Mom, don’t look now but it’s time for the Hpathy Quiz again!
Can we start the quiz now?
No! I haven’t made my announcements yet!
You have announcements?
Mom! Stop pretending to be senile.
Who’s pretending?
For your information, this month marks the 45th anniversary of The Spinners’ “Pick Of the Litter” album.
Really? We have that album!
Furthermore, you may be interested to know that the man who wrote most of The Spinners’ hits just died at 77. Joseph B. Jefferson.
OMG! Weezie Jefferson’s husband died?
No, not George Jefferson, Mom! Joseph B. Jefferson! Yeesh!
Oh. Well excuse me for not knowing things!
Turns out he wrote “Mighty Love”, “One of a Kind”, “Games People Play” and “Sadie”.
Wow! He wrote “Sadie”? He must be cleaning up! Cleaning up!!!
Well, that would be past-tense, Mom. I don’t think he’s cleaning up now.
Even James Taylor covered “Sadie”–I’m surprised you didn’t mention that!
I was about to!
And meanwhile, what was he thinking????
Mom, if we could possibly stay on topic? Did you know that The Spinners were Joseph B. Jefferson’s groomsmen at his wedding?
I did not know that.
Here are The Spinners with one of their biggest hits, and it looks like we had Joseph B. Jefferson to thank for it all along. “Mighty Love”:
Last month, we also lost Peter Green (founder and guitarist of Fleetwood Mac.)
He’s from the pre-Stevie Nicks era so I’m not that familiar with him. But I do know he wrote “Black Magic Woman” which was a huge hit for Santana in 1970.
He wrote “Black Magic Woman”? OMG! He must be cleaning up! Cleaning up!!!!
Mom!!! Past-tense, OK? Past-tense! Was cleaing up! And sadly, we also lost TV host, Regis Philbin.
Regis Philbin? You’re announcing the death of Regis Philbin? An insipid morning talk show host with no talent and no claim to fame other than Dana Carvey’s impression of him on “Saturday Night Live”?
Gee, I sure hope Mrs. Philbin isn’t reading this….
Now I’m gonna get hate mail from all of Regis’ fans! All 6 of them!
Uh… I think we better start the Quiz while we still have a show.
That would be a good idea. Well, folks, I’ve been really tough on you with some very long quizzes lately, but, today’s quiz will be quite the departure! I think you’ll enjoy this one. Here it goes:
***
Aug. 3, 2020
Elaine, my friend’s boyfriend, who is a sheriff down here, got COVID-19 and I saw her three days ago.
I stayed about four feet away from her but I did take the products she gave me that were wrapped. (Lipstick.)
Now I’m freaking out that I could get it!
Today, this afternoon, I’m overwhelmed with sudden tiredness.
I’m so sick of being afraid and full of dread all the time about this virus.
I’ve been following a covid-19 support group on Facebook and I feel so sorry for all of them. Many of them say they have all kinds of issues months after they recovered!
What am I going to do? Is there a remedy I can take?
Try a dose of _________________ 200C.
Aug. 4, 2020
Elaine, you were right! _________________ WORKED!
***
OK, that’s it, gang; I told you it would be short! If you know the remedy, write to me at [email protected]. The answer will be in next month’s ezine.
So, we’re going out with the enduring, sentimental “Sadie” by The Spinners, written by the late Joseph B. Jefferson, a song dedicated to a certain gone-by era of African-American mothers, mostly raised in the South, known for their tireless love, hard work and dedication to family. Here are the “Sadie’s” I was lucky enough to know and grow up with:
Mary Price and Geneva Gibbs (cousins)
Sadie, don’t you know we love you sweet Sadie….
Place no one above you sweet Sadie
Living in the past….
Here are The Spinners.
________________________
Votes
Aconite
Phosphorus
Arsenicum-2
Calc-carb-2
Hi everyone, we’re back! How did we do with last month’s quiz?
Oh, look; Vamsi’s in the house!!!!
Hi Elaine,
Hi Vamsi!
Hope you are at the best of your health.
Uh…., I think so!
I missed answering the last 2 quizzes. Had been very busy moving to our New Home and settling down. Things have slowed down tremendously with coronavirus, so it was overwhelming.
Well, I hope you like your new home and that it was a move for the better.
Anyway back with a bang. The patient stated “fear” and “sudden tiredness” which points to nothing but – ACONITE. Do let me know…and lots of homework, need to catch up with your last 2 quizzes.
Definitely, please do! Well, Vamsi, I know that “fear” and “suddenness” would make one think of Aconite. BUT………see……..the tiredness or weakness doesn’t go well for Aconite at all.
Aconite is a robust remedy–the heart is pounding, symptoms come on with intensity, there’s restlessness, unquenchable thirst for cold drinks…. Our patient is tired and/or weak. She has fear, but, fear of what? That is the question! Aconite is sure they’re going to die right then and there on the spot! There’s the famous Aconite keynote, “predicts the time of his death”. (“I’m going to be dead in 5 minutes!”)
You know, now that I remember it, I had a bad cold with a cough many years ago. I was taking a class with Alan at the time. Alan was the teacher. I had a dry cough that was very scary because coughing led to more coughing and I didn’t think I’d be able to stop! Usually when you feel the need to cough, coughing itself ameliorates. You cough and then you stop coughing; not so with the cough I had. The more I coughed, the more I needed to cough! I know now that that’s an Ignatia cough. Didn’t know it then. I actually thought I was gonna die! And because of that… I took Aconite and the cough stopped! But, you see, this is the keynote of Aconite–they think they’re going to die–not in the future, but right now, or within minutes! And why did it work? Because it was a cough remedy? No. Because it matched the “mentals”: Fear of death!!!! And you know that if your case has “mentals”, your remedy has to match them.
It wouldn’t matter what might have been wrong with me. If those mentals were present? Aconite is the remedy. It might not match any of the physical symptoms at all! But if it matches the mentals, it will work! That’s why when you sit down to have your constitutional case taken, so much time is spent getting to know you as a person, your mentals and emotionals, because the homeopath knows that if she can find a remedy that matches those, it should cure the whole case!
Now, our Quiz patient has a fear of death, it’s true; but, she’s not thinking she’s going to die right now in the moment, she’s thinking that maybe she’s caught a contagious disease, will land in the hospital and eventually die. So, she’s gonna die somewhere down the line, according to her; but not now. So, that tends to move us away from Aconite, especially if there are other elements of the case that point in another direction.
So, what are the elements of the case?
- She has anxiety about health
- She’s a hypochondriac
- She has anxiety with weakness
- She has a fear of contagious disease
- She has a fear of germs (germs on the lipstick she bought)
- And finally, what is she doing? She’s on a facebook page, reading about her “disease”. There’s a rubric in the Repertory, “mania to read medical books”. In this day and age, mania to read medical books translates to going online and googling your disease. She was on a coronavirus “support group” page; so, you might say, too, that she was “looking for support” or “needing company” as well as obsessing about her “disease”.
So, I repertorized these symptoms and as you can see, the remedy in first place is Arsenicum alb. Can you see the chart below?
So, Arsenicum is very weak with anxiety; fear of disease, fear of germs, looking for support and fear of death…. What do you think?
Oh!! Elaine, I was juggling between Arsenicum and Aconite for sure. But the “suddenness” rubric swayed me in the direction of Aconite.
Right. I think there’s a subtle differentiation you have to make here. She didn’t have a sudden onset, per se; but she did have “sudden weakness” after working herself up into a state!
Aconite people really think they’re going to die. It could be a heart attack, the cough I had that wouldn’t stop, an allergic reaction to a bee sting … anything of this sort can send a person into an Aconite state.
I knew she was a hypochondriac and had restlessness. But, but….
And the obsessing about her “condition” by going online and reading about the disease on a “support group” page, should make us ask the question, “What remedy is looking for support?”
Elaine, well-differentiated between Aconite and Arsenicum. The hypochondria and phobia about germs is a strong rubric. Probably Aconite might also have worked, but would have needed Arsenicum to give a complete cure.
A close or similar remedy might have done something.
Glad for getting it wrong, I got to learn more!
That’s the attitude to have! You’d be surprised how many people don’t answer the quiz because they’re afraid they’re going to be wrong, which is not the point at all! The idea is to participate so in the end you learn something!
Thanks for the prompt response….as always.
Cheers
Vamsi.
I think I see Wayne all the way from Australia!
Hi Elaine,
Hi Wayne!
This is a case of “Fear: disease, of impending”.
The Repertory lists Ars., Carc., Kali-C., Nit-ac., and Phos. in Bold.
You know what? There are 90 remedies in that rubric, making it practically useless to us! There’s a much more specific rubric that speaks directly to our case: Fear of contagious, epidemic disease. (“Mind: fear, contagious epidemic diseases, of”). Isn’t that what we’re dealing with here? That rubric lists only 4 remedies! From 90, we’re down to 4!
The patient also shows distinct sympathy for others, as well as tiredness. Phosphorus is quickly prostrated by unpleasant impressions and is sympathetic to others. I think Phosphorus is the correct remedy.
Phosphorus isn’t in the rubric “fear of contagious epidemic diseases”. Here’s the interesting thing about this case: She landed on a Corona Virus support facebook page. Which remedy has anxiety about health and is always looking for support?
Of the four remedies given, Arsenicum is the person with the fear of being alone, thereby needing support.
Absolutely right! See how easy that was?
Regards Wayne
Oh look, it’s Maria from Greece!
Hi Elaine and Shana!
Hi Maria!!!!
For this month’s quiz I am not very sure but I will vote for Arsenicum.
If I am wrong I will try again.
You’re not wrong, so don’t try again!
PS Amazing Tidbits article on the tooth abscess you dealt with; who could have thought? Apparently, you! Wow!
Thank you, Maria. I have Robin Murphy to thank; obviously.
Hold on, I see Neil from England!
Quiz sounds like Arsenicum to me … tiredness, yet worked up; full of anxiety…joined an online group for support.
Neil, UK
Neil, you nailed it! Short and sweet!
Oh look, the gang from Slovakia is here!
Hello Elaine and Shana,
Hello, Miroslav and Jitka!
Here are our answers to your shortest and easiest quiz ever.
OK…..
Miroslav says: Calcarea carb.
Mind, fear, disease, infection – Calc-c.
I must admit that I was surprised by the choice, I thought more of Acon. or Ars., but the Repertory does not allow you doubt in this case.
Jitka says: Calcarea carb.
At first reading, I thought about Arsenicum, because this remedy seems to me to be the most anxious about her own health. Of course, when I saw in the Repertory the rubric: Mind; fear, contagious epidemic disease, from – Calc c. in bold, I immediately changed my mind and my answer to the quiz is Calc.carb.
Well, you were both right to suspect Arsenicum because that was it! What did our fearful patient do? She went online looking for support, landed on a facebook support group; and which remedy can’t bear to be alone when “sick”? Arsenicum alb! Right?
Hello again, Elaine, I was not surprised by your comment on our answers. If there was no rubric where the only “bold ” remedy was Calcarea carb, I would never have thought of this remedy.
And you know why you would never have thought of Calc-carb? Because Calc-carb is almost never prescribed in acute cases! If you go to “Mind: fear, germs”, Arsenicum is in Bold just like Calc-carb! So you’d almost have to combine these two rubrics because they mean almost the same thing! And personally, I would upgrade Arsenicum to a 3 under “fear of contagious diseases” because if it’s in Bold under “fear of germs”—and contagious disease is all about the spread of germs—then doesn’t it make sense that if one rubric has Arsenicum in Bold, the other one should too?
Remember how often I’ve said the Repertory is flawed, inconsistent and incomplete? So, you have to use your common sense a lot of the time to make your way through it. This would be one of those times!
Nevertheless, I would like to ask how the Calc-carb patient would behave if she had a fear of contagious disease? I tried to find some explanation on the internet, but other than the fact that Calc-carb has a lot of fears, I found nothing.
Thanks jitka
I think we’d be more inclined to give Calc-carb if we knew we were dealing with a Calc-carb person. You know, if we were taking the case and found out our patient was over-weight, had a clammy, limp handshake, loved eggs and sweets and ice cream and was frequently out of breath climbing the stairs, not to mention disinclined to get started on things that had to get done… we might say, “This patient is a Calc-carb! And look! Calc-carb is in bold in the rubric ‘fear of contagious disease’! Let’s give her Calc-carb!”
But, to answer your question, knowing Calc-carb as we do, what would you think Calc-carb would do if she thought she was exposed to a contagious disease? I think she would retreat into her “shell” and sit motionless in fear! You know, Arsenicum is very restless with anxiety, can’t be still, has to be “doing something” (in this case, surfing the internet for support). I see Calc-carb as retreating and being still. In my article about Calc-carb, I wrote,
“Remember, the oyster does nothing!”
So, that’s how I see Calc-carb (a remedy made from the Oyster Shell) reacting in such a situation–freezing in place, unable to move, unable to take action, just consumed with worry and anxiety.
OK! So now we should probably congratulate our two winners:
Neil and Maria, come on down! You’re our big winners in the Hpathy August Quiz!
Don’t forget to keep trying in our new quiz for September, and I’ll see you back here again in a month.
Bye-bye!
———————————
Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom
Elaine takes online cases. Write to her at [email protected]
Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com
