For those of you who didn’t get to see last month’s quiz, here it is again with the answer to follow:
Kelly, you look tired!
I am tired!
Which brings us to my exciting news!
What exciting news?
I’m branching out, Kelly! People have been asking me to mentor them!
Really? You’re going to need a good advertising agency to handle your promotion! Have you thought of McMahon and Tate?
Larry TateLarry Tate does look like an honest man…. However, Kelly, I think I can come up with my own advertising slogan, how hard can it be? How does this sound: “Be in the know, give Elaine your dough!”
I’m calling McMahon and Tate! And what does this have to do with my case anyway? Aren’t we supposed to be talking about me?
How’s this: “Wanna feel bettuh? Send Elaine a lettuh!”
Who let Barbra Streisand in?
Uh-oh! I’ve seen that look before! You’re going to sing the whole sound track to “Funny Girl”, aren’t you?
Hey, I’ve got 36 expressions: ‘sweet as pie’ to ‘tough as leathuh’! And that’s 6 expressions more than all them Barrymores put togethuh!
Somebody kill Miss Streisand’s mic!
Instead of just kicking me why don’t they give me a lift? It must be a shock, cuz they’re scared that I’ve got, such a gift! Well I’m miffed! Cuz I’m, the greatest star….
Security! Please pull the plug on the Ziegfield Follies? Thank you! I’m starting my case now!
Now, as I was saying… As some of you may know, I am the mother of 3 active, albeit accident-prone, and yet somehow, athletic but otherwise “normal” children (I know, hard to believe!) and I am also 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.
Recently, I did just that but it lasted for over 3 nights! By the last morning I had a headache in my forehead and diarrhea as well. I was very fatigued. I felt weak and “out of it” and had no motivation to do anything! My body felt so weak as if drained of muscle.
I was very chilly and had to wear layers of clothes to keep from shivering.
I had absolutely no appetite but wanted warm tea and cider.
I happened to mention this to Elaine who suggested _______________30C.
I took one dose and was amazed to find my headache gone within minutes! The diarrhea had also stopped. The headache returned later on while at a doctor’s appointment for my son (hey Elaine, maybe next month’s quiz??) but subsided by the time we returned home.
I have also been sleeping better in general– more soundly and without thoughts keeping me awake. Hooray!!!
So, that’s it! I call this episode a “one-dose wonder”! (which I’m sure Elaine will “creatively” edit out!!)
Why would I do that? And now, I have another big surprise!
Who is it now, Milton Berle?
No, Kelly, but you’re close. it’s Sumita Chaudry!
Is she a real person?
Yes! She sent me her case! It’s kind of a bonus! So, here she is now. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you….the one and only…. Sumita Chaudry!!!!!!
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Thank you, thank you! I’d like to begin by saying that this is not my picture. Who is it?
It’s Milton Berle.
And, who is Milton Berle?
Mr. Television.
I see…. And who is Larry Tate?
Darin’s boss on “Bewitched”. He’s a partner in McMahon and Tate.
You know, I find this whole section of the ezine mysterious; so, I think I’ll just begin with my case; not that I’m not deeply honored to be here on “The Hpathy Quiz”! So, anyway, for the past so-many years (10 maybe) I’ve felt sick during and after a trip — nauseous, weak, drowsy with my head feeling like lead — especially taking a flight or by any air-conditioned mode of conveyance. Now that I’m introduced to homeopathy and I had to go for a longish trip to Singapore from India. I looked up my symptoms and identified ______ as my remedy. I was not sure about how or when to take it, which Elaine guided me through a month back. (I don’t do well in a car either, though I’m better if I’m the driver. Circular motions I can’t take, nor exhaust fumes.)
I took the remedy in water once, an hour or so before, and as a matter of abundant precaution once during the flight. On the return trip I just took one dose while boarding the flight. I enjoyed the food and the Singaporean Sling (an alcoholic drink) unimaginable earlier when even the smell of food was sickening. And I’ve lived happily ever after!
My problem was at its peak when my mother was ailing with cancer (1996-97) and I had to travel frequently for work while my husband took care of her. At that time it would take days for me to actually recover from the aftermath of a journey.
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I loved that I had two cases this time to demonstrate the same remedy! Yes, the same remedy! I know, these cases appeared to have nothing to do with each other. Sumita had travel sickness and Kelly had diarrhea and a headache, but what one thing did they have in common? There’s one thing that ties these two cases together and that is–the cause! (Or, what we homeopaths call, the “etiology”, also known as the “Never Well Since” (“NWS”) or “Ailments/From”.) This is what I’ve been trying to explain in many articles I’ve written in these pages — that “etiology over-rules symptomatology” — etiology is at the top of the symptom hierarchy, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in the two cases above. Two cases, same remedy, no symptoms in common–except for the etiology! And what was it? Two things:
Anxiety over health of loved ones and one’s sleep schedule being thrown off.
We have a name for that in the Repertory, we call it “night-watching” or, “Generals: night-watching, ailments from”. It means your family member is sick, and you’re up all night with this person, full of anxiety, worrying about him or her, you’re losing sleep; and the loss of sleep is leading to a decline in your health.
What is our main remedy for “Ailments from Night-Watching”?
Cocculus!
Don’t be misled. Not all etiologies will lead you to a remedy! For example, Kelly’s toothache case from two months ago, where the etiology was tooth decay, was of no help to us at all, as there were over 100 remedies in the rubric “toothache from tooth decay”. But, some etiologies are very reliable, and this is one of them!!!!!! This is why a very important question in homeopathic case-taking is, “When did this start and what was going on in your life at the time?” When I asked Kelly that question, she told me that she was losing sleep, worrying about her parents’ health. My mind went immediately to Cocculus! That was all I needed to know!
What are some other very reliable etiologies?
Ailments from acute grief, over something important or someone important to you
Ailments from blunt trauma
Ailments after head injury
Ailments from rudeness
Ailments from abuse
Ailments from chronic grief
Ailments from humiliation
Ailments from loss of wealth
and so on.
All these etiologies narrow down the remedy choice to a predictable few. From 3,000 remedies, you might be down to 5 or even 1, just because you found out what caused the complaint!
A person can come to you with a variety of complaints which you can feel absolutely overwhelmed by and wonder how in the world you’re ever going to help him. Finally you say, “When did this start and what was going on in your life at that time?” He says, “When we lost our house in the flood.” That’s Ignatia–ailments from acute loss! When the etiology is clear, unambiguous and stated emphatically, go there in the repertory and see which remedy best matches or is ranked highest for that etiology, and make that your first choice.
Now, let’s look at Cocculus. What is the Cocculus person like? They don’t so much have anxiety about their own health, according to Margaret Tyler in her Drug Pictures, their anxiety is for the health of others. She says, “But there are causes: Nursing: night nursing: worn out by anxiety, worry and loss of sleep.”
Sankaran says in his 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.”
Now, having said that, we do have confirmatory symptoms for Cocculus in both of our cases. Cocculus is a chilly remedy, and you’ll remember Kelly saying she was freezing, wearing layer upon layer of clothing. Cocculus has paralytic weakness, and you’ll remember Kelly saying that her muscles felt drained of energy. And for Sumita Chaudry, she had the famous Cocculus motion sickness, the famous Cocculus vertigo, the nausea at the sight and smell of food, nausea when having to look at moving objects.
Let’s see what some of our quiz participants had to say:
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Dear Elaine,
I think the remedy for both November cases is Cocculus. They have practically the same NWS: loss of sleep (sleeplessness or insomnia) from cares or anxiety about others, about health, even if in the last case this etiology is expressed a little later.
The other symptoms are practically due to loss of sleep and one is about weakness from loss of sleep, or ailments from loss of sleep, Cocculus stands first, even single (K 1419). Also in head, pain after sleep, loss of. Is like this insomnia was a kind of night watching.
Chilliness and desire for warm drinks, appetite wanting are all there.
I didn’t find something clear about diarrhea. And I didn’t find all symptoms PQRS, but then I thought at the fact that they were intense, because loss of sleep explains a lot of general symptoms.
I was disappointed that this time I didn’t find great help in Murphy’s Repertory. Maybe I didn’t know to use it fully. And I must add that I was looking in Luc de Schepper’s little repertory for “ailments from”. There Calc carb stays first for ailments from cares and worries especially about family members. So maybe is useful to see that only loss of sleep is from cares and the others are ailments from loss of sleep? I know Calc is not really acute, but also that this classification in acute and chronic remedies is not the best thing. Maybe you can be more specific about this rubric and the case.
The second case is more characteristic with travel sickness, nausea, heaviness of head, drowsiness and smell of food aggravates.
Thanks a lot. Isn’t it possible to teach us online on a regularly basis? Is amazing how nice you can simplify all you are talking about.
All the best,
Anca Ticu, Romania
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Yes, Elaine, the Cocculus was for both cases – I thought that’s why you put them together. Kelly’s deals with anxious worrying causing lack of sleep and the other with travel sickness.
Gail Allen
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Dear Elaine!
In my opinion the given remedy was Cocculus. Some features of Cocculus which suit the case:
- worried about others (children and parents)
- ailments from cares, worries + physical stress (Managing a family with 3 children is a really big stress both emotionally and physically)
- extreme weakness
- chilly
- motion sickness (nausea, weakness, drowsiness)
- nausea from smell of food
best regards:
Dr. Ella Okos
Hungary
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Hi Elaine
I’m back. I picked Cocculus for both cases. Here are the rubrics I used. For Sumita’s case:
Stomach/nausea/riding in a carriage, agg
Head/heaviness/motion, from
Sleep/sleepiness/riding, while
Generalities/weakness/riding from
She also mentioned that air conditioning aggravated her condition, which is kind of an unusual thing, so when I looked at Cocculus I was pleased to find that it is worse for cold air or open air.
In Kelly’s case, the main two rubrics are:
Sleep/sleeplessness/weakness from and
Generalities/weakness/paralytic (as if drained of muscle.)
Again, Cocculus is the main one.
I know this remedy, it has the oddest feeling. When I had babies, I wasn’t fortunate enough to get babies that slept through the night (they didn’t even nap!). My son slept through the night at about 3 years of age, and before that, he was up 5-6 times every night. When he was 3 1/2 I had my daughter, and she was the same. I think she slept through the night at about 4, so I had about 7 years of not one night of solid sleep. I couldn’t drive a car anywhere, because if I had to sit still, I’d fall asleep in a matter of seconds! (I didn’t even have to lie down!)
Anyway, I could be sitting in the middle of a conversation with someone, and my tongue would literally “fall asleep.” It felt like it would suddenly become paralyzed, and I couldn’t form the words I was trying to utter. Or, my eyes would simply close by themselves, and I couldn’t keep them open, no matter how hard I tried. My husband even tried to make me watch Harry Potter 3 evenings in a row, and I sat, sleeping, through the whole movie. I still don’t have a clue what Harry Potter is about. But, back to Cocculus – it saved my life, and my sanity, on more occasions than I can count!
Mati Fuller
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I want to thank all the people who participated and especially our winners: Mati Fuller, Dr. Ella Okos, Gail Allen, Slavica Peic, Maly, K.V. Natarajan, Judith Trojnar, Anonymous (again!), Sergio and Anca Ticu. Thank you everybody!
Our winners get to see Barbra Streisand from “Funny Girl” singing…..
“I’m The Greatest Star”!
(“Hey, I’ve got 36 expressions…!”)
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