Eccentric Elegance. Raphanus sativus

 Raphanus sativus — A Radish in a Vivienne Westwood Dress

Rebel!

In her hair, in her clothes, in her perfume, in the color palette or makeup...

But it’s not about inner rebellion — it’s just for fun. To surprise, to amuse, to shock — but never for the sake of a “revolution,” as it might seem 😊

A red rose pinned to a tracksuit.

Pink dreadlocks and a hat with a veil.

An evening gown with rubber boots.

Embroidery, patches, and knitted elements on a formal double-breasted blazer...

You just can’t not notice that look.

This isn’t conventional beauty — it’s eccentric charm.

All of this is Raphanus sativus — a remedy made from the common radish.

Round, long, or black — all varieties gave the same symptoms in provings.

A very curious remedy.

I hadn’t encountered Raphanus until the day I showed up with red hair to see homeopath T.D. Popova.

(Back when I was starting out on my own, I still sought some guidance.)

It wasn’t on purpose )))

I was even a bit embarrassed.

I’d been dyeing my child’s hair for some festival, and there was leftover dye.

How could I know it would turn out this way?)))

I was aiming for chestnut!

But Tatyana Demyanovna suggested I look into Raphanus — she thought I was a provocative fashionista.

She shared that this remedy had worked wonders for women with very striking appearances.

Naturally, I got curious and read everything I could about it. Over time, I became quite familiar with its keynotes.

Interestingly, nothing in the materia medica mentions such “eccentric looks” — that was Popova’s personal clinical experience.

But later, that same eccentric beauty helped me quickly prescribe Raphanus to a close friend in a very difficult situation.

We lived in different countries and had seen each other for just a couple of weeks over our entire lives.

But we became instant friends — messaging, talking, and staying close for years.

To me, she was Vivienne Westwood — in her style, hair, interior design…

And I wasn’t the only one — one of her friends actually called her that too 😉

But our Vivienne was now in a very un-glamorous situation.

She was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the cervix.

Targeted chemo, removal of the uterus, ovaries, lymph nodes, and then radiation to the GI tract.

After returning home, she developed severe digestive issues.

At first — irregular stools and vomiting.

Then — food would stagnate in her stomach, and she had terrible gas.

She couldn’t walk or eat.

She felt like a balloon — bloated from the bottom up, but with no release.

She said: “The gas doesn’t go out either way.”

Because of this constant discomfort, she basically stopped eating. (And of course, stopped having bowel movements.)

She lost a lot of weight.

Sometimes she’d go three days without food — because every time she ate, her stomach would inflate, and the only outcomes were vomiting or explosive diarrhea with intense bloating and cramps.

Every dietary recommendation for cancer recovery only made her worse — any greens or fiber made the bloating unbearable.

In the end, she could only eat persimmons — which made everything even worse.

Three months post-surgery — emergency hospitalization.

Diagnosis: intestinal obstruction.

Plus a phytobezoar (a dense mass of plant fibers in the stomach) caused by the persimmons.

The phytobezoar was easily dealt with — with Coca-Cola )))

But the intestinal issue remained.

Doctors were at a loss.

We happened to reconnect during this incredibly hard time in her life.

She was desperate to go home.

Hospital treatments weren’t helping.

She was on Creon, Espumisan, Duspatalin, and painkillers for the spasms.

Doctors were leaning toward a diagnosis of complete obstruction.

Of course, I recommended she find a classical homeopath and begin treatment.

But she wasn’t in the mindset for schools or systems — she just wanted to get out of the hospital and be with her family.

She asked for help, as she said, “like someone starving.”

And not just figuratively — she really hadn’t eaten in a long time.

And the first thing that came to my mind was that same eccentric beauty.

A feathered hat and striped shirt, or a cocktail dress instead of a robe — that was her look )))

Then it all clicked.

I clearly remembered the indications for Raphanus.

Many sources highlight its use for postoperative gas retention, intestinal obstruction, and gas that won’t pass — not up, not down.

For intestines that barely function…

I prescribed Raphanus 30C.

Take as needed — repeat if symptoms return 😉

We couldn’t find 30C, but managed to get 6C.

Her condition improved quickly.

Within two weeks she was feeling well and eating whatever she wanted — to the great surprise of her doctors.

And when the improvement stabilized — she stopped taking the remedy on her own.

P.S.

The most amazing thing about this story is that in 2018, when all her suffering suddenly ended and she happily returned home, Vivienne completely forgot she had taken this remedy.

We met again in Pula at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

We talked for hours — on terraces under palm trees, in cafés, on the beach…

About work, about friendship, about the war, about our children — about everything.

And when we finally touched on homeopathy — she lit up.

The puzzle came together, and she exclaimed:

— It was the Raphanus you prescribed that saved me!

For her, it was a moment of real clarity 🤩

Since then, she’s become a devoted homeopathy fan — and one of my regular patients.

May 18, 2022

Pula, Croatia