ALUMINA SILICATA

-GEORGE VITHOULKAS
Alumina silicata
Andalusite rock - Alumina 63, Silica 37 parts.
The essential features
This is another interesting remedy about which we do not have enough information. Most of the symptomatology comes from Kent and from the few cases where I have prescribed it so far. I am convinced that this is going to prove to be a very important remedy once we know more about it.
You may need this remedy in the deepest and most stubborn cases you meet in your homeopathic career. It is a remedy that contains in its pathogenesis elements from all three remedies : Alumen, Alumina and Silica and yet it has its own individuality. What is striking in my experience is the fact that those patients who need this remedy may present symptoms which are not very obtrusive, but deep and disturbing on a permanent basis. It seems that once an Alumina silicata symptomatology sets in there is no interval in the suffering of the patient, it is there all the time, day and night. In this way the patient becomes a victim of the most deep and annoying symptomatology. This subtle but incessant suffering becomes a great element of this remedy. For instance a woman may take to her bed for most of her waking time for years complaining of a nondescript lassitute.
It so grasps the system as to slow down its action and defences and leaves the patient in a miserable state. The brain seems not to work or works very slowly, as if clouded all the time; there is no moment when Alumina silicata individuals feel their mind is clear, and it is only in the evening that there is a little bit of an amelioration. They complain that their thinking processes have been diminished to the extent that they seem to themselves to be useless individuals. A usual expression is "I have become an invalid". They abhor any mental labor and slowly start giving up their everyday activities one after the other. This process takes a long time to develop, even years, but it is a steady and sure decline of the organism.
It is useful at this point to state a warning about this remedy: do not be in a hurry to change it if you see no apparent results within two or even three months. There is a definite similarity between the long process of time taken by the organism to develop the disturbance and the time needed for the cure. Yet in order to wait so long you must see some subtle, minute changes especially in energy levels and in a clearing of the mind.
This long process of development also takes place in the peripheral nervous system, where we see a course of very slow, gradual paralysis. The extremities become heavier and heavier, the body feels heavier every day and eventually they cannot lift their legs to step up a few stairs; the lassitude is so great that they take to bed.
We can see the same story with the constipation, which is stubborn and persistent, which nothing can help. The Alumina silica case will give you a story of progressive constipation, in the early stages of which the problem was not so bad, but which eventually came to the point where none of the laxatives could help. They have to strain a great deal, even with soft stools, and then only a small, unsatisfactory amount is passed.
Together with such conditions you may have chronic stubborn headaches where the patient complains of nondescript pains in the head - not severe, not excruciating but rather a kind of headache that paralyses the mental faculties of the patient rendering him "useless". These types of headache can be so persistent that the patient cannot perform his daily duties, the mind is clouded and he becomes irritable, irascible and dissatisfied.
In such cases you get the impression that the liver is torpid, slow, congested, not functioning properly. Bilious headaches.
The patient is irritable, never satisfied or happy as he feels that he cannot enjoy anything. He cannot take any heavy food, and experience teaches him to take good notice of everything he eats, and make sure that it be pure and simple and easily digestible. Often complete fasts are necessary for Alumina silicata patients to keep their health in a tolerable condition. Fasting seems to help the headaches, the constipation, the torpidity of the liver and the cloudiness of the mind and, in general, the congestion of the organism.
You may find yourself wondering how these people keep going as they lose flesh all the time, becoming anemic, emaciated, disturbed by any kind of heavy food, by cold weather, feeling constantly tired and having to have frequent rests.
Resting and warmth bring the greatest amelioration to Alumina silica, though they may desire the fresh air and may feel heat in the head. Any strong excitement or motion will aggravate their condition.
Alumina silica cases are closed in on themselves, year after year. They become more and more timid, introverted and reserved, and cannot face the challenges of life. They are very sensitive to criticism and easily offended but will not show it, attempting to hide it. They will suffer silently and deeply without making a strong point about their suffering. They have a desire for solitude, the presence of other people aggravates their symptomatology.
It is only if they are depressed, that they get some relief by telling some friend about their misery and depression. They don't like crowds of people, preferring the company of one person only, and they are better when alone, like Sepia in some respects, especially in their energy.
These patients are critical, dissatisfied, never happy or content. It seems as if they cannot enjoy the good things in life; they are displeased, dissatisfied with everything. They cannot tolerate contradiction and easily feel hurt and start weeping. They do not like to get into arguments as they know that if they get angry or upset this will cost them a lot, with more headaches, more constrictions, more cloudiness of the mind, more misery. They become morose, peevish, ill-humored.
With the decline of Alumina silica's mental faculties, indecision sets in, due to the fact that they cannot think clearly. They develop aversion to work, they feel mentally fatigued, prostrated. If they force themselves to study or to do some mental work they are aggravated, and even develop symptoms from mental work.
Other mental symptoms are: dullness, difficulty of thinking and comprehension. Difficult concentration, worse in the morning on waking where they feel confused, as if the brain were congested and torpid. They are absent-minded and make mistakes in speaking and writing, using wrong words. Deficiency of ideas. Weakness of memory.
And in the midst of this mental confusion Alumina silica patients develop an anxiety as if they were guilty, as if they had committed some crime. They are constantly reproving themselves, even feeling remorseful. They may also develop a covert anxiety about their health, or an anxiety in the evening, at night and after sleep. Eventually they become fearful, living in a constant state of fear, especially in the morning on waking. Apprehension that they will lose their sanity. This fear is mostly apparent on waking in the morning where the mind is most confused. She thinks that she is growing smaller and that she will fall if she rises to her feet.
Such numerous problems frequently cause these patients to fall into indifference, apathy, and eventually states of depression where they feel that they cannot go on living like this; they may wish to die, loathing life and contemplating suicide. Eventually a passive kind of insanity may develop with great mental weakness, religious affections and hysterical laughing.