3.3.3 Aluminium sulphuricum, Case 1A 30 year old woman became psychotic one year after her final exams at school.
Before she became psychotic she made a sculpture of a teacher she did not get on with. She did this in an attempt to make him understand her instead of the other way round. She had been working very hard and became more and more rushed, until she ended up in a psychotic state. She was very fanatic, wanting to prove that the things she felt were really happening; she felt that everything was connected. She was very hyper, did not sleep, experienced everything as very new and exciting. She lost all sense of time and she started hearing voices which told her to do things. She had delusions that everything was connected to everything else.
She was also very much in love with another teacher and wanted to marry him. They did have an affair but he was also married, with 3 children. She allowed herself to be totally influenced by him, and copied him in everything she did. His remarks always took on a special meaning: she always felt hidden messages in them.
She still dreams about this teacher, feeling they are still connected in some way. She still feels his influence in the way she works, as if she thinks like him. She had a dream in which she felt that he was sitting on the back of her bike, although she knew it wasn’t really true.
She has done a lot of sculptures, mainly with clay. Later on she started painting too. In her work she always feels hurried; she tends to lose herself and doesn’t stop, especially before her menses.
When she arrives somewhere after a journey she often feels she isn’t really there yet. She wakes up in Switzerland, for instance, feeling she is still sitting in the train. It is as if her spirit travels more slowly than her body.
She is afraid of flying and of lifts. She wants to stay on the earth, and is afraid of falling. She gets jumpy, and feels there are ghosts behind her. She sometimes gets paralysed with fear, for instance when she has to take an exam. She is afraid of the moment of falling asleep. She is also afraid of violence, with the fear of being wiped out.
She has white spots on her nails.
GeneralsWeather: cold, cold hands and feet.
Time: < morning.
Desires: potatoes, pasta, spaghetti.
Aversion: meat.
menses: active, hurried, wants to tidy up the house before menses.
Sleep: it takes two hours for her to wake up properly.
AnalysisBoth during and after the psychosis she was very influenced by her boyfriend, and saw everything the way he did. This points to
Aluminium (seeing things through someone else's eyes) sulphuricum (the lover). Her boyfriend’s (Sulphuricum) remark took on a double meaning (
Aluminium). She had a dream in which she felt her teacher/lover (Sulphuricum) was sitting on the back of the bike with her, although she knew this wasn’t really true (
Aluminium). On top of all this there is a confusion of roles: her teacher is also her lover.
Other
Aluminium symptoms: psychosis, wanting to be understood, hurried, sees everything connected, busy, no sleep, no sense of time, commanding voices, sculptures made of clay, loses herself, her spirit travels more slowly than her body, fear of falling, ghosts, jumpy, being wiped out, cold, < morning and waking, -> potatoes, pasta, <- meat.
ReactionOne month after
Alumina sulphuricum everything is much better. She sleeps better, and wakes up more easily. When she went on holiday she felt she was really there from the first moment onwards. She dreamt that she wanted to reach her teacher and couldn’t. This made her very angry. She has many angry dreams. She feels more connected to the here and now. She is less afraid when swimming, no longer afraid of being dragged down. Her emotions are beginning to feel more as if they originate from her. Just after she took the remedy she had the sensation as if she had been working with clay for weeks. The white spots on her nails disappeared within two days.
A year later some of the problems came back. She started to get lost within a new relationship, but this time she was able to spot what was happening. Another dose of
Aluminium sulphuricum worked straight away with good results.