Revisiting: Nitzie from Nowhere

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MOM!  Why is the quiz late—again?

Shana, I’ve got writer’s block!

Writer’s block?  What are you talking about?

I can’t come up with a fictitious name for this very important client!

Who?  You mean….

Shhhhh!!!!!  Don’t say it!!!!!!!  She made me swear up and down I wouldn’t blurt out her name!

Mom, I know what you need!  Have you ever been to FictitiousNames.com?

No, I don’t believe I have.

It’s made especially for people like you with writer’s block.  Now let’s see……OK, just type a name in here.

OK…….Type in “Marge”.

“M-a-r-g-e”.  Sorry, you can’t have “Marge”.

Why not?

“Marge” is taken.

What about “Mitzie”?

Sorry, Mitzie’s taken too.  You can have “Nitzie”…..

Hmm…….Nitzieeeeeeee…………..I like it!  OK!  “Nitzie” from …..oh geez!  Shana, I need a fictitious country!

Oh for heavens sake, Mom; “Nowhere”.  OK?  Nitzie from Nowhere!

I like it!  It sounds like a Broadway play by Noel Coward!

Uh-oh!

If you knew Nitzie, like I knew Nitzie….

I knew this would happen!

Nit-nit-nitzie good-bye, Nit-nit-nitzie don’t cry…..

MOM!!!!!

What!?

And now for our show—I mean Quiz:

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Acute Case Questionnaire

1. Describe the complaint 

I noticed it is mostly at night.  I get GAS and mild stomach pain.  It is usually accompanied by loud noises and LOTS of gas…not burping…and always VERY offensive!  There is lots of MOVEMENT and it is not reserved to one area, it is all over the intestines.  The concomitant with this is that it OFTEN not ALWAYS comes with a STABBING quick pain in the rectum.  It feels slightly like bloating as well, but not a lot.

I sometimes wake up with a slight stomach pain as well…and then it feels better when I have a bowel movement.  The concomitant with this is that there is a FESTERING, or a “spreading” like it is making my WHOLE body feel toxic and infected and poisoned…and it is coming from the lower colon and it’s better after the bowel movement.

2. Etiology

It got much worse when I started to eat meat again…but it was going on LONG before.

3. Sensation

Sometimes it feels bubbly, lots of times it sounds like something is living in it because it makes groaning noises.  I thought maybe it could be when I eat wheat in the afternoon, which I usually avoid due to the fact that it aggravates.

4. Appearance– anything remarkable? Red skin, droopy eyes, etc.?

Not much.

5. Location–where on the body is your complaint located?

All over abdomen…lots in lower colon…but all over…

6. Modalities

Warm rooms make me so miserable.

7. Concomitants

Not sure…?  Sorry.  I usually lose my appetite.  Aversion to food.

Tonight I had urge to bowel 3 times but only small amounts came out….could be because I ate corn on the cob yesterday and today?

8. Discharges

None.

9. Generals

[no answer]

10. The mentals

I really do not have any right now…I guess I feel slightly frustrated because my intestines have been such a problem for so many years I just want them to be normal already.

11. What have you been saying?

I have actually been quite mild mannered.  I think it may be from the [constitutional remedy] you gave me!

12. What are you doing?

having flatulence every three minutes!

13. Describe your thirst and appetite

I have a dry mouth right now…and I do feel actually quite thirsty for cold drinks.

14. Fever?

No.

15. Sweating?

Not now..since my sweating occurs AFTER ovulation.

16. Odors?

I don’t know…I guess I have bad breath since I have a strange taste in my mouth kinda.

17. What is most striking or peculiar about your condition?

It happens at night mostly…

18. Is there a diagnosis? For instance, flu, teething, etc.

[no answer]

19. Describe your energy

Not much has changed with the energy…my body is constantly in a state of imbalance and fluctuation…especially hormonally.

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How about it? Who knows the answer? Write to us at LEWRA@aol.com.We’ll be back next month with the answer!

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Votes:

Carbo veg.-3

Sulphur

Pulsatilla-2

Nat-mur

Gelsemium

Sepia

 

So, who was our big winner this month?  Amazingly, NO ONE!!!!!  I guess no one knew the famous Thuja “keynote”–the sensation that something is “alive” in the abdomen?  Without this symptom in the case?  All we have are common symptoms, namely GAS!  Here’s what Maria wrote:

Hello!  Well you gave me a hard time with quiz 😀

I already know that my choice wont be correct, since I worked with repertory only.  Anyway here is what I thought:

Pulsatilla first, but she is not thirstless.  Then I thought of sulphur but it wasnt in the rubric Loud flatulence.  I thought Of bryonia but it was missing from some rubrics also.  So I will vote for Carb-v.  It came first in ranking and it covers all my rubrics.

(What struck me was the “every 3 minutes flatulence”)

You know, Maria, Carbo veg. came up #1 for me too.  Yes, that was quite striking, wasn’t it; but, I couldn’t find anything like “frequent flatulence” in the repertory.

….and that it is happening mostly at night (arg-nit crossed my mind here).

Arg-n. would be a good choice.

I could also say that the sensation that something is living in abdomen also (Croc, Thuj in grade 3, cycl grade 2).  Also Lycopodium in grade 1.  Maybe the feeling that whole body feels toxic also but I cant find a proper rubric for this.

No, I couldn’t either.  There’s “fear of infection” but I don’t think that rubric is an accurate fit for this case.

However, I went with (ta-da!) “something is alive in the abdomen”!  None of the other symptoms are really characteristic of a remedy.  We have our “gas” remedies–lyc., carbo veg–but gas isn’t a very characteristic symptom as a lot of people have gas–and a lot of remedies too!  If I asked you to pick up a friend of mine at the airport and said, “You can’t miss him, he’ll be wearing pants and a shirt,” I’d have to do better than that, don’t you agree?

So, what stands out in this patient’s symptoms?  Everything in this case is uncharacteristic except for, “It sounds like something is alive in there…”  You know, your average person with gas is not going to tell you that!  I don’t think I’ve ever said it, have you?

So, as soon as I hear this symptom, I think of Thuja!  And as it happened, I repertorized and Thuja came up #3, tied with Arnica, behind Lycopodium and Carbo veg.  And actually, I didn’t repertorize until now.  When I heard the peculiar symptom, I just went with it.  Interestingly, Thuja does have fear of infection.  And the actual rubric for the peculiar symptom in this case is:

Intestines: noises in, crying of an animal, like.

She used the word “groaning” instead of crying; and “something alive” in place of “animal”; but, very close, I think you’ll agree.

There’s also another applicable rubric to this case:

Intestines: running, something alive, sensation in

In other words, it’s as if there’s an animal running about in my intestines, and she does make a point of saying there is great movement of the flatulence, that the movement is striking.  All I could find was the word “wandering”, which I don’t think quite matches the energy she was describing.  And again, there’s Thuja and Cyclamen in that rubric. In the “crying” rubric, there’s Thuja and Arg-n. So, in the two peculiar rubrics, we’ve got only Thuja covering both things.

Thuja is also consistent with the rest of the case as well–thuja is thirsty, thuja is aggravated in warm rooms…nothing really contradicts Thuja.

So, there you have it!

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Well, some of you at least THOUGHT of Thuja:

Maria and Eva the Picklet!  Congratulations to the two of you!  See you next time!