Clinical Cases

Case of a Girl with a ‘The Wierd Complaint’

allergy
Written by Upma Israni

Dr.Upma Israni presented a Case of a Girl with a ‘The Wierd Complaint’

An obese girl, aged 10 approached me in 2012 for various complaints, including  allergic rhinitis, white spots on her face, dandruff, excessive offensive perspiration.

Here follows the conversation: [D = doctor, Pt =patient]

D : Tell me about your complaints ?

Pt : I have lot of sneezing in the morning on waking, in school if I sweat a lot, or while dusting the blackboard. I also have this dandruff , scales coming out of my scalp and the same fall on my face and give rise to the white spots on face, which is face is very oily. If I oil my hair, dandruff (Homeopathy for Dandruff) increases and sneezing  also gets aggravated. So I have stopped oiling my hair

D : More ?

Pt : Dandruff doesn’t go after washing. I have a lot of itching. I feel like breaking the head, scratching the head. Also the scales are visible so I become conscious, my friends notice it. I feel shy. In past, my hair was very beautiful and people used to compliment me.

D : Tell me about your nature ?

Pt : I get very angry when someone teases me or makes fun of me. I don’t play with my friends if they do that. I don’t like if the teacher shouts at me.

D : Tell more about this “Don’t like if teacher shouts at me”.

Pt : If the teacher shouts in front of the whole class, it would be so humiliating. My brother teases me, he calls me “fatto”, I get mad at him. In anger I feel like hitting someone. I punch the pillow, sit quietly the whole day. If I watch a sentimental movie like “ taare zameen par”(hindi movie on dyslexic child being sent away from home for studies), I feel sad, I weep. I need to sit and cuddle someone. Don’t want to go far from my mother. When I was small, I did not have many friends. I always help my friends. If they fight, I solve the matter. I also help them with studies, arts etc. I get angry if they gossip.

D : Gossip about what ?

Pt : They gossip on clothes, body, skin colour etc. they are jealous so they do it. They boast, they want to show off. They don’t talk to me when I wear a nice dress.

D : Tell me more ?

Pt : I feel very hot in school. I sweat a lot. I also have eruptions on my shoulders.

Mother’s description of patient:  She is very good in sitting, talking for hours. Less interested in sports. She helps people. Helps me in household chores. Helps her friends. She feels her brother is fair and more good looking than her. She always wants to be in good books of teacher.

Fear : Dogs (after being bitten by one in the past), darkness.

ANALYSIS : 

I prescribed Calcarea sulph 200 based on ego, appreciation, sweating, sibling rivalry, warm bloodedness etc.

1 ) Reasons for selecting Calcarea sulphurica :

  • Mind, Fear dark
  • Mind, Jealousy
  • Mind, Lamenting, appreciated, because he is not
  • Mind, vivacious
  • Mind, humiliation , ailments from
  • Mind, abandoned, forsaken feeling
  • Mind, crying, weeping
  • Mind, company, general, desire for, alone while agg
  • Head, perspiration, scalp
  • Head, itching, scalp
  • Head, eruptions, crusts
  • Nose, sneezing
  • Perspiration, profuse
  • Generalities, heated, becoming agg

From ‘The soul of remedies’ by Dr. Rajan Sankaran : main feeling of Calcarea sulphurica is that he is not appreciated at the place of security. Thus he is constantly trying to do things that will gain him appreciation. There is a constant feeling of being put down, suppressed at the place of security.

Although the person feels pushed down, suppressed, he cannot react with anger for he depends on these people for security. He will do things that makes others value him, his works, his manners, his appearance. There is also an element of jealousy here as he feels the other person is more appreciated, so he laments, but he does not go away as he is dependent.

Follow Up:

Initially she felt better in dandruff, itching, but her sneezing remained the same. Every morning she had bouts of sneezing which lasted for some time leaving her exhausted. At school also she had recurrent paroxysms of sneezing from hot climate n chalk dust etc.

I raised the potency and repeated the same medicine but to no avail, so I retook the case:

D : tell me what’s happening ?

Pt : This sneezing has started. When I am under a fan, or dusting the blackboard or when it’s very hot, my sneezing starts. I feel irritated

D : Tell me about this ?

Pt : I feel angry. “Why me?” . Often I have 8-10 sneezes in a row, nose blocked, not able to breathe. Then I have to put in Otrivin nasal drops.

D : How do you feel ?

Pt : This is something different from others. It is weird. Usually I have 7-8-10 sneezes in a row, today I stopped at 2, so my friends said “something different happened. You stopped at 2 sneezes today”.

D: Tell me more about ‘weird’?

Pt: Everybody in class has something weird, something different . With me it’s sneezing. Initially friends thought I am faking it, but now they believe that it’s real.  This sneezing irritates me. In anger, I shout. But later I feel, I should not have done this. I have no right to hurt somebody even if that person hurt me. So I go and tell that person “sorry”.

D: Why?

Pt : I am not supposed to talk loudly or shout. It affects my image. People will think I am a bad person. They will not like to talk to such person. He/she will be cornered. They will leave him alone.

D: How would the person feel if he is left alone ?

Pt: He will feel bad. “Don’t do this to me”.

Analysis :

Now we see a different aspect of this girl. She is very sensitive, precocious and at the same time very image conscious. She always wants to be in the good graces of others.  She makes an effort to be included, doing things for others. She wants her friends to be together and not fight. There are certain similarities in the sensation of the 3 kingdoms. As we know this sensation of being left out and not included is there in:

Liliflorae – plant kingdom

Lac group – animal kingdom

Row 3 – mineral kingdom

However the reactions of all 3 kingdoms to this feeling are different. The way she reacts, she speaks (expressive, talkative) and the fact that she is very sensitive to hurt clearly points to the plant kingdom.

An insight into liliflorae from “An insight into plants” by Dr Rajan Sankaran:

‘We find in liliflorae remedies a kind of fear of being ex communicated, excluded. The dictionary meaning of “excluded” is to prevent from entering, keep out, expel, put out, discriminate and set apart. If there is feeling of being forced out, there must be corresponding desire to be included.

There is attractiveness, vivaciousness, egotism, loquacity etc which gives them a feeling of being very special, which is the other side of excluded, isolated.“If you do something that I disapprove of, you are out. You must conform to be included”.

Also Sankaran comments on a certain case: “I must be different/ special to belong”.   In this case, she uses the word “weird” for her chief complaint. When asked to explain the word, she says it’s something “different” in a person, almost like a quality that sets him/her apart from rest of the group.

Rubrics:

Nose, allergic rhinitis

Nose, sneezing, general, paroxysmal

Nose, sneezing, general, persistent

Nose, sneezing, general, violent

Nose, obstructed, nasal passages, warm room

Mind, egoistical

Mind, fright, ailments from

Mind, guilt

Mind, laziness, indolence

Mind, remorse feeling, regrets

Mind, vivacious

Prescription:

Sabadilla 200 bd for 2 days.

Follow Up : (after 15 days)  – All her complaints were better. Sneezing stopped. Her sweat is no more offensive and profuse. Her dandruff is better. She stopped the treatment.

After 2 years, she again came back with the complaint of sneezing. This time the same remedy in same potency was repeated which relieved her promptly.

Comments:   Confirmation of Sabadilla is also provided by R. Sankaran’s  sensation approach.

The “Excluded” feeling of sabadilla:

Sabadilla belongs to plant family ‘Liliiflorae’.

In his book “An insight into plants”, Dr Sankaran studied the individual sensation of remedies of the same plant family. He then concluded that there is a common sensation that runs in the whole plant family. The sensation of the plant family ‘Liliiflorae’ was thus derived as the feeling of being ‘forced out’ or ‘excluded’ and the reaction to it ‘being held’ or ‘included’. Many rubrics and symptoms were considered from various sources. Some of them are as follows:

Sarsaparilla : the intestines are drawn together as if bowels would be forced out

Paris quadrifolia : as if the ears were pressed out

Aloe socotrina : the faeces are forced out

Lilium tigrinum : fear of being alone, child wants the mother to hold her hand

Veratrum album : he must be held

Lilium tigrinum : full, heavy, forced out feeling in uterus, heart, ovaries etc

Sabadilla : vertigo, hold on to something must

Sabadilla : delusions, imaginations : falling: hold on to something, she will fall if she does not

From the above, the common sensation that runs in the Liliiflorae family is ‘forced out’ or ‘excluded’ and the reaction to this is ‘holding on’ or ‘included’.

Also sabadilla has the rubric: ‘delusion, body, body parts, erroneous ideas as to the state of his’, which also confirms the remedy in this case.

About the author

Upma Israni

Dr Upma Israni has been practicing homoeopathy for last 17 years. A post graduate in advanced homoeopathy, she is associated with charitable institutions providing affordable homoeopathic treatment. She has presented her cases in Continued Medical Education and done workshops at “The Home For Mentally Retarded Children’ . She is passionate about homoeopathy and has been following Dr Sankaran’s method for many years. Her exposure to various methods of practice in homoeopathy in earlier years helps her deal with each case individually.

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