Understanding Kali carb.

Dr. Claudio C.Araujo M.D., F.F.Hom. (Lon.) et al.

If we were allowed to make a small change in the methodology: 

What had called our attention was the fact that: how someone could be so exhausted and diseased, along his entire life?

A child four years old constantly desires to be carried,

Attack of weakness, on returning from a moderate walk, so violent that she could with difficulty reach the house, therewith she became warm in the stomach, drops of sweat stood upon the forehead (in winter) and the limbs trembled; after a short rest all weakness passed of,.

Attack of sudden weakness, in the evening on lying down, with an aching sensation, nausea, warmth and weakness in the pit of the stomach, vertigo and vanishing of ideas from the head; also, two similar attacks in the morning, followed by great weariness.

Exhaustion and weariness, in the evening, almost amounting to nausea. 

Frequent exhaustion and weariness. 

Tremulous fatigue while walking, first in the knees, followed by trembling in the abdominal muscles and in the arms. 

Attack of faintness as soon as he moves but little. 

Complete exhaustion. θ Icterus. θ Tuberculosis.

After coition, weak, especially the eyes.

Emissions, followed by great weakness.

Sad, weeping mood, after physical fatigue in the open air.

Sequela following confinement and miscarriage, especially in weak, debilitated constitutions; weak back, sweat, dry cough, prolonged metrorrhagia.

Abortion: impending, with pains from back into buttocks and thighs; discharge of coagula; habitual; during second or third month.

Whole body heavy or broken down; it is only with great effort she can make any exertion. θ After labor.

Something have been with him through all his life, draining out his energy. What was that?

Returning to our starting point, what was Kali-c. first impression of reality?

It seems that there is nothing that he is related to. There’s no religion, no institution, no relationship, no family, no home, no marriage, nothing that he is involved with. 

He feels himself homeless, with no one to shelter him. His house is burned down and there’s no church to take refuge in there.

Dreamed that the cathedral was on fire; on waking up (which she often did) could think of nothing else; got up for half an hour and lit a candle to get rid of the idea; then on sleeping again had the same dream again, and so on through the night, the last dream being that her own house was on fire; on two other nights dreamed each time about different subjects, but the dream was repeated over and over again, as on this occasion (seldom dreams at all),. 

The world that is showing itself to him is a very frightful one. Now that he has no home, reality shows itself before him in a most scary way.

Dreams: of water; thieves; ghosts; diseases; dead people; misfortunes; erotic, imaginative, fantastic, sentimental.

All sorts of frightful figures pass before her eyes during sleep. 

Dreams of dead persons, as if they were living and quarreled with her].

Dreams of serpents, disease, and death. 

Dread of being alone, 

Fear of being alone; fears she will die.

Full of fears,

Anxiety with fear. 

Anxious dreams: his father was about to beat him,

There’s someone unveiled also behind people’s face:

All sorts of frightful figures pass before her eyes during sleep. 

Dreams of masked persons, ghosts, and devils. 

We could now imagine someone that feels himself homeless, not protected by his own house and with that vision surrounding him: afraid of robbers, devils, specters, “disease and death”.

A frightened child, full of nightmares, fancies altogether with a sensation of being homeless, beaten by his father.

It will be in this “internal” environment that our patient will grow up. 

Other symptoms Kali-c. could develop, at this point:

Sudden shrieking; redness of face and eyes; striking about with hands; grasping at head and chest, and incoherent talk; sees figures, old repulsive persons which fill her with fear; head hot, temperature of rest of body being normal; (…)

She is frightened with a loud cry, by an imaginary apparition (as for example, of a bird flying to the window),

Anxious dream of danger to her from passing forms, some of which lay hold of her. 

If compelled to remain alone in the house he is wakeful, sleepless, or his sleep is full of horrible dreams. He is never at peace, is full of imaginations and fear.

"What if the house should burn up!"

Very easily frightened; shrieks about imaginary appearances; starts when touched.

He has anxious presentiments, in the evening.

This fearful state now turns itself into a condition reflected in his relationship with reality, first during his life as a teenager and later during his adult years. 

Kali-c. can be described as someone irresolute and insecure. First, he is sure about what he really wants. He had decided himself. But soon it turns into the opposite, and he doesn’t know what he wants anymore. 

It has been described as an antagonism but if we pay attention on the exact meaning of the symptoms, we should assume that it is a very deep irresolution. This comes from the following symptoms:

Disagreeable mood: she longs for things with impetuosity; is contented with nothing, is beside herself, and gets into a rage if everything does not go according to her wishes, and frequently does not herself know what she really wishes to have.

Irresolute mood.

She is constantly in antagonism with herself; she does not know what she wishes, and feels extremely unhappy.

Alternating mood, at one time good and quiet, at another excited and angry at trifles; constantly in antagonism with herself; frequently hopeful, frequently despondent; frets about everything; peevish, impatient, contented with nothing. θ Melancholia.

From his first childhood fears a new group of symptoms came up, those related to his physical state. We saw before how weak, sensitive and irritable he has turned himself into. Always irresolute, he doesn’t know what he wants.

Now is mental state is changing, more connected to his daily physical sufferings.

Sad presentiments of the future. 

Faint-hearted and despondent to an excessive degree.

Dreams of diseased parts of the body. 

Very much depressed; she was obliged to weep much, because it was constantly in her thoughts that she must die, 

Disinclined to everything, and indifferent, 

After severe fright, three years previously, suppression of menses; (…)

Want of presence of mind, he cannot quickly see his way in his business (after fifteen hours), 

Frequent confusion of the head. 

Apprehensiveness and aversion to society.

Peevish, irritable; noise is disagreeable; easily startled, especially if touched; intolerance of human voice.

Nightmare, at night, with a dream as if a stone were lying upon him, and at the same time the larynx were being gradually constricted, with ineffectual efforts to wake.

In a dream she fell from a high mountain,

Feeling of emptiness over the whole body, as if hollow.

Homeless, feeling like an orphan, full of fears, irresolute, frightened by those awful apparitions, Kali-c. must build a strategy in order to survive. If we look out through the symptoms, there’s nothing else but those related to his longing for society and his sexual fantasies. But as Kent suggests, his sexual functions are not under his will. Sooner or later, it will turn itself in one more condition to his progressive weakness.

Sad, lonely; she seeks society in order to enliven herself. 

Kent: There is a sexual erethism, which is not under the command of the will, and in the male he is subject to copious and frequent pollutions, nightly dreams, sexual prostration. Young men who have abused themselves, or who have indulged excessively in sexual pleasure, go into marriage with weakened genitals,

Excited sexual desire, with burning sensation, 

 Increased desire. 

Great sexual desire. 

Very great sexual desire. 

A voluptuous sensation, as during coition, wakens her from sleep before the appearance of menstruation, in the morning. 

She is easily excited to coition. 

It looks that, unless treated, there’s no way out to Kali-c.

He’s progressively becoming sick; pregnant women cannot hold their children inside their wombs. Exhaustive diseases like Tuberculosis are all present in the symptoms. 

Kent says: He is oversensitive to everything, sensitive to every atmospheric change; he can never get the room at just exactly the right temperature; he is sensitive to every draft of air and to the circulation of air in the room. He cannot have the windows open, even in a distant part of the house. He will get up at night in bed and look around to see where that draft of air comes from. His complaints are worse in wet weather, and in cold weather.

All the symptoms are likely to be worse after coition in Kali carb. He has weak vision, weakness of the senses, tremulousness, and is generally nervous; he is sleepless, and weak, and he shivers and trembles for a day or two after coition.

Similar symptoms are observed in the woman. 

Although the patient is weak, the sexual desire is excessive. It is not orderly.