A great doctor drive a great sense of satisfaction by teaching underprivileged children.” These were the opening sentences of a young married woman who consulted me for her severe acne and recurrent throat infections.
As the interview progressed, she continued to tell me about her natural flair for teaching the young domestic servants in her home right from the time she was about nine years old. She vividly recollected how as a young girl she used to teach servants and some slum children in her garden lawns much to her discomfort of her parents. Her mother though was reasonably supportive in these ventures. She remembered times when she would rather interact and teach her “students” than socialize or greet visitors who would come home. She would never be assertive about her demands though her parents realizing how much it meant to her would finally consent. In fact she gave the impression of a person who was quite liked by people for her down-to-earth nature and an eagerness to help out in a non-assuring but dedicated way.
She herself had studied in an English convent school which had left a very deep influence on her. She was a favourite amongst the nuns and teachers and was always used as a “model” to follow. Even though she was a Hindu she recounted being drawn to the soothing atmosphere of the school church. She had spent many peaceful moments just sitting there. As she grew older the committment towards teaching the not so fortunate grew even stronger. In spite of the pressure of her own academic pursuits, she handpicked a few children whom she personally taught right upto their matriculation. She would even sacrifice her holidays as their exams grew closer to be able to spend more time with them. All these children performed exceptionally well with her help.
There was an incident of one of the students name being spelt wrongly on his certificates. Even though he didnt seem to mind it at all she patiently saw to it that the mistake was corrected.
During this time she was enjoying her work but had to reluctantly give in to her parents pressure to get married. It meant settling in another city. This would distance her from her students. She could not leave her work incomplete. She personally approached the headmistress of a nearby school and requested her to take over charge of her “foster” children. It was only when she was able to convince the headmistress to take on the responsibility for her students that she felt at peace. Her students used to write to often. She would keep in touch with them too. Once there was function to award deserving students in which one of her students too was to receive a prize. She took a flight from Bombay to Delhi to be able to attend that function. By now her mother-in-law even convinced our patient to start dealing in exporting garments from their home rather than teach. This saddened her a great deal but due to her docile and plying nature she even agreed to do that. But it was not very long before she convinced her mother-in-law to let her take charge of at least one child, who happened to be the daughter of the house maid. Even thought his was a big relief to her it obviously put a lot of pressure on her.
She had two interesting dreams:
1) she is falling from a height. She starts praying and stops mid-air.
2) She is feeding bread to three dogs. Two of them start eating but the third dog does not.
She is very concerned about the third dog.
It was during this time that her complaints had all started and she came to see me. It was her selfless dedication to her work along with her submissive nature that appeared very striking to me. At the same time a deep conflict of whether she should give more time to her students or to her family after marriage pointed to an animal remedy. The dreams reinforce the same themes – The first one symbolizes her deep faith in religion while the other one shows an inner instinct to nurture. Further the way she was drawn to the atmosphere of the church guided me towards Lac- Defloratum.
The rubric that paved my way to the understanding of this remedy was Delusion, convent, she will have to go to a (Synth Rep. Vol. 1 Pg. 258) I must admit that I was aware of this rubric even before I prescribed it for this patient but had not fully understood it and so did not have a chance to use it till now. Let us break up this rubric for a better understanding of this beautiful remedy. At the same time appreciate the conscientious aspect too. The Oxford Dictionary gives the following meanings for these words -
Convent – Society of nuns.
Society – people collectively or living as a community.
Nuns – women of religious order.
Religion – manner of worshipping God.
Conscience – moral sense of right and wrong.
Scrupulous – careful to avoid doing wrong, though even in small matters
Trifle – thing of slight value or importance
When we examine each one of these words, we can see their connection in the case presented. We see the painstaking way in which our patient goes about her commitments. We can see how there is a “missionary” sort of fervour in her teaching but without expecting much in return. We also see her conflict as to where her priorities should lie – her immediate family or her “larger” family, namely her students. All these aspects helped to throw light onto this remedy and to gain a better understanding.
She was given Lac-Defloratum 1000 potency, a single dose. Soon her acne started clearing up and so did her recurrent throat infections. What was interesting was that she could be more assertive about her decisions and politely differ from people if she disagreed with their opinions. She has been under my observation for over a year and seems very much in peace with herself. She has been able to strike the right balance between her teaching commitments and her family. That is the beauty of the right similimum!.
