A Sensitive Matter that I can't find advice on...

Hi KitKat,

I would be willing to help you with a homoeopathic prescription. You can click on my profile to see my background. I have a lot of experience working with the mental and emotional aspect of cases, and have a background in counselling. I have a fair amount of experience with PSTD including victims of rape.

However, homoeopathic case-taking for this kind of issue does involve a fair amount of examination of the feelings, thoughts, and issues around it. Policy on the forum is to keep treatment here not offsite, but if there are some things you would rather not reveal publically you can email me those. The bulk of the case should be put up here though.

I can post a fairly detailed questionnaire if you feel comfortable doing this.

Alright then. Here we go.

CASE PRESENTATION FOR CLASSICAL HOMOEOPATHIC PRESCRIBING

General Guidelines:

1. Try to be as descriptive as possible. When describing pains or sensations use descriptions along the lines of ‘feels as if someone is squeezing it with their hand’ or ‘it is like an insect crawling around inside’ or ‘it is as if someone is standing over me threatening to kill me’. Long descriptions are always better than short ones. One word answers are difficult to use successfully.

2. Another important part of symptom description for homoeopathy are the ‘modalities’. These are situations, events, activities or conditions which modify the symptom in some way. We usually refer to this as what makes them ‘better’ or ‘worse’ (amelioration/aggravation). The situation may actually provoke the symptom into appearing, make it vanish altogether, or just increase or decrease it in some way. Modalities are vital information for prescribing.

Modalities are typically related to (but not exclusively) the following situations:

A. Temperature, weather
B. Time (day, night, specific times, frequency, periodicity, season)
C. Position, activity
D. Emotions, thoughts
E. Food and drink
F. Drugs, medication

3. How the symptom is perceived is important too – odour, appearance, sound, touch. What colour is it, what is its texture? For gestures, describe what it looks like the patient is doing, or what you feel you are doing while making the movement eg. ‘they look like they are swatting flies’ or ‘I feel like something is pushing my hand upwards’ or ‘it is like I stick a fork in an electrical outlet which throws my body backwards’. Description – it is key to accurate prescriptions.

4. When did the symptom or set of symptoms start? The apparent cause can be useful in determining the remedy, although it is not of the same importance as the previous factors. It may have been a specific event, a disease, an accident or even an emotional experience.

5. Use your own words. Do not copy phrases or descriptions found in our various remedy pictures. Try not to use other people’s ideas or thoughts or words. If you are reporting on behalf of someone else, report their exact words, however you can also report your own observations of them (not opinions).

6. Does the symptom occur alongside another specific symptom? Do particular symptoms only occur together? Does a particular symptom occur with a particular thought or emotion? For example, a headache that always comes with visual disturbances, or stomach pain that appears alongside anger, or anxiety that makes you feel like running down the street screaming.

7. Each complaint should be described fully before going on to describe another complaint. Try not to mix different symptoms or complaints together. Each modifying feature must be clearly attached to a particular symptom/set of symptoms. Any mistake you make here is a mistake the homoeopath will also then make.



BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS, DO THIS NOW FOR EACH PHYSICAL PROBLEM YOU HAVE.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL DESCRIPTION



(Please spend the most time on this section and give DETAILED answers - the homoeopathic remedy is very often decided on the basis of the mental and emotional state of the patient !)


1. What are the issues in your life that bother you the most. Not physical issues but mental or emotional ones. List each one separately and describe why each one bothers you so much.

2. What emotions are the most troublesome for you? What situations provoke these emotions. How do these emotions make you act? Do you feel any ill effects from expressing or not expressing these emotions.

3. What incidents in your life have had a deep impact on you? Describe each incident in detail and how they made you feel? What did you do in those situations? What effect have they had on your life?

4. What are you afraid of? Especially important are phobias, but it might be objects, situations or events that just produce a high level of anxiety. How do you manage your fears? How do you react when confronted with these fears? What would be the worst situation for you to be put in that would provoke these fears? You may need to talk about each fear/anxiety separately.

5. What hobbies do you have? Why do you like each of these activities?

6. Do you have any persistent thoughts, ideas or beliefs that are difficult to stop or cope with? What are they?

7. Do you have any unusual gestures or movements of the body? Do you feel any unusual sensation or pain throughout your body? What exactly does it feel like is happening in your body?

8. When you experience your fears, persistent thoughts, or difficult emotions, what kind of sensation or reactions do you get in your body?

9. When did you feel at your best in your life? What was that like for you? If you imagine the complete opposite of this feeling or moment, what would that be like?

10. Do you feel like you are stuck in a pattern of behavior, especially when trying to deal with your problems? What is this pattern? THIS IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION PLEASE CONSIDER CAREFULLY AND GIVE DETAILS.

11. What difficulties or problems do you have in relationships? Talk about your family, your romantic relationships, your spouse or partner, your friends, and your work colleagues. You may need to talk about all of these separately.

12. List 5 positive things about yourself. Are there any situations where this positive attribute becomes negative (is a problem)?

13. List 5 negative things about yourself. Are there any situations where this negative attribute becomes positive (is useful)?

14. Do you have any reoccurring dreams? Describe them in detail, including any feelings that come while dreaming. Dreams are very important in unlocking the deepest truth of a patient’s case, but it is not enough to simply describe them in a sentence. Give as much information as you feel comfortable doing.

15. Did you have any reoccurring dreams as a child, or earlier in your life? Describe those in detail including any feelings that came with them.

16. What were you like as a child, your character, your personality, your fears, your dreams, your problems?

17. What kind of environment did you grow up in? What problems where there at home, with your family, with your parents, with your siblings, with school?

GENERAL SYMPTOMS

(Symptoms that don’t fit anywhere else, but are things that tend to affect all of you as a person, but are not emotions or thoughts)

1. Sleep - what position do you tend to sleep in?
- what position can you not sleep in?
- do you do anything unusual in your sleep?
- any problems with going to sleep, staying asleep, or waking up?

2. Appetite - What foods do you crave/desire strongly?
- What foods do you hate eating (have an aversion to)?
- What foods have a negative effect on you or cause symptoms?
- What foods have a positive effect on you or seem to improve your health or symptoms in some way?

- What is the effect of hunger or fasting on you?

3. Thirst - What drinks do you crave/desire strongly?
- What drinks do you hate to take (are averse to)?
- When are you most thirsty?
- When are you least thirsty?

4. Stool - Do you have any problems with your bowels or passing stool?
- What is the shape, color, odor of the stool?

5. Urine - Do you have any trouble passing or retaining urine?
- What is the color, odor of the urine?
- Do you have any sediment or debris in the urine?

6. Sweat - How do you feel about the amount of perspiration you have?
- Where do you have the most sweat?
- What is the odor?
- What color does it stain clothing?
- Does anything in particular cause you to sweat abnormally?

7. Sexuality - Any problems with your sexual desire?
- Any problems with your sexual ability or function?
- Any history of sexually transmitted diseases?

8. Menses (Women)
- How many days is your cycle?
- How many days does the flow go for?
- What is the appearance of the flow?
- What is the odor of the flow?
- What kind of stain does the flow leave?
- Any discharge before, during or after?
- Any pain before, during or after the flow?
- What symptoms come before the flow?
- What symptoms come after the flow?

9. Environment – How does the weather affect you?
- How does the temperature affect you?
- How does the season affect you?
- What physical activities affect you?
- Is there anything else in the environment you are sensitive to?

10. Anything else you feel is important that hasn’t been covered by previous questions?

That is your choice of course. I am happy for you to email me the information you don't want to be seen by others. This is a fairly standard level of information required in proper homoeopathic prescribing for mental or emotional issues.

By the way, I am also happy to work with whatever you ARE comfortable giving - this is a comprehensive list of possible areas to explore, but not a necessary list. I would normally allow the patient to lead me where we need to explore if I was doing this in my face-to-face clinic rather than just asking all of these questions.

Do whatever you are comfortable with, and I will attempt to work with that.