A Case of a Persistent Sore Throat
A 32 year old female comes into my office with a sore throat that has been going on for the last 2 months straight. She has been tested for strep, and has been to a nose, throat specialist without any major diagnosis; however, her sore throat will not relent. She has taken vitamins of various kinds, teas, and lozenges to no avail.
The pain is worse in the morning upon waking; but to her it is there all the time, and feels like something is caught in her throat. She can’t swallow it away, or cough it up or as she says “smooth it out”. She prefers cold drinks, and the pain is less when she is eating or drinking.
The Importance of Case History
So, I inquire about what was happening in her life a couple of months ago when the pain started. She relates that she and her husband traveled to the Northwest to visit his family. She is reluctant to talk much about the trip but looks a bit uncomfortable in her own skin thinking about it. Then it all suddenly gushes out in one stream of unstoppable tirade as to what a horrible woman her mother-in-law is. How mean she is to her son, and how she “just can’t stand the b—-“. She talks all about how his family is so well off financially, and “they have everything and don’t help us at all.” And not only that, the mother is always criticizing her son for not being as financially successful as they are. My client feels the mother-in-law thinks it’s all her fault that her son is not more successful, she says: “she thinks I have somehow held him back.”
It appears that at the end of their stay with the in-laws, there was a big blow up and the family parted in a huff. It has been 2 months since they have talked to the family, but she knows that they have to bite the bullet and call and apologize. Although, she doesn’t think there is anything she needs to apologize for, “ I was just defending my husband.”
The Resolution: Lachesis
I decide to give her Lachesis, 1M, 1 dose. Lachesis is very territorial, jealous, and can be quite verbally aggressive when threatened which this woman very much was by her mother-in-law. The sore throat is classic in a Lachesis case, and in her case it was doubly affected since she was holding in her anger and not wanting to call her mother-in-law to “smooth things out” as she said in the very beginning of the case.
1 month later follow-up: her sore throat is completely gone. She feels very calm inside, still can’t stand her mother-in-law but is leaving it up to her husband to call his family and make up!
The specific keynotes for Lachesis that really worked for this case were the throat and the mental/emotional aspects. Within the mental emotional for Lachesis we see
- Quarrelsome from jealousy
- Loquacity and jealousy
- Protectiveness and lashing out with feelings of inferiority
- The throat keynote indications were the lump in the throat sensation that is temporarily better with swallowing foods
- And amelioration with cold drinks.
Lachesis, or the South American Pit Viper is a very powerful remedy as is the Pit Viper itself. The symptoms can feel overpowering to the patient with an incapacity to tone things down. They don’t want to be touched in the areas of discomfort, nothing around the throat is tolerated, and many times they can’t tolerate to be in their own skin. I have found this to be a very useful remedy in cases of debilitating PMS and menopause along with throat issues.
