I’ve been treating a young woman (let’s call her Claire) for a few months now for various physical and emotional symptoms.
During a recent appointment Claire talked about how angry she gets, how she would find herself going from 0-60 over the “silliest of things” and finding it very hard to control her emotions.
Claire felt out of control and was beginning to really dislike herself. She said
“I don’t know how to be angry without saying mean things. It’s overwhelming and scares me.”
Generally, Claire is patient, happy and easy-going. We talked about possible patterns to her anger. Rushing stressed her out, which led to her getting angry and her anger escalated in the days before her period.
A very familiar story
This story may sound very familiar to you. Women get angry. Women get very, very angry sometimes and can find it incredibly hard to cope with. Historically and socially, angry women have, and continue to be, depicted as not being in control of themselves if they succumb to their emotions. And anger will just not do! It is not ladylike! I exaggerate – but only a little.
Anger is a difficult emotion
We all experience anger, just as we do love, happiness and sadness. How angry we get; from mild irritation to intense rage and fury, and how we express it, is where the difficulty arises. Anger can be terribly destructive. It can lead to violence and physical and emotional harm of ourselves and others and it can slowly damage our immune system and our overall well-being.
When we become angry our body experiences physiological and biological changes; our heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. The effects of anger on our physical body can also include digestion problems, headaches and migraines. Alongside this, the mental complaints include depression, insomnia and anxiety issues.
Is anger a reflection of imbalance?
Anger is intense and needs a lot of energy sustain it. This creates an imbalance in our body – physically AND emotionally.
If we are angry a lot of the time, then our body is constantly focused on using our energy reserves to maintain this emotional state. As a result, other aspects of our well-being become neglected.
As a homeopath, I see the body, mind and emotions as a complete whole unit, and if there’s imbalance in one area, it’s very likely there’s an imbalance elsewhere.
Perhaps the expression of this imbalance IS anger.
Perhaps anger is our way of finally saying the imbalance is just too much, it needs to be corrected.
Lack of balance can look different for each of us.
Work/life balance NOT balanced
If a person is treated unfairly
Not enough sleep
Not enough time for yourself
When a person is threatened or attacked
Not enough exercise – physically & mentally
Not eating a balanced diet
When a person feels frustrated or powerless
A physical imbalance in our endocrine system
Using Homeopathy to help restore balance
But what of Claire? Where was her imbalance, and how did homeopathy help restore balance?
Claire told me she felt more anger in the days just before her period. This is a common symptom for many women, ranging from mild irritation to fury and rage, and sometimes physical anger! This suggests a hormonal imbalance. Claire did get angry at other times in the month—however, before her period, the intensity escalated.
Looking at Claire’s health history and all of her physical and emotional symptoms lead me to prescribe remedies to focus on hormonal balancing.
An out of balance Endocrine system
All of our hormones are connected and our endocrine system is responsible for maintaining a beautifully balanced feedback system. If there is an over or under production of hormones anywhere within this system the knock-on effect is felt in different places. When angry certain hormones are produced in large quantities so this signals to the endocrine system to regulate (increase OR decrease) production of others and very often this affects the balance of female hormones progesterone end estrogen. This can lead to issues around your hormonal cycle. If ANY hormone is out of balance then other hormones will be affected. Some women are more affected than others – we are all different.
Claire was given homeopathic remedies to focus on balancing her entire endocrine system – to bring those hormones back into harmony with each other.
What a transformation!
When I next saw Claire, she told me:
“I feel better emotionally than I have in years! I’m not as angry.”
Yes, she still got angry, we all do! However, she said:
“I can feel it coming, I take a breath and move on .“
Claire was not as angry. She felt more balanced and no-longer reacted to the small stuff with the same level of intensity anymore.
