A woman, aged thirty-two, reports:

• “I hate rats! I have a trauma from rats, I can’t stand them; I had a rat at home and I get nightmares about it. It is bad luck. I think about rats all the time. We should have killed it; I can’t stand it; it’s a disgusting animal; I dream about rats; I can’t forget about it. I read a book called The Rats. It really influenced me; it is about rats that take over London and the world. The rat feels like I have the Evil Eye at home.”
• “I am pregnant and I am really stressed. I am not functioning and I am losing my direction. Any stress gets to me; little things stress me out. I can’t make decisions.”
• “I am sleepless from thoughts. They just grind away at my brain and I can’t sleep. Sleepless all night… Anxious about trifles… Not dealing well with pressure.”
• “I am very impatient and irritable; I have a short fuse. I get really irritable with my kid and have no patience with him. All day I just worry about what will be, and things that can happen.”
• “Fears about the future, about accidents to my relatives and other anxieties.” “Dreams of my husband or son dying in an accident.”
• “Generally very thirsty. I have asthma since age three and I can’t stand any pain and suffering. The asthma is worse from change of season and cats. I have no strength to deal with that physically or mentally. I crack really easily. I hate suffering.”
• “Very cold and chilly, I get sudden chills with shudders. I suffer from constipation. My hands tend to sweat; sometimes I get electric shocks in the hands.”
• “All my troubles are since I became a mother. I used to be free and independent and it was a terrible blow. I became disconnected from family and friends. I have found myself alone with a little boy (patient weeps). I am alone without support and help. I can’t do anything: it’s like a prison. Now I am even more stressed that I am going to have two kids. Every little thing restricts me, especially not being able to do what I want to do, to be free. Responsibility is really difficult; I get stressed. I am having a nervous breakdown. I can’t decide. I want people to help me. Only in highly stressful situations, like accidents, do I function well. I won’t crack.”
• “Generally I am easy to get along with, I yield to other people, have low confidence. I worry what people will think about me, how I look, are they talking about me, maybe they don’t want me, or they are ostracizing me, maybe they think I am backwards.”
• “My father had an affair when I was young and he left. I felt very forsaken.”
• “The biggest difficulty is to be a mother, to be responsible, and to give up my freedom.”
• Fear of being alone; of being a widow; of pregnancy, and of responsibility, especially with kids; extreme fear of injections and needles.
• Recurring dream: “I am floating, but I can’t manage to fly, then suddenly I could fly to a low height, but not really fly - and I go back to the ground from the fear. I have another dream where I am really frightened and I cannot speak from fright.”
• “As a teenager I was really rough and tough. Anybody who aggravated me - I would take to bits, get into bar fights. I was free and had no worries and responsibilities. These responsibilities really ground me.”
• Desire for olives (3) and salt. Sweets and fats aggravate.

Analysis

This case looks very much like a Calcarea carbonica case and repertorises to this remedy. It is obvious there are many elements of Calc carb: fear of others’ opinions, anxiety over trifles, constipation, chilliness, sweaty hands, and fear that something will happen, of needles, and being alone. Moreover: the typical fear of rats and talking about rats.

However, there were additional symptoms of interest, which were not typical of Calc-carb: The dreams of trying to fly and not being able to, and the constant reference to being grounded by responsibilities. I concluded that rather than giving her Calc-carb from an oyster shell, it would be better to use Calcarea ovi testae prepared from the chicken eggshell.¹

There is an obvious connection with the chicken’s flight pattern, the references to cracking and the feeling of having to be there, sitting on her eggs, and hatching -rather than being free. This brought up the image of Dr. Seuss’s ‘Mayzie bird’ who is hatching her egg but wants to fly away on holiday to be free and easy, leaving Horton the elephant to sit on her egg;

Sighed Mayzie, a lazy bird hatching an egg;

"I'm tired and I'm bored

And I’ve kinks in my leg

From sitting, just sitting here day after day.

It's work! How I hate it!

I'd much rather play!

I'd take a vacation, fly off for a rest

If I could find someone to stay on my nest!

If I could find someone, I'd fly away - free..."

Then Horton, the Elephant, passed by her tree.

Prescription

Calcarea ovi testae 200C one dose

Follow Up, Six Months Later

• “Loads happened – a fantastic change. I had a wonderful pregnancy. All my irritability and impatience and problems of motherhood vanished. The pregnancy was wonderful and I had no fear of the birth.”
• “I repeated the remedy in the ninth month and I had a wonderful birth, an amazing experience. I was so relaxed I didn’t even wake anyone up, I gave birth in a few hours with no problems. No drugs. I recovered really quickly.”
• “The remedy worked like magic. Everything changed for the better, it made me a mother, much more patient, no motherhood problems like I had before: I am just happy; my whole attitude has changed.”
• “The asthma is much better, the constipation has gone, and I am less worried about rats, haven’t seen any. No more fear of bad things happening or anxiety. My sleep is good. The electric shocks in my hands are gone. The indecision has also improved. The desire for olives has gone.”
• “Before I never wanted to be a mother. It was difficult to connect: I wanted to be free, going out and having fun. Now I am just proud and happy to be with my kids.”
• “I had a dream in which I am flying very, very high, and I see my dream house, like the peak of a dream and I fly up and up shouting: I am flying, I am flying and I feel very good.”

Remedy continued to act well for over a year after this, with occasional repetition of the dose.