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Gullet squeezes and cannot eat

My mother (67 years) has had a odd problem for years. Sometimes in the middle of eating the gullet stops working and the food stays in the middle of gullet. The food does not go down, even the water does not go down.
The doctors have examined her throughly and they have no solution for it. They say it must be some 'electrical' problem.

The problem occurs mainly when she eats bread, fish or chicken. She knows the problem so she eats really slowly and drinks plenty of water. Still it happened today: the piece of bread with water stopped in the middle. She stopped breething, the water came out from eyes. Then she went to the toilet and vomited the piece of bread and the water up, only the ones that were stucked. It did not happen again.

I almost gave her Arnica at the moment (to relax the squeezed muscles), but then I realised that the situation was over in two minutes. It doesn't happen every day, sometimes she is two weeks okey, but sometimes that happens several times a day.
She says the most irritating is that she can never predict when that will happen.

She has also been diagnosed as asthma. She takes stereoids only once a day, it is mild. She only starts coughing if she doesn't take the medicine in two days. No other symptoms. She gets breething difficulties only when is around tabacco smoke or lot of perfums, or around dry hay.

In addition she has had since the 70's arrhytmia. I wonder why these all symptoms are around the heart?

And because of her age she has arthritis. She has had various cysts during the years. And all her life she has slept really, really bad and light; fells at sleep ok, but is away the rest of the night.

- She is 168cm, 70 kg, medium brown hair, blue eyes.
-Eats anything, does not crave or hate anything. Likes salt and sour.
-She is warm and sleeps the feet outside of the cover. When cold, the most important is that she has a lot of clothes around the upper body (again the heart?).
- She has a lot of digestive problem. Gas and bloating is so normal to her that she doesn't even realise that is abnormal.
- she has a tendency to depression.
- does not have a lot of energy.
- her personality is 'soft', gentle and flexible and understanding. Avoids confliction. A person everybody likes. Keeps worrying a lot and when there is a new idea she is the first one to think something negative in it.
- She is a psychotherapist and is wondering herself, if all the problems are linked to her childhood when she grew up at war. She still freezes up when hears the sound of bomber or just fireworks. To my knowledge (and hers, too) she has already solved out her past.

She doesn't know homeopathy and as a doctor does not quite trust anything else as allopathic medicines. So I really wish I could fine a remedy for her and win her to homeopathy. Could someone help me with this!
 
  Snowflake on 2006-12-20
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
for prescribers, its more important to know the real sensations of sufferings, the modalities, the exact locations and the etiology if possible to relate to.

thus, this information needs to be presented in an organised manner with description and by the patient herself.

Patient ID: Sex: Age:

Please answer the following questions in a descriptive manner after careful analysis and recollection of previous experiences and happenings.

1. Describe your main suffering?



2. What other physical sufferings do you have in your body?



3. What mental sufferings / feelings do you have associated with your physical sufferings?


4. What exactly do you feel when you are at your worst?


5. When did it all start? Can you connect it to any past event or disease?



6. Which time of the day you are worst?

7. What are the things which aggravate your suffering and which are those which ameliorate the same?



8. Do your think your sufferings have relation to any external stimuli (like, change of place) or any internal biological changes in the body, like, menses (in females)?



9. When do you feel better, during hot weather or cold weather, humid or dry weather?


10. Describe your general mental set up? Are you Moody, Arrogant, Mild, Agreeable Changeable, Nervous, Suspicious, Easily offended, Quiet, Arguing, Irritating, Lazy etc.

- How do you feel before or during a thunderstorm?

- Do you like being consoled during your tough times?
- Are you sensitive to external stimuli like smell, noise, light etc?

- Do you have any typical habit or gesture like nail biting, causeless
weeping, talking to one self etc?

- How do you feel about your friends, family, your children and especially your husband / wife?

11. What are your fears and do you dream of any situation repeatedly?


12. What do you crave for in food items and what are your aversions?


13. How is your thirst: Less, Normal or Excessive?

14. How if your hunger: Less, Normal or Excessive?

15. Is there any kind of food which your body can’t stand?

16. Is your sweat normal or less or more? Where does it sweat more: Head, Trunk or Limbs?

17. How is your bowel movement and stool type?

18. How well do you sleep? Do you have a particular posture of sleeping?


19. Do you think you are able to satisfy your sexual desires in general?

20. How do you think you are different from others, if at all?


21. What medications have been taken earlier by you to treat the diseases and do you have any particular symptom surfacing after the medication?


22. What major diseases are running in your family?


23. Describe, how do you look like? Describe your overall appearance.
 
rishimba last decade
Thanks rishimba for replying. My mom is visiting me, so I just interviewed her. Part is the same as before. Last time I forgot to mention the high blood pressure.

Patient ID: Sex Female : Age: 67

1. Describe your main suffering?
- Sometimes in the middle of eating the gullet stops working and the food stays in the middle of gullet. The food does not go down, even the water does not go down.
- The problem occurs mainly when she eats bread, fish or chicken. She knows the problem so she eats really slowly and drinks plenty of water. Still it happened today: the piece of bread with water stopped in the middle. She stopped breething, the water came out from eyes. Then she went to the toilet and vomited the piece of bread and the water up, only the ones that were stucked. It did not happen again.
- It doesn't happen every day, sometimes she is two weeks okey, but sometimes that happens several times a day.

2. What other physical sufferings do you have in your body?
- astmha
- high blood pressure
- arrythmia
- arthritis

3. What mental sufferings / feelings do you have associated with your physical sufferings?
- When the gullet squeezes she frightens up, what if it stops working totally.

4. What exactly do you feel when you are at your worst?
- When it squeezes at worst, there is pain in the chest (pressure like pain), she feels like there is a giant’s hand pressing the upper body. She vomits and there is water coming out from the eyes.

5. When did it all start? Can you connect it to any past event or disease?
- 10 years ago. When her first-born moved away, it became so bad that she went to be eximined.

6. Which time of the day you are worst?
- It can happen anytime.

7. What are the things which aggravate your suffering and which are those which ameliorate the same?
- Fresh bread, chicken, fish aggravates
- Raw vegetables and salads never make the problem.
- Cold water ameliorates the pressure and sqeezing.

8. Do your think your sufferings have relation to any external stimuli (like, change of place) or any internal biological changes in the body, like, menses (in females)?
- No.

9. When do you feel better, during hot weather or cold weather, humid or dry weather?
- No.

10. Describe your general mental set up? Are you Moody, Arrogant, Mild, Agreeable Changeable, Nervous, Suspicious, Easily offended, Quiet, Arguing, Irritating, Lazy etc.
- Mild, agreaable, quiet, soft, easy-going

- How do you feel before or during a thunderstorm?
- Feels heavy and tired, but no pains.

- Do you like being consoled during your tough times?
- Does not like to be consoled. Thinks that she has to make at her own.

- Are you sensitive to external stimuli like smell, noise, light etc?
- sensitive to smell (parfyms) and noise, but not to light.

- Do you have any typical habit or gesture like nail biting, causeless weeping, talking to one self etc?
- No

- How do you feel about your friends, family, your children and especially your husband / wife?
- takes care, but is not really mothering type.

11. What are your fears and do you dream of any situation repeatedly?
- cannot watch movies where somebody is hiding. Fears situations which she cannot control.
- Lately she has been having dreams where she is missing the train or bus or flight and she misses her voyage.

12. What do you crave for in food items and what are your aversions?
- no.

13. How is your thirst: Less, Normal or Excessive?
- Drinks little.

14. How if your hunger: Less, Normal or Excessive?
- Normal.

15. Is there any kind of food which your body can’t stand?

16. Is your sweat normal or less or more? Where does it sweat more: Head, Trunk or Limbs?
- Does not sweat

17. How is your bowel movement and stool type?
- Lots of movements, gas. Tendency to have constipation.

18. How well do you sleep? Do you have a particular posture of sleeping?
- Light. Sleeps a lot on stomach.

19. Do you think you are able to satisfy your sexual desires in general?
- Yes.

20. How do you think you are different from others, if at all?
- Not different.

21. What medications have been taken earlier by you to treat the diseases and do you have any particular symptom surfacing after the medication?
- She was given nitro to that, but she has not taken because did not see any results. Besides the situation passes by itself.

22. What major diseases are running in your family?
- Asthma, rheuma

23. Describe, how do you look like? Describe your overall appearance.
- 168 cm, 70 kg, color of skin is pale, hair brown and thin (just a bit of gray), eyes blue.
 
Snowflake last decade
what actually happened 10 years back.

do you mean to say that separation from here first-born child affected indirectly to aggravate all her present problems?

can mental grief resulting from this separation can be the major aggravating factor?

when did the following problems start
- astmha
- high blood pressure
- arrythmia
- arthritis

is she a cold person or a hot person. i mean, which climate she is most comfortable in, summer or winter.

which part of the body is weakest in her during times of tiredness.

does she like salty food.

generally speaking, which time of the day she is worst.

does she miss meals and still feel comfortable.
 
rishimba last decade
She has had the gullet problem for over 10 years, but it aggravated at the same time when her son moved out so that it became life-disturbing.
She says she was sad at the time, but the move also lifted up her own old problems. In addition the son was at the same time behaving stupidly and dissappointing the parents.
I don't think the grief from separation was the major reason, but a part of that.

Asthma started 2002. Nothing happened at the time.
High blood pressure and arrythmia started at 80's.
Arthritis started 2002. It is on the left hand and it is hurting at nighttime.

She is most confortable around springtime, when it is 15-17 degrees. She defenately can't take hot wheather.

When tired she wants to lie down and eyes closed and in total silence. Says it is her head and brain that are tired.

She likes salty food, but does not use a lot of salt because of high blood pressure.
She is at the moment eating natural youghurt. Says she could live with that.

She is at her worst in the afternoon, between 2-4. (generally speaking tired, the gullet does not have any timetables).

She eats often. Says that she will get really tired, weak, legs become weak, and she can't see anymore, if she cannot eat in 3-4 hours at least.
 
Snowflake last decade
There is one more thing I want to say. My mother is just visiting me. I would need very precise and maybe alternative choises for her: how often to repeat and what. She does not know homeopathy and I live too far away to be able to help her.

She did not have the problem yesterday, so it will be difficult for her to observe and make conclusions if the remedy is working.
 
Snowflake last decade
give her two doses of NAT MUR 200C at 15 minutes interval on any one morning in empty stomach.

dont let her eat anything for the next 2 hours.

thats all.

note the frequency of ' throat constrictions' as compared to earlier instances.

during the next 15 days, if there is some improvement, take another dose of NAT MUR 1M after 15 to 20 days.

come back after 15 days if there is no improvement.
 
rishimba last decade
Thanks, will do.
 
Snowflake last decade
The Cardiac Rhythm

An arrhythmia is any deviation from or disturbance of the normal heart rhythm. The basic rhythm of the heart is a tightly regulated phenomenon designed to insure maximal efficiency and optimal performance. It is a dynamic phenomenon that changes according to the metabolic needs of the body. The cardiac rhythm involves several different microscopic and macroscopic structures within the normal heart.

Irregular heart beats in a nut shell.

Snowflake,

After reviewing the entire case I conclude that:

The medicine for your mother is : LACHESIS

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
pankaj,

yes, LACHESIS is indeed my second choice. it is definitely indicated.

some of her symptoms are just opposite to that of LACHESIS, like ' she wears lots of clothes' in her upper part.Further, no mention of sleep aggravation in the present ailment though all her life she has not slept well.
 
rishimba last decade
Dear Rishi and Snowflake,

I feel 'one dose' of Lachesis (comprising of Lachesis 200 ...three doses in gaps of half hour) will bring down her throat swelling and bring her many more benefits.

Give it a chance.

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
Not slept well all her life is equivalent of 'sleeping into an aggravation'...which is typical of Lachesis.

Also, there are many important symptoms of Lachesis there.

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
Dear Snowflake,

To my mind, your mother's constitutional remedy seems to be Pulsatilla (hot person, less than average thirst, soft, mild, agreeable person, digestive troubles, aversion or aggravation by fish, chicken etc.) who has toughened herself into a Natrum Mur (does not like consolatin.Want to manage on my own).This is of course a compensation for her mildness.There are two main emotions that have triggered all her illnesses, fear and grief 10 years ago.I think that Rishi is right in first recommending Natrum Mur.Because when etiology is clear, everything else takes a backseat.It is the separation from the son plus his undesirable behaviour induced grief that has aggravated this physical trouble that is bothering her the most.You can literally see her eotion in the physical trouble that she is having.She is lterally 'not able to stomach the food (son'd behaviour and moving away)'.So, i suggest that give Natrum Mur atry first and then come back as Rishi suggested.

All the best.

Rajiv
 
rajivprasad last decade
thats the reason i chose nat mur because i was not convinced on the etiology and generalities of the disease being in compliance with that of lachesis, like suppression of discharges, notable sleep aggravations, aversion to tight clothing on the upper part of the body and finally change in the colour of the skin around the affected part.
 
rishimba last decade
Dear Rishi,

I think another remedy that will be needed later on is Opium given the extreme fright that she has experienced for a sustained period in her childhood (war related).She still becomes nervous with sound of aeroplanes, can't see someone hiding etc.Her disturbed sleep is perhaps due to extreme fear that she has internalised so much that she is perhaps not even consciously aware of it.Opium has that kind of sleep in its picture plus being the number one remedy for fear induced illnesses.

Also Medorrhinum will be needed to neutralise the sycotic miasm (history of cysts, sleeps on stomach and some other indications).Then perhaps Pulsatilla at the end.

Rajiv
 
rajivprasad last decade
yes rajiv, Opium should be the next to take care of the sleep disturbances.
 
rishimba last decade
Lachesis - symptom:
Cannot bear anything tight any where.

There are many other symptoms of Lachesis there in the case.

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
'Cannot bear anything tight any where.'

pankaj, i couldnt see any such symptom above... or have i missed that.
 
rishimba last decade
Pl. see Boericke MM.... end of first para on Lachesis.
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
oh pankaj, i know lachesis very well.. no need to see boerick..

can you tell me where is this symptom stated by the patient in her present case.
 
rishimba last decade
Like all snake poisons, Lachesis decomposes the blood, rendering it more fluid; hence a hemorrhagic tendency is marked. Purpura, septic states, diphtheria, and other low forms of disease, when the system is thoroughly poisoned and the prostration is profound. The modalities are most important in guiding to the remedy. Delirium tremens with much trembling and confusion. Very important during the climacteric and for patients of a melancholic disposition. Ill effects of suppressed discharges. Diphtheritic paralysis ( Botulinum.) Diphtheria carriers. Sensation of tension in various parts. -----Cannot bear anything tight anywhere.---

************
Dear Rishi,
This is copied from this site itself...on Lachesis.

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
Yes Rishi...let Snowflake answer this by re-checking with her mother again.
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
thats fine pankaj, but where does the patient say that she cannot bare anything tight anywhere.
 
rishimba last decade
Also, let her answer more questions about Natrum Mur...like:

Headaches, dry mouth, nose symptoms and modalities (worse around 10 a.m.).

We can decide after that.

Pankaj Varma
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade
pankaj, its the etiology of the disease which generally decides the remedy provided major mental symptoms and some physical symptoms are covered by the remedy. also, the modalities of the disease should not be opposed to the remedy.

in this case, as rajiv also stated, nat mur is closer to the disease based on the etiology.
 
rishimba last decade
Fine...let her try it !
 
PANKAJ VARMA last decade

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