need more info-does he like hot or cold foods, dose he feel better inside or outside, cold or heat makes him feel better.tell me about his mental thinking, his fears, any other blood test done.

read on
Arsenicum Album
LYCOPODIUM
Phosphorus

give him one dose IGNATIA AMARA 200c, and wait for one week, then post back.
Ignatia amara Sensitive people who suffer grief or disappointment and try to keep
the hurt inside may benefit from this remedy. Wanting not to cry or appear too
vulnerable to others, they may seem guarded, defensive, and moody.

Janyce, what a loving portrait.
First, I would stop Digitalis - it's crude prescribing - a kind of allopathy under the guise of homoeopathy.
Also, the case reminds me of NM, but I would wait and see if you get a response from GM before doing anything at all, apart from stopping the Digitalis. If he goes on taking that it may relieve the cardiac symptoms temporarily, but will make him feel terribly isolated as he gets to prove it, which will add to the heart problem long-term.
One more thing if I may, so long as your son enjoys the bedtime stories that last for hours, why curtail them? It's a lovely thing for a child to feel so special that an adult chooses to spend that much time with him. More important than missing a whole night's sleep in my opinion. Why not let them get so tired that they nod off together?

This case is too difficult, as i cant controll the allopatic medicines, some of his trouble is from them, theres alot of Natrium mur sympt her but it can be from the diurectic, some sulphur, some calc carb, i would use sulphur x200 one dose as a sstart to get rid of some of the toxins from medications, also because of the diabetic behaviour her, and some in me say phosphorus, ill think phos is his remedy, but its not up in the day, theres too litle info here.
Use sulphur, and see what happens over the next mont, one dose, once only, no more, and quit digitalis, it may be of need butits used allopathically, it is used like this, because the knowleded of homeopathy is too low, or its not possible to use otherwise, beacause of medications.
Ignatia is not a stupid suggestion at all, its good, but it will not help too good in this case, i think, knowledege of pathology and allopathic remedies, and biochemie is a must, this with psych will give experience.. So keep on gary, your becoming good, more good than many ive seen on this BB.

------------------
Homeopat MNNH Geir E.T. Marcussen
email: getm@eunet.no
http://www.homeopati.no

I am looking for advice to help my dad. He is 73 (74 in June) and not in good health. He has read this post and agrees with my observations.

He has had 3 heart attacks in the last 15 years. He was diagnosed with late onset diabetes (diet controlled) in his late 50's. He has diverticular disease. He has had a lot of water retention problems recently and has been taking diuretics. He is a very anxious man and has had problems with his nerves for the last 30 years (breakdown in 1968). He has sleep apnoea and I have regularly timed him not breathing for over 30 seconds. He has had a couple of operations on the cartilage in his knee - arthritis, I think. He currently has a dry barking cough and feels it is responsible for making his voice sound odd - it sounds like his voice is breaking and this has been getting much worse over today.

He takes a range of medication for his various problems, hates to take this, he is concerned about addiction, side effects etc. He does not always take the things he has prescribed on the correct schedules. Yet says he knows he needs to take this for the rest of his life. He can be obsessive about his health - doing lots of additional checks, and has even bought a couple of blood pressure monitors over the years (his pressure has been very low over recent months)

My dad is the younger of 2 children, his older sister (by 10 years) died 3 1/2 years ago very suddenly, just before her 80th birthday. Her death was only a few months after my first child, my fathers' first grandchild, was unexpectedly stillborn. This was extremely distressing for him and all the family. He asked to read a poem at my sons' funeral, which was very moving. I feel his health problems have worsened since these events. He was treated for depression after this.

At this time my dad and I grew closer, we talked about his dad who died about 30 years previously, he said he had never really grieved properly for him, he never cried then.

My mother thinks my dad and I are very alike (although I am quite capable of crying buckets), which is probably why our relationship has been so difficult at times.

My dad has been married to my mother for over 40 years, he has 2 children, myself and my younger brother (by 3 years). My parents do almost everything together, although he hates shopping and has had panic attacks in supermarkets.

Since my second child was born, he has become an utterly devoted granddad. My son adores him and the story of the 3 little pigs, which he tells so well. So well in fact, I have had to physically remove him from my sons' bedroom when the bedtime story has gone on for over 1 hour and 30 minutes!

He is very active, doing language classes - French, German and Russian - to school exam standard and has done very well in the exams. He has also taken up computing and is online (and I hope he will post something here himself).

As well as the courses, he swims regularly and attends a weekly Cardiac Rehab Class (physical exercise). He is interested in wildlife and nature and was a keen fell walker in his younger days, up to a couple of years ago he and my mother belonged to a ramblers club, his health is increasingly restriciting activities. In his younger days he played in both cricket and soccer teams and still enjoys watching sport.

He is a gifted amateur photographer and belongs to 2 camera clubs, he is usually placed when he enters competitions. He regularly does photographic lectures to community groups in his local area. He has never accepted any payment for this, asking for it to be donated to a charity if the group insists on offering him payment. One of his recent lectures was about reminiscing about his fell walking days, as he will not go to the peaks again. He still visits the Lake District regularly.

He enjoys driving, and has always said he feels much more in control in his car. He is a fast driver. He gets anxious if there is nowhere to park and will not wait to see if a space becomes available in case it holds up the people behind him. I often joke he has difficulty finding a space in an empty car park - he can never decide where to park.

Over the last couple of months he has not been sleeping, this is the problem which concerns him most. He says he is exhausted. He is finding it difficult to concentrate and finds himself drifting off when people are talking to him. His usual activities have gone - he does not have the energy to do them. He is very anxious at the moment.

He has always kept very late hours and may "nod off" in the armchair in the day or evening, he is a terrible snorer. Recently he has slept no more than a couple of hours at night at the most, and that has been very poor quality sleep. He has never needed a great deal of sleep, but he has told me he lies in bed and watches the clock count the minutes. There are so many clocks in his home. He is more comfortable in a reclining position than lying flat and also has quite a cough at the moment, I mentioned this earlier.

A few months ago his diabetes began to get worse and he really began to watch what he ate. He does not eat sensibly, he will have breakfast and then nothing until his evening meal, which must be served at 5pm. However he has a sweet tooth and now buys chocolate for my mother instead of himself. My mother would prefer he didn't, as they both need to loose weight. They both snack during the evening and there are always cakes in the house. He has seen his diabetes specialist recently and is now on tablets (since last Friday) which he says have helped.

About 4 weeks ago, he and my mother came to visit me and I persuaded him to see my homeopath, who has always prescribed very effective remedies for me. She was willing to take him on to see if homeopathy might help and then either help find a homeopath closer to home or continue to support him by phone. What he wanted was help with the sleep issue - this is still what he is asking for help for.

She took a history and prescribed Digitalis 6. Which he was to take during the day and at night when needed, he has continued to take this since then. Sorry not sure of the precise details of this, but I suspect he may not be taking the tablets as directed - although he has been very precise about taking them in the correct homeopathic way.


At first he had a little more sleep and said he felt calmer. He has continued to take the remedy but is reporting his symptoms are even worse over the last 2-3 weeks - he has had even less sleep and is feeling very anxious. She also gave some advice to him about his diet, which he has been trying to follow.

He followed up with her while he was here, but I have not been able to persuade him to call her for advice since then. He says he wants to see what happens with his regular doctors first.

His GP prescribed a sleeping pill on Friday. The first night it had no effect, the second night he had a nightmare (listed as a potential side effect). I think he plans to take another tonight.

My mother and I are very worried about him.

Advice welcomed. I am hoping he will visit this site and add to this thread, he has indicated he might do this. I also hope that he will get in touch with my homeopath again and perhaps the advice here may aid her in treating my dad.

Thanks for listening.

Janyce

Thanks everyone

I had wondered about the digitalis, I had also wondered if he may be proving the remedy.

Just a little more information which may give a little clarity.

He looks for problems. If there are none he will find one. His reaction can be out of all proportion to the event. He talks of being embarassed by these events. I always think of his anxieties as a kind of performance anxiety.

He is often short of patience. He has never read fiction, but has read a lot of health related things or books about the Lake District. He does not like to watch series on TV (hates soaps), it has to be a one off. He likes commedy, and he and my mother both like game shows.

He is fair skinned and blue eyed. His hair was very fair as a young child, but very dark as an adult, now it is grey/white.

He has always looked younger than his age. I remember my midwife being very suprised to find out he was 71 when my second child was born, she thought he was in his 50's. Recently he has looked tired and very grey, much more his age.

He prefers cold drinks and drinks mostly water, although he does like tea and coffee and fruit juice. He has always liked to try new food, my mum is quite a plain British cook. I am vegetarian and he always likes to try new things when I am cooking.

The advice my homeopath gave him about his diet has been very helpful. He often has breakfast and then will not eat all day, until his evening meal - which must be served at 5pm. Except on Sundays when my mum cooks a traditional British Sunday roast, served at about noon.

Some time ago, he heard about the benefits of oat bran. He ate this as porridge and reduced his cholesterol levels significatly, with no other changes to his diet. His family doctor was quite impressed by this. He has not eaten as much of this recently.

He does not smoke, he gave up about 25 years ago. He does not drink, but may have a drink when out socially.

Gary, I will try to get him to register and post his fears. The nightmare he had the other night he was based around his car - somewhere he generally feels very secure. He often fears what other people may think. He is very hard on himself, and on others. My instinct at the moment is to follow the advice of GM, looking to remove some toxins. I worry about the ammount of medication he takes. Allopathic doctors hand it out like candy, don't they

Anna, my instincts as a mother are to follow his leads. However, if he is not asleep at a "reasonable" time he will get over excited and and miserable the next day , and no one has much fun. I try to be laid back, but always feel torn when I do this, I love to watch them together, but if it goes on for more than a day or so, getting him back into his routine takes time (I am a single parent in full-time employment), and I get completly frazzled, , and that eats into my very precious time with him (and we still need clean clothes - the life of a working mother... )

GM, would it help to have a list of the medication he is taking? The detox approach certainly makes sense to me.

What other information would be helpful? We can't order the remedy until tomorrow.

Are there any instructions as to what he should avoid and for how long. I know he will follow these instructions to the letter.

Thanks for your help Gary, Anna and GM. I really appreciate this. I have been so worried about him for quite a while.

Janyce

[This message has been edited by janyce (edited 03 April 2000).]

[This message has been edited by janyce (edited 03 April 2000).]

GM, we will be ordering the sulphur tomorrow, are there specific instructions as to when to take it? Is there anything he needs to avoid?

Janyce

take it midday, half hoer after food, drinks, avoid camphor.

The medication list could be helpfull, yes.
Must try to find what symptomes belong to medication, and what belong to him.

The biggest cause of trouble and inability to sleep in the elderly is cooking in ALUMINIUM PANS ......they will not listen .....but they are the generation most affected .....add on all the Allopathic medicines and you have TROUBLE

Step back ......clear the fields and start looking at everything that enters their mouths and how it is cooked

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT