Minutus

SVT= Supra Ventricular Tachycardia
I am presenting this case as I don't think I know where to go with it and have been too close to it for too long. The patient trusts me (I treat her children as well as mother) and she says she feels better after seeing me so it is not really feasible to send her elsewhere. Today she relived a lot of what she had been going through so I have given this below in her words.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I will be abroad from Sunday for 10 days so any comments may not get a reply immediately.
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"It all started 6 years ago with all the bullying at work. 2 of my team were on anti depressants and I went to the doctor with palpitations then and was told I had supra ventricular tachycardia. I wrote a document with someone else and it took over our lives. I know that last semester I was in a state. (She had just been promoted to head of a department with 20 yrs of bullying and a member of staff who can't be trusted) I thought I was strong and I could cope. I was teaching and I couldn't breathe and my heart was racing. 3 weeks before Xmas I had a handicapped black student who was a danger to herself and I was trying to get her off the course. Her mother phoned me and told me I was racist. My heart was racing that fast. Other parents were phoning, one after another complaining about their child's coursework being missing or about one of my team."
"On top of this Dad and * (husband) are running a business and dad won't tell us what he wants to do and it is causing money problems. * is stressed and for ages I have been putting on the bravest face. I knew I wasn't coping. Inside I was saying I was going insane."
"I feel emotionally unstable, nauseous all the time, no appetite, removed from my family. I feel desperate to get better. I keep going over all these things and I think I have brought all this on myself."
"Part of me feels that I should go on the anti depressants and get off this merry go round."
I feel the start of it was waiting for my daughter at the bus stop in February. ( Feb 06 -"I had a shock on the Friday night. I was waiting for ** (daughter) off the bus from school. I was there at 4.10 and the bus arrives about 4.20pm. It was cold and wet. At 4.45 the bus still hadn't turned up. I got it in my head that there had been an accident and phoned the school and got an answer phone and phoned the police. When it arrived at 5.20 I was near collapse and physically sick. We went into a café for a drink as I was so cold. I got ill, incredibly sick and the nausea has never left me and my heart wouldn't slow down. I was at near collapse during a concert and the next day the palpitations were banging so I went to hospital. They put me on beta blockers and I felt extremely ill. Then I was breathless, sweating, shaking from the drugs)
"For the 10 days on the beta blockers I felt better and could eat and when I was off them I felt sick again (she also had Calc Ars 30 WP at this time). They stopped the beta blockers dead and then I went back on them and I felt such bad anxiety I had never felt so ill in my life. Then they changed me to angina drugs which made me feel very ill."
"It was the acid reflux when I had the big heart fluctuations that made the Doctors feel that my stomach was involved. They think the acid came up and caused an inflammation." She then had an endoscopy which showed aggressive Candida and agreed to take drugs for 10 days to stop this. I put her on a strict Candida diet.
"I have been in a nightmare. My life has gone. The person I was has gone. The mornings are the worst - the boom boom boom when I wake and the sickness. I can't get out of bed until midday. I am desperate to get better. The tests for diabetes and thyroid were negative. I feel frightened, anxious with this merry go round of illness."
Background - originally a couple of years ago she came with cracked and burning feet and headaches. ( August 05) Sepia stopped the headaches she had for 10 years either side of menses and at ovulation, her 21 day cycle became 28 days and her feet cleared up. She then mentioned the palpitations which then were a minor inconvenience - she had an ECG a couple of years previously which was clear. Periods went back to 21 days and she was getting increasingly anxious about her work situation. EFT helped her with this. My feelings here were whether stopping the hot feet and headache were suppressive. Lachesis was indicated and really helped the palpitations and racing pulse. By July (O6) her heart beat was becoming more erratic we went to Lach 200 WP and it improved - I then didn't see her until Oct 06 when she said she had been fine until last month and she repeated a dose of Lach WP and thought it didn't do anything. Basically she came to talk about her work situation and didn't want a remedy despite attacks of suffocation and heat in the night with tachycardia. I next saw her Jan 07, she was on sick leave since December and I got a shock as she had lost so much weight. The rest is above. Please ask any questions as I have tried (!!) to be brief.
Thanks for reading

Rochelle

Registered Homeopath
EFT(Advanced) Practitioner
www.southporthomeopathy.co.uk

Much of this seems to be due to the drugs she has received so it would be good to go back to the exciting cause which could be the shock she had regarding her daughter - even though she already had a mild susceptibility to palpitations, this incident with the bus seems to have turned that into a chronic state

Not sure there is enough to go on but it could be useful to ascertain her basic anxiety levels before this incident, i.e. was she prone to letting her imaginations go a bit wild when things were not happening as they should - like in Arg nit for example, or even Ignatia

There seems to be a bit of a contradiction in the time line - she says the incident with the bus was a starting point and yet the bullying sequence pre-dates this.

Anxiety when anything is expected of them would be a good starting point + anxiety with fear + the appropriate heart rubrics such as thumping heartbeats as from fright, palpitations + other aspects of the case + what fear is underlying this anxious state - fear that something terrible will happen, misfortune - but it is more important to know what is driving this anxiety/fear.

What rx have you given so we don't repeat suggestions? Joy

http://www.joylucashomeopathy.com
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/provings

She started with Sepia in 2005 up to a 1M which sorted the headache and hot feet problem out. When the SVT came to the fore we used Lach up to 200. She is sensitive to Rx so I give them in water. You are correct in that the bullying predates the stuff at the bus stop with her daughter. By that time she hadn't been into work for 2 months. From the case notes when she first returned to me in February 07:-

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right, so although she had a tendency to palpitations this virus could be an exciting cause? is that worth investigating + is it possible that the anxiety is all about failure or rather a feeling of failure as she was probably 'up for the promotion' but feels she failed at it and that is what she cannot escape from as it hasn't yet been resolved + maybe issues of responsibility or it could be a matter of taking on too much and she now wants to wrapped up in bed, looked after and cushioned - a typical carcinosin picture but I still like Arg nit (top class "on the edge" rx as that is its main anxiety), chocolate (very panicky rx with heart banging) - other rx in the 'fear of failure' rubric would be worth studying

any physical generals, h/o acutes, other important aspects of any case that might help confirm

but with some success with the calc ars it would also make sense to go back to it tweaking the potency or dose although I have always 'read' calc ars as a chilly remedy

will you let us know updates when you are back. Joy

http://www.joylucashomeopathy.com
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/provings

Issues of taking too much on is all that gels to me but naturally I will ask her what she thinks. She hasn't really been up to talking so much about the job lately although she used to before she was so ill. She has been given homework to work through her issues about the job with EFT which she uses a lot and quite frankly this is a case where EFT should be able to help.
BTW when she asked the consultant this week about the Candida his attitude was that she has taken the drug he gave her so it will have gone!!!! She is continuing the Losec but halving the dose because she wants to see if the frothy saliva she is getting all the time but especially on waking is to do with this. I did point out that she had mentioned frothy saliva way back in my notes.
I have to say that I hadn't thought of Carc for her but thinking the way she runs around after people and the exciting cause being a virus this is a possibility. I don't think Chocolate is indicated for her. I know the rx quite well but I don't see any aversion to family , wanted to escape, wishing to be alone etc. She tells me about snuggling up to her daughters in bed who will get in with her in the morning. They are in their early teens.
To be continued......
Rochelle
Registered Homeopath
EFT(Advanced) Practitioner
www.southporthomeopathy.co.uk

Rochelle-
Do you think she might be proving Lach? She is taking Lach 30 daily
and that is one possility I see. Still there is a lot of Lachesis in
her symptoms.

Based on frothy saliva ( returning symptom?), anxiety with
palpitation, anxiety with nausea - Crot.h, Lyss also come thru. Also
possibly Lyc. Given that she has been on Lach - similar is Crot, Lyc
is a complement.

Crot, Lyc all cause pulse increase upto 140 / min. But nothing to
differentiate. > in bed or sleep >?

lying down I get
Cact and Iberis. Both look good but Iberis seems more so.It has
Cardiac debilty after influenza. She had these problems after a virus-
right?

Also tachycardia, choking etc. < exertion all are found in Iberis.
Off hand another 2 medicines with so much anxiety, kind of
restlessness etc. are a) Insulin b) Thyroidinum (not thyroid - we do
not want to grow another thyroid

Insulin pretty much covers all her symptoms ( hypoglycemic attacks)
and I wonder if that could be applicable.

Also Thyroidinum with its anxiety, tachycardia, sweats etc. What is
her age? Considering that Lach has acted ( and given that Lach works
in menopausal symptoms with its flushing, tachycardia etc.) there is
this close relationship between Lach and Thyroidinum. May be think
about that...
--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "rochelle" wrote:
and hot feet problem out. When the SVT came to the fore we used Lach
up to 200. She is sensitive to Rx so I give them in water. You are
correct in that the bullying predates the stuff at the bus stop with
her daughter. By that time she hadn't been into work for 2 months.
From the case notes when she first returned to me in February 07:-
had my thyroid tested and it is OK. I got a virus before Christmas and
my heart rate went off the scale. I am still under investigation. When
lying down I can have a pulse rate of 140. It makes me fearful and I
can't function 24/7. I get big attacks at night 160+ I feel better in
bed and worse when I get up. I was put onto beta blockers and I was so
ill. I came off them and then back on them for a week and then I was
put on another brand new drug. I have lost a stone and a half.
feel as if I am in a black hole but am pleased to know that this is
all that is wrong with me."
me to get rid of 20 years of problems."
get out of the business which will cause money problems. My husband is
stressed and it is my dad so I can't cope. For ages I have put on the
bravest face I had".
months and I feel sick all the time."
no end to it, I'm hot and I'm ill. I can't stand it. When is it going
to go? I can't look after the children."
making me better. I'm past crying. I need my mum."
looking so much better telling me that she had 2 breaks from the
nausea and palpitations for a couple of hours in the evenings until
she went to bed. Then she told me about the bus stop and her daughter
incident that happened during the week. I told her to continue the
Calc Ars 30. I then saw her 3 weeks later after she had the endoscopy
and biopsies that showed Candida and was put on the drugs for it. She
looked terrible and was suffering probably because of the drugs. It
was at this point I went back to Lach 30 WP daily (because of all the
drugs) but in retrospect, looking over the case and seeing that she
had got a brief respite from the Calc Ars I feel that maybe I
shouldn't have been so hasty. She is still on the Lach now in WP
daily . I have asked her to try an Ipec 200 in water for the nausea
this morning as at one point she thought the Ipec 30 took the edge off
it. I suggested she took a sip every 30mins for 3 doses and if there
was no improvement to stop. It was just to see if I could get her out
of bed before mid day. I plan to see her again on my return from
abroad in about 10 days. I think unless anyone comes up with anything
different I will return to the Calc Ars, presuming that she doesn't
improve any further. There has been an improvement in the last couple
of weeks in that she is sleeping through the night now rather than
waking during the night with reflux and palpitations. She is also on
Bach Fl,. Rx White Chestnut to which I added Gorse and Gentian. I
don't feel these in my experience interfere with homeopathic Rx.
would be good to go back to the exciting cause which could be the
shock she had regarding her daughter - even though she already had a
mild susceptibility to palpitations, this incident with the bus seems
to have turned that into a chronic state
ascertain her basic anxiety levels before this incident, i.e. was she
prone to letting her imaginations go a bit wild when things were not
happening as they should - like in Arg nit for example, or even Ignatia
says the incident with the bus was a starting point and yet the
bullying sequence pre-dates this.
point + anxiety with fear + the appropriate heart rubrics such as
thumping heartbeats as from fright, palpitations + other aspects of
the case + what fear is underlying this anxious state - fear that
something terrible will happen, misfortune - but it is more important
to know what is driving this anxiety/fear.
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ill."

Thanks for that I will look at it in more detail when I return from abroad.
I know that in my notes I was thinking about Thyroidinum last October for
her for the anxiety and tachycardia. I think I am going to phone her and
tell her to stop taking the Lach while I am away I was also thinking about
that while I was lying in bed . I will leave her some Calc Ars WP as that
did seem to improve things.

Rochelle
Registered Homeopath
EFT(Advanced) Practitioner
www.southporthomeopathy.co.uk

Just an update now I am home.

The patient phoned to tell me that a week ago she had a horrendous night
again and although she was much better in the morning she went to the doctor
and restarted a small amount of beta blockers (40mg) and an anti nausea
drug!!! She also said how much stronger and calmer she feels in herself
since the Calc Ars 30 WP daily.
Now I have been reading de Schepper's book - Achieving and Maintaining the
Simillimum - while on my plane journeys abroad and the way I see it now is
that the WP has caused a "similar agg" and therefore could have been on the
way to cure, especially as the mental and emotionals are better. I did
explain this to her and said I do realise that she couldn't keep in touch
with me if I was away!! We have decided to continue with the Calc Ars WP but
every other day. She said that if she feels confident about things being
better she will slowly cut out the beta blockers and anti nausea drugs. She
is due to see the specialist again next week and will contact me after that.
I will also reread the part in the book where de Schepper talks about this
and how to manage the case then.

Rochelle
Registered Homeopath
EFT(Advanced) Practitioner
www.southporthomeopathy.co.uk