Case Study of Ostrich
by Ann Haw
This patient has been part of my practice for a long time, and I have never really felt that I have found suitable remedies for her. I have put together a summary of the information which I have collected from her over the years. Of course in hind sight, one tends to pick out the relevant topics and symptoms, which would fit in with the remedy which she eventually responded to.
She is 54 years old, has pitch black hair, and always presents herself well groomed with a good deal of make-up, and thin plucked eyebrows. Her clothing is always loose fitting, flowing, and she is usually dressed in grey or black.
She has had a variety of symptoms over the years:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Neuralgic pains moving around body, mainly in the back and legs: “Weird tension and numbness”.
Headaches and migraines.
Melanoma removed from Left axilla.
Terrible heartburn; nausea with dizziness.
Heart palpitations.
Ears stopped up; “gurgling and chirping”.
Fish bone stuck in throat: had to be operated on.
Visual disturbances.
Joints sore: changing place and time.
Mental and Emotional:
Grew up in a restricted, abusive environment. “Random violence came from everywhere”: “Trying to protect myself and my sister”: “Parents would never let me do things”: “Had to fight for my survival”.
Rebellious, did her own thing; “Hang around the planet looking good, have to do things alone”.
Depression, anger at people who don’t do what she asks them to do; goes into her own deep dark place; “hibernates”. Morbid in the mornings, does not want to get out of bed. Living in the bottom of a black hole.
Anxiety: not being able to cope, want to run away and hide; health; cancer.
Claustrophobia: don’t like being confined, hate flying in airplanes.
Numerous relationships. She bonds very strongly to a partner, but invariably gets let down. “Re-appearance of old relationship knocked me off my perch”.
Was married and had one miscarriage, which upset her terribly.
Desperate to get out of South Africa: “such bad energy here”. In Europe it is like living in a little bubble. When she moved from Somerset West to a very secure farm in Llandudno, she also described it as” living in a bubble; not really Africa”.
“People treating me badly, just want to make money out of me. A “For Sale Product”.
Desire to escape, move.
Grieved for over a year when her dog died.
Her other pet is a parrot.
Dreams:
Airplane crash; have to run away.
Truck came round corner and crashed house down – explosion.
Lost in a building- could not get out.
Black men attacking me.
Something out there trying to grab me; like birds.
Have to climb up sheer wall with rocks, dangerous, vey high, could fall, hanging onto side. Stuck in a space – want to get out, don’t know how I got there.
Generals
Aversion to hot weather; but depressed in winter: cold and wet
< Full moon
Hot flushes
Treatments:
I have given so many remedies, some of which had some effect. These included Argentum Nitricum, Agaricus, Carcinosin, Kali Phos, Phosphoric Acid, Ignatia, Lac Caninum.
I found it interesting that although I never felt that I really helped her, she kept coming back to me. This could be interpreted as a sense of belonging in a safe place. Even after she moved away from this town, she kept coming back.
After studying the bird kingdom, I could see a lot of characteristics which suited her: She responded well at first to Hallieatus (Amercian Bald Eagle), but it did not hold, and there were no lasting changes.
Analysis:
Animal characteristics:
Victim : history of abuse, violence, dreams of being attacked, being used .
Physical appearance.
Bird Characteristics:
Aversion to being restricted by others.
Desire to be outside and be free.
Connection with the spiritual realm.
Dream of being attacked by birds.
Ostrich characteristics
Violence versus caring for others.
Desire to be out of Africa.
Colours: black and grey: on the day that I prescribed the Ostrich she was dressed entirely in black, and on her follow up visit she was dressed entirely in grey!
Connection with dogs: I only realized afterwards, that her dog was her protection.
Fear of the violence in Africa
Prescription: Ostrich 200ch
Outcome: Two weeks after the first dose, I received the following report via email:
“I am feeling much better, and do have some days when I feel physically good, as well as some days when I don't. I am able to walk without pain now, and the pain I do have seems to be limited to the hips and hands mainly. But in general it is much, much better.”
“I am doing yoga and find that helps to stretch the stiffness in the muscles, but strangely enough I cannot balance on my left leg anymore????”
One month later:
A small gland appeared in her left neck.
Very anxious about cancer.
Energy seems to have dropped a bit again.
Still has some pain in hips, but can now walk reasonably comfortably.
Sleeping much better.
On account of the drop in energy, and the anxiety about the gland, I repeated the dose. I have given her 200ch, but I suspect she probably needs a 1M.
Outcome of 2nd dose: by email the next day:
“I had quite a strong reaction to the remedy. Last night I felt so sick that I went to bed early...I felt dizzy, nauseous and weird. I didn't get much sleep either as there were clanking and banging sounds downstairs...could have been cats, rats or spooks, or all of the above. I went downstairs to look but could find nothing!
Then this morning I was taking my pot plant from the bathroom to water it in the kitchen and I tripped on the mat. I fell very heavily on my left side as I was holding the plant and could not grab onto anything. I thought I had damaged my arm but it seems to just be bruised. The pot plant, fortunately did not come down on top of me, but landed on the sofa and splattered soil all over the carpet. Yes...well....”
The next day, she came with this wonderful dream:
Anyway, I had one of what I call a "Remedy Dream" last night. It is a recurrent dream I have had for years, in which I am in my late twenties and I am still at school. I am forced to go to "finish matric", although I have already done this earlier. However, no one believes me and I have to go to school. I hate it there but I go because I am afraid I will lose my PhD if I don't have this matric certificate.
In this dream I decide that I am going to leave school NOW, and I go to my Office (like the one I had when I was teaching at University) and I take down a folder to find the matric certificate so I can show everyone that I have a matric and I don't need to be in this school.
The difference in this dream to all the others seems to be a feeling of freedom, that I can now leave and no one is going to stop me.
I see this as being able to leave behind or transcend old ways of thinking and being that have been with me since my school days and that I have not been able to leave for fear of losing something?
I think it is positive.
Day 3 after 2nd dose:
I am feeling much better and the pain and the stiffness are almost gone, even the pain in my hands is much better. It's funny how when your body "works" you hardly notice it, but when it doesn't it is really bad! I still feel "fragile" is how I would describe it, but I am sure I will start to feel stronger soon, especially as the weather is so good right now.
After 1 month: Depression returned.
Repeat Ostrich 200:
Depression lifted
“I had another dream last night, also a recurrent dream....the one I have where the airplane crashes. This time it was about a very big 747 coming in to land, and I was watching from inside a bus next to the runway. The plane landed very heavily and bounced and then was running down the runway too fast, and everyone was saying its going too fast and its going to crash...but it then disappeared from sight and there was no bang or smoke or whatever...nothing happened.. I felt very panicky because I was "trapped" in this bus, but then the driver drove off and everything was ok. I see it as a good dream because unlike the other dreams, there was no crash from the skies and the plane actually landed. So it seems to be an improvement of sorts.”
12/07/11
A sort of minor miracle has happened. I was rushing around yesterday and as I was striding through the Mall at top speed I realized that not only was I moving fast but there was no pain!! At all!!