6.8 Osmium, Case 1A 40 year old woman has a whole series of complaints. The first one is a severe allergy, which makes her sneeze, with a watery, biting discharge from the nose and headaches that make her feel as her eyes are being rigidly fixed in her head. Her neck and shoulders are often stiff too. She has difficulty breathing, ameliorated from stretching her back. The complaints are < cold, changes of weather, in May and June, dogs (3). cats (3), birds, smoke, mimosa (3), grass, exhaust gases and house dust. Sometimes she has a hollow cough. As a child she used to get asthmatic bronchitis.
A second complaint is an irritable bowel. She suffers from wind, with much distension, the flatus often smells of rotting slurry. Her abdomen is sensitive to touch, the pain is < touch, clothes, sitting a long time, changes of weather, walking long distances, fat and cream, and > stool, stretching and putting her hand on her stomach. These complaints are clearly related to stress.
A third complaint is pain in her joints and muscles, especially in neck, shoulders, lower back and right hip. The joints are swollen, especially in the wrists, worse from sitting still for a long time and eating salt.
The stress has to do with her work. She has her own organisation advice agency. The work load is varying, sometimes very busy, sometimes not. She says: ‘I have made a business out of clearing up other people’s rubbish’, which refers to the quarrels her parents used to have. She always had to act as a go between. She has a sharp insight into the patterns of an organisation. She can predict years in advance what will happen if they don’t take certain preventative measures. Other people are often surprised when she is proved to be correct in her forecast. She says she is a pushy sort of woman. She doesn’t give up and often takes on more than she can handle. She does her job, and she runs the house, and she studies and she is doing some alterations in the house at the moment. She also has time consuming hobbies like making her own clothes and repairing cars. She loves using her hands. She has a slight fear of heights.
She is happily married, but they did not want any children. On her part this choice was based on her own unhappy childhood experiences.
GeneralsWeather: cold (2), < draught (2), < change of weather; > outside, > mountains (2), < sea, < damp.
Perspiration: sometimes on waking.
Time: < 5 am, < 8-9 am.
Desires: spices (3), sour (2), wine, juicy fruit.
Aversion: radish (2), sweet, milk, cauliflower, sprouts.
Food: < fat, salt, eating too much.
Menses: painful (2), a sensation of drawing and stamping in her abdomen; tired, irregular; breasts painful and swollen.
Sleep: unrefreshing, can’t relax; short; tingling arms and legs on waking.
Physical: > motion, < sitting long.
AnalysisHer job as an management advisor indicates the
Gold series. She takes the lead temporarily to get the organisation on the right tracks again. She is pushy, works under pressure and doesn’t give up. All these are themes of
Stage 8. These two themes combined give us the remedy Osmium.
Her fear of heights also fits the
Gold series.
Symptoms belonging to
Stage 8: creating a job out of clearing rubble, strategic, recognises the patterns in an organisation, takes on more than she can handle.
Her stomach complaints and the stinking flatus were typical of Osmium.
ReactionAfter Osmium 200K the stomach problems gradually subside. She develops a different outlook on life, doesn’t want to work under pressure anymore. She would like to do something a bit more creative. Later on she got several more doses of Osmium 200K and 1M to help her through this process.
The hayfever however wasn’t touched by this remedy.