Staph LM1

[Elizabeth Flynn]

Hello,
I would greatly appreciate your input on the case below. I gave this lady Staph LM 1 after taking this case and the result amazed me. Her mood lifted as did her energy and she now looks amazing and is much more settled in herself. Her confidence has lifted as she has been able to book a holiday for herself and her yougest child - something she would never evr have done in the past. She said she would never have done that 'without someone holding my hand'.

However her skin has come out in ezcema - covered parts - arms and neck. Its very much affected by water and soaps - gets very itchy and red - it is also very itchy at night. The one thing she keeps repeating about her skin is 'People will say; Whats wrong with her?' she repeats this with her nervous laughter.

I asked her to double dilute the LM but this has had no effect so she has now come off the remedy totally. The skin is the same but her mood is still good.
Was the Staph completely the wrong remedy? I don't think it was because the change in her mind symptoms is so marked
Any thoughts or advise on where to go next would be greatly appreciated
Elizabeth
33-year-old mother of two boys. Married to a publican. At home mother.
Presenting complaint: Recently came off antidepressants, sleeplessness, depressed, tired lethargic, will drink to ease the depression, mood swings, can have a violent temper, prone to jealousy and suspicious.

She feels that the antidepressants had no real effect. She was taking them because she felt that “these will make me better” but they never did anything really. Has suffered from dizzy spells since giving them up.
Observation: Quiet sullen girl, she hardly spoken to me when she came in. Head is dropped and she looks sad; black bags under her eyes.

She was apprehensive.
During the first half of the case taking she laughed nervously – not a real laugh as if trying to divert from what she was saying

Her speech is slightly slurred as if she can’t be bothered. This improves as the hour goes on.
‘My life feels like shit the whole time – there is nothing to look forward to’ There is no light at the end of the tunnel – nothing makes her happy. This is life and she has to plod through it. She

feels her children come before her, she has all the responsibility of them as her husband leaves it all up to her – “why is always left up to me?”. She feels over burdened. She doesn’t care about herself or her appearance. ‘Who is going to notice me?’ Thinks she is useless at everything, mother, wife, daughter. Why would her husband stay with her? Felt suspicious that her husband was having an affair – was checking his phone messages on his mobile. – Cries at this point. She says that she can be jealous a lot.
She is very low in energy. She could sleep at any time and yet when she goes to bed at night she can’t sleep – the children’s activities are going through her head. Will fall asleep eventually but can wake up at anytime. Mad wild dreams, which she will remember in the morning – can be anything - a lot of the times about death of others. She will often confuse her dreams with reality. Sometimes she finds it hard to differentiate dreams from her reality. She wakes up not able to think or remember. Her sleep is not refreshing.
While on the antidepressants she used to drink. When she was drunk she was completely out of it – hadn’t a clue where she was or what she was doing.

All her life she has used alcohol as a confidence buster to allow her to meet people. She admits that she may drink too much.
She has always been insecure, lacking in confidence and never knew what she wanted. Doesn’t want to meet people. Alcohol gives her just enough confidence to talk to people. She binge drinks.

As far back as she remembers she has lacked confidence. Feels like she has done nothing in life. She has always been afraid of what people think of her. She wants people to like her. She will agree with people as if she didn’t she would be letting people down. If asked to do something that is beyond her she is afraid to tell them that she can’t do it. She always wants to come across as a nice person –doesn’t want to cause upset in the family (in-laws). Will do anything to keep the peace. Whatever her parents say she will agree with it. She really wants to please them.
She was always afraid to be single – fear of being left on the shelf. She would never have the confidence to flirt.
Suffers from mood swings. She can be fine and then something insignificant can cause her to lash out. Will throw or smash things in the kitchen- plates or anything that is in her hands. ‘I just want to break things to relieve my anger.’ Things get too much for her. Has always had a temper. (I was told afterwards that when she was five she tried to strangle her brother – she was brought to a psychiatrist)
She used to work as a hairdresser until the she gave acid perms. This gave her dermatitis. It was red and mad itching. Would kept her awake at night
Used to suffer from severe migraine headaches. Doesn’t remember much about them now. They were very severe. Only thing that would make bearable was a darkened room.
Food: prefers a savoury, never was a chocolate person. Never eats vegetables. Likes the same foods, same Chinese foods. Drinks a lot of water. Pints of cold water.

Prefers the summer as it easier to get out of bed when the sun is shining.
Family history – Maternal grand parents both died of cancer at young age 40’s and 50’s.

Paternal heart disease, blood clots leading to amputation
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[J Lucas]

You don¹t mention what sort of time scale has been involved from the first
dose of Staph to now.

I would be asking her if the skin sx are a return of old sx, if so an
excellent sign and you now have to persuade her to be patient.

Even if the skin sx are not known to be an old sx I would still be very
patient before rushing in with another remedy. To have a great improvement
of mood that should be lasting (and this will be an indication of the
correctness of the rx), AND an eruption of some kind develop is, in my book,
always a good sign. Watch and wait should be the rx. However, if the skin sx
become difficult for her to tolerate, or don¹t go away on their own in time,
then you might have to prescribe the appropriate rx for her. I would even
consider sac lac to cover an interim period of time. If you rush in with
another rx you could spoil all the good work done so far. Another
consideration would be to go onto LM2.

Perhaps others have some thoughts.

Best wishes, Joy

http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
on 16/2/05 11:39 am, Elizabeth Flynn at elizabethflynn2003@YAHOO.CO.UK
wrote:
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[elizabethflynn2003]

Apologies: the first remedy was given on the 12th of Dec by the 28th
of Dec the Skin had broken out and at the point I asked her to double
dilute. the skin got worse so by the 12th of Jan she was off the
remedy completely. So still the skin sxs persist.

Yes the skin issue is a recurrence of old sxs but this time it is
alot worse than before. It had not been on her neck before.

I had thought about sac lac but given this info above do you think I
should got to LM2?

thank you so much for your response

elizabeth

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, J Lucas wrote:
the first
an
very
improvement
the
my book,
the skin sx
in time,
would even
with
this lady
mood lifted as
in herself.
for herself
in the past.
my hand'.
and neck. Its
it is also
skin is
her nervous
she has now
still good.
because the
appreciated

[elizabethflynn2003]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Gillen"
wrote:
28th
12th Dec
dosing

Hi Chris

Yes she was taking the daily dose from the 12th to the 28th and then
double diluting daily from the 28th the 12th of jan. ia m begining to
think now that a single dose and wait and watch might be the way
forward.

Any further thoughts?

Elizabeth

[Soroush Ebrahimi]

Dear Elizabeth

LM remedies should NOT be repeated unless and until there is a need for them
to be repeated.
This means that with some cases you repeat a number of time during the day
and with others once in a blue moon.

As soon as any symptoms develop, you have to wait and keep an eye on the
situation. Repeat when the symptom has gone.
(See David Little's excellent instructions on the use of LMs)

I would expect this skin situation to improve, you need to wait and educate
the patient as to what is happening.
If you give her sac lac (in LM bottle) she will perhaps see no immediate
great benefit (in comparison with her mental and emotional states) and may
become disappointed.

But if you explain to her what is happening and that she is one a healing
course, she is more likely to hang in with you.

Good luck

Soroush
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:41:54 -0000
From: "elizabethflynn2003"
Subject: Re: Staph LM1
Apologies: the first remedy was given on the 12th of Dec by the 28th
of Dec the Skin had broken out and at the point I asked her to double
dilute. the skin got worse so by the 12th of Jan she was off the
remedy completely. So still the skin sxs persist.

Yes the skin issue is a recurrence of old sxs but this time it is
alot worse than before. It had not been on her neck before.

I had thought about sac lac but given this info above do you think I
should got to LM2?

thank you so much for your response

elizabeth

[Chris_Gillen]

Hi Elizabeth,

It's always difficult to comment accurately on someone else's case without
knowing how the case material has been organized, and upon what exact
symptom-set of characteristics the prescription was based. But we do need to
be able to rationalize all remedy reactions so we know what course to follow
next in treatment. So here are a few thoughts...

An improvement in the mental/emotional sphere along with a return of an old
skin complaint does sound like a very productive beginning. But it's been
nearly two months since the skin eruption first took place with no further
signs that these specific symptoms are disappearing in a curative way. (Is
this right?) So, was Staphysagria only ever a partial simillimum? Was a
month of daily dosing too much stimulation causing disruption to the cure?
Or, after a gap, is it still the correctly indicated remedy and the potency
just needs to be increased?

If you look at this situation from a miasmatic perspective, it appears that
one effect of Staphysagria was to re-awaken an old psoric symptom in the
patient's history. This is what psora does, it slumbers in latency until an
exciting cause or stress reawakens the state, then an old symptom resurfaces
often in a slightly different form or intensity. This provides us with a
greater opportunity to treat the true miasmatic cause of chronic
disease. Since we always prescribe upon the active miasmatic symptoms in a
case, these current skin symptoms would need to be taken into prime
consideration in the next evaluation. The instructions for doing so are
given in Aphorisms 183 and 184.

When a remedy produces a positive effect in one area of the case, but
continually aggravates or shows no sign of improvement in other areas, this
usually demonstrates that the remedy is a partial simillimum. Not a "wrong"
remedy as such, in fact it has opened up the case. But in this situation, if
you were to continue dosing with the same remedy, it is likely the continual
aggravation of the skin symptoms would outweigh any initial gain and
completely mistune the Life Force. Once again the current symptoms need to
be considered and placed in context along with other remaining
characteristics in the case and evaluated anew.

We know from Materia Medica that Staphysagria was regarded as one of
Hahnemann's apsoric remedies, not an anti-psoric. This means it does not
have the effect of being able to completely cure the psoric miasm on its
own. Of course, it does happen in some instances that any well-indicated
remedy will begin to bring the organism into a state of balance so that
other incidental symptoms in the case are also removed by the momentum of
healing that occurs. In these situations though, it's not really the primary
action of the remedy, it is the secondary action of the Vital Force that has
been re-tuned and is working "under its own steam". So, is the Vital Force
able to complete the cure of the new skin symptoms, or is it at a deadlock?

The only way to know if the patient's current skin symptoms are represented
in the remedy is by repertorization and reading the proving symptoms in
Materia Medica. If they are represented even in a concomitant way, then
Staphysagria may still be the remedy of choice, but you have to first judge
their characteristic value in the case. Are they of prime importance to the
patient, or incidental?
In any event it is important to heed the advice of careful dosing strategies
in order to remove the guesswork out of understanding remedy reactions.
If you decide to use remedy relationships as a guide, you could look at
Boenninghausen's Concordances, (in the Pocketbook, and the back of the
Boger-Boenninghausen Repertory). They are especially useful for finding a
suitable remedy to follow the work that has been started by the previous
remedy. In the Concordances, you can look up the skin rubric under
Staphysagria and add that rubric to your overall new repertorization. In
this way, the primary work of Staphysagria is complemented and continued by
the next closely related remedy. And of course, Staphysagria itself may be
needed again at a later date.

One other thing in your first post that kind of rang alarm bells for me was
the comment "She said she would never have done that 'without someone
holding my hand'." In one sense, this is a wonderful clue to what the next
remedy might be depending on whether the patient in a general way, e.g.
lacks self-confidence (Lyc), lacks grit and determination (Silicea), lacks
energy, too busy looking after everyone else's needs (Sep), just can't get
it together (Sulph), or lacks a certain depth of emotional maturity (Puls).
In another sense, although we are often encouraged by signs of personal
empowerment, like increased confidence, self-assertion etc, do be careful by
psychological dependencies you observe in patients. You're probably already
fully aware of this dynamic and I apologize if this is too basic, but some
patients are seeking a 'parent figure' in us and this is perfectly okay, and
often necessary, on a short term basis, while they find their own feet.
The downside is, that if we get hooked into their dependencies and are only
looking for improvement signs in the mental/emotional sphere, then we can
also get hooked into the vagaries of their "good or bad hair days" and find
ourselves prescribing on that basis !! So we need to see the whole remedy
reaction in front of us, not just the bits we hope to see.

My suggestion would be as you've already stated, to keep within the safety
guidelines of one dose and wait (or one short series of doses and wait)
with LM's until you can establish a protocol for the repetition of
dosage. Unnecessary dosing can have the effect of mistuning the Life
Force so that a hyperreactive patient may develop an oversensitivity to all
remedies.
Remember, these are just my impressions from afar but I hope they may be
worthy of consideration.

All the best,
Chris.