Page 56 - Summer 2019 Journal

Is it prudent to treat the side effects
of one drug with yet another? This is the medical conveyor belt that we work so persistently to escape.
she whispered, “They’re talking about opening a case with Social Services.”
Since I had not taken Suzy’s case, I had no way of knowing whether Suzy’s postpartum behavior was the result of synthetic hormone use in years past, but it didn’t matter. That’s because homeopathy doesn’t necessarily require this information.
Instead, we can turn to several of homeopa- thy’s standard references. In Robin Murphy’s A Homeopathic Clinical Repertory, under the rubric “depression in pregnancy,” there are the four main remedy choices: Natrum muriaticum, Platina, Pulsatilla and Sepia.5 Sepia, however, is in bold print because homeopaths have found it to be the most commonly effective both clini- cally and in provings. In Homeopathic Materia Medica by William Boericke, MD, one reads the following under Sepia: “Indifferent to those loved best. Aversion to occupation to family.”6 And Dr. Roger Morrison, in his Desktop Guide to Keynotes and Confirmatory Symptoms, describes the patient who needs Sepia as “dis- connected and indifferent to the family with depression, even suicidal states.”7
In addition, we note that the rubric “poison- ing from estrogen” lists Sepia as one option, and the rubric “poisoning from progesterone” specifically recommends Sepia above all other remedies. The same goes for the rubric “ail- ments from premarin.”
This information was the basis for my deci- sion to suggest Sepia 200 for Suzy’s depression and tragic lack of connection to her baby. Upon hanging up the phone, Suzy’s mother actually ran to the local pharmacist, purchased Sepia and administered it to her daughter that afternoon.
SUBTLE CHANGES
In an effort to encourage maternal bond-
ing, the nurses brought Suzy’s baby girl to her several times over the course of the first day in the hospital. Each time, Suzy turned her head and even folded her arms in rejection. When she returned home at the end of the second day, her mother was there to encourage the bonding, but the cold response remained the same. “No, I don’t want it...ever!” By the third day, Suzy be- gan lactating. She declared that nursing was for
“animals” and asked for a drug to dry her milk. On days two and three, after Suzy had returned home, Social Services visited, giving Suzy’s mother an unparalleled case of anxiety. To this day, she recalls those being two of the most harrowing days of her life. Both times, however, she calmly persuaded them to return the next day to speak to Suzy—in hopes that by
then, the Sepia would begin to act.
On day four of taking Sepia, Suzy’s mother,
father and husband decided they were no longer going to coddle her with gentle, coaxing pleas. Instead, they approached her with a blunt call to action—and a stern, much-needed family discussion regarding her responsibilities. It was actually during this family meeting that Suzy’s mother noticed Suzy seemingly flashing an interested glance across the room toward her baby. Until this time, whenever the child was brought into the room, Suzy consistently fixed her gaze in the opposite direction. But now, the baby’s grandmother noticed a subtle change.
With this observation, she deftly ap- proached her daughter and simply handed her the child. For the first time since birth, mother and child were one again. A small tear devel- oped in Suzy’s eye, matched by tears from her parents and husband. Her mother later described the moment as though the heavens had parted, and light shone directly on mother and child!
Suzy tentatively gazed upon her baby with what appeared to be attentiveness and began un- wrapping and wrapping the swaddled bundle so she could see and care for her baby. Was this just the natural evolution of mother-child bonding finally taking hold a little later than expected, or was the homeopathic medicine acting? No matter. Mother and child were united!
However, the cause of the transformation was soon made clear. Thinking that Sepia was no longer needed, Suzy’s mom stopped admin- istering it to her that day. Three days later, like a scripted tragedy, the postpartum depression returned with a vengeance to replay those first few days of devastating heartbreak. Suzy fell back to disgust for her child and once again relegated her motherly duties to someone else.
This time, however, Grandma knew what to do. She administered Sepia 200 once again,
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Wise Traditions
SUMMER 2019