Case History
General Information
Mr. S is a 77 year old gentleman who has had an active life. He has worked in the farming industry on animal welfare and supplements and also with equestrian for many years. He is frustrated that his age is getting to him and that he can not be more active. He is considering getting a treadmill. He has had to give up 5 allotments and now spends his hours reading, watching tv, meeting friends and looking after his grandchildren. He has been single since 1982.
His diet is fairly healthy and balanced – batch cooking and some ready meals. He drinks up to a bottle of wine a day. He takes medication for high blood pressure and asthma. His asthma started in adulthood and may be linked with the split from his wife. He does not smoke, but did some years ago. Physically he is slightly rotund, you might say a typical grandfather type. He has a hearty laugh and many amusing personal anecdotes to tell. His frustration is due to his lack of mobility and aches and pains. He also does not sleep very well; he dwells on the past.
Past Health
He fell off a balcony when a few years old and later discovered, age 10, that his back had been injured. His tonsils and adenoids were removed during childhood. He suffered a broken nose whilst playing rugby. 35 years ago he was involved in a car accident where he flew through the air a removed a lot of his skin on landing. He also “put his pelvis out”. His lower back tends to ache since a cold wind affected it when he was in his 50s. A few years later a fall from a horse aggravated this problem.
Health Now
Energy levels are low, mainly through lack of sleep and it being winter. This season is the worst time for him physically and emotionally. He suffers from arthritis in many joints – ankles, knees, fingers, spine and right shoulder. They tend to be aching constantly. Carry shopping affects his neck and right shoulder. He has an allergy to washing up liquid. He recently has recovered from a bout of bronchitis and been on a course of antibiotics. The vein over his right eye can look bruised when he is a bit under the weather.
Other Therapies
He sees a McTimoney Chiropractitioner every few weeks for his back and also has a reflexology treatment every two weeks. He is also having remedial massage. The masseur referred him to me for flower essences.
Flower Essence Treatment
Having been privy to the case history of the masseur I had a short consultation with Mr. S in order to fill in some minor details before prescribing. My intention before the meeting was to prescribe a general tonic to help sleep, free up his joints and make him feel better inside of himself. After the meeting I decided to concentrate on his poor sleep. I have a standard formulae for sleep which sells very well in many health food shops. I decided to give him this combination.
Sleep contains six flower essences. Passion Flower is widely used homoeopathically for sleep disorders: its vibrations are transferred to the flower essence. White Chestnut is the flower remedy when we can not prevent thoughts, ideas and arguments from entering our mind. Lloydia is the essence to use when we suffer from disrupted nights. Forget-me-Not eases tensions in the dream state. Chamomile is a well-known herb with calming qualities that are transferred to the flower essence. Morning Glory soothes nervousness and over worry. To this I added Honeysuckle as a personality remedy for he did come across as the type of person who lives a great deal in the ‘golden days’ of his past.
The follow up consultation two weeks later revealed that he was feeling a lot better in himself, more at ease and although not a believer in flower remedies, thought they had benefited him. He was sleeping much better and looking forward to a stay with an old farming friend. His right shoulder and neck were still stiff but there was a small improvement in his finger joints.
I intend to meet him again to ascertain if a repeat bottle would be beneficial or a change of essences.
At my next meeting with Mr. S he had suffered a relapse and all his former symptoms had returned. He decided that the flower remedies had not helped him as he was feeling bad again. I offered him an other bottle containing a different formulae. This he accepted. In the bottle were Honeysuckle, as before, and Gentain, the remedy for those who suffer a set back and are unable to bounce back.
I met him in the street two weeks later and he was again in better health, mentally and physically. Once more he said that he thought he was gaining benefit from taking the flower remedies. Unfortunately after a further two weeks he once more was in poor health and of the opinion that the remedies had not benefited him at all. At this point I decided to pursue this case no further.