Sensitive, Hot, & Passionate: A Homeopathic Medicine for Extreme Hypersensitivity

Over the past few years, I have treated several installments of mood disorders where extreme emotional and physical hypersensitivity is a part of the symptom picture. There are a few remedies which are well-known for treating these types of hypersensitivities, and that i have certainly found these remedies to be useful in some cases. There is 1 remedy that's been surprisingly beneficial in these cases, which is not just one which i would typically think of immediately for extreme hypersensitivity.

Case Study 1

Patrick given to my office for treatment of bipolar II disorder. In describing his symptoms, he reported that certain from the main problems was hypersensitivity to his surroundings, including hypersensitivity to the people around him. He stated, “When I had been a teenager, I noticed I had been in tune with other people's energy or emotions, to an extent beyond that which was normal. This has caused trouble for me since i undertake other's emotional stress; if they're anxious, Personally i think tense, and when they're depressed, I feel exhausted.” He was sympathetic to the highest degree.

This all started after his aunt committed suicide as he would be a boy. Patrick was very close with her before she died. His family didn't discuss it, and that he felt extreme grief and sadness, but didn't have anyone to talk with about those feelings, so he held them inside. After in regards to a year of the suppressed grief, he started to experience extreme hypersensitivity to noise, light, and touch. Light was painful to his eyes, and noise caused intense irritability. Regarding the hypersensitivity to touch, he described, “When I'm depressed and someone touches my arm or anywhere on my skin, it literally feels like burning, or acid, or fire on my small skin. It feels literally painful, and the spot where the person touched remains with a burning sensation for minutes afterward.”

After the death of his aunt, Patrick also experienced a brand new start of weakness of the bladder, where coughing would cause urinary stress incontinence. He was generally very chilly and sensitive to cold, but would overheat easily from exertion.

Irritable mood would be a significant feature of his condition. “I have a lot of irritability during the hypomanic episodes. I have no patience, and I have high expectations of people. I would like something done, I want it done correctly now, and you must answer me in the right way, or I will chop your head off. I have extreme irritability and frustration.”

I considered Nux vomica due to Patrick's impatience and irritability, as well as Phosphorus due to the hypersensitivities and sympathy, however it was the physical symptoms that guided me to the right prescription for him.

This was a beautiful case of Causticum.

Before taking his case, I knew that Causticum was a great remedy for excessive sympathy, the type of bladder symptoms he had, and ailments from grief however, I had yet to appreciate – when Causticum is the indicated remedy – how exquisitely hypersensitive these patients is usually to physical touch along with other environmental stimuli, and the way intensely irritable they may be. Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases describes the irritability and hypersensitivity in provings of Causticum as follows:

Very sensitive, hot and passionate. Unbounded inclination to take things ill. Sensitive and inclined to anger, as the nerves tend to be affected.

In his homeopathic materia medica on Causticum, Guernsey describes burning and sensitiveness of the skin aggravated by touch. His urinary symptoms were type in confirming that Causticum was the correct remedy.

Within 1 week of taking Causticum 6C, 2 pills once daily, things improved. At his 1-month follow-up, Patrick reported, “I am feeling much better. Depression is finished. My mood is stable. That tendency towards constant arguing and discord is finished. I’m still sensitive to other people’s feelings, but I no more possess the negative impact from it. Addititionally there is much less bladder weakness. I hadn't even considered that since we met last time; it's so much better. All of the hypersensitivities to touch, light, and noise are reduced. No burning of my skin on being touched. No emotional irritability from noise, or eye pain from light. Situations are good.”

Case Study 2

Another case illustration of Causticum treating the same type of hypersensitivity is Anna, a 65-year-old woman with severe insomnia. Her case also began with grief, when her father died. She slowly became extra sensestive to her environment, and would become agitated by crowds, noise, and lightweight. She couldn't handle the lights and sounds in grocery stores. Any little bit of nervous system stimulation would cause intense irritability, having a tendency towards criticism of others and herself, along with a have to withdraw to a quiet place.

Anna also found herself sensing other's emotions unintentionally, and she would become anxious as a result. She told me, “After being having a group of people, I might find myself feeling tense and stressed without knowing why. Then later I find out that one of the people was anxious or depressed about something. I literally feel what they're feeling, without even wanting to.” Her empathy and hypersensitivity led to a worsening of insomnia. Following a day of getting together with people or dealing with crowded, noisy environments, her nervous system was so frazzled that she couldn’t settle down and fall asleep.

Phosphorus seemed to be the perfect remedy, using the information I'd gathered so far. These symptoms alone weren't enough to prescribe on, however. I needed a clear physical symptom to lock in my homeopathic prescription. In asking for more details concerning the insomnia itself, I found that when she was lying during sex attempting to relax, she felt an unusual sensation of hollowness in her own forehead. “It is just in the very front of my head, as though my brain doesn't start right in my forehead, but rather there is an empty space there, after which my brain starts further back. It isn't painful, just empty. That sensation is so odd; it's new since all of this insomnia started.”

Anna also had cramping pain in her own hands which was worse with writing. She was generally very chilly, and every one of her complaints were worse from cold and with warmth.

In the materia medica for Causticum, Hering's Guiding Symptoms describes this symptom in the following way:

Sensation as of an empty space between forehead and brain, worse in evening and in cold, better in warmth. Convulsion from the fingers in writing; writer’s cramp.

Causticum reduced all of Anna's symptoms, she could sleep naturally during the night, as well as tolerate external environments and social interactions without distress.

Closing Comments

These cases served remember for me personally of just how intensely hypersensitive patients could be, physically as well as emotionally, when Causticum is the best medicine for the case. Both of these patients continue to use Causticum even today, and both have stayed in remission since starting this homeopathic medicine.