I Want Mama!
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1999 Jan / Feb VOL VIII NO 1.
Dr Meena Mankani
'Petroleum

This is a case of intensive treatment to a young woman over a 5 yr period. Here only one crucial phase of the treatment is being presented, wherein the process of cure was greatly facilitated. So if there are some lacunae in the data, please bear with me.

Case in Brief
A 25-year-old delicately brought up mother of 2 kids, who yelled and cried for her own mama whenever her kids wailed for her. She came seeking help from me 5 years back since she was, in her own words "baffled by all the responsibility hanging on me every moment." A pampered and extremely over-protected delicate darling from the higher strata of society, the only response she learnt from a life full of overwhelming luxuries, was to "call out for her Mama" at every discomfort the "baby" felt. These circumstances were not conducive to her growth and maturity. Her marriage to an equally rich family left the "baby" totally lost and miserable. Owing to her diseased state of helplessness, at any drop of the hat, the "all-knowledgeable, all-wise and all-time available on phone" Mama was desperately sought for; the latter, of course, was glad to do the honours.

When I initially took her case, I was extremely confused owing to the multiplicity of the factors responsible for the present diseased condition. I did not know where to start. So I followed the policy of wait and watch and kept her on placebo. I would call her frequently and listen to her talks and at one point a clear picture of her case started emerging.

She once came to me in an extremely panicky state. What I gathered from her excitable and sing song ramblings was that, just a day earlier her parents had left for Madras for her father's cataract operation. They were to return in a week.

But our young lady wanted her parents back immediately. She had already spoken to them for six times, & went on crying continuously. No amount of reasoning could pacify her. She wailed loudly, "Ever since I have seen them off at the airport, I have developed severe chest pains- as if my chest is contracting all the time."
Palpitations from every ring of doorbell or telephone, since she felt "I have got bad views of my parents." This was accompanied by many watery stools, with aggravation of the palpitations before and during stools. The palpitation would immediately stop after a stool.
Her blood pressure was 110/70 mm of Hg and her pulse 92/min. Her hands and feet were cold3.

Dr Gary Weaver had put it very nicely in one of the issues of SIMILLIMUM. He says, "My experience has led me to conclude that when an individual is at the lowest ebb, what is exhibited is the true state, i.e. THE DISPOSITION IN A MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TOTALITY."

So was the case here. I had to select an appropriate remedy and prescribe, but yet the remedy eluded me. Suddenly, one rubric flashed in my mind - a rubric that I had casually read in the Repertory. My "must read 2 pages of Repertory a day" resolution came to my rescue.

At that time I was using Synthetic Repertory: the rubric on page 608 was, "INCONSOLABLE, anxiety about his family while on a short journey, from." And the only remedy against it has Petroleum.

And now I am confused all the more? How can I give her Petroleum? She has no typical skin problems that remedy is so well known for! What do I do?

I then looked at the other components and one by one I found Petroleum covering all the striking aspects of the case. It was there in the rubrics: "CHEST, pain, crampy" (KRP 855) and "CHEST, Palpitations, Stool during (KRP 877).
But the crowning glory was the relief in the already recorded symptom: her intense riding sickness.
The other relevant rubrics:

Now, feeling quite assured, I gave her one dose of Petroleum 50M, one powder dry on the tongue, and asked her to go home, relax and sleep. From here the case took a dramatic turn for the better.

She indeed went home and slept well for a couple of hours and got up calmer. She rang up Madras to find out as to how her parents were. When told that they were fine, she rested assured.

The tranquil wind helped soothe the physical discomforts and soon all her presenting physical ailments along with her riding sickness disappeared.
Besides a lot of active counseling, she required a series of 2-3 other appropriate Homoeopathic remedies in order to lift her to a reasonably "adult" state. Her mother was also very strongly warned against singing her harmful cosy lullabies for her "not-so-tiny baby". And the results that we see today are most gratifying. She continues to be under my care, mostly on placebos.