CALCAREA FLOURICA – The essential features , CaF2.

-GEORGE VITHOULKAS
Calcarea fluorica
Calcium Fluoride. Fluorspar. CaF2.
Trituration.
The essential features
Calcarea fluorica is well-known for its strong relationship to bony tissues and teeth. The bones are slow to develop and there is a tendency to generate exostoses, a keynote of the remedy. Dentition is slow and difficult, the enamel of the teeth is deficient, and there is a predisposition to caries. Nails are brittle and often break.
The remedy evokes a specific mental state. A very marked mental symptom of Calcarea fluorica is the sense that health is deteriorating, both physically and mentally. Just as their nails are breaking, and teeth cracking and crumbling, so is their health.
This awareness eventually leads to a great anxiety about health and a fear of death (compare Kali arsenicosum, Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium, Nitricum acidum), which, in Calcarea fluorica, are of the passive type. Passive resignation represents a deeper state of pathology than one which is more active. While Calc-carb.’s intense anxiety stimulates the person to seek assistance, Calcarea fluorica’s fear can exist for years without their ever requesting professional help. They suffer from a sense of impending disaster regarding their health (compare Kali carbonicum). These individuals feel that something about their health just isn’t quite right. They are sure that they cannot be helped, that they will die. They are not driven to find relief, but instead, fatalistically prepare themselves for death. Though Calcarea fluorica is currently not included in the repertory rubric ‘anxiety about health’, it ought to be added.
Another fear, prevalent in this remedy, is the anxiety about money matters. These people suffer from a baseless fear that they might become needy and poor, and that they will soon be ‘running astern’ financially. This fear of poverty may create miserly avaricious behaviour, a ‘disposition to set a higher value on money than is natural to them.’ This state is often coupled with indecision and depression. The pessimistic tendency, displayed so dramatically in the symptom ‘anxiety about health’, is observed here as well.
In 1953, the German homeopath Mezger, did an extensive proving on Calcarea fluorica that expanded the picture of the remedy. Several mental characteristics were added to the previously incomplete picture. One such keynote is a striking polarity, i.e. , improved mental capabilities in some provers vs. a decrease in concentration in others. On the one hand, provers experienced an increased ability to concentrate, greater mental capacity, and could perform mental tasks all day long until midnight without feeling tired. There was a remarkable initiative that even amounted to restlessness and haste. Mezger himself observed this symptom: ‘Very impatient and irritable with others; his work cannot proceed fast enough.’
On the other hand, the provers often also experienced a severe decline of the capacity to concentrate and of any inclination to do work. They would have to read a sentence several times, and still did not understand its meaning. They felt a total loss of initiative and interest, with fear of the tasks of the day, amounting to a general depression of mind.
A third possibility regarding the polarity the provers experienced was that the initiative and the interest to do things continues in spite of mental exhaustion, and that the intellectual efficiency increases in spite of severe disturbances of sleep.
To give a quotation that shows this polarity in nuce: ‘Euphoria with feeling of mental relaxedness, inclination to and pleasure in work; irritability, inner restlessness and haste, anxious-depressive mood, even fear of the tasks of the day.’
On the other hand, some provers experienced a severe decline in their capacity to concentrate and in their inclination to do work. They would read a sentence several times and still could not understand its meaning. They felt a total loss of initiative and interest, were afraid to face the upcoming responsibilities of the day and were generally depressed. ‘Irritability, inner restlessness and haste, anxious-depressive mood, even fear of the tasks of the day.’
A third possibility regarding the polarity the provers experienced was that initiative and interest in doing things continued despite mental exhaustion, and intellectual efficiency increased despite severe sleep disturbances.
Calcarea fluorica’s main mental picture is one of underlying anxiety along with a tendency to attach themselves to specific people. They feel the need to build a network of people upon whom they can rely. Their attachment to others can be very strong, and is a source of disappointment if they have reason to believe that their feelings are not being reciprocated by the people they care for. This can make them feel quite resentful.
Calcarea fluorica’s emotions are vivid, strong, and uninhibited. These people are not exactly manipulative, but, rather, they attempt to influence others to do what they want. Their method is not one of overt domination, but rather a more feminine form of subtle persuasion. For instance, they might, by hook or by crook, try to convince their friends to move into their neighbourhood in order to have them living close by. This was the case with a woman who had strong anxiety about security issues and whom Morrison cured with Calcarea fluorica (Proceedings of the 1989 Professional Case Conference).
Calcarea fluorica’s sexual desire can range from low to high. When it is low, it is almost an aversion, and orgasm is difficult to attain, especially in women. On the high end, in contrast to Fluoricum acidum, however, it does not become over-sexed.
An important modality is eating ameliorates most mental and physical symptoms; the person feels worse on an empty stomach.
In Calcarea fluorica, flushing is usually accompanied by a sudden sensation of heat. A common complaint that arises is palpitations with flushes of heat, which alternate with a sensitivity to cold. Arrhythmia can also occur along with the flushes. Calcarea fluorica is intolerant to cold, wet weather, but differs from Calcarea carbonica in that its constitution can be quite warm.
A strong and well-known keynote, which was already mentioned, is the tendency to exostoses. We also commonly see stiffness from rheumatic and arthritic complaints. Calcarea fluorica’s pains are ameliorated by applications of heat and by motion, especially continuous motion, similar to Rhus toxicodendron. They differ in that Calcarea fluorica is warm while Rhus-t. is cold.