Natrium fluoratum Case
A woman of 45 suffers from serious bronchial asthma. She suffers from dyspnoea and coughing, < at night, < 3 h. She has cramp under the sternum and she coughs up a lot of mucus.
A second complaint is a continuous infection in the vagina, with yellow, white discharge which doesn’t itch.
She suffers from cramp in the abdomen with much flatus.
There is a pressing pain in her forehead. Her sense of smell has gone.
Past history: When she was 3 years old she had TB. Her sister had it too and she died.
Mind: As a child she used to be afraid in the twilight and afraid of ghosts. She also has fear of people. When she spends too much time in the company of others she starts to vomit. A typical problem is that she feels that she has to have sexual contact with someone as soon as she gets to know him. So she withdraws again immediately.
She is also afraid in the town, on elevators. She has many nightmares. She is afraid of men who are dominating. her father was a very dominating and violent man. He abused her and her sister from the age of one, until she was five. She still sees him coming towards her in her nightmares. During the day he was also violent: once or twice he nearly beat her to death. Once she almost suffocated when he held a pillow over her head.
General characteristics:
Temperature: cold, cold hands and feet; feels bad in the sun.
Desires: sweet, bread, cheese, yogurt, muesli, fruit.
Aversion: meat, fish, eggs, milk.
Menses: slight stomach pains.
Sleep: bad. < bronchitis, < nightmares; sleeps on stomach.
Marriage: she can’t deal with a relationship, so she is unmarried.
Work: she doesn’t have a job, but is studying psychology.
Analysis
This case, as already mentioned, isn’t a single remedy case. I will not describe all the remedies but I will just mention the ones that have helped her: asc-t, stram, staph, dios, am-m, grind, plb. All these brought an amelioration but she still did not dare to stop her medicine for the asthma. She also did not feel safe in her contacts with other people yet. I then gave her Nat-f based on the incest experiences. Her attitude towards sex and her vaginal infection contributed to this choice.
Reaction
Her reaction is very interesting. After Nat-f 200 she had a dream. In this dream her father came towards her and she was the little child who was afraid. Suddenly she changed into a grown-up woman who said 'no', and walked away. This dream gave her a wonderful feeling.
She felt better in general too. She felt herself developing, as if she was coming out of her shell. She had more space and was less sensitive in her contact with others. She also lost the feeling that she immediately had to have sexual contact with someone.