666.42.06 Arctium lappa, Case
Boy, 14, influenza.
He has high fever of 40°C, with a headache, mostly in the forehead, worse bending his head to the left and when lifting his head from bed. He is pale then with black circles under eyes and he does not want to eat. It is worse in the evening, especially around 9 pm. With it he also has pain in the sinus region, worse from stooping and rising. He also had influenza half a year previously with the same symptoms; shivering, fever of 39°C, no sweating, sinusitis, tonsillitis with white spots on the tonsils, putrid breath, thin very offensive diarrhoea with worms, white tenacious saliva which were stuck to his teeth like chewing gum or wallpaper paste. He was tired and apathetic, wanted to hang and lean against his mother. During the fever he had a kind of hallucination of the father of his friend, who had died shortly before. He wanted to send the father away but he did not go away.
He cannot stand being alone, wants his mother to be there. He already had the tendency to hang around the neck of his mother. His mother likes it but sometimes it is too much. She had to drag him through the kitchen to be able to do the cooking. He runs his fingers through his mother’s hair or curls her hair around his fingers, absent-mindedly.
He has earaches on the right side. He has cracks in his lips and aphthae, especially where the gums and inside of lips meet and much salivation. He is allergic to dust and cats, which lead to red eyes and tears. He has a lot of sneezing and coughing.
He has a denying attitude. When in pain he could weep from it but would later would say it was nothing. He could not stand being criticised, denying what he had done. He loved to tease and could not stand when others did not like it. Then he felt disrespected. He was a bit disruptive at school, playing the clown, laughing laughing loudly. His concentration was quite difficult, so he needed extra lessons to cope with the class and not get behind too much. He would like to be the leader at school but does not have the guts to take that position. He likes to sing and loves to stand on a table and sing and be the centre of attention.
He wanted to sleep quite a lot. During sleep he had all kinds of nightmares like seeing ghosts. In another dream he was caged in all kinds of yellowish, white, gluey threads. In another dream he was sitting on iron railway bars and he could not get off because it was too gluey.
Analysis
Asteraceae: influenza with high fevers; allergies; hayfever.
Stage 6: clinging, sticky quality; sticky saliva; caged in sticky threads; glued to railway.
Arctium lappa: the fruit sticky to fur and hair.
Follow up
After Arctium lappa MK he did not have influenza anymore. The allergic complaints, asthma and mouth complaints disappeared.
He was teasing less, was hanging onto his mother less. He did not have nightmares anymore. He was more active and participating at school. He takes the lead more and is accepted as such. His mother says he is freer.