3.2.3 Magnesium silicatum, Case 1An 18 year old boy has come because he has many fears. He is afraid of many things, especially diseases. He is so afraid of AIDS that he weighs himself at least twice a week to check that he hasn’t lost any weight. He is afraid of death and of committing suicide. He is also afraid of what happens after death. During these fears he gets a tight feeling of a band around his chest. He often wakes up at night between 2 and 4, with great fear and sweating.
He used to smoke hash occasionally, but lately he doesn’t feel very well afterwards. Recently he freaked out when he felt extremely afraid for 3 hours, thinking he had been poisoned and feeling as if he was floating.
He loves warmth and tenderness. He likes his father to put his arms around him and he sometimes crawls into bed next to his father. But he doesn’t want his friends to know about this, nor about the fact that he is often so afraid. He has built up a sort of leadership image with them where he is the one with the most bravado. He is the one who dares to drive his moped at 30 miles per hour within inches of the oncoming traffic, he is the one who is constantly showing how brave he is. He admits to me that it is actually quite tiring to keep up this front all the time.
He loves being aggressive: it gives him a kick. He likes to tease his sister. He is very strong and can floor somebody with one well aimed blow. he loves horror films
His parents aren’t very happy together, they often fight. He gets very angry when they talk about divorce: he also gets angry when other people try to cause trouble between his parents.
He isn’t doing very well at school, he can’t concentrate. He is so restless that he has been given permission to get up and go for a walk around the school when he needs to.
He suffers from severe acne, with blackheads on his chin and cheeks, < fat and chocolate. He occasionally gets a shooting pain in his left forehead, as of a metal bar.
He has been biting his nails ever since he can remember.
GeneralsWeather: < cold (2), < damp. His fingers and toes go numb and blue with cold.
Perspiration: feet at night. Stinking, biting foot sweat in the past.
Time: < morning.
Desires: starch, spices, sweet, fish, fruit.
Aversion: meat, chicory, aubergine, boiled potatoes.
Food: < fat, chips, mayonnaise, < chocolate.
Sleep: needs at least 8 hours; used to grind teeth.
AnalysisThis is a typical picture of a teenager. But how do we treat this? We could give
Medorrhinum or Lycopodium or Thuja, but I did not think these would do very much. If we take a look at the central theme we see that everything revolves around his brave image which has to be preserved at any cost. The brave and aggressive part belongs to
Magnesium, while the image part belongs to Silicatum.
Other
Magnesium symptoms: < morning, -> fruit; <- meat, chicory, boiled potatoes, desire for horror films.
Silica symptoms: < cold, stinking foot sweat, warts, acne, stitching pains, grinding of teeth, nail biting and his obvious need for fatherly support.
ReactionOne day after
Magnesium silicatum 1M his anger gets worse and it stays like that for 5 days. After that he starts to feel better. The fear and the restlessness are getting less and he is not so intent on proving himself. His feet don’t smell anymore. It is now two years later and he is still doing very well.
I had given him Silica 5 years previously, without any success. He had also had Thuja, which made his warts disappear, but did little else. I had also given him Belladonna, Tarentula,
Lyssinum, Mercurius and Staphysagria in the past, because of his aggressive behaviour, but there was little change on any of these remedies, except on Belladonna, which improved his acute attacks of headache and aggression, but brought no lasting change.