2.1.2 Lithium fluoratum, Case 1
A 30 year old woman has been suffering from inflammations of the paranasal sinuses. It usually starts with a cold, large lumps of green mucus coming from the nose in the morning. She gets a pain in her head with feeling of light headedness on walking and on stooping. Antibiotics or flushing the nose with water helps for about two weeks, but then the symptoms return.
Ten years ago she had Pfeiffer disease very severely, with jaundice and swollen and painful glands in axillae and neck, which made eating very painful. The year before that she had occasionally had bouts of hyperventilation. Tingling in hands, legs and nose, feeling weak, stiff and paralysed, with perspiration on back and head. She was very afraid at the same time, feeling lightheaded, experiencing blackouts, frequent fainting and looking as white as a sheet. It all started when her father was very ill and everybody thought he was going to die. She suddenly realised that one day he might not be there for her anymore to lean on.
Her father had always been quite dominant. He was a businessman who had always worked hard. She finds it difficult to approach him, also when he approaches her. She feels her chest and stomach tighten. It feels as if he is holding her in a tight grip, she sometimes has a fleeting thought that this might be how you feel after incest or sexual abuse. It makes her feel afraid and wanting to creep away.
She is very shy, but at the same time, when she feels good, she likes to be the centre of attention. When she feels bad she’ll avoid meeting anyone. When she finds herself being an outsider in a group she gets very upset. She once tried to commit suicide because she felt so alone in this world. She has difficulty talking about her inner feelings, especially in front of her parents in case they’ll think less of her. She does talk to her friends, albeit with difficulty. But if she doesn’t she feels she’ll suffocate. She finds it hard to stand on her own two feet.
For a long time she worked as a supply teacher at different school, but this made her feel too insecure. Now she has a secretarial job but doesn’t really enjoy it.
She has never had a relationship with a man, she has ever been aware of strong sexual feelings. Sometimes it bothered her that she did not have a boyfriend because it made her so different from the rest of the world.
Sad things deeply affect her, she has a friend who has cancer and she visits her a lot.
She often has bad dreams, that she is being chased in the dark.
During a past life therapy session she experienced one particularly traumatic event: It happened in around 1500 when she worked as a housekeeper with a very rich family. She fell in love with their son and she felt wonderfully happy. She spontaneously shared this wonderful feeling with everyone around her. But the parents discovered their love affair and punished her by throwing her out and delivering her to a group of criminals who hadn’t had a woman for a long time. Right in the middle of the town square she was raped by this gang of criminals and this ordeal killed her. She was buried by a small group of women, amongst which she recognised her mother. She feels that this incident had killed her spontaneity. She also had the feeling that the son she loved in that life is her father in this present life and that her mother then is her mother in this life too.
Generals
Weather: cold, cold hands and feet; < heat, her face goes red; fear of thunder and storms.
Perspiration: < heat and exertion.
Time: < 9 pm.
Desires: cheese, dishes from the oven, tea, tobacco (2), coffee, alcohol.
Aversion: liver (2), fat, milk.
Food: < coffee.
Menses: pain in abdomen and back, right sided, at the beginning of menses, with fainting, tiredness in legs and nausea; nipples painful on being touched.
Sleep: difficulty falling asleep; sleep light, on right side; wakes early.
Analysis
Although I had been treating her for years, I felt that there was a deep core problem that hadn’t been touched yet. And then we got the picture of the past life regression. Here we see a clear picture of Fluor: she was raped by a gang of ruthless criminals. And the feeling was that all spontaneity she ever possessed was being murdered. This points to Stage 1, and particularly to Lithium because of the childish way she went about telling everyone about her love for this boy who belonged to the upper classes. Naively (Lithium) she fell in love with someone from the glamour world (Fluor).
Her lack of self confidence in sexual matters and not knowing whether she can rely on herself also fits Lithium fluoratum. When I was reading through her case notes again, I suddenly noticed that she had once had a migraine whereby she temporarily lost the right half of her vision. I had forgotten all about this symptom.
During the previous 6 years she had the following remedies: Barium carb, Palladium,Trombidium for diarrhoea after a holiday in Turkey), Agaricus, Ailanthus, Argentum nitricum,Teucrium, Squilla maritima, Coffea, Lac defloratum, Valerianum, Zincum, Cuprum, Staphysagria, Cotyldon, Digitalis, Graphites, Astacus, Lac caninum, Natrium fluoratum, Gambogia, Paeonia, Euphorbium, Senecio aureus, Magnesium phosphoricum, Ferrum fluoratum, Agrimonia, Laurocerasus, Magnesium fluoratum, Colchicum, Ferrum silicatum, Silver amalgamate and Cuprum phosphoricum. Apart from the Trombidium she reacted well on Magnesium phosphoricum, in the sense that she got on much better with her sister afterwards, which had been very difficult when they were younger. As far as the other remedies are concerned, I am not sure whether they did anything or not. Perhaps they acted slightly on one of the layers but there were always too many remaining symptoms to be sure. She did improve during those 6 years, but that could also be (partly) due to the talks we had about her problems.
Reaction
After Lithium fluoratum 1M she got a vaginal discharge with much itching, which she had last had when she was 15 years old. Then she got a swelling of a lymph gland in the right side of her neck, which reminded her of the Pfeiffer (Fluor) she had had. She has started to talk to her mother about her problems and about the suicide attempt, asking how her mother had felt when that happened.
She has a dream that she is the owner of a launderette; she wants to set fire to the place (cheating, Fluor) in order to start something new (Lithium) with the insurance money; but another part of her comes down from heaven to prevent this.
She slowly starts to allow feelings to come into her life, also feelings of love and sexuality. She accepts it more as a natural part of life.
After three months she feels much stronger, as if she is really allowed to be who she is. She feels more grounded and lighter at the same time. Easier to make contact with other people. She is able to definitely choose to continue her course and studies in self development. She still feels upset occasionally when things go wrong at work, but she doesn’t experience these feelings of despair anymore, as if there is no end to it.
She had a return of old symptoms like itching under her arms, a painful menstruation with fainting, and a new symptom of a wart like growth on her left heel.