Clinical Cases

Arnica and Past Traumas How Far Back Can We Heal Such Traumas?

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Written by Manon Larose

Homeopath Manon Larose presents a case which, she believes, suggests that Arnica may act very many years after an injury.

There is a focus at present on the possible long term effects of concussions acquired playing contact sports. As homeopaths, we know how long reaching the effects of a badly healed concussion can be on health. But how long after a concussion could a remedy such as Arnica act favourably?

During my studies it was stated that Arnica can only act 10 years or less after the concussion. I have read other opinions in other articles written by Homeopaths, but the opinions were that there was a time limit on action, usually not exceeding 10 years. I would like to share with you two experiences that would prove that Arnica can act on concussions or trauma that are much more ancient.

In the first case, a septuagenarian woman called me for assistance: she had slipped and fallen on slate stairs bruising her back badly. She needed a remedy that would allow her to clean her house, set up a room for 30 people, make a buffet dinner and “make it through the evening”. At the time it hadn’t struck me, by the state she was in (bend double, unable to get the job done due to her pain) would have compelled most people to cancel the event. She was not thinking in terms of cancelling, but rather that she would be fine if I could give her something to get on with her tasks.

She had Arnica 30K at home. I suggested she put some in a bottle of spring water and take a sip every time the pain returned with instructions to phone me if there was no relief or alternately, to phone me the next day to report on her success (she was too far for me to go and examine her and declared that she had no time to go to a clinic until the next day).

The following morning she phoned to report that she had been able to accomplish all of her tasks pain-free. The meeting had been a success and she had even finished tidying up (normally she would have taken two days to do that, she said). She also asked if Arnica might help with some arthritic pains that seemed to be gone. Obviously, Arnica was an excellent remedy for her.

As she was hanging up, she mentioned that the previous night she had dreamed of a forgotten incident: at 5 years old, when she had been struck by a city truck while riding her bicycle. The driver wanted a hospital examination for insurance purposes. As she had been struck on the bottom, she was having a fit of hysterics in her mother’s arms because she did not want her bum to be examined. She said that the driver’s insistence that she go to the hospital might have been more traumatic to her than being hit by a truck. That event had been completely buried in her subconscious for 65 years and after taking the Arnica it was liberated from her memory.

The second Arnica incident happened to the daughter of this same lady. After an excess of physical exertion she had taken Arnica 30K. The muscle pain was so severe that she had to take a sip every 20 minutes for 2 hours or she could not walk normally. The strange thing was that with every sip a pressure, as of a hand at the occiput, would come immediately, like someone squeezing the skin. She remembered because the sensation was so annoying that she wanted to bat the invisible hand each time, but as the muscular pain relief was so necessary, she put up with the sensation to her skull.

That night she dreamed that she was in a cave with two extraterrestrial women, one in front and one behind her, a baby keening in the far reaches of the cavern. The extraterrestrials were jabbering in a language she could not understand, but had the lilt of her mother tongue and she found this strange. She remembered the dream because it had a quality she had never experienced in a dream before: it felt real, not like a dream or a memory, and also, she was not a fan of science fiction, so she thought it strange that she should dream of extraterrestrials.

Remembering that Arnica is indicated in concussions with blindness, she asked her mother if she had ever had a concussion as a child. Her mother confirmed that when she was 18 months old she had fallen backwards on a slate floor. The impact resounded as far as the next room and she cried very loudly. While holding her to console her, the mother and grand-mother discussed taking her to the hospital, but decided that since she was conscious (she was crying) she was not concussed.

I propose that the dream must have been the reliving of the event itself: the “cavern” was the interpretation of the voices that must have been resonating, either due to the concussion or to being held to her mother’s chest. The keening baby was herself that she heard as if far away. She must have lost sight for a short time and no one noticed. The “extraterrestrials” was her interpretation of the intelligible jabbering, since at 18 months, she probably didn’t understand language yet, but the lilt was recognisable. In the dream, she had no fear, though the events should have been strange to her.

There is no way to prove any of this, but the explanation fits our understanding of Arnica: the place where pressure was felt with every sip corresponds to the impact of the fall, the lilt of language without understanding the words fits with the age at which the event happened, the darkness, resonating voices and lack of fear fit with the possible effects of an Arnica concussion. And finally, the outcome of taking repeated doses of Arnica 30K in both cases (dreaming of a past trauma) would indicate a possible confirmation of healing an old trauma with Arnica 30K.

What may point to a more exclusive, rather than universal, reaction to the remedy, are that the two women share genetics (so possibly this is particular to them in some way) and both had fallen on slate surfaces (though I do not think that that weighs as heavily in favour of a probable factor).

Otherwise, I thought it interesting that the traumas were both 65 and 47 years passed, respectively, and that both dreamed of the particular trauma the night after repeating a dose of Arnica 30K in 500 ml of bottled water, succussing twice before each dose, 3-5 times and 8-9 times respectively.

About the author

Manon Larose

Manon Larose, has been practicing homeopathy in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, since 2007. She is a graduate of École d’Homéopathie Classique of Montreal Canada and member of the College of Homeopaths of Ontario. She enjoys reading research in the medical field and participating in homeopathic conferences and medical forums. Visit Manon at her website: http://www.equilibriumclinic.ca/

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