Holmium Carbonicum Caseby Deborah Collins
Holmium Carbonicum Case
This is a case that I worked on for a few years before finding the remedy.
When I first saw D. he was five years old, but looked much older and wiser than his age. His face was pale, and his eyes were very sad looking, red-rimmed, with dark rings under them. His mother said that he often looks washed out and tired.
He was born in Israel, and his family immigrated to New Zealand due to the increasing danger in his homeland. He seemed to carry some of the fears of the situation his family had left: he would often wake up from nightmares, dreams of “bad people” who would take his friends away, and was afraid to go to sleep because of that. He would also dream of ghosts, men and women who would reach out to him. When shopping with his mother he would be on the lookout for boxes or bags left lying around, afraid that there might be a bomb inside them, even though his parents had been careful not to talk much about the dangers that they used to live in.
He had got off to a sickly start, with asthma as a baby, needing to be on a respirator every two hours. After that he developed eczema, the complaint he has now come for.
His mother describes him as a quiet boy, but one who takes everything in. He knows where everything is, and what it is for: “he has his little sensors on all the time”. He is very good at sports, and is very competitive. He always wants to play with his older brothers, rather than children his own age or younger, and feels that he ought to be able to do everything at least as well as they do. (“5 years old going on 25” as his mother says). He wants to impress people by doing well, playing cards at the same level as his older brothers. He is the brightest child in his class, but he continually compares himself with others who are much older, and feels that he is a failure.
I give him
Natrium sulphuricum, which helps his eczema for a while, and helps him to feel somewhat lighter and happier, but he often needs repeats, and then it does nothing anymore. In the course of the following years he is given various remedies, usually heavy metals such as
Aurum Met. or
Aurum sulphuratum, which again react briefly but not lastingly.
Finally, when he is 12 years old, his mother and I review his case completely, as he is still tired, is still getting eczema, and is so unhappy at school that she is thinking of home-schooling him.
His mother describes him: “He is always grumpy and angry, feeling short-changed. He will find any reason to feel angry, slighted, hard done by. “Why is it always me? I don’t get as much time on the computer as the others do.” He tries to taunt his older brothers, to make them angry, too, but it seldom works, and he ends up feeling like “the little one”. He has such a big thing about “fairness” – he is totally shocked when something is not fairly done. He was, for instance, appalled to find that he had not been placed on the hockey team, knowing that he was one of the best players, and that the son of the coach had been put on instead, even though he was not nearly as good a player. He complained bitterly about this for a few months, then became quite philosophical about it: “I’ve become stronger from this experience. I know what it is like to miss out unfairly, and to get over it, but my friends don’t.” Despite this set back, he does not lose his confidence, and is sure that he will be chosen next year: “They’ve made a mistake, I’m over it now, and they’ll see that they need me.” At the same time, he will complain loudly if his team wins a game due to the referee making a poor decision which benefits their side. He refuses to celebrate with his team mates because “we shouldn’t have won! It wasn’t a fair game!”
It is difficult to earn his respect, he is very stand-offish and critical. He disdains people who make flippant remarks, and looks down his nose at friends who talk nonsense. He is very intense, infuriated by any untruth, and loathes people who are not consistent. He doesn’t defer to teachers or other adults, and makes himself unpopular with them at school. He laughs at his teachers, calls them ‘dick heads’. He has no reverence to anything religious, and will laugh during ceremonies at the Steiner school, or blow the candles out. Funerals? “It’s so silly, those priests with their stupid gear on, they don’t even believe what they are saying! When it’s my turn just give me a cardboard box, and no speeches!” He hates dancing, just stands on the side and sulks, with a face like thunder. He is generally not rude in words, but in attitude. He is, however, popular with the children at school, who see him as one of the “cool” ones.
He refuses to defend himself, or to apologize, instead just clamming up. “I can’t be bothered, I didn’t do anything wrong, why should I apologize?” He will, however, defend other children. When up against a problem he can’t solve he will draw back, retract into himself. He can’t stand not getting something right the first time, it seems beneath him to have to learn by trial and error. He is very bright, especially in exact subjects like mathematics, but feels he is not good enough at other subjects: “I don’t get the help I need! I get distracted when other kids are talking. If I don’t know what to do, how to do it to get it right straight away, I give up.”
Physically he still has problems with eczema, especially on his hands, and allergies to many things. He is continually sneezing, and has red, watery eyes. He is still tired, and has difficulties getting out of bed in the mornings.
AnalysisHis independence, and sense of being much older than his years, finally led me to the
Lanthanides.
His confidence, and his disdain of others, plus his tendency to withdraw into cynicism, pointed to stage 13,
Holmium.
His eczema and allergies, and his rounded build and plump hands, as well as his fear of ghosts, pointed to Carbonicum, therefore the remedy
Holmium carbonicum 1M.
ResultsAfter one dose of the remedy his mother reports that he is a totally changed person. The heaviness has gone, as have the eczema and the allergies. “He is a boy now, not a little man in a boy’s body.”
Months later he has a repeat dose, when some eczema starts to return. He continues to be very fair-minded, but not longer so hard done by.
Deborah Collinsforphilo@clear.net.nz
Categories:
RemediesKeywords: eczema, disdain of others