Woman, 82, indigestion.
“Life is hard”
She lives on her own, managing a small farm. She is small and somewhat hunched. One can read the hardship on her wrinkled face. She has “workers hands”, obviously used to hard work.
Complaint: Digestion. “I have wind in my belly. It comes up, not down. I am burping all the time. I’ve been to plenty of healers, but nothing helps. I don’t digest properly, maybe because I eat too fast. The gas in my belly gets stuck, and then it is really painful. If I can burp it is better. My digestion is worse in the afternoons but mostly in the evenings; it prevents me from sleeping. I can’t eat salads, especially in the evenings. Basically I eat everything, fatty things too. Onions are OK.
All my life I’ve worked hard. It was not like it is these days. I had five children in six years, and no washing machine like nowadays, everything by hand. I had haemorrhoids after the children. I’ve always worked a lot of the farm, even when I was a young girl. I am used to managing things by myself on the farm now, the chickens, the vegetable garden, the rabbits. I can drive a tractor. My husband died 20 years ago. My daughters come from time to time, they live in the city, but they don’t help, I do it all alone. They hardly call me up.
I lost my oldest son to liver cancer. He got sick after a vaccination, he got encephalitis and epilepsy. I looked after him all the time. When he died, I stopped sleeping and had to take medication. The next year my husband, died, then the next year my brother died. My mother died of stomach cancer. My life has always been hard, if I had known beforehand I wouldn’t have started on it. Everything goes through my head all the time, all my past, all those troubles. I think “I should just go now, I’ve had enough.” I don’t have many moments of joy, my only pleasure is my car, the fact that I can go where I please.
All my life I’ve worked hard, had lots of troubles. My parents had a miserable life, they were poor. They had us children late, we were raised during the war. We were given tickets to go and get chocolate, my father had to walk all the way to the next town just to pick up the card, 12 kilometres. He became ill during the war My brother and I worked hard on the farm, looking after the animals. My mother did not want us to leave the farm, she needed us to work. I knitted, made my own clothes, there was no money. There was no joy, nothing to look forward to but hard work. I had to walk 5 km each way to go to school. The kids hit me and the teachers didn’t say anything. Life is hard.

Medical historyThyroidectomy after death of son, before death of husband (I didn’t realise I was sick.)
False teeth since having children.
Heart: tachycardia, arrhythmia.
Menopause: arthritis in knees “ sore, blocked. I could not walk.” Takes plant remedy since that time to ameliorate pain in knees and back.
Allergy: Dampness<. Nose running. High fevers: 41 o Celsius, was put on Oxygen. Coughs.
Pneumonia at 9 years old. (“The doctor thought I would die.”)
Varices, haemorrhoids.
No diarrhoea.
Poor circulation, cold feet, cold legs, sleeps with socks on.
Seldom headaches.
Food: Aversion radish. “I never grow it, never eat it. I don’t like it.”

Analysis“Life is hard” = Brassicales. Hard work, no joy, no money, just hard work with no pleasures.
Digestive complaints with distension: Brassicales.
“Stuck, no movement” = Brassicales (knees stuck, flatulence stuck)
Stuck in the past, stuck in old grievances = Brassicales
Aversion radish: Raphanus (stuck flatulence)
Prescription: Raphanus sativus 30C, once per week, three doses
Comment: Doctor: “I’ll see you in six weeks time.” Patient: “If I’m still alive.”

Follow-up after 6 weeks“Much less wind than before. Less pain in my belly. I don’t need to burp as often. I digest things straight away. I’m coughing less, the allergy seems better.
“The bank has made a mistake with my account, they say that I have been to the supermarket twice on one day, for exactly the same amount, at almost the same time. What a rip-off! There’s nothing I can do about it, and yet I already don’t have much money.”
“Still pain on my scalp from a herpes zoster infection three years ago. It was crusty, with pus. I can’t sleep on that side because of it.”
Prescription: Raphanus 200C, once per two weeks, three times.
Comment: “I’ll see you again in three months.” Patient: “Maybe…”

Follow-up after three months:Mrs. C. is smiling, this time a broad smile with no bitterness.
“My knees are better, no pain at all. They used to hurt when I walked. My back is better, too. I couldn’t do anything with it since the menopause. I’ve stopped taking the herbal remedy that I’ve taken since the menopause, I don’t need it anymore. I’m not blocked anymore. My digestion is better. I only have a bit of pain in the lower abdomen once in a while, but no more swelling, no more burping, only if I eat too much salad in the evening, or fresh bread. I’ve lost 6 kilos, I feel better.
“I’ve had a cataract operation on one eye, the other one will be operated on in a month.
“I don’t like the winter.
“The main thing now is the pain that is still there after the herpes zoster, the rest is OK.”
Prescription: Mezereum 30C, one dose.

Comment: I’ll see you again in the three months. “Good, I’m looking forward to seeing you!”
Brassicales: 655.66
They hold onto old pains, of being neglected, used and humiliated. They cannot let them go. They feel that what has been done to them is unfair. The old grudges impede the flow of their lives. Angry, embittered, hard, hatred, cynical. Disappointment. Feeling unloved. A situation where there has been not much fun, no pleasure: long winters in the north. Poor digestion of emotions, poor digestion of food. General: feeling blocked, obstructed, not flowing. Delusion: is dead, has unrecognised disease. Pursued by enemies, in a graveyard, by ghosts. Desire to leave the situation, go elsewhere. Trapped, want to escape.
Digestive problems. Face wrinkled. Thyroid problems. Heart problems. Cataract. DD Iron series.
Raphanus: Trapped flatulence. Stage 16.
Patient: “Life is hard”
My mother would not let us go away, she needed us to work for her.
My knees and my back are blocked.
I could not sleep because of thinking of all the bad things in the past.
I might not be alive in six weeks time.