Case Quizes Clinical Cases

Revisiting: Nearly-Famous Person Gets A Cold!

Written by Elaine Lewis

Elaine gives the answer to last month’s quiz. Revisiting: Nearly-Famous Person Gets A Cold!

Shana…..rewind the tape!

I’m doing it now…..

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Mom, is there a patient for the April quiz?

 

You bet there is, Shana!  It’s Ann of Green Gables.

 

 

Wait a minute!  Isn’t that a famous character from a book?

 

You’re thinking of Anne of Green Gables.  This is Ann of Green Gables.  Besides, it was her daughter Marge who reported the case.

 

You mean, Marge of Green Gables?

 

Exactly!

 

What was it about?

 

Let’s let Marge describe it:

 

Hi Elaine,

Well it happened.  My mother got something… have been trying to help her all day.

Cough, more when lying down.  Eyes watery.  Nose wet with drop of water hanging.

I realize now she had a light cough here and there for a few days.

Cough remains, and wet eyes, not burning.

Once in a while she seems calm.

Now at midnight nose is running a little.

Asked if she was thinking about things, she said “…always thinking about things.  That is all I can do.”

One hour later very nervous.

From laying down to go to sleep, has to get up and do exercise.

Cannot sit still.  Has to move.

Now very nervous.  All day calm.

I have to be very careful.

She stripped her throat 40 years ago mixing Clorox and Ammonia.

So she has a very delicate throat.

Any suggestions?  When I got up, her eyes were very wet.  She was blowing nose constantly, plenty of tissues.  Got exceptionally excited when I tried to give just Bioplasma 6X.  Very nervous, said “tired of these pills, they don’t work.”  Coughing just started again.  Not a lot yet.  Wants me to buy extra strength Tylenol.  I am not thrilled.

Marge

Green Gables, NY

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OK, everybody, what do you think the remedy is?  Write to me at [email protected] and let me know.  The answer will be in next month’s ezine.

Mom, is there a patient for the April quiz?

You bet there is, Shana! Ann of Green Gables.

Mom, isn’t that a famous character from a book?

You must be thinking of Anne of Green Gables. This is Ann of Green Gables. Besides, it was her daughter Marge who reported the case.

You mean, Marge of Green Gables?

Yes, exactly.

What was it about?

Let’s let Marge tell it:

Hi Elaine,

Well it happened. My mother got something… have been trying to help all day.

Cough, more when lying down. Eyes watery. Nose wet with drop of water hanging.

I realize now she had a light cough here and there for a few days.

Cough remains, and wet eyes, not burning.

Once in a while she seems calm.

Now at midnight nose is running a little.

Asked if she was thinking about things.she said “..always thinking about things. Tthat is all I can do.”

One hour later very nervous.

From laying down to go to sleep, has to get up and do exercise.

Cannot sit still. Has to move.

Now very nervous. All day calm.

I have to be very careful.

She stripped her throat 40 years ago mixing Clorox and Ammonia.

So she has a very delicate throat.

Any suggestions ?

When I got up, eyes very wet. She was blowing nose constantly, plenty of tissues.

Got exceptionally excited when I tried to give just bioplasma. Very nervous, said “tired of these pills, they don’t work.”

Coughing just started again. Not a lot yet.

Wants me to buy extra strength tylenol. I am not thrilled.

OK, everybody, what do you think the remedy is? Write to me at [email protected] and let me know. The answer will be in next month’s ezine.

____________________________________________________

Votes

Arsenicum-3

Rhus tox

Calc-carb.

 

Well, it looks like a majority of you were right, it is Arsenicum!  Let’s see what our friend Deb had to say:

Hi Elaine,

I chose Arsenicum Album for Marge’s mum.

Found the only real contender to be Rhus tox but this didn’t have despair of recovery (as indicated by “tired of these pills, they don’t work”.)

Very astute of you to pick up on that!

I used Openrep Pro and Synthesis with these rubrics.

Cough, lying, agg Ars2 Rhus tox 2

Eye, lachrimation, Ars 2 Rhus t 3

Mind, anxiety, midnight after Ars 3 Rhus t 2

Mind, despair, recovery Ars 3 Rhust 0

Mind, restlessness, bed, driving out of Ars3 Rhust t 3

Mind, restlessness, night, midnight, after Ars 3 Rhus t 3

Mind, restlessness, move, must move constantly Ars 3 Rhus t 3

Nose, discharge, copious dripping Ars 1 Rhus t 0

Nice rubrics!

I thought about the fact that there seemed no mention of the usual burning pains or amelioration from hot things or the chill and extreme prostration of Ars but felt the mind symptoms i.e. restlessness and anxiety at midnight/after midnight over-ride this.

Yes, very good!  Also, restless mind– “All I can do is think.”

Another thing that I thought about was the mention of bland wetness of the eyes but I reasoned this was slightly increased normal lacrymation rather than abnormal discharge hence the rubric ‘eye, lacrimation’.  When I did consider bland discharges none of the remedies seemed to have the excessive anxiety and restlessness present in Marge’s mum.

Lastly Rhus tox doesn’t have the dripping nose of Arsenicum.

So..whaddayathink?

I think you did great!

 

Cheers, Deb

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Hello, Elaine, I think the remedy is Rhus tox (can’t sit still must move) .

I hope it is correct 🙂

D’oh!  Maria, what’s the other remedy that can’t sit still and has to jump up out of bed?  I know it’s tempting to pick Rhus tox here; but, with Rhus tox it’s more a physical issue.  When they’re sitting or lying too long they get stiff.  Their physical discomfort gets worse and they’re actually better for moving around and limbering up.  However, this patient is no better for moving around.  It’s more of a restlessness on the mental plane; notice she says “all I can do is think”, also notice that her daughter says she’s now nervous after being calm all day; so, nervousness around midnight, what does that make you think of?  There’s also a despair of recovery (nothing works, these pills don’t work) that Rhus tox doesn’t have.

Well, the other remedy I thought of was Ars, but I couldn’t see the fear I would expect from arsenicum.  But it is only a cold, if she had something more serious she would react more typical arsenicum maybe.  It has aggravation around midnight.  She said “exercise” and I thought it was a physical thing 🙁
Is Arsenicum correct?

Yes, it is!  When we think of the Arsenicum mentals–fear of death, fear of being alone and begging people not to leave–these are usually the first things we think of; but we don’t see them here, and that’s probably why you discounted Arsenicum at first.  But, there is still plenty of evidence for Arsenicum.  There’s the restlessness, and even on the mental plane there’s Mind: thoughts persistent.  But as we see here, there is also despair and discouragement—“Nothing can help me, those remedies don’t work, there’s nothing that anyone can do for me.”  Still another Arsenicum state that we don’t see in this case is suspicion: people are “stealing” from him or her; there are, presumably, conspiracies against him or her, he or she is, supposedly, pursued by enemies. 

Another is a kind of negative, judgmental, critical state where no one is doing anything right, people aren’t doing their jobs right, people aren’t speaking in the right tone of voice, people aren’t being respectful and so on. 

And then there’s the fastidiousness where they want pictures straightened, rugs straightened and pieces of paper picked up off the floor, everything lined up perfectly, and so on. 

Then there’s a disposition to quarrel, an intolerance of contradiction, a contempt for other people’s opinions; no one is ever right except Arsenicum!  They blame others and stubbornly stick to whatever belief they happen to have.  They can be unsympathetic, malicious, spiteful and vindictive. They can engage in gossip, slander and sarcasm.

So, here, in this case, we’re seeing only the discouragement, nervousness—a kind of restlessness on the mental plane—and despair and we’re seeing it all at the Arsenicum aggravation time—around midnight!  So, there was plenty to go on here.

Arsenicum is a great end-of-life remedy due to its fear of death, pleading for help, begging people to stay—or even demanding that people stay (making Arsenicum the most unpopular remedy on the planet), refusing to go to the hospital, holding the family hostage, feelings of desperation, tremendous anxiety, fear to be alone—in other words, all the things a dying person typically might feel are right there in this remedy!  You might see other traits of the remedy at this time too—the fastidiousness, the tendency to be judgmental, the stubbornness, accusations, blaming, and an overall negative tone.

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Dear Elaine,

I’ve been up since 3 am.  Here’s my repertorization of your quiz:

mind, cautious

thoughts persistent

restless in bed

cough on lying

better from motion

burns

Arsenicum (Causticum was a possible second)

How far off am I??

Steven Hale

You did good, Steve!

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Dear Elaine,

Calcarea Carbonica?????  Am I way off?????

Caralyn

I’ll say you are!  But the important thing, Caralyn, is, you tried!  It’s Arsenicum.  What’s striking about this case?  To me, it’s the aggravation time (everything was basically OK until midnight, then she got nervous, restless and her nose started running).

The other striking thing?  The restlessness, getting out of bed, moving around, couldn’t lie still.  And then, finally, the critical/negative/blaming nature of Arsenicum comes out in the remark, “Get me Tylenol, I’m tired of those remedies, they never work!”

So, there you have it.

Elaine, do you know I was going to say Arsenicum.  I just thought that arsenicum was too obvious.

D’oh!!!!!! 

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Let’s congratulate our winners, shall we?

Deb, Steven Hale and Gabi Aguero; way to go, guys!

See you back here in June!  Bye-bye!

About the author

Elaine Lewis

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine is a passionate homeopath, helping people offline as well as online. Contact her at [email protected]
Elaine is a graduate of Robin Murphy's Hahnemann Academy of North America and author of many articles on homeopathy including her monthly feature in the Hpathy ezine, "The Quiz". Visit her website at:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/ and TheSilhouettes.org

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