6.12 Mercurius vivus, Case 1A 35 year old woman has problems with her bowels. She gets cramps in the middle of her lower abdomen, alternating with diarrhoea. The stools are thin, and have a nasty acrid smell. Her complaints are related to tension and she feels unsafe at work. She has conflicts with her mangers who don’t support her at all. She is a manager herself and she likes doing it. She wants to make sure that everything runs well. She is happy to take responsibility and she wants to let people do what they are good at. One of her bosses is particularly manipulative, he is quite ruthless and dictatorial. This man, and several others are interfering with her work, although it is her department and they have no business interfering with her. She regard them as her enemies and she is afraid of them. But she can’t stand up against them so she swallows her anger and thinks: ‘I’ll do what I like because this is my department’. She often makes cynical jokes to get release the pressure. She studied law and worked as a lawyer for many years. She liked that type of life, having to fight to a well defined case.
She is easily offended, especially when people don’t treat her with respect, for instance when they copy one of her files without asking her first. She likes everything to be above board, that way everyone knows where they stand. She usually bottles up her anger until she has a violent outburst when the pressure has built up too much.
She has difficulty sleeping because of the problems at work. Her breathing is fast and shallow, sometimes she is on the verge of hyperventilating.
She had a dream that she was standing on a platform with a crowd of people; the platform is revolving and when you stand on the edge you are likely to fly off. At another night she dreamt that she wanted to build a house but the ground did not belong to her. In a third dream she wanted to build a house at the seaside. The walls were there already, but they started to crack.
When she was younger she often dreamt that she was on a journey. She also had violent dreams about a family member who committed suicide, or about a cat who was grinning at her while being boiled alive. She always woke up screaming.
She also had nightmares about being involved in a war and try to escape from the fighting.
GeneralsWeather: cold, < too much heat, < too cold (2), <- gloomy.
Perspiration: < exertion (2), < night.
Time: < 7-9 am.
Desires: chocolate, liquorice, cakes, fruit, salad.
Aversion: fat.
menses: profuse; with stomach pains.
Sleep: tense; difficulty getting asleep; wakes at 5-6 in the morning.
AnalysisHer managerial position at work indicates the
Gold series. She enjoys her job and takes responsibility for her department. But she feels unsafe and threatened in her own territory. This is typical of
Stage 12 and so we get to Mercurius.
She feels that her boss (
Gold series) is like an enemy (
Stage 12). Her boss (
Gold series) is manipulative (
Stage 12) and ruthless. She feels indignant (
Gold series) and hurt when people don’t respect her feelings (
Stage 12).
Her dream about flying off the edge of a revolving platform is quite symbolic. So are the cracks in the walls of the house and the dreams about violence, war and battles. The cramp in her bowels and the stinking diarrhoea are well known symptoms of Mercurius. Other Mercurius symptoms: she is a lawyer, fighting, desire for clarity and directness, travelling, dream about a family member committing suicide, difficulty getting asleep, cold, < heat and < cold, perspiration < exertion, < night.
ReactionAfter Mercurius 1M she starts to feel better. Less threatened and nervous at work, although the situation remained the same. The eczema became worse for a few days, accompanied by a bad swelling around her ear.