Case Cochlearea 1
This is a case of a patient for whom cochlearia was merely prescribed to deal with a particular layer. Sometimes a remedy shows itself more clearly in a particular layer than in a chronic/constitutional situation. That is why I want to present this case first; it shows the picture of cochlearia without getting bogged down in all sorts of details. The other remedies which had worked well for this patient were phosphorus and calcium sulphuricum.
This 5 year old woman came with the complaint of "gallstone colic attacks".
She had pains in the epigastrium, radiating to both sides and back. She would be lying in bed, writhing with pain. The pain was worse from eggs (2), fish (2) and chocolate, although she was very fond of all these. The pain would come at any moment, particu- larly if she got worked up about something, for instance when she had to go to a party and she was afraid of not being ready on time.
She is always busy, she takes a lot upon herself. She works in the bar at a tennis club because she likes doing that sort of thing. She likes other peoples company. Lately she has been worried about her husband. He has retired from his job and he just sits at home. She is afraid that he will go downhill and will suffer from dementia or Parkinson and that she will have to look after him. She would hate that and she does everything she can to get him active again, suggesting odd jobs he can do, or taking him along to the tennis club etc.
Other complaints: scraping her throat which produces clear mucous, throat feels swollen, pain in the ball of the thumb and pain in her middle finger, which seems to lock sometimes.
Comment: The keynote of stomach pains radiating to sides and back is the main symptom in this case. But the theme of cochlearia also comes up quite clearly. In this case the fear that she might have to look after her husband in the future was enough to produce symptoms. After cochlearia the complaints soon disappeared. Her husband came along to work at the bar too and he didn’t become demented.
Seminar Plants 3, 4-5 October 2002, © HAU, Stichting Alonnissos