Fictional Wounds

Do you ever watch a movie or read a book and think, that character needs XXX remedy? I do!

I love reading novels. It is without question one of my favorite things to do. I just finished an enjoyable book, My Friends: A Novel by Fredrick Backman. (He wrote another book I liked: A Man Called Ove. In my opinion, read the book, skip the movie.) One line from My Friends keeps playing in my head: “Getting stabbed with a knife is a trauma for the whole body, his leg was probably the part that healed quickest, it was other parts of Ted that were limping” (p 430).

This quote so beautifully relates to homeopathy. One thing happens and we generally think only of the tip of the iceberg effects. We assume (incorrectly) that, as in this case, a stab wound affects only the leg, right where it happened. But that is so not true. That wound reverberates throughout the entire system: mind, body and soul… and may linger long after the actual wound is “healed.”
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I have listened to a lot of lectures* by Dr. Robin Murphy. (I highly recommend doing so yourself if you have anything more than a passing interest in homeopathy.) I was reminded the other day of Dr. Murphy’s thoughts on first aid prescribing while reading a blog post from Lisa Strbac, talking about Ian Watson quoting the great late Robin Murphy from “What Heals Podcast”:

The highest form of homeopathy is first aid prescribing. You homeopaths… you think it’s all this fancy miasm stuff and chronic stuff and constitutional? It’s not its first aid [sic]. Almost every chronic case, if you take it back, where did it start? It started as a shock, with a grief, an accident, with a medical procedure that went wrong. It started as a first aid situation and if that had been properly treated in the moment, someone had a home ready kit and they know what to do, this whole chain of health problems would never have needed to happen.

Today, I’m going to have a little fun and see how we can address “Ted’s” stab wound. (For this exercise, I will be focusing only on highly indicated remedies for this type of wound, though, in real life, I would look at all possible remedies. It’s important to note that there is also crossover between these remedies and symptoms. For instance, “anger” is a 4 for Staphysagria and a 2 for Ledum and Apis - therefore the rubric only shows up in my list under Staphysagria.)

Homeopathically, there are a few big remedies to consider. Note: these would be the same remedies which would be useful in the moment, at the time of the stab wound. I have the added benefit of a little insight into Ted after reading this book and will supply relevant quotes when available. (If a symptom shows up in multiple remedies, I will only put the quote in the first instance, unless there are multiple quotes which fit the bill.) Other symptoms I will include simply from the general sense of the character from the book. It’s a little like taking a homeopathic case! Of course, there is so much more to this than I am writing here. People, even fictional characters, are highly nuanced. I have over-simplified this entire process tremendously… but I had fun doing it!

​We’re not entirely certain when this stabbing occurred, except we know he was an adult. Did Ted’s history play a part in the ramifications? Probably. All the background of a person will then lead to how a person reacts when such a trauma occurs… miasms, genetics, epi-genetics, environment, experience… it’s all in there in each of us.

Looking up “stab” in Dr. Murphy’s Meta Repertory (found in Similia software**), five remedies show up as highly indicated (but I only included 4 of them): Apis, Calendula, Hypericum and Ledum. Those familiar with homeopathic remedies might be saying, “But what about Staphysagria?” Good question. keep reading to find out what I learned about this.

For this exercise, I focused primarily on the big 3 or 4 point symptoms in MIND and GENERAL and a quick scan through other highly indicated rubrics from things I remembered from the book.

In alphabetical order:

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APIS
From Murphy’s Materia Medica, causations (among others): Grief. Fright. Rage.
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MIND:

• absent minded (while there is one reference to Ted “absentmindently” doing something, we don’t know if this fits well, in general)
• alone, mental, ailments from, (see abandoned, neglected)
  • He’s thought so many times as an adult that it’s a lie that people are scared of being alone, because what we fear is being abandoned. You can choose to be alone, but no one chooses to be left. (p. 177)
• anxiety, general
  • He tosses it in the trash can, glances at the mirror, an anxious and overwhelmed man with skin as soft as room temperature cheese glances back. (p. 177)
• jealousy, feelings
  • Ted felt deeply ashamed that he was jealous of that. (p. 79)
• touch, general - agg
  • The entrance to the train fills with a slow line of frustrated passengers, the man and the teenager stand on the platform and wait till last, anxious that they might touch or be touched by some stranger in the throng. (p. 184)

PHYSICAL:

• bladder, pain; urging to urinate, frequent
  • He feels a sudden urge to pee far more often now than he was prepared for, his body has started to wake him at night, he presumes it’s getting its revenge because it’s annoyed he’s keeping it alive. (p. 127)
• walking, limping, spontaneous (we don’t know if his limp is consistent or spontaneous, but it’s the only of our remedies in this rubric.)

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CALENDULA
is another good remedy for wounds, but unfortunately, it has not been proven very well (in the traditional sense) but let’s see what we can find. Because of the dearth of level 3/4 rubrics, I opened this MIND search up to levels 1 & 2, as well. (Colin Griffith does have more information on Calendula in his “New Materia Medica Vol. 3,” but that’s a whole other topic which I will (happily!) get to one day soon.)
From Murphy’s causations: Cuts. Punctures. Stabs. Surgery. Wounds.
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MIND:

• abuse, ailments from (all the characters suffered varying levels of abuse)
• anxiety, general
• depression, sadness - wounds, after
• fears, general, phobias - happen, something bad will (there’s a lot of crossover between anxiety and fears but Ted has helped us out with this one…)
  • People say that anxiety is fear for no reason, but Ted’s brain is very helpful when it comes to providing suggestions. (p. 278)
• fears, phobias, knives of
  • He still has nightmares about both knives. (p. 130)
• startled, starting - fright, from or fear, after
  • Bastard, Ted whispered with his fists clenched, furious with himself for being so easily startled. (p. 311)
• wounds, mental ailments from

GENERAL:
Interestingly, those who may benefit from Calendula may be ameliorated by walking.

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HYPERICUM
From Murphy’s materia medica: “It is called for in nervous depression following wounds, effects of shock and fright… Pain in old scars.” From Murphy’s causations (among others): ill effects of fright… punctures, lacerations… wounds, stab wounds
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Note: Hypericum has only one 3/4 level rubric under the MIND section in Murphy, so I added lower level rubrics for this one, too.

MIND:

• sensitive, mental, oversensitive, emotional - pain, to (the only level 4 rubric for Hyper Mind)
• anxiety, general
• fears, general, phobias
  • Because the question presupposes that I stopped being scared. (p. 131)
• fright - ailments from
• frightened easily
  • His brain is so stupid, it can no longer tell the difference between threat and reality, he’s just frightened of everything all the time. (p. 263)
• moaning, groaning, pain, from
  • Do you always moan this much? Is that why someone stabbed you? (p. 130)
• startled, starting
• wounds, mental ailments from

Not a lot of the General or Physical rubrics for Hypericum appear to fit Ted well.

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LEDUM
From Murphy’s materia medica: “Ledum is for punctured wounds, produced by sharp-pointed instruments or bites, particularly if the wounded parts are cold, this is the remedy… Causations: ill effects punctured wounds, recent or chronic injuries.”
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MIND:

• fears, general, phobias - men, of
  • Throughout his life, Ted has been frightened of men. (p. 253)
• serious, disposition
  • We are NOT the same age. We might have lived the same number of years, but we sure as hell aren’t the same age. You’ve been eighty years old since we were twelve. (p. 363)

There are other, lesser MIND rubrics which “fit” Ted but I will include only this one:

• wearisome, burdened feeling
  • He feels like yelling at the box of ashes that he isn’t ready for this responsibility… I can’t even look after shoes, and you’ve left me with a person, he thinks angrily. (p 105)

GENERAL:

• walking, general - agg (this could be the other parts of Ted limping, not just his leg wound)

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STAPHYSAGRIA
Has a reputation for “clean” wounds, not jagged, just as a knife would create. Dr. N.M. Choudury, senior professor of Materia Medica at Bengal Allen Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital in Kolkota, says: “We use it both internally and externally for injuries caused by sharp cutting instruments such as knife, glass, etc.” Why it’s not this clear in the repertories, I have no idea. I asked Viva (homeopathic) AI*** why Staphysagria doesn’t show up in the “stab wounds” rubric and it says, “Staphysagria is more commonly associated with emotional trauma and conditions resulting from surgical procedures rather than purely physical injuries like stab wounds. While Staphysagria can be useful for wounds, it is particularly indicated when there is a history of emotional trauma (which Ted has in spades) or when the injury is associated with feelings of anger, resentment, or violation.)

To find appropriate rubrics for Staphysagria and knife wounds, one needs to search a little differently for that:

• Clinical - cuts (or “wounds,” they’ll both get you to the same remedies — Apis and Ledum are both listed here but not so prominently)
• Clinical - cuts, general - incised (Apis is not in this one, but the others are)
• Clinical - cuts, general, sharp, instruments, from glass, etc (Calendula and Hyper are included)

From Murphy’s materia medica: “Surgery. Lacerated tissues.” Causations: “Ill effects of anger and insults, anger suppressed or reserved. Humiliation.”

MIND:

• abandoned, feelings, forsaken
• abuse, ailments from (all the characters suffered varying levels of abuse)
• anger
  • Angry at himself, angry at the artist, and most of all angry at death for having such good taste. Always taking the best first. (p. 105)
• anger, grief, with silent
  • The most frightening thing about his dad dying that summer when he was fourteen wasn’t the grief he had felt, but the anger. (p. 247)
    • indignation, with
    • anger with himself
• anxiety, exaggerated
  • Everyone should be afraid of flying! (p. 69)
• cares, full of
  • Ted? He had made it his responsibility that none of the people he loved would die. That’s a terrible burden for a person. Your shoulders creak, your skeleton shrinks, in the end you can hardly walk. (p. 85)
• domination, by others, ailments from - children in, history, of, a long
  • When he was young, his big brother, six years older, used to beat him up like it was a game. (p. 253)
• fears, phobias, general (this is not a high level rubric, but…)
  • How many phobias do you actually have, Ted? I have just enough! he snaps.” (p. 179)
• fears, hurt of being, emotionally
• grief, sorrow, general ailments from
  • The only thing we can take for granted is that everyone we have ever met and everyone we have ever known and everyone we have ever loved will die. So how great must our imaginations be for us to even summon up the enthusiasm to get out of bed each morning? (p. 39)
• grief, sorrow, general - silent
• love, disappointed, ailments from
  • If you have loved anyone as much as Ted loves the artist, so much that you’re prepared to be mistaken for someone else just to see your friend’s face light up for a couple of seconds, then you know what he feels. (p. 48)
• memories, recalls disagreeable
• mourning, feelings
• suppression, emotions, of, agg
• wearisome, burdened feeling
  • He feels like yelling at the box of ashes that he isn’t ready for this responsibility… I can’t even look after shoes, and you’ve left me with a person, he thinks angrily. (p 105)

GENERAL:

• trembling
  • He’s holding his suitcase in one trembling hand, the ashes of his best friend in the other. (p. 87)

PHYSICAL:

• bladder, urging to urinate - frequent

Are there crossovers in lesser indicated rubrics between the remedies? Absolutely. Did I miss some rubrics? I most certainly did, but given I did this retroactively (yay e-books!) I had a fun time exorcising that line from this book that keeps running through my head… and, I’m pretty sure I know which remedy I would choose for Ted.



Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath

#wellnessawaits


* It looks like the Lotus Health Institute† may be moving some of their goodies around — I see a podcast and putting his lectures up for online listening.

** Similia has been kind enough to open up the full use of their software for me to play around with in exchange for any feedback I may have for them. Other than that, I have no affiliation with this company, either.

*** Staphysagria info from Viva ai† cites the following: “These sources collectively contribute to the understanding of how remedies are classified and used in homeopathy, including the rationale behind the presence or absence of specific remedies in particular rubrics.” The sources cited are: Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine; Materia Medica Pura; Andrew Lockie’s The Complete Homeopathy Handbook; Boericke’s Homeopathic Materia Medica; Clinical experience; Homeopathic repertories such as Synthesis or Kent’s Repertory “categorize remedies based on symptoms and modalities, providing insight into why certain remedies appear in specific rubrics while others do not.”
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† I have no affiliation with this or any other company.