The Neglected Daughter
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2000 Mar / Apr VOL II NO 2.
Dr Champat B Jain
'Lac-can

The patient was referred by a family physician. The mother saw me a day earlier when her case was defined. The impression of the mother: a well-dressed, competent person who appeared to be running the show. Her impressions of her daughter: a confused individual who did not know her own mind.

SCR Recording

·         Miss SRS 23 yrs.

·         Single Hindu Vaisya

·         Non-veg.

·         B.Sc 1981.

·         Medical representative.

Chief Complaints:

Associated Complaints

Life Space
Miss SRS Born in a Maharashtrian Hindu Vaisya fly. Family is basically from Goa, but now in Bombay since many years. Father runs a South Indian Hotel, owned by patient's paternal grandmother.

Upto to 4th std, she was in a coeducational school. After that she joined a school for girls. Very shy, she always sat on the last bench. An average student, poor in Mathematics; not much of co-curricular activities, nor many friends. On the contrary, was very argumentative. And often fought with the girls. Even at home she had few friends and would fight with them. But she had good friends at her Uncle's place, more with boys than girls. She liked to dress like a boy and play boys games like viti dandu, cricket and marbles. She never liked to wear frocks etc. In those days going to school and coming back was her only activity. She enjoyed vacations at her uncle's place. She felt better when away from home. Very attached to father and maternal grandfather.

Family Situation: Her father's Hotel was doing well, and they were financially well off, having servants etc. But there were quarrels between her mother and paternal grandmother, as the hotel is on her grandmother's name. Already litigation was going on about small stalls around the hotel. The patient's parents pay all expenses. Now since 1967, patient's grandmother wanted to give this Hotel to her daughter.

Family Dynamics
Father is described as sentimental with less initiative. He never interfered with patient's career, except when she wanted to go to Ayurvedic medical college after 10th; her father objected due to the patient's fearsome nature & thoughts of death. Then patient decided to do her HSC. She did 11th from school and 12th from college. After 12th she could not join BAMS; she could not get into LCEH as the financial position was tight and there was no possibility of raising donation. So joined B Sc, hence her ambition of being a doctor was not fulfilled.

They were facing financial difficulties during that period. Her mother sold some ornaments for children's education and for litigation about stalls. Because of this problem there used to be clashes with PGM. So her mother moved to her parent's place at Thane for 5 years and she came back in 1967 when PGM started living separately. It seems that patient is much attached to father but he does not reciprocating. On the contrary, he is attached to son and in the process the patient feels "NEGLECTED" from both her parents. At home she is bored and lethargic. Her complaints ameliorate outside the house or in company or at her M uncle's place where she feels nice. Father's nature is such that he will give money to other people in trouble, even if it means not keeping anything for him.

Patient says her mother has NEGLETED her. She did not love her. "She did partiality with me". She loved her brother and cared only for him and not for her. "She did not teach me sewing, embroidery etc. All this I learnt by looking at her. She never allowed me cooking or any household work by saying that I will spoil the thing. If by chance I had done something she will do it again and that moment, I feel bad. I was weak in Maths. She did not teach me. On the contrary, she used to tease me. For College admission, they accompanied my brother and helped in the choice of the subject. For me they did not bother what I am doing, what I should do etc. Nobody gave advice about my choosing the stream in College. I myself selected Science. I went alone with my friends to get prospectus, admissions etc."

"My brother has a DUAL NATURE. A SELFISH INDIVIDUAL. His friends also tell the same thing." She has a chronic resentment3 towards her elder brother. She HATES him from childhood because he was always teasing and beating her. At the same time parents esp. the mother gave support to the brother instead of her. She never received love and sympathy from parents. She developed interest outside the house. She developed strong attachment to MGF. She was very happy at Thane where she kept herself almost normal whereas at her own residence she does not keep well.

She never felt normal when people were complimenting her brother. She wanted to go one step ahead. "Since the beginning I have a competition in my mind to win the race. I should be something more than him. As he has beaten me in childhood, today I feel like beating him and taking revenge." Whatever he does, she wants to do the same things e g Science® Homoeopathy. They always quarrel (even today) on small instances and they want to prove each other wrong.

In childhood, she had fear of ghosts, cats3, dark3 of being alone, not going alone from one room to the other. She used to scream on seeing cats. She has been afraid of widows. In school she remained quarrelsome. In those days in any dispute about anything with brother or with her mother, her typical response was not to talk, not to work, eat less and remain gloomy and sad.

In the 8th std, her paternal uncle died. His pet name and her MGF's pet name were the same. As soon as she heard the news, she got shocked but the very next moment she came to know about the reality. All complaints have started after that incident of shock. Now she gets thoughts that 'my MGF should not die. If he dies what will happen?' The same thing about her father. These thoughts are aggravated when she is alone at home. She does not get thoughts when she is in company. Since 1973 to 78 she brooded much; but since 1978 it has reduced and now it is only 40%.

In 1978, she joined the College (co-educational) and she is relieved of these complaints. She gained confidence from 1973 - 1978. She was indecisive earlier but now takes the decision firmly. She does not depend on father or anybody.

Some recurring thoughts like "I am something different then others". If she comes to know any positive point about herself, she always gets bad thoughts about death of any relative or herself. She tries to divert the mind but that does not help.

Since the last 3-4 years she has started repeating the task twice/thrice like touching the object twice or thrice, touching water, washing hands2. In her own building she goes to her friend on the top floor then goes and comes back and again goes. In writing words, she try to complete the line and then scratches it and rewrites the same words. Once she was to eat a sweet dish at home and she came to the table. At the same time, her father started talking of her MGF to a relative. She was listening to all these things and suddenly she got an idea that if she eats this sweet dish, her MGF will die. Considering this, she did not take the dish.

Patient As A Person:
Loss of weight with treatment and irregular eating habits.
Coldness of palms and soles <cold. Burning palms >cold. Perspiration nose, face and back. Perspiration palms <writing <anticipatory anxiety2. No staining.
Appetite - normal. Cr. Cold drinks2, ice creams3, Milk3, Meats2, Sweets2
Stools - Normal
Urine - NAD
Menses - FMP - 14 years LMP 31/10
Regular - Irregular last 10 days. D= 5 -6 days quantity 2-3 pads/day. H/O dark red; now red. No staining. H/O clots blackish. 1st day pain in abdomen for 2-3 hours > flow.
Sleep normal. Does not like to be disturbed and gets angry. Siesta is a must. Talking2 during sleep. H/O teeth grinding.
Dreams - Animals H/o snake2. Dog chasing - Used to beat dogs.
H/o death of Mo & relatives. Examinations - writing. Results how will they be. Going to some strange place. Repeated dream since childhood - enemy attacking and pt. is running - fighting - beats and then the sense "I am safe3". Sunrise, Water, sea.
Metereological - Does not like cloudy weather. Fan - Summer ^2-3. Winter Nil. Open air - likes. Cover - Sholapur upto head (habit)
Bath - warm except summer than she takes cold water but initially she shivers. C3H2

Past History: measles 5 years of age. Frequent bronchitis for 1 year >Homoeopath.
Pertusis - for 2-3 months.
Mo: Rheumatoid arthritis.
O/E Nails white spots. Teeth malarranged. Coldness feet. Glands not palpable. Systemic - NAD

Mental State: Inferiority complex "I will go wrong". Childhood fear of Ghosts. Dark³, Cat³ Scream. Widows. Since the last 10 years, the fears less. A sense of I am something different on better side. Irritable3, excitable3, feels3 like beating- argumentation. Depressed mood work poor. Does not wish to talk with people around. Thought of death.

Criteria

1. Anxiety
2. Bad thoughts
3. Fear of Death
4. Fear of accident
5. Washing hands
6. Repetition
7. Irritability
8. Sleep
9. Dreams
10. Cold - freq.
11. Menses

Treatment commenced on 19.11.88 - Lac-can 1M HS [1]

Case Analysis: The case was received in 1983. A general practitioner friend of mine referred her and till the history was received I was not aware of the Chief complaints. The one page written history with incomplete words and cancelled attempts at writing the same word pointed to the clinical diagnosis. The case was defined in an evolutionary manner to get the psychodynamics of the case.

The complaints commenced at the age of 8 years with the idea of loosing a loved one. Her childhood feeling of neglected/rejected feeling, sense of partiality with respect to her brother played a pivotal role in the development of her suffering. The state of the Interpersonal relations was a maintaining factor for the illness.

The totality formation had to take into account the mental as well as the physical level. It is pertinent to note that till 1978, the expressions were at both the levels. After that the case got converted into a one-sided disease, where prognosis is unfavorable.

The throat sector evolved as a complete symptom. It was marked by an ascending cold, rightàleft movement and the formation of the false membrane. Thus this was a characteristic, complete, physical, symptom concomitant to the evolving mental disease. This totality pointed to Lac-can as the remedy. A re-look at the case tells that the drug covers almost all the characteristic expressions i.e. neglected feeling, comparison with brother resulting in inferiority feelings, childhood fears and dreams of snakes, washing hands to ensure cleanliness in a chilly patient.

High susceptibility, total correspondence and the availability of characteristic expressions allowed the selection of the 1M potency to open the case and to administer it in single, infrequent doses.

The Follow-Up Demonstrates:

·         The remarkable effects of infrequent doses of the similimum

·         The relationship of remedies with Calc-fluor helping where Rhus-tox failed.

·         The need of Hepar-sulph with the recurrence of the throat complaints

The patient was followed for a year after her marriage and she continued to keep well. The symptoms used to recur in milder intensity interestingly when she used to gaze at a patch of wall, which was spoiled as a result of water seepage! Almost as if it reminded her of the unpleasant bad patch of her life which she wished to wash away.