"I Cannot Do Anything Right"
This is an old case, from my early days in practice when I was still a student. Heather was a mum of young children like me and had been suffering from depression for some time. She said she felt negative a lot of the time and had trouble organizing herself, making meals for the family and stuff like that. She felt that she could not do anything right and also she felt tired all the time. If she wanted to do anything, she had to push herself to do it. On bad days she would just stay in bed after taking the children to school and she also had the expectation that anything she did do, would go wrong. She took her daughter to the nursery one day and it was shut, she had gone on the wrong day. This was very difficult for Heather to cope with and she says she just fell apart.
Heather did not have much confidence in her own ability and felt better when she was at her sisters house. When she was there she felt looked after, and did not have to feel responsible. She would get weepy when she was at home and struggle to think clearly, sometimes she could feel like crying in the street.
The situation was even worse when she was with her partners' family. At those times she felt ignored and like a nobody. She felt she had nothing to offer and no talent for anything.
Heather had always had some depression, but when she had the kids it got even worse. It started as a gradual feeling of unease when she was pregnant with her first child. Her mother had died 3 years earlier, but that was not an issue, she missed her but her mother had been old and Heather felt the time was right.
What the GP Said
Her GP ran blood tests etc and could not find anything wrong. Perhaps she had ME, but for the moment the GP was ruling that out.
She was not on any antidepressants but had been on them before. She preferred not to take them.
Unwanted As a Child
Heather's mum had been older when she was born. Age 42 and her dad was 49, she was the last child in a big family. Her mother made her feel that she was always in the way and was not wanted.
Feeling an outcast became a theme of Heather's life. The things that we experience as children often stay with us for life. And even though Heather was now part of a loving family, with a loving husband, she could not help but revert to feeling unwanted and unloved when problems arose within family life.
A Different Head on my Shoulders
At first I gave Heather the remedy Nat Muriaticum. There seemed to be a strong case for this as she was showing many of the symptoms of Nat Mur. However, the remedy had no effect so I needed to rethink the case and start again. (Good job I was a student and this was a practice case). However, it does happen sometimes even now after 20 years of practice, that the first remedy given has no, or little effect. Usually though, on the second prescription we have a better result.
So the remedy was changed to Sulphur and this had a very good result. When I saw her next she said she felt like she had a new head on her shoulders. She was not as panicky not getting as wound up about things. People who had previously caused her great anxiety where not as troublesome, she said I don't give two hoots about them now. Her husband became more sympathetic and her friends could not believe the change in her. She was also sleeping much better, no more long nights lying awake. She was also going out more and having a brilliant time, dancing a lot and enjoying herself. She said it feels like other people have changed, but actually it is me that has changed. She also feels able to assert herself more in difficult situations.
Conclusion
This was a great result and once I had found the right remedy a very fast acting result. I gave Heather 2 more doses of Sulphur in LM potency over a period of 2 more months. This gives the remedy an opportunity to work deeply and should mean that it will hold for a long time. Many years even. I often see cases of people who have been to a different Homeopath years earlier with a complaint that has never recurred. When they come to me, its usually to help with something new that has come up.
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