Ferrum iodatum CaseA 43 year old woman suffers from bronchitis. It started three years ago with flu, fever, coughing and perspiration. Since then her throat is full of mucus, which is white, loose, salty and tasting of iron.
She frequently has a dry cough which makes her chest feel raw. The cough is < heat, mist, smog, morning 3 am to 4 am, smell of paint, lying down. Her voice is hoarse and she feels suffocated with a sensation as if her trachea gets cramp.
She has warts on the neck, axillae and elbows: they are small, pedunculated warts.
Past history: whooping cough when she was 4.
Frequent tonsillitis with painful, swollen glands.
Dyspnoea when she was a child, almost suffocated a few times.
Appendicectomy in 1963.
Yellow fever with very high fever in 1965.
Hayfever with copious, watery, acrid discharge and much sneezing. Her eyes are watery and burning. Hayfever < grass, dust, mite. She keeps her nose covered with her hand.
In 1986 severe headache with pressure behind the eyes, pain radiating to neck.
General characteristics:
Temperature: cold, but heat makes her lazy.
Perspiration: copious at night.
Desires: vegetarian food, sweet, spices, nectarines.
Aversion: meat.
Menses: rather copious; headache and irritability before menses.
back- and stomach pains during menses.
Sleep: refreshing.
Mind: She knows what she wants and she goes for it. She is very stubborn, ‘not an easy person’ to deal with. But on the other side she can be very kind.
She is rather critical and a bit suspicious. She quickly gets angry, but tries to hold it in. What annoys her most is when people are lazy and take things for granted.
She had a strict, catholic upbringing with firm rules. If she stayed out late she was not allowed to go out during the whole of the following week.
Work: She works as a secretary and she enjoys it very much, although she tends to worry about discussions with her colleagues.
She never got round to getting married.
AnalysisWe have some symptoms of
Ferrum: the bold personality, anaemia, taste of iron in her mouth, < lying quietly, and we also have some symptoms of Iodatum: acrid discharge, activity, swollen glands, < heat.
If we look at the group analysis we find the essence of having to be strong and upright at work. In her case this fits perfectly, because she is active and straight forward and it annoys her very much when other people at work are lazy and ‘don’t pull their weight’. She couldn’t stand the idea of taking it easy and letting things take care of themselves.
ReactionOne month after taking Ferr-i 1M she feels much better. She has lost weight and finds it easy to eat less. She has remained well and did not need a repeat prescription.