CASE ANALYSIS :

His pathology is acute and at this time also his state is the same. This is the case very often.

The main feeling in the case is the need to control: he wants to keep his blood pressure in control through medication, control his smoking habit, control his visiting the club by going for Vipasana meditation, control his ego by annihilating the sense of ` I '. But he is unable to exercise this kind of control which he desires. So, he continues smoking although it causes him problems, he continues to go to his club, although he feels that he should not, and gambles openly. The need is to keep control, but his action is an inability to maintain that control, or a total loss of control. This is a theme of the Cancer miasm. It runs throughout the case and the remedy should belong to this miasm.

The other feature that is apparent is his ego and sense of honour. He is proud of himself, will rather earn his own money than take his father's, never tell a lie. But when someone disbelieves him, or when he perceives insult or humiliation, his pride is hurt. ` Ailments from wounded honour ' is the second symptom in his case. Also, he is very sensitive and gets offended easily, and he is also sensitive to the feelings of others. This kind of sensitivity is a feature of plant remedies.

And of course the other prominent aspect of his personality is his maliciousness. In the Synthetic Repertory, the main remedy for people who want to give up smoking but cannot is Staphysagria. This case has exactly the theme of Staphysagria. While a part of him craves the cigarette another part of him craves to find the control to stop but is unable to. Staphysagria patients will ask you to give them a remedy to produce disgust for smoking because they are not able to give it up by themselves. This is the main theme of Staphasagria. You have to control your urge, your anger, your sexuality and your emotions. If you lose your control, you lose your dignity, honour and self respect.

Staphysagria is also the only other remedy along with Platina listed under the rubric, ` Delusion, humility and lowness of others, while he is great. ' This explain how great his ego is, and therefore the intensity of the feeling (` I feel like dying' ) when his pride is hurt. It also explains the intensity of his malice in the incident with the clerk.

He is in the failed stage with this complete loss of control. A successful Staph. would have complete control over all his urges. He would live completely within the norms of society and rise to an honourable position. This man went to the other end. He has no control over himself. He chose to disregard norms by smoking and gambling and openly defying his father. And he feels that he is honourable in this, though he struggles with himself.He says I am my own model, is egoistic, yet he wants to lose the sense of ` I '. His block against stopping smoking is one that should respond to Staphasagria, since it is related to his difficulty with control. Not having this control is a great defeat for Staphasagria.

You have to understand the case first before you look for rubrics.

RUBRICS:

Tobacco, remedies to produce disgust for, Self control, fear of losing. Ailments from honour wounded. Egotism. Malicious.

He was given Staphysagria LM 1,3,4,6, & 8 serially, each potency being continued for a month.

FOLLOW UP:

Within a week of having begun the remedy the discomfort in the chest improved a good deal. His mouth became so sore he could not sleep.

The initial X Ray (June '96) showed a massive pneumonia on left with cavity. A repeat X Ray taken on July 26 showed resolving pulmonary inflammation. The X Ray was once again repeated in September of that year when it showed substantial resolution of infiltration.

November '96

He reports feeling better, less short of breath.

" In the last two weeks a sudden fear and sense of helplessness grips me. I am afraid who will open the door if I die. I am alone; my wife died twenty years back. I used to be able to overcome this and now I wake with it. But though this fear is still there it is getting less. "

He has gone back to his job, the club and smoking. He dropped Vipasana.

" I am still wanting to stop smoking but cannot. I have no control over myself. "

His other apprehension is, " Today my sons and daughters-in-law respect me and look after my needs. If I am dependent on them tomorrow they may not treat me will. " He had been on Staph 0/3, the previous month, and I raised it to 0/4. He continued to receive the potencies upto 0/10 until February '98, when he was given 1M, and then 10M the following month. Occasionally he would sense an acute fear and he continued to struggle with the smoking and then finally gave it up altogether. It has now been a year and a half since he has not smoked. He also developed severe itching all over the body and his weight also started to pick up. He is still on a minimum dose of anti-hypertensives. The potency was again reduced to 1M as changes began to set in, and he has been receiving 200C of and on since January '99.

He has a good friend who is a doctor and who had initially referred him. He narrated some incidences from the life of the patient. After the death of his wife, his brother dragged him to lectures on philosophy. He was there for three days and went back to the club on the third day after the death of his wife. Another time an associate at the club bet him fifty thousand rupees, a lot of money, that he could not quit smoking for one year. He accepted the challenge and stopped the smoking and at the end of six months collected twenty-five thousand rupees and the rest after one year and then restarted smoking.

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