The ABC Homeopathy Forum
selected calc, what next?
I have a patient, who is really a relative, who has the following conditions:arthritic toes and fingers, toes actually bent
various lifetime disappointments and sources of anger that cause her to weep
she will occasionally cry out while weeping
some retinopathy from diabetes
some varices in the legs, not standing out from the leg though
some flaking skin
somewhat yellowing skin
an occasional small excrescence on the forehead, bleeding, doesn't resemble a boil
a tendency to feel anxious about family matters
mucus in the throat or lungs impeding voice at times
short sleep most of the time, occasionally sleeping up to 5-6 hours
some anxious or fearful dreams about things going wrong with family members
a generally sad look
some nerve damage in feet from diabetes
an increasingly slow, weak walk, and weak arms
she is about 5' tall, slowly getting shorter, but not hunched
I don't know anything about her stool, urine, etc.
Happily, she is taking no medications of an allopathic nature, except for an eye needle to suppress diabetic retinopathy. I don't know of anything that is especially peculiar about her symptoms. In addition to the above, she normally prefers to be warm, and sips coffee much of the day.
I defined her rubrics as follows:
extremities; lameness
extremities; pain; foot
extremities; weakness
extremities; heaviness; foot
extremities; pain; joints
extremities; pain; shooting; leg
extremities; tingling; foot
extremities; formication; lower limbs
face; discoloration; yellow [it is slight but I think I see it]
skin; eruptions; itching
sleep; dreams; anxious
sleep; dreams; frightful
sleep; short
mind; anxiety
mind; shrieking
mind; sensitive, oversensitive
mind; weeping
mind; moaning
respiration; sighing
face; expression; suffering
cough, paroxysmal
larynx; mucus in the air passages; larynx
larynx; mucus in the air passages
I collated the applicable remedies, and then found out which ones scored the highest. Alum scored pretty well, but in the MM there is slowed thought processes and mental impairment (wrong). Arsenicum scored pretty well, but the patient was never irritable, critical, discontented, or fastidious (therefore wrong). Aurum scored very well, and I don't see anything in MM to rule it out, although MM does hint at a direneses that I don't think applies. Belladonna scored quite well, although I think of that as more of a fast-rising feverish remedy. Carb-v scored quite well, but the MM indicates that one should expect cutting remarks and irritability (wrong). Causticum scored quite well, but MM indicates that this is a remedy that feels a great deal for the unfortunate and becomes mentally dull and forgetful; this patient doesn't feel excessively for the unfortunate, and is certainly neither dull nor forgetful. Cocculus scored quite well but its chronic state is one of progressive neurological disdorders, and introverted people (wrong). Graphites scored pretty well but she is not 'coarse, bland, obese, thick-skinned, and slow-thinking'. Lachesis scored pretty well, but in MM lachesis craves alcohol (wrong). Lycopodium scored pretty well but lacks discipline and fears long-term relationships (wrong). Merc scored pretty well but is 'withdrawn and introverted' (wrong). Nit-ac scored pretty well but is billed as irritable, vindictive by nature and has great anxiety about health (wrong). Nux-v scored pretty well but I don't think she's 'type-A'. Phos scored pretty well but lacks boundaries between herself and others (wrong). Plb scored pretty well but is materialistic, self-indulgent, and bored (wrong). Puls scored well but is changeable and weepy-soft (wrong). Rhus scored pretty well but is described as having fixed ideas and ritualistic behavior (wrong). Sepia scored pretty well but includes 'disconnected and indifferent to family' (wrong) and 'sarcastic remarks' (wrong). And there are some others.
Calcarea carbonica scored quite well, and I see nothing in the MM to discount it, except that in regular print there is aversion to coffee. So, whereas I cannot get her to see a homeopath, I am trying to take her case myself, and given the high overlap with symptoms and the good general fit of the remedy, I bought Calc 12x, 30c, and 200c. Two days ago, and yesterday, she had an evening dose of 12x.
Today, her left ankle is hurting. To me, this is a throwback to earlier symptoms. Her feet hurt more a few years back, hurt in the sense that she'd hold her foot off the floor and wince with pain, and it is odd that it is doing that today, just after two doses of the remedy. 12x (which = 6c) is not very potent, not even above the Avogadro threshold. So I am comfortable that I did not stretch her improperly, but, I'm not sure what to do next. My sense is that the ankle pain is confirmation that the remedy is having an effect, so for now, do nothing.
[message edited by ckcu8 on Wed, 28 May 2014 02:56:11 BST]
ckcu8 on 2014-05-28
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
ckcu8 9 years ago
I might give you a few bits of advice here, because my understanding is from looking at your other posts that you are not trained as a homoeopath. I don't want to discourage you from learning or asking questions, but it is important to correct misconceptions up early so they don't become bad habits.
Firstly, as a more minor point - 12x does not equal 6c. They are made differently. The decimal dilution level is different and this creates a different kind of effect (just as the 50 milessimal potency range works differently to the centesimal). Not so much that the right remedy in any potency range would not work, but how you use them, what they are good for, and what kind of response you get, may all be different.
Ok now to the rubrics you have chosen.
It is important when selecting a rubric you are not using something that has no differentiation or distinguishing features. So the following rubrics are unimportant for prescribing purposes:
Extremities, pain, foot
Extremities, pain, joints
Mind, anxiety
Mind, sensitive, oversensitive
Mind, weeping
There are also common symptoms for her disease here, and you should not using rubrics for them. You are looking for what is peculiar in the disease not what is common.
Tingling in the foot, and Formication, is common for nerve damage from diabetes.
Joint pain is common to arthritis, and so would be lameness and weakness especially since the arthritis is causing deforming of the toes. If the weakness is coming from no apparent cause, then you could possibly still use it.
As a general problem with many of those rubrics, there are no modalities. Without modalities you are going to not be able to see the personality of the disease and match that to the remedy. There are too many generalised symptoms there (shrieking, moaning, sighing) without any qualifiers.
While it is not a very detailed case, and far too brief, this is how I might suggest you repertorize:
Ailments from disappointment
Anger about past events
Weeping about disappointments *
Weeping thinking of past events *
Shrieking and weeping
Cares, full of, for relatives*
Anxiety about his family*
General, warmth, ameliorates
General, food, coffee, desires
Some of those rubrics are doubled up (*) so you would either only use one or you would combine them to form a single larger rubric
I wouldn't bother using those Dream rubrics, because they just reflect the conscious anxiety she has. It would be unnecessarily doubling up on the symptom and would add too much weight to it.
I'll post this and continue in another post.
Firstly, as a more minor point - 12x does not equal 6c. They are made differently. The decimal dilution level is different and this creates a different kind of effect (just as the 50 milessimal potency range works differently to the centesimal). Not so much that the right remedy in any potency range would not work, but how you use them, what they are good for, and what kind of response you get, may all be different.
Ok now to the rubrics you have chosen.
It is important when selecting a rubric you are not using something that has no differentiation or distinguishing features. So the following rubrics are unimportant for prescribing purposes:
Extremities, pain, foot
Extremities, pain, joints
Mind, anxiety
Mind, sensitive, oversensitive
Mind, weeping
There are also common symptoms for her disease here, and you should not using rubrics for them. You are looking for what is peculiar in the disease not what is common.
Tingling in the foot, and Formication, is common for nerve damage from diabetes.
Joint pain is common to arthritis, and so would be lameness and weakness especially since the arthritis is causing deforming of the toes. If the weakness is coming from no apparent cause, then you could possibly still use it.
As a general problem with many of those rubrics, there are no modalities. Without modalities you are going to not be able to see the personality of the disease and match that to the remedy. There are too many generalised symptoms there (shrieking, moaning, sighing) without any qualifiers.
While it is not a very detailed case, and far too brief, this is how I might suggest you repertorize:
Ailments from disappointment
Anger about past events
Weeping about disappointments *
Weeping thinking of past events *
Shrieking and weeping
Cares, full of, for relatives*
Anxiety about his family*
General, warmth, ameliorates
General, food, coffee, desires
Some of those rubrics are doubled up (*) so you would either only use one or you would combine them to form a single larger rubric
I wouldn't bother using those Dream rubrics, because they just reflect the conscious anxiety she has. It would be unnecessarily doubling up on the symptom and would add too much weight to it.
I'll post this and continue in another post.
♡ Evocationer 9 years ago
Thank you, Evocationer. I shall read your insights with enthusiasm.
I did some hunting in Complete Dynamics, and I found these matches:
Mind; grief; ailments from, agg.: CALC(3)
Mind; dwells; events, on past disagreeable: calc
Mind; weeping, tearful mood; anxious: calc
Mind; lamenting, bemoaning, wailing: CALC(3)
Mind; fear; happen; something will; family, to, or to him: calc
Generalities; pain; warmth; amel.: CALC(3)
Generalities; food and drinks; coffee; desires: CALC(3)
This is not quite a proper selection technique, but these categories are close to what you suggested above, and calc is not doing too badly. I should explain one thing: she is especially worried about what might happen to family members, who are in some cases not as well situated as she would like.
I did some hunting in Complete Dynamics, and I found these matches:
Mind; grief; ailments from, agg.: CALC(3)
Mind; dwells; events, on past disagreeable: calc
Mind; weeping, tearful mood; anxious: calc
Mind; lamenting, bemoaning, wailing: CALC(3)
Mind; fear; happen; something will; family, to, or to him: calc
Generalities; pain; warmth; amel.: CALC(3)
Generalities; food and drinks; coffee; desires: CALC(3)
This is not quite a proper selection technique, but these categories are close to what you suggested above, and calc is not doing too badly. I should explain one thing: she is especially worried about what might happen to family members, who are in some cases not as well situated as she would like.
ckcu8 9 years ago
If I repertorize based on the symptoms I chose, using Reference works as the source, Calc only shows for 4 of those symptoms.
The two main remedies are Ignatia and Nat-mur. I cannot tell from the case you have given if she has the core state of either, but I would probably lean towards Ignatia.
Grief and disappointment, while related, are not the same thing.
Weeping tearful anxious mood is too general to be useful for deciding on a remedy.
Calc carb does have a core state, the need to be protected, supported, a feeling of threat in the world from many sides, that causes them to withdraw into the safety of their home. They fear anyone seeing what is happening inside of them, and feel very vulnerable. Calc carb is the oyster, they build or require a hard shell to protect the soft inner part of them.
The two main remedies are Ignatia and Nat-mur. I cannot tell from the case you have given if she has the core state of either, but I would probably lean towards Ignatia.
Grief and disappointment, while related, are not the same thing.
Weeping tearful anxious mood is too general to be useful for deciding on a remedy.
Calc carb does have a core state, the need to be protected, supported, a feeling of threat in the world from many sides, that causes them to withdraw into the safety of their home. They fear anyone seeing what is happening inside of them, and feel very vulnerable. Calc carb is the oyster, they build or require a hard shell to protect the soft inner part of them.
♡ Evocationer 9 years ago
Thank you, Evocationer!
I think this patient definitely is oyster-like. She surrounds herself with high shelves full of memories and books, high filing cabinets, with bookcases on top of those, and so on. Most of her room windows are inaccessible as well. Very much a shell. Ignatia sounds very plausible in the materia medica, but it didn't get as many rubrics in my matchup. But it would be a fine choice, I do agree.
I posted a couple of improvements I have noticed: a calmer mind and less mucus impeding vocal chords. Another remarkable occurrence is that she had a needle-eye treatment yesterday, after receiving the 12x doses three and two days ago, and it was amazing: she was very calm, there was minimal discomfort after the procedure, and she was actually reading--yes, reading--for hours yesterday evening and into the night. Normally she must sleep a great deal, and cannot focus well for several days. I attribute this difference to the possibility that as a constitutional remedy, calc is helping her to be more herself, so that she is better able to withstand trauma. Yet another event which strikes me as a positive indicator, is that she is dealing with a long-standing problem in a more open way. Less oyster-like.
[message edited by ckcu8 on Wed, 28 May 2014 21:49:26 BST]
I think this patient definitely is oyster-like. She surrounds herself with high shelves full of memories and books, high filing cabinets, with bookcases on top of those, and so on. Most of her room windows are inaccessible as well. Very much a shell. Ignatia sounds very plausible in the materia medica, but it didn't get as many rubrics in my matchup. But it would be a fine choice, I do agree.
I posted a couple of improvements I have noticed: a calmer mind and less mucus impeding vocal chords. Another remarkable occurrence is that she had a needle-eye treatment yesterday, after receiving the 12x doses three and two days ago, and it was amazing: she was very calm, there was minimal discomfort after the procedure, and she was actually reading--yes, reading--for hours yesterday evening and into the night. Normally she must sleep a great deal, and cannot focus well for several days. I attribute this difference to the possibility that as a constitutional remedy, calc is helping her to be more herself, so that she is better able to withstand trauma. Yet another event which strikes me as a positive indicator, is that she is dealing with a long-standing problem in a more open way. Less oyster-like.
[message edited by ckcu8 on Wed, 28 May 2014 21:49:26 BST]
ckcu8 9 years ago
Well it does seem to be having some effect so that is good.
Be aware though that many remedies will have beneficial effects at such a low potency, but they may only be palliative not curative.
Genuine cure always comes after an aggravation of the symptoms. If there is only improvement with no aggravation, then there is a good chance it is not acting to cure the underlying cause of her disease.
The other thing you need to be careful of is interpreting the behaviour you see, without confirming it directly with the patient. Her desire to surround herself with physical objects could be for many reasons - attachment to the past seems very likely considering what have reported about her, but it could have some other meaning too. We must always strive to be unprejudiced observers, which means we cannot assume we know what the patient is experiencing, we must confirm it with them directly.
Another thing that I noticed in a separate post you made - in order to remain an unprejudiced observer, you should never ask leading questions. This means any question you ask should be as open-ended as possible, with no implication of an answer contained within it. This is especially important if you are trying to confirm a remedy choice - do not try and direct them to a particular remedy by asking something that mentions what you are looking for! I cannot stress how important this is - it is one of the primary mistakes I see students making in clinic when they are starting out.
Be aware though that many remedies will have beneficial effects at such a low potency, but they may only be palliative not curative.
Genuine cure always comes after an aggravation of the symptoms. If there is only improvement with no aggravation, then there is a good chance it is not acting to cure the underlying cause of her disease.
The other thing you need to be careful of is interpreting the behaviour you see, without confirming it directly with the patient. Her desire to surround herself with physical objects could be for many reasons - attachment to the past seems very likely considering what have reported about her, but it could have some other meaning too. We must always strive to be unprejudiced observers, which means we cannot assume we know what the patient is experiencing, we must confirm it with them directly.
Another thing that I noticed in a separate post you made - in order to remain an unprejudiced observer, you should never ask leading questions. This means any question you ask should be as open-ended as possible, with no implication of an answer contained within it. This is especially important if you are trying to confirm a remedy choice - do not try and direct them to a particular remedy by asking something that mentions what you are looking for! I cannot stress how important this is - it is one of the primary mistakes I see students making in clinic when they are starting out.
♡ Evocationer 9 years ago
ckcu8 9 years ago
It will reduce them yes, but it is almost impossible to eliminate it. In fact without the aggravation you will not get cure - it is a necessary part of the process. Law of similars states a medicine can only cure what it will cause, so when given to a patient with those symptoms it must create a similar set of symptoms, and to cure it must be stronger than the ones they already have (or the medicine will simply be deflected by the natural disease).
Something must aggravate though, and sometimes you will see a couple of minor new symptoms as well. I have never seen actual cure happen without some kind of aggravation.
Something must aggravate though, and sometimes you will see a couple of minor new symptoms as well. I have never seen actual cure happen without some kind of aggravation.
♡ Evocationer 9 years ago
To post a reply, you must first LOG ON or Register
Important
Information given in this forum is given by way of exchange of views only, and those views are not necessarily those of ABC Homeopathy. It is not to be treated as a medical diagnosis or prescription, and should not be used as a substitute for a consultation with a qualified homeopath or physician. It is possible that advice given here may be dangerous, and you should make your own checks that it is safe. If symptoms persist, seek professional medical attention. Bear in mind that even minor symptoms can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, and a timely diagnosis by your doctor could save your life.