3.1.6 Natrium bromatum, Case 1A 25 year old woman suffers from eczema, mainly on her neck, but also extending to her jaw line and down to the chest. Also some patches on her eyelids and in the bend of the elbows. The skin is dry, purple/red and rough and itches very much (3). The problem started when she was 14, around the time of her first menstruation.
Modalities: < before menses, slow improvement during menses; < cats (3), evening (but never in bed); < coffee, chocolate (3), autumn, stress, after a shower (3); > summer, sun (3), sea (3), cold applications (2), pregnancy. Two weeks after the birth of her first child she got a severe aggravation, and was covered from head to foot with eczema. The itching was terrible; she scratched until her skin was bleeding all over, < at night: it kept her awake all night. She was treated in hospital and given some cortisone medication. She felt very divided: on the one hand she had a child which made her very happy, and on the other hand she had this terrible skin condition which made her feel very ashamed. The next two pregnancies caused no aggravations.
Sometimes she has a headache, throbbing, pain behind her eyes, as if the eyes are being pulled back, << sun.
When she is tense she feels herself trembling inside, which is sometimes visible on the outside. She can’t stand being tickled.
Previous history: cystitis during her primary school years. She had her tonsils removed and she has had Pfeiffer. There is a family history of eczema and asthma.
GeneralsBuild: tall, slim, blond hair, blue eyes.
Weather: cold, < dry air, < sun.
Desires: sweet (2), egg (3), chocolate (3), meat (2), potatoes, vegetables.
Aversion: fat, fish, bitter.
Menses: irregular (4-5 weeks ). Normal flow in the beginning, clots later on.Prolonged and scanty.
Sleep: on right side.
Mental/emotional: She talks quite openly about her problems. She has one elder brother and two younger sisters. She has always been a good girl: she considered it normal to do as she was told. Her brother did rebel against his parents and although he never got punished she simply couldn’t do it herself. ‘Rules are there to be obeyed’. Her father had difficulty letting her go once she was engaged. Even then she did what her father wanted her to. She still finds it difficult to talk about it because she is afraid of hurting his feelings. When she gets angry she gets depressed: she suppresses her anger straight away and doesn’t talk about it until much later, for fear of saying something wrong. She once got told off at school and felt terribly ashamed: she hated herself for it. She is also a perfectionist as far as other people are concerned: ’whatever you show to the outside world must look good’.
She has difficulty speaking in public: it makes her blush and stutter. She hates all those eyes being focused on her. She never speaks in front of a group of people. She can’t say no, not to strangers, but especially not to friends. She feels uncomfortable: ‘people expect so much of you’. As long as she can make others happy she is happy herself. So she goes round pleasing everybody otherwise she feels guilty. She wants to be appreciated. She worked at the post office for a while but she got terribly worried about making mistakes, feeling she couldn’t handle the responsibility. Even though she is very precise and conscientious, she was still afraid that things would go wrong. A nightmare she had during that time: she saw lots of money and everything went wrong. She did not do her job properly and made all sorts of mistakes, which made her panic.
AnalysisThe most striking aspect of this case is the feelings of guilt and shame. This makes us think of
Bromium, which is further confirmed by: eczema on the neck, > sea, < chocolate, tension with internal trembling, blue eyes, blonde, being ashamed when reprimanded and fear of making mistakes.
But which bromatum should we choose? If we take a look at the way she deals with her guilt we notice that she hates herself for it but she doesn’t show it to anybody. She keeps all her feelings to herself. This is characteristic of
Natrium, which brings us to
Natrium bromatum. Her reaction to other situations seems to confirm this choice: She feels depressed when she gets angry and she doesn’t like saying ‘no’ to people because it makes her feel guilty.
Other
Natrium symptoms: > sea, headache < sun, <- fish, <- bitter, doesn’t like speaking in front of a group.
ReactionShe was first given
Calcium phosphoricum and
Calcium sulphuricum, without result. But a month after she was given
Natrium bromatum I could see it had worked the moment she walked into the room there was an openness about her that had not been there before. She had had a severe bout of ‘flu’ without fever: a bad cold with green discharge; dry, hard cough, green sputum; sore throat < swallowing, loss of voice; soreness in chest and stomach, < every breath. The eczema did not get worse, but it also appeared on her right arm for one day, after which it disappeared again. Five to six days afterwards her skin started to heal. Since this ‘flu’ her skin has been exceptionally good. She only had a relapse when she started taking the pill, but shortly after that it went away again by itself.