Lentinula edodes (Lent-e.) = Shitake/= Oak. Mushroom/=
Golden. Oaks.
Vergleich: Siehe: Fungi
[Chetna
Shukla]
*
Saprophytic.
* Tough,
pliant, as old leather.
* Prefers
forest shade where cold water is nearby.
* Growth
stimulated by vibration.
* Lowers
level of total cholesterol.
* Shiitake
dermatitis [flagellate skin lesions], resembling effects of self-flagellation.
*
Dermatitis < sunlight.
* Cap
umbrella-shaped, dark reddish brown when young, becoming lighter with age.
* Cap has
fine white threadlike tufts or scales, especially toward the edges.
* The dried
cap becomes cracked, taking on the appearance of old leather.
* Stalk
short and very tough (name from lentus, tough or pliant) centrally attached to
cap.
* Gills
off-white; spores pure white.
* Spring
and fall.
*
Saprophytic (wood decomposer); on dead or dying deciduous trees (oak, maple,
alder, chestnut, beech).
The family
Tricholomataceae contains many edible species, such as Pleurotus ostreatus
(oyster mushroom), Tricholoma flavovirens (man-on-horseback), Armillariella
mellea (honey mushroom), Armillaria ponderosa
(matsutake),
Marasmius oreades (fairy ring mushroom), Clitocybe nuda (blewit), and Lentinula
edodes.
* Shiitake
has been bandied about in different genera; it has been called Cortinellus
edodes, Cortinellus shiitake, Armillaria shiitake, and Tricholomopsis edodes,
but more recently it has been regarded as a Lentinula.
The name
shii applies to an evergreen tree, Castanopsis cuspidata, on which it grows;
take means mushroom. Shiitake, named Xiang-gu in China, is widely used in
oriental cuisine and said to be the third most popular culinary mushroom in the
world (1. button mushroom = Agaricus bisporus/2. oyster mushroom). For 2.000
years the Japanese and Chinese have cultivated it by boring holes in recently
cut logs of oak, hornbeam or chestnut, soaked in water, and inoculating them
with pieces of wood decayed by the fungus. The logs are hammered or vibrated
from time to time to stimulate mycelial growth, a practice known since the 14th
century, when logs were beaten
with a club
to "wake up" the fungus. After between 6 to 18 months the fruiting
bodies appear.
Contains: K
+ Fe + Cu + stem: Mn + Zn + niacin +
vitamins A and C and B [B1 (thiamine) + B2 (riboflavin) + B12] + sun-dried: vitamin
D; 4 or 5 mushrooms irradiated with sunlight equal the daily recommended
allowance
of 400
international units of vitamin D.
* In
traditional Chinese medicine, shiitake is used to treat high cholesterol,
atherosclerosis, colds, and flu.
Contemporary
cases of colds being "cured" when shiitake is taken are reportedly
numerous in Japan. According to the late Kisaku Mori, former head of the
Mushroom Research Institute of Japan, shiitake was regarded as a
cure for
colds during the Ming dynasty some six hundred years ago. But it wasn’t until
the 1960s that medical researchers began to ask why. As early as 1966, Kenneth
W. Cochran and colleagues at the University of
Michigan at
Ann Arbor discovered that shiitake could produce a highly significant level of
protection against a type A influenza. Type A flu viruses are the ones that
create major outbreaks and can become epidemic and even pandemic, spreading
from continent to continent. With the injection of a "crude" mushroom
extract, the average number of lung lesions in mice in the wake of flu
infection decreased by 46%. The clinically proven
anti-influenza
drug amantadine hydrochloride produced a comparable 40% score. Later evidence
showed the anti-influenza action could partly be attributable to shiitake¹s
spores. Made up into a water extract, the spores
proved more
active than the mushroom. Besides the stem and cap, in smaller amounts, the
particle-sized spores also showed up in the mycelium, even after heat treatment
to 33° C (91° F.). This research was taken deeper
when the
active part of the spores was isolated and it was found that they held
"virus-like particles" similar in structure to an influenza virus.
The discovery that these particles had induced the body’s own production of
interferon
- a powerful protein component of the immune system that literally interferes
with viral reproduction - and in amounts sufficient to protect against
influenza, inspired much more intensive research.
When
extractives from the virus-like particles consisting of double-stranded RNA
were used, anti-tumor effects were found as well. The effect was stronger than
that of an interferon-inducing drug known today as
Ampligen
(polyribonucleotide), but the spore products were never developed into a drug,
probably because the amount of interferon induced by Ampligen is 4x that of the
mushroom RNA.
[Jones
1995]
* Reproducible
effects of shiitake in lowering the level of total cholesterol have been
demonstrated.
*The use of
a broth of shiitake stems as a cure for liver ailments and diabetes by the
ancient Chinese is probably attributable to the high zinc content of the stems.
Among the functions of zinc in the human body are insulin activity and
maintaining healthy liver function.
*Japanese
and Chinese researchers claim that lentinan, a polysaccharide isolated from the
shiitake mushroom, is helpful in the treatment of cancer, heart disease, high
blood pressure, and diabetes. Modifying the activity of the immune system,
lentinan has been used successfully to treat stomach cancers. Another
well-studied preparation with proven pharmacological effects is LEM, Lentinula
edodes mycelium, which is harvested before the cap and stem grow. In Japan,
lentinan is classified as a drug, whereas LEM is considered a food supplement.
*Laboratory
tests seem to point to an important role of the adrenal-pituitary axis and
central-peripheral nervous system, including serotonin, 5HT, histamine, and
catecholamines in lentinan’s antitumour activity (Maeda et al, 1974).
* In Japan,
lentinan is often used to help support immune function in cancer patients
during chemotherapy (for instance cyclophosphamide), often leading to increased
survival times. It is well known that such chemotherapeutic agents can lead to
severe immune suppression.
* Lentinan
does not attack cancer cells directly, but produces its antitumour effect by
activating different immune responses in the host. This activation was at first
thought to occur only in immune-compromised animals,
but not in
healthy animals and was called an immunorestorative agent, but recent work has
uncovered a true immunopotentiating effect, by showing a clearly augmenting
effect on the proliferation of peripheral mononuclear
cells from
healthy human donors, which is also supported by animal studies (Aoki, 1984).
* Lentinan
works through both humoral and cell-mediated immune mechanisms to support host
defense against various cancers, bacteria (tuberculosis), viruses (such as the
AIDS virus), and parasites (Aoki, 1984;
Mizuno et
al, 1992).
*Lentinan
may also be useful in clinical practice for strengthening immune and endocrine
functions of elderly people and people who are run-down from overwork, as well
as the prevention of cancer in high-risk individuals,
both orally
and by injection (Aoki, 1984). In Japan, in the treatment of low natural killer
cell syndrome [LNKS], a disease that appears to be identical to chronic fatigue
syndrome in the West, lentinan was successful in
reversing
the symptoms of remittent fever, persisting fatigue, and low NK cell activity
(Aoki et al, 1987). (Hobbs 1995)
*No toxic
effects have been reported, only "minor" side effects or allergic
reactions (due to its histamine-sensitizing properties) including diarrhea and
"numerous cases of shiitake dermatitis." "In a phase II trial,
only 17 of
185
patients with advanced cancer had similar transitory side effects. Skin
eruptions were noted in 7 cases, mild oppression on the chest, 6 cases, and
mild liver dysfunction, 4 cases. In a follow-up phase III trial by the same
researchers, 15 out of 275 patients experienced nausea and vomiting (2),
heaviness in the chest (4), heat sensation (2), and one case each of face
flushing, a rise in blood pressure, and heaviness in the head." [Hobbs]
*People
taking anticoagulant medicines are advised against consuming Shiitake beyond
occasional use in foods since the mushroom has been reported to hinder blood
coagulation.
* Shitake
dermatitis is characterised by flagellate skin lesions, so called because they
resemble the effects of self-flagellation in medieval people. The lesions
consist of edematous, erythematous streaks occurring in a
centripetal
distribution over the trunk and proximal extremities and have alternatively
been described as Œlinear streaks and Œzebra-like strope eruption.
Photosensitive skin lesions on exposed areas are an accompanying
factor.
Analysis of the case histories of 94 Japanese patients with shiitake dermatitis
has shown that 47% also developed dermatitis on the skin exposed to sunlight.
It has been observed, in addition, that flagellate dermatitis
is not rare
as a drug eruption following bleomycin therapy. (Bleomycin is an antibiotic,
derived from Streptomyces verticillus, used in the treatment of cancers. A side
effect of bleomycin is )
*The
shiitake is a forest fungus that prefers shady places. It inhabits cool
temperate regions. The logs on which it is cultivated are left in shady parts
of the forest or shaded forest conditions are artificially simulated. Its
contents, particularly the lentinan, decrease markedly at temperatures higher
than 20° C. In this context it is striking that the dermatitis evoked by eating
shiitake, in sensitive persons, is aggravated by exposure to sunlight.
PROVER 1
(She is a
homoeopath, 35 years. Having participated already in a few provings. Her
constitution is not known.)
She was the
one who prepared the medicine on 11th day of June 2004
Day 1
While I was
preparing the medicine I moved my neck to look for something in the left and it
clicked. After that I have a pain in the neck-it seems to be starting from the
base of the skull and the occipital prominence. The platysma muscles got stiff.
Every time I moved my neck to the left it clicked. The pain also seems to be
going to the vertex. And every movement is painful and heavy. The eyes started
to burn, that was better washing with
tap water.
For a while to relieve this stiffness I tried sleeping in the Jesus position
(straight on the back with arms stretched), but it didn’t help much-the relief
lasted only till I stayed in this position. While sitting up from
this
position I felt the head very heavy on the shoulders. It was as if it was an effort
to lift it. It was as if the weight of the head was more than I could carry. I
was conscious that I was carrying my head on my shoulders.
It was
already shower time so I went for a shower. The pain continued till I slept. No
dreams in the night.
Day 2
When I woke
up in the morning I had a feeling as if I had slept the whole night in the
right lateral position. I did not have the neck pain and cracking. But in the
morning I felt as if time was moving slowly. Saw patients continuously from
10h. to 4 noons without feeling hungry! And in the sun I walked empty stomach
without feeling weak. I ate my lunch at 5 p.m. and I didn’t feel sleepy after
lunch. At 7 I started to feel the burning in the
eyes again.
There was no head heaviness and neck pain. I realized that my skin of the face
on the cheeks was getting dry and peeling-the way it peels in winter or after
exposure to strong sun. I had to apply some cream as it
felt very
dry.
Day 3
I felt none
of the symptoms I felt in the last two days. But in the afternoon I realized
that I developed a painful callosity on the undersurface of the great toe of
the left foot. It was tender and painful even on soft touch. I had to walk with
my great toe extended up as even the touch of the footwear caused a knife like
pain. In the night at bedtime I applied some cream.
Day 4
Sunday, I
woke up very late. It was a nice day. No dreams during the night. I went
shopping for myself and to my surprise I bought floaters that were of the
design for men. I liked them and felt I needed them for the trip to the
Himalayas. In the evening as usual our family was together and we had a nice
time.
Day 5
In the
morning I took the dose with the first prover who came to collect the dose. The
clinic was like usual. I came home had lunch. I did not feel like having the
mango today. I lay down in bed in the afternoon and I felt a shortness of
breath as if I would get an attack of asthma. I felt as if something was stuck
in the throat and felt tightness in the chest over the sternal region. A burning
sensation at the throat pit with a lump feeling. This
vanished as
I sat up. In the evening I wore the floaters to get used to them before wearing
them on the trek. I didn’t like the look of them-they looked very huge and
manly to me today! But they were very comfortable. Than
I told
myself “we have to set trends, whatever we wear will be fashion for us!” after
this I could walk comfortably without any embarrassment on the streets. The
callosity had vanished.
Day 6
I was woken
up by the telephone ring at 8 but with the memory of the dream that I had in
the night.
Dream* the
first sequence is that I am on the steps of a temple high up on a rocky hill
with barren land surrounding it. I see a couple in the scooter with a sidecar
in light pink clothes. Their clothes were flying in the air and
with the
wind and I had a feeling that they were searching for me. But I did not want to
meet them; I was trying to avoid them, as I did not feel like talking to them. Any
ways they could not see me as I was up on the steps.
The scene
than changes, I see me shopping in the temple corridors. There were on sale two
skulls of hyenas, some musical instruments and other things. I go to have a
look at these skulls. On closer look I realize that one of
the skulls
is of the dog and it has been manipulated to look like that of the hyena. I
tell the shopkeeper-a lady- that the skull is manipulated. She says if you want
two than she can get it in some days as one of the hyenas in
the forest
is dying so she can get it for me!
There were
no feeling attached to the dream sequence in the dream. But on waking up I felt
very different. Although there were no feelings attached it was weird for me to
dream like this.
It was
raining heavily and I felt like not going to work but I did go. Clinic was as
usual. In the afternoon I slept from 4 to 7 (unusual). When I had cramps in the
lower abdomen I realized that my menses that were due for the
10th got
delayed, I also did not have the breast heaviness that I have been getting
before menses since sometime.
In the
night I felt the same suffocating feeling in the throat as if I would get
asthma.
Day 7
I observe a
fast every Tuesday. Nothing unusual happened in this day. I had promised to
give these extra kilos of mushroom to a friend. But I called him and said that
my mother would like to try them as they have anti-cholesterol properties (I
read from the notes that you have sent to me. They also have anti tumor
properties and my mom has duct cell carcinoma of the breast.)
Day 8
A dreamless
night. Woke up with prayers for my mother “god heal her, help her heal
herself”. In lunch she served me the shiitake mushroom and I hated the smell of
it. I could not gather any courage to put them in my mouth.
My mother
and the rest of my family ate them gladly, but I could not.
I saw that
I have developed blepharitis on my upper eyelids. The skin of the cheeks got
clear.
Day 9
My family
and I noticed that I have developed a funny habit in the last few days. For any
decision I say let us throw chits. I told her that we will decide while on the
pilgrim by throwing two chits labeled ‘to go’ and ‘not to go’
at the foot
of the lord and than you chose one. I will follow accordingly! They laughed at
me and said this was very funny of me. I was not able to take the step. All
this while I was sure I will not go and now I wanted my
destiny to
be decided by a piece of paper. The feeling behind this was that ‘God would be
deciding through my mother’, secondly ‘I had no responsibility of taking the
decision’ and this ‘would free me of the guilt I would
have
otherwise had if I had to take this decision’.
Day 10
Today was
the second day of menses and I had pain and cramps with rectal tenesmus. Each
time I got the cramp I had to crap (evacuate), the stools were crumbling. After
evacuation I felt better in the cramp. The pain vanished
by evening.
In the night I had a backache. It was a burning pain in the thoraco lumbar
region. This pain was better by extending backwards-the stretch relieved the
pain. I felt like applying balm, but I refrained.
I realized
I have developed a callosity on the tip of the first finger of my right hand.
The right eye seemed to be developing a stye in the outer canthii of the lower
lid with pain every time I blinked.
Day 11
I developed
a boil on the flexor aspect of the upper arm close to the axilla. The shortness
of breath still continues without any specific modality, with this shortness I
also feel a lump in the throat. I also feel a pain in the sternal bone on
pressure. Backache still there.
Day 12
Today I
noticed that I have been feeling an empty all gone sensation in the stomach
with a nausea that ends in the throat. But this has not affected my appetite.
There is a
boil developing on the olecranon process of my left clavicle. It is painful
with sharp knife like pains.
Day 13
The neck
aches again. The head feels heavy for the shoulders. It is difficult for me to
carry my regular bag. I have to carry it like a baby, not on my shoulders or carrying
in my hands. Eyes burn every evening.
Today I was
fasting again. Mood was getting very hopeful in these days I realized. I think
since Sunday. I was travelling by train and (unlike me) I started a
conversation with strangers (co passengers). And when one of them
asked me
what I do I said, “I do nothing, I am a housewife”. I don’t know why I wanted
to hide my identity as a homoeopath.
Day 14
The neck is
still hurting and the back too. But by morning the back gets better. Most
complaints I feel are worst in the night. Today morning the nausea ended in a
vomit. I could not retain the tea. The nausea was there till 5 h. that is the
time I ate my meal. Thereafter I slept from 6 till 7. The sleep was very deep
and I woke when the telephone ring awakened me. I felt as sudden lack of power
as I woke up-no power all over.
These days
I also realized that I sit for minutes doing nothing, nothing in fact-no
thinking too. I am not lost, but I am just sitting still. It is a state of no
activity-in body and mind!
Day 15
In the
preparation of the pilgrim I was not aware of what was happening. But I had
some dreams that I do not recollect. By now I realized that I had developed an
eczematous eruption on the skin over the medial aspect of the
left middle
finger extending from the nail bed to the middle inter-phalangeal joint. There
was no itching at all.
From 26th
June to the 15th July
During the
trip I noticed that this eczema started to get better and while I write this
(15th July) it has completely cleared. It is as if there is nothing now. I
noticed that this got better after I had a dip in the ‘Taptkund’ (hot water
spring-essentially Sulphur in it) at ‘Yamnotri’ (the origin of the holy river
‘Yamuna’ that starts from the Himalayas) on the 2nd July.
I had three
dreams during the trip…
On the 4th
July…
* I was coming home from somewhere and I had to
attend a conference where all homoeopaths from world over were put up in a big,
huge house. It was a dormitory accommodation. While entering the building I
meet
my friend Katka, I tell her I will put my bags
and come and see you soon. But while searching for my room my bag gets thrown
around and it breaks, all my clothes get scattered and I am trying to arrange
them in the
bag and now they do not fit in the space
available. I somehow manage with difficulty. I am searching for the room but I
get lost. Everything seems like chaos! I could not find the room, I could not
meet Katka, I could
not arrange the bag and I feel chaotic and lost
in the vastness of this house.
On the
night of 7th-8th July when I was at ‘Kedarnath’ (the temple of Lord Shiva) and
in the morning I had to go early (at 5 h.) for the pooja…
* I see my mother and me walking towards my
clinic. The feeling is that that both my brothers are dead. She decides not to
come and goes back home. I come to my clinic and see everything under
renovation. The tiles
of the floor half done, the walls being painted
and a lot of patients sitting the waiting room waiting to be attended by the
locum doctor. I announce that I won’t be available for a while. I feel lonely,
left alone in this
world without anyone. The feeling is that my
sister in law with my nephews will decide to go away to her maiden house, now
that she is a widow. I am all alone in this world without the protection of my
brothers. I wake up weeping.
In the
train while coming back on the 13th July…
*I dream that I am watching a photo-frame
hanging on the wall given to me by my friend. It had three rats with large
front teeth (incisors) arranged in a triangle around a flower with their mouths
meeting in the center
of the triangle where lies the flower. It looks
a bit scary. While I am watching I feel ‘what if they come alive?’ and to my
surprise in the next scene I see that I am trying to lay a trap to drive away
these wild rats out of
the house which looks like a studio apartment.
There are no floor tiles but only rough cement surfacing on the floor. I am
closing all the windows and leaving just the door open for them to leave. I put
all the properties
of the house above the ground. I am scared that
they will bite into my body but it is also important to drive them out of the
house.
I came home
in the morning of 14th. While I was removing the covers from the bed I saw the
feaces (small balls) of the rat on the bed. I went into the kitchen where I saw
the edges of the newspaper covering the utensils for use eaten at the edges by
a rat. With a little fear in me I told my family that I see signs of a rat/s as
a guest in our house. (The housekeeper must have left the windows open by
mistake when she came to clean the house before our arrival.) This brought
alive the dream in my mind. We laid a trap in the night but there was no rat in
the mousetrap and no other signs of his presence in the morning.
In the
physicals…
1. Three days in a row- 29th to 1st July I bit
my cheeks in the left side while eating.
2. I had desquamation of the skin of the
forehead (from 1st to the 6th July).
3. I developed pimples in the left nostril
(from 4th to the 12th July).
4. I did not feel tired at all despite a hectic
schedule. I was fresh all the time in the body.
5. I have developed pain in the left ankle and
the left knee. The pain in the left knee < squatting .The type of pain in
the ankle and the knee is sudden, sharp and pinching. I feel it like gout? The
pain is not aggravated walking…no other modality.
I also
noticed one thing during the pilgrim I never told anyone that I was a doctor.
If I introspect, the reason was to avoid unnecessary questions from people for
remedies for their ailments-‘the Quickies’! I wanted to avoid the explanations
that I had to give to people about case taking and the homoeopathic approach
every time I said I was a homoeopath. Although I gave first aid to two pilgrims
during the trip (when I saw they needed it, I said I was
a doctor
and could help them if they accepted it.) I also requested my brothers not to
proclaim to everyone that I was a doctor unless they were really inquisitive. I
also did not want to lie.
The days
went by as a routine after the 15th July. I noticed nothing new and different.
PROVER 2
(25-year
homoeopath, her constitution not known. She had participated in the proving of
the Tiger’s urine and this was her second proving. She is very much fond of
surgery so assists a Cardio Thoracic surgeon from morning
to evening
and practices homoeopathy in the evening. I met her first when my mother was
operated on her heart by this surgeon. I saw her very much dedicated and
sincere in her work. She is very lively and talkative.)
First
report
Verbatim as
given in writing…
Dose taken
on 18. 06.04 in the night at 22.30 h.
19.06.04
Early
morning at 2 h. sudden onset of throat pain, left pharyngeal wall. A lumpy
feeling that came on empty swallowing and better by drinking warm water; pain
in touching the throat from outside, with sneezing and nasal discharge-whitish.
This lasted for one day only.
I also had
increased frequency of urination – 2x at night and 7x during the day.
20.06.04
Boil on the
left breast 1cm x 1cm, below the nipple in the inferior quadrant, sudden onset,
painful, slight pus discharge. I noticed in the evening. It disappeared on
plucking it.
21.06.04
Leucorrhoea-profuse,
thick and albuminous with sensation of wetness in the vagina (since 19th it
started), non-offensive, not staining.
All the
three days I had a desire for rice- fried/seasoned/mutton pulao (rice).
Second
report
(Accident:
She had sent to me these handwritten notes by courier. But I have still not
received them till date. We lost them. She got them delivered to me through a
common friend.)
In the last
few days I developed acne on my face, more on the forehead. They were pustular.
There has
been profuse sweating, non offensive, non-delible. The sweat on the face is
oily and greasy. I have to wash my face 5-6 times daily. Even after a bath I
feel oily I the face.
I had
earache for one day, right ear. There was no cold no cough with the ear pain.
It was a dull ache.
This week I
developed a boil on the right side on the chest, not the breast, it was non pustular,
small red and fiery. The next morning it started to subside.
The desire
for rice has gone.
I got
‘pissed off’ (angry) on my family when my grand mother got ill. I felt all the
responsibilities are ‘thrusted’ on me! I felt no one is there to shoulder them.
I felt only I am doing anything. I need to be helped by them.
They waited
for me to get her admitted. This at least they can do. It can be done by
anybody. This time I created a tantrum while she was to be admitted. Finally my
mother had to tell me to behave myself. I feel that I am not capable of taking
responsibility. If they did this much, it would be a little less work.
I had one
dream…
“ I see a small snake in the water tank with
other inconspicuous fishes. On its tip at the face end it had a sharp
projection. It keeps hitting on the lid of the tank-as if trying to open it.
After several attempts it manages
to open the lid and comes out. It comes out of
the tank and starts to follow me. It is running after me. My grand mother tries
to hit it with a stick but it runs away. It hides behind the mattress on the
bed and tells me
‘main tujhe chodunga nahin’ (‘I won’t leave
you’)”
In the
dream I feel ‘surprised’ as to how this ‘chintu’ (tiny little inconspicuous
thing) manage to open the thick lid of the glass tank.
I got my
periods two days earlier. This time they were very, very, very, very painful.
The bleeding started at 9 h. without pain and by 9.30 thee pain started. By
10.30 the pain was so sever that everyone could see it on my face.
I had to
come home. I had nausea with the pain all the way back home. I vomited
everything. I took a hot water bag on the abdomen and went to lie down in bed.
Never in my life I have vomited during menses.
In the
evening I hired a rickshaw to go to the hospital. The driver asked me while I
was getting down if I were a doctor in this hospital. I said, “No, I am not. I
have come here to visit a patient” I hid my identity that I was a doctor. I
don’t know why?
I had one
more horrible dream about a patient who is on bed 2/18 in the I.C.U…
“In the hospital this patient is on bed no 2/15
and was operated on the heart. In the dream I see him not feeling well. Sir
says to get the wheel chair or the deathbed and he is shifted on it and
mobilize him.”
In reality
this patient already got better and went home. But the next morning a woman who
was operated and was on this bed 2/15 was to be transferred to the primary care
out of the I.C.U. She was being transferred to the
ward on the
wheel chair and suddenly she collapsed and died. It was the same sequence as in
the dream but with a different patient. I felt did I see it before it happened?
I also had
throat pain with rawness. It was a sensation as if scraped from inside on
swallowing with greenish phlegm, and pain radiating to the right ear.
I feel I
pass more urine, profuse urine. I have to wake up in the night to pass urine.
I had one
more dream in which I saw you. I don’t know if it was my dream or my
imagination. I see that…
“ We are
sitting facing each other across a table. I am telling you my proving symptoms
and suddenly your eyes turn bluish stone like. They are shining. They become
big and converge to become one. Now you have only on eye in the middle. You
look dreadful. But I am not afraid. I only think that you are making me an ‘MTV
Bakra’*
*In this programme there is a hidden camera and
one person is targeted (Bakra) and made a fool of. It is similar to “Just for
Laughs” program.
Third
report
I again got
a pimple on the right breast.
I have been
getting a lot of dreams. One I remember, in it I was an ‘Aatma’ (spirit) and I
was standing in a group with a lot of people and I am not aware that I am an
Aatma; someone makes me aware that I am one. It means
that I am
dead. I also have been seeing a lot of dying scenes. I saw a dead puppy, and a
dead rat.
I had a
spotty pain in the right arm, very tender to touch.
I was
fighting a lot with my sister and my mother. My mood is horrible. I have no
fights as such and after the fights I didn’t even go to patch up. I did not
talk to my sister for 4 days. I felt ‘go to hell, why should I go to patch up?’
I have also
been making a lot of mistakes in writing. I had to write ‘Bombay’ and I wrote
‘Dombay’. Many such mistakes in writing and in speaking too.
Belated
report…
I had thought
that it had all stopped but the other day when I SMS you I got urticaria since
morning. It got aggravated after bathing. It got better but in the evening it
was worse between 3-4. The next day it again got worse in
the morning
on waking up, it got worse after bathing. Than in the evening I felt ice
application would help and it relieved immediately. This lasted for 7 days and
than it was better.
I keep
having dreams of …
*‘Atma’. I see my mother floating in
the air like a spirit.
These are
not my dreams. I also had one strange dream-sexual…
* There is this uncle (whom I respect very
much) wanted to have oral sex with me. My grandmother is also there in the
room. She expects me to say a yes. I keep saying a no but than I give in to the
demand. Suddenly
I feel what am I doing?
I also
noticed a spotty pain; it is tender in this spot that is over the right
deltoid. It was for 3-4 days.
PROVER 3
(A 31-year
female homoeopath. She receives Calc-brom as her constitution from her
homoeopath. She is married with a child aged 4. Since the marriage she has
stopped to practice as her husband had a travelling job.
Her parents
always wanted her to continue work but she could not gather any courage to take
permission from her in laws and her husband. She had already reconciled with
this fact until this proving…)
First
meeting
I took the
dose on the morning of 14th July.
“ When you
contacted me for the proving I felt I wanted to do it. I told my husband that I
am doing a proving. I did not feel that I need to take his consent, I just
informed him. I never was in two minds like always-should I
ask him
permission, ask him for a yes or no to do it, take his opinion whether to do it
or not. I took the dose and I told him that I am participating in the proving
with you!
He said a
no and I said whether you say a no or a yes, I will be doing it. I have already
taken the dose. He also did not say anything and there were no issues.
Now I can
easily leave my son (4 years) with my mother in law everyday. I would normally
feel how will she manage, she is old and felt guilty. Now I feel he is 4 and he
can manage on his own, she just has to be around and
it is not
going to stress he. I could reason this without any guilt feelings.
Every time
my mother in law would ask me to drop her somewhere by car I could not say a
no. I would feel pity, guilty telling her a no. This time I said a ‘no’ without
feeling bad.
I have
developed a pain in the right foot from the 17th June with swelling of the
great toe. I don’t know why there was pain and a little redness too. I had no
injury too.
On the 18th
my moods were very depressed. I felt a constant feeling of boredom. I did not
know what I wanted. I feel sometimes like this before menses, but I was not
even due for them.
On the 19th
moods were normal, no pain in the foot.
I dream but
I do not remember them.
On the 22nd
I had a dream…
* I was going somewhere with my husband. It was
a crowded place. There were some boys and girls. It seemed like a college
place. They misbehave, or pass some comment on the principal. I tell him not to
tell the
names of these students to the principal,
because if us their lives / future will be spoiled if they are rusticated by
the principal. He does not tell their names and some students are listening our
conversation. When we
come out they shake hands with us and are
happy.
In this
dream my husband listens to me (in reality I am the way I am the way he wants!)
Second
meeting
I keep
feeling that I have no value. I must get independent. I must be independent enough
to decide what I want to wear (clothes), what I want to shop, what I must do in
life. I never decide, everything is according to his choice.
I also have
a lot of arguments with him these days. I used to do it before too but now
there is anger –as a feeling within and also demonstrated.
The other
day while I was working in the kitchen he came to help me saying come I will
help you cut vegetables and peel potatoes. I said ‘No’, sternly with anger. I
said ‘I don’t need help for these minor things, I need your support for other
things’. Here what I meant was getting independent. I don’t want to depend on
anybody.
I feel that
I don’t just get time for myself, for what I want to do, to do what I am
capable of, to do what I am qualified for. I am only doing things for my
husband and my son and I don’t get time for myself. I don’t mean that
I will
neglect house but as a doctor I need to put my qualifications to use, and
certain odd jobs that I am doing can be done by others (without qualifications,
I mean employ servants). They like it when others daughter in laws
are working
and pursuing a career. But when it comes to their daughter in law they don’t
like he going out!
A lot of
times I was grumbling and irritated and told everyone to ‘mind your own
business’.
I have been
thinking to join someone to get update with the advancements in medicine and
homoeopathy. I have left it since the last 6 years. I keep feeling that now my
son will go to school from 9 - 4, what will I do at home?
I must
start working with someone. I know they will not like it but eventually they
will get used to it. (Smiles!) It is not that I want to avoid or run away from
housework, but it is the feeling to put my qualifications and intellectual
capabilities to good use!
I feel I
have become strong…(thinks) no, assertive is the right word!
Physicals…the
sweat smelled. It was not offensive but some sort of a sweaty smell. My son
said mom you smell. It was for 4 days and than it got better.
Hunger
increased for spicy food and sweets. I feel like having something sweet in my
mouth. I ate a lot of cream biscuits, bourbon biscuits and other Indian sweets.
My regular onion eating is gone down (I used to love onions
and garlic.
I ate everyday one raw onion before, now I don’t)
PROVER 4
(A male prover
39 years successful in his own business. He had participated in the Rudraksh
proving with me. His constitution is unknown to me. )
I have not
maintained day-to-day account of the notes but I will tell you what changes I
have noticed in myself. I have become very regular and consistent with all my
responsibilities towards myself. I was always the kind
who would
do something with enthusiasm for few days and than forget about it totally. But
since the last 3 weeks I am daily doing my Yoga exercises early in the morning.
However late I have slept in the night I wake up
and do the
exercises and only than start my day. I feel committed to myself.
I always
felt “I don’t know how my business is running, it is all God’s grace, I have
never been regular in work but everything goes well. I go whenever I felt like”
but now I feel I must do it with commitment, fix a time for
my
attendance in the office. I always used to wonder how I became such a good
professional. Nowadays I feel I am good in my work and I do it well and that is
why everything is going well. I do feel bored when alone but
than some
one comes along and time passes well.
Even with
people I feel I can recognize their intentions. For me everyone was good. Even
if somebody did harm to me I would think his point of view and give “benefit of
doubt”. The next time I would meet him I would have forgotten about the
incidence. Now I can see through the intentions of people. I would always feel
that the opposite person is right but now I can understand without getting
overwhelmed by them. The other day I realized the intention behind my friend
telling me something and I did not say anything, I did not divulge some
information. He was not straight enough to ask me directly, so I was not
straight with him too.
These days
I have decided not to help everyone. I help only if I am asked to help. I also
don’t go out of my way to help others. I only help what is within my capacity.
I refuse for donations that I used to give freely (without thinking whether
they really deserve or not?).
I also
bought a laptop. I wanted it with the previous old programmes (Windows 98 and
not XP and these days all are with XP). This time I did not pay him the full
amount. I said come to my office show me that everything is working well, operate
all the ports in my clinic and than I will pay you the full amount. He had to
come and spend two hours. I found out two problems, got it corrected and than
restarted it, verified the functions and than paid him. I felt I am learning
the ways of life. Once they get the money and the laptop is yours they do not
attend to you well with the same enthusiasm. Normally I would believe in his
word and than get irritated that they are not professional and crib afterwards.
I hope this lasts… (laughing)! (In the Rudraksh proving I was happy after the
dream where I accept my mother’s death, I learnt to accept that mothers could
also die. I was before that not able
to think my
life without her.)
But this itching
when in company irritates me. I used to have it before. It has come back, these
are eruptions on the back side (dorsum) of the hand and they itch. It looks
bad. I feel better by washing in water, just wetting it.
I also have
them on my feet. I remove my shoes and they start to itch. I feel it looks bad
especially when I am writing on the desk it can be seen by others. I cannot
hide it.
But these
days I feel people find me more charming. Thrice I have received this
compliment.
I get
negative thoughts in the morning on waking up. I feel always I cannot do it. I
don’t feel like waking up. I feel tired and want to sleep still. I get thoughts
about this work I won’t be able to do. This project will not come through. Than
I feel confident about myself. The day goes well.
I love to
eat only fruits in the evening. I skip the meal and eat only fruits, the ones
in season…mangoes, peaches, pears, plums and bananas. In the mornings for
breakfast I feel like having bread and butter these days instead
of roti’s.
My sweat in
the armpits smells these days.
I had one
dream that I remember the others are long about day-to-day events but I just do
not remember. There has not been a single night without a dream but I don’t
remember them. This dream that I remember…
* I see me in the shop of my grandfather and
suddenly there are riots outside. I try to pull down the shutters from inside
to protect myself. But I am not able to latch it in time and the rioters try to
come in. To protect myself I get bricks and am hitting them. I hit them in a
way being careful that they are not killed. I keep hitting them with bricks
feeling I don’t want to hit them but I have to because I have to protect
myself. If I don’t
hit than I will be no more. And I manage to get
out of this scene unhurt and without killing anybody.
I get a lot
of dreams but I don’t remember them.
Do you also
feel I look charming?
(I would
agree there was an unusual glow on his face. He has always had a pleasant
personality, but there was something unusual about him. His wife (a homoeopath)
was happy with the change in him. She only hoped that it lasted!)
The
intelligence of the Shiitake …
Intellect
dissects, analyzes. It is the instrument of science. Intelligence is the
instrument of spirituality; it joins together. Hence the greatest science of
spirituality we have called Yoga (Yuj is union). Yoga means the
methodology
to join. Yoga means to put things together. God is the greatest totality; all
things put together. God is not a person. God is a presence, the presence when
the total is functioning in a great harmony-the trees and
the birds
and the earth and the stars and the moon and the sun and the rivers and the
oceans- all together. If you dissect you will never find God. Dissect a man;
you cannot find the presence that was making him alive.
Dissect the
world; you cannot find the presence that is God.
Intelligence
is the method to join things together. An intelligent person is very
synthetical. He always looks for a higher whole, because the meaning is always
in the higher whole. He always looks for something higher in
which the
lower is dissolved and functions as a part, functions as a whole in the harmony
of the whole, gives its own contribution to the orchestra of the whole but is
not separate from it. Intelligence moves upwards, intellect moves downward.
Intellect goes to the cause; intelligence goes to the goal.”
Meanwhile I
read Paulo Rosenbaum (Brazil) …
“Homoeopaths
deal with fragments that do not make sense as wholes; provings are compilations
of many different individuals’ experiences. Most of these fragments are mere
links of some lost unity; therefore we must create a qualitative synthesis in
order to make the technique operative.”
Responsibility/ No Responsibility- Neck,
Shoulders, soles
• I had no
responsibility of taking the decision’ and this ‘would free me of the guilt I
would have otherwise had if I had to take this decision.
• I do
nothing, I am a housewife”. I don’t know why I wanted to hide my identity as a
homoeopath.
• I felt all
the responsibilities are ‘thrusted’ on me! I felt no one is there to shoulder
them. I felt only I am doing anything.
• I feel
that I am not capable of taking responsibility.
• I sit for
minutes doing nothing, nothing in fact-no thinking too. I am not lost, but I am
just sitting still. It is a state of no activity-in body and mind!
• It is not
that I want to avoid or run away from housework, but it is the feeling to put
my qualifications and intellectual capabilities to good use!
• I have
become very regular and consistent with all my responsibilities towards myself.
• I feel I
am good in my work and I do it well and that is why everything is going well.
Physical
representation:
1. Painful
callosity on the surface beneath the great toe of the left foot (the great toe
area is the pressure bearing area in the sole-taking the responsibility of
bearing the weight of the whole body of the organism)
2. It was
as if the weight of the head was more than I could carry. I was conscious that
I was carrying my head on my shoulders. The head feels heavy for the shoulders
(an expression of too much responsibility.)
3. I
realized I have developed a callosity on the tip of the first finger of my
right hand.
Indecisive/ Decision
• For any
decision I say let us throw chits. I told her that we will decide while on the
pilgrim by throwing two chits labeled ‘to go’ and ‘not to go’ at the foot of
the lord and than you chose one.
• I never
was in two minds like always-should I ask him permission, ask him for a yes or
no to do it, take his opinion whether to do it or not. I took the dose and I
told him that I am participating in the proving with you!
Confidence self / Assertiveness-Onions
• I told my
husband that I am doing I proving. He said a no and I said whether you say a no
or a yes, I will be doing it.
• I could
not say a no, I would feel pity, guilty telling her a no. This time I said a
‘no’ without feeling bad.
• In this
dream my husband listens to me (in reality I am the way I am the way he wants!)
• I must
get independent. I must be independent enough to decide.
• I found
out two problems, got it corrected and than restarted it, verified the
functions and than paid him.
• I feel
people find me more charming.
• Than I
told myself “we have to set trends, whatever we wear will be fashion for us!”
after this I could walk comfortably without any embarrassment on the streets.
Physical
representation: My regular onion eating is gone down (I used to love onions and
garlic. I ate everyday one raw onion before, now I don’t.)
Author: This
I classify as and in under confidence as I see food modalities in the totality.
Onions and Garlic are classified in Ayurveda as ‘Tamas’ or Tamasic food. These
kinds of food increase the aggression in the system.
The
non-attraction to the same in this prover who is now assertive is proof enough
that the system does not need outside help to pep up its confidence! An
assertive person needs no aggression!
Fight desire to/ Aggression-Boils,
Abscesses, Throat affections of
(This is
put as a theme after being highlighted by Frans)
• This time
I created a tantrum.
• I got
‘pissed off’ (angry) on my family.
• I was
grumbling and irritated and told everyone to ‘mind your own business’.
• I also have
a lot of arguments with him these days. I used to do it before too but now
there is anger –as a feeling within and also demonstrated.
• I said
‘No’, sternly with anger.
• Dream: To
protect myself I get bricks and am hitting them. I hit them in a way being
careful that they are not killed. I keep hitting them with bricks feeling I
don’t want to hit them but I have to because I have to protect
myself. If I don’t hit than I will be no more.
• I would
always feel that the opposite person is right but now I can understand without
getting overwhelmed by them.
• I refuse
for donations that I used to give freely.
• Dream:
Skull of Hyenas.
• Dream:
(three rats with large front teeth (incisors)) I am scared that they will bite
into my body but it is also important to drive them out of the house.
Physical
representation: Having pustular boils also is an expression of aggression, the
expression of the fighting capacity (over fighting=pus) of the gross mind (the
body.) Boil on the flexor aspect of the upper arm close to
the axilla/
Boil developing on the olecranon process of my left clavicle/ Pimples in the
left nostril/ Boil on the left breast 1cm x 1cm, below the nipple in the
inferior quadrant, sudden onset, painful, slight pus discharge/
Acne on my
face, more on the forehead. They were pustular.
Sphere of
Action: Throat. It is an expression of verbal communication-voice, “being able
to voice one’s opinion” is one phrase that expresses the body-mind unit.
Sensitivity,
Society- Skin affections of
In these
provers the sequence of narration of different symptoms/ weaving of different
symptoms mean much more than what the words express. Within the sequence lies
another story…
* Prover 1:
Dream: I had a feeling that they were searching for me. But I did not want to
meet them; I was trying to avoid them, as I did not feel like talking to them.
* Prover 3:
I feel I have become strong…(thinks) no, assertive is the right word!
Physicals…the
sweat smelled. It was not offensive but some sort of a sweaty smell. My son
said mom you smell. It was for 4 days and than it got better.
* Prover 4:
But this itching when in company irritates me. I used to have it before. It has
come back, these are eruptions on the back side (dorsum) of the hand and they
itch. It looks bad. I feel it looks bad especially when I
am writing
on the desk it can be seen by others. I cannot hide it. But these days I feel
people find me more charming. Thrice I have received this compliment.
My sweat in
the armpits smells these days.
* Prover 2:
I also had increased frequency of urination-2 times in the night and 7 times
during the day.
All the
three days I had a desire for rice- fried/seasoned/mutton pulao (rice).
Author: In
Chinese medicine Rice helps in replenishing the energies of the kidneys that
has to do with relationship with the outside.
Sphere of
action: Skin is the largest human organ. It fullfills many functions of which
one is ‘separation and protection’ (the others are respiration, perspiration,
temperature regulation, expression, contact.)
Company/ Alone- Skin affections of
• Dream: I
had a feeling that they were searching for me. But I did not want to meet them;
I was trying to avoid them, as I did not feel like talking to them.
• Dream: I
could not meet Katka, I could not arrange the bag and I feel chaotic and lost
in the vastness of this house.
• Dream: I
am all-alone in this world without the protection of my brothers. I wake up
weeping.
• I don’t
get time for myself.
• I do feel
bored when alone but than some one comes along and time passes well.
• But these
days I feel people find me more charming. Thrice I have received this
compliment.
Skin,
eruptions, itching: ‘But this itching when in company irritates me’.
Menses/Feminity- Self-surrender
Menses is
an expression of female feminity, and self- surrender is a central quality of
female feminity. In Shiitake we see the following symptoms in the female
sphere…
* I had
pain and cramps with rectal tenesmus. Each time I got the cramp I had to crap
(evacuate), the stools were crumbling. After evacuation I felt better in the
cramp.
* This time
they were very, very, very, very painful. The bleeding started at 9 h. without
pain and by 9.30 thee pain started. By 10.30 the pain was so severe that
everyone could see it on my face. I had to come home. I had
nausea with the pain all the way back home. I
vomited everything. (Prover 2)
* I felt
‘go to hell, why should I go to patch up?’(Prover 2)
The process
of self-surrender involves a willingness to sacrifice a part of one’s ego. The
process of menstruation, we must not overlook, is also an expression of the
female’s sexual life. Menses is the throwing off of the dead endometrium.
Self-surrender is also a mini death of the ego.
What is
seen in the proving is a development of the ego, confidence, and assertion-a
desire to be independent, and wanting other’s to mind their own business. And
the menstrual symptoms are the bodily expression of the
same mini
death of the ego.
We see the
same theme in the male prover as in the symptom…
‘These days
I have decided not to help everyone. I help only if I am asked to help. I also
don’t go out of my way to help others. I only help what is within my capacity.
I refuse for donations that I used to give freely (without thinking whether
they really deserve or not?)’.