The following case is the story of a woman to whom I gave a little-known remedy, administered solely with regard to the issues raised during the case history. The result was even better than I had expected.
Case: Mrs V., born 1960, first consultation on 13 February 2002.
Mrs V.'s main problems are her binge eating and her obesity. She also suffers from epilepsy: a combination of petit mal and absence seizures. During an epileptic seizure she is confused and absent-minded, has to keep swallowing and compulsively rubs her hands. Sometimes she begins to sing during the seizure (Crocus, Teucrium). Before a seizure she often feels warmth in the upper abdomen. She takes Trileptal 300 mg, one tablet twice daily; with this medication she is seizure-free. The epilepsy began ten years ago after the divorce from her first husband.
The two have one child, an autistic son with a slowly progressive muscular disease (Becker's muscular dystrophy). With her second husband she has a daughter who is now six years old. She describes her parental home as unstable. Her parents were active in the partner-swapping scene and were not emotionally there for her. She always felt that she was a nuisance and felt belittled. Her parents made her feel worthless. Her first husband treated her like her parents: “You are worthless, good for nothing!” Thus he continually abused her verbally.
She did not dare to make genuine contact with other people for fear of being hurt again: “I am so sad about it, and it just goes on and on. I have a lot of practice suppressing my feelings, but I cry easily; I'm 'close to the water'.” As a child she was very shy and did not dare to assert herself.
The main topics she talks about are her sorrow and the lack of understanding she suffered in the past. She also feels misunderstood and unappreciated by her parents-in-law. Her current marriage is good.
Observation:
She is a solid, rounded, overweight woman who looks younger than she is; she appears childlike. She is very talkative and seemingly very open, but one senses the tension and pain behind the façade. Her loquacity is very striking and I note this as a particular symptom. Past illnesses:
- Recurrent right-sided otitis media
- Since a fall down the stairs at the age of five she has suffered from fear of heights and a fear of going down a steep staircase (Borax, Sanicula).
- She often has flatulence in the evenings.
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Analysis:
She is a woman who has been treated like a child for almost her entire life. One could say she was emotionally abused. Her greatest problem, her eating disorder, has existed for a long time and has developed into an addiction. She has swallowed the sorrow over her youth and her first marriage. In the case history she speaks openly about her life story, yet she controls her feelings and does not really let me share them. Notable symptoms are the singing during epileptic seizures, her loquacity and the grief that she was never recognised and taken seriously as a child and later as an adult.
Teucrium scorodonia |
At first I thought of Teucrium because she has that ravenous appetite in her symptom picture, but in the case history there were no worms, nasal polyps or allergies. When she told me of her preference for lavender and thyme, I began to consider other members of the Lamiales (or extracts thereof).
After informing myself with the help of a report from the Dutch Masi group and information from Jan Scholten about the Lamiaceae, I came up with the idea of giving Thymolum – a thyme extract. Thymolum, like Teucrium, has the symptom “talkativeness”. |
In the present case history we find the themes:
- lack of recognition (Lamiaceae)
- years of pent-up feelings
- epilepsy and
- excessive appetite, expressed in her binge eating episodes.
Since in this case the primary physical complaint was the epilepsy, I decided on Thymolum, although I had never heard of this remedy before and consequently knew nothing about its picture.
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Prescription:
Thymolum MK, one dose on each of three consecutive days. Thereafter as needed: it turned out that this always occurred before her period.
Follow-up after 6 weeks:
“I now eat three times a day and a few small snacks in between. In the last few days I have been able to enjoy food and had no binge episodes. My idea ‘I must not enjoy food’ has turned into: ‘I like to eat!’ I am now much kinder to myself! I even bought myself a bouquet of flowers! I no longer punish myself. All my life I was told what I did wrong; now I want to enjoy my life. I have lost three kilos without trying. I now have much more self-respect.”
Observation:
She is less restless and much more able to function.
Follow-up after 3 months:
Over the past months she has lost more weight (7 kg), had no more binge episodes and feels wonderful. “I will take a course in foot care.” She has resigned from her job as chair. Again she reports feeling much stronger and having gained more self-respect. “I have become a different person; I am now much more open to others. I no longer allow people to hurt me. Why should I visit people I don't like? I want to spare myself such disappointments!” She takes her remedy when she feels a binge coming on, usually before menstruation, when her pent-up sorrow comes to the surface and she feels the need to cry. During treatment the need to cry diminished. “I feel stronger than ever before.”
Follow-up in September 2002
She called me to say that everything is fine. She feels great and does not consider it necessary to come in for consultation, so we agreed that she can call me if a setback occurs. She takes Thymolum once a month. Over the course of treatment she lost 17 kg. At her next visit to the neurologist she will raise the subject of ‘fewer antiepileptic medications’.
In retrospect I could also have found thyme by repertorisation, but in fact I did not arrive at it that way. I am familiar with the themes of the Lamiaceae and thus found this plant family and Thymolum.
Some information about Thymolum:
The chemical formula of the substance extracted from thyme and Monarda species is: C10H14O
Name: Thymol
Isopropyl-m-Cresol
2-Isopropyl-5-methylphenol
Formula: C10H14O
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Its uses include:
- Topically for wounds, ulcers and abscesses
- As a preservative
- It was formerly used for inhalation in infections of the airways. In diphtheria it eased patients' breathing difficulties.
- On contact with the mucous membranes: it irritates the mucous membranes and has an unpleasant taste.
If thymol is taken orally in the mother tincture at too high a dosage, it provokes nausea, although it rarely leads to vomiting. Some provers experienced a transient warmth in the stomach area accompanied by diarrhoea similar to typhus, which reminded the patient of the sensation she has before an epileptic seizure: heat in the stomach area.
Other significant symptoms of Thymolum are: increased urine production; greenish colour of the urine, which is also mentioned in the repertory: URINE, colour, greenish, when left standing. Very strong overdoses of Thymolum can lead to comatose states.
Thymol is also used as a remedy for expelling tapeworms. The main medical applications are: topical use of thymol for various skin diseases such as burns, eczema, psoriasis, lichen, etc., and internally as an inhalation agent (see above).
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Photos: Wikimedia Commons
2. Thymus vulgaris faustinii, garden, Nied, Frankfurt / Main, Germany; Creative Commons licence3.0 Unported; Fritz Geller-Grimm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thymus_fg02.jpg?uselang=de-formal
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Categories: Cases
Keywords: grief because she feels unrecognised, eating disorder, obesity, talkativeness, singing during epileptic seizures
Remedy: Thymolum |
