Learn a Remedy through Cases: Crotalus-cascavella
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2002 Sep / Oct VOL 4 NO 5.
Complied by:
T K Kasiviswanathan
'Crot-c
Case 4:
A woman consulted Dr Yogesh Vasandi for the following complaints. Blisters
in the mouth with inflamed tongue; insomnia for some days. Eruptions spreading
in a circular fashion in the right hand; swelling and pain in the Rt leg <
exertion and getting wet. She also complained of depression. She added that she
heard footsteps in her room in the night and that someone woke her up;
invariably she woke with a jerk from sleep and was scared and did not know why.
Fear of death. She did not reconcile to her father marrying again after her
mother’s death and there were strained relations with her stepmother. She felt
that her stepmother ill-treated her and incited quarrels between her and her
father. Her sisters seemed to have compromised and sided with their stepmother.
"I feel neglected and lonely in my own house. The atmosphere in my house
depresses me. As long as I am outside my home I feel good, but the moment I
enter my house I feel surrounded by something, a depressing influence envelops
me", like a magnet attracting iron filling. Felt ill treated, persecuted.
All her problems started after she decided not to retaliate to her stepmother.
Now she wanted to become thin and for that she was exercising like a maniac. On
further questioning she said that tight clothes around her neck and waist
aggravated.
Rubrics:
KR 26: Delusion footsteps, hears;
KR17: Death, thoughts of, alone when;
SRI389: Desire for exercise;
KR 75: sadness, despondency, dejection, gloom, mental depression;
KR 83: Starting during sleep; Fear night alone of being;
KR 406: Magnetic state;
K401: Inflammation of tongue.
The other physical complaints such as discolouration of
tongue, pain in tongue, swelling of forearm and eruptions were also taken into
account for repertorisation.
The patient was given Crotalus-cascavella 1M. After one week all her
complaints were less by 60%; No eruptions during menses. There was a slight
relapse after 1 ½ months and remedy repeated in same potency. In the fourth
month there were episodes of going blank and panic attacks and weakness and
trembling of limbs. Remedy repeated. By the 8th month her
tongue became normal and there was no pain in her legs; her relations with her
stepmother improved and other symptoms ameliorated.
Dr Vasandi points out that during the time she was under the
delusion of being wronged and persecuted and neglected, there was no physical
illness. When she decided to improve her relations with her stepmother all her
suppressed emotions resulted in pathology. In her it was the tongue and emotions
and skin. Her symptoms are common to most snake venoms. But the peculiar
symptoms clinched the remedy. One of the symptoms of this remedy in Clarke’s
write up is magnetic state and see how the patient described her feelings when
she came into the house ie depressing influence was attracted to her like a
magnet.
Yogesh Vasandi- Homoeopathic Links 3/96
Case 5: I think of death when alone
A 21-year-old woman consulted the doctor for her nervous tension, sleeplessness,
and cramps in her stomach. During the interview she said that she was afraid to
be alone after her sister got married. Since childhood she was constantly
thinking of death and about what happens after death. She also said that she
felt things or developments, which later came about (clairvoyant). She also had
fear of death of self and her pets. She had a dry mouth and complained of
stomachache and coldness of feet. She talked a lot but her thought pattern was
confused. Crotalus-cascavella was prescribed in 30th
potency based on the following rubrics:
SRI 199: Death thoughts of
SRI 488: Fear, death of,
SRI 141: Clairvoyance
Mouth dryness
SRIII: extremities, coldness of foot, icy cold
SRI713: Loquacity
SRI 936: Speech confused
She reported after 3 months that she was sleeping better; no
stomachaches; fears less and less frequently worried about her death or her
loved ones. She said that she woke up tired and also her headaches, which she
had previously, returned. The remedy was repeated in the same potency. On a
review after 7 months the patient said that her headaches were gone. Was
sleeping better and no clairvoyant dreams of death of known persons. She was
thinking less about death and hence she could sleep better and less stressed.
Massimo Mangialavori, Homoeo Links 3/96
Case 6:
Crotalus-cascavella patients see their hallucinations in vivid black,
whether skeletons, ghosts or snakes. Here is a case, which brings out this
aspect very clearly.
A lady, 35 y, consulted Dr Chetna Shukla for obesity, pain in her legs and acidity. The acidity arose because of her fondness of eating food outside home and spicy and sweet foods. She is methodical and gets upset and angry when she is interrupted and does not talk to the person for a few days. She will also not allow anybody to overtake her car. During her second pregnancy, she had a persistent fear that something would happen to her and she would lose her child. Because of such thoughts she could not sleep well at night. After delivery she had heavy bleeding and hence had to undergo hysterectomy. At that time she felt certain she would die. She also had a hallucination that somebody dressed in black was sitting on her chest as a heavy load. "Very often I feel somebody is coming to strangulate me and I cannot move and cannot even speak or call anyone and my body turns cold. There are some persons who are all dressed in black and surrounding me." She had also dreams of person dressed in black and chasing her up the hill but he never catches her in those dreams. Also dreams of black snakes. She also had a fear of dark being alone from childhood and would not go out alone after 7PM. She is very talkative. She cannot tolerate summer and feels suffocated; she cannot wear anything tight around her neck and also tight clothes.
The remedy is clear and that is Crotalus-cascavella. In particular, her hallucination of seeing persons dressed in black trying to strangulate her is well covered by the rubric SRI 354-55: Mind: Delusion: Spectres, ghosts , spirits sees. Death appears as a gigantic black skeleton.
The remedy was given in 1M potency and a little later she
developed rhinitis which stopped after a week; all other complaints were
ameliorated; her fears were less and she was bold enough to come to the clinic
alone; her acidity was also markedly reduced. After one year there was return of
some of her complaints for which the remedy was repeated in same potency and she
was better.
Dr Chetna B Shukla, Homoeopathic Links 4/99
