A stranger in a strange land - Germanium metallicum

- By sandra wyner, rshom (na) cch 
 One of the most valuable benefits of provings is that we get to understand a remedy by experiencing it first-hand. Through an unexpected sequence of events I happened to experience, understand and utilize Germanium, not through being part of a remedy proving but through connecting knowledge of the proving with a personal life experience.
 In January 1997, I went to a Jeremy Sherr seminar in Florida. I had returned to the USA only two years previously from Australia where I had experienced tremendous inner turmoil related to relocating and 'culture shock.' At the seminar Jeremy shared with us the proving of Germanium. He talked of the conflict because of the stuck power within and the sense of powerlessness. He said that the person feels like a stranger in a strange land.
 As he talked of the remedy, I felt the state I had experienced when I first was in Australia. Two months later a mature teenage girl came into my office.

Case 

 Acne, prementrual syndrome, headache 

 Germanium metallicum 

 Case 

 Female, K.L.  aged 17 and first seen March 3, 1997 

 premenstrual syndrome

 Presenting symptoms 
 K.L.  presented on the 3/3/97 with acne, mood swings, throbbing headaches and cramps related to PMS.
 The cramps took the form of sharp pains in the abdominal area with numbness down both legs.
 Her skin broke out with her period and presented as large boils that could take two weeks to clear.
 Her headaches occurred with her period and lasted for up to three days. She had been suffering with headaches for five years.
 She was totally unmotivated, sleeping a great deal, not doing her homework and being irritable. She had a sense of hopelessness with no sense of the future.
 The mood swings were the most perturbing to her mother who talked of her having violent outbursts, feelings that she could not be successful at anything and therefore not putting in any effort to complete things. Her mother was worried that K.L.  was seeing herself as a loser.
 K.L.  was tall and blond (almost Aryan looking) with a heavy feeling to her gait. She seemed very weary.
 Her voice had a dreary monotonous quality to it, lacking fire or energy.
 Personal history 
 Three years previously, during K.L. 's 10th grade year, the family moved to Virginia and it was then that the problems began. "I think I was happy till I moved away in 10th grade." She was a cheerful, strong-willed, happy, creative, active, social child until ninth grade when the family was preparing to move away. She became moody and started to put on weight at that time. In Virginia she kept to herself, felt worthless and lonely. It was there that the menstrual cramps worsened.
 On their return to Massachusetts, K.L.  found that the friendships she had before were no longer the same and she felt very alone as she did not have a girlfriend to talk to. She felt isolated as the move had given her experiences that her peers could not understand. She felt on a different level to them: "More evolved emotionally and spiritually, they seem so shallow." She felt powerless as she said she had a perfect life in Massachusetts and her parents took it away from her by moving. "They ruined my life. I'm afraid to move again. I will have to move. I am so afraid to move."
 She talked about a friend of hers who had "made it out" by having a job and a boyfriend in a neighboring town. She was sleeping a great deal, was unmotivated to do anything socially or at school and was not exercising at all. She used to really love and excel at sports but currently was doing nothing at all. She spent most of her time in her chaotic room sleeping or on the couch watching TV. Her fuse was short and she was quarreling a lot with her parents. 'I feel angry a lot, I yell and throw things.'
 When depressed she cried a lot. When she was depressed the only things that made her feel better were eating and spending money. "Motivation is my biggest problem. I know I feel better when I exercise and eat well, but I don't." She was interested in doing a backpacking course in September but could not motivate herself to even apply. She had feelings of being a failure (so why bother) and of self-dislike. She is dependent on outside help to get her motivated: "My mother kept track for me, she lights the fire under me."
 Doing new things have always been threatening to her, according to her mother, even when she was a small child. K.L.  says, "I don't want to be awful at something in front of people who are good at it (e.g.  skiing). I have a fear of not being as good as others around me.' She needs a lot of peer appreciation and recognition.
 She is afraid of bugs, which she described as a real phobia.
 Craves fats, cheese, ice-cream, chips (for the salt), sweets.
 Averse fruits and meat.
 Thirsty for juice and iced tea.
 Has a history of antibiotic use for chronic sinusitis, ear infections and boils.
 Family history
 Hypothyroidism, cancer and clinical depression.
 Because of the family history of clinical depression, her mother has her "antenna up."
 I spoke with K.L. 's mother after the consultation by phone and she said:
 "K. has been so dependent on me for the past two years. I am concerned at the extent to which she is dependent on peer acceptance. I am fearful that she feels so powerless that she will not see a different possibility for herself. One night she was feeling so despairing that after drinking a lot of alcohol, she took a dive out of a second story window."
 Her mother did not feel that she will do it again:
 "She really scared herself."
 Analysis 
 The center of the case was K.L. 's sense of powerlessness as she was moved at a critical time in her life by her parents, those more powerful than she was to make decisions about her life. She even says, 'My parents ruined my life.' She was put in a strange place at a vulnerable time as an adolescent, when one is normally going through internal identity turmoil and heightened self-consciousness. Her experience was of culture shock, being a stranger in a strange land. Swinging mood, states of anger, tension, depression, confusion and fatigue are ascribed to people suffering from culture shock.
 The psychological distress experienced is caused by loneliness and cultural distance (even when moving from community to community in the same culture) resulting in a sense of isolation from the new environment. K.L.  felt very alone and imprisoned as she had to move against her will. This all led to a build up of inner tension and anger as her power was thwarted and suppressed by decisions above her. Her internal rumblings led to outbursts of anger and a desire to escape. Her feelings of powerlessness became a breeding ground for despair that was expressed as apathy, lack of motivation and fatigue.
 The four strong themes/ideas that led me to the remedy
 - Her friend, who was not powerless, 'got out'.
 - Outbursts of anger, due to the frustration of feeling powerless.
 - Sense of isolation, leading to total lack of motivation, as a result of moving.
 - Great dependence on what her peers thought of her (this is a common 'symptom' in teenagers).
 The remedy also covers headaches that tend to have a beating and throbbing quality.
 Rx: Germanium 200C, one dose
 The following repertorization shows the basic themes of Germanium as expressed in this case.
 1 month follow-up
 Severe mood swings and feeling very bad. All physical symptoms still bad before period.
 Motivation a little better. She has started exercising daily and is not sleeping as much.
 "I met a girl and have become friends with her. Now I have someone to talk to and it has really helped me through this time when I felt down."
 Plan: Wait
 2 month follow-up
 Cramps a little better but headaches are still bad and skin is still breaking out.
 She isn't sleeping well.
 She has taken a part-time job and was motivated to fill out application for backpacking program in the fall. She feels much more happily involved with her peers and has some good girlfriends.
 Straight As and one B at last school marking period.
 She feels the remedy has done nothing as she still has headaches and her skin is still bad premenstrually.
 Plan: Wait.
 3 month follow-up
 No headaches this past month, no PMS depression and hardly any cramps although her skin is still bad.
 She has been accepted to the backpacking program and is busy getting in shape for it.
 Did very well in English at school and is planning to do journalism.
 Her voice and presentation seemed lighter and more colorful. The heavy quality was noticeably absent.
 Plan: Wait.
 5 month follow-up 
 No headaches or depression the past two months and her cramps are normal.
 Her skin is still bad around her period.
 She is off backpacking the following week and very excited.
 Plan: Wait. I gave her a dose of the remedy to take with her in case she relapses.
 8 months after her initial prescription I ran into K.L. 's mother and she said that K.L.  was doing very well and appreciated the homeopathic work she had done with me.
 14 month follow-up
 Slight moodiness returned about two weeks into her backpacking trip and she took a dose of Germanium 200C and didn't experience one cramp on her trip. Since then she has had no headaches and no PMS. This past menstrual cycle she has had some cramps.
 "I still sometimes get down about a situation. Before I could not see a way out. Now I cope with it."
 "My skin is better. I still get acne, but it is better."
 She fell in love with the American west, was very enthusiastic about the bush and has applied to go to college in New Mexico. She had lost weight and was looking very healthy.
 Plan: Germanium 200C, one dose
 About a year and a half later I ran into K.L.  She looked wonderful and excitedly told me that she had been accepted to college in the Southwest for the fall. She said she had nothing to complain about physically.
Discussion 
 The following quotes in italics are from the proving of Germanium in 'Dynamic Provings, Volume One' by Jeremy Sherr.
 'The proving of Germanium is firmly engraved in my mind. A heavy turgid atmosphere prevailed, as if a thick gray cloud had settled over our minds. Communication during the proving was difficult. Provers were irritable and suffered extreme and long-lasting fatigue.'
 From the proving, the basic feeling of the remedy is one of powerlessness. There is a power inside that cannot get out: a dreary, heavy feeling with a great deal of weakness and lack of motivation. They cannot harness their energy to do anything. It is as if their vital force, their power, has left their body and there is a feeling of 'no one's home.'
Powerlessness
 The main themes of this case are powerlessness and isolation. The powerlessness is illustrated by:
 - Her parents ruined her life by moving her and she had no power in this.
 - Desire to escape and her friend who was not powerless 'got out'.
 - Apathy, lack of motivation: she cannot motivate the power inside herself and get herself going.
 - She has the feeling of being a prisoner.
 'I think that power can be used in a different way, not so destructive. I am no person. Feel I have no power when I meet people. Sometimes I feel I disappear. I am not in my body. My hands feel gone. My feet are cold; I don't like them. Yet I feel I have great power inside, especially I feel it when I get angry or when I sing.'
Isolation
 The second major theme of the case is 'isolation'-like a person wandering in a country where they do not belong. This is illustrated by the following:
 - Fear opinion of others
 - Feels worthless: useless and a total failure. That lead to self-loathing and self-disgust. Feels it would be better to die
 - Wants to belong
 - 'Stranger in a strange land,' from having moved at a critical time in her life.
 - Feels friendless and no one to talk to.
 - Sees herself as different and special.
 - Isolates herself.
 'I don't belong. I don't feel at home any place.'
 'Feel lonely. I nearly always feel special but always on the side/outside of others.'
Despair
 - Feels depressed.
 - Feeling of no hope, no release, so why bother. 'Hopeless, helpless, gloom and doom. Weeping and self-pity.'
 'Sad, indifferent and hopeless feeling. Want to cry but it won't come.'
Anger 
 This is a response to the powerlessness and is connected to it, but anger also alienates people, thus making them feel more isolated. The anger of Germanium is explosive.
 'Explosive anger, quickly forgotten.'
 'Germanium is a grayish-white crystalline metal. It belongs to the group IV, A of the Periodic Table, and is a member of the family that includes C, Si, Ge, Sn, and Plb. It is therefore related to these remedies.'
 I can relate this remedy to the experience of culture shock.
 I suffered from all the common symptoms of culture shock, and the totality of my state closely resembled the totality of the remedy picture of Germanium. This was my personal experience of the remedy and how I 'felt' it. Not all those with culture shock will feel a sense of powerlessness and respond with explosive anger. However, those who need Germanium will present with these symptoms along with extreme weakness and an inability to motivate themselves.
 What was remarkable for me in this case was the sequence of events and the unfolding of my education into a new remedy. Firstly the seminar with Jeremy Sherr. Then the realization of the connection between the remedy picture, culture shock and my own personal experience. And finally the appearance in my practice of K.L.  two months later. Even with the Jeremy Sherr seminar, I doubt that I would have prescribed Germanium had I not experienced the remedy state in my own life. Even the suffering in our lives can reap unexpected dividends.
 Sandra Wyner was born in South Africa and graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BS in Human Physiology. She studied at the Sydney College of Homeopathy in Australia, graduating with a Diploma in Classical Homeopathy and returned to the United States in 1995. She currently practices in Northampton, Williamstown and Amherst, Massachusetts.