– Dr Chanda Shah

19 year old girl , would come to me once in 6-12 months since she was 14 year old. Following history is taken in bits & pieces over a period of 5 years and mother have given some history. In November 2021, she came to me for hypothyroidism. Her TSH was 14. Then I threatened her, that now if she is not regular, I will stop treating her. Medicine prescribed earlier were Tarantula, Sulphur and Lachesis

Mother: She says my life is so bad. She tries to scare her parents. She threatens that she will cut her wrist or fall from 5^th floor. She throws things in anger. She hates having bath, brushing teeth, going to defecate. She is very rude & mean. She troubles mother, will hide mother’s spectacles, when she is going to work. She questions whatever you tell her. She feels she is right, that she is too smart & knows better than all. She dropped science in school when she saw her sister struggling with science. She will waste her time in the day, then at 11 pm she gets anxious as she hasn’t done her homework. Then she will force her mother to sit next to her, make her study & take her lessons. If mother refuses; she threatens to jump from 5^th floor. She is very sly & possessive about her mother. She doesn’t like if mother sits with elder sister. She tells her mother, come for movie with me, right now. She is very stubborn & difficult to convince. She eats a lot, 90% of which is junk. “I, me, myself”. Her work should be done. She wants mother to sit next to her when she is eating. She is very blunt in talking. She refuses to talk to her father for months. She feels mother should wake her up, sit with her, give her toothbrush in hand. (mother is a teacher & works from 8 am to 2 pm). What she says must be done. She is very lazy, says there is no room to exercise. She loves hugging mother. She bosses over mother. If mother suggests something, she will tell her, “Did I ask you?”    

Patient: I like to study last minute. I like to sleep. Feel lazy to get up & drink water.  l like to eat fried, sweets, cold drinks, ice cream. Sour things don’t suit me, I get sore throat, better with warm water. 

Dreams: Snakes. There is party on a high building. I am falling off. Then I come up. 

Patient: I am very assertive. I don’t like being told what is wrong with me. But I like telling others what is wrong with them. I feel I am always right. I have claustrophobia (think of tomb, buried underground), fear of doing blood tests (faints), spiders. I also have Trypophobia—fear of small holes—inside honey comb there are circles—it is disgusting to look at them. When father is around, I am a good girl. When he is not there, I am the boss. I told my mother to sit with me. She didn’t come. I wanted her attention, she ignored me. I am not scared of getting hurt. (She didn’t tell me that she tried to cut her wrists). Sometimes I act as if I am irritated, so then father switches on TV. Mother doesn’t spend time with me. She must be there when I am revising. She just has to be there (at 11 pm), so that I don’t get distracted & I can clear my doubts. I study last minute, so I am not confident & so I want her to be near me. 

Father: she is quite talkative at home. She has few friends. She is very aggressive & opinionated. She gets her way with her mother. She has become extremely slothy. She takes bath once a week, sleeps at 2 am & takes too much time to wake up. As its lockdown, she feels there is no need to take bath. She hasn’t left her house in the last 6 months. She has her own opinion about what is good. She refuses to move her butt for her own work. She will waste whole day & then at 11 pm, she will start crying about the exam next day. She is trying to prove her point—that without studying she can get good marks. She has a deep fear of failing. She doesn’t want to do anything productive & wants to remain a sloth. Whole day she is watching TV, cellphone or will say play with me. She is very manipulative, feigns that she is sick. She is testing—how far she can go. She is testing our limits. 

Patient: There is lot of dandruff. Also, there is eczema on back of neck. Online school is better, but I pay less attention. I can sleep during classes. I don’t want to do CA or law—there is too much mugging. Don’t want to work hard. I want to enjoy myself—see movies, listen to music. I don’t keep track of my bowel movements. Maybe I go once in 3-4 days. Fear of getting shoved in a car boot, not being able to breathe. Can’t breathe in tight clothes. 

Dream: I had a tiring day in a jungle. I was sleeping on a bison in water. I felt relaxed. 

Patient: I like pigs, I relate to them—I want to relax, drool in dirt, sleep, not work. I don’t want to get good marks. I don’t mind being average. But I don’t want to be below average.  

Patient: My hair is falling a lot. People will treat me differently if I am bald. They will pity me. In this lockdown I am comfortable at home, I can do what I want & I have less reason to be anxious. 

Mother: She cries bitterly as she is losing her hair in bunches now. But she is still not changing her food habits. Now that college will start, she is worried. There will be new batch at college—I don’t know anyone. I am looking fat. Others have already made friends. What will I do there? How will I manage? All have made their own groups. I am alone. Feels mother is not doing anything for her hair. She isn’t particular about make-up, clothes & hair style. But she doesn’t want to stand out in college because of her balding scalp. She doesn’t want to be ridiculed. She wants to blend into the crowd. 

Dr: I asked her mother why she is not sharing all this with me. Mother said she is embarrassed to say all this. Patient had talked a lot about claustrophobia which confused me. She was just narrating stories of movies which she had seen. As TSH was high, I knew I had to hit the bull’s eye, or patient would resort to allopathy. 

So, I tried to zoom out & see what was the main thing in the case. I found it very strange that such a big girl was so clingy to her mother. Girls of her age are into friends & all. Here she wanted mother’s love, care, attention. It was natrum line issue. On other hand she felt she was always right. She was very assertive. And she had all the common sulphur traits of laziness, dirtiness, embarrassment etc. I gave her Sulphur 200 single dose on 8/11/21.