~ Repped a set of remedies, but no clear MM match--now what?

[Celia M. Malm]

The two primary SRP complaints that I'm focusing on are:
1) feeling that uvula is enlongated
2) constant ringing in the ears
I also added rubrics for some secondary complaints:
3) sleep problems, including unrefreshing sleep and insomnia after waking too early
4) seborrheic dandruff (including dandruff in beard)
5) depression (particularly alternating with cheerfulness)
My "short list" of remedies is:
Ars
Bar-c
Calc
Kali-c
Nat mur
Phos
Psor
Sil
Sulph
Thuja
As you can see, there are a lot of polycrests there. :~( Of those, Phos and Sulph are in bold under "elongated uvula." Patient has had Sulph and Sil previously for other conditions for which they seemed well-indicated but did not respond to them at all, so I'm hesitant to give either of those again.
The biggest problem I'm running into is that the patient's modalities don't seem to match the modalities/generalities of the remedies. He is better for fresh air and has a strong appetite.
I'm just not sure what approach to try next in sorting this out.
Thanks,
Cee

[muthu kumar]

It might be ( if possible) better to post the fuller case and esp. the sequence of these symptoms.

Fresh air modality is a weak modality- is that he feels better being in open air or any specific symptom is better in open air?

What is the allopathic diagnosis? What is the patient's age? The depression -did it have any reason or primary depression?

Uvula sensation and ringing in ears - did they come together or part of the same condition?

When you mention about the appetite being strong, was the patient ever on allopathic drugs for depression? Is the appetite better because of this?

If he is depressed but the appetite is good that is strange- ever considered Ignatia? Sleeplessness in depression - Nat.m, Kali.br, Thuja, Ign are all good.

Why and when did the uvula sensation start?

Still if the patient had taken allopathic drugs for depression there are many sensations that they might have caused...

What is the exact sensation the patient says about the uvula - perhaps he did not say that the uvula is elongated - did he specifically say some sensation how it felt like...

The dandruff, insomnia etc. make me think of Thuja more than anything else but there might be something else that we are missing to account for...
--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "Celia M. Malm" wrote:

[Shannon Nelson]

Okay, those are some decent details, but now you need the case!
I assume these rubrics include all of the chief complaints--ringing in
the ears (can he describe it any further--is it definitely "ringing",
not humming, buzzing or anything else?), sleep trouble, dandruff, and
unstable moods? (Is there any other area of specific concern?)

Are any of these of recent onset (or a clearly remembered onset)? They
all sound like chronic issues, so you need to take a chronic case, and
your rubric selection needs to include not only SRPs, but also the
overall case. *Sometimes* an SRP can lead straight to "the remedy,"
but more commonly they are only hints, clues, suggestions, and
tie-breakers. In the *vast* majority of cases, you do still need to
have a full case to work from!

Do you have information about some of the other basics:
- Foods that he craves or hates? (Or anything else about his
appetite?)
- Thirst--how strong, what for, and any drinks (incl. temperature)
that he prefers strongly? (E.g. if thirsty, is it for small amounts
frequently, or large amounts frequently, or large amounts infrequently?
Does he prefer water or something else?)
- As a mental/emotional profile, what is he like?
- Information about any important points in his personal
history--points of trauma, or where "something changed", anything of
significance?

To find a well-suited chronic remedy, you need to match the full
picture of the remedy, to the full picture of the person. in terms of
a picture, this is a bit like a portrait which includes an ear, a bit
of eyebrow, the roof of the mouth, and a shoulder. Difficult to
match it up to the person!

One guideline for "casegiving" is, if you were asking someone else to
pick this person out of a crowd, how would you be describing them? Not
just the clothing, the hair color, but also little things such as
bearing, mannerisms, habits, anything odd, distinctive, unusual,
notable. This should include *whatever* is or might be noteworthy,
whether M/E, physical, behavioral, whatever.

So--want to add some more? Why not try describing the case first, and
put it into rubrics second?

Shannon

[Joy Lucas]

Have you checked to see if the uvula is indeed elongated and what might be causing this - you might want to cross refer with uvula swollen which will bring other rx in to play. Internal ears need to be checked also before this becomes a more common sx to do with low grade infection e.g.

The other sx you mention, apart from the dandruff need more 'why'? to open up the case.

Joy

http://www.joylucashomeopathy.com
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/homeopathystudy/

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Cee,

I *thought* I'd sent this, but now see it in drafts instead of in
sent--so sorry if it's a re-send!

Okay, those are some decent details, but now you need the case!
I assume these rubrics include all of the chief complaints--ringing in
the ears (can he describe it any further--is it definitely "ringing",
not humming, buzzing or anything else?), sleep trouble, dandruff, and
unstable moods? (Is there any other area of specific concern?)

Are any of these of recent onset (or a clearly remembered onset)? They
all sound like chronic issues, so you need to take a chronic case, and
your rubric selection needs to include not only SRPs, but also the
overall case. *Sometimes* an SRP can lead straight to "the remedy,"
but more commonly they are only hints, clues, suggestions, and
tie-breakers. In the *vast* majority of cases, you do still need to
have a full case to work from!

Do you have information about some of the other basics:
- Foods that he craves or hates? (Or anything else about his
appetite?)
- Thirst--how strong, what for, and any drinks (incl. temperature)
that he prefers strongly? (E.g. if thirsty, is it for small amounts
frequently, or large amounts frequently, or large amounts infrequently?
Does he prefer water or something else?)
- As a mental/emotional profile, what is he like?
- Information about any important points in his personal
history--points of trauma, or where "something changed", anything of
significance?

To find a well-suited chronic remedy, you need to match the full
picture of the remedy, to the full picture of the person. in terms of
a picture, this is a bit like a portrait which includes an ear, a bit
of eyebrow, the roof of the mouth, and a shoulder. Difficult to
match it up to the person!

One guideline for "casegiving" is, if you were asking someone else to
pick this person out of a crowd, how would you be describing them? Not
just the clothing, the hair color, but also little things such as
bearing, mannerisms, habits, anything odd, distinctive, unusual,
notable. This should include *whatever* is or might be noteworthy,
whether M/E, physical, behavioral, whatever.

So--want to add some more? Why not try describing the case first, and
put it into rubrics second?

Shannon

[Celia M. Malm]

>I assume these rubrics include all of the chief complaints--ringing in the

Yes, those are the rubrics for all the chronic things that are actively
"bothering" him. I was *hoping* to get a set of remedies based on those
symptoms, and then narrow further based on the overall picture, but nothing
is matching the overall picture--hence my frustration!
He likes food, period. He's been trying to lose weight, but he finds it
difficult to eat less than he wants to. Any type of fasting makes him very
cranky, and he eats more when he feels stressed out.
He's been drinking water, to avoid the calories in other things, but he
always used to prefer milk to most other drinks. Nothing unusual in terms of
temp or frequency.
Mostly very mild, although when he does (rarely!) get angry, he tends to get
violently angry. He is of Scandanavian stock, and his personality (and
indeed his appearance) is very much like the Vikings of old--sometimes he is
the placid Swedish farmer (in temperament--not profession!); other times he
can go "berserk" with his passions and emotions.

He is usually very optimistic in outlook--sometimes unrealistically so (or
so it seems to me, the eternal pessimist!). But at other times he becomes
despondent. The pattern isn't *quite* strong enough to suggest true manic
depression, but it *tends* that way.
When our oldest daughter was with severe birth defects, 19 years ago, he
started taking life more seriously; before that he had a tendency to try to
avoiding thinking too hard about anything.

In the past year, he has become almost "girly" in his emotions--he wants to
snuggle, he wants to feel actively loved and needed, he wants to "connect"
emotionally. This is a serious shift from his previous behavior!
Cee

[Shannon Nelson]

One possibility to consider (I can't take time to check it at the
moment) is Nat-m, with the change after daughter's unwell birth, and
the current emotional nature? (Nat-m is one of the "romantic"
remedies--when they're not doing a "lock it up and throw away the key"
number.)

Mag-mur is one I have seen look basically *exactly* like Nat-m, after
long grief. Magnesiums tend to hate conflict, withdraw from it,
sometimes in part because they're afraid that if they *do* let go, the
anger would be explosive--like magnesium bursting into flames in air!
So that seems another possibility to read up on?

What are the things, or types of things, that make him occasionally so
violently angry?
Can you give an example or two, including what happened, what he said
and did (and was this something that would *always* make him violently
angry, or if not, why do you think it did that time?)

Does he actively avoid confrontation (but then when he can't avoid it,
finally blows), or does he mostly not care too much, but certain
*things* (or situations) set him off, or generally even except under
certain *circumstances* (e.g. if hungry? if tired? if over-stressed?)?

What are some things that he tends to either have trouble with, or
prefers to actively avoid? Could be foods, weather, situations,
whatever.

Shannon

[Celia M. Malm]

>One possibility to consider (I can't take time to check it at the moment)

I'd thought about that, because I imagine he could look somewhat like a
Nat-m to someone who doesn't know him well. He tends to be very quiet in
public, for example. But I thought Nat-m was very private around *everyone*.
Do I have the wrong idea about that?
I'll take a look.
In the past, it has usually been as a result of feeling emotionally
pressured (for instance, during an argument). But it tends to spring almost
"out of nowhere"--the strength of the provocation isn't necessarily a
measure of the likelihood of that response. I've seen him get angry on a few
other occasions, when people (outside our family) were not meeting
obligations/duties of one kind or another. But mostly his "berserks" will
arise from a quarrel with or criticism from me, and will happen with little
or no hint that he's anywhere near the "breaking point." As I said, it's
rare, but it's very weird (and scary!) when it happens!
He's never hurt me or the kids (miraculously), but he has broken
things--once he ripped the door off a cupboard; he has shocking strength and
very little thought going on about how he's using it when he's in one of
these fts. It's been a long time since he had a serious episode, so it's
hard to remember in detail what set him off, but it was almost certainly
something I said, either something critical of him or something about my own
feelings that he felt was putting pressure on him. It's never been any one
particular thing or issue, and it really does seem to come out of nowhere.

The closest thing to a berserker fit that's occurred recently is when we
drove to the big city last month. Being in traffic in an unfamiliar place
stressed him out *exceedingly*, and at those moments when he was feeling
most stressed, he would react aggressively by *increasing* his speed, rather
than decreasing it.
He does tend to avoid confrontations of any kind. The other night, another
boy was throwing firecrackers at our oldest son during a youth activity, and
although he talked with the youth leader about it, he settled for a very
lukewarm response from the youth leader ("I'll talk to the boy about it"). I
had to reason with him (when he got home and I heard about what had
happened) to convince him that more serious action needed to be taken. He
did call the youth leader then and talked a little bit tougher about what
action we expected to be taken (talking to the *parents*). But he wouldn't
have done that on his own initiative.

His temperament is worse when hungry, tired, or stressed, but that's not
really unusual for anyone.
He prefers to avoid physical labor, stuffy or overwarm rooms, kicks off
blankets. He also usually avoids overly competitive situations, such as
one-on-one games. He doesn't like to rock the boat. The only food he
actively dislikes is watermelon. All weather seems to be the same to him.

I can see where avoiding conflict is a very Nat-m thing....I will have to
look at that again.
Thanks,

Cee

[Robin Coventry]

You many also try Bach Flower essences for his mentals. I have seen it work very well on someone quite similar.
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com [mailto:minutus@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Celia M. Malm
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 12:40 AM
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: ~Re: [Minutus] Repped a set of remedies, but no clear MM match--now what?
I'd thought about that, because I imagine he could look somewhat like a
Nat-m to someone who doesn't know him well. He tends to be very quiet in
public, for example. But I thought Nat-m was very private around *everyone*.
Do I have the wrong idea about that?
I'll take a look.
In the past, it has usually been as a result of feeling emotionally
pressured (for instance, during an argument). But it tends to spring almost
"out of nowhere"--the strength of the provocation isn't necessarily a
measure of the likelihood of that response. I've seen him get angry on a few
other occasions, when people (outside our family) were not meeting
obligations/duties of one kind or another. But mostly his "berserks" will
arise from a quarrel with or criticism from me, and will happen with little
or no hint that he's anywhere near the "breaking point." As I said, it's
rare, but it's very weird (and scary!) when it happens!
He's never hurt me or the kids (miraculously), but he has broken
things--once he ripped the door off a cupboard; he has shocking strength and
very little thought going on about how he's using it when he's in one of
these fts. It's been a long time since he had a serious episode, so it's
hard to remember in detail what set him off, but it was almost certainly
something I said, either something critical of him or something about my own
feelings that he felt was putting pressure on him. It's never been any one
particular thing or issue, and it really does seem to come out of nowhere.

The closest thing to a berserker fit that's occurred recently is when we
drove to the big city last month. Being in traffic in an unfamiliar place
stressed him out *exceedingly*, and at those moments when he was feeling
most stressed, he would react aggressively by *increasing* his speed, rather
than decreasing it.
He does tend to avoid confrontations of any kind. The other night, another
boy was throwing firecrackers at our oldest son during a youth activity, and
although he talked with the youth leader about it, he settled for a very
lukewarm response from the youth leader ("I'll talk to the boy about it"). I
had to reason with him (when he got home and I heard about what had
happened) to convince him that more serious action needed to be taken. He
did call the youth leader then and talked a little bit tougher about what
action we expected to be taken (talking to the *parents*). But he wouldn't
have done that on his own initiative.

His temperament is worse when hungry, tired, or stressed, but that's not
really unusual for anyone.
He prefers to avoid physical labor, stuffy or overwarm rooms, kicks off
blankets. He also usually avoids overly competitive situations, such as
one-on-one games. He doesn't like to rock the boat. The only food he
actively dislikes is watermelon. All weather seems to be the same to him.

I can see where avoiding conflict is a very Nat-m thing....I will have to
look at that again.

Thanks,

Cee