3.3 Aluminium, Case 1
A 40 year old woman has been coming for treatment for the last 4 years, with a gradual improvement of her overall condition. Now she has come complaining of stomach pains. They are nearly always there and her stomach feels empty, as if it being squeezed and there isn’t enough room. She once had a bout of vomiting whereby it felt as if her intestines were coming out. This revolted her so much that she could hardly swallow anything for the next few days. She still has difficulty swallowing her food and it is quite painful. The pain is worse from wine and the smell of tobacco makes her stomach contract. She can tolerate warm food better than cold. She likes pasta and fish and has an aversion to dry food.
She has had problems with a neighbour lately. He was angry with her because of a letter he had received which he thought had been sent by her. She has assured him it wasn’t her, but he remained angry and threatened her: ‘If it turns out to have been written by you I’ll come and rape you’. At a birthday party with her other neighbours they advised her not to speak to this neighbour anymore, but this is difficult for her because their children often play together and she often looks after his little daughter. She feels she has adapted too much to other peoples’ wishes and isn’t allowed to be who she really is.
In her relationship with friends the same sort of problem occurs. She feels she has to adapt to their wishes too much. These friends think that she is still depressed, which she used to be in the past, but this was a long time ago. The other day an old friend told her it was better if she did not come to his birthday when lots of other people would be there; it would be better if she came separately on another day. He told her a complicated story but the gist of it was that he did not want her there with the others. She hated being approached in such a indirect way.
Her childhood situation was very similar too. It was always a matter of adapting to parents, sisters and other family members. There was never a clear indication or code about the space you were allowed to take within the family. She always complied out of fear that she would not be accepted, or that she would be thought strange or mad. She had to adapt to the image which was expected of her, otherwise they wouldn’t love her. But now the anger and the resistance is brewing up inside her and she wants to take her own space.
During past life therapy she experienced the same feelings of there not being enough room for herself. She was only a woman and their was really no room for her in society.
She also gets feelings of pressure in her forehead. When questioned about her stools she says that they are usually quite thin. When questioned about hurry she answers that she is always feels hurried around 9 am.
Analysis
The theme of not being allowed to take up her own space runs through her whole life. It happens with her neighbours, her friends and her family, even in past lives. It is the relationship theme of the Silica series. She has always done what others wanted of her (stage 3), which could be viewed as a confusion about her identity within relationships. She feels that she is not allowed to be herself. She had to live up to the expectations of other people (stage 3), otherwise she wouldn’t be loved (Silicon series).
This theme of having to adapt and comply may look like stage 2, but in this case there is the added factor that she feels it is wrong: she wants to be herself but she doesn’t dare.
Symptoms confirming Aluminium: hurried, vague and indirect stories, pasta, < dry food, cramping stomach pains, swallowing difficult or impossible. The thin stools are the opposite of what we would expect in Aluminium.
There is no reason to look for an Aluminium combination because the whole picture fits Aluminium, hence the prescription: Aluminium metallicum.
Reaction
A month after she took Aluminium metallicum 1M she reports that a lot has happened. The tension has gone out of the relationship with her ex-boyfriend and they are able to communicate about their daughter without any problems. She started a new relationship which was very stormy in the beginning, because she was afraid she would lose herself. But this time she managed to talk about her fears, which brought back the peace.
She has also taken a good look at a relationship with an old friend and now realises that this relationship was much too non- committal. She is able to choose for herself much more than before. Occasionally she feels a bit frightened by the space she is taking, because she has been confined within a small space for so many years.
Friends have suddenly started to invite her for little outings.
She had a healing sessions in which she discovered that she never had any real contact with her father. This made her cry for several days, but afterwards she felt much less dependent on her father’s opinions.
She is different in the way she moves within the neighbourhood. She now does her own thing and feels free to do so.
A few months later she woke up one night feeling very disorientated. She did not know where she was and it frightened her. She had also developed diarrhoea again after a holiday. A repeat dose of Aluminium metallicum cleared up both problems.