Case 3: woman, 22 year
A woman of 22 years age has had Lyme disease 3 years before. It was a period when she was abroad and had to do a lot with an enormous lack of sleep. It started with unconsciousness, so she was hospitalized. Her left leg was inflamed and swollen, starting at her foot and ascending upward in her leg. She had inflammations in her joints with a sharp pain as if glass were in her joints, provoked by motion. The worst joints were her knee, hip, shoulder, finger joints and mandibular joint. Her skin was inflamed with red spots. She had a paralysis of her left side with numbness and diminished reflexes of her left arm. The whole disease took a year.
Since that time her energy is low, she had headache and pain in and around her left elbow. The elbow feels numb and heavy, with deep stitching pains in it, which is worse form stress and pressure.
Her abdomen is distended after dinner in the evening with stitches and cramps and flatulence.
She has hay fever with obstruction of her nose, violent sneezing, irritation of her eyes and swelling of the lachrymal tubes, which is better form cold.
In the past she has had acne, mostly on her cheeks. The pustules were painful, quite large, exuding yellow pus with blood. At 15 she has had mononucleosis together with abdominal pains, probably appendicitis. At 7 she has had a contusion of the head, with a fracture of the skull.
General
Weather: -> cold wet weather, cold hands (2).
Time: < 9 – 11 pm.
Desire: drinks, everything.
Aversion: sweet.
Food: abdominal pains << onion, garlic, fat.
Menses: infrequent.
Person
She is very responsible, wants to do things very well. She studies philosophy and feels a responsibility to society. She wants to be of help, to ameliorate the world. She’s very enthusiastic, wants to do interesting things. A carrier is not something for her. This responsibility feeling was already there when her parents divorced at her 9e. She started helping in the house, putting away her problems because everyone was already in trouble. She never showed her grief. When she wanted to cry she deliberately hurt her knee. As a child she wanted to work for “doctors without frontiers”.
She has a tendency to give much and get little in return. She is always ready to help others, but when she’s in need of help no one is there. She has had a friend that didn’t give her much. She ended the relationship out of the feeling that she had to justify herself all the time.
Analysis
The Lyme disease points strongly to the Ericaceae. This is confirmed by her attitude of giving a lot and taking or getting very little.
A search in Reference Works was done with:
Ericaceae and knee
Ericaceae and elbow
Arbutus came high in the search. Arbutus is known for joint pains and dermatitis, fitting Lyme disease.
Follow-up
A few days after Arbutus MK she got overwhelmed by her feelings. She was weeping a lot and talked with friends about her troubles. It felt like a “drop in a full bucket. She talked about her mother and that she felt she couldn’t talk negatively about her mother. It gave a heavy pressure on her stomach. After this catharsis she felt much better, as if she had left a heavy bag behind. She realized that her regular illnesses had been a signal to stop giving to others.
Her energy became normal in month time. The abdominal pains and acne disappeared.
Jan Scholten, Anton Kramer, Alex Leupen, MD
Homeopathisch Artsencentrum Utrecht
Utrecht
The Netherlands
E-mail: mail@homeopathie-utrecht.nl
www.alonnissos.org