Santalum album
Case by Maarten van der Meer.
Remedy code: - 655.74.10.
A man of 47, he has a slight build, is tawny, looks at least 10 years younger, sits backwards in his chair with open friendly eyes. He drops in, “It's on my skin”. He also has a chalk nail on the right little toe (Bladder and Kidney meridian TCM), and a rash on the feet, on the side, the sole, this became more so after lubricating with mitomycin, the sheets hang off. For a year or two he has candida in the groin, and he keeps dieting without sugar. Over the whole upper body is tinea versicolor, every spring it plays up, and gets worse every year. It starts under the armpit, then at the chest, it gives itching, migrates to the shoulders, and there are red spots. Eventually, it disappears in the summer. There is a story behind it, two years ago he got married, and his wife moved in with him with two children. That's a big change, in addition, there are still lawsuits woth her ex. It is very stressful. He himself has an impossible role in it, it also causes a lot of struggle between them, and the rose-colored glasses fall off. He is self-employed, last year he got overworked, and now he works with a coach. He designs machines and gives advice. It causes him tension when he has many different assignments. Then he quickly gets into his head, sleeps badly, and doesn't get into his body well. There was already tension because of the lawsuit with the ex, his wife then started being unkind, he started sleeping worse and worse, and it was very busy, ‘the children are in your energy then’. He woke up after half an hour of sleep, there were a lot of arguments. He asks too much of himself, the bar is very high. He always does extreme sports, mountaineering, wild water boating, formerly because of the challenges. He is good at turning a switch, not to feel fear, he turns off the fear. But with that he turns of also the experience, the processing. From home he has this attitude, you could get by, and there were outbursts of anger, and shouting in the house. He usually kept his mouth shut back then, but even now he swallows it. He adapts himself. He does pick up the signals, and he discovers now, that he has this sensitivity, he does dancing, and meditation, and he looks for connection and contact there. He used to have more harshness towards himself. Sensitive: also at night he is full, of thoughts, he is busy with things. Sleeping now: at 3 a.m. he wakes up, feels unpleasant in his stomach and head, then goes to do a meditation. Dreaming a lot, he has been dreaming about his father a lot lately. 20 years back father died, during a mountain trip together. Since then came bad sleeping, and PTSD, and since then he has been sensitive to sounds. Getting a lot of impressions, also with friends. He did a technical study, as a self-employed person you have a lot of freedom, he is independent, free of authority. For a few years, he had trouble with authority in his previous jobs, it was unfair, and too much was asked of him. Then he made a trip to the Himalayas, that was the best time of his life: life slowed down so much there, he found so much peace in himself, also adventure, he came back and had nothing, no job, no house, no relationship. It had to do with appreciation, he knew “I don't want this anymore”. Then he went on as a self-employed person. His mother has been in isolation in her childhood, now he has good contact and has resigned himself to the fact that he doesn't have much use for her, she is old. He has no support, no support, can't talk to her. She has fears. He would like a sounding board, he is always very distrustful. He suffers a lot from flatulence. Most of the time he is quite healthy. During the trials, he had a lot of anxiety, and a beating heart, he woke up with that. It was fear of the agencies, all kinds of things with impact that you have no control over. He struggles with anger, he has opened his house to them, and they are chaotic. A few times a day he is angry: now this again, now that again. He swallows so much, god forbid, he doesn't want to feel that way, he pushes it away. He also does drama. He likes traveling very much, because of the culture, how different they do it there, how rich it is. He recognizes a lot in himself from his father, the drive, the dealing he had with his mother, the impatience, wanting to do well, not do a tinkering job. The first two years of his life he was taken care of by my grandparents, his father did his studies, mother worked. Grandpa was in a grieving process, in the war he had lost many relatives. He received a lot of love from them, but also a lot of pain. This also appears so in relationships, he attracts women every time who have some kind of trauma.
Analysis
We see arguments for Lanthanides (independent, alone, the shadow, spiritual), but most typical is the sensitivity and the atmosphere he seeks, which touches him: impressions, dance, meditation, interest in culture, and travel. Keeping your mouth shut, not speaking out but swallowing, not expressing anger: known from Malvaceae, this can be extrapolated to Malvidae appears from case histories.
Malvidae characteristics: Feeling, groping, idea, philosophy, listening, shoulder girdle, picking up signals, feeling his children's energy etc.
Phase 7 is visible in his parents, loss, infancy, and grandparents. I don't want this anymore, pushing away, closure. Having an impossible role, death of father, shouting parents, out of home to grandparents, out of contact mother.
Stage 4: Stability and clarity he exhibits. Stage 10: Making high demands.
Prescription: Santalum album.
Follow up
What he noticed after Santalum was that he could feel himself, high on the chest. It is not unpleasant when he feels that inside, it is present, warmth. He is less in his head. He has lost five pounds, he no longer craves sweets, and exercise is going better. This is the weight he had when he left home. Pretty soon the tinea was gone, but the fungus on the foot is still there, and is even a little more. The nail fungus is gone. During the vacations, feels rested completely, despite the busyness of the children. In other years, he was burnt off afterward. Now he also takes half an hour twice a day for himself, before he was “too busy” for that. Over the vacations, he had intense dreams, about his father yelling at him, acting angry and boorish, and he could answer in a very adult way, also had a dream about his cat being sick, he wanted to help him but couldn't get to him, or he would run away again. He has been feeling very relaxed all these weeks. He is thinking about quitting work, he is done with it. Speaks out against the management, and against his wife. After three months all the complaints are gone. At home, the relationship is improving. He sleeps well now, still with earplugs That bad sleeping is since the accident with his father, since then he is very sensitive to sound, fright hits the heart, heart rate goes up and he starts to feel tension in the chest. In the beginning, he had regular sleep paralysis. He dreams of an avalanche of rocks in recent years. If he gets too little sleep he becomes very irritable.