Bixa orellana A 72-year-old man, he is easy to talk to, has an open gaze, and feels very familiar from the first moment, is often joking en playing with language. He is very direct and full of humor. He has problems with hay fever, which is always miserable; alder, hazel, and grasses, medication does nothing. Over the past year, he has developed constant pressure in his ears, ‘eustachian tube dysfunction’, which feels as if he is underwater. His hearing has deteriorated, and he is afraid to fly. His ears and nose are blocked, his eyes sting, he has headaches, his throat creaks when he swallows, and he feels ‘unwell’. His tongue is dry and pale, sometimes sticking to the roof of his mouth at night. He has a benign meningioma on the right side of his temple, which does not bother him. He previously had a TIA in his left eye and takes blood thinners. He is always depressed in winter and uses a daylight lamp. It started 25 years ago when he was tired, could lose all his energy at times, and was given testosterone supplementation. In recent years, the depression has been severe. He is an outdoors person, goes hiking every day, and is always walking or cycling. He sleeps well but has been dreaming more lately: he doesn't want that because it's about the past. Sighing, he says that his childhood at home was “cold.” He felt lonely and didn't want what happened to happen. It has to do with his parents' wartime past. His father was dominant, his mother let everything happen, he was alone, and it was loveless. As he gets older, he becomes aware of what he missed out on. Otherwise, it was fine. He was a playful child, but he didn't learn well. Even in kindergarten, he didn't enjoy himself. He can still feel what it was like. He feels a lot, he is sensitive, and he can sense the atmosphere. He worked in engineering, was a manager, and was always looking for improvements. Sometimes he has a feeling on his head as if 100 ants are crawling on it. Sometimes, due to a kind of epilepsy, his legs and buttocks start twitching while he stares for 10 seconds; it has been like that for years.
AnalysisHis openness, sensitivity for atmosphere, and dyslexia fit well with the
Malvales, so we can look within the
Malvidae.
Phases 3 and 5, based on the parents, are not clear in his story, so are not used. Fatigue fits
Phase 6, but exhaustion fits
Phase 1 more. His spontaneous attitude, loneliness, and playfulness in childhood also fit
Phase 1, a ind of positive naivety, helping him through life, and it points to the Subphase.
So we look for a
Malvidae and
Subphase 1. Bixa suits people who do not feel at home in society, as a stressful factor, or as a problem-solving ability.
Stage 16: loveless..
Prescription:
Bixa orellana C200
Follow-upThe pressure on his ears quickly subsided. This was the reason he made an appointment, as he found it so stressful. During the first week, he coughed up a lot of mucus and had mucus coming from his nose. He also became very restless, sad, and occasionally had angry outbursts, “which is not like him.” That is part of winter, but now many things from his childhood came to the surface: in addition to the coldness in the house, there was also violence, he now says, his father hit him, his mother looked away. He himself has lacked confidence his whole life; he can feel tension rising with the feeling ‘they are getting too close’, which causes unrest and the reaction ‘this far and no further’. He is sleeping well now. After a month, the gloom disappears, even in the middle of winter. He starts doing odd jobs again. When he feels tension, he doubts himself, usually because he gets distracted.