Phosphorus case?
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:42 pm
I'm looking for suggestions or guidance in this case. Specifically whether
you know of a remedy similar to phosphorus that might help this person
more. Otherwise, perhaps some reassurance that phos is the right remedy.
This person did well on Lachesis for a year. He is very sensitive to
remedies and so was taking only a 12c every few days to a week (as needed,
determined by self assessment -- in otherwords, he would take the remedy
when he felt he needed it which turned out to be every 3 - 7 days). The
lach alleviated his irritability and physical symptoms well enough that I
felt compelled to continue it, but both he and I felt it wasn't the optimal
remedy for him.
At the end of one year on this remedy he was able to quit smoking, drinking
alcohlol (beer), and marajuana use. He used laser acupuncture to quit
smoking (and I must say I'm very impressed with the results of the laser --
does anyone have any comments on or experience with laser therapy for
smoking cessation?). The drinking and marajuana were stopped only because
he felt they would interfere with his success in quitting smoking. He has
been tobacco-free for almost 5 weeks now and has not returned to drinking or
drug use either.
A couple weeks after he quit smoking he came to me with some new
complaints. The chief complaint was frequent urination. He would feel the
urge to urinate every 20 mins to an hour. This was not really a new symptom
but his frequency of beer drinking in the past had caused him to think this
pattern was just the result of drinking so much beer (also he drinks quite a
lot of water every day --prefers cold water). When this continued after
quitting the beer he realized this was a problem that needed to be
addressed. He also would wake a couple times at night to urinate. There
was dribbling after urination as well, more often if he had sat to urinate
than if he had stood. Prostate exam and blood tests were both negative for
hypertrophy or cancer. Urine tests showed a low specific gravity which can
be an indication of kidney problems.
His secondary complaint is a detaching retina (left eye). He sees flashes
of light evenings in bed and mornings on rising. They seem to correlate
with changing position from laying to standing or standing to laying. I was
surprised that he didn't seem too concerned about this!!! Then he mentioned
that it did bother him alot until the retinologist told him it was a simple
procedure to repair it and now he isn't worried about it all. [easily
reassured -- IMO]. The retina problems had started about two months before
this consultation (towards the end of the year on lachesis).
Many of his physical symptoms and modalities along with new strong food
cravings (chocolate ice cream and salt), sleep position (used to always
sleep on his back now sleeps on side, mainly the left), and other
generalities match phos. Importantly, the retinal symptoms and other visual
symptoms, are covered by phos. Phos also has the urinary symptoms. His
personally is very phosphorus-like as well. Extremely sympathetic (actually
cries at the though of misfortune in other people -- he won't go to sad
movies for this reason) and goes out of his way to support people who are
suffering (eg. feels compelled to attend funerals of the relatives of even
casual acquaintances). Very "touchy-feely" and warm towards others. The
remedy was given in a 12c single dose with some improvement in the
mental/emotional sphere and decreased flashes in his visual field. Then a
30c a week later brought continued improvement. However, he repeated the
30c about a week after that without consulting me and he saw an aggravation
mentally/emotionally (more irritability with people) as well a return to the
previous level with the visual symptoms. Two weeks after that repetition he
is doing well physically (flashes have become more "muted, almost like dark
spots" and daytime urination is much less) but in the interview I noticed he
has returned to dwelling on sexual matters quite a bit (makes lewd jokes and
sexual comments about other people). This is somewhat disturbing because he
has a history of extreme sexual promiscuity with an addiction to pornography
that had improved on the lach. Still, this new behavior appears to be more
socially acceptable and may be just an increase in libido. Also, his main
sexual interest is now his girlfriend rather than the pornography.
Where phos doesn't fit this case (to my knowledge) is in his extremely low
self image. He complains about the people he works for (they don't pay him
on time so he has to chase after them to get his money -- this is occurring
with two separate employers). He seems to be living in near-poverty even
though he is capable of making a decent living. He prefers to work in a
profession where he is laid off for most of the year although he can barely
survive on this income. In the past he was very self-abusive with
alcohol. Has always just barely gotten by financially. Always at least
partially dependant on a girlfriend to pay his way. I'm not sure of the
root cause for this behavior, but I feel somewhat confident in saying that
it is a reaction to rejection by his father in childhood. He was adopted in
to a well-to-do family and the father constantly belittled him. His
reaction was to rebel. He quit high school and worked as a laborer, "I'm
blue-collar but my father wanted me to be white-collar" but got his GED and
enrolled in college at age 16 -- mainly to prove to his father that he
wasn't just an idiot. "I can't be what my father wants me to be". Ran away
from home after his father punched him in the chest -- this in reaction to
the patient standing up for his mother who had been hit or verbally abused
by the father (not clear on what actually happened here as the report of
this incident was clouded by the patients rage). He wants to be a "better
person" and is embarrassed by his own abusive behavior in the past. He can
be extremely cutting verbally. Finds the person's weak spot and digs in
[lachesis]. Very susceptible to rage in reaction to a perceived lack of
respect from other people. He has no interest in finding his birth mother
because he feels she rejected him by giving him up for adoption. Will have
nothing to do with finding her. One gets the impression that he is seeks
rejection in order to validate his own perception that he is a throw-away.
Although I'm likely to stick with the phosphorus for awhile, I also want to
know about remedies that look like phos but have the low self image, cutting
language, and abusiveness I'm seeing in this case. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Karen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
you know of a remedy similar to phosphorus that might help this person
more. Otherwise, perhaps some reassurance that phos is the right remedy.
This person did well on Lachesis for a year. He is very sensitive to
remedies and so was taking only a 12c every few days to a week (as needed,
determined by self assessment -- in otherwords, he would take the remedy
when he felt he needed it which turned out to be every 3 - 7 days). The
lach alleviated his irritability and physical symptoms well enough that I
felt compelled to continue it, but both he and I felt it wasn't the optimal
remedy for him.
At the end of one year on this remedy he was able to quit smoking, drinking
alcohlol (beer), and marajuana use. He used laser acupuncture to quit
smoking (and I must say I'm very impressed with the results of the laser --
does anyone have any comments on or experience with laser therapy for
smoking cessation?). The drinking and marajuana were stopped only because
he felt they would interfere with his success in quitting smoking. He has
been tobacco-free for almost 5 weeks now and has not returned to drinking or
drug use either.
A couple weeks after he quit smoking he came to me with some new
complaints. The chief complaint was frequent urination. He would feel the
urge to urinate every 20 mins to an hour. This was not really a new symptom
but his frequency of beer drinking in the past had caused him to think this
pattern was just the result of drinking so much beer (also he drinks quite a
lot of water every day --prefers cold water). When this continued after
quitting the beer he realized this was a problem that needed to be
addressed. He also would wake a couple times at night to urinate. There
was dribbling after urination as well, more often if he had sat to urinate
than if he had stood. Prostate exam and blood tests were both negative for
hypertrophy or cancer. Urine tests showed a low specific gravity which can
be an indication of kidney problems.
His secondary complaint is a detaching retina (left eye). He sees flashes
of light evenings in bed and mornings on rising. They seem to correlate
with changing position from laying to standing or standing to laying. I was
surprised that he didn't seem too concerned about this!!! Then he mentioned
that it did bother him alot until the retinologist told him it was a simple
procedure to repair it and now he isn't worried about it all. [easily
reassured -- IMO]. The retina problems had started about two months before
this consultation (towards the end of the year on lachesis).
Many of his physical symptoms and modalities along with new strong food
cravings (chocolate ice cream and salt), sleep position (used to always
sleep on his back now sleeps on side, mainly the left), and other
generalities match phos. Importantly, the retinal symptoms and other visual
symptoms, are covered by phos. Phos also has the urinary symptoms. His
personally is very phosphorus-like as well. Extremely sympathetic (actually
cries at the though of misfortune in other people -- he won't go to sad
movies for this reason) and goes out of his way to support people who are
suffering (eg. feels compelled to attend funerals of the relatives of even
casual acquaintances). Very "touchy-feely" and warm towards others. The
remedy was given in a 12c single dose with some improvement in the
mental/emotional sphere and decreased flashes in his visual field. Then a
30c a week later brought continued improvement. However, he repeated the
30c about a week after that without consulting me and he saw an aggravation
mentally/emotionally (more irritability with people) as well a return to the
previous level with the visual symptoms. Two weeks after that repetition he
is doing well physically (flashes have become more "muted, almost like dark
spots" and daytime urination is much less) but in the interview I noticed he
has returned to dwelling on sexual matters quite a bit (makes lewd jokes and
sexual comments about other people). This is somewhat disturbing because he
has a history of extreme sexual promiscuity with an addiction to pornography
that had improved on the lach. Still, this new behavior appears to be more
socially acceptable and may be just an increase in libido. Also, his main
sexual interest is now his girlfriend rather than the pornography.
Where phos doesn't fit this case (to my knowledge) is in his extremely low
self image. He complains about the people he works for (they don't pay him
on time so he has to chase after them to get his money -- this is occurring
with two separate employers). He seems to be living in near-poverty even
though he is capable of making a decent living. He prefers to work in a
profession where he is laid off for most of the year although he can barely
survive on this income. In the past he was very self-abusive with
alcohol. Has always just barely gotten by financially. Always at least
partially dependant on a girlfriend to pay his way. I'm not sure of the
root cause for this behavior, but I feel somewhat confident in saying that
it is a reaction to rejection by his father in childhood. He was adopted in
to a well-to-do family and the father constantly belittled him. His
reaction was to rebel. He quit high school and worked as a laborer, "I'm
blue-collar but my father wanted me to be white-collar" but got his GED and
enrolled in college at age 16 -- mainly to prove to his father that he
wasn't just an idiot. "I can't be what my father wants me to be". Ran away
from home after his father punched him in the chest -- this in reaction to
the patient standing up for his mother who had been hit or verbally abused
by the father (not clear on what actually happened here as the report of
this incident was clouded by the patients rage). He wants to be a "better
person" and is embarrassed by his own abusive behavior in the past. He can
be extremely cutting verbally. Finds the person's weak spot and digs in
[lachesis]. Very susceptible to rage in reaction to a perceived lack of
respect from other people. He has no interest in finding his birth mother
because he feels she rejected him by giving him up for adoption. Will have
nothing to do with finding her. One gets the impression that he is seeks
rejection in order to validate his own perception that he is a throw-away.
Although I'm likely to stick with the phosphorus for awhile, I also want to
know about remedies that look like phos but have the low self image, cutting
language, and abusiveness I'm seeing in this case. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Karen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]