Using plant groups and repertory to make an acute prescription

Male patient, presents as extremely ill from unknown disease.

6 weeks earlier, patient had been stung on top of head by a large wasp in Fiji while surfing. He developed massive migraines and needed strong pain relief. Medical tests showed nothing.
(patient gets up at this point from the chair and has to lie down on the lounge)

Describe the headaches to me

I cannot stand or sit upright for too long. Vile taste of bile in the mouth. Sick feeling in the stomach. Pain in the gallbladder/liver < pressure. Much < after standing upright. Extends from temples to middle of forehead. > Lying flat.
Mega, massive, giant.

Describe the pain.

Piercing point of pain. Must breathe through it. Can’t drive myself around. Can’t manage. Massive pain.
< being upright, intelligent or deep conversation, thinking esp. intense or deep thinking.
> lying down horizontal, sleep, meditation, repetition of a mantra
(Observation: patient pauses before answering any question)

Robs me of energy, knocks me around. Very tired – feel that in the stomach.
Very irritable – try to be loving.
So much work to get through in the day.
Surrender to the illness – only do what I can.
(Observation: patient talks very slowly)

Tell me about your stomach

Sick nauseous feeling < after the headache. Want to throw up.
Just want to lie here.
Feel angry/aggressive towards friends.
Tired – exhausted from managing the pain – must breathe.
Tired from trying to keep going – the recovery process is so tiring
(Patient suddenly shouts!) THE PAIN….is tiring.

Anything else?

I have blood in my stool. Get an urging to stool soon after eating.
I was given some sort of antibiotic which ameliorated the gut symptoms, but then got an intense viral infection, which made me really tired.

I am not wanting to be here, just hanging in, just put me down.
So tired from the pain, from the headaches.
Real exhaustion in the stomach – like after running a marathon or a triathlon.
The top of my mouth (palate) feels burned.

What is your history of illness?

Lots of bronchitis.
Always get sick from the change of seasons – terrible, horrible, vile; sinus problems which lead to chest infections
< Change from cold to warm weather.
(Observation: patient often asks me what I have just asked him, or says “where was I” or “ what was I saying?”)

Feel like I am throwing my heart out – nothing left to give.

Any dreams?

Weird, different. Used to be deep, now they are all over the place.

Tell me about ‘all over the place’

Like my mind…my thoughts. All over the place.
Real effort to think.
Forget things without a list.
Wandering all over the place.
Need to write things down.
Difficulty in focusing – don’t want to, just want to lie there not thinking.
Just want to be out there drifting around.
Focusing is a huge effort.

What is going to happen to you?

Got to get through it and then I will feel peace.



Analysis

What is most noticeable about this patient is the terrible intense crisis he appears to be going through. It is an intense struggle to overcome his illness, which is draining his energy, a critical period that he feels if he can just get through, he will reach a position of peace. He is irritable and impatient with his friends and just wants to be left alone.

All these things clearly point us to the Typhoid miasm. Many of his symptoms belong to this miasm.

What points us to the remedy are the following things:

Prostration of mind and aggravation from thinking
Mind wandering all over the place with no focus
Aggravation from changes

These suggest the Berberidaceae family.

However, in this case I actually used some rubrics to help me find the remedy, as I was not as sure of the sensation.

GENERALITIES; WEAKNESS, enervation, exhaustion, prostration, infirmity; pain, from (22) : aeth., androc., arg., Ars., both-a., carb-v., cham., coloc., eup-pur., hep., hura, kali-p., kalm., nat-m., phyt., pic-ac., plb., podo., rhus-t., sep., spig., verat.

MOUTH; PAIN; burnt, as if (125) : acon., adon., aesc., agar., ail., all-c., aloe, alum., am-br., ambr., apis, arg-n., arn., ars., ars-met., arum-t., asar., atro., bad., bamb-a., bapt., bar-c., Bell., berb., bov., calad., calc., calc-p., camph., canth., caps., carb-an., carb-v., caust., chin., chin-ar., chlor., cimx., coc-c., colch., coloc., cupr-s., daph., dios., dys-co., eupi., ferr., glon., ham., hep., hydr., hydrog., hyos., ign., Iris, jac-c., jatr., kali-br., kali-c., kreos., lac-ac., lac-f., lach., lact., lath., laur., lyc., mag-m., mand., med., menis., merc., merc-c., merc-i-r., merc-s., mez., morg., mur-ac., mygal., nat-c., nat-m., ol-j., op., par., ph-ac., phos., phys., phyt., plat., plb., podo., prun., psor., ptel., puls., ran-s., rhod., rhus-t., rhus-v., rumx., sabad., sal-ac., sang., sanic., seneg., sep., sin-n., sol-n., stict., still., sul-ac., sulph., syc-co., syph., tarax., tarent., ter., ther., thuj., tub., verat., verat-v., vip., wye., zinc.

HEAD PAIN; GENERAL; bilious (26) : am-pic., anac., arg-n., bapt., bol., bry., cham., chel., chion., corn., cycl., eup-per., ip., iris, lept., lob., merc., nux-v., podo., puls., rob., sang., stry., tarax., trio., ziz.

The only remedy which comes up in all these rubrics is Podophyllum, which is the typhoid member of the Berberidaceae family. Thus both the repertory and the new method intersect to find the correct remedy.

Patient experienced a severe aggravation that lasted 4 days. After this the new symptoms lifted and he returned to his original state. This acute state did not reoccur over the next few years that I saw him.