I feel like a robot; a case of Teucrium marum

The patient is a 38 year old man, whose first consultation was in 1992. He came because of infections around his finger nails (panaritium), which started two months previously. At first, it was very painful, as though a needle had been stuck in his fingers.

Another problem is a lack of feelings: he is not even depressed, it is just that nothing seems to touch him. “It just leaves me cold and apathetic, I feel like a robot.” This partly has to do with being unemployed. Seven years previously, he had graduated as an ecologist. Since then, he has had seven contract jobs but he has been unemployed for the last four months. He has written many job applications and is sad about the fact that he cannot find a job. “My energy disappears into nothing, I can’t build anything up.”

Medical history:
At 16, he had two tumours under his tongue, filled with yellow fluid. One was surgically removed, the other shrank on its own. Before that, he had a lot of problems with worms and mucous in his stools. He has often lived in communal settings, where he would be affected by arguments: “I can’t stand it if I can’t trust people.” Arguments seemed to bring on infestations of worms and he would have anal itch in the evenings and in bed. He tends to bite his fingernails.

Generals:
Aversion to cold weather, especially snow storms. Aversion to cold and damp.
Perspiration/night sweats minimal
Previously great desires for sweets

Character and biography:
“I am very friendly.” He lives alone, likes his own territory, though in the past he often lived in communities due to his idealism. He wants to live in such a way that on his deathbed he can look back satisfied with his life. He is a strict vegetarian. He has been brought up in the Dutch Reformed Church, known for its dogmatic approach. He is the youngest of four children. His mother was very dominant and gave her children the feeling that they could never do anything right. His father kept to the background. He was brought up with the feeling that “people are bad and the world is bad.” For a long time he did not want to have children of his own.

He is attracted to both men and women. He has a daughter, together with a girlfriend who lives in the same street; his daughter spends half of the week with him. He does not want to live together with his girlfriend.

He would like to be involved in Amnesty International but cannot stand the stories of violence and torture; they touch him too deeply. “I prefer to just donate money.” He occupies himself with the protection of nature and with leadership functions. He hates having to apply for jobs, as though he is selling himself. “This culture has too much packaging and too little content, it is a bla bla culture, all full of air.”

Analysis:
The combination of panaritium and worms is a good indication for Teucrium marum (cat thyme). Teucrium is also a remedy for nose polyps; this man had tumours under his tongue. His reaction to cruel stories is quite noticeable. Teucrium is found in this rubric: “Horrible things and sad stories upset her profoundly.”

Prescription: Teucrium 200K

Follow-up:
His fingers healed quickly and he felt emotionally much better. A year later, his GP, who had sent him to me, reported that he was still doing very well.

Teucrium is a plant from the Lamiales family. Rajan Sankaran uses the former name Labiatae; he emphasises the sensation “excitement, which can be vivid, pleasant and tremulous.” As a passive reaction he names “lack of excitability, absent reaction to external things, numbness, disinterest.” This man calls himself a robot: “Everything leaves me cold and apathetic.” His feelings are numbed, which is a good illustration of a passive reaction fitting the Lamiaceae.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Flor de Teucrium pseudochamaepitys (Lamiaceae, Lamiales); Adrian198cm