Diagnosis: Osteoarthritis and Diabetes

Annie (fictitious name to conceal their identity), age 56 was a homeopathic student when we first started working together. She had osteoarthritis for a number of years and she had suffered greatly with joint pains, particularly in her lower extremities. She also had nerve pain (neuralgia) and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. She also had a history of a heart attack. She is married and she has two children.

Work, function and role

She had to give up high paid work that she very much enjoyed and which fulfilled her some years ago. She received state benefits as she could no longer work. She struggled to adjust to a new role of stay at home mum and a housewife. This has led to her overcompensating and some disempowerment of her husband and children. She was in her second year of studying homeopathy when I first met her and this brought new purpose to her life. She had a stair lift in her home as she could simply not climb the stairs during flare ups. She was also a wheelchair user.

She is a typical type A personality: driven, extremely hardworking, capable and ambitions. She’d get things done at all costs, and that includes her health. She would go into lengthy arguments when felt there was injustice happening towards her (so much so that she is fluent in legislation) or members of her family. She is massively protective of her family. She loves animals, particular dogs and has several.

Beneath the fighter front, we uncovered a wounded child. She told me how she was a result of an accidental pregnancy and how it was made known to her by her mother that she was unwanted. This manifested in how she got to be parented. There was little love or attention from her mum, with exception when her mum needed something. Annie felt closer to her dad who recently passed away. She would do practical things with him like car repairs and building work in order to earn his attention, recognition and love. She had tried to adjust to a new role of stay at home mum and a housewife but tended to overcompensate for feeling less worthy which resulted in disempowering of her husband and children.

For many years she had been on a cocktail of medication.

In the process of us working together:

• We set clear goals for what and why she wanted to achieve.

• We worked on healing the trauma (mother wound) - with homeopathic remedies, spiritual counselling and coaching.

• We did a lot of work around her relationship with work.

• I helped to grieve her dad’s death, establish healthy boundaries with her mother, showed her ways she could mothering herself (self compassion) and we have worked on communication, love and setting healthy boundaries with her children.

• We have worked on her financial wellbeing and current dependency on her husband’s income and state benefits.

• and subsequently her self-worth, her role in the family and dynamics in relationships.

• We worked on her creating and following an anti-inflammatory diet.

• Make time for movement.

This is Annie’s life now:

• She had the stair lift removed as no longer needs this. She no longer uses a wheelchair.

• She is able to turn up for her work reliably and is rapidly growing her homeopathic practice.

• She has healthier boundaries with her mum and no longer jumps when her mum asks her for help.

• She is beginning to show her mum how she too can support.

• She is learning to enjoy resting and leisure, not just work.

• She is no longer using her energy to resolve conflicts. In fact these have not arisen for a long time.

We are continuing to work together and I am supporting her around work-life balance and continuing to improve her health with the aim for her to be confident in her ability to build up her income being self employed and letting go of the security of the money she gets from the benefits system.

Insights

Your symptoms are an expression of deeper ‘dis'-ease’. You can heal. How long does it take? In the case above we saw progress after each session.