Roses: Sweet scents, thorns and cyanide

A higher content of hydrocyanic acid is found in poisonous bitter almonds (Prunus amygdalus amara) and cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). The same bitter taste is present in the kernels of apricots, peaches, cherries, plums etc. The cyanide theme belongs more or less to the rose family (Rosaceae), although not all contain cyanogenic glycosides.

The Rosaceae family is a bittersweet cocktail of three ingredients in varying proportions:

1. Romantic, idealistic and sweet love, the courtly love of old times
2. The demanding and suffocating themes of cyanide
3. The sting of the thorns

The feelings of suffocation of the Rosaceae, known from its cyanide-containing member Laurocerasus, come from suffocating out of love, which in turn arises from the idealistic idea that love must be romantic and last forever: eternal love. When this ultimate love is threatened, they take it too much to heart, and the aforementioned thorns can dig deep into the flesh.

Clinical picture: Heart problems with cyanosis. Asphyxial state with asphyxia and blue lips. Blue babies. Cardiac or pulmonary cyanosis. Angina pectoris, pressure on the chest, feeling of tightness. Acne rosacea. When such complaints are caused or aggravated by problems related to a romantic or idealised love, and the whole symptom picture is accompanied by heart complaints, it is a good indication for the Rosaceae.

Cyanide themes. The suffocating quality of cyanides indicates them as part of the rose family:

Cyanide = cyanosis, an intense and suffocating condition.
The chemical formula of hydrocyanic acid is HCN: hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen.
Hydrogen: the acid principle, sudden attacks, vehemence, theme of life and death, to be or not to be.
Carbon: physical structure, rigid or labile physical existence, impending death and fear of death.
Nitrogen: suffocating attacks, taking up too much space, assertive, vascular activity.

Derivation of the cyanide themes from the theory of the elements, confirmed by cases: cyanosis (CN) with violent (H) suffocating (N) condition (H). Manic activity (H), conquers his surroundings stormily (H), suffocates (CN) any opposition by belittling others verbally (H). Takes up too much space (N) with danger of suffocation (CN); see „Interhomeopathy“, May 2008

DD Roses and cyanides: Laurocerasus has the strongest cyanide aspect; yet the roses generally have a romantic undertone, in contrast to hydrocyanic acid (hydr-ac).

DD Roses and Sulphur remedies: Both have problems with love and relationships, but Sulphur is less idealistic and somewhat seedy; he has skin problems that smell unpleasant or look unclean. Sulphur carries the theme of seduction by make-up, clothing etc. The rose family is cyanotic and has blue lips, whereas Sulphur has red lips, is rather plethoric and is not prone to heart problems and asphyxial attacks.

DD Roses and Sodium remedies: The all-or-nothing aspect in the love relationships of the roses is comparable to the love of the sodium remedies, but the love of the roses is sweeter and more perfect and entirely different from the mineral, closed, one-sided manner of the sodium remedies. Plants are less clear-cut, more organic, flowing and less predictable. They have a life of their own and can—although firmly rooted—be very sensitive, which distinguishes them from the structural, almost boring concrete-and-steel qualities of the minerals.

The following cases are intended to illustrate these themes.

Agrimonia eupatoria: cheerful and friendly, but nevertheless cannot find a partner, feels only half alive, the other half is missing.

An old maid who feels only half alive because she never found a soulmate.

She is a respectable, well-dressed 70-year-old teacher, with silvery hair and good manners; she wears a tasteful suit scattered with small red flowers, and underneath a light green blouse. She suffers from depression, agoraphobia and fear of dementia. Her eyesight is becoming progressively weaker due to macular degeneration. She appears cheerful and open, but inwardly seems complicated and very sensitive.

One quickly has the feeling that one must be very careful because she takes things to heart very easily; the slightest wrong word can cause trouble and perhaps disappoint her. When asked what her main problem is, she tells very openly and with a smile that she “never found her soulmate” and is still unmarried.

She feels so alone. “It seems to me as if I were only half alive, as if I were in a huge cotton wool ball, as large as a marketplace.” Instead of questioning her about her symptoms towards agoraphobia, I ask how it would be to be fully alive. “Well, of course, to have a partner, a husband!”

She also mentions her unfulfilled dream of running an institution “behind the scenes”, to be “the good soul of a health centre”.

Her preferred colour is 24D, a delicate olive green. The heading in the colour repertory suggests Agrimonia, and this is confirmed by partnership problems as a theme of the Rosaceae family, and the tender love she harbours that was never fulfilled. Also her flowery dress points to a plant. That is enough for me to try it.

The day after taking Agrimonia C 200 she feels reborn. Even her vision has improved. A month later she comes for follow-up and says she is well; but she immediately begins to complain about other ailments. It sounds like a kind of nagging, as if she wants to cover up the good effect of the remedy and needs a new complaint. Now she says she has a big belly (which is not visible).

I am just not in good shape at the moment, and instead of recognising this as a delusion, I am a little annoyed, which I do not show. But I notice that she senses it and is in turn irritated. Then the assistant comes in with a wrong prescription for her, with the name of another patient at the top. As an observant teacher she notices it immediately. That is enough: two mistakes - from that moment she sharpens her hidden thorns and withdraws inwardly. She cancels the next appointment and never returns.

I mention this small and certainly still unresolved case only because it points to a possible Agrimonia theme: “cheerful, but cannot find a partner, wants a man but does not find one; feels only half alive, the other half is missing.” Later this was confirmed in another case:

She lacks a soulmate, she forces herself to be cheerful

The patient is a woman of about 40; she is very friendly and pleasant to talk to. She is a good-natured psychologist who—regarding her lack of self-confidence—has responded well to Lanthanum sulfuricum, but her main problem is that she has never found a partner, which is strange because she looks good and seems pleasant to be with. But who knows the ways of fate? She said that since she has been taking Agrimonia eupatoria LM 6 she no longer suffers so much from the longing for a partner and the pain of being without one, and feels overall better while she takes it. Here this theme is confirmed again, even though the remedy does not lead to a complete solution of the case.

DD Agrimonia and Apis:
Edward Bach describes the Bach flower remedy Agrimonia as “too cheerful”, entertaining like a good companion, restless, and equipped with the ability to conceal problems. He plays down the problem, as can be seen in the present cases. The problem is disguised by an appearance of cheerfulness. Cheerfulness after the loss of a partner sounds very much like Apis, the cheerful widow. But the Apis patient is someone who lost a partner and remains cheerful and busy in order to stay alive, whereas Agrimonia never found a partner and conceals the problem through a rather forced cheerfulness. Apis is more busy and active.

Silent anger and asthma

This man had been a patient with us for 30 years, and it took almost as long to find “his remedies” - in fact there were two. When he first came he was 35 years old, slim, with a gloomy face, deep-set eyes and an alarmingly sharp gaze. His eyes can flash fire when he feels cornered. He is always curt, as he is short of breath. Dealing with him can quickly become difficult when he is angry (Stage 12), but he is loyal and sincere (rose). He suffers from asthma with pains in the heart region (rose); then his lips turn dark blue (cyan), sometimes his whole face looks bluish-grey. He speaks little: only a few words, short sentences. He appears hard, but when he feels understood and in harmony with someone, he can open up and show an unexpectedly lovable side, although he still speaks scarcely. Under his hard shell he is very sensitive and immediately senses when someone lies. His wife is quite different: she is open-minded, pretty, less straight-laced, and by no means as serious as her husband; therefore there are often fights, and neither gives an inch (Stage 12). Earlier she had insisted on marrying him, but after the wedding was disappointed. She says that he develops a bitter hatred over trifling incidents. Then he completely closes off and punishes her with endless silence; his eyes are then like daggers (thorns). She fears that dangerous look and sometimes is afraid that he could stab her to death (thorns), although he never said that. He demands (cyan) that she be faithful (rose), open to him and obedient. He has never looked at other women, only at her (rose). Ten years later he moves into the basement of their house, lives there alone and totally isolates himself from her: he did not speak a single word to her for months, although they lived under the same roof.

He had already received many different remedies, of which Sulfur and Potassium bichromicum had helped best, but his asthma was never cured and he constantly needed inhalers. So 20 years went by. His wife had left him in bitter hatred and had gone her own way never to return. She could no longer bear his suffocating presence (cyan).

He had completely bunkered himself in and only left the house to do his daily work at a DIY store. In this terrible situation he received Crataegus C 1000, after we had learnt about the theme of the war of the roses and Stage 12 in connection with this remedy from Jan Scholten at the spring seminar in Utrecht in May 2004, an annual event no good homeopath should miss.

Then everything came together: his cyanosis and the allergy to pears (also a member of the Rosaceae) - both pointed to the rose family. His tongue goes numb when he eats pears. He avoids all stone fruit (rose) except cherries.

Crataegus 1M was a wonderful remedy for him, but due to his poor communication this remained unnoticed for a long time. He only returned after 7 months because of an itchy eczema in the heart region, a new symptom that had appeared instead of his asthma and cyanosis, which had vanished. He had stopped his medication for that condition shortly after the single dose of Crataegus. The remedy was not repeated until he had a relapse of asthma and cyanosis 3 years later. Two years earlier we had experienced that his sister had also responded very well to Crataegus, and when he came with his relapse it was clear that he only needed a repeat dose, the only one in 3 years. During the following years he received the remedy 3 times, and afterwards he found a new partner. He has become much more open, has no cyanosis and no asthma any more, but still remains not very talkative.

Recently he had inflamed foot and wrist joints with oedema: they were swollen like a balloon. These problems occurred in ever shorter intervals over the past months. As always he comes briefly to the practice and makes little fuss. We analyse his modalities according to Bönninghausen/Frei, and Cannabis sativa appears as the first remedy. According to the new APG system this belongs to the Rosales and should also be seen in this context. Then he casually adds that he has the sensation as if water is dripping down his temple (he had an accident a few months earlier). Aha - Mac Repertory and Reference Works mention “as if water is dripping on the head” also as an indication for Cann-s. He receives Cann-s C 30, 4 times daily, which quickly helps: the swelling subsides on the same day. “How are you now?” – “Well, quite good, hmm.” That already says a lot for him and is the best comment he is capable of. The next day: - “Hmm, 90% better.” Half a year has passed since then, and no complaints have recurred.

Silent anger with thyrotoxic crisis

The following woman is the sister of the patient mentioned above. She is a similar type: also a loyal patient since the beginning of our practice, somewhat brusque, curt and sincere; she is easily irritated, then becomes silent and refuses to speak. She too had developed an intense hatred, mainly against her husband, who drank too much, treated her badly and died young, but also against her son over trifling causes. Despite her husband’s bad treatment she had always remained faithful to him, but her marriage was a disaster. When he died she never remarried and remained single by conviction.

I once went to her house because of an emergency with severe chest pains. She was drunk. It was the first time I had been in her house, and I expected a horrible place. But the opposite was the case, which surprised me greatly. Everything looked clear, tidy and neat. The air, apart from a slight smell of alcohol, was good, and there was a sweet, fine, harmonious atmosphere, quite in contrast to her history. She collected old dolls, which she dressed neatly, and one of them sat on the table and watched her.

A very sweet side was hidden beneath her rough exterior, which very few people came to know. A good soul with thorns, oppressed by self-made difficulties and worries. Well-fitting remedies given earlier had been Carboneum oxygenisatum, Nitrogenium oxidatum, Anacardium and Thyreoidinum. The idea of Crataegus came to me when she mentioned that she could not bear the smell of roses.

She suffered from cyanotic heart failure and hyperthyroidism, and was a very “thorny” type, so this remedy suggested itself. In phytotherapy hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) is a well-known remedy for heart failure. Only later did we recognise that much of her history, including the struggle with her husband, fitted this remedy.

After one dose of Crataegus C 1000 much improved. A few days later her breathlessness and cyanosis improved, and she became somewhat more cheerful. Her earlier aversion to life and her suicidal threats ceased. Her depressive appearance changed for the better, and she was as calm and balanced as never before. All this changed over the course of a week. She also said that her memory had improved. After another dose an old ulcerative skin disease healed. She changed her appearance and had a new hairstyle done.
She was now able to climb the stairs to the upper floor without difficulty, whereas previously she had had to stop panting every few steps. After the remedy she cheerfully climbed up to her flat with her shopping bags. Within 3–4 months she lost 22 kilos and returned to her ideal weight, which she had as a young woman. She received Crataegus 1000 occasionally, about 4–5 repeats over the course of a year. When breathing difficulties occurred, the remedy helped quickly.

Then she had another bitter quarrel with her son. Again she would not give an inch. Her lips had turned blue again, she suffered severe breathlessness and had to be admitted to hospital. Her son even refused to visit her in hospital. That made her so angry that she developed a silent, inner rage and soon suffered a thyrotoxic crisis with hyperthermia. She died in hospital in the intensive care unit within a few days. Her son refused to come to her funeral. My God, how can people be so hard, mistreat each other and suffer senselessly!