Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Alumina (Alum.)

Alumina (Alum.) appears in the repertory in 1,139 rubrics. Of these, 79 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 92 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis is on Delusions, Fear, Suicidal disposition, Anxiety, and the rubrics on Children, as well as Answering, Hurry, and Slowness. The picture is that of a person whose self has become uncertain: he experiences himself as strange, acts too slowly, wavers between timidity and confidence, and is driven by the sight of blood and knives into suicidal thoughts that he abhors.

King-pin symptom: timidity alternating with self-confidence

The remedy's king-pin symptom is the alternation of timidity and self-confidence: "Timidity, bashful – alternating with – self-confidence." It is a single-remedy rubric in the repertory and is supplemented by counterparts: timidity alternates with confidence, confidence alternates with discouragement and with timidity, fear alternates with courage, and courage alternates with fear. The attitude has no firm footing; it oscillates. Fitting this is the lack of self-confidence, which shows in the use of the voluntary muscles: the person cannot finish what he intended. The will, too, loses control, with a dull feeling in the head.

Knives, blood, and suicide

A group of rubrics concerns the sight of knives and blood and is the most striking of the remedy. As single-remedy rubrics stand: the person cannot see a bloody knife; the sight of a knife produces a suicidal disposition, even though the person abhors the thought; and the desire to cut his throat. The sight of blood or a knife causes weariness of life and terrible thoughts; a delusion of suicide on seeing a knife, the fear of suicide with a knife and, in small rubrics, the desire to kill on seeing a knife or a gun belong here. There is a desire to kill himself with sharp weapons, also in mania. At the same time the repertory lists the fear of seeing wounds and the fear of suicide. The tension between inner impulse and abhorrence of it is the characteristic.

Estrangement of the self

Numerous delusions concern identity. Consciousness is outside the body or belongs to someone else; someone else would see and speak for her outside; she sees through another's eyes, and she can see only if she turns into someone else. The person's own voice sounds strange and seems to resound like thunder, voices appear odd, and when speaking it seems as if someone else were speaking. In the mirror the person sees everyone's face except his own. To this the feeling of duality: not she, but someone else is sick. Further delusions: insensible, numb, smooth, drunk with benumbed feeling, whirling, the floor is elastic.

Fear and anxiety

The fear is directed at epilepsy and apoplexy in the morning, at red things, at poisoning with aluminum, at being struck by people walking behind, at unconsciousness, at bed-wetting, and at becoming feeble-minded. It concerns accidents, above all a fatal one, and the calamity that overwhelms. Anxiety occurs on entering a room and on entering the house, on rising from lying, at night between four and five o'clock, with an impending epileptic fit, and with the feeling of not having done one's duty. Starting occurs before falling asleep, from sleep, and at the beginning of urination.

Slowness and answering

Alum. has a remarkable group on tempo. The person is slow in doing things but hasty: "Hurry – slow in doing things, but." She cannot be driven to hurry, feels that things do not move fast enough, and is irritable when hurried. The answers are ponderous, indefinite, unclear, and vague. The slowness increases with homesickness and is present in the reaction to pain. Absent-mindedness alternates with liveliness, cheerfulness, and confusion.

Children, body, and other matters

Failure to thrive concerns bottle-fed babies with dry, wrinkled skin, and there is a chlorosis at puberty with desire for indigestible substances. Laughing alternates with convulsions and spasms. One rubric links complaints with the suppression of left-handedness. The moon aggravates during the waxing moon, sour odors disturb, and singers suffer from a weak voice and speech. The face is rubbed or wiped, which ameliorates. Zealous, fervent praying and despondency also belong here.

Summary

In the repertory, Alum. shows a self that has lost its firm footing. The person alternates between timidity and confidence, acts too slowly and cannot be driven, experiences consciousness, voice, and gaze as strange, and sees every face in the mirror except her own. The sight of blood or knives triggers impulses to kill herself and to kill others, which she at the same time abhors. The king-pin symptom, the alternation of timidity and self-confidence, expresses the instability of the attitude in a single rubric.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.