Traumas Anhang

 

[The Medical Counselor, January, 1896]

Symph.: Non-union of fractures; the pain is jagging, pricking, as if the end of the bone was sticking into flesh. To facilitate the union of fractured bone.

Arn.: Injury to soft tissues; contused wounds, with much discoloration and sore, bruised feeling. Great fear of being touched.

Calen.: When there is much loss of tissue, lacerated wounds, where the repair has to be made by granulation.

Led.: Punctured wounds in palms and soles, as from nails, awls, rat-bite, sting of insects, etc. Pain remote from seat of injury; parts cold, subjectively and objectively.

Rhus-t.: Sprains and strains of single muscles or groups of muscles, from lifting heavy weights, reaching up, etc. - first moving - continued motion.

Act-r.: Straining and soreness of muscles of entire body, as in skating, rowing, running, football, etc.

Staph.:For incised, clean-cut wounds (after operations on the abdomen).

Hyper.: Similar to Ledum. Punctured, contused, lacerated wounds; from needles, splinters. (under the nails or in soft tissues rich in nerves). Torn or lacerated nerves -  pains shoot up limb in streaks. To prevent lockjaw.

 

[Dr. Alberto Sacristan]

By trauma we understand the classic blow. I am  going to talk about trauma now simply because the good weather is coming encouraging us to do more outdoor activities.

We take a ride on the bike with the family through the park or on the countryside. We go in the mountain for a hike or wander which increases the risk of suffering a sports accident, in short, a trauma and having an injury. The use of homeopathy in sports is very frequent, because homeopathic remedies have a variety of characteristics that make them a first choice in many cases. First they are effective medications, second they are safe and, finally, they are not listed as doping substances.

A trauma is an injury affecting some tissues, extremities or an organ, that has been caused by a shock. In most cases it will be an injury, a dislocation, a fracture, an ecchymosis or a burn. It is also possible that the shock is emotional and leads to psychic trauma.

Many times the injury is determined by the type of sport. Running is not the same as riding a bike or skiing or playing rugby. Everybody can prepare himself a small sports

kit depending on the frequently occuring injuries related to the sport activity that is exercised.

Apis.: Injuries that come with a reddish-pink edema and in inflammatory arthritis.

Arn.: All types of trauma, regardless of location and origin.

Bel-p.: Trauma that affects the coccyx or breast. It is very useful in the typical blow that later causes pain every time we sit down.

Calc-p.: Used to get the bones to knit correctly and more quickly.

Calen.: Irregular wounds and skin ulcers.

Hyper.: Trauma that affects nerve endings, also in painful scars.

Rhus-t.: Sprains and dislocations.

Ruta.: Contusions of the periosteum (the most superficial layer of bones), and in complicated sprains.

Symph.: Bone fractures and eye trauma.

 

Depending on the location, trauma can cause:

    Sprain

    Fractures

    Post-traumatic hydrarthrosis

    Eye trauma

    Foreign body in the eye

    Trauma of nervous tissue

    Trauma of cranial nerve tissues

Nasal bleeding caused by trauma Mill. or Chin.

 

In case the ecchymosis or the wound is located around the eye we can recommend Led.

In case of severe pain of the head after a blow Hyper. can be used for three weeks.

Trauma located in the breasts Bel-p.:as already indicated, until the patient improves substantially.

In many of these cases it might be appropriate to go to the emergency room to rule out any vital pathology.

 

According to the nature of the trauma

Blunt trauma: Contusions might be associated with Arn.: a first-hand remedy for these cases.

Ham.: Sensation of tension or bursting, which is characteristic for this remedy and will be needed if these symptoms are present.

 

Stab wounds: Hyper.: deep wounds caused by sharp objects, and Led.: Puncture wounds that do not bleed and for pains that are limited to the point of trauma.

Wounds caused by cutting instruments: Staph.: accelerating cicatrization and the reabsorption of extravasated blood.

Calen.: Traumatic wounds caused by tears, lacerations or cutting.

Corton lencheri for favors phagocytosis and accelerates cicatrization.

 

Injuries caused by foreign bodies:

1.      Sil.: Expulsion of foreign bodies.

2.      Hep.: Suppuration around foreign bodies and expels them. 

3.      Lob.: Foreign bodies

4.      Calen.: is antiseptic and restores the vitality of the injured part.

 

[Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman]

Discussion of the indications for Aconitum, Stramonium, Ignatia, Arnica for refugee trauma that could be administered by people who are not homeopaths.

I cannot remember such a shared pool of grief and disbelief as has been generated in this country by the Latino immigrant children debacle since perhaps the Vietnam War. Besides my own personal heartache on hearing and seeing the heartless treatment of these devastated parents and children, even babies, wherever I go others confide in

me their deep pain.

Recently a longtime patient, whose family I have treated for over 30 years, asked me to share lunch. The topic of conversation was, “How do we hold this inconceivable injustice and do something with our compassion that makes a genuine difference?”

As Bob and I were leaving the movie theater recently after seeing, “The Pope: A Man of His Words,” the mother of another longtime patient came running up to me in

tears asking, “What can we possibly do?”

I find myself devouring books (a few of us have formed a study group) about refugees, the latest being Exit West, The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

Dr. Frankl’s story was beyond horrific and heroic. As a Jew in World War II, he had the choice of escaping to the U.S. or remaining in Europe with his parents.

An Austrian neurologist, he chose to stay to stay in Austria and devoted whatever energy he could rally to doing psychotherapy with the inmates of the Auschwitz, Theresientadt, and Dachau concentration camps, where he was also a prisoner.

Please, if any of you reading this article does not believe that the Holocaust really happened, Google Victor Frankl and take in his story and the bone-chilling photos of the concentration camp survivors. This book, published in 1946, included as one of the ten most influential books in the U.S., had sold over 10 million copies by the time the author died in 1997.

“To give light, “ Dr. Frankl concluded, “must endure burning.” How many of us would have made the choice that he did, rather than avoid the unspeakable horrors and cruelty to which he was subjected? What carried him through all of it was a search for a deeper, abiding meaning or purpose of life.

Fortunately, Bob and I live in a very refugee-friendly community. Although Langley, WA didn’t opt to become a Sanctuary City initially (out of fear on the part of some board members of loss of federal funding), it did, a couple of months later, issue an immigrant-friendly statement.

Many of the one thousand residents of our “village” are avid travellers and benefits, cross-cultural events sponsored by the Northwest Whidbey Language Association (NWLA) and various churches tend to be well-attended and generously supported.

In 2007 Bob and I held a fundraiser for a Peruvian family from the island of Amantaní on Lake Titicaca and raised $3500 in an evening. Just last week NWOLA sponsored

a poignant, eye-opening evening with three amazing women survivors on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which, we learned, is the rape capital of the world. I offered my services to treat these women with homeopathy for their PTSD and other health issues, and hope that bears fruit.

I am reminded of my early introduction to refugee trauma in my third year of Bastyr. As a student doctor in the naturopathic clinic in its very early days, I happened to be

the only one fluent in Spanish when a wave of Salvadorean refugees arrived in Seattle, welcomed with open arms by a nearby Christian church.

Since the supervising doctors could not communicate with these women and children, I was, thankfully, on my own. Their personal stories were truly harrowing. I especially remember María, who had been raped, piled atop a truck of dead bodies, and survived only by seizing the moment to jump off and escape.

Her story and those of her companions stuck with me for life. Those stories and many far worse surface daily in the media due to the forced displacement of so many families worldwide.

Now, for those of us who have the eyes and willingness to look, refugee families in so many parts of the world are struggling for survival, risking drowning, starvation, murder, rape, indifference, and neglect.

Fortunately homeopathy can be a balm to body, mind, and soul. Constitutional prescribing, for the whole person, requires expertise, sensitivity, and time. It can be of tremendous benefit in healing physical, mental, and emotional wounds, even those too terrible to imagine.

However, for those of you who are not homeopaths skilled enough to do that, I would like to share some more basic homeopathic remedies that can also relieve pain and suffering significantly. If left unaddressed, these issues and states can remain with the individuals for life and be passed onto future generations.

 

PTSD

Remedies to consider first are Aconite, Ignatia, Arnica, and Stramonium.

Acon.: This is the number one remedy to consider for those frozen by sheer panic and terror. Imagine being in a stadium, train station, market where a terrorist attack occurs.

Or, as in the case of the Congolese women, when militants suddenly and unexpectedly charged into their villages and homes, raping, murdering, threatening, and terrorizing. This absolute panic, which may turn into a recurrent flashback or nightmares for the rest of one’s life, can be helped dramatically by Aconite.

The symptoms are typically a racing, pounding heart, physical and mental restlessness, an overpowering feeling of imminent death. In one word: shock. Nerves are on edge, palpitations are persistent. The description of this remedy as “acute, sudden, and violent invasion” is the epitome of what many refugees have faced.

Imagine having your family murdered, raped, or dismembered before your eyes. And of being terrorized tat you will be next. And having that horrendous scene replay again and again, even after you are safely out of the situation. This is the Aconite state.

Stram.: has similar indications to Aconite. But it is particularly important to mention given the current trauma inflicted on immigrant children separated from their parents.

A member of the nightshade family, the predominant fear in this remedy is being absolutely alone in the wilds at the mercy dangerous, wild animals. There is a terror of darkness, being injured, having no one around for her to cling to, and being absolutely forsaken.

I just read that the migrant children ripped, literally from their parents and, sometimes siblings, are being prevented from hugging, using nicknames and even remaining with their siblings. Being put in a cage or cell with no daylight, unprotected, without the protective covering of clothes (think flimsy space blanket in a cold cell or room) is

exactly the etiology that will trigger a Stramonium state. This underlying panic can erupt as violence, but it is only because of the sheer fright.

Ign.: The key word for those needing this remedy is grief. It is often expressed in uncontrollable sobbing, sighing, and hysteria. But the other polarity is unexpressed grief. Disappointment is profound and the individual is inconsolable.

She may become absolutely hysterical or fall into a state where she cannot cry despite the most profound grief, suffering, and loss. There may be a sensation of a lump in

the throat and a pressure in the chest.

Imagine a Central American mother whose child is yanked from her desperate grasp, or a Syrian family whose raft washes up on a Greek shore, having lost their toddler

in the sea on the way. Or a Congolese woman having witnessed the massacre of her parents and somehow survived a gang military rape.

The longstanding grief of families from Eritrea or Nigeria who spend 15 or 20 years in an inadequate basic refugee camp because they have simply nowhere else to go.

Arn.: The number one remedy for trauma. So be it having escaped with one’s life but not one’s limbs in a minefield explosion or being bruised and battered from miles-long walks out of African villages that were pillaged or burned.

Arnica can soothe the fear of being hurt mentally as well as physically but it the classic remedy for accident or trauma victims following a physical injury, accident, fall, or shock.  A common reaction of those needing Arnica, following a trauma, is to say they are fine, need no help, and just to walk away. But they are in shock and not okay.

They may have profound injury, such as internal bleeding, even life threatening. So it is important to help them rather than to believe that they are fine. I remember years ago walking across a busy Seattle street in front of one stopped car and not seeing a second in the other lane due to a blind spot. The auto, fortunately, did see me and stopped

just as it barely touched me.

I went right on as usual and began to get in my parked car, but the driver stopped me to make sure I was all right. I was clearly in an Arnica state.

 

Deeper Remedies for Longstanding PTSD and Other Symptoms

Feel free to use the five remedies above for the indicated conditions. You are most likely to have a 30C potency, however many of these cases are very intense and I would

use a 200C or 1M potency one time then follow the results closely.

The substances not compatible with homeopathy are eucalyptus, camphor, menthol and tea tree. Remedies may have to be repeated if the person drinks coffee. There are over 4000 constitutional remedies. Which one is needed constitutionally, at a deeper, chronic level, by a refugee with PTSD is highly individual.

Remedies made from Magnesium, for example, are considered orphan remedies. Related mineral remedies (Natriums, Silicas, Aluminas) and others address issues of identity.

Highly sensitive individuals may need plant remedies and those with strong victim or aggressor themes are likely to need remedies from the animal kingdom. Since treatment

is so individualized, the individual’s particular state can be addressed.

I wish more traumatized refugees had access to homeopathic remedies and experienced homeopaths. In this world where so many are displaced, homeless, isolated, and suffering, homeopathy can make a profound difference.

 

[Binal Master]

The seeds of violence and abuse arise from insecurities faced in day-to-day lives, in love, relationships and work and from feelings of neglect and isolation. The current rise

in living expenses, where the cost of living exceeds one’s total income, can make it increasingly difficult to handle emotional, physical and psychological demands.

This can lead to feelings of grief, displeasure, guilt, inferiority, jealousy and anger, resulting in physical aggression. Common modes of survival in people in such situations

are self-abuse, where the person harms him/herself intentionally or unintentionally (e.g. – eating disorders, substance abuse), and abuse of others (verbal/physical) whom

he considers weaker or over whom he can maintain power and control.

Abuse and violence is a widespread problem which lies hidden within communities irrespective of class and race. It occurs behind closed doors and the most common victims are women, often because standards set by society restrict them from speaking out or seeking help. Women may fear the stigma to their families or humiliation and loss of reputation in society.

Homeopathy is a branch of medicine which considers the person as a whole, and takes account of the physical and psychological characteristics of the patient. It involves a detailed case history, which serves as ray of hope to both the patient- i.e., the one who is abused, as well as the offender. The patient has an opportunity to be heard and understood from her own perspective .

After careful case taking and analyzing the case, the homeopathic physician decides on the remedy which suits the patient’s needs.

Other therapies like yoga, meditation, music therapy, dance therapy, hypnotherapy, anger management, and family therapy are available as adjuncts.

Some cases are due to psychiatric disorders such as antisocial personality, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Homeopathy has been found effective in such cases also,

where it gives people a second chance to adapt to society and live within the community.

 

Watch for the following symptoms:

Shock, denial, or disbelief

Anger, irritability, mood swings

Guilt, shame, self-blame

Feeling sad or hopeless

Confusion, difficulty concentrating

Anxiety and fear

Withdrawing from others

Feeling disconnected or numb

Sleeplessness

Fatigue

Pains/Aches

 

What should victims do?

Don’t isolate. Following a trauma, you may want to withdraw from others, but isolation makes things worse. Connecting to others will help you heal, so make an effort to maintain your relationships and avoid spending too much time alone.

Find a doctor/counselor- seek help and do not let things get out of control.

Ask for support. It’s important to talk about your feelings and ask for the help you need. Turn to a trusted family member, friend, and counselor. Join a support groups. Support groups are especially helpful when your personal support network is limited. Report the abuse to the relevant authorities to seek legal support.

Establish a daily routine. In order to stay grounded after a trauma, it helps to have a structured schedule to follow. Try to stick to a daily routine, with regular times for waking, sleeping, eating, working, and exercise. Make sure to schedule time for relaxing and social activities, too.

Take care of your health. A healthy body increases your ability to cope with stress. Get plenty of rest, exercise regularly, eat a well-balanced diet. It’s also important to avoid alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and drug use can worsen your trauma symptoms and exacerbate feelings of depression, anxiety, and isolation.

 

A Sample of Homeopathic Remedies for Victims of Domestic Violence and Offenders:

Ign.: The first remedy a homeopath thinks of when someone has suffered the “loss of a loved one”. This remedy often applies when there are symptoms of a lump in the throat, spasms in the body, feelings of disappointment in one’s life dreams.

Nat-m.: Often indicated in a “romantic loss” in very introverted people. They feel the loss as a breaking in half of their own identity. They will cry horribly while alone looking at pictures and listening to music, yet dread to show their feeling in public. This homeopathic remedy is especially indicated in cases where long term illness progressed from the loss.

Arn.: Indicated where the loss was perceived as a blow. Often this is a financial trauma from loss of a job or investment crash. In this case one would feel hurt, bruised, and tender and not want to engage the hard world. The opposite could be the case when you toughen up and engage life in a blunt forceful manner in order to regain what you lost.

Mag-m.: Can be indicated after the loss of a care giver where one feels abandoned and forsaken, left on her own, not able to fend for herself. This may be accompanied by digestive ailments.

Acon.: One of the common medicines that are used for the treatment of fear. This medicine is basically for people who are always anxious, fearful, and in a state of anguish.

Nuv-v.: For individuals who are fault finding, irritable, quarrelsome. Oversensitive to noise, odors, light, touch.

Lyc.: Issues like- self-esteem and self-confidence are affected. A person may be bossy, dominating to those who know him best, like family, yet act meek and fearful in public. Has fear of public speaking and even the inability to stand up for oneself in a conflict. Aversion to undertake anything new, aversion to company yet dreads solitude.

Staph.: Sensitive to scolding, insults. Suppression of anger, emotions; become speechless in arguments; sympathetic. Suited to individuals who do not allow themselves to express their emotions. His body may tremble in anger. Especially indicated when physical complaints appear after suppression of emotions and suppressed anger.

Lach.: Individuals who are loquacious- constantly changing from one subject to another, tendency to jealousy, suspicious. Religious mania, fear of being poisoned. Great weakness mentally and physically yet not  > lying down. Causes: disappointed love, egotism, anger, ailments from discord with parents, suppressed discharges, bad effects of tobacco.

Anac.: Irritable, irresolute, easily angered, lack confidence. Suspicious, irresistible desire to swear and curse; malicious, destructive, offended easily. Laughs at serious matters and become serious about laughable matters. Aversion to work. Forgetful- forgets names of near ones. The characteristics seen in this remedy are- shrieking and cursing when in rage, violent anger, abusive behavior towards partner and children, revengeful.

 

THE EFFECT OF HOMOEOPATHIC SIMILLIMUM IN POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

https://oatd.org/oatd/record?record=handle%5C%3A10210%5C%2F968

Lankesar (2004) researched the efficacy of simillimum treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Each participant completed the researcher’s questionnaire at each consultation and recorded their stress episodes on a calendar.

The information from the stress episodes calendar was evaluated and was used together with information obtained at each consultation to compile a descriptive study of individual cases. Statistical analyses, of the findings from the measurement tools, were not conducted.

This qualitative study indicated that the simillimum treatment was effective in reducing post traumatic stress frequency, severity and intensity. According to case histories, improvement in mental and emotional well-being, sleep patterns and energy levels were noted in all patients.

The insomnia experienced by the participants can be classified as secondary insomnia.

This study produced positive results although there were potential methodological flaws present. It was not a double-blind-placebo-controlled study and the sample size of

the study was small (n = 10).

 

[Peter Chappell]

In 2002 in Ethiopia Peter Chappell prepared PC1 for HIV/AIDS, a remedy that has been used all over sub-Saharan Africa in thousands of cases ever since. Soon also other genus epidemicus remedies were prepared for other infectious diseases, like malaria, TB, typhoid, cholera etc. Source Medicine is the organization run by Peter Chappell and Leilani van Kooten that makes new Source Remedies available to three European pharmacies that further prepare and distribute them (www.sourcemedicine.zone).

The Amma Resonance  Healing Foundation makes them available to partners it trains in Africa (www.arhf.nl). ARHF still calls them by the name Peter initially used -PC Remedies- as Africans are used to it and that name has been used in several books, manuals and videos that are used to inform and instruct health workers. Besides PC remedies against epidemic diseases there are also several resonances for physical and psychological trauma.

The first one that Peter Chappell developed in 2005, was for people of Rwanda that were still suffering from the genocide that took place in 1994. The results with

PC War &Genocide encouraged him to create and test further trauma resonances.

He worked on resonances for Shock, Rape, Long Term Grief, Unburied Relatives, Torture and many more. People reacted so immediately and profoundly, that ARHF

also tested these resonances in other African countries. We recorded some very touching experiences. Below are some examples.

Trauma cases

Case 1: A woman who experienced the genocide in Rwanda had severe headaches, pain in arms and shoulders and was sleepless because of nightmares. After PC War & Genocide all symptoms were gone in a matter of days.

Case 2: A young man in Congo who was in the Mai Mai militia had nightmares of the atrocities in the forest and felt very depressed after all he had experienced. He could not work and take care of himself. After PC War & Genocide he was able to sleep again, was in good spirits during the day and could live a normal life.

Case 3: A woman who was in Mai Mai militia was raped many times and involved in atrocities. She had a baby after rape and was constantly thinking of the fighting in the forest and the rape. She had nightmares every night. PC War & Genocide healed her from this trauma, and she was then able to care for herself and take care of her baby, and felt well.

Case 4: Another woman lost her mind during her time in the Mai Mai group. She had fear and constantly relived her experiences in the forest. After PC War & Genocide she was totally healed.

Case 5: A young man, also a former member of the Mai Mai group, with horrible dreams of war and who paradoxically had the idea to return to the militia, improved a lot after

PC War & Genocide. He no longer wanted to return to the militia and is nightmares reduced.

In many other cases we observe people getting rid of their nightmares, their physical ailments and that they develop new strength and vitality. Especially children have a wonderful capacity to let go of aggression and once again laugh. In the following case a child was blocked in its development because of a trauma experienced during its time in the womb.

Such developmental disorders could be corrected by trauma resonances as this case shows.

Case 6: A three-year-old girl whose mother saw her brother-in-law killed in front of her hut, had severe developmental disorders. The girl could not make any sound and was so weak that she could not stand. After PC Shock the child started to babble and tried her first cautious steps along a table. Also, the mother was released from her nightmares and the cruel memories after PC Shock.

 

Video Case 7: At arhf.nl under testimonies, you can find a video called “Rebels that got back to their senses”. Here an ARHF-volunteer for The Congo shares his experiences in treating rebels in their camp for the trauma of war. A month later he meets six of them carrying a hoe instead of a gun. They said: “You gave us this remedy while we were staying in the bush. After this remedy we had no more nightmares. It was as if our mind was closed, but now we can think properly again. We’re leaving the bush. Come and visit us in our village and treat our relatives, our children and our wives.

Video Case 8: On another video called “Rape Trauma” several women share the horrible experiences they went through and narrate how the PC Remedies they received for the trauma of war and rape healed them. This is beautifully summarized by one of them who said, “I am no longer a slave of the past”.

Refugees

After these wonderful experiences with trauma remedies in Africa, we also tried to help traumatized refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and of course from sub-Saharan

countries who came to Europe. We saw the best results with African people but refugees from other countries also reacted well. They could release their traumatic images, could relax and sleep well again. Stress was reduced. Here are some examples.

Case 9: A five-year-old boy from Syria, who experienced the long escape over the Mediterranean Sea and the march through Europe was so afraid, that he was not able to remove himself one step away from his Mum. He cried, had nightmares, and did not eat. After PC War & Genocide he improved and after the second remedy, PC Shock,

he behaved like a normal child.

Case 10: This was a young woman from Nigeria with two children (5 and 7 years old) who fled from Boko Haram to Germany. During the flight her husband cracked up

and wanted to kill her and the children with a knife. Luckily, she could flee from him with the children. After that she was crying a lot, had nightmares continuously and

was harassed by horrible images. With PC Shock the nightmares and the images were gone and she felt safe again.

Case 11: A fifty-year-old woman from Syria, who had to leave her 25 years old daughter in Syria was crying a lot, her whole body was aching, she couldn’t walk because

of the pain and she dreamt every night that her daughter was raped by IS. After PC War & Genocide and PC Long Term Grief the pain and the dreams were gone.

 

These touching stories show the healing these PC trauma remedies are able to bring about. I am convinced they are able to prevent violence and help refugees in getting back their strength and liveliness. I encourage you to explore PC trauma remedies for traumatized people that take refuge in your country.

PC Remedies for Trauma

 

Quelle: The remedies described above are available at three European pharmacies:

    Helios Homeopathic Pharmacy in the UK (www.helios.co.uk ).

    Hahnemann Apotheek in The Netherlands (hahnemann.nl – recept@hahnemann.nl)

    Apotheke zum hl. Florian in Austria (pcremedies@hlflorian.at)

Volunteers and volunteer organizations interested in using these remedies in their projects can contact ARHF for assistance and discounts. Please write to info@arhf.nl

As indications are not allowed on labels, all remedies have a code by which they can be ordered. The codes of the resonances mentioned in the cases presented in this article are:

    PC304x for war & genocide trauma

    PC11c for shock trauma

    PC435p for rape and rape stigma trauma

    PC434n for long lasting grief trauma

    PC427d for depression

A complete list of all available Source Remedies for trauma can be found at www.sourcemedicine.zone.

 

The concise manual “Amma4Africa Trauma Manual – Basic Guide to Treating Trauma” can be downloaded for free in English and French at www.arhf.nl/information/free_manuals.

 

 

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