I bring everything inside me, hold on to it and slowly it dissolves in my system

What is striking in this case is the sheer clarity of expression of the patient’s vital force as it ‘shouted’ at me what was required in order to bring about healing. This led me to prescribe a remedy I was not previously aware of, which has no proving. 

A 32 year old male, of medium build, presents with intestinal bloating and stomach acidity. He is casually dressed but very eloquent and expressive. He is very artistic and works in interior design and the theatre. There is a calm air about him but at the same time a startling intensity in his striking blue eyes.

Initial consultation January 29th 2010

(The case is presented solely in the patient’s words.)

I swell up and de-swell. When I get anxious, oooop! (hand gesture, HG) in my intestines. When I wake up, it is ok, but once I start to think about things, I bloat up. Even though I might look calm, I bring everything inside me, hold on to it, and slowly it dissolves in my system. In my work, the theatre, there is a lot of anxiety and you must show calm on the outside. All this swells me up.

In my relationship, when A. starts to get out of hand, I swallow it (HG). Slowly it ferments inside (HG) then it goes away. I don’t want it to come out and upset someone. It is a process that I have learned, like sucking in air to live... It is not a solution, it is a process. I prefer to take it inside and mill it (HG), rather than to eat it. I can be calmer and operate better if I swallow the outbursts of the other person, because if there are two outbursts, that cannot happen.

When something bad happens, I won’t say anything outwardly. I take it in, I work on it, try to solve the problem, go ahead and see how will I process that inside me to find a solution. I don’t like to see that there are problems. I like everything to be well. I hate misery; I want everything to be ok. I can’t understand these outbursts. A. has lots of these outbursts. Sometimes I come outside of myself and watch it all and don’t make a lot of comments. I play a role. I see the whole thing more spherical.

All that which I swallow, somehow I filter it all (HG) and then I forget... You enfeeble it (HG). This way, you separate it. That which you swallow is a recipe of ingredients, and you say, 'Ah, here is the salt, here is the pepper,’ you break the problem up.

This (HG) is upside down, things mixed up (laughs), that which is mixed up, you break it (HG). You take hold of it and break it so that it can leave... It is like you break the nucleus of it, separate it into pieces.

It is like the camels when they eat; they store the food and regurgitate it and re-chew it and think about it, maybe. If its mechanism has not worked properly and it has not broken it up it comes again and it has to rethink about it.

If we imagine a ball like the earth, you swallow this thing and you pressurise it; it is on fire, suddenly it goes bap! (HG) and the pieces are gone and only the clean stuff is left. And because it has been in the fire there is heartburn (laughing).

I have a ball here (points to stomach area); I have swallowed it, and it turns and turns (HG), like an explosion could happen. And this thing could happen on its own, if it is not something big, or I must return back to this matter to deal with it. Because I don’t keep things inside, I move ahead. It is not that I forget, but whatever happens I move ahead. Moving ahead. You can’t keep things inside.

It makes you turn things over. It sits here (HG), going to and fro together with your mind, like equations going around, like it is looking, looking, looking for the code to break it up, to find the solution, going around and around... As it turns, it is like chemistry, like chemical symbols going round and round until it breaks - then, bam! (HG), clear light. Halleluiah! Inspiration, a lightening, relief, calmness, purification. Halleluiah is a cosmic bam, ahhhhh! It’s that ‘now I understand’ moment. Something flowing inside you, all is clear and clean and everything is functioning smoothly. You are whole and in a magical world.

Flow is a very important word. When there is flow in life, something is moving along, everything is normal, but when this flow stops then there is a problem. When the flow stops, it is not nice. Yup! Things get dark, like when you put the brakes on suddenly.

I could throw up, as this system is not working yet. It has not calmed down; it has not broken up... That which turns inside me - that ball, round and round again and again, all the time - it turns, turns with so much strength, that all the equations over it doesn’t have the time, they cannot unlock it, it doesn’t let them. It doesn’t know from where to catch it, to solve it, this thing, so it turns and turns... Maybe it has to do with alchemy. Spherical... Things turning...  It is confused inside me.

How would someone close to you describe you?

A pleasant person. They trust me and feel that I am part of their family. I make people laugh, give solutions to others. I give a lot to others, and I need to look after myself more. I find it difficult to give limits to myself. I need to look more towards myself. I care more for others.

Tell me about the theatre...

It comes out of me spontaneously, without thought; that is beautiful. There is no time, no limits. I turn things over in my mind and put them out, creating. I am in another world and there is flow, flow of thoughts.

Case analysis

It was clear to me that I needed to throw out any preconceived idea about a remedy and simply search for a substance in nature which mirrored the patient’s superb description of his state and that the patient was referring to the digestive process in every area of the case taking.

As I understand from Sankaran’s teachings, a person requires a sarcode when their whole being responds as if it were one part or tissue. This certainly seemed to be the case here. I searched the sarcodes involved in the digestive process and came across secretin.

Secretin is a hormone formed in the cells of the duodenum which passes into the blood rather than along the alimentary canal. It activates the intestinal pancreatic secretions, stimulates peristalsis and is an essential link in the digestive feedback system. Through its action in assisting intestinal peristalsis it assists in overcoming constipation and relieving intestinal stasis, fermentation and putrefaction.

Prescription: Secretin 1M, single dose.

Follow up (3rd May 2010)

There was an immediate and steady improvement of bloating and acidity over the first two weeks following the remedy, and then a total absence of physical symptoms for nearly 3 months. “I have felt well and calm throughout. I digest things more easily; it is all starting to function.”

A partial relapse in the previous two weeks, with slight bloating, had led to a repeat prescription of Secretin. As he said then, “I do feel it has blocked somewhat recently.”

Following this, the patient remained well for many months. Unfortunately, after that period of time, I lost contact with him.

Note: I recently attended a seminar with Geoff Johnson on the sarcodes and I see that this case fits in very well with Geoff’s concepts of that remedy group. He proposes that the sarcode theme is of having a use, a function, a job which must be done perfectly and with control in order to keep balance within a delicate system. In the above case, we see that the patient’s function is to swallow, grind and filter his anxieties, and this must be done well in order to have good flow.

Kate Thomas practices homeopathy in West Wales and on Skype, having returned home after living in Greece for many years.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Greer Spring stream; Jeff Brown