Portraits: Ignatia
I realise as I progress through my most prescribed medicines that many cases
use a number of remedies over the course of healing.
In order to continue to present portraits of specific medicines from personal
experience, it becomes necessary to note instances where the medicine has
helped to open or advance a case whether or not it results in complete remission
or cure.
There are many cases in which I have used ignatia. St Ignatius Bean.
Many of these occasions are as a result of the symptoms being associated with
loss, grief or separation from a significant individual. This theme ties ignatia
closely to its chronic, nat mur with the intense relationship issues of the
natrums.
I have used ignatia as an acute medicine and also as a mainstay to therapy for
obsessive compulsive disorder, such as feet chewing in the ‘fluffy whites’.
It is also an important seizure and spasm medicine and has advanced the
treatment of epileptic cases considerably. When I think of ignatia I think of
‘spasm’, rarely ‘hysteria’ for which it is associated by early homeopaths and
perhaps there are still cases in humans where individuals express hysteria as a
sign. Hysteria following the same word root as hysterectomy or vice versa is a
female definition and ignatia is largely a female medicine. I find this to be less the
case in animals and both genedres are equally represented. I find that animals do
not express the extreme of emotion unless they have physical brain
inflammation and require different medicines like belladonna although hysteria
can also be interpreted as an epileptic seizure. ‘Spasm’ has therefore become a
more common keynote in my practice with regard to ignatia. In this instance it
needs to be distinguished from things like cimicifuga and cuprum. Containing the
alkaloid, strychnine like its associated medicine, nux vom, ignatia is
understandably erratic and reactive. These plants themes tie in nicely with the
sensitivity expressed in the nervous symptoms and mentals of ignatia.
Sometimes it comes down to a choice of animal, mineral or plant remedy. For
example, a case I had of a small dog licking herself to granuloma formation and
for the rubric ‘occupation ameliorates’, we have the choice of all three in sepia,
ignatia and sil with ignatia and sil appearing again in ‘monomania’.
It can assist the choice of medicine to look at what characteristics are most
dominant in the behaviour or nature of the patient. I use the simplified keynotes
of jealousy/aggression for animal, routine and restraint for mineral and
sensitivity for plants. Of course, we know that all of these qualities are
interchangeable but the feel of the case can help to distinguish the most
appropriate medicine. Ignatia cured this dog.
A case I especially recall because it was hidden for years, is one of a chronic skin
case that seemed to respond partially to a few medicines but nothing holding or
advancing the case. Finally, the owner said to me one day that this dog had never
been the same since the older dog died and instantly we had the simillimum in
ignatia. A single high potency dose of ignatia cured the chronic skin disease. This
experience taught me to ask questions of all cases regarding changes like loss in
the history but the other difficulty in veterinary medicine is often the lack of this
kind of information or the lack of opportunity to follow cases over lengthy
timeframes. Like some of my colleagues I have started using ignatia in cases with
uncertain backgrounds of animals from shelters or rehoming, in the chance that
these events may be significant to the symptomatology.
In this way, ignatia has also become another avenue for ‘opening a case’ in much
the same way as thuja for suspected vaccine involvement and sulphur for
cortisone usage.
One of the difficulties I encounter most frequently is the choice of potency.
With ignatia, I tend to use an M for known grief aeitiology and often Lm for skin
cases or feet chewing. I also use Lm for post ictal seizure recovery in cases that
are not cured and 200 as an acute for laryngeal spasm, cough and muscle spams.
In cases of known grief aeitiology, ignatia has worked very well alone to correct
the imbalance in the early mental symptoms of a case including inappetance and
has probably averted further pathology. The other interesting parallel I
discovered recently is that ignatia is a tubercular medicine and as many of my
cases skirt around a range of tubercular remedies without fully curing, I am
reminded of the potential for miasmatic therapy. I have started employing
tuberculinum in these intractable cases and am awaiting the result.