Taming The World.
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1996 Jul / Aug Vol V No 4.
Chetna Shukla.
Cases.
` Lil-t.
CASE 1:
A 70 year-old lady had Osteo-arthritis of both knees and was unable to walk too long, unable to stand too long with excruciating joint paints at night, pains incapacitating her from doing any indoor or outdoor work.
"I am a person who cant sit in the house. I like to put my limbs to use. I used to work before, wake up at 5 am and cook, wash clothes and dishes, send my children to school, leave for work, come back home and cook, work. I have never suffered in my youth. When I retired, barely 2 months later, my legs started giving me problems. Since then I am suffering. But yet I do all my housework. I have a daughter-in-law who works only if she wants to. If she does not, I will do it. I dont sleep in the afternoon even if I dont have any work, I create some work to occupy me. Housewives are never without work. When occupied in work, where you get time to think anything else, no tensions. God is there to help you, as long as you are active. But active or else you fall sick.".
When she was staying in the railway quarters they had enough room in the house and backyard to grow plants of all kinds and have pets, parrots, love birds, goose and hens. Her passion and love for nature was satisfied.
After the remedy her pains disappeared and she could now relax herself.
CASE 2:
A 61 year old lady had severe cough since 2 months no better by any treatment.
The cough was worse after eating fruits, sugar, sweets, milk products; with green expectoration. This cough was a chronic problem brought on by dust and travelling, but this episode was not self-limiting like the previous ones. "I have a hurried nature, my mind is always occupied with something, in fact it has to be occupied with something; if not occupied, it keeps wandering, I get bad thoughts, so to avoid them I keep doing something. I am very fast and hurried. I want things to be done immediately, instantly. My mind must be
occupied with some work or I occupy my self with religious books. I cant sit idle. I cant let my mind loose. If no work...Ill button shirts, stitch something, start cleaning the house but do something!".
"I must find out some work. I feel I will go mad if I have no work.".
The cough got cured in 2 weeks and simultaneously the bad thoughts disappeared and also the compulsion to work.
CASE 3: A retired school teacher with retinal detachment of both the eyes, had vision restricted to finger counting, sciatica and Ischaemic heart disease. Tab Sorbitrate, Tab Lanoxin, Tab Depin (5) and Restyl (0.25) were the medicines she was taking.
"I feel very weak physically, I have lost weight. I also have a weak heart now and therefore I have become weak mentally too. I keep feeling something will happen. I am not afraid of death but I should at least be capable of doing my own work. I just cant do anything. I fear locking the bathroom door from within and think--what if something happens to me? All this started after the eye problem, and now I am a total wreck. I was enjoying good health. In 30 years of my service I never suffered from any trivial sickness. I retired in Sept89 and in Sept91 the eye problem started. I was watching T V and suddenly my eyes started watering. I consulted an ophthalmologist and he put some eye drops. Later I started getting black outs. I took regular treatment. They advised subconjunctival steroid injections. I took them but nothing helped me.
These injections have affected my heart and kidneys. For 30 years I have taught history to students, looked after the house, children, gave tuitions and earned for the house. Nothing happened then and now only two years of retirement and all this started. I wanted to work, but my husband said no, now we dont need to work. Even now, though I cant see I keep doing work like arranging clothes, arranging utensils, cutting vegetables, making the bed.
My mind needs some occupation. I feel restless without work. Even while I was at work, I had no maid-servant. I would do everything by myself. In my free time I would do embroidery, stitching, reading! My work is also very fast. I hurry a lot, the work must be completed immediately".
Her treatment started in Oct93 and by January94 she was off all allopathic medicines. There was a marked change in her behaviour, she put on weight. Her vision improved; from finger counting she can now see with the aid of spectacles.
Left eye + 12 and Right eye + 10.
In these 3 cases, all of them have a compulsion to work, to keep oneself occupied to the extent that if there was no work, they would find some work for themselves. In case 1 and case 3, there is a definite cause: RETIREMENT which prevented them from being occupied full-time, brought on the complaints. Retirement was the establishing factor being maintained till then.
The remedy decided for them was Lilium-tigrinum, the flower tiger lily of natural order liliaceace, on the following indications -.
- Must keep busy. Has to keep oneself busy.
- Hurry in occupation.
- Occupation, diversion amel.
Lilium-tig is a well known remedy for sexual excitement. The whole symptom is: Has to keep very busy to repress sexual desire (Phatak). In all the cases mentioned, there is no evidence of sexuality. The maddening, compulsive desire for work, being occupied, was the sole indication for prescribing Lil-tig, even though there was no evidence of increased sexual desire.
About the flower:
Lilies have been a symbol of purity and been admired for its queenly beauty. About tiger lily, it is said, it is so easy to please that it often escapes from a garden and grows wild. Tiger lily is a tall garden lily, with bell like orange flower marked with black or purplish spots. The term lily is used figuratively for persons or things of exceptional whiteness, fairness of purity.
Let us understand the meanings of the words wild, pure and spot. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines them as--.
- Wild: Of an animal: not tame, not domesticated.
Of a plant: growing in a state of nature, not cultivated.
Of persons: uncivilized, savage, uncultured rude.
: not submitting to moral control.
: giving way to sexual passion.
: Fierce, savage, furious, violent, cruel. - Pure : unmixed, clean, without evil or sin--body and mind; thoughts; sexually undefiled; chaste.
- Spot: fig a moral stain, blot or blemish; a stigma or blemish.
If we use the figurative meaning, we can arrive at the following understanding -.
The Lilium-tig individual known for its purity, has a tendency to go wild. This wildness is symbolic of the black / purplish spots. This wildness of nature is a moral stain on the purity.
When we examine the symptomatology of Lil-tig we can divide these into 3 distinct groups viz -
Group 1: Symptoms suggesting wildness.
- Sexual excitement. Erotic insanity. Lascivious. Lewd. Obscene.
- Destructive, shrieking, cursing, striking, self-torture, pull ones hair desire to. Rage, leading to deeds of violence.
- Wild feeling in head as though she would go crazy unable to sleep on account of wild feeling in head.
Group 2: Symptoms suggesting purity.
- Conscientious, occupied with trifles.
- Anxiety of salvation, Doubtful of welfare of the souls. Delusion doomed to expiate her sins and those of her family.
- Desires finery.
- Religious affections.
Group 3: Suggesting the means employed in taming and domesticating the wildness.
- Has to keep busy to repress the sexual desire.
- Diversion amel. Occupation amel.
- Dreams busy being. Busy-fruitlessly.
The three groups are of the wildness of nature in the system; the image of purity for which it is well-known and the means employed for taming the wildness to maintain and keep-up the image of purity.
To sum it up, the Lil-tig individual, to tame the wildness in herself and to keep up the purity of her image, resorts to work, business and occupation; this helps her to tame her own wildness. Thus for Lil-tig, the success of life lies in the taming of the inherent wildness!.
