Zincum

4.12 Zincum, Case 1A 35 year old man has suffered from migraine since he was 6. He feels pressure in his forehead, usually once a month. It always starts at inconvenient times, on Saturdays, after he has had a lie in, at Christmas or Easter or other festive days. It usually gets worse as the day goes on and forces him to sit down quietly or have a little sleep. It is worse after keeping irregular hours, working late, company, noise, alcohol, hot weather, sailing. Sometimes he has to vomit during these headaches.
He gets pain in his back from carrying heavy loads. When he was 11 years old he had an infection of the bone marrow in his right thigh. At age 21 a benign tumour in the right testicle.
He has studied history and works in the archive department of a library. He likes to do well and used to get very nervous before exams. He doesn’t like to show this, prefers to come across as being quiet and stable. He feels quite confident on the whole, but wants to be appreciated and can feel very uncertain at times. He realises that if he doesn’t set his sights so high he won’t be disappointed so easily.
He used to be shy when he was young. He was the youngest of the class and was good at learning. His father wanted him and his sister to do well and used to comment when they were sitting down having a break: ‘Can’t you find anything to do?’ He did not talk much with other people until he was at university, before that he used to be very quiet, just like his father.
He likes sports, football and politics.
He dreams of being unprepared for an exam and of his busy job.GeneralsWeather: cold, cold feet; < heat, -> fresh air.
Perspiration: < exertion, < night.
Time: end of the day.
Desires: sweet, liquorice all sorts, salt, spices, fish.
Aversion: salt, milk.
Food: alcohol, coffee.
Sleep: like a log.AnalysisThe urge to achieve, the uncertainty and the desire to be appreciated point to a remedy in the Iron series. He was good at learning, the youngest of the class, his father wanted him to do well at school, all this is typical of Zincum. This is further confirmed by the fact that his father did not want him to sit still and do nothing, and now he gets migraines when he is off work. Another typical Zincum way of dealing with the pressure is to set his sights lower than what he can really achieve, to avoid getting disappointed.
Further Zincum symptoms: nervous during exams, dreaming of being unprepared for the exam, dreams about busy jobs, tumour of testicle, < company, noise, alcohol, cold, -> fresh air, < end of the day, -> sweet, salt, spices, fish.ReactionAfter Sulphur 1M his headache improved slightly, but he felt a lot more irritable. One month after Zincum 1M the migraine has completely disappeared. He feels much better and more energetic. During the next six months he has two more doses of Zincum 1M.