A woman, aged 55, comes with complaints of sleeplessness. She wakes at 3 h. and cannot sleep again. She gets up to drink a glass of warm milk, and after half an hour to an hour she falls asleep again. Sometimes she also wakes at 5 or 6 h. The sleeplessness started after the birth of her 6th child. She was using the pill because she did not want any more children. But it made her depressed and she was often walking around crying. After that she was given valium. The sleeplessness got worse after problems with her eldest son. He broke off contact with her and her husband.

He had problems with homosexuality and was receiving psychiatric treatment for this. He blamed his parents for doing things wrong when he was little, but he never explained what. Because of lack of sleep she feels very tired during the day.

Another complaint is sciatica. She has drawing pains, starting in the left buttock and radiating to the back of her thighs, the shin bone, and on to her big toe. The pain increases on exertion, standing, walking slowly and shopping; it decreases on walking, cycling and sitting up straight. Lying down and  warmth ameliorate, cold aggravates the pain. The pain started in 1984, after she carried something too heavy. The sciatica and the sleeplessness aggravate each other, she wakes up with pain and the pain increases from lack of sleep.

She suffers from hot flushes.

Stomach ache (<) coffee. Nausea (<) chocolate.

Sometimes she has a cough, which goes on and on, (<) night, (<) talking. A tickle in her trachea on the left side. The trachea feels painful, raw, like a steel pipe. She coughs up some mucus, either clear or green, and tough. It sometimes makes her retch.

Past history: In 1980 she had a hysterectomy, because of severe bleeding and anaemia.

Her pregnancies were never really wanted. She always felt very sick for the first three months. During her pregnancies she had colic three times, because of kidney stones. She never had a lot of milk, only for a short period, and suffered from fissures and rawness of the nipples.

General characteristics:

Temperature:    cold. < draught, causes pain behind sternum.

                      < gloomy weather. > fresh air (2). > sea air (2).

                      < heat (2), it makes her legs feel fat.

Time:               < 3 am and 5 am.

Desires:            Dutch food, chocolate, grilled food.

Aversion:          sweet drinks, sour berries, apples.

Mind: She has problems with some of her children. She loves her children and does her best for them, but she also feels as if they are too much for her. That is why she did not really wanted to get pregnant. She feels that she is not a naturally good mother. She does her best, but with difficulty and with not a lot of warmth. She used to be afraid that she was doing it wrong when her babies used to cry. As mentioned above, her son never wants to see her and her husband again, and she is always wondering what she did wrong. One of the daughters also criticised her that she wasn't a good mother. This upsets her and she cries when she is talking about it. This criticism is constantly on her mind. She feels that she honestly did her best, but with her own shortcomings: 'I can only be the way I am'.

She is very conforming, a 'law and order' person. She never rebelled against the church, for instance, though it had such an adverse influence on her life. She dreams about a party with many people. She makes tea and coffee etc. The people stay for the night and she is making up the beds. She is finding it all very difficult, and she cannot finish it.

Another dream is that she forgets her babies, she hasn't looked after them for 3 months. She is quite clever, can set her hand to many things and it irritates her if others can't. She can be very indecisive, not being able to make up her mind about a purchase. And when she finally, suddenly decides, it often turns out to be the wrong choice.

In the past she used to be 'catty', she always used to know better. She dreads getting older: 'another 30 years of doing nothing'.

She gets nervous when she doesn't know things yet.

Marriage: Her marriage is good. Her husband is caring and helpful, sometimes a bit too much. He never expresses his irritation, but is upset if she expresses hers to him. In the past she did not like sexual contact very much, thought it rather boring, but now this is better.

Childhood: Her father had 6 children when his wife died. He remarried, to a younger sister of his wife, and he also had 6 children from her. She was the third of these children. Her mother was not very warm, cuddled her very little. But the basic care was good and rather modern, 'with oranges and things'. She often had to help in the house. Even when she had taken a week off to make her wedding dress, she still had to work for her mother.

Analysis

The central theme in this case is the problem around motherhood. She feels duty bound to be a good mother. Even though it does not come naturally to her, she still does her utmost to be good mother. She can therefore not tolerate it if anyone accuses her of having failed in this task. These are the situations that bring out her complaints.

The theme of duty is definitely there, which makes us think of the Kali's. Further indications for this are: sleeplessness, < 3 am, < draught, sciatica. I did give her different Kali preparations, like Kali-s and Kali-br, but only with temporary effect. The complaints came back and there was no mental improvement. After a few other remedies, I decided to take another look at the Kali's. They had, after all, brought temporary improvement. But which Kali to choose? The relationship between motherhood and Muriaticum was becoming clearer to me at the time. And there were a few other small indications to go for a Muriaticum: > sea, left sided, and the 'poor me' attitude.

Reaction

After Kali-m 1 M everything stayed the same for 2 weeks.. Then improvement started. Three months later the sleeplessness had improved 80 Percent. She felt better, was more joyful. She could more easily leave problems behind.

Picture of Kali muriaticum

Essence: the duty to be a good mother..

Mind: They feel it is their duty to be a good mother, to give their children their best care. They do this with enormous perseverance and can easily run a family with 10 children. They manage it by enforcing strict rules. They often make the eldest daughter help them in this task, so that the daughter becomes a second mother. Mother passes the caring task on to her daughter, because 'that is the way it should be'.

Because of the strong sense of duty, there is the danger of too many rules. They need the rules to keep everything under control, but at the price of real contact and warmth for the children, who might experience them to be distant and reserved.

The opposite is also possible, as in the case of a woman who has been forced to help in the house from an early age, and who thought this to be very unfair. When she becomes a mother herself, she will make a point of it that her children will never have to do any housework. She will work extra hard to spare her children from having to do any household duties.

General characteristics:

Location:      left

Temperature: cold, < draught.

Time:             < 3 h. (3)

Desires:          starch

Menses           breasts painful and swollen before menses (3).

Sleep:            sleeplessness, awake around 3 h.

Complaints:     brain haemorrhage, sinusitis, sciatica

(The case and its Analysis has been taken from the book 'Homoeopathy and Minerals' by Dr.Jan Scholten)