Heteractis malu = Hawaian sea
anemone
[Marty
Begin]
Exposed and
vulnerable, must protect by withdrawal inward
In April
2008, 33 year old male, husband and father of a toddler, who worked long hours
in TV and radio production, told me of his irritable bowel complaints, which
were at first being
caused by
stress, as is typical, but then had begun to worsen to the point of him feeling
very emotional in a bitter and defensive way, then sad, after a painful flair
up. With the help of a
psychologist
he tried to get in touch with his gut, and he had “the image of a cowering boy,
that needed my protection.” He also said of the experience, “I didn’t like the
idea of talking about
myself, it
just dredged things up”
His last
flair up involved not feeling enough confidence to meet the pressure and
deadlines of his job, feeling like an imposter in his work, and he further
tells: “I feel my guts when things are
out of
balance and stressful, last time, it involved a contract and a (co-worker)
becoming not nice, and it hit me directly in my stomach, I get cramps, have to
go 10x dayly, really gassy, its not
the best
version of me, it was knocking down my confidence, nothing was really
balanced.” His first flair up was triggered by bacon and stress. A “not nice”
coworker on the production of a “reality” TV show our patient
worked on,
would exploit the real-life participants, and thus create real problems for
them. In one case he felt like he was becoming this woman participant’s
“protector” even when she was naive about what was happening
to her.
There were other shows too, he worked on, that he couldn’t ethically agree
with, and he’d feel bad for leaving his family
life to go
on set at a distance from his son and wife he felt he should be there for.
These situations are “the perfect storm” to cause a bad episode, and he
described it as “pretty deadening”.
He is very
protective of his 2 year old son, “over-parenting” him and diligently keeping
him away from other raucous children. He hates conflict, will ceaselessly
mentally correct even potential conflict while he restlessly
tries to
sleep, or anytime. He grinds his teeth at night, and has a nervous eye twitch.
He says. “I’m in my head and drag my body along”
He talks
about how he puts others needs in front of his, saying, “My approach is to give
in to you even if I don’t agree with it, or I don’t want to behave that way
because it’s easier for me
to make you
happy, more than anything, its a way out of that conflict…”
He also
went to the psychotherapist and then to me because of his reactions to conflict
with his wife when he would fear she would leave him: “we have a fight and my
subconscious mind
feels she’s
going to leave, then I want to protect my belly.” He traced this to his
childhood when his parents would fight and he’d want to “disappear” and he got
the “image of a little kid
hiding
behind a rock”.
While he’s
holding his guts he goes on describing the sensation: “Its connected right
there, and gets occasionally manifested. Something like hollow and heavy at the
same time. As I talk
about it I
cover it, but when I don’t cover it there’s a vulnerability. Exposed.” I ask
what do you protect that kid from? And he says, “Somehow emotionally (my wife)
kicks my ass, but I
tend to
close up and not let people in, that putting up a wall. It builds up
unconsciously, seeps in to how I interact and that makes it more uncomfortable,
its petty, but dire for me the way I’m approaching it”
He had a
recurring dream of losing his shoes when he really needed them, and a nightmare
when he was very young of being in some sort of
getting his
skin getting taken off, the image still very clear in his mind.
Analysis
I got a
fast start on this case by remembering another case I consulted on for a student
homeopath whose patient went quite deep into her levels of sensation (Sankaran
method) including her recollection of the
Stevens-Johnson
syndrome she had as a kid, a Staph. condition where outer layers of the skin
fall off. Her confluence between body and mind had to do with being exposed,
in the
context of not wanting to expose herself as an individual but rather wanting to
be a part of a community, a repeating unit or cycle, finishing the analogy by
mentioning the sea anemone.
The bunny
dream and exposure element in my case reminded me of this former case, which I
had suggested giving sea anemone to. Unfortunately, that case wasn’t followed
through and therefore wasn’t so reliable, but I
found many
other commonalities with my case and wasn’t going to dismiss the correlations
just yet.
Then I
studied Actinaria:.
Plan
I wanted to
give him an anemone that would be symbiotic with fish so that the element of
protection was included, quite strong in his case. The remedy I had available
demonstrated some of
that
behavior, so I started with it, a 200C of Heteractis malu, repeated once in 2
weeks after the first dose.
Follow Up
after 6 weeks
My patient
starts:
“A couple
days after the remedy I saw the film Finding Neemo, the clown fish having to be
protective of his son, …all about a journey to life outside the coral reef… and
then at some point I recognized that one of the
characters
in the reef was a sea anemone….
The most
exceptional thing was when I was taking the remedy there was this feeling of clarity
that lasted a week, I could focus on things, my head was less cloudy, I had
this precise focus on everything and felt a lot lighter
which I
continue to feel. I recognize work problems but don’t internalize.
My stomach
has also been better. Looking at what would cause me to flair up, which was
stress related, I’m not internalizing it, so it hasn’t set off the other chain
of events….
The
environment has been OK, but things within that, which would normally bother me
aren’t. My mind at night isn’t going around, problems don’t become me, before
these flair ups would get obsessive for me, weigh on
my mind at
all points. In that first wonderful week less face tension, has come back a
little.
…There’s
still ridiculous corporate things gong on but it doesn’t bug me the way it used
to, I can put it away, and there’s something liberating about being able to
intellectualize it but not internalize it….
I want my
son to be safe, not be around hostility, and I’d react to kids on the
playground who were being obnoxious, its probably related to when my parents
were divorcing and me witnessing them yelling, so I’ve always been cautious
about exposing (my son) to arguments. The other night (my wife) and I got in an
argument and he was in the back of the car, and I hardly noticed he was there.
And he asked me why I was angry. It didn’t affect me...
I didn’t
really feel so concerned, I felt less sensitive, and more passive than I
thought I would. I felt… I’m doing the right thing as opposed to something I
have no choice but to do.
And after
the argument I didn’t feel insecure about the relationship. I put (my son) to
bed, and we never resolved it until the next day, and then I thought we’ll talk
about this later and it’ll be OK, before my head would have
went to
figuring out our divorce plan, but I just didn’t.
I feel more
confident, and less protective of the work I do, I’m more open to the criticism
I get, everything can be made better, so I’m probably more open to changing
everything if that’s what it requires….
Plan
I was
impressed with the result, and found his watching of the Disney animated movie
Finding Neemo a nice bit of synchronicity. It made me want to give him an
anemone that protected clown fish. I ended up giving him the
same remedy
however in a 1M, (Heteractis malu) but I ordered Stoichactis kenti, a favorite
amongst clown fish.
Later
Follow Ups
I’ve now
been seeing this patient for 9 months and he’s done very well in every way.
He’s gone through and continues to go through a big shift. I did change the
remedy to Stoichactis kenti after the third follow up, and he had
some very
pertinent dreams and a good response. In general he remains less protective,
letting go of what he can’t do for his son, or other harming inequities he has
no control over, and is dealing with conflict very well,
“getting it
out”. He is definitely integrating his body and mind, which remains quiet for
the most part. His confidence has improved a lot, not taking things as
personally and thinking of himself more.
Summary of
Sea Anemone
Considering
the case consult I drew from, the proving, and my case, I would say the most
important points of the sea anemone are as follows:
The contact
and integrity of community
Integrity
of body and mind,
Single body
cavity
Trying to
control the body with the mind, but losing control, and then the body threatens
to disintegrate leaving an exposure that must be protected, so it must
withdraw, close up and disappear or deaden
Mind needs
to come out to the surface
Hunger to
integrate, need for nourishment if there’s disintegration
Mutual
protection
Spare the
protector
Algae or
clown fish symbiosis
Hollow and
heavy
Seeping in,
absorbing, need protection
Survival,
nourishment, safety and comfort in integrity
Survival
dependent on tactile stimulation
Sensing and
feeling: all or nothing
Unfair
situations, discords
My needs -
your needs/ effort - no effort
Vergleich: Siehe: Molluscae