5.11.2 Argentum phosphoricum, Case 1
A 6 year old girl has frequent headaches and stomach aches with nausea. Eating temporarily relieves the pains. She is always tired. She also has stitching pains below the sternum. She wants to do everything as best as she can, and always gives herself totally to whatever she is doing. Everything has to look beautiful, her drawings, the way she dances, the way she swims, etc. She likes to be an example to everyone. When she is criticised she gets very angry and starts to cry. When she is good at something she doesn’t hesitate to say this, for instance she’ll say: ‘I am very good at drawing’. But she needs a ‘warming up period’ for everything she undertakes. Once she has mastered something she suddenly becomes very good at it. She is always afraid before she starts something new, stays quietly in the background in unknown situations.
But at all other times people can’t fail to notice her because she never shuts up, even when other people are talking. She does this because she is afraid she’ll forget what she wanted to say if she has to wait. She is always ‘burbling’, singing, playing, talking to her dolls in bed. Her family has noticed that she is very inventive with language, she jokes and plays with words in an extraordinary way. She likes teasing others, but hates being teased herself. She loves school, but comes home very tired. She wants to be grown up. She has always tried hard in everything, she was potty trained by the age of 18 months, which may have been the reason that she had cystitis when she was very little. She doesn’t want to use the school toilet, or any other toilet that is very small, she feels too embarrassed. She has an elder brother who is autistic and he needs a lot of attention. She has to work hard to get the attention she needs for herself. She is afraid of the dark and of scary animals. Her mother started her own acupuncture practice when she was pregnant and worked until just before the birth. As a baby she used to wake up frequently and needed to be comforted. Her mother thinks she already had headaches even then. She once had double pneumonia but underwent it without any fuss. It took her 4 months to get over it, the fever kept coming back every morning, in spite of the antibiotics she was given.
Generals
Weather: warm; fear of thunder.
Sleep: difficulty falling asleep, sees images of scary animals and small red dots.
Physical: < narrow spaces, small bed; < noise.
Analysis
This little girl loves to be special, she wants to dance and make beautiful drawings. This indicates a remedy from the Silver series. A striking symptom is that she doesn’t feel happy until she has mastered it, she wants to learn it well before she has the courage to present it to the public. This is typical of Stage 11, hence the choice of Argentum. But besides this aspect we also see many symptoms that belong to Phosphorus: the theme of learning, school, tiredness and headaches and stomach pains. And so we get to Argentum phosphoricum. The ability to play on words may also be a typical Argentum phosphoricum quality. Other striking aspects: she does her best (Silver series), to attract attention (Silicon series) because her brother (Phosphorus) is very much in the foreground. Other Argentum symptoms: drawing, dancing, being convinced, acupuncture practice, pneumonia, stitching pain in sternum (Tietze), < narrow spaces.
Phosphorus symptoms: talkative, pneumonia, fear of thunder.
Reaction
After Argentum phosphoricum 1M she got a short sharp attack of fever and after that the morning fevers stopped. She also had diarrhoea for a short time. The headache disappeared after a few weeks. She feels very well mentally and emotionally.