Revisiting: I Couldn't Sleep At All Last Night!

Hello everybody, and welcome to the Hpathy Quiz!

Is that you, Shana?

I think so.

OK. Well, that should about do it.

Mom! We have a quiz to do!

Again? Didn’t we do one last month?

OK, Mom; again, this is not a good time for your “humor”, because I have very sad news to report.

Uh-oh! What is it?

We lost the last member of The Marvelettes.

What? Oh no!

We lost Katherine Anderson-Schaffner last month at 79,

apparently it was heart failure. “Kat” was the tall one, she was with the group from the beginning (1960-1969). They originally had 4 members but they quickly went down to 3.

The Marvelettes gave Motown its first #1 hit with “Please Mr. Postman” (1961), they were one of many iconic Motown girl groups that made Motown the Powerhouse that it was.

Now, parenthetically, why do people make such a big fuss over Motown, as in why do we care that the last member of the Marvelettes died? Because Motown was a black-owned record company with mostly all-black artists, at a time during “Jim Crow” when blacks were pretty much not allowed to succeed at anything—and I realize that no one knows what “Jim Crow” is, but, it’s an expression that refers to the “segregated South”, a place that had separate schools for “colored” children, separate water fountains for “colored people”, separate seating for “colored people”… in fact there’s that infamous speech by Governor George Wallace of Alabama, ending in, “And I say: Segregation Now! Segregation tomorrow! And Segregation Forever!!!!”

What a moron!

It is under this backdrop of hate and oppression that Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson

start a small record company at 2648 West Grand Blvd. (which is now Berry Gordy Jr. Blvd.) in Detroit, Michigan with a few hundred dollars that Berry borrowed from his sister and parlayed it into a multi-million dollar corporation!

Here are The Supremes, 3 friends from “the projects” (government housing, where poor people lived) in Detroit, standing in front of Motown Records in the mid-’60’s. They would go on to become the biggest attraction in the entire world!

Between 1964 and 1969, they had 12 Number-1 hit records! Yes, that’s right, 12!

Supremes: Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross

People get confused sometimes because I’ll say that so-and-so was on Motown when, in fact, they were on Tamla or Soul. The fact is, Motown owned at least 4 subsidiary record labels:

Different labels but it’s all “Motown”.

The Best Known Motown Girl Groups:

The Marvelettes:

Martha and the Vandellas:

The Supremes:

These courageous Motown artists actually brought an end to “Jim Crow” by making adoring fans out of just about all of white America!

Mom, can you name the songs by The Marvelettes?

Did you have to ask? Ahem!

Please Mr. Postman

Strange I Know

Someday, Someway

Twistin’ Postman

Playboy

Lockin’ Up My Heart

Forever

When You’re Young and In Love

My Baby Must Be A Magician

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game

Danger and Heartbreak Dead Ahead

Don’t Mess With Bill

Beechwood 4-5789

I’ll Keep On Holding On

Too Many Fish In The Sea

OK, Mom, that’s enough!

But there’s more!

Yes, I know! You forgot the most important one of all.

What?

“You’re My Remedy”!

OMG! You’re right! How could I have forgotten that one?

Don’t give me no headache powders, they don’t do no good for me; there’s nothing I can take when my head starts to ache cuz

You’re My—

Remedy!

Oh baby,

You’re my remedy

(You’re my remedy)

Oh how you soothe me

(Oh how you soothe me)

You can call my name and soothe all my pain

Oh pretty baby

(Oh pretty baby)

You’re My—

Remedy!

Gladys Horton was the original lead singer but then for some reason they changed to the less-raspy, sweeter voice of Wanda Young. I’m also learning new things, like the fact that Marvin Gaye played drums on “Beechwood 4-5789”. And he co-wrote that song.

You can have this dance with me, you can hold my hand and whisper in my ear sweet words (words, words) that I want to hear….

Whisper sweet words in my ear ….

Mom! You can stop bursting into song now! We’ll never get out of here! The next thing I learned is apparently there’s a spoken intro by Melvin Franklin of The Temptations on “My Baby Must Be a Magician”.

You are under my power; it is the power of love.

Yes, we all know it, and unfortunately, we can’t play every song by The Marvelettes today.

We can’t? I think that’s a big mistake.

We have to move on because I’ve got another death to announce.

Oh no! Who?

Terry Kirkman of the Association.

You remember “Cherish”, right? Remember on “Gilmore Girls” when Rory graduated from Chilton? The ever-pretentious Brad delivers his parting words from the podium when suddenly he breaks into a chorus of “Cherish” as everyone gasps! I wanted to find the whole thing but this was all that was on Youtube:

Anyway, not meaning to change the subject, Terry Kirkman was 83 and apparently it was also heart failure. Other songs by The Association you might know: “Never My Love”, “Along Comes Mary”, and “Windy”.

VOTES:

Ignatia-6

Gelsemium-3

Cocculus

Causticum

OK, we are back! And let’s see… who is here first today?

Hi Elaine 👋

Well, Pam; what a surprise!!!!

I just finished reading the quiz, and IMMEDIATELY 3 remedies came to mind — which I am sure means that I will once again be INCORRECT. UGH. I almost feel like giving up.

Well, good! OK, moving right along!

BUT I won’t just yet….

I was afraid of that!

DO NOT GIVE ME THE ANSWER!!

Oy vey!

I will try again if I am wrong.

I just want to know if I am on the right track vs no where near.

My 1st thought was Ignatia because it is for acute grief.

My 2nd thought was Nat Mur, but I think this is for chronic grief….and she had only been upset for 2 days. BUT then I thought of how tricky the Oct quiz was with the Bryonia answer. So now I am NOT sure if the Ignatia remedy is correct, as it seems toooooooooo easy.

🤔

My 3rd consideration is ACONITE because it is used for shock, and she DOES mention that the news of the loss of her friend was a SHOCK. YOU said to go by exactly what the patient says, and not to interpret things.

Pam, I’m not sure what you mean. A lot of times you really do have to interpret things. How many times have I said that we need to do more than act like court stenographers, taking down everything a person says without the least bit of judgment.

My 4th thought was ARNICA because I read it CAN be used for EMOTIONAL SHOCK, and not only physical shock.

So, WITHOUT GIVING ME THE Quiz ANSWER!! — will you please tell me if one of my picks is correct? At least then I know I just need to narrow it down, vs look for a totally different remedy.

Your choices make sense; but, unfortunately, none of them are right. Ailments from grief is not the etiology (though it’s easy to be led in that direction).

Yes. OK, I know it is NOT ailments from grief….that is why I’m changing my answer to Rhus Tox for the STIFFNESS???? I am so confused! I have muscle and neck and knee stiffness a lot — or at least I use to, until RHUS TOX! She doesn’t say whether she is better or worse from movement, so…..?

Ok….NO giving me the answer! I am going back to figure it out.

Oy vey!

Thanks,

Pam 🌼

PS: YIPPEE! Someone at last appreciates my unending questions!

Who?

Thank you, Linda S! 😊

Linda Santini?

Hi Elaine,

Hi Dr. Salma Afroz!

How are you doing and Shana?

We are fine, thank you!

I missed you.

We missed you too!

Sorry for the long time I was out of this world. But I will try to be with you from now on again. For your information, I got married to a good soul finally and now living in Australia. Pray for us.

It looks like your prayers have been answered!!

Is the medicine Gelsemium?

I can understand how you came up with Gelsemium—ailments from bad news—but, it’s the wrong etiology.

I will wait for your reply.

I could simply say, “Ailments from loss of sleep–Cocculus”, but there’s more to it than that. Cocculus is very sympathetic to the suffering of others. Often, the reason they have lost sleep in the first place is because they are up late holding the hand of a sick child. Here is what Dr. Sunil Anand wrote in the ezine regarding Cocculus many years ago:

“A very important component of Cocculus is Anxiety about health (Kent, 7). This is pertaining to himself and equally to the health of his relatives (Anxiety about health; anxiety about health of relatives- Kent, 7). He can be visibly upset by any tragedy or sad situation (Horrible things and sad stories affect profoundly – Kent, 52). He goes out of his way to be of help to others who are suffering or are in trouble (Cares about others). There are instances where they undergo many sleepless nights to attend to someone who is critically ill or bed-ridden). They may finally succumb to this pressure themselves and it affects their health (Affects of night watching and loss of sleep – Kent, 1402).”

Now, here is how one of my Cocculus quizzes started out: Kelly says, “… I am the daughter of two elderly parents whose health is starting to fail. Consequently, from time to time I suffer from insomnia due to worrying about my family.”

And there you have it! That’s it! That sums up Cocculus in a nutshell! You have the “ailments from loss of sleep”, and you have the susceptibility to lose sleep due to a tendency to worry about the health of loved ones! It could be idle worrying, like Kelly is doing here; or, actually sitting up with them and watching, as when a parent is up all night with a sick child.

Here’s what Sankaran says about Cocculus in The Soul of Remedies:

“Cocculus persons are very sensitive to the sufferings of others. Sympathetic, alert and anxious for the feelings and health of others, they can stay awake for nights, anxiously nursing the sick. ‘Anxiety for the health of others’ and ‘Loss of sleep agg.’ are two leading indications for this remedy.”

So, we see in Cocculus the coming together of two distinct components: 1. ailments from loss of sleep, 2. anxiety or worry over the health of a loved one or hearing bad news about a loved one resulting in worry and consequent inability to sleep.

Shana votes for Cocculus. Shana knows (because we’ve been through this so many times) that when your biological clock is thrown off, and you miss your nightly sleep time (it could be from illness or jet-lag or whatever…), the result the next day is this awful sleep-loss syndrome: headache, nausea, a feeling of heaviness, dizziness, loss of energy…. and the remedy for this state is Cocculus.

OK, I think it’s time we announced our winner! And the winner of the Hpathy Quiz is …. once again… Shana!

Mom, don’t look now, but, did you know that “I couldn’t sleep at all last night!” is the opening line to “Tossing and Turning” by Bobby Lewis from 1961?

I think that should be the official Cocculus theme song!!!!!

You’re right, Shana! I was wondering if anyone would notice that the quiz title was the opening line to “Tossin’ and Turnin'”, but, of course, leave it to our little “Shanapedia” … And here it is now!