I go up and down: a case of common loon

Case code: S = Subject; O = Observation; A = Action; P = Plan; HP = Homeopathic Practitioner

Female, 34-years old; CC: Ailments from love disappointed; allergies, drug use, and obesity, joint pain; family history of betrayal, alcohol, and drug use.

O: This patient arrives wearing all black. She is 5’6” tall and weighs 210 lbs.

Initial consultation 1/05

S: “Where do I begin? I think that would be by talking about the tsunami that just devastated the Indian Ocean last week. I have had dreams of floods and tsunamis all my life even though I’ve lived in Minnesota, where we have flooding, but not the kind of flooding that I experience in my dreams. In these dreams I am separated from the people I love. I watched the evening news and felt like I completely resonated with the loss and devastation that these people are feeling; I go up and down.”

[O: Weeping silently as she speaks]

MIND - AILMENTS FROM - bad news

DREAMS - SEPARATED; being - people

DREAMS - STORMS - tsunami (suggested rubric)

“In my life, the floods began when I was a child; my parents were wild and highly sexual. They were constantly having affairs and betraying each other. I was always a silent observer, just trying to keep a distance from them and trying to get my needs met from them. When things got bad, I turned to food. I cannot stop eating, especially in the morning. I go up and down with this. It’s terrible.

MIND - AILMENTS FROM - betrayed; from being

STOMACH - APPETITE - increased – morning

Now, as an adult, I am in a long-term ongoing affair with a married man; I am my mother. I am so disappointed with myself. I am having these waves of grief wash over me. I have no freedom in this relationship. The man I love is unavailable to me. I am unavailable to me. I have been in weight loss programs and yo-yo dieting since I was in my teens. My weight is so up and down.

I am a fashion and beauty consultant. My career is up and down. I have almost no confidence. Look at me, how can someone who is so overweight and unable to keep a relationship going be a fashion consultant for others? I am totally jealous of the attractive young women in my profession.”

MIND - CONFIDENCE - want of self-confidence

GENERALS - OBESITY

GENERALS - WAVELIKE sensations

HP: Please describe ‘up and down’ a little more?

S: “I am totally up and down; I am like the tsunami. I don’t feel anything, I am completely numb; I feel totally unable to respond to good news, like marriage and birth announcements. I should feel something, but I feel nothing, I am completely closed off and shut down.  Then I watch the evening news and suddenly the ground beneath me, or within me, shakes me to the core, and I am flooded with emotion, grief, a grief like you cannot imagine. It takes me up, riding on the wave, and then crashes me down. Up and down is like that. It is completely overwhelming and it’s like ground hog day. It’s a cyclic thing. Like the seasons, or like a migration.”

HP: Like a migration?

S: “Yes, like birds that migrate; it just happens that they have to go where they go, they cannot stop their migration. That’s what the tsunami-feelings are like for me. No emotion, numbed out, over-eating, and then, suddenly, shaken to the core by something totally unrelated and then boom, the flood occurs…

[O: Long pause, then changing the subject]

I have been smoking since I was 11 years old. I started with tobacco and migrated to pot. I smoke pot whenever I start to feel those inner waves beginning. It’s a vicious circle because I start to feel these unprocessed emotions and then I smoke pot and then I eat, I get this ravenous appetite.

I also have allergies, asthma-like symptoms, wheezing; this gets worse when my weight is up, and better when my weight is down.”

HP: What are your allergy symptoms?

S: “Itchy ears, nose, throat, and eyes. My eyes turn bright red, and weep; sometimes they get crusty. I sneeze and sneeze continuously. I blow my nose so much that my nose hurts. I also get joint pain. I think that’s related to the allergies, but it is worse when my weight is up, like it is now.

I am very afraid of ghosts. I get so irritable; once the tsunami flooding comes, that goes away for awhile, and then it comes back. I sound like I am such a lonely bird.”

MIND - FEAR - ghosts, of

MIND - IRRITABILITY

EYE - DISCOLORATION - red

EAR - ITCHING

NOSE - ITCHING

NOSE - SNEEZING - constant

THROAT - ITCHING

GENERALS - PAIN - Joints

Key points to consider:

Ailments from disappointed love

Allergies

Grief

Loss

Substance abuse: food, tobacco, and marijuana

Repertorization using Synthesis 9.1 rubrics:

MIND - AILMENTS FROM - bad news

MIND - AILMENTS FROM - betrayed; from being

MIND - CONFIDENCE - want of self-confidence

MIND - FEAR - ghosts, of

MIND - IRRITABILITY

EYE - DISCOLORATION - red

EAR - ITCHING

NOSE - ITCHING

NOSE - SNEEZING - constant

THROAT - ITCHING

STOMACH - APPETITE - increased - morning

DREAMS - SEPARATED; being - people

DREAMS - STORMS - tsunami (suggested rubric)

GENERALS - OBESITY

GENERALS - PAIN - Joints

GENERALS - WAVELIKE sensations

Analysis: The repertorization brings up Silica terra, Calcarea carbonica, Sulphur, and Natrum muriaticum; at the time of this repertorization I decided to give Natrum muriaticum. The patient gradually improved emotionally, subtle emotional empowerment, and gradual improvements. I started her on Natrum muriaticum 200C, followed by Natrum muriaticum LM 1, the LM was increased every six weeks for about two years, and then the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy did the double blind proving of Gavia immer.

At the final meeting for the proving, before the substance was revealed, I immediately thought of this long suffering patient. At the revealing of the substance, I prescribed Gavia immer 200C one single dose (the remedy was unlabeled). The grief, loss, fear of ghosts, allergies, seemingly every symptom that this woman had demonstrated was covered by this newly proven remedy.

P: Gavia immer 200C one single dose

Follow-up 5/06

Note: One month after the change of remedy

S: “What was in that remedy? I immediately felt shaken to the core, and then the floods came, both in my life and in my dreams. I dreamed of being in my bed and a tsunami hit, washing my house and all of my neighbors’ houses out to sea, I was pulled under the water and I was filled with terror, sheer terror and panic. Then I realized I could dive, getting out of the current of the tsunami. I dove and dove, it got darker and darker, but I was not afraid.  Then, when the danger had passed, I swam to the surface. I found my bed, and bedding scattered about; I no longer had a house, but I had my bed, so I made my bed and went about my day.”

HP: What was the feeling in this dream?

S: “Sheer terror. It was as if all of my fears were brought to the surface at once. I woke up sobbing. I have been crying for six weeks. It’s as if the flood gates were opened once and for all. I called my boyfriend, the married man, and told him that I could not limit myself anymore by staying in a relationship that was going no where. I cannot betray myself any more. This time when the feelings arose, I didn’t feel like I was going up and down like I have in the past. I didn’t turn to pot or cigarettes or food.

I started kayaking in the rivers around my home. I also started going to Nia dance classes. I’ve lost 10 lbs. I feel lighter. I didn’t start a diet, but my appetite decreased, and I am craving fresh fruits and vegetables.

Oh, immediately upon taking the remedy I began sneezing, and my nose began running like a faucet. That lasted for eight or nine days. Then it stopped.

The other strange thing that happened (besides the fact that I started exercising for the first time in my life) is that I started to feel as though someone was behind me. I have a fear of ghosts, I have had it all my life. When I was kayaking last week I saw the most amazing bird, an albino loon. I thought to myself, I need to find a mate for life. The loon silently followed me for two miles down river. It was as though we had been separated for lifetimes and now we were reunited (even though we didn’t exchange a word, only an occasional glance we were reunited). I always felt homeopathy was helping me, but this remedy has changed my life forever. I can feel it in my bones. I feel more confident, as though I found myself.”

P: Gavia immer LM 2 QD 7 gtts. in 4 oz distilled H2O

Final Analysis: This patient is currently on Gavia immer LM 27. She has had remarkable improvements on all levels; shortly after LM 7 she decided to go to the Hoffman Institute, a week-long residential retreat that helps people identify and transform self-sabotaging patterns and behavior. She came back and began to speak from the depth of her being regarding her feelings and struggles with substance abuse and childhood abuse. Recently, she reported, “I always looked for another to fulfill me, when all along it had to be me.” She currently weighs 140 lbs. and no longer experiences ups and downs through-out her life. She purchased a salon and lives life more fully than ever before. I have kept her on the LM dosing because at the end of each dose dreams of tsunamis return, although her response to these dreams is lessening over time and she feels that the LM helps her to maintain her confidence and healthy eating habits.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Gavia immer; The.Rohit; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license