Till Death Do Us Part…the Power of the Umbilical Cord

Mr. Z first came to my practice 9 years ago with his elderly mother, on his way to work. He was suffering from burnout, and homeopathy helped to restore his vitality. His mother accompanied him to his workplace. (He's the boss.) They were the picture of the devoted mother and son.

Three years ago, the elderly Mrs. Z passed away. "She was everything to me, and I was everything to her."

He went to the cemetery to sit at her grave several times a week. He felt lost, especially after work and during the weekends. His worst fear had come true. What did he have to live for, when he lost the love of his life? He had bouts of diarrhea.

I gave him a remedy to support his microbiome and the remedy Umbilical Cord. The umbilical cord is lifeline connecting mother and child in the womb. Cutting the cord separates mother and child physically. It's a preparation for a journey of many steps.

Mom and child are one in the womb. After birth, he begins to separate and establish himself as an independent person. From nursing and weaning, to "leaving and cleaving" each step of growth takes him further from his mother, towards autonomy.

Trauma can derail the journey towards autonomy. When a child senses a mother's pain and identifies with her trauma, both mom and child can bind to each other. So can a birth trauma where the baby's umbilical cord wraps around the neck. Trauma to a mom during pregnancy can also leave a deep, lasting imprint on the baby in her womb. It's as if mother and child are holding onto each end of a lifeline. If one party lets go, the other reels.

Mr. Z is very successful at work, but has trouble leaving and cleaving. At college, he preferred to hang out with his parents on the weekends. He took vacations with his mother, sometimes with a girlfriend. She helped to run his office for years, picked his ties, and made real estate decisions for him. When his first engagement ended, his mother held on to the returned engagement ring.

Mr. Z recalled that even when she had lost her memory altogether, his mother still looked out for him. "That's for my son!" she would tell the housekeeper when she served food at the table.

When Mr. Z returned for his follow up, his bowels were much better. His Epstein Barr virus had flared up again. His grief did not shift at all. He did not take the Umbilical Cord remedy!

 He had disturbing nightmares. Mr. Z was in a funeral parlor, his parents were coming back to life before his eyes. His dad looked like a rejuvenated 30 year old, while his mother was gasping for breath with her mouth open. As he runs for help, the funeral director told him, "It sometimes happens. We lock the door so they can't get out."

 The dream shook him to the core. "She should be in heaven! Why is she coming back?"

 In another dream, his mother was in the driver's seat. He knew she wasn't fit to drive. From the passenger's seat, he struggled to remove the key from the ignition to prevent her from taking off.

The Mother-Child Bond is powerful.

"My dad was horrible to mom. I didn't want to abandon my mom. I took every opportunity to be with her. But I want to cut the umbilical cord now," he decides.

 He stopped dreaming of his parents after he took Umbilical Cord. His night sweats improved, as did the swollen glands in the neck. I gave him a remedy for Epstein Barr. He could sleep through the night without nightmares. He still felt deep loss and sadness, but cried much less.

Thanksgiving and Christmas the year she died were brutal. Mr. Z cried when he heard carols. He recalled how he would reassure his mother that he was fine as long as he had her. Now his support system had collapsed. He needed Nat Mur, a remedy for deep grief and nostalgia. Eventually, his deep grief settled into a wistful longing.

Mr. Z developed deep pain in his sciatica that left him almost unable to walk. He consulted different therapists who helped, but couldn't resolve his pain completely. As his hip pains got worse, one side of his face was also drawing up. He considered retiring.

I reviewed his history. Besides sciatica and mild Bell's Palsy, he had symptoms that came and went over the years. Irritable bladder, brain fog, heart palpitations, chills, night sweats and dizziness. I made a determination. These symptoms fit the picture of chronic Lyme or Borreliosis. We had discussed it in the past, but had never addressed it. His blood tests for Borrelia antibodies were always negative.

Borrelia bacteria are parasites that feed on the host's tissue for its survival. They have evolved stealthy means to avoid detection by the host's immune system. They can also go dormant and flare up after a crisis, even after antibiotic treatment.

In Mr. Z's case, the parasites were attacking the collagen in his hip and tailbone. His mother's death provoked an existential crisis: how can I move forward without mom?

The Lyme flareup is a wakeup call: he decides that he must cut the cord with his mother.

Week by week, Mr. Z's hip pains improved after we started working on his Lyme symptoms. Within a month, he could resume his hour-long walks after work. Within two months, the pain was at about 50% better. After four months, his hip pains were about 75% better. He noticed that his facial muscles had started to relax into symmetry and his feet no longer splayed. His yeast symptoms stopped troubling him. When he re-tested for Borrelia antibodies, they finally showed up!

When Mr. Z came for a follow-up recently, he had more energy than he'd had for a long time. There was still room for improvement in mobility and stiffness. But he was at peace with his mother's passing. He had walked out of his co-dependency and had started rebuilding a life for himself.

The Future awaits.