Calcarea muriatica: hairy cell leukemia

I would like to underline that in my practice I always keep in mind the method of Rudolph Flury, who lived in Bern and classified according to the element theory and doctrine of types. For the last 20 years, we now have the work of Jan Scholten, who has classified all the minerals, including their psychological dimensions.

This is a case of a woman who came to see me about 10 years ago, after chemotherapy with complications: septicaemia, allergic reactions, etc. When she first came, she was in a very bad state; she could hardly walk up the stairs to my office.

DP: “Why did you come to see me?”

Pt.: “I had undergone chemotherapy in Innsbruck, after I was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia. After the chemotherapy, the leukocytes did not rise again for a very long time. When they finally started to rise, they let me go home. I was so exhausted, I could hardly walk 100 steps; I had no energy. The leukocytes finally went over 3,000 then 5,000, but I had no energy at all, and my other bloods tests were not good. I was told that the prognosis was poor and that a second chemotherapy would be needed. It all started after I had severe influenza. My blood was examined and I only had 1,500 leukocytes. I was brought to hospital at the end of March 2000, then discharged, and went back to work. So, I already had low leukocytes before this diagnosis. I was tired and perspiring. I was followed for one year due to low leukocytes. Then I was hospitalised in emergency due to severe pains and collapse; I couldn’t stand at all. I spent three days between life and death, and was diagnosed with hairy cell leukaemia. I was really tired and worn out on coming home from hospital. I needed morphine due to bone marrow pain. I had small tumours under my skin, leuko-cystic infiltration. I needed morphine patches on my skin.”

The consultation consisted of going into her life history, especially her childhood. We looked at her character, her psychological problems. If we remain open and quiet the truly important things come up spontaneously and then we can observe many things in patients. Childhood is particularly important, a time when all external things have a deep impact on us.

Pt.: “I had a wonderful family; good connection with my father, but my mother was very demanding. Later, I always had the feeling that I was standing between my parents. My mother could hardly tolerate the good connection that I had with my father, so I withdrew from both of them in order to escape the conflict. Mother was strict, Father was more loving, tender, and caring; I felt more connected to him. I could hardly stand the fact that my mother didn’t like the way I was connected to my father. In puberty, my withdrawal was very painful for my father; I wouldn’t tell him as much as I used to and I wasn’t the lovable daughter that I used to be. I didn’t agree with several things so we had a lot of conflicts. I suffered from these conflicts. To prove my independence, I chose a profession that my parents were not happy with, I taught religion. I didn’t get recognition from them for my profession.”

DP: “It is important what others think?”

Pt: “Well, it’s not supposed to be, but it is!”

We have many hints: she is a soft person, a bit obese, insecure, sensitive to what others think, and sensitive to criticism. She desires soft boiled eggs and sweats at the back of her neck. We can at least consider Calcarea carbonica as a major remedy. Her family conflict seems fairly harmless; the mother is strict, the father is loving, and she wanted both parents – children always do. There is a conflict of loyalty and she withdraws; some children react aggressively, others withdraw. This withdrawal, probably starting with the mother, plays out in her entire life; it really put a load on her shoulders. She withdrew from both parents, and adopted a system of values which suited her. We see a lot of Calcarea symptoms but not necessarily Calcarea Carbonica.

In this case, Jan Scholten’s method is invaluable. I often see one part of the remedy in the waiting room, the other part has to be dug out. If we really enter into the world of the minerals, for instance the Scheussler salts, we see that they do not work very deeply since they are in a low potency. With Jan’s method you can have access to over 1,000 mineral remedies and choose very deep working ones.

Here, we have a Calcium woman, but which Calcium does she need? Her problem is with her mother. The third row has to do with the series of “relationships”, beginning with Natrium, ending with Chlorum. The largest grief remedy that we know is Sodium Chloride, like the wife of Lot, looking back and turning into a pillar of salt. In the middle of this row is Silica, with family as a structural theme. In this case, it is stage 17; you want to hold onto everything that has to do with the “rise and fall”, you cannot give up yet but you have to let go, it is terminal, the end. The symbol for the relationship which has to go on for a while and then has to be released is motherhood. The mother has the most intense relationship with the child. In the oral phase, the child has to be with the mother all the time; the mother cannot go far away. Then, the child starts walking, becoming independent. The symbol for this type of relationship, one that is necessary for a while then needs to be let go of, is Chlorum. So, here she needs Calcium muriaticum, which was given in a 30C potency. 

DP: “The second issue is your strict mother and the issue of separation. You say that you find it difficult to distance yourself from friends, family, and students.”

Pt: “Yes, I am very faithful to people, I’ve had to pay a huge price for that. I do care so much for others. If students have family problems, then I can’t get rid of them until late at night. I can’t forget the things students tell me. As a child, I had feelings of guilt; I always thought that I was hurting my mother because of the close relationship with my father. My whole life, I’ve found it hard to make clear cuts in relationships. I help a lot in the church. I cannot separate, distance myself from anything. The leukopenia developed a year and a half after an important relationship broke up.”

DP: “What improved first after the remedy?”

Pt: “I improved emotionally straight away. The next day, I phoned to say that my panic states had disappeared. They were gone overnight!”

DP: I had actually given the remedy due to the bone pains...! The first thing that is changed is the energy at a psychological level, at the level of the psychic field. Suddenly, you have energy coming into the system. Kent said that strength comes back when everything comes back into balance. Then, the pains get better and physical strength improves. That was how it went here; she became stronger and had less pain.

DP: “For the last three weeks there has been no more need for morphine, is that right?”

Pt: “Yes, I’m fine now. At the same time my leukocytes went up to 10,000.”

 If everything is correct at the centre then the body follows; we have to be able to come to the depths in order to correct the information. It is like going behind the scenes at a theatre play and making changes with the director rather than with the actors.

Pt: “Then I had these tumours, which developed during chemotherapy; about 2½ cm across. Nobody knew what it was, the surgeons wanted to operate, thinking that the lumps drew the leukocytes towards them. But they didn’t dare to touch them, saying that if there were additional infections, I might not survive.”

You see how orthodox medicine thinks? In parts: here is a tumour, here are the bones, here is an allergy, and infiltrations from all the dead leukocytes. The disease, however, is much deeper; it is in the psychological sphere. The only way to reach it is with potentised remedies; 12C or 30C are already in a realm beyond the atoms. In this space, the laws change completely; time and space fall into one. She is only talking about one single issue and that is why you can catch everything here with one single remedy, at the root. That is why Jan’s system has such a high value for us now.

Hahnemann described that patients have certain mental and emotional symptoms, and that remedies can produce mental and emotional symptoms. Jan focuses on the mental-emotional state to determine the necessary remedy.

Pt: “After the remedy the tumours shrank completely, now they are gone. The only remaining things are some muscular pains in the legs. The allopathic doctors couldn’t do any more for me, they kept discussing my case. I had pains in my legs in the past, too, when I was released from hospital, bone marrow pains.”

Now, it is like rewinding the video, the old symptoms come back: Calcium symptoms, fatigue in the legs, etc. At the hospital, they were racking their brains as to what to do with this lady who did not want to have any more chemotherapy. I told her that considering such a good amelioration, it might be better for her to stay away from further chemotherapy. (You cannot generalise here and apply this situation to everyone.) She conferred with her GP, who drove her to Innsbruck himself to get a biopsy, and it turned out that no more chemotherapy was needed. The pain was reduced, there were no more hairy cells in her blood, the tumours were gone, and the blood tests were good.

DP: “You had a huge problem, now you’re in a good place.”

Pt: “Yes, I have a positive outlook.”

One year later she suffered from heart problems, hypertension, arrhythmia, joint pains going from up to down. All these symptoms fit the picture of Kalmia. Kalmia belongs to the family of Ericaceae. We hardly know these remedy pictures but they have similarities with Calcium: lots of duty, not in the front line, caring for others, not asking a lot for themselves. After addressing a very deep level of illness with a mineral remedy, we now come to a plant. Going from a mineral level to a plant remedy happens quite often.

I tried Calcium muriaticum for her blood pressure but there was no response at all; it was as though that layer had completely disappeared. I also tried Aurum muriaticum for the precordial pains extending to her back, but the response was not complete. She had a very good response to Kalmia.

This case has been presented at the 2009 cancer congress in Badenweiler, Germany

Photos from Wikepedia/Wikimedia Commons
Very high magnification micrograph of hairy cell leukemia. H&E stain; Nephron
Mount Sodom, Israel, showing the so-called "Lot's Wife" pillar; Wilson 44691
Kalmia latifolia; Kurt Stueber; source www.biolib.de