A 55-year-old woman, she has a slender build, is wiry, attentive, and speaks and listens effectively. Her voice is powerful, loud. She has been diagnosed with Kahler's disease for four years. Since the age of 16, she has had low Hb, fluctuating from 6.8 to 4.4 during her pregnancies. She was often dizzy; four years ago, she became short of breath, lost her stamina, and training became too strenuous; Hb was 4.8. For four years now, there have been examinations and check-ups; the hematologist insists on treatment with chemotherapy. She cannot accept that they are doing nothing with the story she has always told the doctors. As a precaution, her uterus has been removed. Low Hb runs in the family; both parents had cancer. She dreads the chemo; you get very sick, and there are risks. She has no other complaints.
She has been lightheaded for years and dizzy when standing up. It is as if she is not fully present. She needs to concentrate. She has a busy life, three children; life is never boring, she has work, and there are plenty of fun things to do. Her worries: her husband has his own business, work is involved in the business, and they have had some grueling years behind them. She cannot find peace. In bed, it sometimes takes hours before she falls asleep; she is also often awake. Racing thoughts, about the whole day, the whole week, or preparing, such as packing the bags in her mind. Her worries are about practical matters. Worries about the business, the children, and also about herself: Am I not being too stubborn? She has a lot of fun; she wants to experience everything. She is very social, with friends, cycling, playing sports – though always with someone else present, for example, walking, going out with a friend, the village festival, eating out. She was always terrified of injections, but she did donate blood: ‘then you are doing something good, and I am learning to cope with it’. She has always had heavy menstruation, but she wasn't sick from it. She did panic when she had to go somewhere during menses, but she could just work; she didn't stay home for it.
She regularly loses focus during the consultation; she isn't present; these are brief moments, after which she starts shaking, ‘just waking up’. The sleep problem has been there for years; she is a worrier, she rushes through the day, and in the evening she processes things. Dreaming isn't too bad; back then, she had anxiety dreams when the children went out. She was the youngest at home, she was happy, she had hard-working parents, her father became ill during her adolescence, and a lot of attention went to him.
Salvia officinalis provides no improvement, though she has been sweating a lot since then. Her sleep remains the same; she sleeps lightly and always waits for the children. Her energy is poor; she is already tired when she gets up, though she does everything; if she has to work hard, she keeps going, but the feeling all day is ‘if only I could sleep’. She is now doing volunteer work and helping out in her husband's company.
AnalysisThe search was conducted within the category ‘Abstraction of mind, absent-minded’; scanning the mentioned medications for a good match is a good approach.
Menispermum canadense stood out; the themes mentioned in
Qjure were recognizable:
Series 42: Her concerns are business-related (
Series 4) and family-related (
Series 2).
Phase 6: letting go of the children (
Phase 6 within
Series 2), fatigue, doing a lot for others.
Family in the past: father was often away and sick,
Phase 6.
Phase 1: being happy, unity within the family, idealism.
3-642.10.00:
Ranunculales, fitting is the description in/
Qjure; fragile, needs family, world is dangerous, look for safety.
3-642.16.00:
Menispermaceae, keep the family together, dreams about a dangerous world (danger to children, husband, and herself). This family is known for the medicine Cocculus indicus, with characteristics including fatigue, vertigo, and powerlessness.
Stage 8: always working hard, keeping family and business on track, doing a lot, forcing herself to do many fun things despite the fatigue.
Prescription:
Menispermum canadense C30.
follow upAfter four weeks, things are getting better, especially with sleeping! Falling asleep after half an hour; still waking up sometimes, but then she can fall back asleep quickly and doesn't lie awake tossing and turning for hours. Things were already better after just two weeks. She has worked a lot this month. Regarding the anxiety dreams from the past—she would sometimes want to come out of that dream and wake up completely—' I don't want to continue in that'. There is still plenty to worry about; she can't do anything with it. She does her best to handle it as well as possible, the children and the work; it is business-like. The 'slumping' has been much less frequent this past week, but there are also bad days. She is less tired.
Dizziness is less, Hb unknown.