I have chosen this case for the quiz to demonstrate how effective facial analysis is in finding the miasm of the patient and the required remedy. In the past I would not have taken on a case like this because the chance of finding an effective remedy would have been very low. Every homoeopath has this happen to them – a patient (or in this case a friend) wants someone close to them to seek homoeopathic treatment but they won’t – they won’t make the time, or they don’t believe in it or as in this case they are just too uncomfortable to go through the interview process. They are happy to take a remedy for their ailment, (do you have some drops for migraines?) but as we know, without getting the totality of the case the chance of our ‘migraine’ remedy working is quite small. Pathological classification is the domain of conventional medicine – choosing a remedy via a pathology (and which remedy – there are so many!) is at best hit and miss.
I was approached by a friend to treat her husband. She had been very happy with her treatment and was having difficulties in their relationship because of his irritability. I suggested to her that he make a booking to see me and she asked him but he refused, although he said he would be happy to take something for his migraines. She relayed this information back to me and I decided to try and find a constitutional (miasmatic/totality) remedy for him without seeing him in person. I had met this man a number of times socially but knew very little about him other than that in public, he is very quiet and never initiates conversation until someone asks him a question.
I gave my friend a questionnaire that I use for consultations with people from other countries or interstate and told her to get some good photos for the facial analysis. She saw me a week later and relayed the case to me. She actually did a good job with getting descriptions of the symptoms (having seen me a number of times) as she has no formal homoeopathic training.
September 2008
Male aged 28 suffers with migraines and eye problems. These migraines are only of short duration and come on suddenly and only last around 30 seconds. He gets them 3 to 4 times a week and they come in short intervals. His eyes are always red and dry and they feel better from cold. His nose is always running slightly and he usually has a small cold sore in the corner of his mouth. Once a week he suffers with a sharp chest pain which is worse for deep breathing. After eating he feels bloated. He has a bowel motion every second day but if he overeats he will get diarrhea within half an hour. He urinates very seldom – often only twice a day. During exercise he gets bad cramps in his legs and his hands are always cold. The skin on his face is very dry and flakey and he has a number of moles on his back. He has a habit of constantly picking at his nails to smooth them – he can’t stand any roughness. He has difficulty sleeping and takes one to two hours to fall asleep – he likes to sleep on his back. Can get very hot in bed and gets extreme heat in his stomach which is better for cold. At times he has trouble turning off his thoughts. He can’t always remember his dreams and there are no real themes to his dreams. In regard to weather, he hates rain and thunderstorms, dislikes cold and likes warm weather with the sun out, but cloudless. His perspiration is only slight with no odor. He fears public speaking, failure and unfamiliar social situations. When he is stressed he becomes agitated and feels frustrated. His passion is sailing and investing.
My friend gives her impression of him too. She says he is fastidious with his work and the way he keeps his belongings. Very shy in public but quite chatty in private (my observation is that he hardly ever talks in public). His father died suddenly in his teens and he is still finding it hard to overcome his loss – the death of his father overshadows their own life and he is obsessive about caring for his mother and not leaving her on her own.
Summary
I had reservations about choosing a remedy for someone whom I hadn’t even spoken to but was pleased with the detail his wife presented me with. The photos were done well too and so his miasm was easy to determine. My repertorisation gave me 16 remedies. Without the miasmatic information I would have found it very difficult to choose a remedy with confidence. Fortunately there were only two remedies from the miasm in the repertorisation that matched his miasm and one of them had a few distinctive aspects of the case as well. I chose this remedy and gave the patient a 30C to take daily. Within a week he was more relaxed, sleeping better, all head pain gone, eyes better, skin less dry, no stomach heat, no diarrhoea and no cramps. His wife was very pleased because their relationship became less stressful. He was pleased because his migraines and eyes plus other symptoms were so much better. He took his remedy every day because he recognized the difference it was making. After the bottle was finished (about 6 weeks) he took no more remedy and was well for another couple of months. Some eye symptoms returned so he took it again for another few weeks and they immediately improved again.
FACIAL ANALYSIS
| YELLOW (psora) | RED (sycosis) | BLUE (syphilis) |
| Lines forehead Ears position Hairline shape |
Nose Brow Forehead shape Mouth Lips Smile Teeth Lines beside mouth |
Asymmetry Bridge Cheekbones Chin Eyelids |
| 3 | 8 | 5 |
Practising homoeopathy using facial analysis is much easier than trying to define essence or determining a deep interpretation of the patient’s state. This patient needs a red (sycotic) remedy as classified by the HFA (Homoeopathic Facial Analysis) system.
Note that many contemporary systems use the concept of miasms and subsequent remedies categorised to those miasms. As would be expected where different criteria are used to describe a miasm, to determine a miasm and to define the miasmatic properties of a remedy, very different categories of remedies exist. HFA classification of miasms and remedies comes from clinical application and research – if you are not familiar with these classifications please see Appearance and Circumstance by Grant Bentley for major polychrests. Smaller remedies are listed on the Victorian College of Classical Homoeopathy website
http://www.vcch.org/remedies.html
Please send your feedback on the remedy to [email protected]
Next month I will reveal the remedy and the repertorisation used to find the remedy. A lucky quiz winner will get a copy of Appearance and Circumstance with Homoeopathic Facial Analysis or (assuming the winner has those) a copy of Soul & Survival.
Louise Barton
Dip Hom Prof Memb AHA, AROH regd
Melbourne, Australia
