A homeopathic treatment of depression
Lac defloratum (skimmed cow's milk) is used as a homeopathic remedy; it has the feeling of being completely abandoned.
Case
"I DO NOT CARE WHETHER I LIVE"
The 26-year-old woman P. S. came to the clinic in April 1995. I already knew the patient because her son was being treated by us. Her manner was gentle; she was communicative and talked a lot, but not in an intrusive way — very pleasant and friendly. When describing her symptoms she liked to laugh and did so often. She made a somewhat childish impression and seemed rather immature for her age. She was not the kind of person who complains about everything.
She had been feeling depressed for some time.
"I don't even know why I'm depressed or exactly how I feel. I have no zest for life, I don't care whether I live, I'm not happy in my life. When the depression comes, I feel better as soon as I can cry, but often I simply cannot cry. It takes great effort for me to distract myself from the depressive thoughts. When I felt depressed recently, I just locked the house, went to my in-laws and talked with them. That did me good. I cannot describe this feeling concretely, but it's as if someone had died. That's how you feel then.
Ideally I would not like to live anymore, but I simply lack the courage to jump out of a window, to burn myself or to lie down on the tracks. I could also choose the simplest method and take sleeping tablets. As a child and as an adolescent I was often alone. My father and my mother were always very busy. My mother was very strict and narrow-minded. After her work at school she gave private tuition late into the night. When I visited my friend, everyone there would sit together and tell what had happened that day. I always wondered why it wasn't like that at our house; I felt bad about it. Now I'm married and I don't like going to my mother's house. No one there has time; they simply don't think of me.
I married my husband for love. My husband has a large family, all closely connected. They often sit together, talk and care for one another. My mother was against our marriage, but my husband's parents were very understanding and supported me. During my pregnancy I had to go to a hospital in Malad (a suburb of Mumbai) and my parents-in-law, my sisters-in-law and their daughters came the long way from Mira Road especially to visit me. My mother did not visit me at all. I am her only daughter and it was my first pregnancy, but she only came four days after the delivery. She did not bother to visit me. She taught at a school very near the hospital. That hurt me very much."
During the pregnancy she once dreamed of a black snake.
"I am very close to tears and have to cry often. When I watch a film I always have a handkerchief ready. Above all I am afraid."
For four or five years she has suffered from persistent headaches, beginning with a feeling of tension in the left temple.
"Sometimes it is so severe that I have to take four to five Crocin tablets. If I can then sleep I feel better, but mostly I cannot sleep. I have to bind my head very tightly; sometimes I even use a rope for it. I feel better when I pull hard at my hair and I clip a clothes peg over the bridge of my nose."
"I have pain in both legs — as if something is pulling; it gets better when I bind them tightly."
Her menstrual bleeding has been very heavy since the insertion of a copper IUD, with dark blood and pain in the back and legs.
Previously her haemoglobin level often dropped below 6 g/dl and she had to receive iron injections.
Appetite: "I can eat anything, anywhere. Even after a whole meal I can still eat more. I eat a lot, but I have very little thirst. Sometimes I don't drink anything for days."
Perspiration: "Even in summer I hardly sweat. I drink almost nothing, so how should I be able to sweat?"
Cravings: "I love eggs."
Aversions: "I cannot tolerate milk or dairy products. I cannot even bear the smell of milk."
Sleep: "I sleep well and can sleep anywhere."
Dreams: "I fall out of bed, hold onto the edge of the bed and wake up full of fear. During the pregnancy I once dreamed of a BLACK SNAKE."
Other observations: moves her tongue from left to right and is slightly overweight.
The following rubrics can be applied:
- Mental – Delusions – dead – friends are dead and she would have to go to a monastery; all her
- Loathing of life
- Mental – Death – desires death, wants to die – thinks about the easiest way to commit suicide
- Mental – Sadness – talks – amel.
- Feeling of being abandoned
- Aversion to milk
- Better by tight binding.
- Head – Pain -> bind tightly. Sleep, after [lac-d has headaches from lack of sleep]
- Dreams, snakes
- Fear, falling
Lac defloratum 1M was prescribed as a single dose.
One must understand what the rubric Mental – Delusions – dead – friends are dead and she would have to go to a monastery; all her really means. It is as if a herd of cows were being led to the slaughterhouse and one cow after another is killed. Each cow feels alone and abandoned until eventually it is its turn. The whole situation is permeated with sadness, despair and grief. The feelings of our patient correspond to the picture of cow's milk. The patient's aversion to milk and dairy products (even the smell aggravates) confirms the remedy choice. Further indications for choice can be found in the Materia Medica [Kent, Phatak, Clarke]; see below for a better understanding.
General: Defatted milk is useful in diseases due to improper nutrition and in anaemic blood states (the patient had iron deficiency). Complaints due to lack of sleep, adults or children who become ill after drinking milk, overweight, throbbing pain especially in the temples; the rest of the head feels light.
Worse from: milk, lack of sleep
Better from: bandaging, tight binding, having conversations
Mental: Depression; indifferent to life; thinks about the easiest and safest way of suicide; headaches and depression improve by talking; sadness, desire to die and musing on the simplest way of self-destruction; imagines that all her friends die and that she herself would have to enter a monastery.
Head: Persistent headaches for years; the pains are relieved by firm binding of the head and by conversations.
Stomach: Aversion to milk
Follow-up
The headaches became much less intense very quickly; they were still present, but the patient no longer had to bandage her head or clip a clothes peg on her nose. They returned after four weeks, lasted four days, were improved by tight binding, but the patient did not need to take Crocin. Four weeks later there were slight headaches in the evenings and into the night. After that no more headaches.
Mental: A depressive episode for two days, no suicidal thoughts; thereafter only once a slight depressive mood; nervousness like before an exam, restlessness with concentration problems; she did not have enough confidence to drive her car to our appointment.
Afterwards no depression, no sadness and no suicidal thoughts any more.
Menstruation: No heavy bleeding, no fatigue, but still back pain during menses; felt normal except for slight pain in the legs
Dreams:
- The brother was barely rescued from an accident.
- The husband married again [felt abandoned and hopeless]; the dream continued after she fell asleep again.
Thirst: now feels thirsty
Perspiration: now sweats normally
Appetite: no longer so many binge-eating attacks; only now — after three months — again increased appetite; for a week she can also eat again immediately after a full meal; no HEADACHES or DEPRESSIONS
The tongue still moves, but not constantly any more.
The remedy was given once more. I am of the opinion that she should remain under treatment, but the patient did not return after three months.
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Source: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/lac_defloratum_i_do_not_care_to_live
Photo: 1295921887 by fizkes, 1046237836 by Ric Photography
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