4.7.6 Manganum muriaticum, Case 1A 30 year old woman suffers from constipation with distension of her abdomen. She has only 1 or 2 stools a week. It started about 6 years ago after she had been on a diet. She did lose some weight, but her menses stopped and she became very constipated. Nowadays she loses weight even when she eats a lot, especially when she feels tension, for instance when she is looking for another job.
She is a nursery teacher and loves her work. She started a creche all by herself and it was very popular. She loves children and has been baby sitting since she was ten years old. She wants to have children herself and she often cries when she sees children playing.
Now she has moved to another town but she can’t find a job. She is temporarily helping someone who gives dog training classes. She is training some puppies too. She is patient and can explain things very clearly.
She feels depressed because she hasn’t got a job, as if all the energy is draining out of her. She doesn’t want to undertake anything and feels as if her hands are glued to her body. She has started to doubt her own capabilities and when she does something wrong she cries for the rest of the day. She cannot take criticism very well because she feels she cannot defend herself. She feels depressed and irritable before the menses. But on the whole she is very cheerful and lively. Her talk is spontaneous and open and she tells me everything about her life and her character. She has great perseverance, but up to a point. When she gets too much opposition she tries to make a joke of it, but when that doesn’t work she quits.
She used to have a cyst on her left ovary, but this disappeared again by itself. She used a coil for a while but it caused pains in her abdomen. Sometimes she gets dizzy, a sudden feeling of light headedness with trembling and sweating, ameliorated from eating.
When she was little she used to have frequent ear infections, resulting in a slight deafness in her right ear. Other recurring problems included sinusitis and headaches, which disappeared after extraction of a wisdom tooth.
She had a dream that she was out hunting for deer but got shot in the foot herself.
Fears: bats (3), dogs.
GeneralsWeather: cold, cold hands and feet; > outside.
Perspiration: little.
Time: < 4 to 6 pm.
Desires: sweet, chocolate, fruit, grapefruit, tonic; milk.
Aversion: juice, sugar, fatty meat, sprouts, curly kale, mashed potatoes withonions and meat.
Menses: swollen and sensitive breasts before menses.
Sleep: on left side.
AnalysisThis might be a Muriaticum because of her love for children. She even made a career out of it, which points to the
Iron series (rather than the Silver or
Gold series,which would involve a position of responsibility and leadership. In her case it is merely a job, which is more
Iron series). The sensitivity to criticism also fits this series and the fact that she quits and withdraws points to an element in the first 9 stages. But she did start and she has already set something up in the past which went well. So we are looking at an element between
Chromium and
Cobaltum.
Her desire to help and to work in children’s education is very pronounced, and this is typical of
Manganum. And so we get
Manganum muriaticum. Another typical feature is the fact that she helps others (
Manganum) to train puppies (Muriaticum).
Other
Manganum symptoms: < 5 pm, cold, ear infections.
Muriaticum symptoms: swollen and painful breasts before menses, irritability and depression before menses, sleeping on left side, cyst on left ovary, constipation, menses absent.
ReactionOne month after
Manganum muriaticum 1M she feels much better. The improvement started after a brief return of old complaints, amongst others pain in her ankles.
Her stools are normal and she doesn’t think about them anymore. She has got a new job, working in a restaurant and she puts all her energy into it. She is calmer and more trusting that ‘everyone will be taken care of’. She sticks up for herself in discussions and is less inclined to shut up and withdraw. She is less shy in meeting people. The pain in her breasts before the menses is still there but the irritability has gone.
She got another dose of
Manganum muriaticum after six months because of a return of the constipation and swollen breasts before menses.