5. WORK, impossible

6. WORK, desire for mental

7. MEMORY, weakness of

8. AILMENTS, work mental

9. SLOWNESS

10. DULLNESS

11. TORPOR

12. BROODING

13. IDEAS, abundant, clearness of mind.

14. CONFIDENCE, want to self

15. FEAR, losing self-control

16. WILL, muscles obey the will as long as the will remains strong.

 

Case 7

A member of an interview board is sitting in his chair along with the other members. He gets an urge to urinate. The toilet is a few yards (say about 50 yards) away. He had been to it once but after just a few minutes the urge recurs. Interviewing of the candidates has already started. It is being conducted without break. He does not feel it right to absent himself from his job. He decides not to leave his seat too frequently but when he sees the long list of candidates he begins to doubt whether he would be able to hold back for all that time. (2) He fears that he may lose control over himself. (3) The more he thinks about it the more he feels the pressure of his natural urge. (4) His fear of losing his self control and stress built up in his body due to unrelieved bladder, interfere with the proper functioning of his mind. Then his (7) WILL, to control his urge gives way and he makes for the lavatory. After that he is able to attend to his work properly.

The following rubrics cover the given mental state:

1. AILMENTS, anticipation from.

2. FEAR, losing self-control

3. THINKING, complaints, of agg.

4. RESTLESSNESS, storm, during

5. DISTURBED, averse to being.

6. DULLNESS, copious flow of urine amel.

7. WILL, muscles refuses to obey the will when is attention is turned away

These are a few examples of real cases treated and cured.

 

Case 8

Mr. X, a 60 year old government school teacher, consulted me about pain in the right side of his face. It was diagnosed as a case of trigeminal neuralgia. He stated that he had similar pain on the left side of his face many years back, in 1986. At that time he took many medicines and treatment from various hospitals but none could give him relief and ultimately he had to surrender to the neurologist who legated the facial nerve. For some time after that he had no pain in the face or anywhere else.

Now the whole left side of his face is benumbed and there is no sensation left. Moreover he can feel his both lower extremities getting paralyzed. He cannot articulate properly and there is gradual dimming of vision; even his hands are affected to some extent. Despite all this he has been going to school regularly. When asked why he goes to school despite the terrible pain he suffers, he replied, “I feel good at school.1 Even my pain reduces to a tolerable level. People say I should take voluntary retirement and sit at home but some of my colleagues encourage me to continue my duties remarking that I have created doctors, engineers and other successful people with my teaching.2”

“But now the pain has started in the right side. It has all the same characteristics. It starts the same way and increases exactly in the same manner. Now it has been there for the last two or three years. I have taken medicines from many hospitals and tried some indigenous medicines as well. But I have found absolutely no relief. Every night I go through this painful torture. I cannot explain how horrible and unbearable it is. It is exactly like what happened on the left side. It keeps me awake throughout the night 3. It always starts from the jaw with a swelling and stinging sensation and then spreads to the whole side of the face. Earlier I had been to the dentist; he told me that there is some infection in the root of the teeth which will have to be extracted.

I got all my teeth extracted one by one but the pain is as severe as always. An indigenous medicine gave some relief for six months but after that it also lost its effect so I have stopped it too.4 I haven’t been taking any medicine for the last one year now. Doctor, can you help me out? 1 I asked him why he did not take some painkiller. “Allopathic medicines do not give me any relief from pain, he said.

Dr. : How do you bear so much pain?

Pt : I just lie on the bed, press my jaws together and put my hand on my lower left mandible. I keep to my bed.5

Dr, : Do you ask anybody else in the house to help you?

Pt : Dr., they cannot help me. They do not know how to bring me relief. There is no medicine, no person in the world who can help me. Will you? I keep lying in the same position for the whole night (6). I am so exhausted by the morning. I don’t know when I will get the sleep. There is no energy left in me to work.

Dr.: What do you feel during the pain?

Pt. : Well, I say, `Oh, God, please take me away with you, give me death.’ I have to go through this torture every day. I feel it would be so good to meet my death. At times I think of committing suicide. During the attack of pain I want no noise around me (7). I have instructed all the members of my family not to speak to me about anything, not even my condition. His son added that during the attack of pain his father imposes something like a curfew in the house 8. “We just cannot move about in the house, we cannot talk and we have to shut our children in a room or we have to send them out. If disturbed, dad just becomes wild 9. He just does not see who is before him. If spoken to (10), he loses his temper and uses bad language. When the pain is at its peak I lose my power of judgment, I fail to distinguish between what to say and what not to say. (11) I fear I may say something wrong in anger because at that time I am not in my right mind. When in pain I sometimes say what I am not supposed to because at that time I cannot think of anything except pain. It is as if I don’t have any senses left during the pain 12. In the morning when my family tells me about what I had been saying it surprises me as I do not have any memory of it. 13

I asked him, if he thought nobody could help him get out of the pain, what made him come to me. He said, “I heard about your healing hand, which brought me to you. I feel that your hand will help me as the hand of God and I will get rid of my terrible pain by your medicine only. 14

Considering the present problem of the patient, that is pain, I have taken the following rubrics:

1. LIGHT, desire for (positive)

2. EXHILARATION, can recall things long forgotten

3. EMBARRASSED, ailment, after

4. WILL, muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away

5. TORPOR

A state of suspended physical powers and activity.

6. SHRIEKING, pain, with the

7. QUIET, wants to be

8. DISTURBED, averse to being

9. DELIRIUM, wild

Wild: Not tamed, uncivilized, of great violence, intensively funny.

10. IRRITABILITY, spoken to, when

Spoken to when: When addressed to

11. CONFUSION of mind

12. SENSES dull, blunted

13. CONFUSION of mind, identity, duality, sense of

14. FEAR losing self-control

Prescription
I took into account only the present symptoms and prescribed Gelsemium 6. The patient started feeling energetic in his paralyzed part, and also the pain was relieved. After a few months the patient was completely cured of his disease and started feeling very comfortable. This led me to explore the whole bulk of symptoms given by the patient in light of the present, persisting and predominating mental state. Let us understand what he does and how he does from this case. He goes quiet and does not want any disturbance around him. Why? As the pain starts the patient struggles to bear it. He tries to find a position or a place where he may find comfort. So all his concentration and effort gets involved in this struggle to find a comfortable position, a difficult task for the patient to achieve. But when he achieves it, he does not want to come out of that comfort. Disturbance of any kind causes him to lose his concentration and consequently the position of comfort he had achieved with so much effort. This embarrasses him and makes him irritable, sometimes even delirious. It is not easy to regain that position and that is why this patient does not want to be spoken to, to avoid disturbance. Ultimately not to lose the control which he has gained upon himself; even a little effort scares him.

This whole discussion is around the following rubrics:

Fear, losing self – control

Will; muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away

These two rubrics are the key to finding the remedy. The question as to what medicine to prescribe becomes clear if we understand these two rubrics. During the struggle all of the energy of the patient gets drained and he feels very exhausted i.e. Torpor. Now, if we examine the above case, the patient used to feel exhausted in the morning but he never took leave from school, though he was in such a bad shape and had to suffer so terribly at night. Still, the next day, he was going to school. Why? This is an interesting point. The reason behind it is, as mentioned by the man himself, the commending remarks of his fellow teachers in the school encouraging him to continue his job, as he has produced doctors and engineers with his teaching in the past. This gives him tremendous confidence and a very favorable and congenial atmosphere where he forgets his sufferings and regains his confidence. This is what we call positive light. It is only in the light of encouragement which brings out a patient from the state of Torpor to the state of confidence. There is nothing else which can take the patient out of the state of torpor, stupefaction, unconsciousness or intoxication and the sensation of. It is only the light which can hold up the will of the person, and thus gives the amelioration from pain etc.

 

Case 9

A patient with very high fever, about 105 – 106 F, was brought to me. He had this fever for about a month, which was diagnosed as a case of typhoid. The fever would come down when he took antipyretic tablets and would shoot up to 106 F after the reaction of the medicine ended. During the fever the patient would lie in deep slumber. It became difficult for him to get up and talk; he did not want anybody to come near him. He got irritated if somebody came to him during the headache and asked about his condition. Irritated he used to say, “Leave me alone, do not disturb me. I have no strength to get up. I am in terrible pain, please let me sleep.” But if his close friends visit him he would get up and start talking. His mother said, ‘sir, this is very strange. Any time his that friend comes he talks to him as if nothing has happened. But if any member of the family wants to speak with him he gets irritated.”

Rubrics taken:

1. QUIET wants to be

2. DISTURBED averse to be

3. IRRITABILITY spoken to when

4. STUPEFACTION eyes cannot open (s)

5. LIGHT desire for

We get this set of symptoms quite often. What is intriguing in this case is why this person gets irritated when someone from his family approaches him, but he behaves very nicely when his friend comes to meet him as if he has no problem and he talks to him as long as he stays. The answer is that his friend is of his liking, he behaves the way the patient likes, and talks about what the patient likes. What I mean to say is that his friend has an excellent tuning with the patient which perhaps his family members do not have. That is why he comes out of his stupefaction and torpor when he sees his friend whom he likes. For the patient it acts as a positive light.

As long as there is anything that keeps the interest of the patient, gives him pleasure and is in accordance with his demands it can hold his attention. But if he stops getting all these things like – pleasure, interest etc he again goes back into the state of torpor. As long as the person has favorable circumstances he has tremendous confidence. As the adverse circumstances approach, his confidence shatters and fear of losing self control creeps in.

If you go back to the case of the teacher with pain we find that he was low in confidence. Also we can understand how a Gels patient performs and how he accepts the challenges of his life. In fact the successful past plays a great role in a Gels patient. Whenever he is in a situation where he gets stuck, that moment if something good from the past strikes his mind it exhilarates him and he gets ready to fight the challenge. The Gels patient remembers his successful past which gives him happiness, confidence and the ability to face any challenge. As in the case of the teacher, he keeps on attending school despite the horrible condition he was in, both mentally and physically. Actually when the other teachers refer to his success in the past, that of creating doctors and engineers, it gives him a sort of contentment, happiness and confidence.

-Exhilaration

His successful past gives him the air to swim into the present. In many cases if this past is strong enough to boost his confidence it in turn makes his will strong enough to face the situation. It looks like EGOTISM, but it is not, because this person does not speak of his capabilities but is rather attached to the source of his confidence, in other words, the source of light. Once he gets it he does not want to leave it, because it gives him tremendous confidence. He holds on to it very strongly.