A Case of Repression
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Mar / Apr VOL VI NO 2.
Dr Kishore Mehta
Mag-c

Mrs a, 26 yrs, married, vegetarian, housewife staying at Dadar. 

Chief Complaints
GIT : Ulcerative colitis for last 2 yrs with great frequency of stools and bleeding per rectum. Pain after stool, urge for stool especially after waking up. Bitter vomiting with urge for stool. Weakness after passing stools. Appetite reduced. No desire to eat in between meals. Painful apthae in mouth on right side, with gum pain; can not even open his mouth. Burning in stomach. 

Associated Complaints
Head : Pain constant > vomiting > sleep, hair fall
Eyes : watering from eyes while watching TV
Feet : Pain in heel > by putting feet in cold water
Skin : Cracks on heel < working in water < winter. Perspiration on upper lip and axilla in drops. Acne on face. 

Patient As A Person
Fair, short stature, average build with acne on face.
Physical : Fair, short, average built with acne on face
Desires : Sweet, fruits
Aversion : Spicy food, fried food, rice+++
Appetite : Reduced
Thirst : Reduced
Stool : Brown, watery, with mucus and black blood in drops. Weakness after passing stools.
Urine : NAD. 

Menstrual History : FMP 13 yrs; LMP 24/4/97 MC 12/26-27 black, offensive And scanty MB. Dysmenorrhoea ++. Leucorrhoea+++. Acne on face Sleep : Reduced sleeps on right side. Gets up early. Does not like to stay in bed.
Dreams : Of falling while descending the staircase, falling while walking. 

Obstetric History
1-6 yrs FTND
No H/o abortions
Suffered from malaria during pregnancy.
SKIN: Perspiration++ axillae, staining yellow.
H/O Suppuration, delayed healing of wounds and boils.
H/O Pica in childhood. Likes smell of mud and cement 
Thermals : Ambithermal. Likes winter, hot bath, eating cold causes pain in throat. Covers head in sleep. Getting wet, cold from getting heated if she perspires a lot.
Fever every year, mostly in April. Cough and cold precede fever. Feeling of heat during fever with body-ache and sleepiness. No further data available of this symptom.
Past History : Tonsillitis in hot weather. Diarrhoea at the age of 4 ½ mths. Boils in childhood.
Family History : Fa: ulcerative colitis. Mo: Piles and migraine. 

Life Space
Patient an average student. Fa doctor. Eldest among the siblings. Emotional since childhood. Weeping disposition. When the patient was in IV std, her grandmother expired. She felt very sad. She used to cry and pray to God to make her alive again. Then her grandfather died. Again felt very sad. Used to get 50% marks in exams. Could not complete her papers. Always tense before results. Quiet, never quarreled with anyone and could adjust well with everyone. Very sympathetic. 

After marriage at the age of 20 yrs lived in a joint family. She was suffering from colitis before marriage, but kept it secret from her husband, till today. She felt she should not trouble him unnecessarily. When it was diagnosed, she had a fear whether she will conceive or not but after her delivery she felt happy. She does not like to hurt anyone. Does not give anyone a chance to speak against her. Does all her household work regularly and in time. Likes to work as she wishes. Does not tell anyone what she wishes. Does not have any expectations from others except husband and if he does not fulfill them she feels hurt. She keeps all the things in the house in their proper place and keeps the house clean. Does not like to attend social functions or mix much with people. Very sympathetic. Weeps if some emotional scene is going on TV [or any dialogue]. Cannot stay alone. Fear of dark especially when alone. Gets bad thoughts and starts weeping. Gets startled at loud sounds. When angry, cannot express it. Keeps brooding over it and cries when she is alone. Thinks twice before speaking. 

Actually it was her mother, who had kept the illness a secret, as they had a fear of breaking of her marriage as their community is very conservative. This constantly hovered in her mind and she felt guilty but helpless. This secret made her restless but she swallowed all the insults and did not communicate her feelings with anybody, even her husband. As the time passed after first delivery her complaints worsened and her drug in-take increased to such an extent that besides salzopyrine she had to resort to steroids. She was taking Wysolone 5 mg TDS X 15 D and BDS X 15 D and Salzopyrine 9 tablets daily. Rantac 1 OD. 

Presently she is frustrated and tired of the situation. While she was being interviewed she appeared very mild, soft spoken, fair with pimples on face, almost crying while the consultant interviewed and indicated her to communicate her feelings to her husband with whose support she should confide to other family members. She was mainly afraid of MIL, FIL, SIL. 

Treatment
29/4/97- Mag-carb 1M 1 dose.
6/5/97 - Mucus in stool absent, bleeding absent. Frequency increased, every 15 min. Mag-carb 1M 1 dose. Wysolone stopped and Salzopyrine 6/day
13/5/97 - Frequency slightly decreased, every 1 hour. Pain in abdomen. Stool with mucus. Weakness. Sensation of heat in body. Appetite and sleep normal. Patient relaxed mentally. Mag-carb 1M 1 dose. Advised - Salzopyrine 1-1-1
22/5/97- Patient had taken Salzopyrine 2-2-2. Frequency of stools 8-10 times/day. Quantity less. Has to go for stools even in sleep. Pain in abdomen reduced; sticky stools with mucus.
Appetite : Good, sleep-sound at night.
O/E: Slight tenderness in epigastrium. No gases.
LMP 21/5/97 regular....Mag-carb 1M 1 dose
Advised to stop salzopyrine.
27/5/97- Patient was given SL in powder. Brother reported that bleeding was once/twice in a day with stools. Appetite, good. Sleep good. Tub-b 1M 1 dose.
After this she gradually improved.
This case is a classic example of a person who out of value system and her socio-cultural norms remained non communicative and her guilt took the form of ulcerative colitis. This is called Repression. Thus following totality was considered to prescribe Mag-carb.
Sensitive, sentimental, non-communicative, Repression, anticipatory anxiety, dreams of falling.
At physical level: Desires sweets, black offensive menses, perspiration staining, acne on face < before menses.

Case 2: The Neglected Boy
A boy, 5 yrs old, was brought for recurrent upper respiratory tract infection from age of 1 yr. Worse since last 2 yrs. Complaints begin with throat pain and mild fever followed by cough and at times difficulty in breathing. The complaints occur almost every month. By cold drinks3, season3, Pepsi, chocolates, getting wet³, > warm drink [throat pain]; all complaints come suddenly and develop gradually. 

It takes 7-8 days to subside after allopathic treatment. Child is better in dry weather. Cough < midnight, lying early morning. Nasal discharges yellowish thin > thick swallows expectoration. Associated complaint of calf pain at night > by deep pressure.
Appearance : Lean, short, nails have white spots, wheatish complexion, dry skin, hairy++ craves salty food, chocolates, wafers, Pepsi, citrus fruits. Aversion to vegetables H/O Pica In Childhood.
Stool : Constipated with hard stool. H/o constant use of Gelusil - liquid; at times Cremafin for constipation. Urine - bedwetting till 2 yrs but lately again started.
Perspiration : Profuse on head and face.
Sleep : Disturbed, talks in sleep, teeth grinding, enuresis lately early morning. Does not wake up. 
Dreams : Fearful, gets up, screams at times.
Thermal Modality : C2H3.
FTND 1st child. Not breast fed as mother had severe infection with galactorrhea and was advised not to breast feed and later has Agalactorhoea after drugs. Mother died, when child was 2 yrs old, of Tub Meningitis. Brought up by maternal grandmother.
Milestones normal. Pica -mud, chalk++. Vaccination all given.
Diarrhoea during dentition -allopathic treatment taken 

Life Situation : Father, 32, yrs old, engineer having his own factory. He is Jain, vegetarian: child is quiet, speaks very less, reserved, normally remains alone. Lost in his own world. When brought in by grandmother, sat very quietly, not having any eye to eye contact with anyone.
Grandmother said, since her daughter died the child is with her, as the husband wanted to remarry. Here child is looked after by her but her DIL is dissatisfied because she has no children and she misbehaves with this child, and she cannot help at times. Her other DIL has 3 children, but she stays separately. When her children come here, the eldest takes care of them. This child sits in one corner and watches them play. He then goes to another room and sleeps. When I ask him anything, he does not say but often asks why my DIL does not talk nicely to him. He is good in studies but feels that the teacher does not talk properly with him. He has few friends and feels always left out since his friends go out with their parents in holidays. At times he wants me constantly with him and when I have some work and cannot attend on him he feels annoyed. His father remarried. Initially he used to come frequently, but since his wife delivered a child, he is infrequent his visits. This also hurts the child. He likes to play with small children otherwise remains alone in his room. 

Family History : Mother: meningitis Father: Asthma 
O/E: NAD clinically.
Totality
An orphaned child, non-communicative, neglected feeling. Silently suffering, going into spasms and cramps. Reserved, likes to be alone. This was the diagnosis of the person behind patient.
Desires : Salty, Wafers, Pepsi.
Talks in sleep, screams
Persp++ head, face
C2H3
Cramps - legs > hard pressure
Tendency to catch cold > cold, getting wet, damp.
Here Natrum comes very close. The difference is sense of Neglect leading to cramps and spasms which is the characteristic evolution of Magnesium. 
He has given a dose of Mag-mur 1M. Gradually the child's tendency to cold and cough reduced to almost once a yr; he was given Merc-sol as Acute and Tuberculinum-bov 1M as an intercurrent.