Caring beyond one's boundaries: an
Amethyst case
by Enna Stallinga
The patient is a 58 year old woman, a sculptress, who comes for lung complaints; she has asthma, sinusitis, and such severe pneumonia a few months ago that she ended up in hospital for two weeks. She suffers from severe tiredness and from general anxiety and panic attacks.
History: she had severe illness in her childhood: migraines, stomach ulcers – even as a ten year old – and gallstones at 20. As a child, she had bronchitis and eczema. She has also had right-sided facial neuralgia, cystitis, and pyelonephritis. Ten years ago, she had severe pneumonia which nearly killed her; she was unconscious before being admitted to hospital. She did not realise how ill she was and tried to keep going for too long. A few years earlier, she had a burn-out with panic attacks, after supporting her sister intensively. She had gone completely over her boundaries and could not sleep anymore; she was happy to be safely at home again.
Mind: she is quickly over-stimulated; everything comes in. She is a perfectionist and has a great need to be in control. She is enterprising and is very active in the organisation of all sorts of projects and expositions. She is afraid of illness and of death. Ten years ago, when she was so sick, she was very afraid. “You lose all your basic sense of confidence." Fear of small spaces+++, fear in a crowd+, and fear of fainting. She has a fear of accidents and does not dare to drive in the dark; “I have seen so many accidents.” She has a fear of insanity and of suddenly not existing. She is worried, overcautious, and she works too intensely. She suffers from the ‘helper’s syndrome’; “I have such a bond with my students.” She can have bursts of anger.
Youth: as a child, she felt very responsible for her brother. Her father depended emotionally on her; “I held his hand.” He used to phone her, if he was planning to commit suicide, which he never did. When she was eight years old, she knew that she wanted to become a sculptress. When she was eighteen years old, she was thrown out of the family home. “I idealised love, it should be above everything.” At nineteen, she became very depressed and started to hear voices.
Family history: her parents have experienced terrible things during the war. Her mother was rather reckless at that time and did everything for everyone. Her father saw many people die and often narrowly escaped death himself.
Physical: sometimes, she cannot digest her food, she then vomits and has diarrhea. Her body becomes stiff and cramped, and starts to tremble. She has to go to bed for 24 hours before it passes.
Food: aversion to fat food; desire sweet, paprika, bread, cheese. Worse from tomatoes, which give her indigestion, and fruit. Skin: eczema, cracks in her fingers.
The heavy theme of the parents, which influenced her whole youth, is particularly noticeable. As a young child, she had serious physical problems, such as ulcers when she was only 10 years old and gallstones when she was only 20. As an adult, she was also often seriously ill, so ill that she has a life-threatening pneumonia. She disregards her own boundaries to the extent that she does not feel how sick she is. At an emotional level, she is very driven to care for both her family and her students. She is severely limited by her panic.
Stone themes: not able to feel; for instance, not feeling how tired she is. Difficulty creating healthy boundaries; helping others until she is burnt out. Heavy themes; physically and mentally heavy history from her parents. Strong radiating personality. Striving for quality, perfectionism. Helping others; as a child, she helped her father in an extreme manner.
Stone themes in this case: she has largely lost the feeling for her own body (unfeeling), which makes her disregards her personal boundaries to her detriment. She no longer feels her own needs but attempts, even as a child, to fulfil those of the people around her.
Amethyst themes: panic, fear of fainting. Overstimulation < no boundaries, everything comes in; very involved; better from being safe at home; fear of small spaces, fear in a crowd+++, trembling; migraines; respiratory problems; sleep problems.
Amethyst themes in this case: fear of fainting, of leaving the body, and of feeling very unsafe when she is not at home; being quickly over-stimulated and allowing everything to come in; being very caring.
Prescription:
Amethyst 30K
Follow-up:
She has a quite severe aggravation on first taking the remedy; many dreams about death, having to move house, being ill, and travelling. She trembles and old complaints resurface mildly. After that, she is much more balanced and she dares to drive in the dark. She is less anxious in situations that would otherwise have frightened her. Her energy is good, she feels fit the whole day, and is not as ill as she previously was. An enormous improvement, both physically and emotionally, has taken place over the last year and a half, in which she received
Amethyst in ascending potencies from 30K to 10MK. Her reaction to
Amethyst is remarkable. She feels physically very well and has no more panic attacks. She feels as she is finally “home”.
Keywords: severe illnesses in childhood, lack of boundaries, respiratory problems, sleep problems, migraines, fear of crowd, fear of fainting
Remedies:
Amethyst