Natrium phosphoricum Case
A man comes with skin problems. His skin is dry and scaly, especially in the neck and fingers, notably the third and fourth fingers of the right hand. The nails are pitted. It looks like a fungal infection.
Headache < airconditioning, < coffee, alcohol.
Past history: Eczema in the hollow of knees and elbows.
Asthma fresh air.
The asthma started after he had to repeat a year at school. The asthma shocked him very much. For a whole year he did not say anything, bottled up everything and pretended everything was fine.
Hayfever with lachrymation > sitting up straight, > in the tropics.
General characteristics:
Temperature: < cold, winter, damp, mist, aversion to sea, irritable in bad weather.
< airconditioning; afraid of thunderstorms (3), as a child
he was panic stricken once, when he became entangled in his
bedsheets during a thunderstorm.
Time: evening.
Desires: spices (3), meat (2), fish (2), salt, pasta.
Aversion: liver (3), pork.
Sleep: unrefreshed.
Mind: His complaints started after he broke off a relationship. They had been living together for 7 years. He had been very demanding. She broke off the relationship because she had had enough of him. It was as if his whole world collapsed. He did not speak to anyone about it.
He is very tense because of his job. He is the manager of an educational institute. The work is nice but very hectic. It is never finished. He works long hours in order to do his job well. This makes him feel depressed from time to time. He can’t delegate well either, takes too much on himself. He feels that he has to sort everything out by himself, and this causes him to be overloaded with work.
He is a very closed person. He never talks about his grief over the broken relationship. He is ashamed to do so. He does not talk about any other problems either. He does not want to disappoint others.
On the other hand he can be quite open, other people come to him with their troubles.
He is very sympathetic. He can also be very enthusiastic and willing to try anything new. He feels that he is impatient. Stress and tension make his head flush. He is very fastidious, in his work, in cooking, in the way he dresses. But he still thinks he is too sloppy.
He is unsure of himself and was very shy as a child. He used to be ashamed because he was the smallest of the class, and also because he often had a bandage round his face because of the eczema. He is afraid of the telephone.
Analysis
There are many traits of Phosphorus in this case: fear of thunderstorms, sympathetic,desires fish and salt, enthusiastic to do new things. Natrum symptoms are also present: closed, lovesickness, aversion to sea, desires fish, salt, pasta.
The beauty of this case is that the theme of Nat-p comes up clearly, following the group analysis: solving everything at work on his own, dislikes the telephone, dislikes talking about his grief, restricted in his relationship, not talking about having to repeat a year at school, being the smallest in the class.
Reaction
After Nat-p 1M the eczema became worse for two weeks, after which it got much better. He also felt more energetic and optimistic.