Jo came to see me in March 2017 after suffering over half her life from ulcerative colitis. It was bearable in the early days, but the last 15 years had been a succession of hospitalisations, daily medicated enemas and severe cramping and bleeding that left her exhausted, upset and unable to leave the house.
Conventionally she was being treated with biological infusions to suppress the immune response, but after 3 years these were no longer effective. Life was pretty horrendous for this working mum.
I don’t think Jo was expecting anything amazing from homeopathy, she wanted a cure but she knew that after so many years of suffering that she would just like to get some relief and the occasional respite from her extreme symptoms.
Jo was on a restricted diet, she was careful about what she ate, although she had no allergies to foods she was unable to tolerate many food groups.
I took her case on and told her what I tell everyone. I will do my best to help you.
The first remedy I sent her was Aloe, used to soothe and calm the gut. Cramping was painful for Jo and I wanted to see if I could help that. The remedy did nothing.
May 2017
The second appointment was spent talking about how she felt about her illness, how it affected her and her family and how she dealt with the day to day struggles of managing her condition.
Jo told me that she felt very down about things, but no one around her would know this, she hid it well. And when someone behaved in a way that upset her she would just ignore it. She wasn’t angry and although she was ill she felt grateful that she wasn’t in a worse situation. Jo cared a lot about her family and would push herself to do as much as she could, despite their protests and requests for her to rest. Jo had the mindset that she could just do more and more and gave more of herself than she physically and emotionally could manage. Based on this deeper insight I gave Jo 2 remedies. Carcinosin and Mercury.
Carcinosin being a well indicated remedy in autoimmune conditions, but also I felt that Jo probably buried her annoyance and sadness rather than ignoring it as she had told me.
I cannot begin to tell you how much of a revelation occurred after Jo took the 1 pill. She became much more in tune with how she felt and recognised that emotionally she was taking on a lot of stresses from home and work. She acknowledged the times when she allowed herself to suppress anger.
The second remedy I gave was Mercury 200c. Jo took 1 a week for 6 weeks. Mercury has many uses homeopathically, it is exceptionally good for ulceration (internally and externally) Since colitis is ulceration of the colon I hoped that this would help the pain and cramping.
July 2017
Jo is doing so well. She has not needed to use the medicated enimas for 6 weeks now. What was once a daily torture is slipping into a distant memory. Everything is moving along nicely here so I repeat both the remedies as before.
October 2017
Still no enemas! Jo is happy and upbeat. She chats to me about a few emotional things she wants addressed, she is recognising how she feels about situations and is mindful of her tendency to bottle things up. The colitis is not causing any pain, cramps or diarrhoea, no urgency and she can go out to work or with her family and not have to plan her route based around getting to a toilet.
Treatment for Jo is still ongoing, I know that it is a possibility that her colitis could flare up again, but Jo feels more in control of her illness and it no longer dictates her life.
The best thing about this case is that I have never met Jo. She lives a long way away from me and in the early days she couldn’t have made the journey because of her condition.. She is just a voice on the phone, as many of my clients are.
Whenever I finish my call with her I get such a good feeling, Jo is so grateful and is often sending people to me for help.
I love this job and I believe the potential for homeopathy is astonishing.