Two Cases
by Deborah Collins
Mrs M. was 37 years old when she came for consultation because of digestive problems. She complained of bloating of her abdomen; rumbling bowels "full of wind".
"It feels as if I'm pregnant, my belly is so swollen. It gets worse as soon as I eat anything fatty or heavy. I can't eat cake, let alone fried or deep-fried food. The food remains undigested in my stomach and causes a feeling of pressure. My stools are hard, and I have trouble passing them."
"Since puberty I've had migraines, but they are more connected with my digestion than with my periods. The headaches sit in my right temple and in my right eye, and my head then feels very cold. My neck and shoulders are stiff and tense, and my head only feels comfortable if I can lean it against something. During the headaches I'm cold all over, worse than usual. Not even an electric blanket can warm me then. Normally I'm chilly, with cold hands and feet, and I feel worse in cold, damp weather. Yet despite the cold I need fresh air, otherwise I get feelings of suffocation. In the car I always put the ventilation on, and at home I keep all the windows open and wear lots of jumpers!"
"I have skin problems: cracks, fissures and eczema in the elbows and knees since childhood."
© Cornerstone /PIXELIO
"I'm always tired, and constantly feel depressed. I don't know why I'm always so dissatisfied; I have a good life and a nice family. Six years ago we moved, and I can't get used to the new house. I still long for the house in which I felt happy, cheerful and cosy. I'm very sensitive to atmosphere; I feel things like ghosts that other people don't feel, and I react to them."
"I'd like to be with many people in a friendly environment and to help other people, but I'm so shy and insecure. I always ask myself ‘am I doing it right?’ I'm afraid of doing everything wrong."
"I was the youngest of six children, and I have always felt like an outsider in the family. My parents were church people; they probably meant well, but I never had a really good relationship with my mother. She tyrannised me, I always felt criticised by her. We could never talk about problems, and I had the feeling that I was never really heard. Leaving home was a liberation; like a breath of fresh air."
In the past she had been given Calcium muriaticum and Grafites with little success. This appears to be a classical Carbo vegetabilis case with the digestive complaints worsened by fat, the coldness, the need for air, and the tiredness. Over the following months she responded well to repeated doses.
"My headaches have completely gone and my head feels much clearer than before, as if it had been freed. My stomach complaints have totally disappeared, I no longer need Norit" (a charcoal preparation for digestion—she had not mentioned earlier that she sometimes took it).
"I've also become warmer; my hands and feet are no longer so cold. The black cloud of depression has lifted, I don't make such a fuss about things any more. I now get up instead of loafing and not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. I'm somehow more content to live where I am and I go out socially more and make friends. I have the feeling that I belong."
**********************************************
© Markus /PIXELIO
Mrs E., 35 years old, also came because of digestive problems; the diagnosis was 'irritable bowel syndrome' (spastic colon). Lycopodium had helped a little, but she still suffered from digestive disturbances, especially after fatty foods, and from headaches and lack of energy.
"Everything feels so heavy and stagnant, especially before and during my period; my womb feels so heavy, a dragging sensation as if there were a prolapse. As a child I often had stomachaches and couldn't go to school, and when I started menstruating it got worse. On those days during my menses I become tired and irritable, and I take it out on the children. I often have candidal infections and absolutely no desire for sex, although I actually like affection."
"I have to watch what I eat, not too much fatty or strongly spiced food, otherwise I become bloated, constipated, and lose my appetite. It's as if my stomach stops working. Everything goes so slowly—my digestion, my circulation, my concentration—I have to force myself to do everything, and that exhausts me. I'm always cold, even in warm weather. Even in summer I wear socks to bed and thick clothing when others wear short skirts and dresses, but I can't bear closed windows. The lack of fresh air gives me headaches and makes me feel stupid in the head. That also happens when I'm too close to the children: 'Leave me alone!'"
"As a child I was shy, insecure, and afraid of many things. I was afraid of fire, of drowning and of quicksand. I had nightmares in which I believed I was being pursued, and I felt ghosts in the room, which made me panic. I didn't have much contact with my mother. I wanted to be cuddled, but she wasn't the type for that. During puberty I sought the comfort and affection I didn't get at home elsewhere, and my parents considered me difficult. I still react irritably to my mother; we don't get on well. I am very dependent on my husband and feel that he must help me with everything because I can't manage alone. When I feel unwell, all my old fears come back, and I feel things that other people don't feel. I'm sensitive to atmosphere, and I only want to be at home where it is safe and comfortable."
This case looks like a combination of Sepia (menstrual complaints, uterine heaviness/prolapse, worse from fat), and Calzium carbonicum (anxieties, cold, tiredness, constipation), but the most appropriate remedy is Carbo vegetabilis. As it turned out, she too took Norit (charcoal tablets) for her stomach complaints. Gradually, with the help of repeated doses of Carbo vegetabilis, her mood and energetic state improved. The digestive problems stopped, and her menstruation was no longer a time of tiredness and frustration.
"What is nicest for me and my husband is that I no longer feel so heavy and depressed. I feel more independent, less worried and not so needy any more: as if I'm growing up!"
**********************************************
The carbon remedies belong to the second series of the periodic table, where one is still dealing with childhood issues; it's about achieving a sense of security in one's own body. In the two cases presented the women still felt childlike in certain respects, with their fears, insecurity and dependence on a stronger person. They believed that their mothers had not given them the affection they had wanted, so that they could have felt welcomed. It seems that they had not properly incarnated and were therefore much more in touch with the invisible world of spirits than with the visible world around them. Carbo vegetabilis, the 'reviving' remedy, can help certain people enter life more fully, it can warm them and make them less receptive to the influence of the invisible.
