Hello-


I have been lurking on this bb for quite awhile. Now I was hoping I could get some suggestions on my chronic illness of 2 years. I have been seeing a classical homeopath for quite some time and took remedy #7 a couple weeks ago. For some reason it seems that he is having difficulty "seeing" my case very well. It seems he is qualified because he has been able to help my mother as well as my grandmother with their health concerns. I am just hoping I can present my case here clearer than I did initially with my homeopath and perhaps present any suggestions to him.
Ok....well here goes:
I am 24 year old female with a chronic fatigue-type illness that seemed to have begun 2 years ago. Physical symptoms include: -feeling (obviously) fatigued but not yet to the point that I can't work or function somewhat normally
-chronically swollen lymph glands for the past year pretty much everywhere in my neck/throat area, as well as somewhat in the chest/breast and underarm area, these are not usually sore
-a feeling of a large, heavy pressing weight on my forehead which seems to make it difficult to think clearly and has been at times so intense that I just want to sleep
-abdominal discomfort-I speculate my problems originally began when I developed a "leaky gut" which means all the toxins in my intestines began to poison my blood stream. About 4 years ago, I took some type of "mushroom tea" that supposedly had been used in Siberia to help clean out the gut(although I never had had any problems previously-I know "if it aint broke..")which seemed to constipate me. For a time after that I was working to become regular again and was even dependent on herbal laxatives for about 9 months. I got off of them but feel that I may have gotten to a point of no return because I am getting more and more backed up with each passing day thus the abdominal discomfort,aching, distention etc. My stools have not been well formed for a good year.
-sore muscles that come and go. It seems that these days it takes very little exertion to make me sore the next day.
-asthma I have had asthma since I was 12 which was triggered by my cat allergies. I grew up with them until the age of 18 because I was not willing to give them up. I took ventolin inhalers for 6 years as well as steroid (wish I hadn't taken them!) for a short time. Also took seldane and allegra for general congestion. If I'm not around cats I don't really have asthma unless I exert myself quite a bit.
-my body temperature seems to have gone below normal since about a year ago. I think the last time I took it it was about 1.5 degrees too low. So I am often too cold.
Mentally I am not in great shape. I consider myself somewhat senile these days because I am forgetful, get confused easily, feel unable to think as clearly, and can no longer spell, write, type etc like I used to. It is getting more and more difficult for me to hold down a job.
To describe some general characteristics of myself: I have always been somewhat depressive. I think much of this is because I have always expected everything in my life to be perfect including myself. I have always gotten extremely angry with myself when I don't say the "right" or "perfect" thing or act the perfect way and will continually curse at myself because of this. As a result of this I have always been very disappointed very easily. Nothing in my life has ever been as great as I hoped it would be. I have also never been able to have much fun and until recently never laughed very much. I have never seemed to connect very easily with others, have always had a wall up and been very afraid of rejection. I went to music school as a performance major and had fairly bad stage fright because I was always afraid of everyone's opinion of me if I didn't perform perfectly. I have basically been very good at making my life miserable for myself. People I know would say that I am very intense and serious minded as well as "high energy"-sort of like a chiwawa. It makes me VERY angry when I feel others are judging me, which is quite often. I have never been fond of crowds (too many people to worry about) and have always been quite introspective and a loner. I also tend to have a problem with motivation. I feel very often that most things I do are a big chore and feel quite resistent to doing them. I have always loved music and dancing, am a loyal friend once you get to know me and am always there when people need someone to talk to. I also tend to be quite compassionate and understanding of others' pain because I feel I can relate. I would also call myself very insightful and very interested in the human condition and spiritual growth. I do not feel comfortable crying around people when upset about my life, (I get embarassed) although I do get moved somewhat easily by movies/tv when the characters cry and cry myself. I have always tended to put my feet out from under the covers. I do not like the sun beating down on me (sometimes I get headachey) and have never really sunbathed in my life. I also have a great craving for salt and put it on pretty much everything even though I know it's not good for me. I do like things to be tidy and feel some times that I can't concentrate unless things are somewhat cleaned up. Sometimes I will also clean if I am upset but I think that is also a need for distraction. I tend to feel better when I am distrated or "doing things" such as at work. Perhaps because I am not as able to "feel" the sensations in my body when I am not thinking about it.
My family is generally healthy. On my father's side the women have generally lived at least well into their 80's if not older. The men to about 80 or so. My paternal grandmother died at 87 from leukemia and also had pernicious anemia later in life, grandfather at 80 from stroke and heart attack. My Father has not had any health problems and is now 61. On my Mother's side my Grandmother has had high bp most of her life and now has arthritis and is 74. Grandfather is 79 with no apparent health concerns. My mother (48) has been chronically ill for 20 years with a condition quite similar to mine. She has finally been getting well in the last year or so through homeopathy
I believe her constitutional is Nat Mur.
I had scarlet fever at the age of 6 and chicken pox at 10 with no complications of any kind. Also had the normal required US vaccinations unfortunately.
My homeopath has never told me what remedies he gave me because he didn't want it to affect the outcome. Although I am quite certain he gave me Tarantula because of my fear of spiders and insects at one point which seemed to be pretty close based on the emotional release I had from it. Also- I saw another homeopath before this current one and she gave me carcinosin which helped with the constipation for awhile and also seemed close because I did develop a fever from it.
In any case, I hope this isn't too lengthy. If perhaps anyone could take a look and give me their impressions of a remedy I could pass it along to my homeopath and see what he thinks. I would appreciate it! Thanks!


[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 07 March 2000).]