CASE STUDY OF MIMOSA PUDICA PUBLISHED THE HOMEOPATH NOVEMBER 2003 NO 91


by Charles Wansbrough, RSHom and Kieran Linnane, RSHom.

 

The Leguminosae family, also now generally known as the Fabaceae family, is one of the largest families of flowering plants with 18,000 species classified into around 700 genera. The principal unifying feature of the entire family is the fruit, a pod, technically known as a Legume.

Our materia medica contains a wide variety of plants that belong to this group. In Rajan Sankaran’s recent volume, ‘An Insight into Plants’, he mentions in his general survey of this group 20 remedies belonging to this group, which is conservative by my estimation. Our own classification brings the total number of remedies found in this family to be over fifty.

Due to the size and sheer diversity of this group of plants, it has been subdivided by taxonomists into three sub-groups:

Our article concerns the third group, a minor sub-family containing some 40 genera and over 2000 species. They are distributed worldwide, but mostly tropical and subtropical with a focus on dry regions, as indicated by the largest genus, the Acacias.

The remedies found in the materia medica that belong to this subgroup are the following:


CASE ONE


First Appointment 25.01.01
The patient was a 19 year old student of classical singing. His presentation was mild and genteel.

The patient’s complaint was glandular fever. He had a sore throat which was especially problematic because he was learning to become a classical opera singer. Glands were up everywhere, especially around his throat, and he felt generally very tired, depressed and irritable. His voice was hoarse and he had a continual dry cough. He also suffered from general aches and pains around his back and shoulders. He had a rash around the top of the thighs which became worse with sweat.

His symptoms started three weeks prior to the consultation. He suffered from continual fatigue and reported that his general energy was down by at least 50 per cent. He was waking around 3-4 o’clock every morning feeling very hot and sweaty. Around 6pm he wanted to sleep for about an hour after which he felt okay until 11pm when he would go to bed. This particular symptom had only occurred since his the onset of his illness. His appetite had diminished and he craved fatty foods, chips sausages which was unusual for him. He also felt far more hot – “if it is more hot in a place I will just get extremely hot and it will become unbearable. Like yesterday morning at college it was really really hot and I had to open a window for fresh air.”

On being questioned about sources of stress recently he said, “It is quite stressful at college. I have to sing in front of people all the time and I hate doing that. It is pretty intimidating. When I have a big concert coming up for a few days before I really get nervous. Once I am up it’s fine - it’s just before the performance. If someone says you are singing next week, for that week every time I think about it I will be just anxious. Sometimes I might feel like throwing up a little bit and I have nausea. Sometimes I might get a bit weak in the knees. Sometimes it is like I am going to faint.”

On being asked whether he suffered from any fears or anxieties, he replied: “I don’t really like heights and sometimes I don’t like animals. I don’t like dogs and cats sitting on my lap. They could go mad at any moment and kill you! And I am quite concerned with what people think of me. That is linked in with my performance. I don’t really like heights. If I am in a high place I feel a little bit nauseous and a little bit like you imagine yourself falling. I don’t like roller coasters either because they are really fast, and they could crash.”

The patient said that he dislikes crowds, especially in the tube and dislikes it if he is touched by strangers. He described himself as generally sociable with people that he knew, was okay with perhaps one stranger but felt rather apprehensive with groups of strangers.

The patient dislikes scary movies and being in the house on his own (he lives at college during the week and at the weekends with his parents). “If everyone is asleep upstairs and I am downstairs and I have to switch off the lights to come up stairs I feel a bit funny.” He admits to not liking the dark – “I used to be really petrified of it. Now I am fine unless I think about it. I live in college in the week and there are big huge bathrooms with showers and if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom everywhere is deserted – I don’t like that. I feel a bit tense about that.” When asked whether he ever felt presences, he replied that when he was younger he felt sensitive to presences but not so much recently.

He said that he disliked confrontations with others, and used to have arguments with his parents a few years ago, but is now fairly easy going. He can be moved to tears over some music and has many favourite composers. He does not have a relationship at the moment since all the energy is taken up with the college and his study.

We asked him how he got on at college with his classmates. “At college people can be a bit bitchy because you are competing with everyone. I don’t really like college. There are only 500 people there and you only come into contact with about 100 people ever and it can feel a bit claustrophobic. And everyone forms their own sort of group. And it can be really competitive and bitchy. I mean I enjoy it for the opportunities you get and the fact that I get to study music and have the best tuition, and that is why I still stick it. If it had been a course I didn’t really like, I would have dropped out I think. It is not a really nice environment.”

Asked about his ambitions in life, he said that he was talented in both art and music and had to decide between studying fine arts at Oxford or a career in music. He wants to be a soloist rather than singing in choirs. Asked why he did not like singing in choirs so much he replied, “It is just that when you study your own singing and what you can do, that is what becomes so important to you. I mean if I didn’t have the chance of a solo career I probably would sing in choirs. It is just that I would much rather do the solo thing. It is just that it is so important to be self-reliant and to do things and organise things yourself - you don’t want to be led around by the nose for the rest of your life. And it does get a little claustrophobic performing in a group.”

He told us that he was a bit dreamy at school although would do his work.

He went on to say that if embarrassed he will get hot and blush over nothing but it is not that easy to embarrass him unless singled out in a large group of people. “Or if I am in a big lecture and someone asks me a question I will feel like I am going bright red. He admits to being quite self-conscious.”

He also said that his parents were quite pushy when he was younger when he played the viola and piano. “They were very pushy about me practising but they have never pushed me with practising singing because I do that by myself. I think they just wanted me to achieve something. I would say my father is quite driven. He does work a lot and quite hard. He is a company secretary and he works all hours of the day and night. We are quite different people.”

He has the following recurring dream:

“I have a falling dream, just before I fall to sleep I see myself falling. I am like spiralling downwards. I imagine myself hitting objects although you never do. You feel yourself sliding in between them. Then occasionally you will get a slight judder.”

Appetite and Food
His appetite is normally good, although he suffers from a dairy allergy, a few slabs of butter causing his throat to become raspy. Any dairy produce causes problems, goat and sheep products are fine. His allergy causes a lot of mucus production and he has suffered from this since the age of three and cannot sing properly. He also used to be very allergic to dust and cat and dogs’ hair. He still can be quite allergic to cats if they moult and the hair will start him sneezing.


Weather
He likes the rain and wind but enjoy a nice sunny climate. He is warm-blooded and also enjoys thunder and lightening.


Analysis
In a recent case by Prashant Shah in Homeopathic Links he describes exploring different approaches to homeopathy and derives a small remedy by applying the principles of imaginative materia medica where understanding is derived through applying a subtle use of the Doctrine of Signatures. An understanding of any material can be derived through many channels and it remains an essential feature in searching for very small remedies with a minimal of proving symptoms to expand one’s possible knowledge of that material by learning about a plant’s nature, habitat and its physiological properties. It is in essence an example of lateral thinking which is very much the source of our inspirational and intuitive modes of processing knowledge and is totally acceptable if it renders a clear result.

In the above case, we were at first unsure of our prescription. We made the following observations. The individual is artistic and sensitive and has a mild, slightly apprehensive nature. He needs his own space and withdraws into himself in “claustrophobic” situations. He does not like dogs and cats because they are unpredictable and he cannot fully relax with them. He does not like being touched except by people he knows, disliking tubes or crowds because of this characteristic. He prefers singing solo rather than in choirs, again as though his space is being invaded. He is apprehensive in front of crowds and suffers from performance anxiety. He is self-conscious, especially when singled out in a large group of people, when he will blush with embarrassment. He is self-reliant, sensitive, dreamy and has been known to pick up presences. He is apprehensive of horror movies and the dark.

One major feature that runs through the entire case is the nature of the patient’s sensitivity and the way he protects his own space and how he responds to his own boundaries being invaded. He can perhaps be fitted into a number of polychrest profiles; there is much that might indicate Pulsatilla, yet other elements might point to Silica. With such a cross patch of various possibilities, our observations led us to search imaginatively and symbolically for another possible remedy. Our initial intuitive reflection on this case was to assume that the remedy our patient required fell into the plant kingdom because of his particular sensitivity but no plant remedy that we knew seemed to constitute enough of a close match.

Our final decision came to rest on Mimosa pudica because of its unique signature. Our prescription derived from the intense sensitivity of the patient and the way he withdrew from situations. This activity is not dissimilar to the nature of this small shrub of tropical America which has this unique modality. Touching or shaking the plants stimulates the ‘petioles’ causing each pair of leaflets to close upwards against one another, and the main leaf stalk to drop about 60 degrees. After a while after the stimulus has been gone for a while it expands to its normal position again. It also closes at night, grows to over 30cm tall and has Acacia like foliage, prickly stems and mauve pink flowers.

The name Mimosa is derived from the Greek word mimos meaning imitator, referring to the sensitivity of the leaves to touch or injury. Pudica means humble, obedient. It is also known by another name: The Sensitive Plant.

A summary of the proving can be found in Vermeulen Synoptic Key Two. The plant contains the presence of an alkaloid mimosine which may account for its toxic effects on horses and other animals. Vermeulen writes: The main interest of the sensitive mimosa is in the extraordinary leaf movements which are likened by some to animal reactions, such as the snake feigning death, or animals fainting from fear. Vermeulen also quotes from a proving by Raeside in which a number of allergic symptoms were notable. Our patient described experiencing allergic reactions to dairy foods, dust and animal hair.

Rx: Mimosa pudica 200 bd for 3 days.

Three weeks later the patient’s mother phoned us and reported that although the patient’s energy had gone up, he was still coughing up much mucus. He was a little anxious as he had two concerts to do and would we prescribe another remedy to help with this. Feeling somewhat under pressure and being uncertain whether the remedy had worked, we decided to repeat the remedy at this point.

Rx: Mimosa pudica 200


2nd Appointment – 18.02.01

The patient reported that immediately after taking the remedy there was a marked increase in his energy (about 30 to 40 per cent increase) and he felt much better in himself. Then his cough which had been dry became productive and there was a lot of mucus ranging from “salivary to green.” Although his throat was less sore it still felt somewhat raw making singing a little difficult. He said that although he felt still rather “awful” in the morning once he got up he was feeling much better.

Analysis
We decided to wait. His energy was much better and he seemed to be discharging an enormous amount of mucus from his chest.

Rx: Wait


3rd Appointment – 15.03.01

The patient reported that three things had occurred since we last saw him. “One was that I had skin things. They started off as spots and then they became big sores and they have cleared up now, there is just some residual scarring. And then occasionally when I breathe deeply I still get a slight tension in the chest, which I did have originally but much much worse. With the glandular fever it was painful but now it is just a little tight sometimes. Then last week I had a stye on my right upper eyelid and my mum gave me some Pulsatilla and it has gone now. (His mother is currently training to be a homeopath.)

All his catarrhal symptoms are now completely gone and he was able to give his concerts.

We asked the patient how his energy was now and he responded: “Brilliant, I feel really good. Everything is good actually. I am very happy with my energy now. There is no in between with my energy. When I am tired, I am really tired and I have to sleep and then when I am awake I am awake. Whereas before, during the day I would feel sleepy and at night I would feel awake sometimes. There is no in between now. I know when I have had enough and I know when it is time to get up and start doing things, which is good.

Asked how he felt generally in life, he replied, “I feel myself getting a lot more accomplished these days. Usually I write a list and I only get a few things done but now I am getting all the things done on the list. I am not so prone to artistic depression. I also find that I am slightly less insecure – I don’t know whether this is to do with the remedy – I am slightly more confident. I always used to worry about what people thought of me. Now I am not so worried about that.”

He said that his dreams “seem be more based in reality – about things I have been thinking about during the day. They are not so random anymore. My dreams seem less abstract than before.”

We probed a little more about his general state. Did he feel less insecure in relation to other people? “Yes, and my relationships with my friends. I am less afraid of saying no. Before I didn’t like saying no. Yes, I am definitely more assertive. I never would say what I think. Recently I have been speaking my mind more. I will say something and think oh I probably shouldn’t have said that but seem to be okay with that.”

His mother who accompanied him to the clinic also said that she felt the he had changed since the remedy, he was much more certain of what he wanted to do, much more assertive and more decisive.

Since we were intrigued by the remedy, we decided to question the patient further to see if we could confirm any more symptoms which were listed in Vermeulen’s Synoptic Materia Medica Two.

What emerged was that the patient had a sensitive stomach when younger and was prone to stomach upsets. Examination nerves often caused some looseness of stools in anticipation of the ordeal. (See Vermeulen under Digestive system). If he did get sore throats when he was younger they were often tickling but worse speaking and coughing. (Pain and tickling in throat worse speaking and coughing). What was most interesting was his confirmation of the fact that he salivates at night dribbling onto the pillow, especially when lying on his right side. (Salivation at night when lying on right side.)


We discharged the patient at this point with the proviso that he phone us if he experienced any return of symptoms. We phoned him just prior to writing up this case and he remains well to this day.


CASE TWO


First Appointment 09.10.02
This case concerns a shy, mild mannered, blond, 6 year old girl, who suffers from recurring colds and bronchial symptoms which necessitate her having to stay off school and sometimes being so severe that she has to be hospitalised. The first symptoms are coughing and trying to clear her throat. She will have very thick phlegm of a greenish/yellowish colour. Then a dry cough develops which becomes heavier leading to her chest being “blocked” and sometimes breathing becomes so difficult her parents have to take her to hospital for emergency oxygen. When the symptoms begin she will say, almost despairingly, “Oh no, it’s here again.”

Past history
After being unable to conceive for 7 years, the mother finally fell pregnant. She said that she was overwhelmed by happiness. For 7 months the pregnancy was okay and then during a routine check-up it was discovered that she had very high blood pressure and she was rushed to hospital where she remained for 3 days. Eventually she underwent a caesarean section as the doctors told her that the baby was too small and not developing well. “I was scared and there were 4 consultants talking to me. I was weeping and so scared that I wanted the operation as I feared what would happen to the baby.” She was premature by 2 months and so stayed in hospital. After 3 months the child was okay.

For the first 3 years the patient’s health was good with occasional bouts of ‘flu. Signs of illness began after she started nursery at the age of 3½. A month later she developed pneumonia and was hospitalised. She had huge amounts of phlegm and was struggling for breath. Her mother felt that she never really recovered from this bout of pneumonia. A year later when starting primary school she again developed pneumonia and thereafter every time she got a cold her health would deteriorate into the symptoms described above. The doctor put her on an inhaler and she will use it only when necessary. The mother often has to keep her off school for 4 or 5 days at a time. She has been on many courses of antibiotics. She will have these symptoms every few weeks making it very difficult for her mother to sustain a job.

Noticing that both bouts of pneumonia occurred at times when she had to separate from her mother (beginning nursery and starting school), we questioned the mother further about these transition points. The mother said, “We are both very attached. When she was 3 and I took her to nursery it was a nightmare as it was her first time without mummy. As I was leaving she begged me not to go and started weeping. She started grabbing my clothes, begging me not to leave. I started to cry myself. In 2 hours I went back to fetch her, her face was completely red from crying. I decided to remove her from the school and we waited another 6 months before starting a second nursery. This was better. It took her a week to be okay.” However, a month after this she developed pneumonia and antibiotics were given. It took 6 weeks for her chest to be okay.


Present state
She is not quite so nervous anymore. She is generally calm and well behaved, obeying both parents. If her younger cousin does something naughty she will say, “oh mum, he shouldn’t do that.” She wants order in her room, everything has its place. She loves her room and remembers all the toys and is very neat and tidy. If she lends her toys to anyone she will remember exactly who has which toy. She has fear of the dark and has to have a light on at night. She has 2 best friends and many other friends. She will never start a fight, she will rather give things up and will avoid any confrontation. When she was one, the mother says that she was very attached to her. The mother feels that she was over-protective of her. She is very protective of her cousin and is very reactive if a friend gets hurt. She insists on others apologising to her if they have transgressed in any way. She will also apologise. She is very sensitive to things and will weep easily. If she is playing with friends she may become weepy saying, “she pushed me.” She will weep over very trivial causes.

Appetite and food
++ dry food, doesn’t want liquid in her food.
++ chips, fish pies, rice, fruits including strawberries and green bananas.
+++ lemons.
She will ask what colour the food is and will ask to smell it before tasting it.
+++ juice, water and ‘Sunny Delight’.

Analysis
The child was rather sensitive and had certain similarities to the previous case, so we decided to prescribe:

Rx: Mimosa pudica LM1


2nd Appointment 20.11.02
For the first four weeks after beginning the remedy the mother said that she did not notice any significant changes. “Then suddenly we noticed a change. She stopped whining and the cough seemed different.” She does not wake up anymore with a cough and the phlegm has disappeared. She still has a cough but it is milder and not bothering her very much. It feels much more superficial and is not stressing her as before. She is now more straight-forward and she is standing up for herself with her cousin. She is asserting herself much more. She said the other day, “Why is everyone liking nephew (cousin) and he is so naughty.” The mother reported that her sensitivity has also reduced. “She is not crying for nothing anymore.” She has not missed any lessons since taking the remedy. Usually by this point she would have missed school at least 2 or 3 times. She is eating more fruit every day – at least five fruits a day (oranges, bananas, plums, apples), she has never eaten so much fruit before. Her craving for lemons has reduced.

Rx: Mimosa pudica LM3

The mother was phoned at the end of March, and she reported that the child has not missed school since the 2nd prescription. This was in the mother’s words “a miracle” since for years she had missed school at least 2-3 times a month because of illness. She also reported that the child was happy and far more confident.

Although we realise that it is wise to wait for at least 6 months before publishing a case, however we feel certain that the remedy is correct and has worked at a profound level, and we wanted to include it with our first case in order to further delineate the features of this remedy.


Common features to both our cases:

• Over-attachment to mother

In the first case it was notable that the patient, although 19 years of age, came to the clinic accompanied by his mother. He had the air of being somewhat a “mummy’s boy” as if he had not been able to separate psychologically from his mother. Perhaps in response to his sensitive nature, his mother appeared slightly over-protective and over-nurturing of him. In retrospect it would have been interesting to gather more information from his mother about her pregnancy with him and his early childhood since it is most probable that he has needed this remedy from a young age.

Our second patient’s mother was also over-protective of her child (after so many years of not being able to become pregnant and then experiences of difficulties in the pregnancy necessitating a caesarean section). The child became ill at each point when a separation from the mother became necessary.

• Mild / yielding disposition / timidity / non-confrontational / emotional sensitivity

Both patients were extremely sensitive, mild and genteel in nature. In the first case, the patient was often unable to truly hold his own in a world which is often harsh and competitive. His response was to withdraw from situations rather than to confront. After the remedy he became much more assertive and able to set his own boundaries. We suspect that the remedy had initiated the beginnings of a psychological separation from his mother. In the second case, the child was extremely mild and would avoid any kind of confrontation. She would weep easily from any perceived slight. After the remedy the mother reported a change in her nature, she became much more robust and able to assert herself in situations.


• Fear of dark

Both patients reported fear of the dark.


We feel that Pulsatilla would be the closest remedy to Mimosa pudica - it certainly came to our minds after taking both cases - and that it may be a remedy to consider when Pulsatilla does not yield results.


Another case of Mimosa pudica by Karl-Josef Muller can be found on the Internet. See website:

http://www.lyghtforce.com/HomeopathyOnline/text/mueller.htm

Muller’s case concerns a 13 year old child called Johannes who suffers from stomach ache and vomiting every morning and anxiety especially around tests. He is highly sensitive and over reacts easily. Muller says, “I have never before met a 13 year old boy who cried that easily.” Interestingly, as in our second case, there were problems in the mother’s pregnancy and he was born through caesarean section. We concur with Muller who recommends that the remedy is added to the following rubrics (amongst others not listed here):

MIND; offended easily
MIND; SENSITIVE, oversensitive
MIND; SENSITIVE, oversensitive; reprimands, criticism, reproaches, to
MIND; WEEPING, tearful mood; tendency
MIND; WEEPING, tearful mood; tendency; easily

Fabaceae Family
Jan Scholten published an article about the Fabaceae family in the Millennium copy of Homeopathic Links and noted a number of general themes (none of which by the way are evidenced in our two cases). One of the themes he puts forward is the idea of a split in the patient with the feeling that they live in two worlds. “They love to enjoy the world, want to find pleasure, there is a desire for nature and simplicity, but the world isn’t like that, in contrast it’s often ugly, dirty and unpleasant. This split is reflected in the seeds which have two halves, like the peanut, Arachis hypogeia.”

This theme is reiterated in Sankaran’s chapter on this family in his new book An Insight into Plants. He bases his group analysis around the predominant sensation of ‘splitting apart’ ‘coming apart’ ‘scattered’ and ‘fragmented’ which are all the dominant themes of a the Baptisia state. We find this particular summary somewhat at odds with the cases presented, and feel that it is dangerous to make such overgeneralizations about this family. It is estimated that this family has over 18,000 species classified into 700 genera. This is just under a twelfth of all known flowering plants. They are an extremely diverse family, and constitute one of humanity’s most important groups of plants. They can be used as crops, forages and green manures. They also produce a wide range of natural products such as flavours, drugs, poisons and dyes. The species within the family range from dwarf herbs of arctic and alpine vegetation to massive trees of tropical forests. We thus find it somewhat ‘speculative’ and a dangerous precedent to make over-generalisations about a family which is so vast in its range and diversity. However, it may be that the sub-family Mimosoideae may have or possess a slightly different flavour to the principal sub-family Papilionoideae.

Another interesting feature of this sub-family is that it contains two plants, Mimosa hostilis (which has not be potentised) and Anadenanthera peregrina (which has been potentised), which are hallucinogenic and have been used by shamanic cultures in South America for many centuries. The fundamental alkaloid that gives rise to these effects is DMT (dimethyl-tryptamine), similar to the remedy Ayahuasca which has been potentised. These alkaloids are fundamentally different and lead to entirely different effects both mentally and I suspect homoeopathically. What is important to realise is that in basing our homeopathic profiles or thematic summaries on a few plants, the nature of the toxicity must also be taken into account. For example Baptisia, famous for the ‘scattered’ ‘fragmented’ profile, actually belongs to a separate group of alkaloids called quinolizidene alkaloids that have a predominantly different affect both toxicologically and homoeopathically.


References:
Article by Prashant Shah in Homeopathic Links 1/01
Synoptic Materia Medica 2, Frans Vermeulen, Merlijn Publishers
An Insight into Plants, Rajan Sankaran, Homeopathic Medical Publishers
Angry and tired A case of Phaseolus vulgaris, Jan Scholten, the Netherlands Homoeopathic Links, Millennium, volume 12 (5)