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One could relate this dog’s name to the remedy that helped
him. He is called Wicket, as in the wicket in the game of cricket.
The wicket is a part of the stumps which have three vertical wickets
on which rest the two horizontal bails. These wickets have to be
defended by a cricket team. The opposing team aims to hit the wickets
with the ball. If the wicket falls, the batsman is out.
This little dog is not a cricket player but in a way he found himself
in a situation (just like the wicket) not knowing where he was going
to end up. The wicket is in a fragile situation likely to fall down
any time. This dog found himself in a fragile situation: not for
falling down but knowing where to end up.
A very regular client rescued him from a couple who were separating.
Both parties moved into different housing and neither could keep
the dog. Nevertheless it was planned that the Mrs. would have him
back in the near future when her new life was settled.
In the meantime he would return every 1-3 weekends to one of his
previous owners which, as we will find out, upset him.
This
is when my client comes with Wicket to the surgery. He is a lovely
4 year old castrated Jack Russell Terrier. She inherited him with
a box of steroids which he takes to control the itchiness caused
by a low grade skin inflammation. The diagnosis is most likely Atopy.
This condition can be compared to psoriasis in humans. It is an
allergic condition where the origin of the allergens is usually
airborne.
My client is used to homeopathy and we don’t go into complicated
blood tests etc. There are no fleas, she has already changed his
poor quality commercial diet to fresh food which improved the skin
noticeably in 2 weeks (and eliminated an unhealthy fat layer) but
one can see that he needs more help.
“He bites his feet in the morning. I don’t see him
biting himself during the day”. There are a few mites in his
right ear.
“He is possessive of me.” (which is understandable
having come from a disrupted family.)
“He is dainty, he would wear white covers over his shoes.
He doesn’t want to walk in the wet grass. He is more attracted
to women. He settled in the house as soon as he arrived. He is calm
and friendly with everybody.”
I have not much to go on. The dog only recently arrived in his
temporary home. His general tranquility and the funny observation
that he would wear white covers over his shoes, being called dainty,
inspired me to give him a few doses of Sulphur. The first
dose in 30C allows the steroids to be dropped after seven days.
He then started to scratch more. A dose in 30 C followed by one
in 1M doesn’t make much difference. (Not a brilliant first
strike, but we managed to reduce the steroids to none.)
The selection of Sulphur was based on this somewhat clumsy
repertorisation.
|
1
|
1234
|
3
|
SKIN
- ITCHING - morning |
26
|
|
2
|
1234
|
1
|
MIND
- JEALOUSY |
48
|
|
3
|
1234
|
1
|
SKIN
- ERUPTIONS - suppressed |
90
|
|
4
|
1234
|
1
|
SKIN
- ITCHING - eruptions - without |
31
|
|
5
|
1234
|
2a
|
MIND
- CLEANNESS - mania for |
8
|
|
6
|
1234
|
2a
|
MIND
- FEAR - dirt; of |
1
|
|
7
|
1234
|
1b
|
EXTREMITIES
- WETTING a part - Feet agg. |
13
|
|
8
|
1234
|
1b
|
GENERALS
- WET - getting - feet |
34
|
|
9
|
1234
|
2
|
MIND
- FEAR - alone, of being - night |
11
|
| S. No. |
lach. |
stram. |
sulph. |
camph. |
kali-s. |
lyc. |
merc. |
nux-v. |
puls. |
|
| |
| |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
| |
| 1. |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
| |
| 2. |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
- |
|
| |
| 3. |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
| |
| 4. |
- |
2 |
- |
1 |
- |
2 |
- |
- |
3 |
|
| |
| 5. |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
|
| |
| 6. |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
| |
| 7. |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
2 |
- |
|
| |
| 8. |
1 |
2 |
2 |
- |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
- |
|
| |
| 9. |
4 |
- |
2 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Two weeks later, we sit down for a slightly longer consultation.
He returned to his previous owners for the weekend and came back
very tired. The scratching is worse than ever since that weekend.
He bites his feet and scratches under his belly. There are no lesions
on the skin. His ear is also slightly worse. I received the following
information in the interview:
“He is not so very interested in Brean. (Brean is the 2 year
old female terrier owned by my client. She is lovely but somewhat
wild). Brean makes advances towards Wicket but he thinks ‘why
care, I can do nothing anyway’ (being castrated). The advances
have no effect on him.
He wakes up in the middle of the night to scratch. He doesn’t
want to walk on the grass. He keeps to the paths in the garden (Brean,
the other terrier races all over the place.) He doesn’t like
his feet to be dirty.
He has been very bold recently: he attacked the boxer dog in the
pub. I don’t know why. He is not macho.
He tends to lick people’s hands.
During the night he sits on the bed and howls. It is difficult
to stop him from howling.”
When I saw Stramonium in the previous repertorisation
in correlation with the howling in the night, I decide to give him
two doses of Stramonium 30.
The lack of good guidance in his life was a further justification
for this remedy so was his ‘wildness’ in attacking the
big dog.
The Stramonium helps our little patient to take a big
step forward in life.
When I see him 4 weeks later, I am told the following:
“He has started to play with Brean (the other dog). The itching
is less. He is now walking on the grass. He defended me against
a big dog but when he realized how big this dog was he ran under
the car. Overall, Wicket is more settled and sensible (realized
the other dog was bigger than him). The howling in the night disappeared
quickly.”
No prescription. Wait and see. I am not convinced all is well because
there is still marked itching in the morning but we can be happy
for Wicket because he is more balanced in himself.
A few weeks later my client comes to see me again. Itching has
become worse again. She noticed it aggravates every time Wicket
stays with his previous owners for the weekend. It is thought that
he receives poor quality food there but I have a suspicion that
it has more to do with all the changes.
Based on the physical symptoms of the skin problem, I make the
following repertorisation looking for inspiration:
| 1 |
1234 |
1 |
SKIN
- ITCHING - eruptions - without |
31
|
| 2 |
1234 |
1 |
SKIN
- DISCOLORATION - red - scratching; after |
27
|
| 3 |
1234 |
1 |
SKIN
- ITCHING - morning |
26
|
| S. No. |
petr. |
spong. |
agar. |
am-c. |
ant-c. |
bov. |
graph. |
lach. |
merc. |
| |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| 1. |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| 2. |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
- |
2 |
2 |
| 3. |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How generous of Radar to propose Petroleum as a first
choice: the remedy that looks for stability.
Two doses in 30C solve the skin problems.
Wicket takes the remedy three times in the next 6 months, each
time after he stayed for a weekend with his ‘legitimate’
owners. Each time, the itching disappeared in no time.
Finally, Wicket moved back in with his original owners. With good
advice from my client they offer better quality food. Wicket is
happy with them and has not needed any further medicines.
There is a 6 month feed back on this case.
A few words on Petroleum:
Philippe Servais talks about the, finite and infinite,
unlimited and limited being the source of concern for the petroleum
patient. The patients have great trouble in concentrating themselves:
they either can’t concentrate or see/concentrate on only one
tiny problem that fills their view and takes all their attention.
Jacques Lamothe says the patients have a problem with
structure: you can make anything from an explosive to plastic with
petroleum; the substance can evolve in all sorts of directions.
The patient will display a false personality, they portray themselves
different from what they are.
Marc Brunson talks about the need for stability, a stability
coming from outside. Petroleum is formed and collected only when
it is caught in a rock covered by impenetrable clay. If petroleum
appears on the surface of the earth, it dissipates in various ways.
In the rock it is held in the microscopic pores that are present
in the rock. This illustrates the tendency to cause pathology in
the fine ducts of the body: mammary glands, tear ducts, ducts from
sweat glands (=skin), Eustachian tube, vas deferens.
This need for stability coming from the outside and the illusion
that this stability is not there, translates into some of the better
known qualities/difficulties of this remedy: travel sickness, difficulties
in company, loss of direction, skin suppuration doesn’t heal,
sensitivity to cold, aggravated eating cabbage (flatulent food).
For Wicket, our patient, it was not an illusion of being in an
unstable situation. It was a reality. Petroleum helped him every
time when this reality caused him to lose his balance. Once the
stability returned, he did not need further doses of his remedy.
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