A 58-year-old woman complains of multiple ailments. Initially she has an inflammation of the eyeballs; the eyes hurt and are red. The bones of the eye sockets also hurt, sometimes worse at night, sometimes the left side hurts more. Secondly she has bursitis of the right arm and thirdly she has had headaches “for ages”: unilateral, before 5 am, behind the eye with vertical hemianopsia; she sees vertical lines in the outer field of vision that move horizontally and later turn into a “snowfield, like on a television screen” when looking at a light source. She also has chronic periodontitis.
Her medical history includes hot flushes and stomach pains.
She has a difficult marriage behind her with a husband who demanded a lot of attention. He was very depressed, threatened suicide for ten long years and often told her: “If I die, I’ll take you down with me.” Her response to that was: “Even if I have to fight until my last breath, you will not succeed.” It was very difficult for her because she is lively, spontaneous and impulsive and, against her nature, had to adapt to her husband. She felt responsible and always felt guilty when she occasionally took time for herself. Once she became very angry with someone who said to her: “You don’t have a husband, you have a millstone around your neck.” Her husband hurt her deeply with remarks such as “Your body is not as beautiful as it used to be.” In the end she was simply bored by his stories and knew in advance what he would say. Despite her love for him there was finally nothing left but quarrels and she separated from him. Her husband was then hospitalised for three months because of his depressions and after that a reconciliation was out of the question. They lived apart for two months until her husband threw himself in front of a train and died.
She does not feel guilty, but she deeply regrets that in the end she only had anger and wrath left for him. She regrets that she could not be kinder to him in the last 2–3 weeks of his life.
The past with her husband still has a firm hold on her and clouds her days. Everything she does feels heavy, “it is not depression, no, far from it.” Her husband’s presence is still felt and robs her of a lot of energy. She feels hardened inside, which makes her respond quite spitefully. If someone gets in her way she becomes sarcastic.
She would like a new relationship but cannot find a man who suits her. In addition, because of her bad experiences she is afraid of a new relationship. She does not want to live with anyone anymore, but only to have a relationship with two households.
Cravings: meat, shellfish, sweets, salt, strongly spiced foods.
Aversion: sour foods, mustard.
Analysis: The analysis is simple; the essence of the case is as follows: complaints due to the husband’s suicide. This leads us to Bismuthum (suicide) sulphuricum (of the ex-husband).
The sense of responsibility for others – in this case the husband – corresponds to the gold series. In this case example it becomes clear that after many years of marriage she can no longer help him. She must let go of responsibility. Letting go corresponds to stage 15; stage 15 of the gold series leads to Bismuthum.
The choice of remedy is confirmed by the inflammation of the eyes and the craving for meat. The headaches also fit, especially the hemianopsia and the other visual disturbances.
Fitting sulphuricum: craving for sweets, before 5 am, wounded because she is no longer beautiful.
Reaction
After Bismuthum sulphuricum C200 she had a dream: She is in a two-storey house. She is with a group of women and children on the second floor; there are windows on every side of the house. Suddenly they hear a door slam on the ground floor and they feel threatened. She goes very quietly to the door leading downstairs, locks it and sits facing it with her back to it. Then she looks out of the window and sees the sea – it is beautiful. Suddenly she opens the door again because the threat from the ground floor has gone. Everyone goes outside and runs to the sea; she feels very connected to the sea, which feels very special. Then everyone returns to the house, to the courtyard wall where many trees stand with a wonderful tangle of branches. They all climb the trees to climb over the wall.
The dream feels good because of the connection to the sea and because the perceived threat turns out to be harmless. She interprets the threat as her male aspect, her intellectual side, which dominated her whole life and from which she felt threatened. After the dream her headaches disappear.
She returns with a very different presence. The past and especially the time with her husband are still there, but it is no longer a problem for her. It no longer has a hold on her. She has become independent and can enjoy life; she even reads a book in peace again now and then. The heaviness has gone and she no longer acts so much out of the past. The hardness in her has softened; she can now respond to many things with humour.
After four months the inflammation of the eyes, the bursitis and the periodontitis had reduced noticeably. The whole thing flares up briefly again when she was stressed because her brother was dying. However the periodontitis stayed away. A few months and several further doses later the complaints had almost completely disappeared. Her interest in new relationships has also awakened.
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Category: Remedy
Keywords: Bismuthum, responsibility for others, suicide, suicidal risk, relationship problems, marital problems
Remedy: Bismuthum sulphuricum
Original article: Interhomeopathy.org
