A woman in her early 70’s came to see me for help with her dry eyes. She had tried all sorts of things but nothing had helped.
When I asked her to tell me more about the dryness she said that her eyes would sometimes close, as if they were spasming. Later in our appointment I witnessed this. I saw that, not only did her lids close uncontrollably, but her eyes also rotated a bit at the same time.
I asked her to tell me even more and she said that the dryness was worst at the edges of her eyes and it was worse at night; she also felt heat in her eyes, as if they were burning, and they felt swollen in the morning. Often, the burning feeling would keep her up at night and make her very irritable. When I asked if anything made it better, even temporarily, she said that she would always feel better when she was sweating, and she didn’t notice any dryness in her eyes then.
She said the problem started about 15 years ago when she was in court for her divorce. That experience made her very angry and she said she had never been that angry for that long ever before.
When I thought about this case, Chamomilla quickly came to mind. The dryness, spasming, eye rotation, heat, nightly aggravation, irritability, improvement with damp heat, and sensitivity to anger are all in the Cham picture.
I recommended she take 3 doses of Cham 30C 8-12 hours apart. She said she gradually improved over a couple of weeks.
At her followup, 6 weeks later, it was allergy season and she was feeling some of the issues return. I recommended the 3 doses of Cham again and she said it supported her through the rest of allergy season quite nicely. I now wonder if she’ll need anything at all next year.
Chamomilla is a popular remedy for children, especially in cases of teething and colic. This extremely irritable, sensitive, spasming state is quite prominent in these childhood troubles; however, this case is a good example of how the Cham state can emerge, and be resolved, at any stage of life.
