655.66.13 Cochlearia officinalis, Case
Woman, 70, headaches.
The pain is situated mainly in the occiput and behind the ears. She feels dizzy with it and hazy, as if she is outside her own body. Her eyes are tired and sometimes she sees “zigzagging flashes” before the headaches. The modalities are: < after waking !, < noise, < red light !, > dark, > lying on the back, > with a soft pillow behind the neck, > pressure on the forehead, > alone. The pain is also worse when she is busy or after exertion, for instance when her grandchildren come to visit.
Another problem is a lot of mucous in her throat, which she cannot clear. Sometimes she has yellow spots in her throat with pain. Occasionally she coughs up yellow lumps with an awful putrid odour. It makes her voice heavy and low too.
She also suffers from cramp in her calves, < after waking, < stretching her legs. Her knee occasionally feels heavy and stiff < damp weather. She also fainted once from the cramp in her calves, at a time when her new born daughter often suffered from hiccoughs.
She has had either a heart attack or a sudden attack of arrested breathing. She occasionally suffers from stomach pains which radiate first to the sides and then on to the back. Her whole bowel area aches, worse from lettuce, endive, curly kale and mushrooms. She has had jaundice.
There is not very much harmony in her married life. Her husband is rather domineering, talks a lot but does very little. She has been getting annoyed with him and cannot her own boss ever since he retired and has been at home all day.
Their sexual relationship has dwindled to nothing. Her husband is often ill, lying in bed for days, complaining about smells in the house. It drives her mad. She thinks he is doing it on purpose and that makes her very angry but she does not express it.
She is always busy and likes to have everything neat and tidy. She has a day for washing and a day for cleaning, everything has to happen in a standard order and she gets very annoyed if she is disturbed in her pattern.
She is quite forgetful. She does not like looking back in the past. She hardly ever gets angry. She feels it is very important to be herself and not to copy what others do. She hates having debts and buys things only when she has the money.
Dreams: (as a child) she was in a house that was on fire, she could not get out. Nightmares about being stuck, not able to escape.
Desire: sweet, salt, meat, fish, eggs.
Aversion: oysters, milk, beetroot.
Food: < lettuce, endive.
Time: < 7 am.
Weather: > fresh air !, sea air, mountain air.
Physical: > movement.
Analysis
Phase 6, Subphae 6: problem with her husband, bitter.
Brassicaceae: being stuck, not able to get away.
Stage 13: anger, held in.
Cochlearia: stomach pains radiating to both sides and back.
DD Cuprum: cramps in her calves; restricted, cramped attitude.
Foolow up
After Cochlearia MK she starts to feel much better, her pains are less and she manages to distance herself a little from her husband’s problems. She starts to go out from time to time, feels less restricted by her husband.
Cuprum sulphuricum only gave temporary relief for the cramps.