Author:
Jayesh Shahn
Book:
Interhomeopathy
Type:
Chapter:
2014.11.05
Meditative approach in chronic skin complaints
by Jayesh Shah
Chronic skin complaints like psoriasis, eczema, and lichen planus virtually constitute the bane of a person’s life. The anxiety and the social embarrassment due to the complaints is often more agonizing than the suffering itself. This becomes a perpetual concern for the patient and the family. Often, we get cases where every mode of treatment is tried before they finally approach us. The chronicity and the direct body-mind connection in such complaints necessitate the need for a systematic holistic understanding.
Despite a good totality, there are many relapses in such complaints. The patient loses hope and sinks into a state of despair. The duty of the homoeopath in such cases is to be a silent facilitator and to bring forth from the patient’s subconscious the state of agony and despair that he has been routinely living. The homoeopath plays the role of a passive observer to encourage the patient to observe and report the contours of his own experience. When the experience emerges to the foreground, it provides a proper grip on the patient’s inner song. The very crystallization of the patient’s experience itself initiates the healing process. The physician here has to go with the flow of the case and help the patient disconnect from his complaints. This is often possible by the use of meditative approaches.
Below are two cases of chronic skin conditions seen. The cases have been edited for brevity. Abbreviations used are P: patient, JS: Jayesh Shah, HG: Hand Gesture.
Lichen planus is an inflammatory autoimmune condition that can affect skin and mucous membranes. It usually appears as purplish, flat, itchy eruptions on the skin, in the mouth, vagina, and other areas covered by mucus membranes. It forms lacy white patches with painful sores. The typical signs and symptoms include purplish flat-topped bumps, most often on the inner forearm, wrist or ankle, and sometimes on the genitals. Itching invariably accompanies the skin lesions. The blisters may break to form scabs or crusts. On mucous membranes, it may present as white spots or patches in the mouth — inside the cheeks or on the gums, lips or tongue, or painful oral or vaginal ulcers. Hair loss and scalp discoloration are also common with lichen planus. This may also affect the nails, causing nail damage or loss of nails.
Case 1
Tthis is a case of 63-year-old female who had been diagnosed with oral lichen planus. She was first seen on 4th July, 2012. She is a public relationship officer at Tata hospital, a famous cancer specialty hospital in Mumbai. She had been to various doctors for the same problem with hardly any relief. She entered the office and said that she was feeling anxious about what questions might be asked to her. She could not describe this anxiety further.
A human being has two minds. One is the thinking mind and the other is the experiencing mind. These days, I work a lot in giving the experiencing mind a chance to experience whatever the life force or the vital force has to experience. This is done by simply asking the patient to focus on the experience. So, I asked her to give attention to this anxiety.
The patient said that the anxiety was of the unknown as to what questions would be asked.
While the patient is in an experiencing mode, the best way to facilitate this is by suggesting to him/her to close eyes and take some deep breaths and follow the directions. Asking them to take deep breath helps to connect with the experience. In a way, it is like a guided meditation.
As she focused further on the anxiety about the unknown, she felt alone, like there was no one. Not even feeling her body parts. Just a few minutes into this meditative state, she started experiencing relaxation.
Now, we see that the life force initially feels anxious and the anxiety is concerning what questions are going to be asked. As she gives attention to this anxiety, it abates, and relaxation sets in. This is the beauty of the meditative approach, the patient starts to feel at ease during the consultation itself. Our job is to just facilitate the vital force.
JS: Give this relaxation all your attention.
P: It feels light. Like my body is travelling somewhere. Someone is asking me something and nothing is felt in the body. It feels like I am flying somewhere.
JS: Give this flying full attention and experience it.
P: My brain and my mind feel very free, like I am getting sleep. Everything has become silent. My brain and body have vanished. It is just like a vacuum. Nothing is there. I am floating somewhere but I don’t know where I am going. Just like an empty space. I am getting lost in this space.
JS: Give this experience all your attention.
P: Now, I feel I have stopped. I am going backwards. It feels like I am going backwards and backwards, down and down. I don’t know where I will go, again I have started going up. I am floating upwards. I am swaying like a pendulum.
JS: Just experience this swaying like a pendulum.
P: I am in the sky, there is no ground below. I am just going ahead and sometimes behind.
JS: Environment of sky, no ground below your feet, going up and down… Give this your entire attention.
P: I am going high up; I am seeing a bright light. There is bright light in front of my eyes. As I am going higher and higher, I see a white light and there is no darkness. The light is spreading everywhere and I am travelling. My speed is reducing, I have become slower and slower. I feel I am going in the right direction and I feel hot, there is power in my body. It is like a wave of energy running in my body. It is like a circle, there are rides in which you sit and go round and round. There is numbness in the body. It is a nice experience. I am enjoying this journey.
This is the point where the patient sees a light and this light has a lot of potential to heal. If the patient is able to experience this light, then a sense of ease starts to set in. At this point, I ask them to take few deep breaths, ask them to feel the chair they are sitting on, feel the floor, feel the place they are meditating in and ask them to open their eyes when they are ready.
The meditation ended there. From there, we began our classical case-taking process. The patient said that she dreamt of going somewhere, walking somewhere but not getting there, and she just kept walking and walking. To her, it felt as if she was going by bus and the bus was not moving, so she did not reach her destination. She was constantly trying to see and find her destination.
The patient recalled one more dream: she was going by bus with her brothers and sisters. Midway, the bus stopped and they all got out and waited for another bus. However, the bus did not come and they were not even aware of where they were going. The only thing she remembered about the dream was that she was travelling.
This was very interesting. At the beginning, she said that she has this lichen planus and that she has been to so many doctors without result. Then, in the meditation, we see that she is going back and forth but not arriving anywhere. The experience in the meditation is of enjoyment. When we asked about the dreams, the same phenomenon of ‘trying’ is seen. This is the commonality of the case. Now, our job was to find the experience of this trying and struggle, which would lead us to the sensation. This trying was nothing but her coping mechanism, which is the ringworm miasm.
In the Sensation Approach, depending on the pace, the rapidity and the level of desperation, the states of disease and remedies are identified and classified into ten miasms, ranging from Psoric, which is the least desperate, to Syphilitic, which is the most desperate. The other miasms include Acute, Sycotic, Typhoid, Malaria, Ringworm, Cancer, Tubercular, and Leprosy, each having a distinct character. The situation of the ringworm miasm seems to be one at the limit of the person’s capacity. There is hope of possible success and so a lot of effort is made, but each failure makes her give up and accept her limitations.1
I then tried to ask her the experience of this but she is unable to go into the experience. So, we asked her to describe the chief complaint.
The patient said that she was on an outing in Jaipur with her family. During breakfast, the snacks felt too spicy, as if full of chillies. Her mouth started to burn and this continued into the next day. She noticed multiple cracks in the mucosa of her mouth. The inside of her cheek had become rough. Her brother-in-law, a physician, prescribed some medicines along with milk and probiotic yoghurt, but here was no relief at all. Then, she was given vitamin B complex shots; she got admitted to hospital and underwent all possible investigations. Finally, one physician at Tata hospital diagnosed her condition as oral lichen planus. In his opinion, there was no treatment in modern medicine except steroids, which she refused to take. Then, she tried homoeopathy for six months with no relief either, followed by all possible home remedies without success.
Her main complaint with this lichen was difficulty in eating. Any food felt too spicy to her. Her mouth was always dry and burning. She could not eat hot food at all. Cold ameliorated, so she retained some cold water in her mouth for 2-3 minutes after having any food, which provided some relief. Due to this condition, she was deprived of eating food like samosa, kachori and chaat (spicy and fried Indian snacks). She loved to eat and drink, but could have only curd, while everyone had tasty food. She was interested in travelling and seeing new places, as she was of the opinion that God has made so many things in the world and seeing them gave a good feeling. Apart from travelling, she loved to be in water, getting wet in the rain. She preferred travelling over buying jewelry and sarees. She likes to remain active and is a member of many clubs; she loves watching dramas, going to work at the hospital, going to the Lions club. She does not come home until 11pm. She does not like to sit idle or in front of television, which she calls an ‘idiot box’; to her it is a waste of time to sit watching the TV; it made her restless, like a helpless situation, as if she is tied up. The main experience for her to sit in front of the television is of boredom.
Let us understand this case in parts. First, we understand what comes up in the meditation. The most prominent thing that came is going up and down, back and forth and not being able to reach her destination. The experience of this is enjoyment. So, we see that she is going somewhere, not reaching that place, and this is an enjoyable experience. Then, we move on to her dreams: in one dream she narrates that she is going with her brothers and sisters in a bus and they don’t know where they are going. The bus stops in the middle and they are waiting for the next bus to come. Here again, we see that they are travelling to a certain place but the bus stops, and they are not able to reach the destination. So, the important thing that runs in these two subconscious areas is trying, not being able to reach the destination though trying to.
The same phenomenon of ‘trying’ is evident: she is going from one doctor to another to another but there is no relief. Then, she gives up, tries homoeopathy, then home remedies, and then, gives up. So, this trying and giving up is a pattern we see running through the case. This is how she is coping; this is the miasm of the case: ringworm. Next, our aim is to understand the sensation, that commonality or theme, which runs through the case.
We see that she loves enjoyment and travelling and she is fond of eating. She is a very active person; she likes to see the dramas, travelling, seeing the world, going to new places, and getting wet in the rain, all of which make her happy. The other side is to be idle, which she hates, especially sitting in front of television and wasting time, which would be the last thing to do. This makes her feel bored. These are the two polarities in the case. On one side is the enjoyment, the other side is the boredom.
Last but not the least, we see that her disease is depriving her of food or spicy things like chaat, kachori, etc. She is forced to have bland food. So, the main sensation in the case is:
▪ Enjoyment by travelling, getting wet in the rain
▪ Entertainment by watching drama
▪ Seeing new places, travelling
The other polarity of the above is:
▪ Boredom; sitting in one place in front of the “idiot box” (the television)
▪ Pain
▪ Blandness
Once we arrive at the sensation, our next job is to finalize the kingdom. Here, we see that the issues are: sensitivity and reactivity. The problem is not experienced as if there is something lacking or as a victim-aggressor phenomenon. The problem is more of sensitivity and reactivity. So, this sensation falls under the plant kingdom. A systematic and prolonged study of cases led to a definitive understanding: when classified at the level of experience, the patient’s experience could be classified into three kingdoms: Plant, Mineral, and, Animal. The main experience or the Vital Sensation of the Plants has to do with sensitivity, of being affected and reacting. The main sensation of the Mineral kingdom has to do with structure, whether I am lacking, if I have to complete myself, or if I am losing my structure. The main experience of the Animal kingdom is survival.2
Further study of plant families led to understanding that the core experience of the vital sensation in them is expressed as two opposite polarities. In this case, the next step is to understand which plant family has pain, boredom, and blandness, as well as enjoyment and entertainment as its central issue or core experience. This is seen in the Piperaceae family. Unfortunately, there is no remedy in Piperaceae family which belongs to the ringworm miasm. So, we studied all the remedies in Piperaceae family; the closest was the remedy Piper nigrum, which is classified as a sycotic remedy.3
After a year of treatment, the lesions healed completely. In her follow up on 31st July, 2013, she said that there is no more pain or burning, meaning no more deprivation of food. She is now able to eat spicy food with no aggravation. She was given Piper nigrum 200C for four months, which was then stepped up to 1M. She was given approximately one dose every month, until her complaint settled completely. She is very happy as she can now enjoy all food. Everyone asks her how the ulcers disappeared when modern medicine doctors had given up on her case. She enjoys good health and feels very happy and grateful to homoeopathy. She refers many patients to the clinic, being more than highly satisfied by her own recovery.
Case written and edited by Sneha Vyas and Devang Shah
References
1,4 Rajan Sankaran, The Sensation in Homoeopathy, Miasms, Second Edition, 2005, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers.
2 Rajan Sankaran, The Sensation in Homoeopathy, Vital Sensation and Kingdoms, Second Edition, 2005, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers.
3 Rajan Sankaran, Piperaceae, An Insight into Plants – Vol 3, First Edition, 2007, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers, Mumbai
4 Rajan Sankaran, An Insight into Plants, Volume 1, Second Revised Edition, 2005, Homoeopathic Medical Publishers.
6 ReferenceWorks Pro, 4.2.1.1, Michael Hourigan and David Kent Warkentin, Kent Homoeopathic Associates.
Keywords: Lichen planus, guided meditation, ringworm miasm, palmar psoriasis, malarial miasm
Remedies: Piper nigrum.