Rauwolfia, depression & cannot get clean

[snoozybun]

I had asked earlier about rubrics for a sense of being unable to get
clean. Here are some more details.

The case is a single man of 47, who is constitutionally Calcarea
carbonica, currently experiencing rectal pain, insomnia and severe
depression. He has a chunky build, is vegetarian and gets good
exercise. He is normally quite cheery, and gravitates towards
crowds and noise (hiding in crowds, so to speak.) But he has a
tendency to worry about germs & disease (his vegetarianism is
because of fear of germs in meat processing, as opposed to religious
or philosophical concerns.) He also tends to worry about losing
his job, calamities of various sorts, cancer, death -- in short,
Calc's "fear of everything," but to a manageable degree. Personally
fastidious though his house is untidy.

About a year ago, he had an anal fistula operated on. He has been
having problems with high blood pressure, and after acupuncture
did not lower it, he consulted a naturopath, who prescribed Rauwolfia
serpentina herbal tincture in Oct last year. About 3 weeks after
starting to take that, he began to have nightmares, and the
naturopath told him to lower the dosage. This he did, cutting it in
half.
However, he began to become more and more depressed. He searched the
web for info on Rauwolfia and found that one of its side
effects is "depression" and "not to be taken by people with colitis".
He also began experiencing sharp sticking pains in the rectum
during and after bowel movements, with some blood, and anal leakage
in between which was most distressing to him. He feels he
can not get clean after using the toilet, despite washing with soap
and water every time. He began to have a rash and burning in the
anal area. He discontinued the Rauwulfia Feb 28, and then severe
insomnia set in. His worrying became extreme, with inability to
think of anything except his condition in a downward spiral ("How can
I go to work, people will smell that I am not clean, I will lose my
job, lose my house....") He cannot concentrate on anything, and has
withdrawn to his house (on sick leave from his work as an
engineer). In his house, he worries that his duplex neighbours will
hear and so he will only discuss his condition in the one room
which doe not share a wall with the neighbour's (fear that others
will observe his condition - Calc.) He went to an allopath, who
prescribed cortisone suppositories and sleeping pills and BP medicine
and stool softener. He is afraid of becoming addicted to any
of the above, being averse to drugs. His appetite is completely
gone, and every decision about what to eat is a great trial to him.
I asked him what his greatest fear is, and he said, "That I will be
homeless and stinking". He had felt suicidal, saying his family
(extended) would be better off if he died, rather than have him be a
burden and economic drain on them. It is truly heartbreaking to
see a man who is normally quite optimistic and strong (in an
immovable object sort of way), be reduced to such despair & paralysis
-- and so quickly.

I searched for Rauwolfia in my materia medicas, but it was in none I
had. However, in Abdur Rehman's Encyclopedia of Remedy
Relationships in Homoeopathy, an amazing reference book published
1997, it says: "Antidotes: Cob (Depression produced by
long-term use of reserpine - which is derived from Rauwolfia - for
hypertension.)" When I studied the symptoms of Cobaltum, they did
not seem related, and yet there it was: the antidote to the use of
Rauwolfia for hypertension. I immediately ordered it in two
potencies (6c & 30c) sent to the patient by overnight, and then I
went to his house the next day armed with Calc 1M and a few other
remedies which I thought might be handy. I asked him what was
worse, the fears or the pains, and he answered that the pains were
about a "3 or 4", but the fears were like a "9". Seeing that the
fears were uppermost and excessive, and knowing him to be Calc, I
persuaded him to inhale the Calc, and hoped for the best. Meanwhile
he continued the allopathic regimen, though he stopped the
stool softener and the cortisone suppositories. He was afraid to try
the Cob. met. He had some glimmerings of feeling better, but
then he would descend into the vicious circle of fears and lack of
sleep. (I said, look, sleep deprivation is considered torture under
the Geneva Convention, it is outlawed by the UN -- you gotta stop
this...
) I gave him another dose of the Calc in 1M, but two days later
there was no improvement. This time, I said, listen, we've got to
try the Cobaltum -- you really can't get much worse than this --
it'll either do nothing or it will start to antidote the Rauwolfia,
which you believe caused your depression. I put a drop of the 6c in
a
glass of water, and gave him two spoonfuls, 3 hours apart. Though he
slept
pretty much the same (about 3-4 hours), he took another
spoonful the next morning, and went in to his office for a few hours.
He sounded better on the phone, more his normal self, but
we shall see. That was yesterday.

That is where this case is now.

Alia

[Allen Coniglio]

This case screams "syphilitic". His obsession with germs and dirtiness as
well as his paranoia are evidence of that. His problems seem to have evolved
from the suppression of the fistula and that should be your starting point.
The more he is suppressed by allopathy and naturopathic quackery, the worse
he will get. Calc appears in almost all of the following rubrics as does
Sulphur (not surprisingly). Sulph might help to clear the case somehwhat. I
would also consider Thuj, Ars and Syphilinum.
Mind; DELUSIONS, imaginations; dirt, dirty; he is, she is (K24, SRI-269,
G19) (9) : berb., hydrog., lac-c., lap-c-b., lycps., neon, ratt-n., rhus-t.,
syph.
M; Mind; FEAR, phobias, general; germs, contamination, from (11) : ars.,
bor., bov., Calc., carc., cur., lach., sil., Sulph., syph., thuj.
Generalities; FISTULAE; operation of, after (SRII-214) (10) : berb., calc.,
calc-p., calc-s., caust., graph., nit-ac., sil., sulph., thuj.
Mind; COMPULSIVE disorders (26) : anh., arg-n., ars., astra-e., calc.,
carc., caust., coli., con., cupr., cupr-acet., foll., iod., kali-c., lyss.,
manc., merc., nat-m., Nux-v., parat., pin-s., rat., rhus-t., sulph., syph.,
tub.
Mind; UNTIDY (SRI-1054) (12) : adam., am-c., androc., arb-m., aur-ar.,
caps., carc., falco-p., lac-h., psor., sil., sulph.
Mind; FEAR; general; disaster, of (K44, SRI-493, G35) (10) : calc., elat.,
lil-t., psor., puls., rhus-t., tab., tub., wye., zinc.
Mind; FEAR; general; happen; something will (K45, SRI-503, G36) (113) :
acet-ac., acon., act-sp., adam., aesc., alum., alum-p., am-c., aml-n.,
anac., androc., anth., apis, arn., ars., asar., aza., bac., bani-c., bar-c.,
bar-s., bufo, cact., calc., calc-s., calen., cand-a., carb-v., carc.,
cassi-s., Caust., chel., choc., cocc., coloc., corn-a., croto-t., cupr.,
curc., dig., elaps, falco-p., fl-ac., gels., graph., hydrog., ign., iod.,
kali-ar., kali-br., kali-c., kali-p., kalm., kola., lac-c., lac-eq.,
lap-c-b., lap-gr-m., lap-mar-c., lappa, lil-t., lyc., lyss., mag-c., manc.,
mang., mant-r., MED., meny., merc., merc-aur., mez., morg., mosch., musa,
nabal., nat-ar., nat-m., nat-p., nicc., Nux-v., oena., onos., pall., parat.,
ph-ac., Phos., pic-ac., pitu-a., Plat., plb., prot., psor., pyrus, rat.,
rhus-t., sang., sanic., scut., sep., spong., still., stry., sul-i., sulph.,
syph., tab., tarent., thea., Tub., xan., zinc., zing.
Mind; FEAR; general; misfortune, of (K46, SRI-511, G36) (104) : acon.,
agar., alco., alum., alum-p., am-c., aml-n., anac., ant-c., arn., ars.,
ars-i., astac., aster., atro., bamb-a., bar-c., bry., bufo, cact., calad.,
calc., calc-f., calc-i., calc-s., carbn-s., cast., caust., cham., chin.,
Chin-s., cic., cimic., clem., colch., croto-t., cupr., cycl., dig., digin.,
dros., ferr., ferr-ar., ferr-p., fl-ac., gins., glon., graph., hell., hep.,
hura, hydr-ac., ign., iod., ip., kali-c., kali-i., kali-m., lach., laur.,
lil-t., lipp., lyss., mag-c., mag-s., mang., MED., meny., merc., merc-c.,
mez., mur-ac., naja, nat-c., nat-m., nat-p., nat-s., nicc., Nux-v., petr.,
phel., phos., plat., Psor., puls., rhod., rhus-t., rumx., sabin., sanic.,
sec., sil., spong., stram., sul-i., sulph., tab., tarent., thuj., valer.,
verat., vichy-g., vinc., zinc.

Allen

[Joy Lucas]

This sounds like a horrendous proving of Rauwolfia to me and if you cannot
see a new clearer picture to prescribe on, i.e. he is stuck in this state
then antidoting would seem like the best idea (as well as reporting the
Naturopath who prescribed it in this manner!!). Probably no point giving him
Calc - he might have been that once but not now it would seem.

I have a short write up on this remedy in the Remedy of the Month section
on my web site if you are interested.

Best wishes, Joy

www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
on 22/3/04 2:29 AM, snoozybun at alia@donobi.net wrote:

I had asked earlier about rubrics for a sense of being unable to get
clean. Here are some more details.

The case is a single man of 47, who is constitutionally Calcarea
carbonica, currently experiencing rectal pain, insomnia and severe
depression. He has a chunky build, is vegetarian and gets good
exercise. He is normally quite cheery, and gravitates towards
crowds and noise (hiding in crowds, so to speak.) But he has a
tendency to worry about germs & disease (his vegetarianism is
because of fear of germs in meat processing, as opposed to religious
or philosophical concerns.) He also tends to worry about losing
his job, calamities of various sorts, cancer, death -- in short,
Calc's "fear of everything," but to a manageable degree. Personally
fastidious though his house is untidy.

About a year ago, he had an anal fistula operated on. He has been
having problems with high blood pressure, and after acupuncture
did not lower it, he consulted a naturopath, who prescribed Rauwolfia
serpentina herbal tincture in Oct last year. About 3 weeks after
starting to take that, he began to have nightmares, and the
naturopath told him to lower the dosage. This he did, cutting it in
half.
However, he began to become more and more depressed. He searched the
web for info on Rauwolfia and found that one of its side
effects is "depression" and "not to be taken by people with colitis".
He also began experiencing sharp sticking pains in the rectum
during and after bowel movements, with some blood, and anal leakage
in between which was most distressing to him. He feels he
can not get clean after using the toilet, despite washing with soap
and water every time. He began to have a rash and burning in the
anal area. He discontinued the Rauwulfia Feb 28, and then severe
insomnia set in. His worrying became extreme, with inability to
think of anything except his condition in a downward spiral ("How can
I go to work, people will smell that I am not clean, I will lose my
job, lose my house....") He cannot concentrate on anything, and has
withdrawn to his house (on sick leave from his work as an
engineer). In his house, he worries that his duplex neighbours will
hear and so he will only discuss his condition in the one room
which doe not share a wall with the neighbour's (fear that others
will observe his condition - Calc.) He went to an allopath, who
prescribed cortisone suppositories and sleeping pills and BP medicine
and stool softener. He is afraid of becoming addicted to any
of the above, being averse to drugs. His appetite is completely
gone, and every decision about what to eat is a great trial to him.
I asked him what his greatest fear is, and he said, "That I will be
homeless and stinking". He had felt suicidal, saying his family
(extended) would be better off if he died, rather than have him be a
burden and economic drain on them. It is truly heartbreaking to
see a man who is normally quite optimistic and strong (in an
immovable object sort of way), be reduced to such despair & paralysis
-- and so quickly.

I searched for Rauwolfia in my materia medicas, but it was in none I
had. However, in Abdur Rehman's Encyclopedia of Remedy
Relationships in Homoeopathy, an amazing reference book published
1997, it says: "Antidotes: Cob (Depression produced by
long-term use of reserpine - which is derived from Rauwolfia - for
hypertension.)" When I studied the symptoms of Cobaltum, they did
not seem related, and yet there it was: the antidote to the use of
Rauwolfia for hypertension. I immediately ordered it in two
potencies (6c & 30c) sent to the patient by overnight, and then I
went to his house the next day armed with Calc 1M and a few other
remedies which I thought might be handy. I asked him what was
worse, the fears or the pains, and he answered that the pains were
about a "3 or 4", but the fears were like a "9". Seeing that the
fears were uppermost and excessive, and knowing him to be Calc, I
persuaded him to inhale the Calc, and hoped for the best. Meanwhile
he continued the allopathic regimen, though he stopped the
stool softener and the cortisone suppositories. He was afraid to try
the Cob. met. He had some glimmerings of feeling better, but
then he would descend into the vicious circle of fears and lack of
sleep. (I said, look, sleep deprivation is considered torture under
the Geneva Convention, it is outlawed by the UN -- you gotta stop
this...
) I gave him another dose of the Calc in 1M, but two days later
there was no improvement. This time, I said, listen, we've got to
try the Cobaltum -- you really can't get much worse than this --
it'll either do nothing or it will start to antidote the Rauwolfia,
which you believe caused your depression. I put a drop of the 6c in
a
glass of water, and gave him two spoonfuls, 3 hours apart. Though he
slept
pretty much the same (about 3-4 hours), he took another
spoonful the next morning, and went in to his office for a few hours.
He sounded better on the phone, more his normal self, but
we shall see. That was yesterday.

That is where this case is now.

Alia

[Liz Lalor]

hi Alia have you considered Mancinella for the obsession and fear of being
posessed by the herb.
If he is Calc I can see a Mancinella state having a strong hold? Liz Lalor

[snoozybun]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Joy Lucas wrote:

When I click on the little icon for Rauwolfia at your website, the little Acrobat icon flashes like it means business, but nothing
happens. Is there another way to access the Rauwolfia description?

The patient has some choice expletives for the naturopath, as you may well imagine. Me, I wouldn't report him, but would prefer to
educate him, because I believe everybody in this world is doing the best they can. Ignorance is common and can be fixed, but true
malice is rare. (I could be wrong, but it is a worldview I prefer.) I also think patients have a responsibillity to monitor their own
condition and take action. Of course, I understand that it becomes very difficult when what one is taking is creating a debilitating
mental state.

[snoozybun]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "allen coniglio" wrote:

Thank you, Allen -- I agree with your analysis of the case. I was out of the country when the operation and all that led up to it
took place. (When I heard about the rash after the cortisone suppositories, I thought, well DUH!)

What repertory are you using? I understand that Sulfur should not follow Calc, so I am hesitant to try it now. I really do feel that Calc
should be doing more for him, but that it may be being antidoted by the allopathic regimen. At this point, it would be very difficult to
get him to knowingly try Syph, nor would I ask him to take anything on faith -- given his experience with putting faith in the
naturopath.

[snoozybun]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "Liz Lalor" wrote:

Thank you for the pointer to Mancinella. I am not sure that "fear of being possessed by the herb" is how I would describe his view.
However, he is having the choking sensation and the depression, and the modalities as descripbed in Vermeulen's Synoptic MM fit.
I will study it some more. Thank you!

[Allen Coniglio]

S - I am using MacRep and these rubrics are from the Complete Rep and
Murphy's Rep.. As far as the Sulph being able to follow Calc, that may or
may not be true. Does anyone have any absolute evidence on that one, not
just hearsay? You might ask him to sniff the Syphilinum if he is averse to
taking it. Changing the potency of the Calc and/or putting it in
water/alcohol for plussing and sipping might be an idea. Watch that he
doesn't prove that remedy as well. As far as your client fearing losing his
home, remember that the oyster lost his home (his shell) to provide the
material to make the remedy - Calc.

Allen