Case 3
A. S. Woman 37 jaar.
Stopped Prozac 4 months ago; is not in balance and wants support. She still infrequently takes Prozac. She is nervous, irritable, has palpitations, is often sleepless and broods a lot (“Everybody does think about things”). Tension neck and arms. She guides her self out of it: “You must relax now; do not cry now” etc”.
A molar (right above) with a crown is hurting; better cold air, worse warmth (of soup).
She is reluctant to talk, in some way shy and distrustfull. The face is pale and slightly gray, hair in a tuft behind the neck and old fasioned clothes; all according to the style people of consevative churches in the Netherland may dress. She is here because her partner has urged her; he felt very supported by my treatment in the past years. He is eager to tell all when she is not quick enough: “She has had very little attention of her parents; they actually do not know what a sweet and sensitive lass she is.. There has not been enough trust between them to openly talk things over although she felt the want for it. I have opened her open slowly and gently”.
When there are problems in her life, especially with her parents she has difficulty falling asleep and wakes very tense at 4.00. “It is as if I have a helmet on my head that is far to tight”.
The worst thing is that she feels not understood by her parents; when their are emotional problems at her work it is no use telling her parents. “I felt like on an islland when at home, I had to come to terms with anything on my own. At home we had to hold one’s tongue”. Her father would never ask how things were going; at the dinner table talking was not welcome. Do not nag, just work. She wants to be sturdy, and she wants to talk a lot.
She has one older sister and two younger brothers; one of the brothers does talk a little more.
She started taking Prozac because she really worked hard for her parents and they still blamed her for every little fault. One moment she was done, cried very much and was very tired; even washing dishes was impossible. She had worked eleven years for them and she never earned a reasonable salary. Her parents did not understand her; “Your making it up”. She tried to explain her view and then they said “Okay, you do not agree, so please leave”. Now she feels guilty that she talks about the past and paints her parents black.
After this she worked in a shop were she felt that her work was obstructed.
Her fathers youth: up at 4 o’clock. Her mother came from a rather poor family, her mother being sick frequently, never opposing her husband. Mother had to go out working at a young age.
Father and mother never talk where the patient or her siblings are present.
The parents of her father were market gardeners (vegetables etc). There was something with a heritage and father had to leave because of a conflict. Patient wittnessed that fathers father said to her father “This quarrel is to much, now we have to split otherwise one is to die for it..” She also was attendend when her father and his sister fought a heavy fysical fight.
The market garden was sold and father was very sore that he was expeled from his native soil.
Then the family emigrated to France when she was 22 years old; she worked as a nurse and her father with a dutch acquiaintance for seven yeaars. Her father had troubles in his work and started a market garden on his own. Because it was so much work and because her father did not speak french she started working for him; but her father never complimented her and critisized her all the time. “I did it all for him. I stopped my job as a nurse so that I could help my father start the agricultural business. I enjoyed that he could start for him self as he had worked in the Netherlands”. She had to motivate her self, got deeply disappointed and discouraged and had to hide away from him and keep silent otherwise she feared she would be expelled from the house. “ You would like so much to see a contented father..”. Her father did and does anything for her sister and brother.
She sees as cause that she was named after her mothers mother who toke her side or grunted at father. Her sister was named after their fathers mother and he adored her sister. Some other family members offered shelter in an emotional way; her father had finished the relation with them already. And now her partner is in the same position: he is not the man her father wishes, although he is very religious and sincere. “Her father is very dogmatic, he rejects his daughter and is the contrary of proud of her. And she has done so much for him and his farm”. Later on she started living with her partner for most of the time in the Netherlands he did not want her on the phone, even did not want to meet her when she returned to her parents every now and then.
Her father is taciturn, cold and turned in him self.
Generals
Food. Desires fruit, cheese 2, honey 3. no real aversion, but she eats very conservative. Intolerant of spicey, this gives diarhoea. She eats small meals otherwise she gets nauseous.
Temperature. Cold and warm alternately; coldness of feet up to the knees 2. Likes the sun 2
Repertorisation: Skullcap etc, coldness ankles etc, nausea after eating, anything with honey, waking at 4.00 and perspiration during coldness gave in Small remedies Til-c. Reading in MacRep the conformity was striking.
Her partner informed me every now and then about her health and took new tablets when nescessary. Because she felt much better, still lived mostly in France and was reluctant to come I saw after one year and a half.
The effect was that she could sleep well within 4 days, felt more free from her parents, could enjoy more than before.
(Tilia cordata)