Plumbum

6.14 Plumbum, Case 1A 37 year old woman has problems with her memory. It started after a back operation where some of her vertebrae were fixed. Five years ago she suffered from an acute hernia with heightened reflexes and numbness here and there. Three years ago she got another attack with pain in her left leg and atrophy of the thigh. She has had her hips in plaster four times, but it did not help. That is why the doctors decided to fix her back, lumbar 5 to sacrum. She does the administration for her husbands business but she is having great difficulty at the moment. The conversations with the clients don’t get through, it is as if the words don’t reach her brain. She forgets appointments and her memory is bad on the whole. She feels she can’t lead her own life. They live above the business and the telephone never stops ringing. She is the second youngest of five children. Her mother fell ill when she was 8, so she had to run the house, because her elder sister was depressed and let her do all the chores. Her father was very dominating and kept piling more work onto her shoulders, sometimes even forbade her to go to school. She felt she was forced into doing these tasks and often did not want to do them. Her family still expect her to take charge of all family matters, but she doesn’t want to. She is expected to solve the problems of her elder sister who is depressed and suicidal. She wishes her sister would commit euthanasia.
Her arms end to feel heavy, particularly after working behind the computer. She had post natal depression once. She used to be constipated but this was cured after an operation to remove her appendix.GeneralsType: obese.
Weather: cold, ice cold feet; < heat of the sun; nervous, < full moon and thunder.
Desires: fat (3), chocolate (3), coffee (3), milk (3), cheese (3).
Aversion: sour, spices.
Food: < wine: red spots.AnalysisThe most striking symptoms are the heightened reflexes and the atrophy of the thigh muscles, which indicates Plumbum. There are many confirming symptoms: memory impaired, hernia, feeling impaired, constipation, heavy arms, post natal depression.
We can also see the general theme of Plumbum in this case. She feels she cannot lead her own life, she is forced to take charge of the family, but is not allowed to have her say in the matter (Gold series), her father pushes her into doing his chores (Stage 14). She feels she is being forced, as if she is a puppet (Plumbum) on a string. She even has to take responsibility for her depressed and suicidal sister (Stage 14), but would prefer the doctors to use euthanasia (Gold series). The theme of the mask, that comes a year later, is typical of Plumbum.ReactionAfter Plumbum 1M she comes back a month later feeling much better. She can oversee matters now and doesn’t panic so much. She even took up a new study.
A year later she comes back because she is depressed. Her sister had attempted suicide and her family was constantly calling her over the phone, but she doesn’t want to speak to anybody. She is feeling suicidal herself. She is worse after 11 am. She sits in a chair all afternoon doing nothing. If the children bring a friend home to play she feels even worse, but she doesn’t show it, ‘she puts on a mask’. She would like to run away from her husband and children because the responsibility is too heavy. But she feels neither the family nor the business could do without her. She feels nervous and her hands tremble.
After Plumbum 1M she soon feels better. She chooses to lead her own life and decides to install a private telephone and an answerphone.