4.2.2 Calcium silicatum, Case 1
An 11 year old girl has all sorts of infections. She has in particular frequent ear infection, mainly right sided. She gets an earache after swimming, ameliorated by rubbing and by boring her finger in her ear. At night in bed her ears itch, worse after cold wind and loud noises. She also has a barking cough in the evening around 9 pm and after midnight. The rim of her nails are infected, < left ring finger. She has some spots around her vagina on the right side.
She gets a stomach ache if she doesn’t eat regularly. This gets worse when she is being teased by boys at school, or when her father is not nice to her. She is very sensitive to criticism and hates it when her family does something silly. She would hate to think that other people might find her stupid, or her bike stupid, or her family stupid. She often feels ashamed of her brothers’ rude behaviour; she thinks they are ‘thick’. She dreamed that her whole family, apart from her, died after they had eaten something poisonous.
She can be very shy and doesn’t like to be the centre of attention. She does like company and she is quite cheerful. She is very agile and clever at gymnastics. She is sensitive to atmospheres, and knows beforehand what her parents are going to say. She hates it when her parents quarrel or when they are angry with her.
Generals
Weather: < cold wind.
Perspiration: little.
Desires: lasagna, pizza, sweet, egg, fruit, buttermilk.
Aversion: cheesecake, cauliflower (2), milk.
Analysis
Most typical is her fear that others might think that she has stupid parents. This in itself strongly indicates Calcium (what people think) silicatum (family). There are further confirmations for this remedy: She is ashamed (Calcium) of the rude behaviour of her brothers (this could also be Phosphorus, but in this case the brothers represent the whole family [Silicatum]). She is sensitive to criticism (Calcium), when her family(Silicatum) does something stupid.
Other Calcium symptoms: shy, sweet, egg.
Silicium symptoms: < when her father annoys her, dream that her family had died, infection of ears, rim of nails, spots, < cold wind, knows beforehand what her parents are going to say, <- cheese, milk.
Reaction
After Calcium silicatum 1M everything gets better quite quickly. The infections disappear and she feels stronger inside. She doesn’t mind others commenting on her family anymore. After six months she needed a repeat does because of a slight relapse.