Digest Number 1287

[Maria Bohle]

You wrote:
From: "Tessa Mackenzie"
spiritual
around
abuse
Does this person curse and swear? My inclination would be to consider
Lac Humanum almost as a nosodal remedy, to help focus and clear the case.
There is a great feeling of abandonment in that remedy, they feel
cheated or denied something (mother's affection??) and they have a lot of
self worth and resentment issues. I had the most unusual and incredible
success with this remedy in a 2C, that you might even consider the lower
attenuations to try to clear the field a bit and see what is left after
the 'I am not worthy, loved, and have been forsaken' issues subside.

Warmly, Maria

[Patricia Hatherly]

Dear Maria

I concur fully with your interpretation of the situation in this case.
The Lac-h type swears a lot because there is much unacknowledged anger over
the perceived lack of nurturing at the breast; every human infant's
"birthright".

I'm intrigued by your use of 2C which, of course, gives a very
"physiological dose".
I favour 7C myself (it's a more sacred number). In fact I hand succuss a Rx
to 7C from the milk of a mother under my care as she's beginning to wean so
that she has it for her child should the need arise for the Rx down the
track.

If the centre of disturbance centres around the GIT I favour the use of the
lower potencies of Lac-h and use the LMs in succession with good effect.
However, in this case as there seems to be so much emotional baggage, I'd be
inclined to use the 1M potency with a view to follow it up with LMs as the
centre of the pathology moves more to the physical plane.

regards
Patricia Hatherly

[Tessa Mackenzie]

Dear Patricia & Maria,
I appreciate your comments, thank you. For me, Lac h does indeed represent
the issue of being able to feel the love from a mother, and in this case I
believe that is the core issue. It is the way this is expressed though that
I have not seen in Lac h before. The anger is huge, and very difficult to
control (Liz suggested Staph, but again I don't see that as the whole
picture). It comes out in a way that is scathing, venomous and hateful
directed both internally and externally. so your comment, Maria, about
cursing and swearing was interesting - please explain more.
I have seen her swing between the head and the heart - taking bad news and
processing it with confidence and logic, then feeling it in her heart and
going to a depth of sadness and despair. All emotions are extreme and
impulsive - and that is the way she comes across. The closest I have found
to her totality is Med as described in Zaren. However, I still agree with
you that Lac h may indeed feature in the case. But I do not feel OK
prescribing it on the small part of the overall picture. What is your
opinion about this, and your experience of Lac h where there is such a high
degree of expressed anger (but the underlying pain around abandonment and
rejection is rarely seen), also no known breast pathology or issues around
breast feeding.
Look forward to your comments

Kind regards
Tessa Mackenzie

[Patricia Hatherly]

Dear Tessa

Oblique refernce to swearing came out in the original Lac-h proving by
Houghton and Halahan:
Mind: prover #11; 6C: "Feeling of being out of control when so irritable
unnerves me. The idea that it was not in my hand was not very pleasing to
me. A bit uncivilised not to be able to control myself. Too intense to
ignore."

Mind: prover #02; 30C: "For 3 days was more short fused, less patient,
attacking and snapping."

Mind: prover #04; 30C: "Feel very impatient, others are so disorganised.
Very critical of colleagues and teachers. My mood change, [sic] feel snappy,
ratty, restless, short tempered for no apparent reason, better for being on
my own and being busy. Irritable if interrupted, for example, irritated with
my supervisor's wrong timing in ringing me. I wanted to watch TV and did not
want to be interrupted."

Mind: prover # 09; 12C: "Felt irritated with family, they are all at home
doing nothing, not what I want them to do."

Mind: prover # 11; 6C: "Very snappy when spoken to. Feel that physical
violence (ie wringing someone's neck) is appealing. Felt myself gripping my
teeth physically to prevent myself taking a lump out of something (or
someone)."

Mind: prover #11; 6C: "Felt as if I had been short tempered, irritated by
everything, very low tolerance of everything. I felt as if everyone was a
fool except me. Supervisor recognised this very strongly. I felt better for
walking. Was unusually cross at my mother's asthmatic problem when I would
usually cope in a more practical way. Sadness at being irritable. I don't
want to be like this."

Mind: prover #13; 12C: "My temper has been short. Usually I am easy. The
smoking of new lodger made me very irritable. The smell of it made me really
cross but I could not express my anger."

Houghton & Halahan used the following rubrics to express these observations
by the provers:
Anger, interruption
Anger, odour <
Censorious
Discontented with himself
Intolerance
Irritable
Irritable, alone, wishes to be
Irritable, family, to her
Malicious

As you can see there's no rubric for swearing here.
However, I invariably find that during a consultation with someone who needs
Lac-h either they drop an expletive or mention that they've noticed they've
been swearing lately.

The anger in this Rx can be extreme and it's not so much not being able to
feel the love of the mother but more an issue about being angry at the
mother because of a perception that she did not love him/her as an infant
because of "denial" of the breast.
This is a perception issue because I've seen Lac-h types who've been
breastfed for a year (considered a good innings by most health
professionals).
However, in many developing cultures the women tend to breastfeed for much
longer and since adult immuno-competence is not reached until the age of 6
years, the need for access to human milk for most of those years is probably
the norm for us.

Sadness is also very big in Lac-h; not quite the dark night of the soul as
seen in Lac-c but can come close.

Hope this helps; to my mind Lac-h is a universal layer because we don't have
human milk for as long as we'd like and probably need.
I'd be very much inclined to try it in a high potency with your patient,
especially as her highs and lows can be interpreted as "alternating states"!

regards
Patricia

[Patricia Hatherly]

Hi Chris;

No; it comes from repeated clinical experience. My post says "during the
consultation".
No actual swearing rubrics come up in the proving of Lac-h or Lac-m.
Both provings have diary records of provers experiencing anger and
irritability but there's no mention of swearing in either of the provings.
Swearing, however, is a commonly accepted expression of anger in western
cultures.

regards
Patricia

[Tessa Mackenzie]

Dear Patricia,
The proving information you gave was really useful, thank you. I was
particularly interested in your statement around the issue Lac H not being
so much about the love of the mother, but around the anger towards the
mother - this is spot on, and I guess I was interpreting that my client is
unable to believe in her heart that she was/is loved, though alot of what
she says indicates that her mother has expressed love for her, but this has
been repeatedly countered by the alternating state of abuse - leaving her in
a space of anger. My client has repeated often that she is so angry, and
that anger is at her mother. (I had looked at Nat M and sea remedies hoping
to find this specific symptom)
The combined themes of some of the other Lacs do provide a bigger picture
pertaining to this case. e.g. Lac C - much aggression, malicious, cursing,
rudeness, rage, hateful, plus pathology around the throat, and Lac D - Fear
of being rejected by the community, theme of separation from the mother,
Feeling suppressed, of no importance, having no voice, and of course the low
self-confidence, alternating states, better for fresh air. there is also an
"allergy" to milk (Prisma), and my feeling is that there are many shared
symptoms among the milks that are as yet not readily available in our
Materia Medica.

I was reading a Links article "Kingdoms understanding in homeopathy - a new
approach - Chaim Rosenthal, Israel, vol 13 1/00" which made for interesting
reading in identifying 1.Inanimate 2.Plants 3.Animal and 4.Human kindoms.
The issues in this case feel more inclined to the "human" kingdom of
remedies as expressed in this article than the animal - which was my initial
impression. Lach was a strong contender, but did not feel right.
In summary, I feel OK about starting the case with Lac H, high potency,
diluted in water, with Med in my mind as an underlying "taint" that may
become useful later.
So thanks everyone for your input. I'll endeavour to post progress later.

Kind regards
Tessa Mackenzie RC Hom NZ
*Prisma

[Patricia Hatherly]

Dear Tessa

I'm glad you've decided to try the Lac-h with this case.

Since the centre of disturbance is very much on the mental/emotional plane,
her S/S will possibly move to the gut as she moves in the direction of cure.
(That has been my observation with many cases, and makes sense in a
situation where an infant was nurtured on a breastmilk substitute as the gut
flora is changed dramatically and the gut maturation is impeded).

If you suspect Sycosis be willing to check out Sycotic-co instead of Med;
it'll address the miasm in a specific way if the symptoms move to the gut.
If they move to the lungs then Med will probably be better.

regards
Patricia Hatherly

[Tessa Mackenzie]

Dear Patricia,
Thanks, I'll keep you posted.
Tessa