4.11.2 Cuprum fluoratum, Case 1
A 30 year old woman has vaginal troubles. Six years ago she got an infection in the vagina with swelling, intense itching and pain during coition. There was little discharge but lots of fissures. She was told it would be better not to have sex for one month, but she did not stick to this. Partly because she felt the desire to make love and partly because she did not want to disappoint her husband. When she was doing it, against the advice from her doctor, she felt guilty and afraid that she had ruined something. Now she feels very cramped when she makes love, her orgasms are less intense, their is little control over her muscles. Everything feels more superficial, their is no feeling, only tension or cramp. It has become a big problem to her, she feels inferior and she gets jealous when her husband looks at other women. She feels it as a great loss and it makes her feel depressed. Sex is very important to her and she used to enjoy it immensely.
Her glands below and behind her ears are swollen, worse on the right side. She has bags under her eyes, worse on the right. She also suffers from constipation, better from eating raw vegetables. Occasional eruptions of little lumps around her mouth, she used to have acne in the past.
She is an open and spontaneous type of person. She talks very easily, except about sex, then her voice suddenly becomes very tight.
She is tall, strikingly good looking, with long blond hair and beautiful make up.
Her hobbies are: going out, films, restaurants, meeting friends.
She used to have terrible temper tantrums as a child.
Fears: ghosts (2), < evening, disease (2), heights, dogs.
She feels drawn to spiritism, but is afraid of it at the same time.
Dreams: A man whose wife is an invalid has another woman. Pursued by dark things, witches (when she was little).
Generals
Weather: cold, cold hands, feet; hot flushes; fear of thunder.
Time: < morning till 11 am.
Desires: salt (3), spices (2), sour, cheese, alcohol.
Aversion: green cheese (2), cauliflower, beans, eggs, milk.
Menses: irritable and swelling of breasts before menses.
Sleep: occasional spells of bad sleep, < thinking of jobs for the next day, < thinking about sexual problems. Wakes at 5 am.
Analysis
Initially it might look as if Platinum is the indicated remedy. The sexual problems, the vaginismus, her stunning looks all seem to point to Platinum. But if we take a closer look at the problems we’ll see that Platinum doesn’t fit. She doesn’t feel royal, she doesn’t have a power issue and she isn’t haughty. If anything she is the opposite: she constantly feels she has to prove herself regarding her sexuality and she is afraid of being rejected. It is as if she is at school and has to prove herself in front of the teacher. This indicates the Iron series. The cramp like symptoms and the feeling she has to hold on to what she had in the past take us to stage 11, Cuprum. Her looks also fit, and together with the glamour and the sexuality, which belong to Fluor, we get the combination Cuprum fluoratum: cramp around the issue of sex.
The dream of the man with his invalid wife and a girlfriend on the side says it all: a woman has to retain her glamour, otherwise her husband will choose another.
Other Cuprum symptoms: cramps, vaginismus, fear of having made a mistake by breaking the rule.
Fluor symptoms: swollen glands, right sidedness, -> going out, -> alcohol, spices, hot flushes.
Reaction
After Platinum she felt better for quite a while. It is a remedy she had had before from another homoeopath. But the good effect was only temporary. Cuprum fluoratum however completely solved the sexual problem. A month later she got shingles under her left breast, which stayed for several weeks, but eventually went away by itself. She felt much more self confident, was able to express her anger and able to find solutions for whatever problem she was faced with.
Other remedies that helped her in the past: Mancinella (fear of ghosts, spirits) and Phosphoric acid (fear of disease, thunder, twin sister). But neither remedy touched the sexual problems.