Onopordon acanthium A 68-year-old woman, she is friendly, often responds softly with a smile, and uses a lot of diminutive words. When she talks, she looks friendly and moves smoothly, but when she falls silent, her face becomes troubled, her eyes plaintive and radiating tragedy. She has been suffering from cardiac arrhythmia for 11 years. She receives medication from the cardiologist, but she would rather not take it, ‘it inhibits everything’. There is a whole list of complaints surrounding this: over the last year, she has had hot flashes throughout her body, as well as palpitations. She feels it in her pulse or feels cramps in her aorta. Now and then, she feels light-headed, almost dizzy, and occasionally she feels and hears the pounding. She feels her heartbeat all day long. Her pulse varies from 90 to 60. Blood pressure is good, ECG is good.
She has tinnitus, hissing on the left, a little on the right, for 20 years since an ear infection. A few times a year, up to four times, she has atrial fibrillation, which subsides with flecainide. She has been on an IV a few times. Last night, it woke her up, and it can last up to three hours. She may also occasionally have a painful spot on the upper left side of her chest, or her flank, or her sternum. Her bowels: all her life, she has had hard stools, for example, after eating chocolate, small pieces of stool that stick together, which also causes hemorrhoids. She finds chocolate too delicious to resist, but it also gives her a lot of gas.
The heart problems started 11 years ago during a period of stress, work, and family, stress she always feels in her stomach area and chest. Work was busy; you had to work “on time,” and she had to do research in less and less time. Ten years ago, she got divorced. Things weren't going well, which made her feel uncertain: what now? She had to reinvent herself. Five years ago, her daughter died in an accident. Her symptoms haven't gotten much worse since then. Primary school was terrible, secondary school was so-so; she just looked out of the window, wanted to be outside, then she did a creative course abroad, and school finally became fun. But she never could work in that branch, she had to gain money. Her hobbies are sports, singing, and walking in the woods. She sleeps well and doesn't dream. She has ridges on her nails, lengthwise, most noticeable on her thumb. She feels the cold very easily. Sometimes it feels as if her scalp hurts. She used to have tension headaches, as if she were wearing a helmet or a band around her head, but that disappeared after menopause. Now she feels tense when she has to travel or catch a train. Now and then her thumbs hurt, and sometimes her calves feel tight. She has had burnout twice, with pressure on her chest.
Niobium metallicum does nothing. Her hands now feel more ‘strange’ when she stretches them, as if they are trembling, but not visibly. She is now easily irritated, whereas she used to be very patient. During the stressful period of family, work, and separation, she had the feeling that ‘I'm just about to get through this,’ she says, with her hand on her chin. I come across as very calm, but I can grumble.
AnalysisHartproblems began during a period of relationship stress, which fits with
Phase 6. But the way she describes and experiences it is more nuanced. The complaint began after the divorce, as she had to ‘rediscover’ herself, starting an new period fits
Phase 2. She is independent and analytical, school is not her thing (
Lanthanides theme,
Series 6), what now, the discomfort of
Phase 2. She is confident,
Phase 4, but cautious
Phase 2. Stable, the complaints remained the same after the death of her daughter and husband. This refers to predisposition, heart also fits with the Gold
Series,
Series 6.
This gives us clues for Carduaceae 3-666.42.00. Searching for causa, we arrive at a plant family.
Stage 9: Walking on tiptoes, just rising above. Pulse intermittent. Irritation Carduaceae.
Qjure reports 'crushed by the heavy loss, cheerfulness, gaiety, happiness; alternating with sadness. Prescription Onopordon acanthium C200
Follow-upAfter four weeks, she says hesitantly, she ‘has the feeling’ that things are going better, she has not had any more fibrillations, occasional palpitations, occasionally a double beat or a few extra rapid beats. It goes away more quickly and less often, no longer every day. In the first weeks after taking it, it was completely gone. Still occasional hot flashes, but less intense. She now shrugs her shoulders more. She feels good now; she has not been as gloomy as she normally is in winter. The trembling of her hands is less. Sometimes she feels her stomach, which is more often the case: when her heart is calm, she has more stomach problems. She is less irritable. After three months, she occasionally feels her heartbeat in her abdomen. Her scalp is no longer painful. The heart problems have not returned. After six months, she started experiencing muscle pain in her abdomen and back. It started with sharp pains in her back on the date her daughter died. She even had to take painkillers. Since then, the pain has moved around. She takes painkillers. She feels nothing when she gets up, but it gets worse during the day, worse when standing, better when walking, nothing when sitting, sometimes when lying down. It limits her ability to work in the garden. The ringing in her ears has not changed. The pain disappears after
Valeriana officinalis, chosen on the
Stage 13 theme, and the need to withdraw from all worries.