Case Quizes Clinical Cases

Revisiting: Susan Goes Into A State!

Did you get the right answer to the December quiz?

Mom, You’re never going to believe it!!!

Why do I get the feeling that I will?

It’s time for the quiz!!

I knew that!

Also …

Oh, there’s an “also”?

…you’re never going to believe the amazing announcements I have!

Heaven help us!

Announcement the first.  The Rolling Stones…

I knew it!  I knew it!!!!!

…are apparently going to start work on a new album which I imagine will come out at some point in 2016.  This is not a drill.

Shana, don’t look now, but, no one cares!

I still wish I could see the Rolling Stones perform live but we all know how expensive their tickets are.

Not to mention that, luckily…

…not luckily…

…they are always sold out within seconds of going on sale!

I know; I mean, for as much as I talk about them…

Really?  I hadn’t noticed.

…you’d think I’d be able to see them at least once when they tour our area.

At least once???  Is that what you said????  At least once????  You mean you have the expectation of seeing them again and again?

Mom, don’t you know what “at least” means?  Also next year Bon Jovi is putting out a new album.

More thrilling news that no one cares about.

I read somewhere he plans to tour with the new album and I really want to see Bon Jovi.

Shana!  He’s just another pretty face!

A pretty face who’s also a humanitarian!

That’s right, keep throwing that in my face!  Alright!  I guess I have to be nice to him.

Anyway, next year is the usual Grammy Awards that normally I couldn’t care less about because it’s all today’s singers; however, James Taylor…

I knew it!  I knew it!

…his new album, “Before This World”, got nominated for “Best Pop Vocal album”!!!

Good grief.

So I gotta watch!  I can’t even remember the last time James Taylor was nominated for a Grammy.

I think it was yesterday.

It might have been for “Hourglass” according to a clip I saw on youtube.  I love youtube. There are so many great old clips there.  I found old stuff from VH1 and MTV about the Rolling Stones.

Shana, remember, people are expecting to find a quiz here…..

Remember when VH1’s slogan used to be “Music First?”

Uh….. no, I can’t say as I do.

It’s not so much anymore unless you watch VH1 Classic.  I wish they would air the older “Behind the Music” episodes and the show “Legends”.  Anyway, the point is that I was born in the wrong generation.

Well I am soooo sorrrrry but Daddy and I were busy when you wanted to be born!

Anyone know where I can find a DeLorean that’s a real Time Machine?

Shana, I’m guessing it’s out of our price range.  But maybe you can get one used on Amazon.

Next year apparently the Eagles are going to be at the Kennedy Center. They were supposed to be honored in December with Carole King and a bunch of other people but then Glenn Frey had health issues which apparently required major surgery so the band had to reschedule their appearance.

I’m sure everyone found that fascinating, but, why don’t you tell people about the concert we’re going to at the Kimmel Center in January?

We’re going to see Jerry Blavat’s Salute To Street Corner Harmony, starring The Chantels, The Jive Five, The Skyliners, The Marcels, Billy and the Essentials…

Finally, a real announcement!  I’m dying to see The Chantels do their big hit from 1958, “Maybe”…

…possibly the greatest record ever made!  I’m sure James Taylor and Mick Jagger would agree!

And Bon Jovi too?  Since you say his song “She Don’t Know Me” is a knock-off of the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”?  

It is, Shana, it is!  Which is probably the only reason I can stand it!

Doesn’t that make him a closet R & B fan? 

Yes, clearly he is!

Plus which, I just saw a video of him performing with Sam Moore of Sam and Dave; so, I guess that settles it!

One more reason I’m forced to like him!

Oh look, here it is now!  Sam Moore and Bon Jovi doing Bobby Womack’s “Lookin’ For A Love”!

Well, this should be interesting!

 

I guess that’s it for my announcements. 

I’m sure our audience is breathing a sigh of relief.

What’s the case this month?

It’s Susan.  She’s gotten into a state.

Which state, New York? Montana? Delaware?

I’ll let her explain it:

***

Elaine, so, here’s the story: The fact is, I had an interaction with someone, got the sense that they were lying, they lie to me a lot and it wears me out and brings me down, and my emotional response after the fact put me into a _______________ state.

Maybe it was an issue of not eating much since breakfast, or “absorbing” what is both tiresome and discouraging, this constantly being lied to (you know when someone is lying and they’re over-explaining?) — but I felt my chest get a little tight, and I felt anxiety.  I thought at first maybe it was hormonal; I haven’t felt anxiety in a long time.  I assumed my heart was probably a little faster than normal, because of the way the anxiety felt, but when I checked my pulse it was super slow (around 60 beats per minute).  But for some reason it “felt” too slow or the sensation was as if it was too slow or getting slower and slower.

At the same time, this anxiety, and my over-concern/attention to my pulse was adding to the anxiety, and having anxiety and a slower than normal pulse feels contradictory and strange.

I took Nat-mur and the chest tension went away; tried some flower essences and then a dose of Aconite for the anxiety, but it wasn’t until I took a dose of _________________ 30c that the anxiety and the over-attention to my heartbeat went away.

I can’t tell if my pulse is much different but I think my perception was off or something, and the ________________ eased it.  I know in the past, after something that was obviously emotionally draining, I fell into a ________________ state.  So I wonder if that was what happened.  I feel ok now, like “myself”; previously, I was dreading going to sleep, like my heart would stop!

I don’t know what my pulse usually is — maybe it’s always around 60-65 — it was more the sensation of a lethargic pulse, concurrent with emotional anxiety and anxiety felt as tension in my chest — that was a strange (and distressing) assortment of symptoms!

I wasn’t sure if I could find a rubric where you have anxiety plus a slow pulse — anyway, I thought this would make a good quiz for you.

****************************

So what do you think, everybody?  If you know the remedy, write to me at [email protected], the answer will be in next month’s ezine.

To play us out, I found a very rare video of “Maybe” from 1958.  This is possibly the ONLY such film in existence so I apologize for the awful quality of it; but, you have to understand something, there is almost NO VIDEO of black entertainers from the ’50’s, as insane as that sounds!  Any video that exists at all is mostly due to one of two people: Dick Clark and his show American Bandstand, or Alan Freed and his shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater or the few movies he produced.  It’s hard to think of Bandstand as some sort of revolutionary force for change; but, Dick Clark really stuck his neck out for black singers!  I’m hoping this background information will help you tolerate this well-worn video clip of a classic song from a classic group Shana and I will be seeing January 23rd: The Chantels (“The Sweethearts of Rock ‘n’ Roll”) and my favorite song; I mean, just imagine; this song is, how old?  57 years old?  And the Chantels are still touring behind it?  Amazing!  Here are the Chantels on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand from 1958 with Maybe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ELZ9WRsEI

See ya next year!

_________________________________

Votes

Gelsemium-2

Arsenicum-2

Digitalis-2

Aconite

 __________________________

OK, who wants to start?  Stand up so everybody can hear you.

Hi Elaine and Happy New Year to Shana and yourself.

Same to you, Wayne!

I think this month’s remedy is Aconite.

Repetorising:

Pulse: Slow

Fears, Phobias, general; death, of heart symptoms during

Anxiety; chest felt in the

Anxiety; fear with

The top 2 remedies are Digitalis and Aconite, then Arsenicum and Phosphorus.

This seems to be an ailment of fear – fear of death and anxiety about the heart.

The fact that she was lied to so often must have upset the heart.

Looking forward to the answer.

Well, I hate to say it, but, it’s not Aconite.  Try to remember that Aconite, by and large, is a very intense remedy.  It’s often hard to distinguish between Aconite and Belladonna!  The fevers are high, the pulse is pounding, rapid, the onset is sudden, there is great thirst, a need for air, the patient is restless, there is tremendous fear, the patient is sure he’s going to die; or, in fact, thinks he is dying!  Think about airplanes going through turbulence, an earthquake, a tornado, a boat in turbulent waters, a near-miss car accident; this is the kind of situation that brings on an Aconite state.  There are only 5 remedies listed under “Mind: fear, extreme fear”, the main one is Aconite, the other 4 are remedies most of us don’t have.

This case has a strange/rare/peculiar symptom and the rubric for it is:

“Heart: stop beating, as if heart would, when ceasing to move”

There’s only one remedy listed for that, and it’s in italics; it’s Gelsemium!  And, when you think about it, you might think of this case as “ailments from bad news”, as in, “Oh no, I’m being lied to– again!”  Or, “fear of ordeals”–another Gelsemium rubric.  “They lie to me a lot, and it wears me out,” said Susan.  It sounds like she’s describing going through an ordeal, doesn’t it?  You wouldn’t think of Aconite for that.

Gelsemium is known for “slowness”, everything is slowing down, speech is slowing down (sometimes they can’t even finish a sentence), dullness of the mind, slow to comprehend, slow to convey their needs–sometimes they don’t convey their needs at all.  Slow and sluggish.  So naturally, the heart slows down.

Well, there you have it.  Gelsemium.  Thanks for voting, Wayne!

Is anybody else here today?  Oh look, it’s the twins from Slovokia!

Mom, they’re not twins, and you spelled Slovakia wrong!

D’oh!

Hello Elaine and Shana,

Hello Miroslav and Jitka!

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Same to you guys!

Here are our answers to the December quiz:

Miroslav says:

The only remedy that comes to mind is Digitalis

I found it in rubrics: – the heart as if stopped beating

– the heart as if stopped beating, acute anxiety

– pulse slow

– the heart agonizing anguish

I wouldn’t say there was agony or anguish…

– fear to sleep that breathing stops

There was no fear about breathing stopping, just that the heart would slow down too much if she didn’t keep moving; and, in fact, Digitalis is just the opposite; it’s the only remedy–and listed in BOLD–under “Mind: anxiety, motion, from heart disease, in”; which I think means “anxiety from motion in heart disease”; in other words, the Digitalis patient is worse from motion but our patient, however, feels that she has to keep moving.

Basically, Miroslav, you’re forgetting about the etiology.  This isn’t really a heart case, it’s a case of “ailments from bad news”; perhaps not in the literal sense of someone calling with bad news; but, more like the news is, “Hello!  I’m being deceitful and lying to you again!”  In other words, you’re getting unpleasant surprises.  And what’s our main remedy for “ailments from bad news”?  And similarly, what remedy has “slowness and sluggishness” as a feature?

Jitka thinks: Arsenicum alb.

At first I thought because of slow pulse, the remedy might be Digitalis.  But then it seemed to me that Susan was too fussy because of the people who were lying to her and had exaggerated concern for her pulse.  This reminds me more of the Arsenicum album state.

No.  First of all, you’re assuming “facts not in evidence” as they say in the courtroom.  You’re saying the average person would not be so “fussy” as Susan about being lied to and having an irregular pulse, and therefore, it must be Arsenicum.  We actually don’t know, we have no way of knowing how the average person reacts to being lied to or having a slow pulse–are they “fussy”, or calm, or speechless?  We have no idea.  Maybe everyone would act as Susan did, we just don’t know.

In BOLD, in Murphy’s Materia Medica, under a certain remedy, Robin has:

“A feeling as if it were necessary to keep in motion or else heart’s action would cease.”   Wow!  That exactly matches our case, doesn’t it?  So we need an “ailments from bad news” remedy that has slowness, slow heartbeat, and the fear that if they don’t keep moving, their heart will stop.  It’s a “keynote”, a “characteristic” of what remedy?

Hello again, Elaine.  I sent our corrections:

Miroslav says -Gelsemium

I looked at it again and it is: Gelsemium.

It is in the rubric “Mind, news, bad, ailments from”: GELS

Right!

and also in MM – Phatak: Heart: Feeling as that the heart stops when the patient stops moving.

Yes, very good!

Jitka- Gelsemium

I found a rubric, which is listed in Murphy’s like this:

HEART: to cease, as it should; afraid that the heart will stop, if he is not moving – GELS, trif-p

That’s right!!!  You got it now!

 

Do we have a caller on the line?  Hello!  You’re on the air at hpathy.com.

Hi Elaine and Shana!

Hi Maria!

I read the quiz and I thought “Maybe arsenicum”.  I read it again and again.

I opened 2 repertories to find if there is such rubric.  There was!

There was?

Not entirely the same, but I think it is very similar.  Here it is from Radar keynotes in bold.

FEELING AS IF HEART WOULD STOP BEATING, IF HE DID NOT KEEP IN MOTION.
And from Murphy’s repertory:

Mind/fears/heart arising from/heart will cease beating/unless constantly on the move.

Yes, that’s it!  Good for you for finding it!

The only remedy in it is Gelsemium.

You got it, kid!  Yes; incredibly, it’s the ONLY remedy!

She was afraid to sleep because her heart will stop beating.  So my vote is for Gelsemium.  If I am wrong I will try again.

You’re not wrong so don’t try again!

Happy new year and happy new quizzes!

Thanks!  We have one more right answer, and it’s from Mahbub:

Hi,

Here is my solution:

anxiety … anxiety and perception of slow heart rate may be explained

as being paralyzed by fear” as in Gelsemium.

Close contender would be Argent Nit…

I would vote for Gels

Mahbub

Yes, they call Gelsemium “the great paralyzer”.  You know, it’s one of our main remedies for Polio!

And now it’s time to give a shout-out to our two wonderful winners!  Congratulations go to Mahbub and Maria!  Way to go, you guys!  And thanks to everyone who voted!  See you again in February for another wonderful and fabulous Hpathy Quiz!
——————————–
Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.

Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com

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

About the author

Shana Lewis

Shana spices up the Hpathy Quiz with her timely announcements and reviews on the latest in pop culture. Her vast knowledge of music before her time has inspired the nickname: "Shanapedia"!

2 Comments

  • Elaine,

    Happy New Year 2016. What a wonderful quiz, for a great start. You really have a microscopic eye for the symptoms. Your perception of the symptoms, is marvelous. I missed answering for this quiz, but enjoyed reading your comprehensive explanation. Great one Elaine, and thanks for educating us as always.

    Thanks, Vamsi.

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