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Interhomeopaty, July-August 2013

Interhomeopaty, July-August 2013..................................................................................................................1

Founders of interhomeopathy..................................................................................................................1Editorial: the Hydrocarbons - as unnoticed as plastic by Carolyn Burdet.................................................2Carbon and Hydrocarbons; a common element with a slippery identity by Roger Morrison...................3A dream proving of Petroleum by Elizabeth Thompson.........................................................................11They burn metal to get more fire; a case of Petroleum by Misha Norland.............................................13A big shock, a big boom, like a gasp of air; a case of Glonoine by Elizabeth Thompson.........................18Icy fingers in my brain; a case of Camphora by Elizabeth Thompson.....................................................22A hot fluid stifling the joints; a case of Benzinum nitricum by Elizabeth Thompson...............................25Sucked into a vortex; a case of Bromoethane by Julie Geraghty............................................................28

Founders of interhomeopathyThe founders of Interhomeopathy: From left to right: Ulrich Welte, Jan Scholten and Lou Klein

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Editorial: the Hydrocarbons - as unnoticed as plastic by Carolyn Burdet This issue of Interhomeopathy is offered in the hope that recognising the themes

unseen in the Carbons will direct us towards a remedy for our unresolved cases.While editing the notes for the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital’s proving of Petroleum supplied for this issue, I changed the word “visible” to “seen” as it had seemed out of context in a theme, “being ‘visible’ in a dream”. It seemed a minor edit at the time. A month (and you’d think, several million firings of the brain synapses later…), this word “visible” was in my mind. I knew I had been mistaken to change it.The Petroleum proving is such a clear summary of the themes that appear in all these cases, that it seemed safe to send it off to the publishers of this journal. One thing that drives a publisher mad is retracting a piece for revisions after it has been sent. However, this one word “visible” was blinking away like a warning light.

I did not know why it was important, until reading in Roger Morrison’s book on Carbon - Organic and Hydrocarbon Remedies in Homeopathy that feeling invisible is a clue to needing a carbon remedy. Elizabeth Thompson knew precisely what she was doing, to say the theme was “visible”.

I knew about “invisible” in relation to plain old carbonate (Carbon remedies feel alone and have fear of ghosts). This invisibility is not the enhancement of a magical cloak, it is the unnoticed quality of plastic which belies the toxicity that appears innocuous enough to contain processed food or chemicals. It is the cheap yet profitable throwaway by-product of our artificial disposable culture, and yet carbon is also the essential building block of life. This, perhaps, is carbon’s quandary over value and self worth.I had not appreciated the extent to which these themes permeate the homeopathic pictures of diverse substances of the organic carbons and hydrocarbon group – encompassing solids, liquids, gases and volatile compounds, naturally occurring, organic and chemical substances, ranging from diamonds and soot, to gasoline (fuel), and ranging from aromatic plant sap (camphor, eucalyptus, peppermint) to artificial chemical lubricants and man- made plastics, acetates and alcohols. With such a complex group of remedies it is daunting to see how to go straight to the remedy.Carbon appears in different forms according to how the atoms arrange or combine (diamond, carbon dioxide, petrol, plastic). Carbons perplexingly extend beyond the mineral kingdom. Carbo animalis is in the animal kingdom, Gallic acid (from oak galls or nuts) has a restlessness that may be confused with Nux vomica, Medorrhinum, Tarantula or insect remedies; Camphor is from a tree and puts the “weird” theme in context of the bewildered sensation of Magnoliaceae. Chloroform and other carbon compounds are anaesthetics, appearing confusingly similar to drug remedies.There may be glimpses of the second series’ themes of the birth process in Carbon or Nitrogen (or both in Glonoine or Benzine nitricum) according to Jan Scholten’s Element Theory, with keynotes of the specific compounds, known since their proving by Hahnemann.Roger Morrison lists themes of each group of carbon compounds, aromatic carbons, cations and anions, with a personable approach to how they appear in human cases. He points out the sweetness of volatile compounds (esters’ aroma of pear drops or almonds making sense of “dreams of almonds”), blandness of some carbons, contrasting with the explosive volatility, shock and violence of the fuels, whose polluting exhaust fumes are overshadowed by the relentless, ruthless profitability of oil trading, transport, and war. These themes come through in the remedy states.It calls on our capacity for overview and clarity to see the coherence of themes in this group and to realise in essence that this is a Carbon case. A remedy needed from this highly complex group may go unseen for years. What the cases in this issue have in common is that it was a long and circuitous route to find the remedy that worked deeply to resolve the case.

In sharing these cases, the homeopaths enable us to take a more direct route to the carbons when faced with a patient presenting with a poly-symptomatic picture (which may be characteristised by exhaustion or speed and drive, materialistic ambition or lack of self worth, burning up with heat or icy cold chills). With the help of Roger Morrison’s textbook in one hand and clarity of hindsight in the other, we see how the final remedy always made sense.

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Carbon and Hydrocarbons; a common element with a slippery identity by Roger MorrisonCarbon is the common building block of life on earth. Organic carbon based compounds derive mainly from petroleum and there has been an explosion in the use of petrochemicals in manmade plastics, polymers, additives, as detergent, solvents and lubricants, in food production and medicines, building materials, pipes and cables, and hydrocarbons, combustible petrochemicals, crude oil and natural gas as a source of energy for heating, lighting and electricity because of the energy produced when burnt, and fuel for transport.Hahnemann did the first provings of the carbon remedies: Petroleum, Graphites and Camphora, and the charcoal remedies Carbo vegetabils and Carbo animalis. He also proved several acetate remedies: Mercurius, Manganum; Calcarea carbonicum; and Baryta carbonicum.Organic carbons take many forms including hard solids, smooth compounds (plastics), liquid polymers (like paints and dyes), volatile fuels, and plant terpenes, alkaloids and phenolics. Carbon compounds are not confined to the mineral kingdom. Of the 150 or so carbon based remedies only four are pure carbon: Adamas (diamond), Graphites, Carbo animalis, Carbo vegetabilis. The others are compounds including Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulphur.Carbon themes include invisibility or lack of identity, blankness, value, self worth, blandness. These bland colourless compounds appear innocuous (like plastic) yet they can be poisonous or pollutants. A recurring theme in Carbon remedies is confusion, feeling lost in an unfamiliar place; in contrast with the fiery hydrocarbon themes of fuel, power, transport, travelling at speed in vehicles, industrial and technology, materialism, exploitation, explosive, volatility and violence.Some Carbon remedies comprise only three elements: Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen. The structural arrangement and how the element combine, makes a vastly different substance and gives different symptoms in a remedy. Luckily, each group has reliable similarities eg. Carboxylics, Carbonyls (Camphor) or all Alcohols. Through provings and cured cases, we have gained some insight into the various groups:Alcohol - Bravado/InhibitionAliphatic - PassivityAmine - Grudge, WithdrawalAromatic - Mental excessCarbonyl - PersecutionCarboxylic - Fear and ClingingEther - DisassociationNitrate - ExplosionNitrile - BetrayalSugar - HungerTerpene - Excitement, Stimulation

ALCOHOLS - Bravado / vs InhibitionThe alcohols have inhibition, or disinhibition with over-familiar behaviour. The patient is withdrawn or flagrantly egotistical, with immoderate laughter and gesticulation. These two characteristics can alternate, giving a manic state. They can flare up over long-held grudges, be offensive or abusive to family or friends. There may be childish bravado, which appears aggressive. His dependency feels threatening to him – he believes those who have helped him may let him down or abuse him. He has a desperate need to be understood and valued. He alternates between an attempt to cover up or overcome his flaws, then aggressiveness when his needs are not heard. Note that these remedies can be used in the treatment of alcoholism. Sycotic miasm.Alcohols Rubrics

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Abusive: Alco. Carb-Ac. Ferr-Pic. Gall-Ac. Lac-Ac. Sac-Alb.Abusive of family and friends: Alco. Ferr-Pic. Gall-Ac. Lac-Ac.Affectionate, distasteful: Carb-Ac.Dipsomania: Alco. Carb-Ac. Chlol. Kreos. Lac-Ac. Sac-Alb.Egotism/selfishness: Alco. Gall-Ac. Sac-Alb.Forsaken feeling: Alco. Sac-Alb. Sac-L.Gesticulating: Alco. Kres. Sac-Alb.Guilt/embarrassment/shame: Alco. Kreos.Immoderate: Alco. Carb-Ac.Loquacity: Alco. Kres. Lac-Ac. Sac-Alb. Thymol.Shame: Pic-Ac. Sac-Alb.Shameless: Alco.Talkativeness, untimely confessions: Alco.

Alcohols Provings and CasesAlco: The modest blush of shame vanishes, improper, undignified acts are committed.Alco: “My mother was an alcoholic. I was made to take care of her. I was invisible.” MorrisonCarb-Ac: “I hold grudges. I take a lot of guff for a long time then I explode. I can be bold and audacious.If people are mean and nasty I can be obnoxious.” Reichenberg-UllmanKres: Loquacious. Gesticulation. Wants to embrace the whole world.Kreos: “Guilt has been a big motivation. When her mother was dying, the patient gave up her career to care for her.” BakerLac-Ac: Hatefulness; writes mean things to her friends.Sac-L: Cross and fault-finding, could not speak a pleasant word to anyone.Alcohol RemediesAlco. Carb-Ac. Chlol. Chrys-Ac. Cit-Ac. Gall-Ac. Glyc. Guajol. Kres. Kreos. Lac-Ac. Menthol. Meth-Sal. Naphtol. Pic-Ac. Res. Sac-Alb. Sac-L. Sal-Ac. Salin. Salol. Sarcol-Ac. Tann-Ac. Tart-Ac. Thymol. Ur-Ac. Vanil. Related Remedies: Menth. Ol-Sant. All Citrates. Picrates. Tartrates. All Sugars.ALIPHATICS - PassivityOver 20 aliphatic compounds are used in homeopathy, including Aceticum Acidum, Aetherum, Alcoholus, Amyl Nitrosum, Chloralum, Glonoinum and Oxalicum Acidum.The main homeopathic characteristic is passivity. Aceticum Acidum is known for its desperate anxiety and irritability. Despite this, when under stress, there is utter passivity; lack of reactivity mentally and physically; whereas the aromatic remedies confront stress by excessive mental activity.The carbons’ characteristic of confusion and slowed thinking is emphasized in this group of small, lipid soluble molecules that readily pass the blood-brain barrier. The passivity and lack of assertiveness is related to the carbons’ general theme of lack of self-worth and invisibility. A common complaint for Alcoholus patients is that they were never heard or listened to.Aliphatic Physical symptomsCirculatory dysfunction, pulsations, arrhythmia, ecchymosis, faintness.Aliphatic RubricsAilments from quarrels: Glon.Indifference: Acet-Ac. Alco. But-Ac. Chlol Glon. Glyc. Lac-Ac. Nit-S-D. Ox-Ac. Sulfon.Head: Pulsating blood vessels: Aether. Alco. Aml-N. Cit-Ac. Glon. Glyc. Lac-Ac. Ox-Ac. Paraf.

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Chest, Pulsation: Acet-Ac. Alco. Aml-N. Chlol. Glon. Nit-S-D.General; Faintness: Acet-Ac. Aether. Alco. Aml-N. Chlol. Cit-Ac. Glon. Lac-Ac. Nit-S-D. Ox-Ac. Sulfon.Thios.Aliphatic Provings and CasesAcon-Ac: Dream: “I was a character who kept dying and coming back to life with a decomposing body.”Alco: “I didn’t exist as far as the family was concerned, not being listened to.”Carbn-H: “When she wants to change her clothes, she calls for her mother to help her. She needs help with simple tasks. She is not concerned about things. She just smiles and plays.”Chlol: From having strong will and excellent mental power, she became listless and peevish, childish.Cupr-Acet: They become totally apathetic, don’t want anything, except to be dead, at least there will be no more demands. Failing that, the least you can do for them is leave them alone to rest and sleep. ScholtenGlon: Describing her character: "I hate arguments."Thios: Quiet, melancholic demeanor. Gives the impression of having suffered emotional trauma in life.Aliphatic RemediesAcet-Ac. Aceton. Acon-Ac. Aether. Aethyl-Br. Aethyl-N. Alco. Aml-N. Amylam. But-Ac. Carbn-H. Chlol. Cit-Ac. Cosm. Croto-Chlol. Glon. Glyc. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Meth-Ae-Ae. Nit-S-D. Ox-Ac. Paraf. Sarcol-Ac. Succ-ac. Tart-Ac. Thios. Related Remedies: Acetyls-Ac. Benz-P. Benzin. Hip-Ac. Keroso. Nat-Pyruv. Petr. Phenac. Sulfon. Thymol. Trion. All Acetates. Citrates. Lactates. Oxalates. Succinates. Tartrates. Valerates.AMINES - Grudge, WithdrawalIn our materia medica some 20 remedies include amine groups. Ammonium salts (NH4 ions) are related to amines. Scholten has written about ammonium salts in "Homeopathy and Minerals" identifying resentment, bitterness, grudges from disappointment. There are similar themes in the amines. The patient has a feeling of impending misfortune, disease or injury, difficulty with trust, poor communication skills. Dreams of thwarted attempts to communicate by telephone. He withdraws, becomes a loner, dislikes consolation; defensiveness, acting brusquely, cursing or impolite behavior. Impulsiveness and hurry, later indifferent to external things. Internally timid. Feels taken advantage of, persecuted, victimized. Amines are products of excretion, and these remedies are in the Leprosy miasm.Amines Physical SymptomsRenal disorders. Temperature regulation is disordered with marked chilliness. Headache and nausea, weakness and prostration.Amines RubricsCompany, aversion to: Allox. Prop. Skat. Thios.Cursing: Allox. Skat.Dictatorial: Allox.Dreams animals: Allox. Indol.Forsaken: AlloxWashing the hands: Allox.Amines Provings and CasesAllox: “I often dream of mice… disgusting animals. Two of them coming from a cemetery and then they mated… it was awful.” MangialavoriAllox: Feels dirty, keeps washing hands.Prop: Morose, with great desire to be let alone.Skat: Despondency, hopelessness. Not apprehension. Irritability, peeved.Thios: A loner, claims there is no one she can relate to. RileyThios: “I sometimes think I am great, other times I think I am worthless. Sometimes I just want to be left alone, but I hate that, too.” RileyAmine Remedies

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Acetan. Allox. Ami-Sal-ac. Amylam. Anil. Anil-S. Antipyrin. Hip-Ac. Indol. Lysid. Methyl.Oro-Ac. Paraph. Phenac. Pipe. Prop. Skat. Sulfa. Sulpha. Sulfonam. Thios. Ur-Ac. Urea.Amides (aminoesters) Hip-Ac. Phenac. Sulfonam.AROMATICS - Mental overactivity

Mentally, the benzene derivatives’ mind is racing with ideas, loquacious, speedy, pressured in speech and movement. Starting. Sexual arousal, excitement, excessive erections, nocturnal emissions, fantasy. Preoccupation with the past, and sad or unpleasant memories. Aromatics RubricsThoughts rapid: Carb-Ac. Pic-Ac.Ideas abundant: Carb-Ac. Kreos. Pic-Ac.Excitement: Sal-Ac.Loquacity: Benz-N. Kres. Thymol. Sal-Ac.Lascivious: Carb-Ac. Pic-Ac. Sal-Ac. Zinc-Pic. Aromatics Provings and CasesBenz-D: “I must be constantly stimulated... interesting things. Internal restlessness. Driven. In a state of alert.” MorrisonGall-Ac: “Nocturnal erections, annoyingly hard. I try to stop the sexual fantasies – they’re too much. It’s an addiction.” MorrisonGall-Ac: “Thoughts are going all the time. My left temple stays locked all day long. This keeps my mind wired. I am a workaholic. I get obsessed with projects. But I also want to escape the real world. I want to just get the idea and have others carry it out. Poor mental focus.” MorrisonAromatics / Benzene Physical SymptomsHaemorrhage, anemia. Weakness during menses. Band-like sensations. Vertigo and Meniere’s syndrome. Amelioration in the open air. Retinitis and retinal haemorrhage. Hay fever. Tinnitus. Glossitis. Inflammation of prostate. Kidney stones. Emphysema. Heaviness or inflammation of the spine and spinal cord. Ataxia (related to spinal difficulties). Oedema. Gout and podagra. Gangrenous burns.Aromatic RemediesAcetan. Acetyls-Ac. Anil. Anil-S. Anthrch. Antipyrin. Benz. Benz-D. Benz-N. Benz-Ac. Benzoq. Carb-Ac. Chrys-Ac. Eos. Gall-Ac. Guajol. Hip-Ac. Indol. Kres. Methyl. Methyl-Sal. Naphtin. Paraph. Phenac. Pic-Ac. Polyst. Res. Sal-Ac. Salin. Salol. Skat. Sulfa. Sulfonam. Tann-Ac. Thymol. Trinit. Vanil.Related Remedies: Anthro. Benz-P. Keroso. Kreos. All Benzoates. Picrates. Salicylates.CARBONYLS - PersecutionCarbonyl bonds are double bonds between carbon and oxygen; ketone and aldehyde. The most widely used remedy is Camphor; and we have an extensive proving with clinical cases of Alloxanum.The carbonyl bond is unstable and the double bond reduces in the presence of certain molecules. This reaction is important in organic chemistry for making specific chemicals. Chemistry refers to this reaction as “attacking” the carbonyl bond. Like the molecule, the patient expresses vulnerability to attack; they feel persecuted (confusion can be made between carbonyl remedies and metals). To cut off a perceived attack, they may be dictatorial, demanding, argumentative, defensive. They can be so disappointed in close ones that they drive them away or cut them off, then complain of a sense of isolation and being forsaken.Carbonyl Physical symptoms:

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Susceptibility to diabetes. Twitching. Cramping pains. Glaucoma. Salivation. Desire for and amelioration cold drinks. Tuberculosis. Carbonyl RubricsQuarrelsome: Allox. Camph. Carbonyl Provings and CasesAllox: [lost her job] Feels quarrelsome. Anthrch: It’s been 6-7 years since I got angry spells that I couldn’t seem to get over. [cured symptom]Camph: “I was always in a blinding rage, blaming someone, it was all his fault!” HerrickKeto-Ac: Vented feelings on a relative stranger which left me feeling uneasy. Carbonyl RemediesAceton. Ald. (Methan, Formal). Allox. Anthrch. Antipyrin. Benzoq. Croto-Chlol. Chrys-Ac. Eos. Keto-Ac. Oro-Ac. Urea. Ur-Ac. Vanil.CARBOXYLIC ACIDS - Fear, Aggression / DependencyConfident, optimistic, goal-oriented, industrious, with determination, urgency, hurry, ruthless ambition. Internally there is great anxiety, desire for company, and need for interaction and reassurance. Desire to be held or carried in Saccharum Album, Acetic Acid, Antimonium Tartaricum and Benzoic Acid. In Gallic Acid they desire to be watched constantly, never out of the sight of the person who gives him security. Fear about his own health and health of the loved ones. Aversion to leaving home or even getting out of bed. Anxiety, fear of being attacked, killed or murdered (shot).Irritability, anger, striking, kicking or maliciousness, even toward those they depend on. This combination of extreme dependency and extreme aggressiveness is a clue to a carboxylic acid remedy. Discouragement, apathy, aversion to work, debility and weakness. Fixation on suicide – tortured by their fears or frustration of their desires – is more an ideation than a true threat. Crises indicate Typhoid miasm. Carboxylic acid Physical symptomsGenerally chilly but often with heat, congestion, perspiration in the face and head. Thirsty. Arthritis and gout, arthritis with great stiffness, deformity and destruction of the joints. Pains are sharp or piercing.Mouth ulcers, aphthae, bleeding, offensiveness. Indigestion, burning in the stomach, sour eructations, flatus, diarrhea, exhaustion, fogginess. Carboxylic acid RubricsAnxiety about health: Acet-Ac. Ant-T. Bar-Ox-Succ. Oro-Ac. Succ-Ac.Dreams of murder: Acon-Ac. But-Ac. Fumar-Ac. Merc-Acet. Nat-Ox. Oro-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-L.Fear/dreams being shot: Acon-Ac. But-Ac. Mang-Mang-Acet. Plb-Acet.Desire to be held: Ant-T. Benz-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-Alb.Desire to be carried: Acet-Ac. Ant-T. Benz-Ac. Sac-Alb.Desire to be watched constantly: Gall-Ac.Dictatorial: Gall-Ac. Sac-Alb.Fear poverty/business: Acet-Ac. Calc-Acet. Cit-Ac. Mang-Acet. Zinc-Acet.Anxiety for future: Ant-T. Calc-Acet. Ferr-Acet. Keto-Ac. Mang-Acet. Nat-Acet.Fear/dreams of death: Acet-Ac. Acon-Ac. Ant-T. Cupr-Acet. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Mang-Acet. Merc-Acet. Ox-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-L. Sal-Ac.Homesickness/fear to leave the home: Bar-Acet. But-Ac. Cupr-Acet. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Oro-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-Alb. Sac-L. Succ-Ac.Industrious: Calc-Acet. Mang-Acet. Nat-Ox.Malice: Acet-Ac. Fumar-Ac. Lac-Ac. Mang-Acet. Nat-Ox. Oro-Ac.Striking/kicking/violent: Ant-T. Cupr-Acet. Gall-Ac. Lac-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-Alb.Hurry: Ant-T. Benz-Ac. But-Ac. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Merc-Acet. Nat-Ox. Ox-Ac. Sac-Alb.Industrious: Calc-Ac. Mang-Acet. Nat-Ox.Aphthae: Acet-Ac. Ant-T. Benz-Ac. But-Ac. Chin-Sal. Form-Ac. Lac-Ac. Merc-Acet. Nat-Ox. Ox-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-Alb. Sal-Ac. Succ-Ac.

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Arthritis deformans: Ant-T. Benz-Ac. Cit-Ac. Form-Ac. Lac-Ac. Lith-Sal. Mang-Acet. Sal-Ac.Eructations sour/acrid: Acet-Ac. Am-Be. Ant-T. Bar-Ox-Succ. Benz-Ac. But-Ac. Calc-Acet. Chin-Sal. Cupr-Acet. Ferr-Acet. Form-Ac. Hip-Ac. Lac-Ac. Mang-Acet. Nat-Acet. Nat-Ox. Ox-Ac. Plb-Acet. Sac-Alb. Sal-Ac. Sarcol-Ac. Tart-Ac. Zinc-Acet.Heartburn: Acet-Ac. Ant-T. Bar-Acet. Benz-Ac. Calc-Acet. Chin-Sal. Cit-Ac. Cupr-Acet. Ferr-Acet. Gall-Ac. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Mang-Acet. Nat-Ox. Ox-Ac. Sac-L. Carboxylic acid Provings and CasesMurder (especially shot)Acon-Ac: Dreamt of being shot viciously in my left ear. There was a flash. “Stupid way to die.”But-Ac: Fear of being shot; this fear forced him to bed.Camph-Ac: “I had to kill or be killed. You just fired. It was mindless madness.”Nat-Ox: Dreamed of a mass murderer. Oro-Ac: A shocking dream about being convicted of murder and many friends come to say good-bye before I was given the death penalty.Sac-L: Imagined her mother wanted to kill her; kept looking round to see if she was coming up behind her.Nat-Ox: Dream of missiles exploding. Dreamt of my brother who is a militant neo-Nazi fascist.FearFumar-Ac: Scary episode with heart during the night. It stopped in the middle of a dream for 2-3 seconds. Preceded by really fast palpitations. I was concerned that if I slept I would die in my sleep.Gall-Ac: “I cannot be alone; even in the office, I have to be able to see somebody.”Nat-Ox: Fear of a stranger who came into my home.Succ-Ac: I was reluctant to leave the house.AggressionGall-Ac: “He disrupts the whole class, spits at and strikes other children, curses, ignores people when spoken to, bites classmates or kicks them, initiates fights with his classmates.” ZarenSac-Alb: “He becomes cross, rebellious, angry and hyperactive. Horrible fits of temper, stamping his feet on the ?oor, kicking, striking, breaking things intentionally in front of his parents. Defiant.” SmitsHurry/IndustryCupr-Acet: Tendency to work very hard and deny their basic needs.Lac-Ac: Impelled to productive work in the evening, although fatigued during the day.Oro-Ac: Felt my mind was racing way ahead of me. Felt wired. Hyped up on overdrive.Nat-Ox: Felt I had to hurry all day at work today.Succ-Ac: “He never can stay in place. He likes to move. He is very fast.” SankaranBenz-Ac: Fear following hurry. Carboxylic Acid RemediesAcet-Ac. Acetyls-Ac. Acon-Ac. Ami-Sal-Ac. Benz-Ac. But-Ac. Camph-Ac.Cit-Ac. Form-Ac. Fum-Ac. Gall-Ac. Hip-Ac. Keto-Ac. Lac-Ac. Meth-Sal.Oro-Ac. Ox-Ac. Sal-Ac. Sarcol-Ac. Succ-Ac. Tann-Ac. Tart-Ac.Related Remedies: Ol-Succ. All Acetates. Benzoates. Citrates. Formates.Lactates. Oxalates. Salicylates. Succinates. Sugars. Tannates. Tartrates. Valerates.ETHERS - DissociationThe ethers are compounds in which two organic groups are connected by an oxygen atom which has a single bond to both groups (R1-O-R2). We see disassociation between mind and body; and between parts of the personality. This disassociation may be associated with a pleasurable tranquility or with great fearfulness.Physical symptomsCerebral congestion.Ether RemediesAether. Guajol. Meth-Ae-Ae. Phenac. Salin. Vanil.

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Related Remedies: Eucal. Pipe. Sac-Alb. Sac-L.NITRATES - ExplosionThe nitrate group, eg Kali Nitricum, Argentum Nitricum, is an ion in an ionic salt. In Organonitrates it is covalently bonded to organic molecules. Organonitrates are used in explosives. Medicinal use as vasodilators. Emotionally there is an explosive quality with enthusiasm, buoyancy or temper outbursts (rapidly dissipating). Impulsive or great effort to control impulses and behavior, fear of expressing himself too forcefully. Strong sense of imminent danger (Chhabra), such as car accident or an explosion. Fear that something terrible is about to happen. Dreams of fire, explosions or danger. Nitrates Physical SymptomsCirculatory system, hypertension, high blood pressure, hot flushes. Aggravation from heat, from being in the sun. Migraines or severe pulsating headaches with flushed face, violent pulsations, palpitations. Vertigo on rising from a seat. Nitrates Provings and CasesAmyl-N: Blushing or flushing of blood to the face from excitement, mental or physical. NashBenz-D: “I have fear of letting go of the structure and trusting the universe. I won’t be held. It will be total chaos. I’ll be falling without a net.” MorrisonBenz-D: “My desire is so strong that it pulls all of my attention. I don’t have a big sex drive for my girlfriend. My libido is way down, yet the thoughts. I’m obsessive, especially about women’s bodies.” MorrisonGlon: During an explosive argument the patient had a sudden impulse to throw herself from the apartment roof. Weeping eventually relieves her mood. MorrisonNitrate RemediesAethyl-N. Amyl-N. Glon. Nit-S-D.Aromatic NitratesBenz-D. Benz-N. Pic-Ac. Trinit.Related Remedies: All Picrates.NITRILES (Cyanides) - Betrayal

The nitriles (or cyanides) are among the deadliest poisons known. Chemically similar to the halogens, cyanide is known as the “false halogen.” The main characteristic of cyanides is betrayal (similar to the Iodum feeling of being stabbed in the back), betrayal of a life and death nature; murder.The first compensation is to cling to others. He combats the threat with anger and abusiveness, struggling and violence. If this is ineffective, he gives in, loses hope, loses touch with reality or becomes suicidal. Although the patient acts cheerful, the mental state is fear. Fear of death, dreams of dead bodies, fear of houses collapsing on him, fear to go to sleep, fear of being left alone. Fantasy that he is with friends – he reaches out to them, calls them. Apprehension, confusion, lost, disoriented, difficulty thinking, absent-mindedness, forgetting appointments. To understand the state, we can think of a condemned prisoner: alone in a dismal room, knowing that death is seconds away. He may call out for help, rant at those confining him, but in vain.Nitriles Physical symptomsHeart symptoms, angina. Spasms, of the hands, face and throat. Cyanosis. Contractures. Tongue cancer. Convulsions and petit mal. Dysphagia. Like the other halogens, there are many throat and larynx symptoms. Nitriles RubricsAbsence, frequent: Hydr-Ac. Merc-Cy. Zinc-Cy.Anxiety from pain: Hydr-Ac. Merc-Cy.Fear death: Hydr-Ac. Kali-Fcy.Face; Discoloration bluish: Hydr-Ac. Kali-Cy.Face, old expression: Hydr-Ac. Kali-Fcy.

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Throat; Swallowing, difficult: Hydr-Ac. Kali-Cy. Merc-Cy. Nitriles Provings and CasesHydr-Ac: Under hypnosis: “He lost his parents in the chaos, only clinging to his teddy bear. He was hustled along in a group, told to undress to take a shower. Many naked people were jammed together into a large room, then they started to scream and to tumble down on top of him. He was one of the last to breathe in the deadly fumes of the gas, Zyclon B (cyanide). He died in terror and pain.” CollinsKali-Cy: “I’m allergic even to the bedding in our home. I’m like a homeless person. I don’t know where I’m going to sleep. It’s heartbreaking – especially not getting to be with my wife. I’m a fugitive – on the run. On the margin of society. I’m not highly thought of, no social support. There’s very little support in the world. Nothing works, I could just spiral down.” Herrick/Morrison Nitrile RemediesAmyg-Am. Arg-Cy. Chin-Hydr. Ferr-Cy. Hydr-Ac. Kali-Cy. Merc-Cy. Merc-SCy. Zinc-Cy.Related Remedies: Kali-Fer (Kali-Fcy). Zinc-Fcy.SUGARS - HungerSugars are structurally similar to Carboxylic Acids. Tinus Smits has written about Saccharum album in hypoglycemia and diabetes. There is a sense of deprivation, feeling neglected even when people are doing everything to help him. The Buddhists call such individuals “hungry ghosts” (unsatisfied spirits). He becomes demanding and aggressive; scolding with sarcasm and contempt. Depression and anxiety. Unable to assimilate the sweetness of life; or Galeazzi describes compulsive desire to sweeten things.Sugars Physical SymptomsBlood sugar disorders, diabetes, anorexia, eating disorders; digestive troubles; food intolerances, yeast, thrush, candida. Rumbling, flatus (as in the carboxylic acids). Restlessness. Amelioration by eating. Typhoid miasm. Sugars RubricsCensorious: Lac-Ac. Sac-L.Forsaken: Lac-Ac. Sac-Alb.Homesick: Sac-Alb. Sac-L.Sarcasm: Lac-Ac. Sac-Alb. Sac-L.Want of childish cheerfulness: Sac-Alb. Sugars Provings and CasesLac-Ac: Hatefulness. Peevish; mistrustful; feels injured (hurt, prejudice) takes things the wrong way.Lac-Ac: “Her mother (harangued) her. She had no contact with her father, her brother took his frustrations out on her. She left home.” Case of hypoglycemia, ScholtenSac-Alb: “Refuses to be cuddled, but asks for attention. Says to her mother, ‘You don’t love me any more.’ Feels that she is accused of everything and that her brother is always in the right.” Behavior disorder, SmitsSac-L: Feeling of grievance and neglect. Cross and fault?nding, could not speak a pleasant word to anyone.Sac-L: Intense nervousness, as if she would fly out of her skin. Wakes at 3am, does not sleep again till 7 am; worries about all sorts of things.Succ-Fr: “Great depression of the mind and spirits. Worries much over his disease.” YinglingSugar RemediesAcer-S. Mel. Sac-L. Sac-Alb. Succ-Fr.Related Remedies: Lac-Ac. Salin. Tann-Ac.TERPENES - Stimulation, Excitement

These plant-derived chemicals have a refreshing stimulating fragrance and effect. All of us have used Vick’s

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VapoRub which combines several terpenes – the pleasant, warm-cold sensation creates an openness in the chest and respiratory tract. They produce a mild euphoric or excitement. Many ideas which they pursue with enthusiasm and intensity. A drive for activity, physical and mental. May dream of flying or adventures. Despite this stimulated state, the patient is analytical, aware of practicalities and finances. Boredom when unable to find an outlet for these excitements. Pathology develops when the patient feels let down by family or co-workers. Rage and mania result.Terpenes Physical SymptomsNeuralgia, inflammation of the organs or serous membranes, urinary problems, respiratory difficulties. Left frontal headaches, glossitis and chemical sensitivity syndromes. Tubercular miasm.Terpenes RubricsMind; Activity; desire for: Eucal. Menth.Delirium, maniacal: Camph. Ter.Ideas abundant: Camph. Menthol. Ter.Head Pain; Forehead; Eye; above left: Camph. Menthol. Ter.Terpenes Provings and CasesCamph: Never felt better; ideas never more lively or clearer; it appeared as if the intellectual powers were increased; champagne never brought on a more pleasing intoxication.Eucal: Pleasant general excitement, irresistible desire for moving about, a feeling of buoyancy.Menth: Eager for work and dispatches it quickly.Tere-L: Accomplished everything and overcame obstacles effortlessly.Terpene RemediesCamph. Eucal. Gaul. Menth. Menthol. Ol-Sant. Ter. Tere-Ch. Ter-L.Related Remedies: Camph-Ac. Camph-Br.This is mined from the wealth of resource and information on Carbon remedies in the book "Carbon. The Organic and Hydrocarbon Remedies in Homeopathy" by Roger Morrison MDThe book gives a fuller description of each of the carbon themes and a material medica of the remedies.Photos: Wikimedia CommonsOil refinery in California; Leonard GShot glass with Fisherman's friend; FluffVanilla planifolia; H.ZellAuchwitz camp entrance;BookofblueVicksVaporub; Asim18Categories: Remedies Keywords: Carbon series, hydrocarbons Remedies: A dream proving of Petroleum by Elizabeth ThompsonA dream proving is carried out each year within the academic programme of the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital to bring us as a group into the direct experience of a homeopathic medicine. We offer students the option to take a 30C of an unknown remedy and to record their dreams for three nights. This dream proving of Petroleum took place in October 2008. It is interesting to see these themes appearing in cases that have needed hydrocarbon remedies (see the Petroleum / Glonoine case in this issue).In describing the themes of the dream proving, reference is made to Roger Morrison’s illuminating book on the Hydrocarbons, which I would encourage any homeopath to have on their desk. Morrison separates this large group of remedies into various subgroups, one subgroup being its use in the world. Petroleum can be seen as the group of fuel remedies, which include Alcoholus, Benzenum petroleum, Benzinum, Carbo vegetabilis, Carboneum, Fuligni, Kerostenum, Napthalinum, Paraffinum and Petroleum.

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Petroleum as proved by Hahnemann was liquid oil held in reservoirs by non-porous shale or rock oil (petros is Greek for rock). A number of homeopathic pharmacies state that they now use kerosene to derive petroleum from crude oil rather than shale oil. The idea to dig deep for oil came with the first oil well in 1859, which began a whole new age of industry and travel.Some of the major themes seen in the proving include:

Travel, transport, travelling fast, by car, bus, train, coach, rocketExhaustion, weakness and depletionConfusion, disorientation, weird, vacantExplosion, fireViolence, unfeeling, blank, kidnap, gangster, sinisterIndustrial age, Technological, or nostalgia for the pastMoney, exploitation, materialism and povertyDream Themes:Travelling under pressureOne of the main themes of the proving was of travel: travel by bus, tube, train, car, boat, even by space pod. An obvious quality of this fuel substance is its ability to propel vehicles to move us around, sometimes too fast, so that we become disorientated in time and place. Travel under pressure, moving fast, being late, too many people pushed into one vehicle.Future technology, industrial age, and the pastThe rate of change of society in the industrial age is mainly down to petroleum, and more recently silicon. Technology appears in the dreams: laptop, mobile phones, a blown-up computer combining two petroleum themes of technology and explosion. Travel by space pod looked to future technology. There was also a sense of the past, going back in time, returning to medieval times in a chill winter. A hardworking common man in a boiler suit was an image of the industrial age. ExplosionBecause of the pressure and urgency, there can be frustration and anger, sometimes explosive. “The confrontation is explosive.” “Suddenly there is a huge explosion and the words ‘the power of the dark void’.” A computer damaged – possibly blown up. War and superpowerMorrison sees the petrochemical age as one of greed and wielding power with an unfeeling position on the consequences of war. This theme of power is to be competitive, supremely powerful. A theme of the dream proving was war, Iraq, the Taliban and the USA, superpower. Many of the wars currently raging have oil at their centre: oil equals money equals power, which leads to world domination.Nature under threatNature under threat, animals being herded and oppressed. Underground comes through strongly, where the substance comes from; also representing the unconscious mind, and the birth canal (Row 2 carbon). There was also the theme of water, sea, a swimming pool. The drive and thrust of hydrocarbon fuels have put male energy in the ascendancy in this industrial era, and domination of the female energy. Feminine energy is seen in the gypsy woman with an ample cleavage, who is blank and empty. The pharmaceutical industry relies almost entirely on oil, whilst Gaia is left reeling since oil was forced out of the earth for greed and acquisition of wealth.Unfeeling, blankA menacing woman: “Her eyes are blank – zombie-like. A great empty space where her irises should be.” “She shows no sign of feeling the injury.“ Unfeeling at the sight of slabs of raw meat on a conveyor belt. The image of blood seen in the dreams correlates with the film “Let There Be Blood”, a story of some of the first oil wells and the greed that drove these men to get more and more. Sinister behaviour

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Sinister behaviour or motives, a sense of hostility and resentment. “He is acting erratically, suspiciously, weirdly.” “They cannot arrest him but the undercurrent is of seedy crime, possibly even child abduction?” Use of force, menace, kidnap, murder; “I was in a car with three or four gangster types. We were discussing murdering somebody in graphic detail … a violent killing and it involved guns. I awoke suddenly sweating.” Inflicting pain in self-defence when grabbed. Assassination: “There was a beautiful lady sitting in the audience. She was there to try to assassinate one of the (presidential) candidates; she had 6 daggers. She threw 5 of them but missed and she kept the last in the sheath that was tied around her thigh.” “Behind the walls one can feel a thudding oppressive noise that is trying to be disguised; not sure what would be found lower down, but a sense of something nasty.” The birthing process – transitions into and out of lifeCarbon represents the moment the foetus decides, “Am I in or am I out?” An alternating state and indecision we know so well of Graphites. “Can I be independent now that I am going into a new world alone?” The need for support; and anxiety, starting from sleep. “I have to lie very close to my husband to get support from him so that I am not alone in the dark void myself.” We saw themes of the second series, the shock of carbon, and the issue of “will I survive?” It is a state between life and death. “Going down in lift got stuck; will I survive this journey?” Images of birth, death and graves, and leaving the elderly and infirm behind when people were selected for travel in a space pod, knowing they would not survive the journey, they would die soon anyway.Weird, Strange, Lost, Confused – longing for familiar surroundingsThere were issues of the early mineral rows, of being on unstable ground, “unsure of ground; test ground”; lost and confused. “It was dark outside. I don’t remember where we were parked.” Familiar places seem strange. “I return to an old house; door way blocked off; couldn’t find the way, lost/confused; familiar but not as I remember.”It’s a state between awake and asleep (the anaesthetics) “unpleasant, unsure, weird.” “I return to familiar places, in a cinema; trapped in chair – surprise; familiar, weird house felt familiar, narrow long garden; weird places, river.” The confusion was seen as “weird”, a word shared with magnolia’s bewildered sensation. We see themes of magnolia family and the hydrocarbons interlinking in Camphora, where everything seems weird.BlueAnother theme was the exhaustion, depletion and cyanosis of carbon remedies with the colour blue (light, blue, dark blue, changing blues), and low energy state of corpulence and an under-functioning system.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsPumpjack (nodding donkey); JimWmurphyCategories: Provings Keywords: hydrocarbon, oil, fire, explosion, confusion, lost, weird, indecision, birth process, exhaustion, cyanosis, kidnap, transport, travel, alone, void Remedies: Petroleum They burn metal to get more fire; a case of Petroleum by Misha NorlandA boy age 8 came to the School of Homeopathy teaching clinic, with severe eczema all over his face, torso, arms and legs. He also has asthma, runny nose, wheezing, worse running outside in the cold.[1]The eczema is red and inflamed, with itchy dry vesicles; he scratches and it gets infected with pus, and oozes a discharge with a fishy smell. His parents say he scratches all the time unless he is distracted with a computer game. At night, he scratches until he bleeds; the bed sheets are covered in blood and pus. He has relief if he can sleep in his mother’s bed but the father says it makes them all “cranky” because of lack of a good night’s sleep.He is always hungry; he loves potatoes, tomato ketchup and fruit - he will eat 3 or 4 oranges.

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Mind: he is affectionate and sympathetic. He is very impressionable and watching films has amplified his fear of ghosts and monsters; he won’t go upstairs on his own. 

ConsultationBoth parents come to the consultation. The boy arranges their chairs, lining them up in a row, tightly together. The boy and his mother are wearing matching striped tops. The parents bring a list of previous prescriptions, no summary of the effects, just a long list.The boy has had steroid creams for his eczema, steroid inhalers for his asthma, and a list of homeopathic prescriptions, polychrests, Sulphur, Lycopodium, none of which have worked. The boy spends most of the consultation writing multiplication times tables in columns on a whiteboard while his parents are talking with the practitioner.Boy’s Personality: he is polite, well behaved, although he gets restless and bored unless occupied by maths. Occasionally, he comes over and sits on his parents’ lap and hugs them when they are talking about him. He is not shy but he is conformist. He is not competitive. He is kind to other children at school and relates to children who are not included, taking care of a child with disabilities. He is sad that the other children won’t play with him because of his skin condition and says he has to control his anger when they are mean to him, tripping him up.There is a restless, scattered feel to the session. His father fiddles on his mobile phone. The mother seems unhappy with her life. They all speak over one another. The parents pick at the boy’s skin if he sits down. He is hungry and asks for something to eat and drink. Background: the family is Asian, living in the industrial Midlands in UK. Marriage and the move to England involved a fall of position. The mother was a doctor in India, who works as a cleaner in England. The father was made redundant from his job last year; both parents mention the stress of this loss of position and family income. There are issues of self-worth.Medical history: the mother was ravenously hungry during pregnancy. Labour was induced and it was a forceps delivery; the mother had surgery for 3 hours afterwards. She describes red marks on the baby’s face where the forceps pulled him out. The baby was hungry all the time.The child and his mother have both had hepatitis C, the boy when he was 3 years old. The mother was prescribed Lachesis by a medical homeopath in India, which restored her blood platelets to normal.Case takingThe boy is kicking his legs and leaning his head on his dad’s arm.Misha Norland (MN): Your name, what does it mean?All talking over each other: “Fight, it means warrior.”MN: I can see that you have quite an angry skin.The boy jumps on his mum’s lap and hugs her.MN: Why don’t you do us a drawing?The boy goes over to the board, and writes out the times tables in neat columns.Dad: "It is inflamed, oozing a watery discharge, comes out in droplets, not very sticky, like starch. It starts off as blisters, they come up and then they burst, there is yellow pus. It is all a layer, a whole big patch."Mum: "When he is busy watching the computer, he leaves it alone, but when he is idle, his hands are always touching it. I hold his hand to stop his scratching. The whole night I hold his hand. Now, he is sleeping with me."Dad: "When he sleeps alone, he itches a lot and scratches and there is blood everywhere. We have to change the pillow cover two or three times in night. When he sleeps with her, they wake each other up. He wakes up cranky. He has missed a lot of

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school. He has only 73% attendance, the school demands 94% attendance. It flares up, it has a knock-on effect on his studies."Mum: "It is red and inflamed and discharges – flare, flare, flare, flare. When he had gastroenteritis we had to give him antibiotics. All his glands were inflamed. He has big big big big blisters, not all of them pussy, but some pus, infection was there.The boy is doing his numbers on the white board neatly and methodically in columns, taking no notice of this conversation about blisters and pus.Mum: "I lose my concentration and confidence, sometimes I feel it in my mind, is it better to control it, no suppression? (describing the tension between using homeopathic treatment or steroids). He was admitted in ICU when he was 3 years old, diagnosed with hepatitis C."Mum: "It was difficult birth, they induced me, and delivered him by forceps. There were marks everywhere on his face and on the back of his head. They just pulled him. He was so stressed. When the nurse showed me, I noticed his face was very red. From birth in hospital, he was very hungry all the time; he drank 3 or 4 times the normal amount for newborns. He was so hungry I put him on other formula milk. Still, he is very hungry. He finishes a proper meal and he is hungry again. In babyhood, there was a rough patch on his temples from the moment he was born, an eruption where the forceps were holding his head, after two months everything was a layer. The second day after he was born, his motion was very yellowish, bright yellow, slightly greenish. After that motion, I first gave him Mezereum, but it didn’t work. After that, his cheeks started to be red and inflamed. During the pregnancy with my daughter, I was very nauseous. This time it was ok but I was very hungry all the time. Mentally, there was stress. We moved to this country, it was unsteady here, how will we earn? We borrowed some money from the bank in India, and that was continuously in my mind. I was angry with my in-laws."MN: What comes up in you with this anger?Mum: "They never recognised me, they never admitted me in the family. There was stress because I had taken a loan for studies. I got a job in a hotel, not a very good job, just cleaning to earn money. In India, I am a doctor. They are intolerant of what I am doing here. That’s also not being recognized. I think, why am I staying here? In spite of all his problems, he is very happy (the boy comes over and hugs his dad). He is starting to complain, “the other children don’t want to have friendship with me because I have eczema, they don’t want to play with me.”Dad: "A fishy smell comes from his face. He is very humble, very merciful."Mum: "A girl in his class has problems with her eyes and limbs, no other child would help her, no other child would play with her, but he helps her. He shouts all the time at home but not outside. He has to have something to keep him busy; laptop, television, my phone, computer, the moment you take these things away the first thing in his mind is “I’m bored”. He’s always hungry. He can’t sit in one place and watch TV, all the time he’s jumping from here to here. If he has both hands on his computer his legs start moving. He has to have something in his hands so he’s busy."MN: How is he with his sister?Mum: "He protects his sister if I tell her off. There is love there but niggles as well. There has been too much tension, just picking problems, so I shout at home. They shout all the time at each other, you have to intervene."Dad: "I was made redundant 2009, then got a job. A lot of things the kids want to do we are not able to do because finances are not there. We have tried our level best to provide it, we haven’t had a decent holiday in the last 4 years, we just can’t afford it; they stayed at home all summer. That plays on the kids’ mind – they go to school and talk with the other kids. The kids lean on each other. When I lost my job, they were both compassionate. You don’t expect an 8 year old to do that. (The boy comes over and sits on his dad’s lap, gives him a kiss).MN: Are you frightened of anything?

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Boy: "I’m scared of the dark, ever since my sister used to tell me ghost stories about dark goblins like the ones in Spiderwick movie, that’s really scary. They take over the house at night. Now, I’m thinking about ghosts, when everyone’s downstairs and it’s dark upstairs, I’m scared to go upstairs."MN: What is your favourite thing to do?Boy: "Ride my bike. But it got run over, we left it outside."MN: You like your maths.Dad: "He is a level above his class in maths. Before he answers, he thinks if it will implicate him in something, he thinks “should I say this or not say this, I might be held responsible.” He will think that extra second and then let his answer out, he’s done that since he started understanding and talking. He will come to an answer that will not put him on the spot."Mum: "In the nightime, I notice sweat on his head, not only on his head, it’s sweaty all over his body. Just as he goes to sleep, he jerks, shudders."Dad: "If he is intensely focused he can concentrate."Mum: "He is very affectionate all the time, coming and hugging all the time. He is very expressive. He asks me, “mama we can give £2-£3 to those poor kids.”Dad: "Ok, when you grow up, earn money and give money. He says ok when I’m a tennis player, then I would be a really good teacher."MN: Tell me about playing tennis.Boy: "It’s really energetic, fun. It’s not really about winning, it’s about being a good sport."Dad: "He doesn’t mind losing. He is a strategist."Boy: "Sometimes, when I look at the sun, I see dots everywhere, a black dot moving around my eyes (floaters)."Dad: "He loves the outdoors, history."Boy: "I don’t like dancing outside, it’s too cold."Mum: "He is interested in religion."MN: What’s the most important in your life?Boy: "My family".MN: What’s the most important thing in your family?Boy: "That they never get divorced. Me and sister and my dad would have to live in a different country. That’s the most important thing that does not happen."MN: What makes you angry?Boy: "When someone’s mean to me. I get bullied a lot because of my eczema. Even though I’m the oldest in my class, they bully me because I’m weak. They trip me up on purpose. I have to control my anger."MN: I bet you’re top of the class.Boy:"Not really. I’m the highest boy but the girls are still higher. It’s not that important to be best, just try do the best you can do."Remedy: Silica LM5, then LM6, LM7 AnalysisIt is clearly a mineral kingdom case. The parents’ linear log of dates of appointments and remedies, the boy’s focus on his task, meticulously writing out tables of maths, lining up the chairs and putting things in order. He works things out by power of reason. He is markedly unaffected by his surroundings (not plant kingdom) and shows no competition or survival issues (not animal kingdom). Although the mother suffers from jealousy and rivalry with her in-laws, the boy and father only talk of their own deficit (mineral kingdom).Initial Repertorisation:Food and Drinks, oranges, desires Extremities Lower limbs, motion amel.Generalities, Fasting, hunger, agg,

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Mind Mathematics, calculating, aptitude for Mind AffectionateMind Objective, reasonableMind FastidiousMind Reprimand agg,Mind Harmony, desire forRepertorisation Results: Calc; Silica; Nat mur; Bar-c; Alum; Calc-ph; Ars; Ph-ac; Plat; Merc; Nit-ac; Nat-c; Sulph; Iodum; Plumbum; Zinc; Causticum; Phos; Carb an; Carbo veg; Hepar sulph; Mag mur; Kali carb; Ferrum; Kali bi; Arg; Aur-m-n; Graphites.Of the many remedies he has been given, Silica is the only remedy that has helped the eczema with pus. He has been taking Silica and improving, so we begin here.Silica is in third series of the periodic table relating to family, identity and professional standing. He has a clear idea of who he is. His family is important to him. He is eager to please, yielding but not a pushover; he controls his anger when bullied and helps the weakest.Response to the remedy: at first, he responds to the remedy, his eczema got better and his asthma improved. The pus becomes a clear discharge. He progresses quickly up the LM scale but then it stops working and his eczema relapses.The family return for follow up and the case is reviewed.Mum: "He is always scared driving on motorways at 60 or 70mph speed. I opened the car window, there was too much pressure of air, at the sound of air he starts crying, he shouts."Boy: "I don’t mean to be rude but I’m hungry."Dad: "He is always hungry. 70% per cent of rash is on his body, discharge from rashes only on his neck and ear, he is still on steroid inhaler."Boy: "I’m bored. I want to go outside with daddy. Shall I tell you how the websites I’ve been going on affect my eczema? Monkey Quest and Space Universe. You choose the planet you go on, then you can move around. We had safe internet day assembly, if people say something rude to you, ask you where you live, you just tell a parent. I get worried and get itching. I went on space universe and they ask you where you live and I start itching. When I cry my tears are all salty, then they make me start itching. Or when people say rude things. I get silly nightmares like when my mum and dad die, and giant man eating lizards or aliens coming. It scared me, my sister forced me to watch it when mum and dad went shopping. I get nightmares about the lizard; the lizard came back from outer space, it had a giant head like a tyrannosaurus, and the body of a human. They are attracted to fire, fire can bring them into the house, they burn metal to get more fire, in the living room, they burn it. I had a dream about this little kid who gets eaten; I woke up when everyone was dead. I get scared of the dark a lot, scared that wolves can get through the window, blood eating, they’ve got really sharp teeth. My sister used to watch this programme about an evil guy called the shadow, he had a face all smudged, you can barely see his eyes, they’re like dots, he has no mouth or teeth. I thought he was downstairs. He’s a giant shadow, he goes around stealing people’s shadows. I don’t go downstairs. I ask my mum and dad. Sometimes, I’m scared if it’s night if all the lights are on upstairs, if no one is upstairs, even if it isn’t dark.MN: What’s the most scary situation?Boy: "Nightmares, most definitely the giant lizard one, it eats everybody. Sometimes, I dream that I’m in the movie, then I get eaten at the end of my nightmare."MN: What’s the first thing you do if you wake up when you’ve had a nightmare?Boy: "I go back to sleep and try and have a better dream."MN: You don’t call for your mummy or daddy?Boy: "If some people laugh at me because of my eczema, I don’t want them to laugh at me because of that as well." (He has a big book). It’s my favourite book of all the things in the movie, demons and dust. Traveller transport – that’s a sky ferry. This is my favourite bit. A spyfly. A flexible toe proboscis is coated with a deadly poison,

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which incapacitates its victims within seconds. Its tongue proboscis is really long, curled up.These are the weapons and armor.MN: That’s quite a book, what’s the best thing about this book?Boy: "It has these pullouts – the other thing I got a little confused on is the spirit projector. This girl goes to hunt that polar bear, then he backs off, don’t mess with her, she’s got a secret weapon. Magisterial sky ferry – high ranking magisterial officials – the luxurious way to travel."Remedy: Petroleum LM1 Response to the remedy: his mother and father report: "There has been an improvement in his facial and leg rashes, they are almost dry with nil or negligible discharge. Small pus vesicles are still on all the rashes on face or legs. His asthma has been better with no asthma attacks in the last couple of months, even when he plays outside in this cold weather. Appetite is much better, he is not hungry all the time. Nasal blockage at night is better. He is shouting less and is less restless than before. The boy continues to improve.

AnalysisPetroleum comes top in a focused repertorisation of two of the most certain symptoms which relate to fueling a hyper-active personality:Mother’s hunger in pregnancy, and his huge desire for food, especially oranges.With the restlessness, fidgety legs, hunger and relentless sequencing, it could be an insect remedy but Petroleum is the hungriest – they need fuel like petrol in the tank. Carbon themesSeveral carbons came through in the initial repertorisation, previously unnoticed: Graphites, Carbo vegetablis, Carbo animalis, Baryta carb, Kali carb and Nat carb. We can now see Carbon themes predominant in the case.The parents’ concerns about job and material security, and issues of self worth appear in all three of them. The mother has anger as a response to this drive for material stability (hydrocarbon) while the father says: “A lot of things the kids want to do, we are not able to do because finances are not there. We have tried our level best to provide it, we just can’t afford it.”The mother’s nausea and her hunger in pregnancy are clues to petroleum, a fuel that burns up fast. There is the second series' Carbon issues of birth and the child’s indecision of being in or out (birth). His skin is red and inflamed in response to the birth. The language relates the inflammation of the eczema to the highly inflammable quality of hydrocarbons: “It flares up, it has a knock-on effect on his studies. It is red and inflamed and discharges – flare, flare, flare, flare.” He likes riding his bike but it got run over.In the second case taking, Hydrocarbon themes (which come through in the Petroleum proving in this issue) become visible: a fascination with transport, especially of space travel, futuristic transportation of the sky ferry, the boy’ fear of the shock of air pressure on the motorway and the fascination with fire, and even the child’s name refers to war.Ghosts are a fear in Carbon remedies and this child is highly impressionable to images of monsters. “They are attracted to fire, fire can bring them into the house, they burn metal to get more fire, in the living room, they burn it.” The boy is now screaming petrol language pedal to the metal; although confusingly, he also describes insect proboscis. Petroleum is known as a remedy for skin conditions, eczema and psoriasis, itching, cracking, bleeding, infected. Morrison ascribes list making, night sweats, and a ravenous appetite.Petroleum products

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Petroleum fuels our industry, our economy, our travel, and lays our lands waste to mountains of plastic strewn by careless hands into every corner of our planet. Some plastics (most are petroleum products) mimic hormones, mess with our endocrine functions and fertility. Plastics and petroleum products are a phenomenon of the twentieth century: explosion, power, travel, but also of pollution, contamination, confusion, exhaustion, weird feelings of alienation and the void. Petroleum is to the skin as it is to the psyche, representing breakdown, dissolving boundaries; it famously has delusions of duality, triplicity and scattering of the body into parts. Like radioactive elements it is a remedy well adapted to modern times.[1] Case taking and analysis by Carolyn BurdetPhotos: Wikimedia CommonsRursus goblin; public domainEczema leg before treatment; Misha NorlandEczema face before treatment; Misha NorlandEczema face after treatment; Misha NorlandEczema leg after treatment; Misha NorlandCategories: Cases Keywords: hydrocarbon, fuel, space travel, shock, air pressure, fire, burn metal, inflammation, eczema, itching, hyperactive, hunger, nausea Remedies: Petroleum A big shock, a big boom, like a gasp of air; a case of Glonoine by Elizabeth ThompsonPresenting complaint: referred to Bristol Homeopathic Hospital with severe acne, age 26.Initial consultation: January 2002 Patient: “I have had spots since the age of 11, they have been really bad. All I see in the mirror are spots, I feel dirty. I got teased, I used to come home crying. I am low in self-confidence, I feel people look at me because of my skin. A relationship never develops because of my skin. I am shy meeting new people, I am not very outgoing.“My sweating is outrageous. I can sit at rest and have profuse beads of sweat. I sweat under my eyes, on my back, my chest, I also feel the cold. My hands and feet are hot now but sometimes they are freezing. A ridiculous metabolism – I’m always hungry, I can’t put weight on.”Tell me more about yourself.P: “I am very creative, I love jewellery, stained glass. I like partying. My friends are like family. I am cautious about judging people, but this evil guy who married my sister, I hate him. My sister was torn away from me. He was violent. He attacked this guy – I witnessed it. I said I wouldn’t lie for him; he threatened to kill me, he was spitting in my face. I felt absolutely mad. I want to let rip and tell him everything. I’m a worrier.” Dreams?P: “I started to have tidal wave dreams. In the last one, I was clutching my twin sister. A tidal wave had hit the roof. I also dream of a panther.”

Remedy: the first remedy I gave her was Silica 30C Follow up: she is not looking in the mirror so much, not feeling so neurotic.Two weeks after Silica, she developed a large boil on the right leg.May 2002: boil recurs.Remedy: Iodum 30CShe improves, sweats less, feeling good in general. She is re-referred in November 2007. She has had recurrent boils with staphylococcus inter-nasally treated with antibiotics.Tell me more about the abscess?

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P: “I couldn’t walk, it’s horrible, burning. I couldn’t put weight on my legs. It’s excruciating, extremely hot and angry. I had a kidney infection and was in hospital for a week. I was rolling around at night with this pain.”She has slight sweat on the forehead and pale unhealthy looking skin, with scars from acne. What was the pain like?P: “It was a deep, dull, ache.” I notice at each point that I need to ask her rather than anything being spontaneously volunteered.Tell me more about the pain.P: “It is hot, burning. I used to get recurrent cystitis as a child. I remember trying not to pee, it was so painful, hot, and burning.”What about your childhood?P: “I had absolute freedom, making dens, running around, but mum and dad had a troublesome separation. They had nasty arguments. My grandmother describes me sitting in a trance.”What was your feeling?P: “I felt helpless. I would cry, like in a trance state, missing my mum, staring into the space. I try to block it out.”The consultation feels difficult to flow into deeper levels, level 3. I come back to the immune system.“It’s really low.”And your acne?P: “When I was 12, I used to come home crying, being teased. The skin feels smoother, not as angry. I have to stop scratching and picking, but this neurosis builds up. I want to even out my skin. It was horrible, ugly. I used to smoke. I had pale skin with angry red spots, they were really uneven. I didn’t have any self confidence.”What is it like not to have confidence?P: “Not to know who you are. I couldn’t go into feelings, although I was over emotional.”What would you say your feeling was?P: “I was angry. To feel so horrible about yourself, I was angry about the cards I had been dealt. My largest organ was freaking out.”Describe what it is like to be uneven. P: “I don’t like it, I want it smooth.”What is uneven?P: “It is anguish and pain. Unconfident.”What is it to not know who you are?P: “I know who I am but I won’t give myself credit. It’s a horrible feeling about my exterior. My skin heals more quickly if I am happy or positive.”The sweating?P: “Pain or nerves will make me sweat. My body is freaking out, it is breaking out. My brain has gone totally dead. Extreme emotion makes me sweat. If I get very angry, I will sweat; like in an argument. I will sweat from the forehead or the top lip. I can sweat from pain. It’s warm, but if it is cold my hands and feet are freezing.”What about this situation where you might sweat when you are angry?P: “I get frustrated, I get a wound up temper. I like things tidied up, I can’t think straight in clutter. I am trying to throw stuff away and not hang on to it for sentimental reasons.”The feeling?P: “Helpless, I can’t make things right for my twin sister. We have been through it all. Her ex-husband brainwashed her. As soon as she came back, I felt whole again. I wanted to kidnap her, steal her away. I felt so sad. I was holding onto the anger, hateful, with so much anger. Passionate hate. I hate him and his family. That will make me angry.”Dreams?

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P: “I am walking along the beach and I know something will happen. There is this massive amount of water.”Feeling in the dream?P: “Absolute fear, helplessness, nothing you can do with something that big. You must get away, grab anyone, run. There is an urgency to get away.“I remember dreaming that me, mum and my sister were holding on to each other. The windows were shaking, everything is buffeting (gesture).” What is this buffeting?P: “It is a big shock, a big boom, buffeting. All the pressure is changing. It is the shock. It makes you jump. It will wake you up. It’s like a back draft, a suction of air, like a gasp of air.”Remedy: Petroleum 30C, three doses, 12 hours apart Follow up January 2008:P: “I feel my skin has been healing quicker, it’s been smoother. I still hold onto stresses. I haven’t had any abscesses; it’s not been as inflamed. I am not sweating as much, the anger has improved.“I dreamt a man was trying to get me, like the dream I had as a child, you think you get away but they are waiting for you and you won’t get away. I work myself up.“I also dream of this big black cat, something chasing me, something in the dark.“I always get really hot in those dreams, freaked out.”Follow up April 2008:P: “I am very highly strung, arguing with my boyfriend. My skin is healing quicker but I am too wound up, too quickly irritated with his talking, he doesn’t know where it comes from. I have this nervous energy, getting too wound up too quickly. I work frantically. Traffic bothers me if it gets chaotic, people driving like idiots. I think my skin is regenerating well.”Remedy: Petroleum 200CAt this point, although I am aware this wound up is still not settling, I stay with Petroleum and increase the potency. Follow up: August 2008. She has had a 3cm abscess for the past 10 weeks.P: “I worry about the Roaccutane I was on 7 years ago. I got this excruciating vasculitis and a poison in my thumb that swelled up, yellow and green nastiness, had to be lanced. I never had a boil or abscess prior to the Roaccutane.

“It is depressing. Burning, angry, heat. It ruins my thought process. I am trying to burn it out, with hot compresses. I am screaming in agony. It’s a deep aching, affecting the nerves, teeth. I dreamt that it burst. It is much worse for touch. It feels like a pressure. It’s extreme. I felt like I would go insane, the pain was so intense. I felt confused.”Remedy: Petroleum 1M Follow up March 2009: “My skin was good and I was happy. My skin didn’t freak out.”Remedy: Petroleum 1M Follow up June 2009:“My skin is still freaking out. It gets red and itchy. It is always worse with the hot weather and before my period.”Tell me about the hot weather.P: “I have always had a tendency to heat stroke, my brain starts blipping out, I get totally wavy vision, it was like the right side of my head had exploded. If my head gets too hot, I will faint or fit, such extremes. I get incredible headache like being hit by a hammer, banging, intense, and throbbing. I have to keep out of the sun or my head feels cooked, building up, like my blood pressure is going up, it gets intense. My head is swelling, as if it is trying to escape, waves of heat coming off my head. It’s like

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I have lost my senses, I feel very confused. I didn’t know where I was, my brain shut down.”Remedy: Glonoine 30C daily for five daysAt this point, it seems clear that the remedy is Glonoine. She tells me her skin came out red, angry and itchy but it has not been bad since; the skin on her back is 100 per cent better. She has had no boils. She is feeling better in herself. Analysis for GlonoineGlonoine is nitroglycerine, a highly explosive compound of carbon and nitrogen.“The pressure is changing. It is the shock. It makes you jump. It will wake you up. It’s like a back draft, a suction of air, like a gasp of air.”Explosion: “The windows were shaking, everything is buffeting. It is a big shock, a big boom.”“I have always had a tendency to heat stroke, my brain starts blipping out, like the right side of my head had exploded. I have to keep out of the sun. If my head gets too hot I get this incredible headache like being hit by a hammer, banging, intense, and throbbing. I dreamt that it burst.”“Extreme emotion makes me sweat. If I get very angry, I will sweat; like in an argument.”“My skin is freaking out.”“I like partying. I love my friends, my friends are like family (Nitrogen theme).” Glonoine substance:Glonoine is prepared from the explosive nitroglycerine Gl O N3.The highly explosive volatile liquid was made more practical for industrial use by the addition of a silicate earth-forming dynamite. The profits from this discovery funded the Nobel Prize. Given as a heart medication for angina pectoris, the nitroglycerine is converted by the body into nitric oxide, a natural vasodilator. Glonoine as a remedy:Build up of pressure, threat of explosion, sudden explosion, red in the face, hot, angry. Sunstroke, angina, pulsating headache, migraine, constriction, surge of heat at menopause, migraine instead of menses. Migraine is relieved in a darkened room; lying with the head covered. Petroleum substance:Petroleum is a hydrocarbon, a fuel made from hydrogen and carbon.Petroleum as a remedy:Travel sickness, nausea in pregnancy, skin of hands cracked, psoriasis (unfeeling), eczema, skin suppurates, cold skin, cold sensation in the chest. Similar skin symptoms to Graphites.We know that Petroleum has the feature of unhealthy skin but many of the hydrocarbons appear to be related to wound healing, such as gunpowder, and with this case, we could include Glonoine. In my experience, boils are a feature of the explosive hydrocarbons for obvious reasons.Photos: Wikimedia CommonsTsunami foam at Bondi Icebergs outside Sydney; Taro TaylorFire on an offshore drilling unit; US coast guardCategories: Cases Keywords: hydrocarbons, nitroglycerine, explosive, shock, boom, pressure, surging headache, boils, acne, sunstroke, kidnap, angry, hateful, tidal wave, petroleum, skin, eczema Remedies: Glonoine 

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Icy fingers in my brain; a case of Camphora by Elizabeth Thompson

Patient: a woman age 42. First consultation: May 2009Presenting complaint: migraine. This lady was referred by her GP for migraine occurring several times a week. She has had migraines since her mid-20’s. She has seen neurologists and had MRI scans, which were normal.Medication: Triptan, Naratriptan.Words indicating Carbon themes are in bold.She is quiet and slow to answer.P: “I think my migraines have been a build up of emotional stress. It goes back to my childhood, where I had a lot of trauma. My father died when I was young. I never grew up properly; I never had a sense of identity. I struggled and it built up a sense of failure.”Tell me about the sense of failure.P: “When I look back on it, I felt inadequate and I made a lot of mistakes. I never grew up. I didn’t know who I was. I have never felt in control. Even now, I am out of control in the work situation and with my housing. I have never had a home. In my relationships with men, I am needy and demanding. I look for what I didn’t get as a child.”What’s that like when you didn’t get it as a child?P: “Things felt very crowded. My mother was tired, she didn’t have a lot of energy, with three older boys. I didn’t get protection and I didn’t get any affection. I grew up in a steel town (industrial).“I couldn’t be a natural child. I struggled with my mother. I was exposed to things; there was no protection, no one to talk about it, no sense of myself. I went from stoical to exploding. One brother was violent; he focused his hatred and anger on me. I had to become stoical but occasionally, I wouldexplode and bang my head on the ground with rage, in utter frustration. No one was getting what was happening to me; there was so much unfairness. I wasn’t in control. I have no confidence, no self esteem, no strong sense of self. If I did have a sense of self; there were things I clung to (gesture).” What do you cling to?P: “I cling to novels, the outside I, looking on life. People would see this injustice.”What novel has stuck in your mind?P: Jude, The Obscure. He left home, he wanted to study, he wanted a break from his origins, he wanted to break the script, but it all ends in disaster. A strong moral heart, if it can be seen it is validated, and if not, it is meaningless, like religion. There is a God who sees you, it could see me; if people could see, would they understand and give me a sense of self.”What is it like to have no sense of self?P: “I feel trapped, I am part of the dirt, the abuse. It was my fault, I was causing it. I have to separate myself. I have to grow beyond and away from the person I was as a child. The need to separate was complete. I couldn’t go back, it leaves incompleteness. It works in terms of survival.””I have been part of an environmental activist group; the relationships were difficult. I felt the sense of failure, that I wasn’t as brave as some of them.”Talk to me more about the sense of failure.P: “Not good enough, not brave enough, not brave enough to get arrested. I didn’t feel safe in the group. I needed to be part of the group, then, it became toxic. Someone not sure, frightened of the group, going into a den of lions. It’s a threat if I spoke out. I am not part of the group. This is a recognisable pattern for me.”

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Tell me more about the migraine.P: “It causes me nausea. There is pressure (she points to the root of her nose) around my eyes, at the front part of my face. It will build up the pain and pressure over my eyes. I get nauseated, I exhaust myself.”Just describe this pain more.P: “Shooting. Unbearable. It is like icy fingers in my brain. The brain is under so much pressure that the eyes would bleed. There is a sense of pressure and solidity in the brain. A coolness in the head. I need to rub my knees, I can’t keep still.”Describe ‘under so much pressure’.P: “It is pushing forward (gestures), forehead is very solid. I rub my forehead. The nausea is sickening, horror, pleading. The nausea engulfs you, everything around you, it’s like a force field, you can’t sense anything else. Not myself, as if I am not alive, I am trapped. The environment is hellish, like a giant fist in my brain, violent, nightmarish. It is anti-life, the worst thing you could manage. It is evil.”Dreams?P: “I dream of going into an exam room. There is panic and stress. I am not somebody, I can’t do it, I am shut out of my own life.”

Remedy: Camphora 30C three doses, 12 hours apartFollow up July: She said the consultation emotionally stirred things up, she felt quite agitated. She felt an aggravation of her symptoms for a week after remedy but now the migraines are better. She feels more resourceful, more hopeful, less anxious.Remedy: Camphora 30C, then increased to Camphora 200C Follow up September: “Things in life have been very stressful. My job feels insecure, money is insecure. I’ve been forgetting thingslike my house keys or losing my purse but my migraines have been less frequent. I have only needed half a tablet of the Triptan. “I had abnormal cells on my smear. This happened 3 years ago, it was traumatic. I ran out crying. Horrible, humiliating, invasive. I am not comfortable with touch. Nothing is stable for me, it is unstable. Just surviving is difficult. It’s chaotic, it’s a whirl.”What is it like when life is a whirl?P: “It’s like running fast up a hill; run into a brick wall and smash my head. It is not safe, danger. Things can fall apart badly. I am out of control. Too many threads, slipping through my hands. Am I pulled along or do I let go and fall into the water? Too many things to control. I have no space. I can’t think, I can’t be. It reminds me of when I was a child, wrong and out of control, like a nightmare. I have to go into the exam but I can’t find the room, I am already running late. It is panic, nauseating, dizzy. I am banging my head against the wall. I will run out in front of a car, I am so preoccupied, not aware of my surroundings.” Remedy: Camphora 12C. I had changed to 200C but now introduce a 12C.Follow up December 2009Migraines are 40% better. She has stopped Imigran medication and is managing on non-steroidals. She made decisions about training, and her job is less under threat.Remedy: Camphora 200C Follow up March 2010She noticed the higher strength of 200C is taking her forward. She feels her 20-year history of migraine is no longer an issue. She does not need Voltaral and anti-sickness tablets now. She has felt better in herself, more resilient.Analysis for a hydrocarbon remedy:The language in this case overlaps the themes of fuel and fast travel of the hydrocarbon fuels, “running fast up a hill…” with the panic and unawareness of

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surroundings that we see in the petroleum proving “I will run out in front of a car, I am so preoccupied, not aware of my surroundings.”She describes the sense of self with the birth themes of the second series, Carbon: “I have to separate myself... I have to grow beyond and away from the person I was as a child.”There are clear Carbon themes: “My father died when I was young. I never grew up properly, I never had a sense of identity.” But this is not the bland, smooth form of Graphites. It is volatile, explosive, the pressure suggests a hydrocarbon. “I went from stoical to exploding… brother was violent. I had to be stoical but I’d explode and bang my head on the ground with rage.” A child without paternal protection, “no one was getting what was happening to me.” Camphora:Camphora, the aromatic volatile sap of a camphor tree, was proved by Hahnemann. The remedy state has faintness, unconsciousness, coma, which corresponds to the anaesthetic carbon compounds. There is nausea, and oversensitivity to chemical aromas. (Roger Morrison Carbons: Organic Carbons and Hydrocarbon Remedies in Homeopathy).This case has the sensitivity and reactivity of the plant kingdom, self worth issues and child themes of Carbon, and the volatility of the hydrocarbons.The Camphora patient is ungrounded in the material world, which feels harsh, without protection. They may struggle for family support or material stability. Camphora is a drug remedy in the plant kingdom, they may seek oblivion through intoxication. There is a sense of disorientation where the bewildered and weird theme of the magnolianae (see Sankaran Insight into Plants vol 2) meets the mental confusion and disorientation of a hydrocarbon dream state.Camphora retreats into an inner imaginal realm of spirit, susceptible to trance and religious fervour, distinct from the more materialistic petrochemicals.There is a material struggle for survival, money, validation and personal value – “not good enough … money is insecure,” – while Carbon themes of self worth and visibility combine with search for meaning in Camphora.Religion, God and evil also appear in this case. “A strong moral heart, if it can be seen it is validated, and if not it is meaningless, like religion.” (Vermeulen Synoptic Key Materia Medica vol 2).The migraine is shooting pain “like icy fingers in my brain”. Coldness sets Camphora apart among the hydrocarbons, which often burn hot. Coldness is a keynote of Camphora; pain symptoms are relieved by ice-cold applications.For materia medica on Camphora in relation to the hydrocarbons, see Roger Morrison’s book on Carbons: Organic Carbons and Hydrocarbon Remedies in Homeopathy.Photos: Wikimedia CommonsIce; Nevit DilmenCinnamonum camphora; KENPEICategories: Cases Keywords: carbon, volatile, oblivion, disorientation, confusion, bewildered, identity, self worth, religious, nausea, icy cold Remedies: Camphora A hot fluid stifling the joints; a case of Benzinum nitricum by Elizabeth ThompsonThis is a case of a hydrocarbon remedy used to treat a patient with ovarian cancer, where inflammation was the marker for recurrence. I offer this case not because it was clear to me at the time which remedy she needed, but because I could not help but be impressed by the way her recurrent cancer settled down when prescribed this remedy. The case represents many years of me seeing her in the Integrative Cancer Care service at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital. We believe passionately in offering the best of homeopathic and conventional care.

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Words in bold strike me as important for the carbon or hydrocarbons group. Words in bold italics are indicative of the nitricum part of the remedy. Presenting complaint: ovarian cancerAL was referred with Stage IIIB carcinoma of the ovary in June 2006. Her cancer diagnosis was preceded by a very dry cough; when she lay down, it would stop, as soon as she got up, it started. She would cough to exhaustion. She developed crippling abdominal pain, her bowels flared up after full hysterectomy, with bile coming up. Ten days after chemotherapy, following surgery, she had gripping sharp pains and developed a urine infection. She was violently sick with chemotherapy with itching, prickling, burning skin reaction. She had an allergy to Taxol medication.Occupation: child protection. Having worked as a childcare inspector for ten years protecting, keeping children safe, that role was transferred to Ofsted; she felt she lost support and was powerless. “Children are vulnerable and can’t speak up for themselves and need someone to fight the battle for them.”She likes to live in an organised way and cannot cope with mess. She feels irritated with mess and is a perfectionist. Carbon theme: her father could not tolerate anyone who could not do everything 100% right. There was always a need to do her very best and for others to approve her. Her fatherhad a vicious temper. Mind: Claustrophobia. “I hate feeling I can’t escape. If someone shuts me in I feel underground. I need to take a deep breath.” She enjoys nature, loves animals (rabbits), and is thrilled when she sees wild animals.Dreams: she dreams of going along into fields and is left in the middle of nowhere. She also dreamt of the President of USA, that he should send a conker in the war against Iraq.Remedy: Carcinosin Carcinosin: fastidiousness, the need to do everything 100%, care for others. Then, Manganum. Keynote: a cough relieved by lying. Then, Baryta muriaticum: I could see issues of power but didn’t know how to make sense of it.With each recurrence, she had a rise in inflammatory markers, which is unusual, and arthralgia with a raised CRP. There was a recurrence of terrible pain in her rectum. She had a sensation in the bowel, as if she had been punched. She cannot bear anything tight around her. Hot flushes, a horrible feeling that she cannot escape. She needs to be outside, where she has space and freedom, otherwise she panics.“I feel I have not got air, I have to break out of it. I have to get out. They are not harming me but I will have to push out.”“Water and air are the most important things to me. There is a barrier between my space and freedom. I love trees. I love to see them move in the wind. They are natural and they are still free. Wild flowers are perfect, they are natural. I hate caged animals, anything enclosed, like the wren. I love to see any bird and the space around it. I dream of protecting animals. Dogs don’t have to be in a cage, they can enjoy companionship, but wild animals need freedom.” Dream: she dreamt she was in charge of a crèche and the Ofsted inspectors criticised everything she was doing. I give a bird remedy, Erithacus rubrum (blackbird), because of the energy of her father and the authority of Ofsted. Then, the mineral remedies:Magnesium iodatum, Magnesium nitricum, Cadmium sulph, when she has chemotherapy.In September 2005, she has intense hunger that cannot be satisfied. July 2006, recurrence of the cancer with a rise in CRP. She has arthralgia, an inflammatory process associated with cancer. I focus on a dynamic symptom as the presenting complaint. She gives the sensation. P: “I have aches and pains, worse when sitting down. For the first dozen steps, I am completely stiff, the knee throbs. It is worse in the night, wrists hurt, elbow, neck. It feels as though the joints are inflamed, swollen, throbbing inflammation. Something is

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lying around the joint. It is hard to move, painful to move. It gets stuck if I stop. It will ease if I can move. Something is laying there accumulating around the joint.” Describe something is hanging on preventing you.P: “Something is in the way, like an inflammation that is stuck. I want to move it out of the way of the joint. It is like a hot fluid that wants to be attracted to the joint like a magnet. It gets in the way, it can’t move, there is no flexibility. It is like it is stifled with the fluid. It is hanging on, closing in. It is a pressure.” Describe stifled.P: “I struggle to walk. It is a total rigidness. The joint won’t move. It is inflamed and hot, stiff, stops you moving. It is stifling the joint, smothered and stifled, numb, nothing there. My sinuses fill up, shooting pain in my head into my teeth, a nerve pain. I used to get abscesses in the root canal. Very blocked with tenderness around the eyes, catarrh, sinusitis, thick and yellow. Tell me more about smothered and stifled?

P: “It won’t move, it’s hanging on to the joint. I move it to disperse it. It is like a fluid hanging onto the joint, and then, it disperses. I dreamt about the MRI scan. I get very claustrophobic. I dreamt I was closed in, closed in a tunnel, with a thin cloth over my head.” What is the experience with this thin cloth?P: “No control. I don’t like things too close to me. I need my personal space, I go into a state of panic. It is an invasion of my privacy. I need to breathe. I need a sense of freedom. A small space makes it worse, I don’t have any space. I need air, otherwise I am closed in, out of control.“Something is getting to me where I have no say, my influence in the world, my destiny. Thevalues and standards are for myself. It is like this illness, it is controlling me. It has taken over my body and I can’t control it. You should be able to (she weeps) but it is an invasion. It knows where it wants to grow and I am constantly having to a battle with it. It’s horrible, overwhelming. I have a right to my space. It has no right to invade my personal space”. What is the experience when your space is invaded?“It is a shock reaction. I have to make space. I am hemmed in, claustrophobic. It is panic. I have got to have air and space. It is a panic, like this cloth over me, closed on me. The tunnelis getting smaller. It is covering me. I am suffocated. It was a fine cloth stopping the air that I breathe, cutting off what I need, this air, and this space. Cutting off my air, my life. It’s a smothering feeling. I am losing control. My personal space is invaded. I panic – I need that to survive. I can’t function. The air to breathe; anything that gets too close, cuts off my air supply. I’m hot and flustered, battling and fighting to get air.”What about your dreams?P: “I push to get my space, my freedom, my air. I am hemmed in. It makes me panic.” AnalysisThe case looks like the cancer miasm. In terms of the periodic table, it is describing the birth process, “They are not harming me but I will have to push out… the tunnel is narrow.” It could be carbon or nitrogen. “My oxygen is being cut off. Can I survive?” In November, the CT scan is clear but ESR is rising again, suggestive of recurrence. Describe this fatigue.P: “It is a drunk feeling, like the inflammation is everywhere and it is settles. It is heavy when I move.”Describe this settling.P: “It is heavy, sediment. When you lie down, it finds its own level.”

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Describe sediment.P: “It is heavy, sludgy, stagnant. It makes me unwell. I only feel it when the cancer comes back, then it triggers in my mind. It is invading my body, I have to make myself move.”What is the experience when it is invading your body?P: “It is dulling my senses. I have a distance feeling. If I pinched myself I would feel dull and distant, as if I am not connecting with reality.”Just come back to this stagnant, this sediment.P: “It is heavy and cloudy. Lighter at the top and heavier at the bottom. It is like sludge at the bottom. It needs something hard to move it. The sediment doesn’t flow easily. It needs force to move it. It wouldn’t flow naturally. It’s within a cavity.”Describe this cavity.P: “It is like a pipe or a tunnel. The cavity is half the size of the pipe and it’s heavy at the bottom and flowing freely at the top. It can flow over the edge but at the bottom it needs force. At the top, it will spill over.”She describes the sensation and the source, she is relating the oil, the oil pipeline and the birth process.Do you remember describing this claustrophobic sensation?P: “It’s like I need to breathe to move the sediment, so it won’t close over me. I need space, I am panicking. The first thing I need is air. I can’t bear to be closed in. It’s overwhelming, it’s a panic. My throat feels swollen. I am closed in and there is this sediment. I can’t move. I can’t get away to have freedom. This sediment is weighing me down. I lose all control, I am hyperventilating. I have to move. It closes in. I can’t shift the sediment. I can’t free myself. I have to move. I will die. I will be suffocated.”At this point, although her case is very confusing, I can see the shock, the confusion, the disconnection and the vital sensation of what looks like a petroleum-like substance that is found in the natural state, with a heavier substance towards the bottom and a lighter volatile state at the top. I also saw the nitrogen element, so I wanted a hydrocarbon with a lot of nitrogen. 

Remedy: Benzene nitricum 30C, three doses, 12 hours apart then fortnightly Follow-up, January 2008P: “I am feeling very good now. The colonoscopy and endoscopy were normal. They aspirated the bowel, it was clear. The CRP and ESR have come right down. The bowel is lazy. I cut down on green tea in case it was inflaming the bowel. The joint pain is much better.”What about this experience of sediment?P: “It’s nowhere near as bad. My only problem now is bladder weakness. By the way, I have had eczema on the top of my head, I haven’t had this for four to five years; I am sleeping much better.”I ask her not to put any steroids on her scalp.Remedy: continue Benzene nitricum 30C I stayed with Benzene nitricum, and she has had no further recurrence since 2008 and remains well. Substance: a group of the carbons with nitrate themes of control, cancer, suffocation. Both carbon and nitrogen can feel hemmed in, so this aspect is emphasized in the case. It is a carcinogenic substance used in the production of dyes, aniline and paracetamol like pharmaceuticals.Pipe and tunnel relate to the oil pipelines of the source and also to the second series’ themes of the birth process from Jan Scholten’s perspective on the periodic table.

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Themes of Carbon and NitrogenThis is the second series of the periodic table which relates to the birth process.There is an aversion to tight things, claustrophobia, suffocation, as if in a tunnel (birth canal).Carbon has to get out. Nitrogen is bursting to get out, even if it is dangerous or explosive.In addition, we can see how the tunnel and sediment also relates to the oil pipeline.Photos: Wikimedia CommonsTunnel de Malpas; Matthieu GauvinSolid benzene; Edimion17Categories: Cases Keywords: hydrocarbon, petrochemical, aromatic carbon, oil spill, inflammation, volatile, sludgy, panic, claustrophobia, stifling, smothered, throbbing, pressure, cancer Remedies: Benzinum nitricum Sucked into a vortex; a case of Bromoethane by Julie GeraghtyThe patient is a writer who first came to see me in 1999 at the age of 39. She has been an extremely loyal patient and has responded well to various remedies over the years, but it was only in 2009, when I discovered the hydrocarbon remedies, that she really experienced deep healing.Initial Presenting complaintWhen I first saw her, she was complaining of disabling back and neck pain, numbness of the right side of the face and right arm, and muscle cramps following two whiplash injuries. She was suffering from recurrent migraines, tonsillitis, chilblains, rosacea and severe travel sickness. Her experience:“My system is collapsing, my life is shrinking, my body feels so weak. After the whiplash everything fell apart.“I get terrible headaches with numbness in my cheek, my head feels like an eggshell. I’m terrified of head injuries. I was born with a fractured skull. I have a big lump on my head in baby photos.“At the change of seasons, I wake up with numb arms, I can’t lift them off the bed. It becomes pins and needles. I get cramps in my feet and toes, and my jaw goes very tight.“At university, I became very depressed, I detested the place. I was put on Lithium but was never monitored, as I cannot abide blood tests. Both my legs went numb with pins and needles, I was really scared so I stopped the Lithium."She loves animals and experiences extreme grief when she loses a pet. “When I was six years old, my cat died. It felt like the sky fell in, the sensation of the world collapsing. I was bereft. Innate shock.”Remedy: Ignatia LM6After Ignatia, she never got tonsillitis again, but it did not help the head symptoms.Remedy: Helleborus LM6She had an aggravation after the first dose of Helleborus LM6, after which she felt ‘blocked’ and could not write or concentrate. Since then she only ever takes one drop of LM potency per dose.She had worrying symptoms which she described as ‘fits’, where her speech would slow and slur. She would feel very thirsty and distanced from others, with numb face and hands, and very slowed movements which she described as if “the connections in my brain are not happening.” These symptoms would happen after osteopathic treatment or dental treatment.At this time, she accessed memories of two pregnancy terminations she had not wanted to have, which she had pushed to the back of her mind, because she felt “the alternative would have been to go mad.” She remembered being told off because she was screaming in the ward after the first termination, when she woke up with the sheets soaked with blood. The first termination was at university before her finals. The

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second termination was several years later, before the whiplash injury. She had been completely celibate since then.She went to see a healer, which she said sent her “over the edge” and brought on one of the fits. She started to experience extreme feelings of guilt and torment that she could not atone for what she had done, and the fits were a punishment for having had the terminations.Remedy: Conium LM6Conium helped the headaches, but not her mental state.She was seen by a neurologist and had a brain scan, which was normal.She described long-standing feelings of revulsion while watching other people eating, and she found it disgusting if somebody was dirty. She had recurrent dreams of having to use disgustingly dirty toilets with no privacy, not wearing any shoes.She had frequent fits, with slowed speech, numbness of her face, right hand and arm, nausea, palpitations, contraction of the pupils, and a feeling as if she was drugged or spaced out. She got much worse after having a tooth removed; she felt frozen inside, as if everything had drained through a hole in her head. She was afraid to go to sleep in case her soul would be taken away because she felt she needed to be punished. She thought she needed a priest to forgive her but if the priest said the wrong thing, she’d go over the edge and be a mad woman.

Remedy: MancinellaThis helped calm her mentally. She developed digestive symptoms, bloating, belching, vomiting while eating, right upper quadrant pain and aggravation from fats, but an ultrasound scan showed no gallstones. Eating wheat aggravated her symptoms and made her feel drugged.She felt worse in the winter; it reminded her of cold dark winters at university.She felt “stuck in a prison cell, so alone, cold, isolated, the depression would physically choke me. I felt the guilt of that happening because of what I had done. I felt like I was losing my soul, like being lost in space, everything completely black, no end to it, the deepest terror I can imagine. Falling into a horrible deep black hole, desperately trying to grab onto something for fear of disappearing, drowning, sucked into the vortex, like a black hole in space. Feeling utterly tiny, overwhelmed, matter and antimatter… my brain can’t cope with those concepts. The black hole would suck something in and it would disappear for eternity.”Remedy: Positronium LM6, LM7 & LM8 helped her for 2 years.After Positronium, she felt mentally clearer and more energetic. The toilet dreams became cleaner and the right upper quadrant pain improved. But she still had some fits.She described feeling as if “I was sinking in the chair, falling into darkness, my brain getting clogged up with sticky fog, like the black pit darkness, the outer space, my mind veers off and away from me – terror that I will go veering off into the void, what’s holding me down? Once you’re off, that would be it, the feeling of the infinite, other galaxies, pulled off by a more powerful force, this endless nowhere, lost forever.” Assessment: with the sinking and brain fog, I felt she needed an organic carbon remedy, based on Roger Morrison’s teaching on the carbons.Remedy: Carbo vegetablis didn’t help, Carbo animalis helped a bit. She continued to experience fits. “Sudden inertia, lack of speech, feeling as if I’ve been turned to stone. I’m completely immobilised, parts of me are shut off, like being frozen mid-action. This ‘shut-off’ is in my brain. Then I drop down, I’m removed from everything, I don’t know if I can speak or not. Like if you were dead, you can’t react; I can only blink, as if things have been shut down. The terror of flying off into space, dropping into the void, utter aloneness, shot off into space like a little lone rock that is

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made to orbit and goes off into another galaxy and another and another that hasn’t been discovered ... Cast out, consigned to the outer darkness forever. I try not to think of space, it makes me feel so un-rooted. I like my feet to be on the ground, I don’t like to be on a boat, or at the top of a mountain.”I searched Reference Works for a remedy made from a meteorite, and was delighted to find Fax Caelestis Allende, made from a meteorite, and containing a lot of carbon.Remedy: Fax Caelestis Allende LM6 then LM8This helped for a year. She felt physically more stable, her dreams became less frightening, and she had fewer fits.Then, she had more dreams of snakes, decay, rubbish, rotting, dirty toilets, and she felt angry and dissatisfied with herself and with her long-term partner about her feeling of his role concering the terminations. Her right hip started to become painful. Two fits “came out of nowhere”.Remedy: Vacuum and (getting desperate here ...) Black Hole did not help.She had symptoms of waking with a limb “completely numb, dead, feeling it would go completely white, like frostbite, useless, starved of oxygen, blighted, cut-off.” I discussed the case with a colleague and she suggested another hydrocarbon related remedy.Remedy: Camphora bromatum LM5. Analysis: the hydrocarbon themes of sinking, feeling completely shut off, unable to react, alone, are very clear, along with the Bromatum issue of guilt.This remedy was effective for about a year. She felt mentally clearer, safer, although she did have a frightening dream of giving birth to a dead baby. She was contacted by the man with whom she got pregnant the second time, and she felt very vulnerable, fearful to go out. She felt extremely angry with her mother for forcing her to stay at university when she was so unhappy. I looked for another remedy in the hydrocarbon group that contained bromium, and discovered the remedy: Aethylum bromidum.SubstanceAethylum bromidum or bromoethane H3C-CH2-Br was used as general anaesthetic, but due to respiratory irritation and cases of cardiac arrest, the practice was discontinued. It is still used as a topical anaesthetic. Its major use is as a refrigerant, and significant amounts of bromoethane leach out from landfills where refrigerators and heat pump units are discarded, entering the atmosphere and groundwater.The main effect of bromoethane on health is neurotoxicity, secondary effects are liver toxicity. I was very interested to read the mental symptoms: speech disorders, slurred speech, drowsiness, unconsciousness, weakness. Other symptoms include redness of the face, nausea and vomiting, hepatitis, paralysis of the limbs, spasmodic paresis, staggering gait, tremors of the fingers. This matched her symptoms very well.Response to remedyWe started with Aethylum bromidum LM5 in December 2010. Two and a half years later, she described the remedy as having given her a great sense of stability. She married her long-term partner, she was able to work on her PhD, she processed difficult feelings towards her mother, realising that the biggest reason she had had the terminations was to save her parents from shame.Despite being forced to leave her flat by the landlord, she had long spells without fits. Tension around her right hip (direction of cure downwards) responded well to acupuncture. She took one drop of LM5 once a week, then progressed to LM6. She had fewer digestive symptoms, cramps, and menopausal flushes, and less disturbing dreams. Follow up May 2013: “Essentially I’ve been OK since taking a drop of bromoethane once a week. It’s a wonderful remedy – I feel that I never want to be without it as it has made me feel very safe and stable, at a good level. It has taken away a lot of the turmoil inside. I am more self-aware, I feel able to be more considered in my actions instead of reacting angrily.” Conclusion

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This is clearly a very complex case, in a patient who is very sensitive to life’s experiences. Without the support of homeopathic treatment I fear she may have become psychiatrically ill, or may have gone on to develop some form of atypical epilepsy.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsBlack hole milky way; Ute KrausCategories: Cases Keywords: hydrocarbon, anaesethetic, head injury, unconsciousness, headaches, migraine, nausea, numbness, guilt, tremors, epileptic fit, void, space, darkness, black hole Remedies: Bromoethane