Chromium metallicum [Chr]:
- Jan Scholten
In the description of Kali-bi we have seen several characteristic traits of the Chromium element.
Shiny surface, smooth and glossy
The most important trait is that they keep their shutters closed, or rather they keep up a bright facade. They try to avoid at all costs anyone knowing what is going on behind the closed doors, either inside the house or inside the family, or inside themselves. They have to keep the facade intact and nobody must be able to notice anything. They would prefer it if there was never anything wrong, but because they know that they are human and that everyone makes mistakes they accept this fact, as long as nobody knows about it. The compulsive character of the Ferrum group shows itself clearly in this remedy.
Slimy, tough, sticky
They are very hesitant in expressing themselves. They always think about their answers before they speak, in case they might show something that is bad. That is why their answers are always slow and long winded: they have to keep playing for time, in order to check everything they are going to say.
Case
A 43 year old woman has inflammation of the sinuses, mostly right sided. The first time she had this very acutely was when she was 20. Then the pain was very intense, as if she had a toothache, (>) ice cold compress. She also has pains in her forehead, feeling of fullness, (<) cold, (<) cycling, (>) having a scarf to cover her face. Mucus from the nose is green and yellow, thick and stringy, and sweet. The complaints return every 4 or 5 days.
She also coughs a lot, the cough starting in the pit of her stomach. She coughs up small pieces of yellow or green mucus. The cough is worse from air-conditioning, from talking a lot, on going outside, and in damp weather.
Her back troubles her a lot. The pain is in the right sacro-iliac joint and radiates to her buttock, thigh and knee, ending in a cramping pain in her calf. The complaints are worse on walking and standing (3), better from pressure of the hands or having a pillow in her back. The pain is a digging sort of pain, as if someone is scraping a knife over her bones. It all started after an ear infection. The diagnosis is Bechterews disease and the HLA B27 is positive.
Her joints, knees, ankles, wrist and fingers are painful too. The pains are stitching, changing place and making her hands feel weak. Her neck and shoulders feel as if they are being torn apart.
She is rather deaf and her sense of smell has diminished.
Headache (<) bright light.
Stomach ache with feeling of constriction, (<) eating.
Cramp and tension in her hands.
Palpitations on going to sleep and when she has to talk about herself.
Eyes burning and itching, occasionally red.
Past history: 2 years ago she had a hysterectomy. She had suffered from a myoma, with pain in the groins. For a long time afterwards she had a numb feeling in her abdomen. When she was 15 her appendix was removed. Three months later she had an intestinal blockage which needed another operation.
When she was 22 she suffered from a spastic colon, on the left side, (<) onions, raw food, heavy food.
General characteristics: Temperature: cold, cold hands and feet. (<) damp. (<) bright lights.
Time: (<) morning.
Desires: sweet (3), chocolates.
Aversion: olives, radish, aubergine.
(<) onion, radish, coffee, chocolate.
Menses: short cycle, only 24 days. Before menses she has changeable moods, easily irritated. Also headaches and swollen breasts.
Pain from the left axilla, radiating to the left breast, (<) pressure.
She has 4 children. The births were difficult, because the dilation phase was always very slow, with much backache.
Sleep: it takes a while to get going in the morning.
Irritable in the morning since childhood.
Mind: she is always busy and can't sit still, she feels restless. She is not very sure of herself, better from age 23 onwards. She doesn't like change. She is easily upset, especially when something is expected of her, when she has to organise something. She can't tolerate a house full of people.
She is very sympathetic to children who have a lot of sadness. Her 10 year old niece is having difficulties at home and at school and is seeking solace with her. She feels a lot of compassion for her niece, because she herself also had problems at the same age, when a teacher was making life difficult for her. She often takes up the cause of those who are being attacked.
She can be very stubborn.
She finds it difficult to talk about her life. After the last consultation she felt confused for two weeks, because she was afraid that she had told too much. She was afraid of what I would think about it all. She also gets palpitations when she has to talk about herself. It is as if she has built a wall around herself. She also has the tendency to change the subject, when I delve too deeply into a certain problem. She is afraid that she will get depressed if she talks about things of the past.
She is inclined to gloss over certain points, and would rather not think about them. She can't stand quarrels, or 'she'll die'.
Ideally she would have liked to come from a 'beautiful' family, a family where nothing went wrong. A lot of things did go wrong in her own family. Recently her eldest brother came back from abroad. This brother has a lot of problems, he is out of work, he drinks and he has been involved in paedophiliac practices with a little girl. That same brother tried to molest her when she was 12, but she managed to keep him away. Her sister, however, had a lot of problems with his sexual behaviour.
A younger brother of hers also has problems. He started to become difficult to manage after their mother died and ended up in a children's home, from where he went on into stealing and petty crimes. She had promised her mother to take care of this brother and she hasn't succeeded, which makes her feel guilty.
Her sister got married at 18, to a man who proved to be an alcoholic and who beat her regularly. So she got divorced and later on got into a relationship with a man whose parents didn't accept her, because she had been married before and had a little daughter.
Her father was a very nice man, who loved her very much. He was not very strong and was not really up to being the head of a family. Her mother was the real head of the family, a caring woman, without worrying too much. Her mother had lost the lower part of one leg in the war and couldn't manage to do a lot of heavy work. That is why she had to help her mother in the house, but she didn't mind.
There were 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls.
She had a difficult time at puberty. She thought that she wasn't good enough, felt herself to be ugly and couldn't express herself. Her problems really started when her mother died when she was 15.
She had always had a lot of support from her mother.
Marriage: she is happily married, although she spent many years doubting the sincerity of her husband. She used to ask 'Do you still love me?' Even when he said 'yes', she still missed the feeling of love and attention. She has got 4 children. She would have liked to have more, but her husband definitely didn't want that.
Work: she has a part time job in a laboratory, which she enjoys very much.
Analysis
This case appears to have a lot of indications for Bar-c: the uncertainty and timidity, the fear of being ugly, the desire for sweet. But the lack of glandular swelling and tonsillitis goes against Bar-c. In this case the complaints are more centred in the sinuses. I did give her a dose of Bar-c initially and it worked very well, giving her more energy. But a second dose only aggravated her joint problems.
On the mental level there are some indications for other remedies. Her doubt whether her husband loves her could indicate Calc-s. The desire to be a good mother, and the frequent help she gave her mother to run the household points to Kali-m. Phos and caust might also be appropriate, because of her sympathetic nature. The problem with all these remedies, however, is that the local and general complaints don't fit the picture.
The physical complaints remind us of Kali-bi, because of the right sided sciatica and the infected sinuses with thick, stringy green discharge. But the mental picture of Kali doesn't fit. She is passive and has 'a wait and see' attitude, rather than a purposeful and active way of dealing with problems, like the Kali's. She is depressed, rather than optimistic.
All these considerations finally led me to Chromium, which is also present in the remedy Kali-bi. As described in the previous chapter, Chromium is the element of the shiny appearance. And if we look at this case again, we see that the strongest mental symptom is the great desire for a good image. She would have liked to have come from a nice family. She can't talk about problems. She has great difficulty discussing the 'ugly' side, the failures of her family. Talking about her own failures, her inability to keep her brother on a straight path, is also difficult for her and she feels very guilty about it, although she was only 15 at the time and her brother was really responsible for his own life. She is also afraid that she isn't beautiful, which is an added indication for Chromium.
Reaction
After Chromium 200 she returned after one month looking very cheerful. She asked if she was given a pill to make her 'high'. In the beginning she had an aggravation of the sinus problems, but after a few days all the pains in her head went away. So did the back pains. She now feels the need to talk about her problems, to discuss them and do something about them. 'It was as if I suddenly saw what was happening to me'. She doesn't feel depressed, is able to see the nice things in life. She also feels that her husband really does understand her.
Picture of Chromium metallicum
Essence: the feeling that they have to keep up a nice appearance.
Mind: they feel that they have to keep up a nice shiny facade. They don't like talking about their faults and failures, nor about those of their loved ones. In their eyes minor mishaps look like great crimes and they are afraid that others will frown upon them.
This makes them very reserved, particularly when the discussion is about problems. They would rather change the subject or they spend a long time expanding on some totally irrelevant details. They are also inclined to gloss over any mistakes, just to make sure that everything looks all right again.
This attitude brings with it a feeling of uncertainty, and they may also feel that they are not attractive. Usually they tend to feel depressed, even suicidal, although they wouldn't dare to talk about it.
General characteristics:
Location: right sided.
Temperature: cold.
Time: (<) 5 am.
Desires: beer, sweet.
Sleep: unrefreshing.
Complaints:
Discharges thick and stringy, green and yellow.
Pain changing place or in one point. Digging, scraping pain.
Inflammation of the sinuses.
Sciatica.
DD: Kali-bi, Calc-s, Fluoratums, Sulph.
DD Fluoratums: The Fluoratums are similar to the Chromicums in their preference for a nice shiny appearance. But in the Fluoratums this serves a purpose: they want to attract shiny people and make contact with them. For the Chromiums the shiny surface is an aim in itself: they want others to see only the shiny outside.
In the description of Kali-bi we have seen several characteristic traits of the Chromium element.
Shiny surface, smooth and glossy
The most important trait is that they keep their shutters closed, or rather they keep up a bright facade. They try to avoid at all costs anyone knowing what is going on behind the closed doors, either inside the house or inside the family, or inside themselves. They have to keep the facade intact and nobody must be able to notice anything. They would prefer it if there was never anything wrong, but because they know that they are human and that everyone makes mistakes they accept this fact, as long as nobody knows about it. The compulsive character of the Ferrum group shows itself clearly in this remedy.
Slimy, tough, sticky
They are very hesitant in expressing themselves. They always think about their answers before they speak, in case they might show something that is bad. That is why their answers are always slow and long winded: they have to keep playing for time, in order to check everything they are going to say.
Case
A 43 year old woman has inflammation of the sinuses, mostly right sided. The first time she had this very acutely was when she was 20. Then the pain was very intense, as if she had a toothache, (>) ice cold compress. She also has pains in her forehead, feeling of fullness, (<) cold, (<) cycling, (>) having a scarf to cover her face. Mucus from the nose is green and yellow, thick and stringy, and sweet. The complaints return every 4 or 5 days.
She also coughs a lot, the cough starting in the pit of her stomach. She coughs up small pieces of yellow or green mucus. The cough is worse from air-conditioning, from talking a lot, on going outside, and in damp weather.
Her back troubles her a lot. The pain is in the right sacro-iliac joint and radiates to her buttock, thigh and knee, ending in a cramping pain in her calf. The complaints are worse on walking and standing (3), better from pressure of the hands or having a pillow in her back. The pain is a digging sort of pain, as if someone is scraping a knife over her bones. It all started after an ear infection. The diagnosis is Bechterews disease and the HLA B27 is positive.
Her joints, knees, ankles, wrist and fingers are painful too. The pains are stitching, changing place and making her hands feel weak. Her neck and shoulders feel as if they are being torn apart.
She is rather deaf and her sense of smell has diminished.
Headache (<) bright light.
Stomach ache with feeling of constriction, (<) eating.
Cramp and tension in her hands.
Palpitations on going to sleep and when she has to talk about herself.
Eyes burning and itching, occasionally red.
Past history: 2 years ago she had a hysterectomy. She had suffered from a myoma, with pain in the groins. For a long time afterwards she had a numb feeling in her abdomen. When she was 15 her appendix was removed. Three months later she had an intestinal blockage which needed another operation.
When she was 22 she suffered from a spastic colon, on the left side, (<) onions, raw food, heavy food.
General characteristics: Temperature: cold, cold hands and feet. (<) damp. (<) bright lights.
Time: (<) morning.
Desires: sweet (3), chocolates.
Aversion: olives, radish, aubergine.
(<) onion, radish, coffee, chocolate.
Menses: short cycle, only 24 days. Before menses she has changeable moods, easily irritated. Also headaches and swollen breasts.
Pain from the left axilla, radiating to the left breast, (<) pressure.
She has 4 children. The births were difficult, because the dilation phase was always very slow, with much backache.
Sleep: it takes a while to get going in the morning.
Irritable in the morning since childhood.
Mind: she is always busy and can't sit still, she feels restless. She is not very sure of herself, better from age 23 onwards. She doesn't like change. She is easily upset, especially when something is expected of her, when she has to organise something. She can't tolerate a house full of people.
She is very sympathetic to children who have a lot of sadness. Her 10 year old niece is having difficulties at home and at school and is seeking solace with her. She feels a lot of compassion for her niece, because she herself also had problems at the same age, when a teacher was making life difficult for her. She often takes up the cause of those who are being attacked.
She can be very stubborn.
She finds it difficult to talk about her life. After the last consultation she felt confused for two weeks, because she was afraid that she had told too much. She was afraid of what I would think about it all. She also gets palpitations when she has to talk about herself. It is as if she has built a wall around herself. She also has the tendency to change the subject, when I delve too deeply into a certain problem. She is afraid that she will get depressed if she talks about things of the past.
She is inclined to gloss over certain points, and would rather not think about them. She can't stand quarrels, or 'she'll die'.
Ideally she would have liked to come from a 'beautiful' family, a family where nothing went wrong. A lot of things did go wrong in her own family. Recently her eldest brother came back from abroad. This brother has a lot of problems, he is out of work, he drinks and he has been involved in paedophiliac practices with a little girl. That same brother tried to molest her when she was 12, but she managed to keep him away. Her sister, however, had a lot of problems with his sexual behaviour.
A younger brother of hers also has problems. He started to become difficult to manage after their mother died and ended up in a children's home, from where he went on into stealing and petty crimes. She had promised her mother to take care of this brother and she hasn't succeeded, which makes her feel guilty.
Her sister got married at 18, to a man who proved to be an alcoholic and who beat her regularly. So she got divorced and later on got into a relationship with a man whose parents didn't accept her, because she had been married before and had a little daughter.
Her father was a very nice man, who loved her very much. He was not very strong and was not really up to being the head of a family. Her mother was the real head of the family, a caring woman, without worrying too much. Her mother had lost the lower part of one leg in the war and couldn't manage to do a lot of heavy work. That is why she had to help her mother in the house, but she didn't mind.
There were 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls.
She had a difficult time at puberty. She thought that she wasn't good enough, felt herself to be ugly and couldn't express herself. Her problems really started when her mother died when she was 15.
She had always had a lot of support from her mother.
Marriage: she is happily married, although she spent many years doubting the sincerity of her husband. She used to ask 'Do you still love me?' Even when he said 'yes', she still missed the feeling of love and attention. She has got 4 children. She would have liked to have more, but her husband definitely didn't want that.
Work: she has a part time job in a laboratory, which she enjoys very much.
Analysis
This case appears to have a lot of indications for Bar-c: the uncertainty and timidity, the fear of being ugly, the desire for sweet. But the lack of glandular swelling and tonsillitis goes against Bar-c. In this case the complaints are more centred in the sinuses. I did give her a dose of Bar-c initially and it worked very well, giving her more energy. But a second dose only aggravated her joint problems.
On the mental level there are some indications for other remedies. Her doubt whether her husband loves her could indicate Calc-s. The desire to be a good mother, and the frequent help she gave her mother to run the household points to Kali-m. Phos and caust might also be appropriate, because of her sympathetic nature. The problem with all these remedies, however, is that the local and general complaints don't fit the picture.
The physical complaints remind us of Kali-bi, because of the right sided sciatica and the infected sinuses with thick, stringy green discharge. But the mental picture of Kali doesn't fit. She is passive and has 'a wait and see' attitude, rather than a purposeful and active way of dealing with problems, like the Kali's. She is depressed, rather than optimistic.
All these considerations finally led me to Chromium, which is also present in the remedy Kali-bi. As described in the previous chapter, Chromium is the element of the shiny appearance. And if we look at this case again, we see that the strongest mental symptom is the great desire for a good image. She would have liked to have come from a nice family. She can't talk about problems. She has great difficulty discussing the 'ugly' side, the failures of her family. Talking about her own failures, her inability to keep her brother on a straight path, is also difficult for her and she feels very guilty about it, although she was only 15 at the time and her brother was really responsible for his own life. She is also afraid that she isn't beautiful, which is an added indication for Chromium.
Reaction
After Chromium 200 she returned after one month looking very cheerful. She asked if she was given a pill to make her 'high'. In the beginning she had an aggravation of the sinus problems, but after a few days all the pains in her head went away. So did the back pains. She now feels the need to talk about her problems, to discuss them and do something about them. 'It was as if I suddenly saw what was happening to me'. She doesn't feel depressed, is able to see the nice things in life. She also feels that her husband really does understand her.
Picture of Chromium metallicum
Essence: the feeling that they have to keep up a nice appearance.
Mind: they feel that they have to keep up a nice shiny facade. They don't like talking about their faults and failures, nor about those of their loved ones. In their eyes minor mishaps look like great crimes and they are afraid that others will frown upon them.
This makes them very reserved, particularly when the discussion is about problems. They would rather change the subject or they spend a long time expanding on some totally irrelevant details. They are also inclined to gloss over any mistakes, just to make sure that everything looks all right again.
This attitude brings with it a feeling of uncertainty, and they may also feel that they are not attractive. Usually they tend to feel depressed, even suicidal, although they wouldn't dare to talk about it.
General characteristics:
Location: right sided.
Temperature: cold.
Time: (<) 5 am.
Desires: beer, sweet.
Sleep: unrefreshing.
Complaints:
Discharges thick and stringy, green and yellow.
Pain changing place or in one point. Digging, scraping pain.
Inflammation of the sinuses.
Sciatica.
DD: Kali-bi, Calc-s, Fluoratums, Sulph.
DD Fluoratums: The Fluoratums are similar to the Chromicums in their preference for a nice shiny appearance. But in the Fluoratums this serves a purpose: they want to attract shiny people and make contact with them. For the Chromiums the shiny surface is an aim in itself: they want others to see only the shiny outside.
hai sir.is chromium avail in homeo by tonic state. how much we take per day
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