666.31.08 Menyanthes trifoliata, Case
Man, 50, migraines.
The migraines are irregular, sometimes every week, sometimes once a month, varying in intensity. The pains are behind his eyes, more left-sided and better from pressing his eye. They are worse from red wine and coffee. With the headaches he feels very weak in his body and sickly in his legs with the feeling of having no control over his body. He feels very cold with very cold hands and feet. Sometimes he wants to lie down in the dark. The complaints are worse from light and noise. He does not have thirst or appetite but is seldom nauseous or has vomiting. When it is very severe he presses all over his head sitting bent forward on his knees with his head on a pillow and swaying backward and forward. The migraine started when he was working as a teacher and did too much. He was enthusiastic and ambitious and wanted to do very well in order to gain respect. Getting respect is like a bottomless well: he will do his utmost for it and then it is still not good enough.
He feels tired and wants to have more sparkle in life. His heartbeat is irregular, sometimes beating double. His hair is falling out. He has pain and stiffness in his lower back, in his sacral region, with stiffness which is worse in the morning on rising, better from warmth and motion. He complains that he feels like an old man.
In puberty he had mononucleosis and was at home for a few months. He has influenza twice a year with muscle aches, heat alternating with cold, shivering and sweating and a kind of delirium. At 40 he became anxious in shops and elevators. It felt like an emotional bankruptcy. He had hidden his past but then it all came back. He went into psychotherapy for that.
His older brother died from an accident before he was born. His mother felt guilty, got hypertension and became psychotic. When he was born he was a replacement child: he was always compared with his older brother. Due to this he retired, became inaccessible and intellectual, he went his own way and distanced himself from his brother.
As a child he was afraid of his father, who only recognised his value when he became older. He went to high school but his parents could not follow him in this as they only had had primary school. He is very interested in spirituality and anthroposophy.
He is optimistic and enjoys life very much but his body does not cooperate so much anymore. He sometimes sees the migraine as a kind of protection because he was too open to moods and atmospheres.
Since a year he has his own company for advice and outplacement. He works freelance; it is the most beautiful job he has ever had.
Weather: chilly, cold hands, < cold, > warmth.
Time: < 3 pm, < 7 pm.
Desire: sweet.
Aversion: drinks, fish.
Food: < red wine, coffee, cheese.
Analysis
Lanthanides: interested in spirituality and anthroposophy.
Phase 3: too open to moods and atmospheres; confusion with his brother.
Subphase 1: psychosis; retired.
Stage 8: did too much.
Menyanthaceae: having to adapt as a person, to be someone else.
Menyanthes: migraine, pressing, with coldness, > stooping, > pressure.
Follow up
One month after Menyanthes trifoliata MK he feels quite good. The migraines are less threatening and he did not have them for a few weeks. He had periods that it felt as though they were coming but they did not continue. His energy is better, also in the evening and better since he is doing fitness tarining.
He looked at an image of Menyanthes and felt very cheerful and light inside. It felt like an exit out of the marshes into safety and light. It reminded him of an event where he was lost in the marshes and his girlfriend was in panic and he had a hold onto some beautiful plants like Menyanthes and Potentilla palustris.