Kalium nitricum Short caseA woman of 78 comes with sciatica in the left leg. The pain radiates from the hip to the front and side of her thigh. Her leg feels hot. The pain is better from sitting, resting, warmth (2) and magnetizing. She couldn’t sleep for several nights, < 3 am.
The pain started two weeks ago when she went to a funeral and stood in the cold for a long time. A woman had died and the man was left behind all alone.
She herself has been worrying about her husband lately, because he suffers from asthma. She feels that she has to take care of him very well. But recently he has been so ill that he doesn’t want to go out anymore. He doesn’t want to go out for a meal or to the cinema, so she can’t go out anymore either, and this is what is troubling her.
Mind: she is a cheerful, jolly woman. She doesn’t get angry very easily, but she does get annoyed sometimes, especially with people who are always complaining, who 'go on strike and always want more'.
Here we find the theme of Kali-n once more: she does her duty and at the same time she wants to be able to enjoy life. Things go wrong as soon as too much duty makes the enjoyment impossible. It is also rather striking that a similar situation in her environment (a husband who is left behind on his own) marked the start of the acute physical complaints.