Miasm Research - Cases

Vertigo and headaches

 

(December 2006)
Case by Liz Van Kooten (final year student)

 

August 2006 Matthew, aged 16, brought to see me as part of my case studies for this year. He was accompanied by his mother.

Matthew has been suffering from a head cold for the last two weeks; he suffers from headaches, vertigo, and exhaustion. He has had a constant sore throat for the last two weeks and has had numerous days off school.
In December 2005 he underwent a tonsillectomy, a result of recurrent bouts of tonsillitis, which got so bad he missed his end of year exams. Although he had the Christmas holidays to recover from the tonsillectomy, he felt better for the first month after, then started to go down hill. In February of 2006 he started to suffer from vertigo, which was ameliorated only by lying down. This vertigo could last for a week at a time, feeling as if his head was spinning and floating. The week previous to seeing me he spent the entire week in bed with it.
He has himself identified that he really hasn't been well since his tonsillectomy, and recognizes the vertigo and headaches started to come on afterwards.
His attendance at school has been poor for the last few years, he could manage 2 days a week at the most, before he'd collapse and need to spend the rest of the time in bed. He always feels worse in the mornings, and cannot get out of bed before midday. If he does get up earlier, he is guaranteed to get a headache and vertigo.
He is not great with change, and even though he states he doesn't get too stressed by it, his mother was saying how when he was smaller and he'd have a sleep over at a friend's house, he would spend the next few days recovering from it. He'd have a fabulous time, but just couldn't cope well with the change.
He is worse for cold, wet weather, and will get sick the day after exposure to this weather. He craves cheese, and would choose it over sweets.
When he has headaches his scalp gets itchy, in direct proportion to the severity of the headache. Severe headache = severe itching. Mild headache = mild itching.
His mother also stated that his eyesight deteriorated after his tonsils were removed, and now needs glasses to see the blackboard at school.
He suffers for a runny nose regardless of whether he has a cold or not, it just runs all the time. The skin on his palms tends to peel.
When he feels stressed or is concerned about something, he will remove himself from all company until someone asks him what the matter is, and they together work out what is bothering him. Once the cause has been identified and talked about, he feels fine again.
When he suffers a fever, his body temperature actually lowers. His doctor and school nurse have both commented on this peculiarity, he feels hot to touch, and feels hot internally, but when his temperature is taken it will often be only 36-36.5 deg.
He presents as obviously unwell, his voice is weak and croaky, and his face is pale and drawn. He lived in the USA from the age of 4 to 8 with his parents and brothers, and missed his family a lot. He adjusted and eventually had a great time there, but when it comes to any big changes he freely admits it takes time for him to adjust.

I repertorised on physicals mainly, but used some generals also. I think Matthew found it difficult to talk freely, not only because his mother was present but also because of his age.

Rubrics chosen:
THROAT; PAIN; burning (268)
GENERALITIES; COLLAPSE (121)
GENERALITIES; WEATHER; cold, wet, agg (135)
HEAD; ITCHING: Vertex, headache, during (1)
NOSE; CATARRH
HEAD PAIN; LOCALISATION; vertex (263)
VERTIGO; FLOATING; as if (80)

FACIAL ANALYSIS

Yellow (Psora)

Red (Sycosis)

Blue (Syphilis)

Eyes
Ears

Total: 2

Nose
Lips
Hair line
Smile
Bridge

Total: 5

Asymmetry - ears, eyes
Chin
Forehead
Teeth

Total: 4

 

Miasm= PURPLE (Syco-Syphilis)

The top 16 remedies were:
Sulph, Ars, Verat, Lach, Lyc, Mez, Carb-v, Carb-s, Am-c, Apis, Calc, Sep, Petr, Phos, Merc, Nit-ac However as Veratrum was the top remedy and contained the pqrs it was chosen

Veratrum Album 30C daily.
Follow up - checked up with Matthew's mother 2 weeks after the consultation, she stated he had not improved at all, and was still feeling exhausted, and was suffering headaches and vertigo. Considered the next purple remedy, Lachesis, but decided it really didn't fit his picture.

The next Purple remedy was Nit-ac, at number 16 on the repertorisation. Gave Matthew Nit-ac 30 daily. After 2 weeks his mother told me he was not only waking up before midday, he had been going to school everyday, normal times, with no headaches, no vertigo and no exhaustion. His cold had gone, and he no longer had a sore throat. Discontinue remedy.

1 month after the first dose of Nit ac, he was preparing for exams, life was a bit stressful for him, and he had started to slip slightly. He had still not missed any more school, but was beginning to feel tired and had some headaches. Recommence Nit Ac 30 daily. Took for two days and felt better again.

2 weeks after his exams had finished, I saw his mother again, who told me he had not missed ANY school since taking the Nit Ac (considering he was managing only 2-3 days per week up until this point - fantastic!), he had energy, didn't need to sleep so much, and had had no headaches, vertigo, sore throats, or colds.

I explained to her that we all go through periods of stress, and at those times it is natural for us to feel a little run down and unbalanced. Once the stress is relieved, however, the judge of whether we are in balance is whether we can 'right' ourselves again, and not suffer the consequences of the stress. She stated that Matthew had been through some stressful times since taking the Nit Ac, but he had pulled himself out of it, only needing to repeat the dose for the two days. It has now been 4 months, and he has not needed any more repeats.

There were some fantastic PQRS's and distinguishing features in this case - itching scalp during headaches, low body temp during fever, never well since tonsillectomy. I used the itchy scalp during headaches and Veratrum was the only remedy. This symptom wasn't under Nit Ac.

Materia Medica - Murphy
Repertory: MacRepertory

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