Leptandra virginica
Case by Maarten van der Meer
A 65-year-old woman, her complaint is coughing. A year earlier she was treated for hot flashes as a side effect of chemotherapy she is receiving because of breast cancer, she responded well to Chimophila. She no longer has the hot flashes, last months she started coughing, there may be metastases in the lungs, and after the tests, she started coughing. She is so tired of everything; to control the cough defines the day, it describes her life. She misses walking outside. Codeine in large quantities helps somewhat. Six months back this cough was there too, it went up and down, and now it is getting more and more. The cough worsens after exertion, with getting out of bed, and when she needs to talk. The voice is in “tatters,” too bad, she can't sing now and she wants to sing at a party. The period started when her mother of 90 years was hospitalized, she goes to visit her often, and it takes her a lot of time. She is tearful now, because she cannot do the things she wants to do. She also has pain at the bridge of her nose. When she lies down, it is all less. Around the rib cage, it feels damaged. The stomach: sometimes the coughing makes her throw out breakfast, she doesn't feel it coming, and sometimes she keeps coughing for minutes. Her complaints in the past: 25 years back she had breast cancer, after surgery and medication it stayed quiet for decades, 2 years back metastases were diagnosed. Her blood values are good now, and her tension is high (160/120), which was new to her, she feels inner turmoil. She finds it very hard at the moment. Castella texana does nothing. Three weeks later, she has also become very stuffy, unable to walk because of this. She walks very slowly to avoid a coughing fit, and to keep it full. The warm weather makes no difference. She has now become even more emotional, for her it's unbearable. The tears can come suddenly, also because of the situation, and she has to figure it out on her own. She likes to have people around her, and she is disappointed when friends don't show up. She is also touched by other emotions, at a funeral, or a party. The need for people around her, she explains as follows: since the divorce, she is alone, it is disappointing. 'Adjusting' to the situation, trying to get used to it, she has been doing that for so long, she is tired of it. She still has hope. After Digitalis, things improved emotionally for just a week, feeling. But the lungs remain the same, she now has puffers, which relieve a very small amount. When doctors told her they didn't know, she couldn't stop crying every morning. She can no longer go out the door by herself, or out on the street by herself, and what's added now is stress incontinence. Sleeping is not going well, she has been waking up earlier and earlier, at 6 a.m. for weeks now. She has no dreams. The tongue was discolored red centrally all the time with the cough, a spot of irritation. The stomach tolerates less than before, she suffers from spicy food, and it feels heavy. When she lies in bed or has no distractions, she feels restlessness. The pain she always feels, she has learned to distance herself from it, to pretend it's not there. She did the same for a long time with that cough, she just kept going.
AnalysisLamiales: she is lively, agile, friends as a theme, adaptable (exhibits or mirror ideal behavior), explosive symptoms (the emotion and the cough, previously the hot flashes). All points that fit the Labiaceae, this can be extrapolated to the
Lamiales.
Series 6:
Lanthanides, wanting to do it yourself, alone, conscious of the shadow in life.
Gold series: inflammations.
Silver series: voice, making contact, airway.
Phase 5: wanting more, restlessness, wanting to enjoy (compare
Nitricums), wanting to go outside, contact (compare Phosphor), the tension.
Phase 1: spontaneous, tired, alone, needs unity and contact (as a theme).
Stage 11: persevering, not giving in (the cancer situation, things are going well, the tension is whether things will continue to go well). The tongue center rubric mentions Leptandra, among others; this drug is in
Qjure under the name Veronicastrum, known for Doubtful recovery.
Prescription:
Veronicastrum virginicum MK
Follow-upAfter three weeks she is doing much better, she has a lot of energy now, and she goes out more easily. She feels very comfortable, and she has more appetite for things, the time before she was sitting all day, and now she is volunteering again. It progressed gradually. It started with feeling happier, she was no longer trapped in that cough. She could get out of bed well, she was easier and more enthusiastic. After exertion, the cough still comes. She still uses the puffers this first month, after this she stops inhalation. The examinations still do not show clearly whether it is metastases or not. She still wakes up early, the dreams are as always striking: there are always a lot of people around her, and she loves that too. She has been aloneat home for months now, she is a social being, contact is a basic need, she has quite a few friends, and she seeks out people. She has a very good memory, and still remembers details of childhood. The tongue is still deep red, the middle part is still a little smoother. Her voice can still go either way, but now she can sing again. She never feels comfortable when her attention is on her body, it causes more agitation, she thinks this is why she has been distancing herself from pain for 40 years. She only now explains that all joints hurt, the back (which prevents her from standing), the jaw, most on the right side. Distraction helps, but it never goes away. After four months, this pains has become much less.