3.1.6 Natrium bromatum, Case 2
This is about a 25 year old woman who came with all sorts of vague complaints. She was extremely tired, got very hot on the slightest exertion with much sweating and trembling in her legs. She also had headaches and pains in her back. But the main problem was depression which made her want to crawl into bed to forget about the whole world.
She frequently makes mistakes at work. She is silent and withdrawn, worse when she is criticised. The problem started 4 years ago when she went to live on her own. This move brought some feelings to the surface which she had tried to push down for many years. It was about her stepfather who had tried to touch her up when she was 14 years old. She had been very quiet and withdrawn at the time. She lived in her own little dream world. Her stepfather saw she was having problems and tried to help her which led to to the incident in question. She still feels guilty towards him. If she hadn’t been so quiet he would never have approached her like that. She feels she is worthless and has self destructive tendencies like refusing to eat and scratching herself until it bleeds (she has a big scar on her cheek from doing this). She also feels guilty towards boys: when a boy expects more of her than just friendship and she doesn’t realise this straight away she feels guilty that she has unwittingly raised his hopes in vain.
She has a relationship with a boyfriend at the moment but she is very afraid of losing him because of all these problems. Whenever they have a quarrel they ignore each other for days before they finally talk about it and make it up again.
Past history: warts on lips, inside nose and on left index finger.
Her father died in a car accident in 1978 and she has never expressed her grief.
Generals
Build: slim, blond, blue eyes.
Weather: sun (3), > sea (3).
Desires: sweet (3), salt (3), chocolate (2), egg (2).
Aversion: fat (3).
Sleep: on left side, grinding teeth.
Analysis
The main theme is that she becomes very quiet and withdrawn when she is criticised. This leads us to Natrium bromatum straight away: Natrium withdraws and Bromium feels guilty. The patient associated the feeling with an unpleasant experience with her step father when she was younger. She used to be equally silent and withdrawn at the time. She feels guilty because she thinks that her step father approached her because she was so very quiet.
The same theme can be seen in her attitude towards boys: she feels guilty because she feels she has ‘led them up the garden path’. She isn’t aware of their sexual intentions and she doesn’t respond.
Another typical symptom is her self destructive tendency, scratching her own face until it bleeds. Also the grinding of her teeth, which points to the suppressed aggression, another strong Natrium bromatum symptom.
Other Natrium symptoms: warm, depressed, silent, withdrawn, -> salt, sea.
Boron symptoms: warm, blond, blue eyes, -> chocolate, > sea.
Reaction
After Natrium bromatum she had a slight aggravation. After that much more energy. She has not felt depressed since and the headache has gone too.