The Substance of Homoeopathy
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Jan / Feb VOL V NO 1.
Abstracted by Dr Sushma Jaiswal from The substance of Homoeopathy
By Dr Rajan Sankaran
Syphilis
| Merc: | Del Surrounded by enemies Suspicious, considers everyone his enemy Impulse to kill the person who contradicts Impulse to kill his beloved ones Suicidal |
Feels viciously attacked from all sides - a desperate situation which requires him to do desperate things to come out of it. |
In the syphilitic state the perception of the body is that
things have gone too far and that he must sacrifice (suicide) or destroy (kill)
what cannot be changed. In Mercurius, this feeling is reflected in the
physical sphere too in the form of ulcers, with their foul smell and decay
representing this destructive process.
Similarly, the evolution of the disease will reflect the
miasm. For example, with an inflammation of the lungs (Pneumonitis), the first
reaction is one of severe pain, high fever, restlessness and quickened pulse.
This is the stage of the acute miasm and requires drugs like Acon, Bell.
If this stage does not spontaneously resolve (progress depends on intensity of
roots), the body mounts an active inflammatory response with exudation of plasma
proteins like fibrinogen, which cause consolidation of that portion of the lung.
Neutrophils attracted to the site by chemotaxis are enabled by the fibrin
scaffolding to engulf the organisms. This is the subacute stage where the body
has contained the inflammation, but the threat is still present. This stage
requires drugs like Rhus-t and Bry; the symptomatology will call for this
group. Following this, the body has to clear up the debris for complete
resolution. This is a struggle. When this process is unduly delayed, Psora
is active and drugs like Sulph and Lyc will be required. Normally,
the condition does not go beyond this. However, if long term sequelae such as
restrictive pulmonary disease due to fibrosis between pleural surfaces,
imperfect resolution, etc. are found, it indicates sycosis. Drugs like Silica
are now needed. In some cases, the infection results in a lung abscess,
indicating syphilis. Here we find drugs like Hepar-s and Mercurius
often indicated.
In a given case where two or more miasms are found to be prominent, the remedy must cover the most prominent miasm as well as the others. As the state changes, it may be found that a different miasm shows predominance. The following diagram of the same patient’s progression in a case is illustrative:
We see that this entire diagram illustrates one state where syphilis is prominent, but others are present as well. The drug may be Merc or Aurum etc.
SYPHILITIC STATE
The delusion is that he is faced with a situation beyond
salvage, leading to complete hopelessness and despair. In a desperate effort, he
tries to change the situation and the result is usually destruction - do or
die!
E.g. Mercury: Surrounded on all side by enemies
Anarchist
Kill, desire to
Case 14
A boy aged 15 came to me, accompanied by his father. The
father explains that in infancy and early childhood the child was well above
average. "When he started school lately he became retarded in
development-mentally and physically. He is short in height. He has failed the
last two years in school. He is mentally dull and indifferent. He is not
interested in anything - current affairs, sport or games. He doesn’t want to
learn anything. He picks up things fast, but loses interest very quickly. He can’t
sit erect. He slouches. He has fixed ideas. He is crazy about automobiles, cars,
trucks. He draws and paints them. He is obstinate. If an idea gets into him he
sticks to his point." (The boy is sitting in the next chair with a blank
expression, his mouth half open). "He has been in different classes, but he
loses interest, won’t pursue anything. He is clumsy and drops things easily.
He has an intense fear of examinations. Before he is very confident, as if he
knows it all, but when he gets to the exam hall he writes nothing. His mind goes
blank. He bites his nails. On the day of the exams we have to wake him. He is
sound asleep. He seems quite relaxed. He (appears to) to know it all, and then
he writes nothing." He has a recurring nightmare, he is on a crowded
railway platform. He sees a man there. He thinks he is a close relative. From
behind the man looks like his father. Then he sees a hand stabbing the back. He
shouts and wakes up." I ask the boy to describe the dream: "It started
two months ago. I don’t know who is being stabbed, but I see him being stabbed
when I wake up. It is a crowded station. The man falls down and then there is
screaming. I see only the hand that is stabbing him and the back of the
man." He gets this dream almost every night. "Sometimes I am
screaming, sometimes I am talking."
I asked him if he has any other dreams. He dreams about a
garage and cars. He is working on the imported cars that are brought there. He
has many workers under him and he owns the motor mechanic shop. When expensive
cars belonging to important people come in, they are worked under his
supervision. Other dreams? He has had some frightful dreams. He dreams of
falling down the stairs in a college. He says "I am not nervous before I go
to school. I feel confident before I go. I forget the answers. I write the wrong
answer or I leave it blank" (he shrugs his shoulders). I observed that his
talk sounded quite normal. He understood questions and answered properly. He
spoke well. He was quite sharp, intelligent.
"You are failing all the classes, don’t you
worry?"
"No, I don’t think about the consequences".
The father explains that before his third birthday, he was
much above average. He learnt things faster than the average child. At three
everything stopped. When he was seven they took him to a child guidance
counsellor who found that he was left handed. He had been forced to write with
his right hand when he started school. At first he used to come from school and
describe what had happened. Then he stopped and said nothing. He developed
aversion to writing. I ask the father to leave the room so that I can talk to
the boy alone. (The boy smiles quickly as his father leaves.) "Why can’t
you concentrate and do well?" "I like cars and garages", What
makes you angry? "If someone tries to argue with me, I get angry very fast.
When someone says you are not correct, that is not the point, then I get angry.
When I am angry I don’t talk to that person for a while. I go and sit alone
for sometime. Sometimes when I am angry, I throw something, but not with people
I don’t know. My mother used to tell me, force me to do things I didn’t want
to do. I used to throw things at her. She used to tell me not to watch
television. When I am doing algebra and I can’t solve it, I throw the book. I
never do one subject at a stretch. I do one subject, then another, then another.
It keeps shifting".
What do you feel like when you are angry?
"I have fights with my mother. Sometimes I do things
then I tell her I have done it. I am told not to eat meat on Fridays. I use my
pocket money to buy meat, then I go and tell them. I don’t have to tell them.
Then she starts shouting at me".
What TV movies do you like?
"Action, comedy, martial arts, thrillers, not serious
stuff. Sometimes I draw." He draws cars and buses. "I like cars and am
learning driving." He has no brothers or sisters.
Tell me about your mother and father?
"I don’t get on with my mother. She says the opposite
to me. Sometimes my father argues: "He likes to eat fried rice My mother
says I should have other things. I don’t like other people forcing me to do
things. If they do, I do the opposite. I don’t care about the
consequences."
It is not important to know the remedy, but to know the
approach in any case. What is the main idea? The boy-what is his perception of
reality? The boy is very intelligent. He became dull and interested and gave up.
He was forced to change from his left hand to right hand. "I don’t like
to be forced to do things", he says. This is his sensitive point. This
could indicate any remedy. How did he react? What was the feeling behind it? On
the outside he says "OK, I won’t do it. I won’t study, pursue a career.
I won’t write. I don’t care about the consequences. Do your worst". It
is defiance. "I stand against. You can’t force me". This is one
aspect of the case. He stands quite strong, no fear, "if I fail it doesn’t
matter". He will defy even to the point of destroying his own future, his
own life. I will not do it. This is the attitude on the outside. Inside we have
the dream-stab in the back. Falling down and dying, violent end, death, murder,
killing, stabbing. The potential in this boy is to stab and to be stabbed. He
watches martial arts on TV, the streak of violence is there. So we have defiance
and violence. Being forced-someone is out to destroy him, his individuality
"I am going to stand there defiant". The dream of being killed, the
stabbing indicate the feeling of being attacked, forced, compelled, being made
to do things. The compulsion is to be defiant and attack. There is also
changeability - he doesn’t want to stick to one subject. He likes moving,
motion, motor cars. He was a high performer before the defiance, much above
average and we can still see the signs of this when he talks. The remedy he
needs should have the theme of attack and defence and violence, a need to attack
to the extent of killing or being killed. A remedy of extremes. He can appear
stupid, dull. The miasm is the syphilitic-destruction. The theme of
attack/defence indicates a metal. The motion and restless nature indicate a
mobile metal. The remedy is Mercury The most sensitive point about him is
contradiction. He was contradicted, told to do the opposite. This gave rise to
wild impulses, attack, stabbing in the dream almost every night. In the dream
someone is being stabbed in the back. Deep in his subconscious is the impulse to
kill the person who contradicts him. This is the main theme of Mercury.
It is not expressed consciously in this child.
Rubrics
Kill, desire to kill the person that contradicts her (single
symptom).
Anger, so that he could have stabbed anyone
Audacity - heedless
Courageous
Delusion, that he would be murdered.
Delusion everyone is an enemy.
Dullness of mind, idiocy, imbecility, writes indistinctly,slowness, loss of will.
Indifference, apathy, to everything.
Indifference to all reprimands
Kill, desire to
Travel, desire to. Escape, impulse to run away
Loss of will power (Phatak)
The idea of syphilis is the idea of the killer. It is a
killer disease. Mercury sees people around him as his enemies -
"delusion, surrounded by enemies". He has to fight even to destroy
himself, even if it means suicide. I refer to Misha Norland’s article on
Saddam Hussein and Mercury. "I have to obstinately fight, even to the
bitter end, even if my country is destroyed".
The boy was given Merc-sol 10 m.
Follow up on video 6-8 weeks later.
"I got the same dream only once" Otherwise his
nights were peaceful. There was no problem. He is asked how he is feeling now.
"I am more open than before. My anger against my parents has reduced".
The father says that he has grown in height in the last month and his
sluggishness has reduced somewhat. He is more interested in his studies. He has
been studying for his exams and his confidence has improved.
Follow up after another month
"I got one more dream - that someone was threatening
to attack me" (this is a good sign. It is coming up to his awareness; the
basic feeling is becoming connected to him). He has had no other dreams. He has
started sneezing in the mornings. He is asked about the dream. "Someone is
threatening me". The father says that he is having some nightmares. He is
more lively, more interested. His confidence has improved considerably. He has
done well in the exams. "When I got the paper I started writing; I am more
interested in sports and games than I was."
The boy appears more cheerful. His crazy, fixed obsession
with motor cars is changing, "it is less, I can’t understand that I used
to stand in the garage all the time watching the cars."
Ferrum (iron)-is the 4th period (1st
line of metals) and is concerned again with performance, but also with defence.
Swords and knives are made up of this metal. The 2nd line
of metals (5th period) like Palladium, Argentum
have more to do with performance and show. For example, Palladium has the
rubric "Longing for the good opinions of others." The heaviest of the
metals like Platinum, Aurum, Mercury, Thallium and Plumbum form
the 3rd line (6th period) and have enormous performance
and defence. They are mighty and strong and can be found as head of
organizations or countries. The first line which consist Mn, Fe, Co, Ni. Zn thus
have to do with defence and performance, but to a lesser degree than the heavier
metals.
Attack, defence and this chronic state indicates a metal, but
this metal is not as heavy ad Mercury.
To Compare some other remedies:
Argentum-met
Theme of Arg-met is very close to this that they try
to perform, but here the performance is more with their talking, singing and
expressing. These people often become famous singers and speakers.
It is a syco-syphilitic remedy and has two sides: one-
talkative, hasty, jumping, laughing, restless. On the other side-disinclined to
talk, tired, forgetful, etc. Besides these two phases one thing is lack of
control-doing unaccountable things and second is deceitfulness.
Physical symptoms:
Electric shocks
Convulsions
Cramps
But at the same time it has got thickening of the cartilages
and the symptoms that are deep and penetrating. So, close remedies are Alum,
Merc, Sel and other metals. All these remedies have in common deep
penetrating processes with sudden acute exacerbations, violent impulses and
manifestations. In Arg-m one of the most important symptoms is aggravated
using voice, agg from speaking, singing, mental exertion. From this we know that
it is a remedy for teachers,professors who use voice and mind and are compelled
to do this and on the other hand they can give up from too much of this,then
their voice is lost,mind stops working,there is alternation between loquacity
and sadness.They are in a chronic situation in which they are forced to perform.
The second thing very important for life is independence and
a person needs to be able to take his own decisions and not be dominated by
somebody else. The remedy when you take away a person’s independence totally
is Merc. He becomes revolutionary, defiant, homicidal or suicidal.
(Ref: Substance of Homoeopathy: Mercury on Pgs 23, 31,32, 36,
93, 97, 103, 112, 115, 116, 123, 198)
