Infancy (0-2 years)
(i) Persistent Weeping and Crying
(ii) PICA (mud, chalk, sand etc.) and other eating disturbances.
(iii) Head Banging, Pulling of hair
(iv) Breath Holding.
(v) Thumb Sucking
(vi) Excessive fear.
(vii) Fear of separation or of left alone or excessive dependency.
Pre school age (2-6 years)
(i) Nightmares or sleep disturbances.
(ii) Tantrums and temper with aggressiveness, Hyper-activity.
(iii) Crying, shouting, jealousy to siblings, clinging to mother or emotional reactions.
(iv) Enuresis (Bed wetting) and Encopresis.
(v) Masturbation.
(vi) Nail biting and Thumb sucking.
(vii) Stammering, stuttering lalling or speech disturbances.
(viii) Tics or habit spasms.
School age (6-13 years)
(i) School Phobia.
(ii) Comprehending or learning difficulties. Dyslexia.
(iii) Obstinacy, stubbornness and dependency.
(iv) Anti-Social behaviour like lying, stealing and vandalism etc.
Adolescence (13 years and above)
(i) Masturbation.
(ii) Sexual indulgence like homosexuality lesbianism, incest and heterosexuality.
(iii) Criminal activities or delinquent behaviour.
(iv) Suicidal thoughts and tendency.
Persistent weeping or crying
Ammonium carbonicum
Weeping on waking and rising after, Anxiety in the evening 5-6 p.m. Abusive in the evening. Weeping tearful mood. Startling at night from fright in children.
Antimonium crudum
Child can not bear to be touched or looked at, does not wish to speak, peevish, vexed without cause. Child is very weepy and irritable. Ecstasy at night walking in moonlight, sadness before chill, child becomes sentimental during diarrhoea. Love sick, ailments from disappointed love. Quarrelsome in the evening. Repulsive mood. Weeps when touched or even looked at and weeps on trifles.
Apis mellifica
Awkward appearance, drops the thing readily, stupour with sudden sharp cries and startlings. Stupour alternating with erotic mania. Sudden shrill, piercing screams, whinning, jealousy, fright rage, vexation, grief. Desire death in the forenoon. Delusions as the tongue is made of wood and can not concentrate mind when attempting to read or study. Desires to break the things. Ailments from anger and bad news, declares there is nothing the matter with him and he is well.
Arsenicum album
Weepy, tearful mood at night, causeless weeping during the chill, during coughing in sleep. Says he is well when he is very sick. Anguish driving from place to place, restlessness, anxiety when anything is expected of him. Fastidious. Thirst for small quantity of water at frequent intervals. Bites the tumbler when drinking.
Baryta carbonica
Goes alone and weeps as if had no friends. Child thinks all visitors laugh at him. Keeps the hands over the face and peeps through the fingers and hides behind the furniture. Childish behaviour aversion to company. Dullness, sluggishness in children. Tendency to catch cold easily. Suppurative tonsillitis, quinsy. Dwarwish growth. Sensation as if forced through a narrow place, slow gasping silly and backward. Mistrustful. Lack of self confidence. Talking mania. Always borrows troubles.
Causticum
Children weep at the least worry and after spasms. Anxiety while straining at stool. Over sympathetic to others. Hopeless, despondent, wants to die. Lack of ambition. Child does not want to go to bed alone. Looks on the darker side. Lacks control and balance. Least things make him cry. Passes stool with much straining or only on standing up.
Chamomilla
Marked irritability with crying. Sends the nurse out of the room, weeps and cries during the chill and in sleep. Ugly in behaviour, cross and uncivil, quarrelsome, vexed at every trifles. Averse to being spoken to or touched or being looked at. Children want to be carried and petted to make them quiet, kicks when carried and becomes stiff. Wants many things but refuses them when offered or given. Intolerable pain, becomes mad with pain, numbness after pain.
Chelidonium majus
Weeps and cries when carried. Feels like crying with ill humour or without any reason. Liver affections. Children desire to beat. Delusions, he has ruined his health. Unconsciousness, rubbing of feet ameliorates. Inclination to fall forward.
Constant pain in the inferior angle of right scapular region.
Cina maritima
Child cries piteously if taken hold of or carried, causeless weeping. Ill humour. Child very cross and does not want to be touched. Capraciousness, morose during daytime complain on waking. Irritability, rocking fast ameliorates. Moaning in the afternoon. Easily gets frightened on waking. Irritable, can not bear to be looked at. Easily gets offended, very obstinate, throws things away. Shrieking in children before convulsions.
Coffea cruda
Weeping from joy, weeping with pains, weeping alternating with laughter, weeping during headaches. Affections and ailments after pleasant surprises. Ecstasy, full of ideas, quick to act, hence wakeful. Weeps, torments and tosses about, over trifles. Cry and laugh easily, while crying suddenly laughs quite heartily and finally cries again. Joyous at one moment and gloomy at another moment.
Graphites
Weeps, cries without cause, weeps from music, sad, fearsome irresolute, hesitate at trifles. Impulse to groom, timid, dread of work. Fidgety while sitting at work. Feels miserable and unhappy. Dullness after siesta. Forgetful, makes mistakes in speaking and writing. Child impudent, teasing laughing at reprimands. Thinks of nothing but death. Memory active till midnight. Fear of death from pain and from pleasure.
Lycopodium clavatum
Weeps and cries between 4 to 8 p.m. , during chill, about future, cries aloud, cries before micturition, weeps when thanked, child is cross, kicks and scolds on waking. Weeps during perspiration and weeps when greeting a friend, loss of self confidence, weeps all day. Sad on hearing distant music. Fear of being alone. Dread of men, presence of new persons. Fear of everything even ringing of door bell. Craves sweets and hot drinks.
Natrium muriaticum
Weeps when looked at, on thinking of past events. Weeps more if he believes he is pitted. Weeps bitterly only when alone. Involuntary weeping, consolation aggravates. Immoderate laughter with tears absorbed, burried in thoughts as to what would become of him. Aversion to company, can not urinate in the presence of some one. Craves salt. Weeps at night.
Pulsatilla pratensis
Mild timid, emotional and tearful, easily moved to tears and laughter after eating. Weeping in the afternoon at 4 p.m. When disturbed t work, when interrupted, sobbing while nursing, when telling about own sickness. Better in open air. Causeless weeping during chill, involuntary weeping during heat, very irritable touchy, feels slighted or fears slight. Suspicious.
Answers yes or no by nodding the head. Desires company and sympathy.
Sepia officinalis
Nervous, so that the child wants to hold on to something or he should scream. Says and does strange things. No body knows what the child will do next. Aversion to family, to those loved best.
All babies cry, some are placid and happy babies and others are not so contented. Beyond the range of normal there are children or infants who cry nearly all the time and particularly at night. As in all situations a clinical evaluation is essential to exclude rare but serious organic conditions such as Intussusception, Strangulated hernia, Otitis media, or even acute Osteitis or Arthritis. Injury is an important consideration to be looked into. Poor feeding techniques, or even the possibility of intolerance of cow's milk proteins may give rise to gastrointestinal colic. Having carefully considered all the possibilities, one is often left with a screaming and desperate child and tired and very fraught parents. It is often difficult to see when the trouble began because crying child upsets the parents and upset parents further upset the child and it becomes a vicious circle. Infants can not communicate in any other way than crying. Crying with different degrees means different things and accordingly a physician evaluates it as a symptom in various degrees. Excessive crying is a common problem in children. Its cause is often baffling and to an initiated physician often frustrating. IN many instances it is important to realize that there may be a problem of initial bonding. The child who is aware that emotionally rejected can become very irritable and cry increasingly. A thorough understanding of the psychological needs and pathological procedures which may lead to crying is essential while trying to discover the causes of crying in a given child. In the hands of a mother who has no great feelings for the baby (especially girls), child is very much at risk to non-accidental injury. Likewise, the insecure mother who senses her anxiety may also get to the point of loss of control after a prolonged period of enduring the screaming child and lack of sleep. In both cases it is important to be prepared to spend time in order to get to the bottom of things. Now, every crying child can not be quieted with the dose of Chamomilla. Crying as a presenting problem is more common in infancy. It is largely because the infant has no other means of communication. So whether the child is thirsty, hungry, uncomfortable, insecure, lonely, frustrated, afraid or having any pain, he just cries. And any situation which leads to crying, if not resolved or properly understood may lead to persistent crying. Of course, personality of individual child has also a great influence in the frequency and persistence of crying. Here, I am reminded of a child who was crying furiously. The child was given all possible household measures as told by elders like massaging the abdomen, giving the feed, Gripe water, putting in front of the cooler. Taking the child on lap and moving slowly would give little respite to the child but the moment child used to be put on the bed, he would wake up and howl and cry endlessly beyond tolerance, finally the child was brought to me. After listening to their tale I looked into the ear for the purpose of examination but found nothing wrong, abdomen was also abdomen was also ok. Suddenly I saw a safety pin which was put on the child's shirt was unhooked and then I realised the actual problem. The moment they used to put the child on the bed this pin use to hurt the delicate body and the child was screaming with pain. By unfastening the safety pin from the shirt child was restored to normal peaceful sleep with in no time. After this incident I have made a point to first of all look for very small and petty causes before going in for other causes of crying in children and also look into the situation prevailing around them. Thirst is a common cause of crying particularly in our country. It is often understood that infants require comparatively much larger volumes of fluids than adults. The high Sodium content of cow's and buffalo's milk also dictates that the infant on top milk be given more water. Similarly, when solid foods are started, free water requirement goes up. If an infant is crying because of thirst, he is unlikely to be satisfied with milk. He may briefly go in for the bottle or breast, but rejects it soon as he discovers it is milk and not water. I have seen this behaviour particularly in infants suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration. Though at times, a dose of Arsenic Album or Bryonia also helps. Hunger is becoming a more frequent cause with increasing urbanisation, adoption of top feeding and adoption of strict Victorian principle of time feeding. Often one sees very educated mothers, worried about child's discipline and their own freedom of movements allowing the child to cry even when he is hungry because the clock does not say that the child should be hungry still. Happily the scientists have proved that rigid time and scheduling of feeds leads only to development of frustrated personality in adulthood and is contributory to the development of disciplined habits of the child. Thus it would appear that the time honoured method of "On Demand Feeding" is the best. In late infancy, crying late at night is often due to hunger, because of mother's reluctance to give night feed at "such a late night". The problem can usually be resolved if the child is given a semi-solid diet late in the evening-followed by a milk feed just before sleeping. Otherwise a dose of Psorinum for midnight hunger and China for voracious appetite may be the answer. Wetting is a common cause of crying. In fact, it is surprising how often children do not cry even when they are wet. Quite often, the infants cry before passing urine. As we find this in Lycopodium. This usually has no pathological significance and may be only considered as a "signal from the infants" before the stream comes. The problem of perianal and perivulval rash and ulceration is likely to increase with increasing use of impermeable plastic napkins for maternal convenience. Very often infants cry because of loneliness, particularly if left alone in the dark room, especially when they are separated from their mother or where both the parents are working. As in the case of Cina and Pulsatilla, quite often the infant cries just because he wants to be cuddled and picked up, which again is prevalent in westernly modes of infant rearing which is considered as spoiling the child, e.g. when the child stops crying on being carried as in Chamomilla. An important but poorly recognised cause of crying in infant is frustration. The frustration is often due to inability to perform developmentally. If the infant has learnt to manipulate with his hands but gets no toys to practice then he may cry. Alternatively he may go for house hold objects like knife, matchsticks etc. which are potentially dangerous and so forbidden. This often leads to excessive crying and temper tantrums. Obviously appropriate needs of a developing child must be recognised and necessary objects and toys be made available so that the infant does not cry unnecessarily. Wanted things refused later can be taken care by few doses of Cina as if has Capraciousness as characteristic. An important cause of crying in an infant or a child in the clinic situation, is the Doctor himself. Most of the graduating doctors having spurned Pediatric wards and out patients as unnecessary appendages of medicine during their periods of training, feel totally unsure in fact are even afraid to handle a child. They start practising the art of examination learnt in adult wards on children in a most tentative manner and this often leads to excessive crying in the child. A perspiring physician handling a howling child is a common enough clinical problem. Once the physician himself keeps some patience and gives enough time to the child to adjust and makes himself friendly to the child by using various methods and then does the examination and prescribes the Homoeopathic medicine, Later on after receiving the sweet pills and sweet behaviour from a Homoeopath the child is very unlikely to cry with a fear of a doctor. R.S. Illingwoth has mentioned in his book that; There is an increasing interest in the nature of the cry of the infants. Analysis of the cry by Spectrographic methods has yielded interesting and useful information (michelson and Wasz-Hockert 1980). The cries of the Asphyxiated, Hypothyroid, Mongoloid and other abnormal babies all have their special characteristics when studied by these methods. Fisichelli and Karelitz showed that normal infants cry more rapidly than do children with brain abnormalities. Babies with Cerebral irritability, Meningitis, Hydrocephalus have a shrill, high pitched cry. A hoarse gruff cry is characteristic of Hypothyroidism. The hoarseness of Laryngitis is characteristic. More important is the cry of a child with stridor which is always present since birth. The cat-like cry of the 'Cri-du-chat' Syndrome is characteristic. This occurs in microcephalic infants. There is often some degree of hypothyroidism, an antimongoloid slant of the eyes and low-set ears. It is associated with deletion of the distal portion of the short arm of the 4 to 5 chromosomes (Kajiiet al 1966). Other characteristic cries are the weak cry of the child with Amyotonia congenita (or similar muscle weakness) or the child with Myasthaenia gravis, and the whimper of the seriously ill child. The child with Pneumonia may have a grunting type of cry. Excessive crying in later infancy and early pre school age is a behavioral problem. This is more likely to occur in border line retarded child. Resolution of behavioral problem requires a careful assessment of parental attitude and a thorough constitutional Homoeopathic remedy. Following are the few homoeopathic remedies for weeping and crying in various situations.
All babies cry, some are placid and happy babies and others are not so contented. Beyond the range of normal there are children or infants who cry nearly all the time and particularly at night. As in all situations a clinical evaluation is essential to exclude rare but serious organic conditions such as Intussusception, Strangulated hernia, Otitis media, or even acute Osteitis or Arthritis. Injury is an important consideration to be looked into. Poor feeding techniques, or even the possibility of intolerance of cow's milk proteins may give rise to gastrointestinal colic. Having carefully considered all the possibilities, one is often left with a screaming and desperate child and tired and very fraught parents. It is often difficult to see when the trouble began because crying child upsets the parents and upset parents further upset the child and it becomes a vicious circle. Infants can not communicate in any other way than crying. Crying with different degrees means different things and accordingly a physician evaluates it as a symptom in various degrees. Excessive crying is a common problem in children. Its cause is often baffling and to an initiated physician often frustrating. IN many instances it is important to realize that there may be a problem of initial bonding. The child who is aware that emotionally rejected can become very irritable and cry increasingly. A thorough understanding of the psychological needs and pathological procedures which may lead to crying is essential while trying to discover the causes of crying in a given child. In the hands of a mother who has no great feelings for the baby (especially girls), child is very much at risk to non-accidental injury. Likewise, the insecure mother who senses her anxiety may also get to the point of loss of control after a prolonged period of enduring the screaming child and lack of sleep. In both cases it is important to be prepared to spend time in order to get to the bottom of things. Now, every crying child can not be quieted with the dose of Chamomilla. Crying as a presenting problem is more common in infancy. It is largely because the infant has no other means of communication. So whether the child is thirsty, hungry, uncomfortable, insecure, lonely, frustrated, afraid or having any pain, he just cries. And any situation which leads to crying, if not resolved or properly understood may lead to persistent crying. Of course, personality of individual child has also a great influence in the frequency and persistence of crying. Here, I am reminded of a child who was crying furiously. The child was given all possible household measures as told by elders like massaging the abdomen, giving the feed, Gripe water, putting in front of the cooler. Taking the child on lap and moving slowly would give little respite to the child but the moment child used to be put on the bed, he would wake up and howl and cry endlessly beyond tolerance, finally the child was brought to me. After listening to their tale I looked into the ear for the purpose of examination but found nothing wrong, abdomen was also abdomen was also ok. Suddenly I saw a safety pin which was put on the child's shirt was unhooked and then I realised the actual problem. The moment they used to put the child on the bed this pin use to hurt the delicate body and the child was screaming with pain. By unfastening the safety pin from the shirt child was restored to normal peaceful sleep with in no time. After this incident I have made a point to first of all look for very small and petty causes before going in for other causes of crying in children and also look into the situation prevailing around them. Thirst is a common cause of crying particularly in our country. It is often understood that infants require comparatively much larger volumes of fluids than adults. The high Sodium content of cow's and buffalo's milk also dictates that the infant on top milk be given more water. Similarly, when solid foods are started, free water requirement goes up. If an infant is crying because of thirst, he is unlikely to be satisfied with milk. He may briefly go in for the bottle or breast, but rejects it soon as he discovers it is milk and not water. I have seen this behaviour particularly in infants suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration. Though at times, a dose of Arsenic Album or Bryonia also helps. Hunger is becoming a more frequent cause with increasing urbanisation, adoption of top feeding and adoption of strict Victorian principle of time feeding. Often one sees very educated mothers, worried about child's discipline and their own freedom of movements allowing the child to cry even when he is hungry because the clock does not say that the child should be hungry still. Happily the scientists have proved that rigid time and scheduling of feeds leads only to development of frustrated personality in adulthood and is contributory to the development of disciplined habits of the child. Thus it would appear that the time honoured method of "On Demand Feeding" is the best. In late infancy, crying late at night is often due to hunger, because of mother's reluctance to give night feed at "such a late night". The problem can usually be resolved if the child is given a semi-solid diet late in the evening-followed by a milk feed just before sleeping. Otherwise a dose of Psorinum for midnight hunger and China for voracious appetite may be the answer. Wetting is a common cause of crying. In fact, it is surprising how often children do not cry even when they are wet. Quite often, the infants cry before passing urine. As we find this in Lycopodium. This usually has no pathological significance and may be only considered as a "signal from the infants" before the stream comes. The problem of perianal and perivulval rash and ulceration is likely to increase with increasing use of impermeable plastic napkins for maternal convenience. Very often infants cry because of loneliness, particularly if left alone in the dark room, especially when they are separated from their mother or where both the parents are working. As in the case of Cina and Pulsatilla, quite often the infant cries just because he wants to be cuddled and picked up, which again is prevalent in westernly modes of infant rearing which is considered as spoiling the child, e.g. when the child stops crying on being carried as in Chamomilla. An important but poorly recognised cause of crying in infant is frustration. The frustration is often due to inability to perform developmentally. If the infant has learnt to manipulate with his hands but gets no toys to practice then he may cry. Alternatively he may go for house hold objects like knife, matchsticks etc. which are potentially dangerous and so forbidden. This often leads to excessive crying and temper tantrums. Obviously appropriate needs of a developing child must be recognised and necessary objects and toys be made available so that the infant does not cry unnecessarily. Wanted things refused later can be taken care by few doses of Cina as if has Capraciousness as characteristic. An important cause of crying in an infant or a child in the clinic situation, is the Doctor himself. Most of the graduating doctors having spurned Pediatric wards and out patients as unnecessary appendages of medicine during their periods of training, feel totally unsure in fact are even afraid to handle a child. They start practising the art of examination learnt in adult wards on children in a most tentative manner and this often leads to excessive crying in the child. A perspiring physician handling a howling child is a common enough clinical problem. Once the physician himself keeps some patience and gives enough time to the child to adjust and makes himself friendly to the child by using various methods and then does the examination and prescribes the Homoeopathic medicine, Later on after receiving the sweet pills and sweet behaviour from a Homoeopath the child is very unlikely to cry with a fear of a doctor. R.S. Illingwoth has mentioned in his book that; There is an increasing interest in the nature of the cry of the infants. Analysis of the cry by Spectrographic methods has yielded interesting and useful information (michelson and Wasz-Hockert 1980). The cries of the Asphyxiated, Hypothyroid, Mongoloid and other abnormal babies all have their special characteristics when studied by these methods. Fisichelli and Karelitz showed that normal infants cry more rapidly than do children with brain abnormalities. Babies with Cerebral irritability, Meningitis, Hydrocephalus have a shrill, high pitched cry. A hoarse gruff cry is characteristic of Hypothyroidism. The hoarseness of Laryngitis is characteristic. More important is the cry of a child with stridor which is always present since birth. The cat-like cry of the 'Cri-du-chat' Syndrome is characteristic. This occurs in microcephalic infants. There is often some degree of hypothyroidism, an antimongoloid slant of the eyes and low-set ears. It is associated with deletion of the distal portion of the short arm of the 4 to 5 chromosomes (Kajiiet al 1966). Other characteristic cries are the weak cry of the child with Amyotonia congenita (or similar muscle weakness) or the child with Myasthaenia gravis, and the whimper of the seriously ill child. The child with Pneumonia may have a grunting type of cry. Excessive crying in later infancy and early pre school age is a behavioral problem. This is more likely to occur in border line retarded child. Resolution of behavioral problem requires a careful assessment of parental attitude and a thorough constitutional Homoeopathic remedy. Following are the few homoeopathic remedies for weeping and crying in various situations.
Pica (mud chalk, dirt etc.) and other eating disturbances
Calcarea carbonica
Children crave eggs and eat dirt, chalk, wall plaster and other indigestible things. Children normally are prone to diarrhoea. Children are normally fat flabby and fair. Children who grow fat, are large bellied, with large head, pale skin, chalky look.
Alumina
Delicate children who have been fed on artificial baby food and food products. Abnormal cravings for chalk, charcoal, dry food, and raw uncooked rice. Children may suffer from painter's colic. Has a tendency for constipation, hard knotty stool or with no desire for stool at all. Dryness is so marked that even the soft stool passes with difficulty.
Nitricum acidum
Great hunger, with sweetish taste in the mouth. Longing and craving for indigestible things like chalk, earth and paper etc. Irritable hateful, vindictive and headstrong children with dark complexion. Recurrent blisters and ulcers in the mouth.
Cina maritima
Predominantly a children remedy. Ill-humour child very cross, does not want to be touched, marked irritability. Desires many things, but rejects everything offered. Irritability full of temper, variable appetite, grinding of teeth. Also has the tendency for worm infestations. Gets hungry soon after eating. Bores the nose with fingers till it bleeds. Craving for sweets.
Cicuta virosa
Desires for unnatural things, like coal, or charcoal etc. Indigestion, with insensibility, frothing at mouth. Hiccough, trismus tetanus and convulsions. Bending of the head, neck, and spine backwards violent and strange desires.
Plumbum metallicum
Child has typical habit of eating or biting the cloth, specially the collar of the shirt or the corner of the bed sheets. Abdominal wall feels drawn by a string to spine. Obstructed flatus, with intense colic. Intussusception, strangulated hernia. Constipation, stool hard and lumpy. Progressive muscular atrophy.
The other important remedies of use are : Ferr. Met; Nat. Mur.; Nux Vom. etc.
Pica or dirt eating, occurs particularly in the first four or five years of age. This is a disorder of perverted taste for mud, coal, hair, paper, paint, or plaster from the walls. Children affected from this are usually underfed or anaemic. It is more prevelent in the lower social classes than in upper ones. It is more common in mentally defective children than in those of normal intelligence, partly because mentally defective children continue to take objects to the mouth long after the normal child has ceased to do so. It is believed by some that Pica is associated with iron deficiency anaemia, but the association is often coincidental iron deficiency anaemia and pica both being related to the low social class and to malnutrition. There is commonly a family history of pica or at least one member of the family has this, so that the child may have merely picked up the habit or followed the example of others. The dangers of pica are the risk of infection, ingestion of worms and Lead poisoning. In all cases the haemoglobin and blood lead should be determined. Homoeopathic remedies like Calcarea Carb., Cina, Nitric Acid, Silicea, Nux Vomica, Alumina, Cicuta, Ferrum Met, and Natrum Muriaticum etc. has shown very remarkable results in treating this malady. An interesting case I saw once in my clinic, where the child used to stop crying the moment he use to get paper to eat. The child was treated with Nitric Acid with complete cure of his gastric troubles which were not coming under control for a long time and had no problems after this and amazingly he stopped eating paper after that. Incidentally this pica, if not taken care of in the childhood may develop into irresistible habit in adults also I have treated a family in which three grown up sisters, two studying in university and one married, were affected by this Pica. They used to eat chalk. The younger sister came to me for the treatment of her skin problem. On enquiring about the case it was revealed that she eats chalk along with her sisters, to which they were not concerned at all as they thought it to be of no importance when I told her that it is also a symptom which I would like to give importance to, while treating the case, she realised the significance. After she got treated she brought her other two sisters also for the treatment and indeed they also got rid off this craving for chalk and became healthier in all respects. There was another girl studying in high school, who had the pica and she used to eat corners of pencils. She had hypothyroidism with typical characteristic constitution of Calcarea Carb. She got completely cured and her thyroid has also improved drastically and the blood levels have started changing towards normalcy, she still is undergoing treatment. One peculiar thing I have observed in the patients of Pica is that, they become very irritable.
Pica or dirt eating, occurs particularly in the first four or five years of age. This is a disorder of perverted taste for mud, coal, hair, paper, paint, or plaster from the walls. Children affected from this are usually underfed or anaemic. It is more prevelent in the lower social classes than in upper ones. It is more common in mentally defective children than in those of normal intelligence, partly because mentally defective children continue to take objects to the mouth long after the normal child has ceased to do so. It is believed by some that Pica is associated with iron deficiency anaemia, but the association is often coincidental iron deficiency anaemia and pica both being related to the low social class and to malnutrition. There is commonly a family history of pica or at least one member of the family has this, so that the child may have merely picked up the habit or followed the example of others. The dangers of pica are the risk of infection, ingestion of worms and Lead poisoning. In all cases the haemoglobin and blood lead should be determined. Homoeopathic remedies like Calcarea Carb., Cina, Nitric Acid, Silicea, Nux Vomica, Alumina, Cicuta, Ferrum Met, and Natrum Muriaticum etc. has shown very remarkable results in treating this malady. An interesting case I saw once in my clinic, where the child used to stop crying the moment he use to get paper to eat. The child was treated with Nitric Acid with complete cure of his gastric troubles which were not coming under control for a long time and had no problems after this and amazingly he stopped eating paper after that. Incidentally this pica, if not taken care of in the childhood may develop into irresistible habit in adults also I have treated a family in which three grown up sisters, two studying in university and one married, were affected by this Pica. They used to eat chalk. The younger sister came to me for the treatment of her skin problem. On enquiring about the case it was revealed that she eats chalk along with her sisters, to which they were not concerned at all as they thought it to be of no importance when I told her that it is also a symptom which I would like to give importance to, while treating the case, she realised the significance. After she got treated she brought her other two sisters also for the treatment and indeed they also got rid off this craving for chalk and became healthier in all respects. There was another girl studying in high school, who had the pica and she used to eat corners of pencils. She had hypothyroidism with typical characteristic constitution of Calcarea Carb. She got completely cured and her thyroid has also improved drastically and the blood levels have started changing towards normalcy, she still is undergoing treatment. One peculiar thing I have observed in the patients of Pica is that, they become very irritable.
Breath holding attacks
Antimonium tartaricum
Velvety feeling in the chest. Rapid short difficult breathing, seems as if he would suffocate. Coughing and gaping consecutively. Oedema and impending paralysis of lungs. Asphyxia neonatorum.
Cuprum metallicum
Spasmodic affections, Suffocative attacks, Spasm and constriction of the chest. Chorea brought on by fright. Dyspnoea with epigastric uneasiness. Spasmodic asthma, alternating with spasmodic vomiting. Child has a complete cataleptic spasm, with each paroxysm of whooping cough. Dreadful spasmodic breathing.
Bryonia alba
Soreness in larynx and trachea. Difficult quick respiration, worse every movement, caused by stitches in the chest. Marked dryness all over the body. Heaviness beneath the sternum extending towards the right shoulder.
Laurocerasus
Asphyxia neonatorum. Cyanosis and dyspnoea. Constriction of chest. Threatening paralysis of lungs. Gasping for breath, clutches at heart. Spasmodic tickling cough. Lack of reaction, especially in chest and heart affections. Drink rolls audibly through the oesophagus and intestines.
Cocculus indicus
Sensation of emptiness and cramp in chest. Dyspnoea as from constriction of trachea, as if irritated by smoke. Choking constriction in upper part of oesophagus, oppressing breathing and inducing cough.
This is the phenomenon of the first 2 to years of life and starts at about 6 months of age. This is characterised by holding of the breath until the child's face many turn red or bluish. Although it can be quite a frightening experience, fortunately it is harmless. The child, when upset, may be throwing a temper tantrum or going into a rage will hold his breath, may turn red, pale or blue, slumps limply and loses consciousness to the point of cyanosis for a few seconds. Very rarely such a child will hold his breath long enough to produce an anoxic fit. It is the response of a frustrated self-willed child to get his own way by manipulating his caretakers. One can manage this by avoiding situations that might frustrate the child (including giving in to the child's demands occasionally). The correct management is to ignore the whole episode as fussing the child tends to perpetuate the attack. Mild sedation use to be given in the past but it does not have much effect. Breath holding attacks should be considered in the differential diagnosis of epilepsy and parents may question as to whether the child suffers from Cyanotic Congenital Heart disease. A careful explanation of the attacks, their management and the outlook should be given to the parents who are there in a much better position to cope, in knowledge that the attacks are harmless and self-limiting. Still the parents can be advised to get it treated with following few homoeopathic remedies with their indications.
This is the phenomenon of the first 2 to years of life and starts at about 6 months of age. This is characterised by holding of the breath until the child's face many turn red or bluish. Although it can be quite a frightening experience, fortunately it is harmless. The child, when upset, may be throwing a temper tantrum or going into a rage will hold his breath, may turn red, pale or blue, slumps limply and loses consciousness to the point of cyanosis for a few seconds. Very rarely such a child will hold his breath long enough to produce an anoxic fit. It is the response of a frustrated self-willed child to get his own way by manipulating his caretakers. One can manage this by avoiding situations that might frustrate the child (including giving in to the child's demands occasionally). The correct management is to ignore the whole episode as fussing the child tends to perpetuate the attack. Mild sedation use to be given in the past but it does not have much effect. Breath holding attacks should be considered in the differential diagnosis of epilepsy and parents may question as to whether the child suffers from Cyanotic Congenital Heart disease. A careful explanation of the attacks, their management and the outlook should be given to the parents who are there in a much better position to cope, in knowledge that the attacks are harmless and self-limiting. Still the parents can be advised to get it treated with following few homoeopathic remedies with their indications.
Thumb sucking
Natrium muriaticum
Children suck their thumb and bite nails. Children who are afraid of worms, birds and small animals.
Calcarea phosphorica
Anaemic children who are peevish, flabby, have cold extremities and feeble digestion. It is specially indicated in tardy dentition and troubles of that period. Always wants to go somewhere. Thumb sucking more with boredom.
Silicea terra
Rachitic children, with large head, open fontanelles and suture, distended abdomen, slow in walking. Thumb sucking. Nervous and excitable. Sensitive to all impressions. Very chilly.
Thumb-sucking is part of the natural process of a child's development. Thumb sucking is normal in infancy. It makes the older child appear immature and may interfere with normal alignment of the teeth. Like other rhythmic patterns, it can be seen as a way of securing extra self-nurturance. The best strategy for dealing with thumb sucking is to provide the child with evidence of interest in his or her well-being and other forms of satisfaction. It is estimated that about 40% of children suck their thumb during their first year of life. By 4 years of age, over 85% of the children stop this habit. Initially thumb sucking may have developed as a substitute for breast feeding or bottle feeding. Children suck their thumb as it gives them a sense of contentment or they just enjoy it. In the later age of the children the thumb sucking is the expression of contentment regarding their hunger and safety. Many children do thumb sucking only at bed time when they get the utmost satisfaction. Elder children carry this habit as form of security or as a reaction to the boredom. There is no need to pull the thumb out of the mouth. Treating the underlying insecurity or boredom is definitely more effective. Tying the thumb or putting bitter things on the thumb has helped only a very few children. But definitely if the child is made to understand in a very friendly and polite manner about the implications as of injury or wound on the thumb and disfigurement of the teeth and face yields better results. The child who actively tries to restrain thumb sucking should be given praise and encouragement.
Thumb-sucking is part of the natural process of a child's development. Thumb sucking is normal in infancy. It makes the older child appear immature and may interfere with normal alignment of the teeth. Like other rhythmic patterns, it can be seen as a way of securing extra self-nurturance. The best strategy for dealing with thumb sucking is to provide the child with evidence of interest in his or her well-being and other forms of satisfaction. It is estimated that about 40% of children suck their thumb during their first year of life. By 4 years of age, over 85% of the children stop this habit. Initially thumb sucking may have developed as a substitute for breast feeding or bottle feeding. Children suck their thumb as it gives them a sense of contentment or they just enjoy it. In the later age of the children the thumb sucking is the expression of contentment regarding their hunger and safety. Many children do thumb sucking only at bed time when they get the utmost satisfaction. Elder children carry this habit as form of security or as a reaction to the boredom. There is no need to pull the thumb out of the mouth. Treating the underlying insecurity or boredom is definitely more effective. Tying the thumb or putting bitter things on the thumb has helped only a very few children. But definitely if the child is made to understand in a very friendly and polite manner about the implications as of injury or wound on the thumb and disfigurement of the teeth and face yields better results. The child who actively tries to restrain thumb sucking should be given praise and encouragement.
Fears and excessive dependency
Lycopodium clavatum
Weakly children Melancholy, Afraid of being alone Apprehensive, Loss of self confidence. Gastric symptoms specially the flatulence may accompany. Child dries before urination. Dependent on others.
Pulsatilla pratensis
Weeps easily, timid, irresolute. Fears in the evening to be alone, dark, ghosts. Children like fuss and caresses. Wants company, highly emotional. Craves sympathy. Affected very much missing the near and dear ones.
Phosphorus
Fear of darkness, fear of being alone lest he die, dear of suffocation, fear of thunderstorm, Fear of Death, Fear of impending diseases, Fears something will happen, Fear of ghosts, Fear of robbers, Fear of water, Fear of evil, Fear of imaginary things, Fear of being run over on going out, Fear of vehicles approaching him, Fear of something creeping out of every corner. Fear arising from the stomach. Fear in the evenings.
Hyoscyamus niger
Fear of being harmed. Fear of loosing something. Very possessive. Fear of being injured. Fear of water, Fear of people. Fear of being bitten by beasts. Fear of separation from the dear ones.
Arnica montana
Fear of being struck by those approaching or coming towards him. Full of nightmares and dreams. Fear and horror of sudden death. Fears some dreadful thing will happen. Rises at night with fear and grasps the heart.
Baryta carbonica
Fear in children. Fear of others approaching him. Child fears in a crowd or public places. Child has a fear of death. Fear of evil. Fear of strangers, Fear from noise, at night in street. Fear of people while walking.
Few remedies are mentioned for the particular type of Fear :- Fear of Being Alone : Arg. N; Ars; Crot. C; Hyos; Kali. C; Lyc; Phos; ars-s-f; camph; Clem; con; elaps; gels; kali-p; lyss; puls; sep; stram. Fear of Animals : BELL; CHIN; stram; tub; abel bufo; caust; hyos. Fear of others approaching him : ARN; ambr; bell; cupr; cupr-ar; ign; lyc; stram; thuj; acet-ac; anac; bar-c; cadm-s; cann-i; caust; con; iod; nux-v; op; petr; phos; sep; stry; tarent. Fear of being Bitten : hyos; lyss. Fear in a Crowd : ACON; arg-n; aur; kali-ar; lyc; nat-m; nux-v; puls; aloe; arn; ars; aur; bar-c; bell; caust; ferr; hep; kali-p; led; nat-ar; petr; phos; plat; sel; sulph; tab. Fear of Public Places (Agoraphobia) : GELS; arg-n; calc; kali-p; acon; bar-c; crot-h; ferr; glon; hydr; hydr-ac; levo; nux-v; puls; visc. Fear of Dark : CANN-I; STRAM; acon; calc; camph; cann-s; carb-an; carb-v; caust; cupr; lyc; med; phos; puls; stront-c; aeth; amm-m; ars; bapt; bell; brom; calc-a; calc-p; gels; grin; kali-bi; nat-m; nux-m; rhus-t; sanic; sil; valer; zinc. Fear of Death : ACON; ARS; CALC; CIMIC; GELS; LAC-C; NIT-AC; PHOS; PLAT; agn; apis; arg-n; ars-s-f; bell; bry; cact; calc-ar; cann-i; caust; cocc; coff; crot-t; cupr; cycl; dig; ferr-p; fl-ac; graph; hell; hep; kali-c; kali-i; kali-n; lach; lil-t; lyc; merc; mosch; nat-m; nux-v; op; ph-ac; psor; rhus-t; sec; spong; verat. Fear of Impending Disease : BELL; KALI-C; MERC; PHOS; alum; arg-n; arn; bor; calc; calc-ar; lac-c; lec; lil-t; nit-ac; nix-v; ph-ac; plat; puls; sel; sep; spong. Fear of Dogs : BELL; CHIN; caust; hyos; lyss; stram; tub; calc. Fear of Evil : CALC; CHIN-S; KALI-I; PSOR; arg-n; ars; aur-m; carb-v; caust; chin; coff; iod; kali-ar; lach; laur; lil-t; lyss; mag-s; nat-c; nat-m; onos; pall; phos; sep; stann; staph. Fear of Failure : lac-c; arg-n; arn; cob-n; gels; iod; naja; nat-m; phos; sil; sulph. Fear of Falling : bor; cupr; gels; lac-c; lil-t; nux-v; stram; acon; alum; arg-n; ars; calc; chin; coff; cur; hyper, kali-c; kali-s; lyss; onos; sani; sil; tab; zinc. Fear of Ghosts : acon; ars; carb-v; caust; hyos; kali-br; lyc; manc; phos; plat; puls; sulph. Fear something will happen : CAUST; NUX-V; PHOS; TUB; ars; calc; carb-v; iod; kali ar; kali-br; lac-c; lil-t; nat-m; nat-p; onos; pall; ph-ac; plat. Fear of Killing : ars; chin; nux-v; rhus-t; absin; alumn; amm-m; der; sulph; thea. Fear of Misfortune : CHIN-S; MED; NUX-V; PSOR; anac; calc; caust; cle; graph; hell; merc; nat-c; puls. Fear of Being Murdered : cimic; plat; absin; op; phos; rhus-t; staph; stram. Fear of Narrow Places : LYC; PULS; arg-n; lac-d; acon; aran; cocc; nux-v; plb; staph; stram; succ; sulph; tab; valer. Fear of Noise : ant-c; asar; aur; bell; bor; caust; cham; cocc; lyc; nat-s; phos; ther. Fear of People : HYOS; LYC; NAT-C; RHUS-T; acon; anac; anh; arist-cl; aur; bar-c; carb-v; caust; con; iod; kali-ar; kali-c; led; nat-ar; nat-m; plat; puls. Fear of Being Poisoned : bell; hyos; Kali-bi; kali-br; lach; rhus-t; verat. Fear of Robbers : ARS; arg-n; con; ign; lach; merc; nat-m; phos; zinc. Fear of Solitude : ars; ars-s-f; asaf; bell; bism; cadm-s; clem; elaps; kali-c; lyc; plb; ran-b; sep; tab. Fear of Suffocation : ACON; ars; bry; dig; grin; kali-i; lob; phos; spig; spong; staph; stram. Fear of Thunderstorm : PHOS; bor; bry; gels; nat-c; nat-m; nit-ac; rhod; sep.
Fear and dependency are interrelated. As the child who fears about being left alone or loosing his mother or father becomes more dependent to them respectively. This has been found in the cases where both the parents are working and the children are left behind under some one's care, may be the grandparents, relatives or even in the crèches. Children do have the fear of being harmed or fear of being deprived of the love of the parents. Under these circumstances certain children become very fussy and they always try to catch hold of the clothes or fingers or the hair of the mother as a security or assurance to them. It has been seen in quite a number of cases of elderly children that they have fear of loosing their parents and especially if there had been some tragedy in the family, they become more insecure emotionally. Children have various types of fears. Still the common ones are, Fear of Ghosts, Fear of Animals, Fear of Snakes, Fear of Water, Fear of Death, Fear of Accidents, Fear of being Alone, Fear of Darkness, Fear of Impending Disease, Fear of Evil, Fear of Examinations, Fear of Failure, Fear of Falling, Fears Something Will Happen, Fear of High Places, Fear of Insects, Fear of Imaginary Things, Fear of Killing, Fear of Lightening, Fear of Narrow Places (claustrophobia), Fear of Being Murdered, Fear of Crowd, Fear of Operation, Fear of Pins, Fear of Being Poisoned, Fear of Rains, Fear of Thunderstorms, Fear of Robbers, Fear of Spiders, Fear of Suffocation, Fear of Suicide etc. Reassurance from the parents side as well as from others is most needed to take this fear out of the mind of a child. Otherwise there are few homoeopathic remedies which can take care of these fears also.
Few remedies are mentioned for the particular type of Fear :- Fear of Being Alone : Arg. N; Ars; Crot. C; Hyos; Kali. C; Lyc; Phos; ars-s-f; camph; Clem; con; elaps; gels; kali-p; lyss; puls; sep; stram. Fear of Animals : BELL; CHIN; stram; tub; abel bufo; caust; hyos. Fear of others approaching him : ARN; ambr; bell; cupr; cupr-ar; ign; lyc; stram; thuj; acet-ac; anac; bar-c; cadm-s; cann-i; caust; con; iod; nux-v; op; petr; phos; sep; stry; tarent. Fear of being Bitten : hyos; lyss. Fear in a Crowd : ACON; arg-n; aur; kali-ar; lyc; nat-m; nux-v; puls; aloe; arn; ars; aur; bar-c; bell; caust; ferr; hep; kali-p; led; nat-ar; petr; phos; plat; sel; sulph; tab. Fear of Public Places (Agoraphobia) : GELS; arg-n; calc; kali-p; acon; bar-c; crot-h; ferr; glon; hydr; hydr-ac; levo; nux-v; puls; visc. Fear of Dark : CANN-I; STRAM; acon; calc; camph; cann-s; carb-an; carb-v; caust; cupr; lyc; med; phos; puls; stront-c; aeth; amm-m; ars; bapt; bell; brom; calc-a; calc-p; gels; grin; kali-bi; nat-m; nux-m; rhus-t; sanic; sil; valer; zinc. Fear of Death : ACON; ARS; CALC; CIMIC; GELS; LAC-C; NIT-AC; PHOS; PLAT; agn; apis; arg-n; ars-s-f; bell; bry; cact; calc-ar; cann-i; caust; cocc; coff; crot-t; cupr; cycl; dig; ferr-p; fl-ac; graph; hell; hep; kali-c; kali-i; kali-n; lach; lil-t; lyc; merc; mosch; nat-m; nux-v; op; ph-ac; psor; rhus-t; sec; spong; verat. Fear of Impending Disease : BELL; KALI-C; MERC; PHOS; alum; arg-n; arn; bor; calc; calc-ar; lac-c; lec; lil-t; nit-ac; nix-v; ph-ac; plat; puls; sel; sep; spong. Fear of Dogs : BELL; CHIN; caust; hyos; lyss; stram; tub; calc. Fear of Evil : CALC; CHIN-S; KALI-I; PSOR; arg-n; ars; aur-m; carb-v; caust; chin; coff; iod; kali-ar; lach; laur; lil-t; lyss; mag-s; nat-c; nat-m; onos; pall; phos; sep; stann; staph. Fear of Failure : lac-c; arg-n; arn; cob-n; gels; iod; naja; nat-m; phos; sil; sulph. Fear of Falling : bor; cupr; gels; lac-c; lil-t; nux-v; stram; acon; alum; arg-n; ars; calc; chin; coff; cur; hyper, kali-c; kali-s; lyss; onos; sani; sil; tab; zinc. Fear of Ghosts : acon; ars; carb-v; caust; hyos; kali-br; lyc; manc; phos; plat; puls; sulph. Fear something will happen : CAUST; NUX-V; PHOS; TUB; ars; calc; carb-v; iod; kali ar; kali-br; lac-c; lil-t; nat-m; nat-p; onos; pall; ph-ac; plat. Fear of Killing : ars; chin; nux-v; rhus-t; absin; alumn; amm-m; der; sulph; thea. Fear of Misfortune : CHIN-S; MED; NUX-V; PSOR; anac; calc; caust; cle; graph; hell; merc; nat-c; puls. Fear of Being Murdered : cimic; plat; absin; op; phos; rhus-t; staph; stram. Fear of Narrow Places : LYC; PULS; arg-n; lac-d; acon; aran; cocc; nux-v; plb; staph; stram; succ; sulph; tab; valer. Fear of Noise : ant-c; asar; aur; bell; bor; caust; cham; cocc; lyc; nat-s; phos; ther. Fear of People : HYOS; LYC; NAT-C; RHUS-T; acon; anac; anh; arist-cl; aur; bar-c; carb-v; caust; con; iod; kali-ar; kali-c; led; nat-ar; nat-m; plat; puls. Fear of Being Poisoned : bell; hyos; Kali-bi; kali-br; lach; rhus-t; verat. Fear of Robbers : ARS; arg-n; con; ign; lach; merc; nat-m; phos; zinc. Fear of Solitude : ars; ars-s-f; asaf; bell; bism; cadm-s; clem; elaps; kali-c; lyc; plb; ran-b; sep; tab. Fear of Suffocation : ACON; ars; bry; dig; grin; kali-i; lob; phos; spig; spong; staph; stram. Fear of Thunderstorm : PHOS; bor; bry; gels; nat-c; nat-m; nit-ac; rhod; sep.
Fear and dependency are interrelated. As the child who fears about being left alone or loosing his mother or father becomes more dependent to them respectively. This has been found in the cases where both the parents are working and the children are left behind under some one's care, may be the grandparents, relatives or even in the crèches. Children do have the fear of being harmed or fear of being deprived of the love of the parents. Under these circumstances certain children become very fussy and they always try to catch hold of the clothes or fingers or the hair of the mother as a security or assurance to them. It has been seen in quite a number of cases of elderly children that they have fear of loosing their parents and especially if there had been some tragedy in the family, they become more insecure emotionally. Children have various types of fears. Still the common ones are, Fear of Ghosts, Fear of Animals, Fear of Snakes, Fear of Water, Fear of Death, Fear of Accidents, Fear of being Alone, Fear of Darkness, Fear of Impending Disease, Fear of Evil, Fear of Examinations, Fear of Failure, Fear of Falling, Fears Something Will Happen, Fear of High Places, Fear of Insects, Fear of Imaginary Things, Fear of Killing, Fear of Lightening, Fear of Narrow Places (claustrophobia), Fear of Being Murdered, Fear of Crowd, Fear of Operation, Fear of Pins, Fear of Being Poisoned, Fear of Rains, Fear of Thunderstorms, Fear of Robbers, Fear of Spiders, Fear of Suffocation, Fear of Suicide etc. Reassurance from the parents side as well as from others is most needed to take this fear out of the mind of a child. Otherwise there are few homoeopathic remedies which can take care of these fears also.
Night mares or disturbed sleep
Conium maculatum
Nightmares due to anaemia of brain. Weakness of body and mind, trembling. Insomnia of multiple neuritis.
Cypripedium pubescens
Nervousness in children from teething and intestinal troubles. Child cries out at night, is wakeful and begins to laugh and play. Sleeplessness. Cerebral hyperaesthesia in young children often the result of overstimulation of brain.
Chamomilla
Sensitive, irritable, thirsty, hot and numb. Whining restlessness. Child wants may things which he refuses again. Impatient.
Drowsiness with moaning, weeping and wailing during sleep, anxious, frightened dreams, with half open eyes.
Cina maritima
Child gets on hands and knees in sleep, sleeps on abdomen. Night terrors of children, cries out, screams and talks in sleep. Grinds the teeth during sleep. Ill-humour and very cross, child does not want to be touched. Desires many things and rejects them when offered.
Belladonna
Restless, crying out, gritting of teeth. Kept awake by pulsation of blood-vessels. Screams out in sleep. Sleeplessness with drowsiness. Starting when closing the eyes or during sleep. Sleeps with hands under head.
Babies who do not settle at night and children who will not sleep are common problems and often solutions are difficult to provide. Children who get up at night with fear or bad dream or nightmare are the children who are sensitive and lack courage or have a feeling of insecurity. The other group of children who keep watching television or read comics and horror stories or their parents have been telling them stories in which they are likely to be harmed or injured. This also works as a negative factor in some children and they get nightmares and hence have disturbed sleep. At times when the children are made to sleep alone or separate from their parents they always have a feeling of insecurity and any time in the night they would go to the bed of their parents where they are able to sleep without any problem. Of course new born babies wake up at night because of the hunger or for their feed and some will remain awake as they have already slept for a very long time. Toddlers and young children might be getting disturbed sleep as they may have some physical discomfort also such as intestinal colics, itching in the anus, otitis media etc. After making sure that there is no apparent physical cause for the disturbed sleep it should be treated in the manner of underlying psychological factors. There are some children who would get up in the middle of night and would refuse to go off to sleep, instead they would want to play.
Babies who do not settle at night and children who will not sleep are common problems and often solutions are difficult to provide. Children who get up at night with fear or bad dream or nightmare are the children who are sensitive and lack courage or have a feeling of insecurity. The other group of children who keep watching television or read comics and horror stories or their parents have been telling them stories in which they are likely to be harmed or injured. This also works as a negative factor in some children and they get nightmares and hence have disturbed sleep. At times when the children are made to sleep alone or separate from their parents they always have a feeling of insecurity and any time in the night they would go to the bed of their parents where they are able to sleep without any problem. Of course new born babies wake up at night because of the hunger or for their feed and some will remain awake as they have already slept for a very long time. Toddlers and young children might be getting disturbed sleep as they may have some physical discomfort also such as intestinal colics, itching in the anus, otitis media etc. After making sure that there is no apparent physical cause for the disturbed sleep it should be treated in the manner of underlying psychological factors. There are some children who would get up in the middle of night and would refuse to go off to sleep, instead they would want to play.
Temper tantrums with aggressiveness and hyperactivity
Chamomilla
This remedy has a turmoil in temper. Almost anything and everything is intolerable. Uncivilised child. This remedy not only has bad temper but acts on the effects of bad temper also. Child wants too many things and refuses them when offered. Destructive temper, child wants to break the things. Pains with numbness.
Tarentula hispanica
Sudden alteration of mood, Foxy, destructive impulses. Sudden violent or sly destructive movements, sudden spitefulness, to a paroxysm of insanity in which the patient strikes himself and others, tear and destroy. Frightful restlessness of the arms and legs. Very sensitive to music. Dances with the music, Averse to company, but wants some one present.
Ungrateful, discontented. Patient is guided by the whims of his own.
Cina maritima
Ill humour child, very cross, does not want to be touched, or crossed or carried. Desires many things, but rejects everything offered. Abnormal consciousness, as if having committed some evil deed. Tendency for worm infestations specially the round worms. Child exceedingly cross, cries and strikes at all around. Pitiful weeping, when awake. Child picks its nose very much, is very restless, cries and is very unamiable.
Belladonna
Furious excitement. Patient lives in a world of his own. Suddenness and violence is very marked in all the complaints. Child has a turmoil in the brain. Hypersensitive to light, jar, motion and pressure. He is acutely alive and crazed by a flood of subjective visual impressions and fantastic illusions. Hallucinations; sees monsters, hideous faces. Marked irritability, with rage, furious, bites, strikes and desires to escape. Pulls the hairs of the bystanders in rage. The head is hot with red face and wild fierce look.
Sulphur
Very forgetful. Untidy. Foolish happiness and pride, thinks himself in possession of beautiful things, even rags seem beautiful. Indisposed to everything, work, pleasure, talking or motion, indolence of mind and body. Too lazy to rouse himself up. Dread of being washed, or aversion for taking bath. Can't stand for long always look for a seat or so.
Restlessness with marked irritability and selfishness. Full of greed and possessive of his belongings. Skin very dirty, cracks, and offensive odour with intense itching. Thinks himself to be monarch by wearing paper crown.
The other remedies are Tuberculinum, Puls, Sepia, Sanicula, Platina, Hyoscymus, Thuja and Nitric Acid etc.
These tend to predominate in the 2-6 year of age group when the child develops aggression and anger but has yet to learn to control it. All children show anger but it is only the child with uncontrollable anger who is the real problem. Before expecting the child to control his anger, it is important to tactfully elicit whether the parents can control their's, as such a parent is unlikely to be effective in controlling the anger of their own child. Many tantrums are caused by the intelligent child who has limited language to express himself and such children improve rapidly when they can make their grievances known. Undue aggressiveness and temper tantrums are usually behavioral problems, which usually result largely from a conflict between the child's personality and with that of the personality and attitudes of his parents and other environmental factors. But the symptoms may also be due to disease, biochemical changes, epilepsy and drugs. Any debilitating disease such as Anaemia may have a bad effect on a child's temper. A developing Cerebral tumour may cause personality changes. Hypoglycaemia may be accompanied by aggressive behaviour. When a child suddenly, and for no apparent reason, without injury or thwarting, has a sudden outburst of temper and aggressiveness, Temporal lobe Epilepsy is a possibility. Some drugs particularly Barbiturates and Tricyclic antidepressants, may cause aggressive and difficult behaviour. It is important to advise parents to avoid confrontation wherever possible, either ignoring the tantrums so that the child receives little attention from it or distracting the child, which is often the greatest adult weapon in dealing with a difficult or problem child. Children of this age group have a fairly brief attention span and a sensible parent is able to easily distract them from whatever induced the rage. By this one does not imply that children should have their own way but whenever possible they should be distracted from their tantrums and subsequently encouraged to control their temper and given praise when they shows signs of achieving this. The hyperactivity of a child is over-diagnosed and it should be realized that the healthy children are usually very active and busy people. However, there are children who are active beyond normal bounds. Overactivity is inevitably accompanied by a very short attention span, sometimes delay in learning and usually other behavioral difficulties as well. In many cases a careful history reveals emotional conflict at some stage, either the mother had anxieties during pregnancy or bonding with the new-born is poor and may be the child is not the product of a planned pregnancy. So often the emotional problems of the child are a manifestation of parental rejection at the outset. It is very important to know that the child is not on anti convulsant medicines especially on Phenobarbitone, as this drug also causes changes in the behaviour pattern of the child and some children become very aggressive and hyperactive after taking this medicine. It is difficult to define the term Hyperactive or overactivity with precision. Many mothers think that their children are 'Hyperactive' and complain that they are always on the go and never sit still, when in fact they are normal. This sort of behaviour is usually seen in the children from five to ten years or so. The healthy six year old is always on the go; he does not walk, he runs; when his mother holds one hand and he skips and hops. What is normal at one age, however, is not normal at another. As children mature they loose much of this excessive activity. Here I am concentrating on what one may term 'unusual hyperactivity'. This is commonly accompanied by lack of concentration, ready distractibility and short attention span. The children tend to be impulsive, clumsy, excessively talkative and even destructive. Their movements are more purposeless than increased in amount. These children wear their mothers out and exhaust their teachers. The condition is more common in boys than girls. The term 'minimal brain dysfunction' or 'minimal brain damage' is applied by some to this condition - and to clumsiness and some hundred other symptoms - though there is no laboratory or psychological test which indicates that there was brain damage. (Varga 1979, Rie and Rie 1980, Carey and Mc Devitt 1980). It is now becoming recognised that the condition of 'minimal brain damage' is a myth and that the term should be abandoned. There may be a biochemical basis for the problem, involving biogenic amines. The main causes of 'hyperactivity' may be summarized as : Normal variation Delayed maturation Heredity Parental anoxia, alcohol, toxaemia, maternal smoking Neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia Personality Excessive restraint Boredom Poor teaching or motivation, Overcrowded classes Emotional problems : Insecurity Mental subnormality Autism Temporal lobe epilepsy Lead poisoning Drugs. Unusual hyperactivity may be a familial trait. It may be partly a matter of an inherited personality characteristic. It must be assumed that a hyperactive child has suffered 'brain injury' without first enquiring about the behaviour of the mother or father at that age. Mental subnormality is a common cause of unusual hyperactivity in the young child, partly because mentally subnormal children mature more slowly than normal ones. As a result they are late in growing out of hyperactivity. Hyperactivity is often a feature of Autism, Temporal lobe epilepsy, or the result of excessive restraint. It has been seen that many parents do not spend much time talking and playing with their children. Some homes are devoid of sensible toys and facilities to play. The child in immaculate home is just as much at risk as the child in a shed. Parents should be advised to get the child settled and play with something he likes in order to cultivate concentration. Early placement of such a child in a well structured play group is also helpful to a greater extent.
These tend to predominate in the 2-6 year of age group when the child develops aggression and anger but has yet to learn to control it. All children show anger but it is only the child with uncontrollable anger who is the real problem. Before expecting the child to control his anger, it is important to tactfully elicit whether the parents can control their's, as such a parent is unlikely to be effective in controlling the anger of their own child. Many tantrums are caused by the intelligent child who has limited language to express himself and such children improve rapidly when they can make their grievances known. Undue aggressiveness and temper tantrums are usually behavioral problems, which usually result largely from a conflict between the child's personality and with that of the personality and attitudes of his parents and other environmental factors. But the symptoms may also be due to disease, biochemical changes, epilepsy and drugs. Any debilitating disease such as Anaemia may have a bad effect on a child's temper. A developing Cerebral tumour may cause personality changes. Hypoglycaemia may be accompanied by aggressive behaviour. When a child suddenly, and for no apparent reason, without injury or thwarting, has a sudden outburst of temper and aggressiveness, Temporal lobe Epilepsy is a possibility. Some drugs particularly Barbiturates and Tricyclic antidepressants, may cause aggressive and difficult behaviour. It is important to advise parents to avoid confrontation wherever possible, either ignoring the tantrums so that the child receives little attention from it or distracting the child, which is often the greatest adult weapon in dealing with a difficult or problem child. Children of this age group have a fairly brief attention span and a sensible parent is able to easily distract them from whatever induced the rage. By this one does not imply that children should have their own way but whenever possible they should be distracted from their tantrums and subsequently encouraged to control their temper and given praise when they shows signs of achieving this. The hyperactivity of a child is over-diagnosed and it should be realized that the healthy children are usually very active and busy people. However, there are children who are active beyond normal bounds. Overactivity is inevitably accompanied by a very short attention span, sometimes delay in learning and usually other behavioral difficulties as well. In many cases a careful history reveals emotional conflict at some stage, either the mother had anxieties during pregnancy or bonding with the new-born is poor and may be the child is not the product of a planned pregnancy. So often the emotional problems of the child are a manifestation of parental rejection at the outset. It is very important to know that the child is not on anti convulsant medicines especially on Phenobarbitone, as this drug also causes changes in the behaviour pattern of the child and some children become very aggressive and hyperactive after taking this medicine. It is difficult to define the term Hyperactive or overactivity with precision. Many mothers think that their children are 'Hyperactive' and complain that they are always on the go and never sit still, when in fact they are normal. This sort of behaviour is usually seen in the children from five to ten years or so. The healthy six year old is always on the go; he does not walk, he runs; when his mother holds one hand and he skips and hops. What is normal at one age, however, is not normal at another. As children mature they loose much of this excessive activity. Here I am concentrating on what one may term 'unusual hyperactivity'. This is commonly accompanied by lack of concentration, ready distractibility and short attention span. The children tend to be impulsive, clumsy, excessively talkative and even destructive. Their movements are more purposeless than increased in amount. These children wear their mothers out and exhaust their teachers. The condition is more common in boys than girls. The term 'minimal brain dysfunction' or 'minimal brain damage' is applied by some to this condition - and to clumsiness and some hundred other symptoms - though there is no laboratory or psychological test which indicates that there was brain damage. (Varga 1979, Rie and Rie 1980, Carey and Mc Devitt 1980). It is now becoming recognised that the condition of 'minimal brain damage' is a myth and that the term should be abandoned. There may be a biochemical basis for the problem, involving biogenic amines. The main causes of 'hyperactivity' may be summarized as : Normal variation Delayed maturation Heredity Parental anoxia, alcohol, toxaemia, maternal smoking Neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia Personality Excessive restraint Boredom Poor teaching or motivation, Overcrowded classes Emotional problems : Insecurity Mental subnormality Autism Temporal lobe epilepsy Lead poisoning Drugs. Unusual hyperactivity may be a familial trait. It may be partly a matter of an inherited personality characteristic. It must be assumed that a hyperactive child has suffered 'brain injury' without first enquiring about the behaviour of the mother or father at that age. Mental subnormality is a common cause of unusual hyperactivity in the young child, partly because mentally subnormal children mature more slowly than normal ones. As a result they are late in growing out of hyperactivity. Hyperactivity is often a feature of Autism, Temporal lobe epilepsy, or the result of excessive restraint. It has been seen that many parents do not spend much time talking and playing with their children. Some homes are devoid of sensible toys and facilities to play. The child in immaculate home is just as much at risk as the child in a shed. Parents should be advised to get the child settled and play with something he likes in order to cultivate concentration. Early placement of such a child in a well structured play group is also helpful to a greater extent.
Enuresis (bed wetting)
Sepia officinalis
Involuntary urination during first sleep, on coughing, sneezing, laughing, hearing sudden noise, fright or in attention
especially in females. Slow urination with bearing down sensation above pubis. Urine thick, foul, white gritty or adherent red sediment. Urine feeble, slow cutting pain in bladder before urination. Urine bloody milky, shuddering if desire is resisted.
Kreosotum
Involuntary urination when lying, on coughing. Can urinate only white lying. Dreams of urinating. Enuresis in the first part of the sleep at night, difficult to waken the child. Urine offensive. Frequent urination, with copious urine during daytime. Drinks much but passes little at a time.
Nitricum acidum
Urine smells like as of horse, cold when it passes alternately profuse and scanty. Urine contains oxalic acid, uric acid and phosphates. Haematuria with shuddering along the spine, as of a hot wire in urethra. Infective nephritis. Stream thin as from stricture. Red scurfy spots in prepuce or on corona glandis. Painless retention or incontinence of urine.
Equisetum hyemale
Nocturnal enuresis of children, without any tangible cause except habit. Incontinence in children, dreams or nightmares when passing urine. Incontinence in old women also with involuntary stools. Much mucus in urine. Albuminuria. Constant desire to urinate and passes large quantities of clear, light coloured urine without relief.
Causticum
Bed wetting during first half of the sleep at night. Paralysis of bladder, from retention of urine and consequent incontinence as in sleep or in school girls. Involuntary passage of urine on coughing, vomiting, blowing nose, sneezing or laughing. Retention of urine after labour, after surgical operations. Burning in urethra when urinating. Urine dribbles or passes slowly. Insensibility of urethra while urinating. Urine is passed better when sitting. Urine black cloudy white, itching of meatus. Child does not want to go to bed alone.
Belladonna
Incontinence, continuous dropping. Frequent and profuse, involuntary urination, on lying down, or when standing, or at night, when sleeping during daytime. Retention of urine with paralysis of bladder. Haematuria without pathological conditions. Sensation in bladder as if worms were turning in, without desire to micturate.
Apis mellifica
Incontinence of urine at night, during coughing. Can not urinate without a stool. Burning micturition. Dysuria with stinging pains. Urine scanty foul smelling high colour, last drops burn and smarting at the end. Albuminuria, nephritis, cystitis. Retention of the urine in new borns. Difficult, frequent or slow urination.
Argentum nitricum
Incontinence of urine day and night. Urine passes less easily and freely. Cutting in the urethra with painful erection.
Incontinence of urine after straining for the stool. Divided stream of urine. Emission of few drops after having finished. Incontinence of urine while walking.
Silicea terra
Nocturnal enuresis in children from worms. Nightly incontinence after a blow upon the head. Prostatic fluid discharged when straining at stool. Frequent urination with tenesmus, chronic urethritis, foul discharge from urethra, thick curdy, purulent, bloody pus in urine.
Sulphur
Bed wetting specially in scrofulous, untidy children. Mucus and pus in urine. Great quantities of colourless urine. Must hurry, sudden call to urinate. Sits with forward inclination. Involuntary urination while passing flatus, or on coughing. Painful ineffectual efforts to urinate, retention, every cold settles in the bladder. Itching and burning in urethra during micturation lasting long after, stream thin and intermits.
Other remedies
Other effective remedies can be Arnica; Benz. Ac; Graph; Lac. Can; Cina; Mag. Ph; Nat. M; R.T. ; Ammon. C and Zinc etc.
A very commonly seen problem in the clinic for which parents seek treatment and get concerned out of proportion. Children vary in the age at which they gain nocturnal continence of urine. About 10-15% of normal children at the age of 5 years still wet the bed at night. Boys slightly predominate over girls (as girls generally attain nocturnal bladder control earlier than boys), and there is increased incidence in some families. The factors leading to gaining in the bladder control are complex and involve maturation of the necessary neurological pathways as well as emotional factors. Though there can be physical or organic causes also for the bed wetting such as Urinary Tract Infection, Constipation, Diabetes Mellitus or the Laxed Urethral Sphincter or it can be the effect of extreme cold or damp climate. More often it is again psychological in origin, may be associated with emotional anxieties. On detailed history it is normally revealed that either of the parents also had similar problem in their young days. A homoeopath can definitely point it out that the child is very likely to be fearful in nature. The child may have the fear of darkness, of being alone and of being harmed. The occurrence of enuresis in daytime is particularly significant and may be related to Urinary Tract Infection or Diabetes Mellitus. For the management of the cases of nocturnal enuresis, some significant actions are to be followed : (i) It is important to carefully explain to the anxious parents the nature and course of nocturnal enuresis and that all children in the course of time will become continent of urine. This is important to explain to the child as well, as he may feel that he never will be dry at night. As it further aggravates the problem and the child starts developing some kind of frustration and guilty also. (ii) Asking the child to empty the bladder before going to bed and lifting the child before the parents go to bed often helps. Avoiding excessive fluid intake before bedtime also helps but it should be remembered that the children require a relatively higher fluid intake than adults and so fluids before bedtime can be restricted reasonably only. Children should be asked to refrain from reading very exciting, thrilling comics and story books, and also should restrict from watching very exciting movies etc. on T. V and Videos. Eating very head food or over eating in dinner should also be avoided. (iii) Child can be asked to put a mark of right on a diary or calender on the day he does not pass urine in the bed and put a mark of wrong the day he wets his bed at night and ask him to show after a week. This keeps a psychological awareness and pressure at the subconscious level and he is likely to pass more dry nights. Parents can be asked to praise or give some kind of incentives to the child during the days he does not pass urine in the bed and can be given a very light kind of punishment such as asking him to wash his dirty clothes by himself which makes him realize about it. I have found this method very helpful in my clinical practice. I have seen young adult girls and boys also having the problem of nocturnal enuresis. There it has to be tackled more tactfully by taking out their fears and inhibitions and by making them feel the sense of shame without affecting their normal life pattern. For the younger children enuresis alarm beds are probably a safe and effective method. (iv) Children who have some other physical or organic cause e.g. worms and infection etc. should be treated for that also. (v) In certain cases, I have seen that the children draw pleasure whenever the mother gets irritated by this act of bed wetting of the child. Here it is very important to understand the cause and explain the irritating mother about the whole psychological development as it has been seen that the children were deprived of the mother's affection and care earlier and later the child develops the sadistic pleasure by seeing their mother in such situation. In this case the understanding and the bondage between the mother and child has to be established. Homoeopathically these children can be helped to a greater extent. I have seen wonderful results in certain obstinate cases of nocturnal enuresis where the patient was treated even by sedatives and tricyclic drugs etc. without much benefit under other system of medicine.
A very commonly seen problem in the clinic for which parents seek treatment and get concerned out of proportion. Children vary in the age at which they gain nocturnal continence of urine. About 10-15% of normal children at the age of 5 years still wet the bed at night. Boys slightly predominate over girls (as girls generally attain nocturnal bladder control earlier than boys), and there is increased incidence in some families. The factors leading to gaining in the bladder control are complex and involve maturation of the necessary neurological pathways as well as emotional factors. Though there can be physical or organic causes also for the bed wetting such as Urinary Tract Infection, Constipation, Diabetes Mellitus or the Laxed Urethral Sphincter or it can be the effect of extreme cold or damp climate. More often it is again psychological in origin, may be associated with emotional anxieties. On detailed history it is normally revealed that either of the parents also had similar problem in their young days. A homoeopath can definitely point it out that the child is very likely to be fearful in nature. The child may have the fear of darkness, of being alone and of being harmed. The occurrence of enuresis in daytime is particularly significant and may be related to Urinary Tract Infection or Diabetes Mellitus. For the management of the cases of nocturnal enuresis, some significant actions are to be followed : (i) It is important to carefully explain to the anxious parents the nature and course of nocturnal enuresis and that all children in the course of time will become continent of urine. This is important to explain to the child as well, as he may feel that he never will be dry at night. As it further aggravates the problem and the child starts developing some kind of frustration and guilty also. (ii) Asking the child to empty the bladder before going to bed and lifting the child before the parents go to bed often helps. Avoiding excessive fluid intake before bedtime also helps but it should be remembered that the children require a relatively higher fluid intake than adults and so fluids before bedtime can be restricted reasonably only. Children should be asked to refrain from reading very exciting, thrilling comics and story books, and also should restrict from watching very exciting movies etc. on T. V and Videos. Eating very head food or over eating in dinner should also be avoided. (iii) Child can be asked to put a mark of right on a diary or calender on the day he does not pass urine in the bed and put a mark of wrong the day he wets his bed at night and ask him to show after a week. This keeps a psychological awareness and pressure at the subconscious level and he is likely to pass more dry nights. Parents can be asked to praise or give some kind of incentives to the child during the days he does not pass urine in the bed and can be given a very light kind of punishment such as asking him to wash his dirty clothes by himself which makes him realize about it. I have found this method very helpful in my clinical practice. I have seen young adult girls and boys also having the problem of nocturnal enuresis. There it has to be tackled more tactfully by taking out their fears and inhibitions and by making them feel the sense of shame without affecting their normal life pattern. For the younger children enuresis alarm beds are probably a safe and effective method. (iv) Children who have some other physical or organic cause e.g. worms and infection etc. should be treated for that also. (v) In certain cases, I have seen that the children draw pleasure whenever the mother gets irritated by this act of bed wetting of the child. Here it is very important to understand the cause and explain the irritating mother about the whole psychological development as it has been seen that the children were deprived of the mother's affection and care earlier and later the child develops the sadistic pleasure by seeing their mother in such situation. In this case the understanding and the bondage between the mother and child has to be established. Homoeopathically these children can be helped to a greater extent. I have seen wonderful results in certain obstinate cases of nocturnal enuresis where the patient was treated even by sedatives and tricyclic drugs etc. without much benefit under other system of medicine.
Encopresis
Hyoscyamus niger
Involuntary stools aggravated by mental excitement or during sleep. Involuntary defecation after labour, during urination.
Podophyllum peltatum
Diarrhoea of long standing, early in morning with hot glowing cheeks while being bathed or washed. Involuntary stool on passing flatus, during sleep, watery profuse and offensive stools.
Opium
Stools involuntary, black, offensive, frothy. Involuntary stools from fright, involuntary stools from grief, and from paralysis.
Veratrum album
Constipation from inactivity of the the rectum. Involuntary stools after fright, while passing flatus, during sleep, while urinating, and even on coughing and sneezing.
Phosphorus
Very foetid stools and flatus. Long narrow, hard like a dog's stool. Desire for stool on lying on left side. Involuntary stools from fright during sleep. Involuntary stools, seems as if anus remained open. Great weakness after stool.
This term refers to the passage of faeces into inappropriate places at any age after bowel control should have been established. This predominantly male disorder affects 1% of 5 years olds. It is more commonly seen in children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Organic defects are rarely found. Encopresis indicates a more serious emotional disturbance than enuresis. Chronic soiling may persist from infancy onward (primary) or may appear as a regressive (secondary) phenomenon. It is often associated with chronic constipation, fecal impaction, and overflow incontinence and may progress to Psychogenic Megacolon. This symptom usually represents Unconscious Anger and Defiance in the child, and the parents may respond with retaliatory, punitive measures. School performance and attendance may be affected as the child becomes the target of scorn and derision from schoolmates because of the offensive odour. Measures similar to those used for the supportive treatment for enuresis may be useful, but the fixed and disabling nature of the symptom frequently requires Psychotherapeutic intervention with the child and family. Sitting on the toilet for 10-15 minutes after each meal is often necessary. Rewards for compliance should be offered. Power and autonomy should be avoided, if possible, and records of the child's elimination should be kept. The child should be encouraged to use the bathroom or latrine at specific times and is rewarded accordingly. A non humiliating examination of the child's clothing at the end of the day is necessary. Rewards should be offered for nonsoiling, and mild, non-judgemental consequences should be used for soiling. Following are the Homoeopathic remedies which are found effective : Aloes, Arnica, Bell, Hyoscyamus, Nat-Mur, Nat-Ph, Opium, Phos-Ac, Phos, Rhus-T, Sec-Cor, Sulph, Veratrum Alb. Etc.
This term refers to the passage of faeces into inappropriate places at any age after bowel control should have been established. This predominantly male disorder affects 1% of 5 years olds. It is more commonly seen in children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Organic defects are rarely found. Encopresis indicates a more serious emotional disturbance than enuresis. Chronic soiling may persist from infancy onward (primary) or may appear as a regressive (secondary) phenomenon. It is often associated with chronic constipation, fecal impaction, and overflow incontinence and may progress to Psychogenic Megacolon. This symptom usually represents Unconscious Anger and Defiance in the child, and the parents may respond with retaliatory, punitive measures. School performance and attendance may be affected as the child becomes the target of scorn and derision from schoolmates because of the offensive odour. Measures similar to those used for the supportive treatment for enuresis may be useful, but the fixed and disabling nature of the symptom frequently requires Psychotherapeutic intervention with the child and family. Sitting on the toilet for 10-15 minutes after each meal is often necessary. Rewards for compliance should be offered. Power and autonomy should be avoided, if possible, and records of the child's elimination should be kept. The child should be encouraged to use the bathroom or latrine at specific times and is rewarded accordingly. A non humiliating examination of the child's clothing at the end of the day is necessary. Rewards should be offered for nonsoiling, and mild, non-judgemental consequences should be used for soiling. Following are the Homoeopathic remedies which are found effective : Aloes, Arnica, Bell, Hyoscyamus, Nat-Mur, Nat-Ph, Opium, Phos-Ac, Phos, Rhus-T, Sec-Cor, Sulph, Veratrum Alb. Etc.
Masturbation
Agnus castus
Sexual melancholy. Parts cold relax. Low sexual vitality with corresponding mental depression and loss of nerve energy.
Premature old age from abuse of sexual powers. No erections, impotence. Scanty emission without ejaculation. Lack of concentration in their studies their daily tasks etc. They experience sexual impotency, and they become very preoccupied with this problem. They become convinced that they are about to have a nervous breakdown, or that their vital organs are about to collapse.
Phosphoricum acidum
Emissions at night and at stool. History of grief. Mental debility first, then physical debility. Seminal vesiculitis. Sexual power deficient, testes tender and swollen, parts relaxed during embrace. Prostatorrhoea even when passing soft stool. Oedema of prepuce, and swollen glans penis. Urine smells like onion.
Bufo rana
Feeble minded children. Involuntary emissions, impotence, discharge too quick, Seeks solitude to masturbate. Bad effects of onanism.
Staphisagria
Ill effects of anger and insults. Sexual sins and excesses. Very sensitive. Persistent dwelling on sexual subjects. Good especially after self abuse. Spermetorrhoea, with sunken features, guilty look. Emissions, with backache and weakness and sexual neurasthenia.
Origanum majorana
It acts on nervous system generally, and is effective in masturbation and excessively aroused sexual impulses. Erotomania in females with powerful lascivious impulses.
Babies may touch their genitals as they become aware of their existence. Older children may fondle their genitalia as it gives them pleasure. Masturbation as such means the the production of sexual excitement by friction of the genitalia. At times a child experiences this pleasure accidentally when there is friction with the genitals. Soon after experiencing the child tends to do it more frequently on its own. By and large masturbation does not lead to any harm or adverse effect as observed by Masters and Johnsons. Therefore it is best to ignore it. But in certain cases I have seen the young growing children get too much involved in this act of masturbation that they get distracted from their other natural activities. This act of masturbation is found both in girls and boys but the boys are more affected by it specially when the child grows little older and starts having proper erections. At this time if the child seeks solitude for performing it and avoids company of others and shirks from outdoor activities like playing and socialising etc, here it needs to be checked by the parents. As excessive indulgence will take most of his precious time from the studies and other activities. Here also punishment to the child is not the answer but a close chat with him and making him understand the basic anatomy and physiology of the human body would be better, lest he acquires wrong information or knowledge through friends and cheap literature which misleads the young mind ultimately leading into the frustration and guilt feeling, which can mar the personality development and the confidence is shaken badly and it affects the life of the individual adversely. I have seen in a case where a child picked up this habit in order to save himself from an embarrassing situation where the child was sodomised and thinking he might not get something out of this he indulged in masturbation by thinking that he will be able to take out the semen introduced into his body through sodomy. This act of masturbation he indulged in, was so much that, he neglected his studies and gradually when he attained some knowledge and information through various sources and literature he developed an inferiority and guilt complex. Though when he was brought to me and after taking his complete case and talking to him separately I could get his guilt complex removed with psychotherapy and constitutional remedy. Here the medicines I used were Staphysagria, Acid Phos and Capsicum which completely cured the patient and now he is fine and persuing his career. I have seen many young boys who indulge in masturbation out of frustration, some do it as a measure of outlet of their hidden desires and rage etc. I have seen cases where the the young boys who had been indulging in masturbation and developing a guilt complex develop the suicidal thoughts also, this is prevelent most in young secondary school students who are unable to study owing to preoccupation and lack of interest. In homoeopathy there are very good and effective remedies after understanding the root cause behind it or what leads a child into indulge in excessive masturbation on this basis children are treated successfully. Various remedies found effective are : Agnus Cast; Anac; Calad; Acid Phos; Bufo; Conium; Gels; Gratiola; Lyco; Nat. Mur; Nux vom; Platina; Staph; Sul; Thuja; Tribul; Ustlago; Zinc etc.
Babies may touch their genitals as they become aware of their existence. Older children may fondle their genitalia as it gives them pleasure. Masturbation as such means the the production of sexual excitement by friction of the genitalia. At times a child experiences this pleasure accidentally when there is friction with the genitals. Soon after experiencing the child tends to do it more frequently on its own. By and large masturbation does not lead to any harm or adverse effect as observed by Masters and Johnsons. Therefore it is best to ignore it. But in certain cases I have seen the young growing children get too much involved in this act of masturbation that they get distracted from their other natural activities. This act of masturbation is found both in girls and boys but the boys are more affected by it specially when the child grows little older and starts having proper erections. At this time if the child seeks solitude for performing it and avoids company of others and shirks from outdoor activities like playing and socialising etc, here it needs to be checked by the parents. As excessive indulgence will take most of his precious time from the studies and other activities. Here also punishment to the child is not the answer but a close chat with him and making him understand the basic anatomy and physiology of the human body would be better, lest he acquires wrong information or knowledge through friends and cheap literature which misleads the young mind ultimately leading into the frustration and guilt feeling, which can mar the personality development and the confidence is shaken badly and it affects the life of the individual adversely. I have seen in a case where a child picked up this habit in order to save himself from an embarrassing situation where the child was sodomised and thinking he might not get something out of this he indulged in masturbation by thinking that he will be able to take out the semen introduced into his body through sodomy. This act of masturbation he indulged in, was so much that, he neglected his studies and gradually when he attained some knowledge and information through various sources and literature he developed an inferiority and guilt complex. Though when he was brought to me and after taking his complete case and talking to him separately I could get his guilt complex removed with psychotherapy and constitutional remedy. Here the medicines I used were Staphysagria, Acid Phos and Capsicum which completely cured the patient and now he is fine and persuing his career. I have seen many young boys who indulge in masturbation out of frustration, some do it as a measure of outlet of their hidden desires and rage etc. I have seen cases where the the young boys who had been indulging in masturbation and developing a guilt complex develop the suicidal thoughts also, this is prevelent most in young secondary school students who are unable to study owing to preoccupation and lack of interest. In homoeopathy there are very good and effective remedies after understanding the root cause behind it or what leads a child into indulge in excessive masturbation on this basis children are treated successfully. Various remedies found effective are : Agnus Cast; Anac; Calad; Acid Phos; Bufo; Conium; Gels; Gratiola; Lyco; Nat. Mur; Nux vom; Platina; Staph; Sul; Thuja; Tribul; Ustlago; Zinc etc.
Nail - biting
Baryta carbonica
Slow grasping children, absurd and backward. Childish and thoughtless behaviour. Timid cowardly, groaning at every little thing. Increasing mental weakness, forgetful, shy of strangers. Child does not want to play but sits in the corner doing nothing, can not remember and learn. Thinks he is being laughed at and made fun of. Hides behind the furniture, bites nails, keeps hands over the face, peeping through the fingers. Won't resist on being held and brought near to someone. Always borrows trouble, loss of self confidence.
Arum triphyllum
Bites nails until fingers bleed. Has sore throat and soreness of the mouth. Excessively cross and stubborn. Nervous persistently boring into the nose, or picking at lips, fingers at one spot, until it is sore or bleed specially in children with tendency to nasal catarrh.
Opium
Bites himself, bites fingers, bites hands in ill effects of chronic fears. Awakes terrified, screams with fright. Child clings to those near him. Dread of darkness and has a horror of glistening objects. Wildly excited as in night terrors. Patient wants nothing, complete loss of consciousness, apoplectic state, frightful fancies, daring gay bright, unable to understand or appreciate his sufferings. Maniac, curses, tears clothes with teeth.
Aconitum napellus
Nail biting with nervous excitement. Great anxiety and fear. Music unbearable. Feels as if what had just been done was a dream.
Hura brasiliensis
Bites nails, bites hands. Sensation of splinter under thumb nails. Throbbing on finger tips.
Lyssinum
Rude, abusive. Bites and strikes, bites nails, feels he can not physically endure his fears much longer.
Nail-biting arises from anxiety and stress. It is very common in the school children. In certain children they do this with excitement e.g. while watching some exciting movie or watching an interesting match on T.V. Few children develop this habit permanently. At times when they can not answer a question, then in disgust with nervous and guilt feeling, they start biting their nails, and in another group of children, it is just one of the pass time kind of a thing. It is commonly seen that this habit of nail biting is present in either of the parents also. The homoeopathic remedy may be different in considering the psychological background of the case rather than the only guiding symptom. It is an early sign of nervousness and lack of confidence. Painting bitter tasting chemicals on the nail is usually effective. Certainly in the case of a girl giving some nail varnish or polish may help her shrug off the habit by appealing to her vanity, she will allow her polished or varnished nail to grow in order to show it off.
Nail-biting arises from anxiety and stress. It is very common in the school children. In certain children they do this with excitement e.g. while watching some exciting movie or watching an interesting match on T.V. Few children develop this habit permanently. At times when they can not answer a question, then in disgust with nervous and guilt feeling, they start biting their nails, and in another group of children, it is just one of the pass time kind of a thing. It is commonly seen that this habit of nail biting is present in either of the parents also. The homoeopathic remedy may be different in considering the psychological background of the case rather than the only guiding symptom. It is an early sign of nervousness and lack of confidence. Painting bitter tasting chemicals on the nail is usually effective. Certainly in the case of a girl giving some nail varnish or polish may help her shrug off the habit by appealing to her vanity, she will allow her polished or varnished nail to grow in order to show it off.
Stammering stuttering lalling (speech disturbances)
Belladonna
Stammering, grinding of teeth, tongue swollen and painful. Dry throbbing pain in teeth. Tongue red on edges. Epileptic spasms followed by nausea and vomiting. Patient is acutely alive and crazed by a flood of subjective visual impressions and fantastic illusions, hallucinations, sees monsters, hideous faces, furious.
Stramonium
Dry, dribbling of viscid saliva. Aversion to water. Stammering. Exerts himself a long time before he can utter a word.
Stammering during dentition. Speech difficult from spasm of the tongue. Can not swallow on account of spasm.
Causticum
Bites inside of the cheek from chewing. Paralysis of tongue with indistinct speech. Speech difficult from chorea.
Stammering. Child does not want to go to bed alone. Least thing makes it cry. Hopeless, intensely sympathetic. Ailments from long lasting grief, sudden emotions, thinking of complaints aggravates. Children are slow to walk. Better in damp wet weather.
Mercurius solubilis
Stammering and quick speech, Sweetish metallic taste. Salivary secretions greatly increased. Speech difficult on account of trembling tongue. Slow in answering questions. Weakened memory and loss of will power. Thinks he is loosing his reason.
Nux vomica
Stammering, lisping. Jaws contracted. Small aphthous ulcers, with bloody saliva. Very irritable. Ugly, malicious, can not bear noises, light, odour. Disposed to reproach others.
Stammering is a baffling speech disorder. Although, there is no direct evidence linking stammering with heredity. In 65% cases there is a family history of stammering. Usually the father or uncle also had or has the similar problem. Most of the stammerers are males i.e. 80% and this speech disorder usually affects the first male born child. There are an estimated 8,50,000,000 stammerers in India. Sss...Sss...ir my name is Hhh...Hhh...Hhh i Ttt...Ttt render Dh...dh...dh a Ww..ww an. Such was the speech of M. Hitender Dhawan who was brought to me by his mother for his stammering problem. Stammering and dysfluent speech can become an obstacle to personal career and social growth. Stammered speech can invite reactions of pity and ridicule forcing the sufferer to minimise or avoid social contacts. It has been seen that if a child see somebody in the family or in his surroundings who stammer, stutter or lal, he tries to copy him or speak in the same way. Very often I have seen the child who has started speaking in this way initially, parents enjoy it and don't check him then later the child develops a sort of permanent way of speaking if remained unchecked. When the child is learning to speak in connected sentences, whatever may be the initial causative factors, stammering soon becomes an increasingly growing habit which can corrode the child's self-confidence and negatively influence his normal personality. Most stammerers suffer tremendous feelings of guilt, fear anxiety and frustrations when about to face a stressful speech situation. Speech is one of the body's strongest habits. The act of speech involves both physical and intellectual functions. At the 'brain' level, thoughts are born, words are selected from the memory bank and put into appropriate grammatical forms, the speaking machine is activated, lungs begin to exhale air (most speech occurs as one breath out) which passes between the two vocal cords causing them to vibrate and thus produce voice. This voice moves upward into the oral cavity or (mouth) where it is transformed into spoken word through the intricate movements of the tongue, lips and teeth. Speech begins at the electro-chemical level in the brain cells and is one of the most finely tuned of all human activities. Stammering is really a disorder of rate and rhythm. The stammerer is confused about when exactly to utter the word in a particular sentence. Even the severest stammerer does not stammer while singing a song, he knows exactly when to say the words (of the song). There is no confusion in his mind about this, since he has heard the song before and memorised its words. When speaking in other situation however the stammering child is unsure about the timing. He is either in hurry to speak or in perennial doubt about his ability to be fluent. Stammering can be really frustrating since it is a fluctuating condition varying from day to day and situation to situation. Most stammerers find certain sounds more difficult. Stammering can be minimised, even eliminated through self-therapy and homoeopathy. The stammerer is caught up in a complex maze, confused about the act of fluent speech, he needs to help himself and develop an easier speaking manner devoid of the psychological and physical tensions that every speaking act currently involves for him. It needs detailed look at the physical manner of his speech. What wrong is he doing which inhibits the smooth outward flow of his breath? Whether his muscles tensing up and thus obstructing the passage of this exhaled air at he chest, neck, jaw, tongue and lip level? The tongue is a muscle too and most stammerers have never learnt that it is possible to speak with a 'relaxed' tongue. Reorientation of mental attitude is a must along with speech therapy to combat this stammering disorder. Since fear plays a major role in the occurrence of stammering, it is important to make the child or the stammerer to come to terms with his own particular brand of apprehensions, which accompany his every act of speech. In certain children there is a problem in the articulation of the tongue which lead into mispronounce the particular letter or word. Interestingly I have seen absolutely normal children suddenly developing this stuttering, there I have found out the cause had been invariably very strict atmosphere at home or in the school and the child has been subjected to very severe scolding or beating, and the child gets so much scared and afraid that he starts stuttering, and the child starts loosing interest in everything and gradually goes into a shell. Even more than other neuro-muscular functions, the act of speech is greatly influenced by the emotional status, and the speech fluency changes as one gets excited, angry or afraid. As a matter of fact any one can lapse into stammering when formulating a difficult thought or if emotionally upset. These children are being helped fully by reassuring and good counselling and speech therapy either at school or at home. Gradually the child opens up and become a confident self. In few families I have seen the laxed attitude of the parents or grandparents where the child is the only child in the family and been bestowed too much love and carelessness by the elders at home, later find very difficult to correct this defect. Here it is important to correct the child's speech by suggestive methods and practice rather scolding or punishing the child. Certain physical and mechanical causes also can cause such problem, by adopting the removal of those causes the problem can be controlled. In nutshell, speech may be interrupted by periods of hesitation, prolongation or repetition, thus interfering with the normal flow of words. It occurs more often in stressful situations such as in front of audience, teachers etc. Occasional stuttering may occur normally from 1 to 3 years of age. Persistent stuttering may be due to emotional and social development problems besides receiving speech therapy these children may need emotional support. Undue competitions and inferiority complexes should be tackled. Once the stammerer is made to view his problem not as a disease but as a behaviour which needs to be changed consciously, his approach to the problem becomes much more rational and with regular practice of a newer speaking style, his problem can indeed begin to fade. Speech therapy along with homoeopathy made M. Hitender Dhawan absolutely a confident child with no stammering at all. Bell, Caust, Merc, Nux Vom, Stram, Gels etc. are few very effective remedies in such conditions.
Stammering is a baffling speech disorder. Although, there is no direct evidence linking stammering with heredity. In 65% cases there is a family history of stammering. Usually the father or uncle also had or has the similar problem. Most of the stammerers are males i.e. 80% and this speech disorder usually affects the first male born child. There are an estimated 8,50,000,000 stammerers in India. Sss...Sss...ir my name is Hhh...Hhh...Hhh i Ttt...Ttt render Dh...dh...dh a Ww..ww an. Such was the speech of M. Hitender Dhawan who was brought to me by his mother for his stammering problem. Stammering and dysfluent speech can become an obstacle to personal career and social growth. Stammered speech can invite reactions of pity and ridicule forcing the sufferer to minimise or avoid social contacts. It has been seen that if a child see somebody in the family or in his surroundings who stammer, stutter or lal, he tries to copy him or speak in the same way. Very often I have seen the child who has started speaking in this way initially, parents enjoy it and don't check him then later the child develops a sort of permanent way of speaking if remained unchecked. When the child is learning to speak in connected sentences, whatever may be the initial causative factors, stammering soon becomes an increasingly growing habit which can corrode the child's self-confidence and negatively influence his normal personality. Most stammerers suffer tremendous feelings of guilt, fear anxiety and frustrations when about to face a stressful speech situation. Speech is one of the body's strongest habits. The act of speech involves both physical and intellectual functions. At the 'brain' level, thoughts are born, words are selected from the memory bank and put into appropriate grammatical forms, the speaking machine is activated, lungs begin to exhale air (most speech occurs as one breath out) which passes between the two vocal cords causing them to vibrate and thus produce voice. This voice moves upward into the oral cavity or (mouth) where it is transformed into spoken word through the intricate movements of the tongue, lips and teeth. Speech begins at the electro-chemical level in the brain cells and is one of the most finely tuned of all human activities. Stammering is really a disorder of rate and rhythm. The stammerer is confused about when exactly to utter the word in a particular sentence. Even the severest stammerer does not stammer while singing a song, he knows exactly when to say the words (of the song). There is no confusion in his mind about this, since he has heard the song before and memorised its words. When speaking in other situation however the stammering child is unsure about the timing. He is either in hurry to speak or in perennial doubt about his ability to be fluent. Stammering can be really frustrating since it is a fluctuating condition varying from day to day and situation to situation. Most stammerers find certain sounds more difficult. Stammering can be minimised, even eliminated through self-therapy and homoeopathy. The stammerer is caught up in a complex maze, confused about the act of fluent speech, he needs to help himself and develop an easier speaking manner devoid of the psychological and physical tensions that every speaking act currently involves for him. It needs detailed look at the physical manner of his speech. What wrong is he doing which inhibits the smooth outward flow of his breath? Whether his muscles tensing up and thus obstructing the passage of this exhaled air at he chest, neck, jaw, tongue and lip level? The tongue is a muscle too and most stammerers have never learnt that it is possible to speak with a 'relaxed' tongue. Reorientation of mental attitude is a must along with speech therapy to combat this stammering disorder. Since fear plays a major role in the occurrence of stammering, it is important to make the child or the stammerer to come to terms with his own particular brand of apprehensions, which accompany his every act of speech. In certain children there is a problem in the articulation of the tongue which lead into mispronounce the particular letter or word. Interestingly I have seen absolutely normal children suddenly developing this stuttering, there I have found out the cause had been invariably very strict atmosphere at home or in the school and the child has been subjected to very severe scolding or beating, and the child gets so much scared and afraid that he starts stuttering, and the child starts loosing interest in everything and gradually goes into a shell. Even more than other neuro-muscular functions, the act of speech is greatly influenced by the emotional status, and the speech fluency changes as one gets excited, angry or afraid. As a matter of fact any one can lapse into stammering when formulating a difficult thought or if emotionally upset. These children are being helped fully by reassuring and good counselling and speech therapy either at school or at home. Gradually the child opens up and become a confident self. In few families I have seen the laxed attitude of the parents or grandparents where the child is the only child in the family and been bestowed too much love and carelessness by the elders at home, later find very difficult to correct this defect. Here it is important to correct the child's speech by suggestive methods and practice rather scolding or punishing the child. Certain physical and mechanical causes also can cause such problem, by adopting the removal of those causes the problem can be controlled. In nutshell, speech may be interrupted by periods of hesitation, prolongation or repetition, thus interfering with the normal flow of words. It occurs more often in stressful situations such as in front of audience, teachers etc. Occasional stuttering may occur normally from 1 to 3 years of age. Persistent stuttering may be due to emotional and social development problems besides receiving speech therapy these children may need emotional support. Undue competitions and inferiority complexes should be tackled. Once the stammerer is made to view his problem not as a disease but as a behaviour which needs to be changed consciously, his approach to the problem becomes much more rational and with regular practice of a newer speaking style, his problem can indeed begin to fade. Speech therapy along with homoeopathy made M. Hitender Dhawan absolutely a confident child with no stammering at all. Bell, Caust, Merc, Nux Vom, Stram, Gels etc. are few very effective remedies in such conditions.
Tics (habit spasms)
Agaricus muscarius
Trembling, twitching, jerking or fibrillar spasms here and there are very marked, especially affected parts are eyelids, and
tongue. Nervousness and restlessness. Twitching stops during sleep. Convulsions after being scolder or punished. Children walk and talk late. Yawning before complaints.
Cuprum metallicum
Spasmodic effects on the muscles of the body, twisting of the head to one side, chorea from fright, Ill effects of mental and bodily exhaustion. Fear of Society, shuns everybody. Sense of loosing consciousness. Malicious mania, Imitates and mimics.
Staphisagria
Ill effects of anger and insults. Nervous affection with trembling. Complaints from emotional chagrin, vexation, indignation and quarrels. Ill effects after scolding and punishment in children. Very sensitive about what others say about her.
Ailments from reserved displeasure.
Stramonium
Rhythmic, graceful or disorderly motions of the head and arms. Trembling of the limbs. Tremors and nervous spasmodic movements of the muscles. Spasms agg. after masturbation. Ill effects of shock, fright and sun. Dread of darkness and has horror of the glistening objects.
Zincum metallicum
Internal trembling, twitching or jerking of the extremities and muscles. Ill effects of grief, anger fright, night watching, operations and study. Marked anaemia and weakness. Rolls head, rolling of eyes. Can not keep feet and legs still.
Tics or habit spasms are extremely common in children. They usually consist of blinking the eyes, twitching of the face, inappropriate mouth opening or gaping, shrugging the shoulders, sniffing or clucking the tongue. They are usually single i.e. a child has one sort of tic normally but may be multiple and complex in certain cases and therefore readily confused with chorea. Boys are more commonly afflicted with tics than the girls. The onset is more often at about the age of 6 - 7 years about 90 percent beginning before the age of 10 years. They frequently disappear at puberty, but some persist throughout life. One tic usually lasts several months. Tics invariably are brought by home conflicts and other causes of insecurity, but it is very difficult to find out the exact cause in each case. Tics may be a side effect of amphetamine or methylphenidate. Tics usually are found in the children who are tense and nervous. Once the cause as it may be either the insecurity or the conflict at home, is found out, it should be resolved in such a way that the child feels fully secure and at ease. It is necessary that the child is not scolded all the time for tics or ridiculed in front of others, rather a sympathetic and understanding attitude towards him would be able to bring out of this spasmodic habit of his. Tics involve repetitive movements of muscle groups and represent discharges of tension originating in emotional and physical states that have no apparent useful function. They may have been initially intentional, sometimes becoming nonintentional very quickly. Parts of the body most frequently involved are the muscles of the face, neck, shoulders, trunk, and hands. There may be lip-smacking and grimacing, tongue-thrusting, eye-blinking, throat-clearing, and so on. It is very difficult for a person with a tic to inhibit it. Tics can be distinguished from variants of minor seizures in that the child does not experience a transient loss of consciousness or amnesia. They can be distinguished from dyskinetic movements and dystonia by their discontinuation during sleep and by virtue of the conscious control. Tics usually accompany other psychiatric syndromes or follows encephalitis. Undue parental attention can reinforce tics, whereas ignoring them may diminish their occurrence. Homoeopathically following are the remedies found to be effective therapeutically.
Tics or habit spasms are extremely common in children. They usually consist of blinking the eyes, twitching of the face, inappropriate mouth opening or gaping, shrugging the shoulders, sniffing or clucking the tongue. They are usually single i.e. a child has one sort of tic normally but may be multiple and complex in certain cases and therefore readily confused with chorea. Boys are more commonly afflicted with tics than the girls. The onset is more often at about the age of 6 - 7 years about 90 percent beginning before the age of 10 years. They frequently disappear at puberty, but some persist throughout life. One tic usually lasts several months. Tics invariably are brought by home conflicts and other causes of insecurity, but it is very difficult to find out the exact cause in each case. Tics may be a side effect of amphetamine or methylphenidate. Tics usually are found in the children who are tense and nervous. Once the cause as it may be either the insecurity or the conflict at home, is found out, it should be resolved in such a way that the child feels fully secure and at ease. It is necessary that the child is not scolded all the time for tics or ridiculed in front of others, rather a sympathetic and understanding attitude towards him would be able to bring out of this spasmodic habit of his. Tics involve repetitive movements of muscle groups and represent discharges of tension originating in emotional and physical states that have no apparent useful function. They may have been initially intentional, sometimes becoming nonintentional very quickly. Parts of the body most frequently involved are the muscles of the face, neck, shoulders, trunk, and hands. There may be lip-smacking and grimacing, tongue-thrusting, eye-blinking, throat-clearing, and so on. It is very difficult for a person with a tic to inhibit it. Tics can be distinguished from variants of minor seizures in that the child does not experience a transient loss of consciousness or amnesia. They can be distinguished from dyskinetic movements and dystonia by their discontinuation during sleep and by virtue of the conscious control. Tics usually accompany other psychiatric syndromes or follows encephalitis. Undue parental attention can reinforce tics, whereas ignoring them may diminish their occurrence. Homoeopathically following are the remedies found to be effective therapeutically.
School phobia
Baryta carbonica
Loss of memory, mental weakness. Fear and cowardice. Inattention to studies. Confusion. Child can not remember and learn, hence shirks from going to school. Aversion to strangers, aversion to play. Sudden fits of passion from trifling causes.
Anacardium orientale
Fear of examinations in students. Impaired memory, depression and irritability. Disposition to laugh at serious things, and maintains a seriousness when anything laughable occurs. Fixed ideas. Thinks he is possessed of two persons or wills. Brain fag, absent mindedness. Absence of ideas.
Aethusa cynapium
Incapacity to think, confused, loss of comprehension, as if a barrier between the senses and external objects. Idiocy, in some cases alternating with furore. Great anxiety and restlessness, followed by violent pains in head and abdomen. Brain fag. Bad humour, irritability. Inability to tolerate milk.
Most of the children do not like to go to school at some stage. The majority endure this phase and emerge better for having coped successfully. Many children seem to have untold absences from school to the extent that schools these days are prepared to accept a certain degree of absence without question. Parental attitudes are very important and with certain trends against authority perhaps this is not surprising. Children from such homes who have frequent absences from school are usually those who tend to make the most of minor ailments. In the case of child having school phobia, he may present with protean manifestations as part of his anxiety reaction to school such as pain, diarrhoea, vomiting headache etc. Probable causes can be Emotional disturbances, Parent child relationship, Attitude of school teacher, Rivalry or fear amongst the class fellows or Fear of entire school environment or specific situations-like class tests, special subjects, games etc. Other children present with more overt school refusal causing great concern to their parents. Enquiries to the school (with parental consent) are important and often a visit by the health visitor or social worker or counsellor may provide useful information as to the child's refusal to attend school. As school refusal may result from a unpleasant experience or a fear (real or imaginary) arising at school. In some instances the child may have a valid point in that case there may be undesirable teacher or there may be extreme unchecked bullying. It is important to know if the child is educationally suited to the school and if this is in question an educational psychologist's assessment may prove useful. At times it may seem trivial to parents, but can be quite important to the child. Misunderstanding of events or imaginary fears can be dealt with reassurance. If the child is being bullied at school, then the parents may have to intervene on child's behalf. If the reason for the child's refusal to go to school is because he fears separation from the mother or the parents, then certainly parents should not take the easy way out by allowing the child to stay at home. As it will increase the dependency and fear more, instead asking a school friend to accompany the child to school would be a better step. Reassurance from the mother that when the child returns from school mother will be at home to meet him would give an added confidence in the child. Most difficulties are temporary but for the child in whom the problem seems complex and intractable, the help of the local child guidance clinic is probably the next best move. Undue delay in resolving such difficulties should be avoided, not only because the child's unhappiness may be profound, but because valuable educational time is being lost and never regained. In no case the child should be allowed to stay at home. The fears of the child must be allayed. The child and sometimes parents also may need the psychotherapy and homoeopathy for, themselves.
Most of the children do not like to go to school at some stage. The majority endure this phase and emerge better for having coped successfully. Many children seem to have untold absences from school to the extent that schools these days are prepared to accept a certain degree of absence without question. Parental attitudes are very important and with certain trends against authority perhaps this is not surprising. Children from such homes who have frequent absences from school are usually those who tend to make the most of minor ailments. In the case of child having school phobia, he may present with protean manifestations as part of his anxiety reaction to school such as pain, diarrhoea, vomiting headache etc. Probable causes can be Emotional disturbances, Parent child relationship, Attitude of school teacher, Rivalry or fear amongst the class fellows or Fear of entire school environment or specific situations-like class tests, special subjects, games etc. Other children present with more overt school refusal causing great concern to their parents. Enquiries to the school (with parental consent) are important and often a visit by the health visitor or social worker or counsellor may provide useful information as to the child's refusal to attend school. As school refusal may result from a unpleasant experience or a fear (real or imaginary) arising at school. In some instances the child may have a valid point in that case there may be undesirable teacher or there may be extreme unchecked bullying. It is important to know if the child is educationally suited to the school and if this is in question an educational psychologist's assessment may prove useful. At times it may seem trivial to parents, but can be quite important to the child. Misunderstanding of events or imaginary fears can be dealt with reassurance. If the child is being bullied at school, then the parents may have to intervene on child's behalf. If the reason for the child's refusal to go to school is because he fears separation from the mother or the parents, then certainly parents should not take the easy way out by allowing the child to stay at home. As it will increase the dependency and fear more, instead asking a school friend to accompany the child to school would be a better step. Reassurance from the mother that when the child returns from school mother will be at home to meet him would give an added confidence in the child. Most difficulties are temporary but for the child in whom the problem seems complex and intractable, the help of the local child guidance clinic is probably the next best move. Undue delay in resolving such difficulties should be avoided, not only because the child's unhappiness may be profound, but because valuable educational time is being lost and never regained. In no case the child should be allowed to stay at home. The fears of the child must be allayed. The child and sometimes parents also may need the psychotherapy and homoeopathy for, themselves.
Comprehending or learning difficulties
Baryta carbonica
Dwarfish children, with physical and mental sluggishness. Delayed perception and difficult comprehension. Idiocy. Deficient memory. Lachrymose disposition. Does not want to meet strangers as has the lack of confidence. Suspicious that people are talking about him. Weeping dispositions, weeps and goes off alone as if does not have any friends. Absent minded.
Aversion to company and play. Difficult concentration while studying. Cowardice. Forgetful and gets frightened easily. Aversion to work. Weakness of memory is so much that forgets what he was about to do or what he has just done.
Medorrhinum
Dwarf and stunted children. Weak memory, loses the thread of conversation. Can not speak without weeping. Difficult concentration, confusion of mind even about his own identity. Fear of becoming insane. Everything seems unreal. Gets excited while reading, or while anticipating events or on trifles. Forgetful, forgets the words or even his own name. Weakness of memory for proper names, for what has read, for what was about to say even for just what he has thought. Makes mistakes in spellings and time.
Anacardium orientale
Fear of examinations in students. Impaired memory, lack of self confidence, aversion to work. Fixed ideas. Thinks he is possessed of two persons or wills. Brain fag, absent minded. Very easily offended, malicious. Irresistible desire to swear and curse. Absence of all moral restraint. Eating temporarily relieves all discomfort. Difficult comprehension.
Phosphoricum acidum
Difficult comprehension. Listless. Impaired memory. Apathetic and indifferent. Can not collect his thoughts or find the right word. Effects of grief and mental shock. Mental debility first followed by physical. Nervous exhaustion.
Helleborus niger
Slow in answering. Thoughtless, staring, involuntary sighing. Complete unconsciousness. Picks lips and clothes. Feels, he could do great deeds. Absent minded, absorbed in thoughts. Answers confusedly as though thinking of something else.
Concentration difficult while studying or reading etc. Attempts to escape. Forgetful. Gestures, picks at bed clothes. Weakness of memory for what he has heard, read, said or what he was about to say and for words.
Very often parents complain that their child is unable to learn or comprehend in the school or otherwise also. Normally they compare their child with the others. Inferior as well as superior intelligence can create problems at school. A child may not be able to comprehend in his school if he has mental retardation. On the other hand he may not get enough intellectual stimulation when he sees his class fellows of normal intelligence, struggling to solve 'easier' problems. Hearing and visual impairment may also effect his school performance. At the same time emotional factors, home environment, attitude of school teachers are also to be given proper consideration in these cases. I have seen certain children are very lazy as the attitude of the parents especially if the child comes from a joint family and happen to be the only child around. Grandparents give lot of liberties to the child. And when the concerned mother tries to be little strict, the child, goes to the grandparents and takes shelter there, and instead of making the child understand or work hard it is normally shrugged off by them just leave it, he is still a small child, which in turns take the enthusiasm and the will of the child to learn and do better off. And gradually he becomes totally unconcerned about the studies or so. Here it becomes important to understand the cause behind the problem, as the management depends upon the cause. If a problem is in the school, the matter should be discussed with teachers and Principal and if change is possible change can be fruitful. As discussed earlier if the cause is at parental side then the whole attitude of the family members need to be overhauled or at least can be made to understand that the change in their attitude can make their child overcome this problem then happily they would do so. After ruling out the actual mental retardation the child can be tackled very supportingly with certain deep acting and constitutional homoeopathic remedies.
Very often parents complain that their child is unable to learn or comprehend in the school or otherwise also. Normally they compare their child with the others. Inferior as well as superior intelligence can create problems at school. A child may not be able to comprehend in his school if he has mental retardation. On the other hand he may not get enough intellectual stimulation when he sees his class fellows of normal intelligence, struggling to solve 'easier' problems. Hearing and visual impairment may also effect his school performance. At the same time emotional factors, home environment, attitude of school teachers are also to be given proper consideration in these cases. I have seen certain children are very lazy as the attitude of the parents especially if the child comes from a joint family and happen to be the only child around. Grandparents give lot of liberties to the child. And when the concerned mother tries to be little strict, the child, goes to the grandparents and takes shelter there, and instead of making the child understand or work hard it is normally shrugged off by them just leave it, he is still a small child, which in turns take the enthusiasm and the will of the child to learn and do better off. And gradually he becomes totally unconcerned about the studies or so. Here it becomes important to understand the cause behind the problem, as the management depends upon the cause. If a problem is in the school, the matter should be discussed with teachers and Principal and if change is possible change can be fruitful. As discussed earlier if the cause is at parental side then the whole attitude of the family members need to be overhauled or at least can be made to understand that the change in their attitude can make their child overcome this problem then happily they would do so. After ruling out the actual mental retardation the child can be tackled very supportingly with certain deep acting and constitutional homoeopathic remedies.
Dyslexia
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
Dull, cannot concentrate mind for study. Forgets names.
Writes last letters of words first
e.g. WAS to SAW
Miss-spells common words
e.g. October to Optober.
Dyslexia or word blindness may be discovered when a child learns to read. It is a disorder due to a flaw in the child's perception. He is unable to sort out the order of words within a sentence, or the letters within a word. Dyslexic children have normal intelligence. They can be taught how to read if given special teaching. Dyslexia, means "difficulty with words". So far it has been a problem which was not being understood properly. Very often it used to be mistaken for mental retardation, now dyslexia is no longer an alien word in India where between 5 to 12 per cent of school going children are believed to be dyslexic. And as the problem gains recognition, a remedial approach is also sought for. Dyslexia-difficult to pronounce and even tougher to detect, these children are simply unable to relate their cognitive process to their physical environment. Associating the words with the pictures, reading and writing is the basic problem which children or dyslexics have. As their perceptual ability is weak, numbers written on the board do not mean anything to them. Frequently, the problem is one of mirror-image for example, the alphabet "b" appears as "d" or if inverted image where the letter "p" is mistaken for "b". At the same time the memory of the dyslexics tends to be exceptionally good, in fact many children substitute memory for reading. They ask their parents or somebody to read stories aloud to them, and memorise the text or the contents. Interestingly aware of their coexistence of intelligence and inability, they invariably use their intelligence. While the exact cause of dyslexia is not yet known, scientists believe the misconnection between the left and right halves of the brain is one cause for it. While dyslexia could be inherited, poor schooling and health are aggravating factors, not the causative factors. The initial signs of dyslexia can be detected between the age of 6 and 8 years, when the child does not respond to reading and writing, despite being taught adequately. These children (dyslexics) do show common traits, as the grip on their pen or pencil is awkward, their handwriting is wayward, or they goof on simple arithmetic problems as well. Though the presence of these factors does not always signify dyslexia, dyslexic kids are known to have these problems. Other signs of dyslexia are : - The child appears brighter than his reading or writing suggest. - He makes up stories based on illustrations unrelated to written text. - He is late in learning how to read time or tie his shoelaces. - He confuses between left and right. - He can't remember things that are sequential e.g. order of days, months and numbers etc. - He makes anagrams as tired for tried or united for united, or pear for reap or read for dear. - He reads aloud to himself. - He is generally left-hander. - He puts stress on the wrong syllables while reading, not while talking. - He reads backward e.g. on for no, or saw for was. - He ignores punctuation marks. - He puts syllables in the wrong order e.g. buts-stop for bus-stop. - He shortens the words e.g. rember for remember. - He makes typical spelling mistakes like child for child, bad for dab, n as u, and m as w. - He omits letters e.g. train spelt as rain. - His walking is not co-ordinated. - He is bad at copying from the board. How to rectify dyslexia? Cognitive control therapy is developed by Harvard Medical School. Now it is being accepted by and large. Recognising that dyslexics have problem with their auditory and visual senses of language expression, the Cognitive Control Therapy focuses on dyslexic's tactile senses. Under this children are taught addition, for instance, not through numbers, but through visual aids. For instance : 4+5 is taught by placing four blue balls and five blue balls next to each other. More serious cases are made to feel the shape of the letters of the alphabet so that they can identify their curves or turns. For writing, the normal ruled exercise books are not recommended. In the classroom, dyslexics need to be spoken to softly. For them, the writing on the board should be very clear, and allowances made; more time to complete work, no red marks on their books, and less homework. If the dyslexia is identified at an early age, dyslexics can avoid the humiliation of being branded as slow or lazy, and utilise their exceptional skills productively. They require awareness, sympathy and Homoeopathy.
Dyslexia or word blindness may be discovered when a child learns to read. It is a disorder due to a flaw in the child's perception. He is unable to sort out the order of words within a sentence, or the letters within a word. Dyslexic children have normal intelligence. They can be taught how to read if given special teaching. Dyslexia, means "difficulty with words". So far it has been a problem which was not being understood properly. Very often it used to be mistaken for mental retardation, now dyslexia is no longer an alien word in India where between 5 to 12 per cent of school going children are believed to be dyslexic. And as the problem gains recognition, a remedial approach is also sought for. Dyslexia-difficult to pronounce and even tougher to detect, these children are simply unable to relate their cognitive process to their physical environment. Associating the words with the pictures, reading and writing is the basic problem which children or dyslexics have. As their perceptual ability is weak, numbers written on the board do not mean anything to them. Frequently, the problem is one of mirror-image for example, the alphabet "b" appears as "d" or if inverted image where the letter "p" is mistaken for "b". At the same time the memory of the dyslexics tends to be exceptionally good, in fact many children substitute memory for reading. They ask their parents or somebody to read stories aloud to them, and memorise the text or the contents. Interestingly aware of their coexistence of intelligence and inability, they invariably use their intelligence. While the exact cause of dyslexia is not yet known, scientists believe the misconnection between the left and right halves of the brain is one cause for it. While dyslexia could be inherited, poor schooling and health are aggravating factors, not the causative factors. The initial signs of dyslexia can be detected between the age of 6 and 8 years, when the child does not respond to reading and writing, despite being taught adequately. These children (dyslexics) do show common traits, as the grip on their pen or pencil is awkward, their handwriting is wayward, or they goof on simple arithmetic problems as well. Though the presence of these factors does not always signify dyslexia, dyslexic kids are known to have these problems. Other signs of dyslexia are : - The child appears brighter than his reading or writing suggest. - He makes up stories based on illustrations unrelated to written text. - He is late in learning how to read time or tie his shoelaces. - He confuses between left and right. - He can't remember things that are sequential e.g. order of days, months and numbers etc. - He makes anagrams as tired for tried or united for united, or pear for reap or read for dear. - He reads aloud to himself. - He is generally left-hander. - He puts stress on the wrong syllables while reading, not while talking. - He reads backward e.g. on for no, or saw for was. - He ignores punctuation marks. - He puts syllables in the wrong order e.g. buts-stop for bus-stop. - He shortens the words e.g. rember for remember. - He makes typical spelling mistakes like child for child, bad for dab, n as u, and m as w. - He omits letters e.g. train spelt as rain. - His walking is not co-ordinated. - He is bad at copying from the board. How to rectify dyslexia? Cognitive control therapy is developed by Harvard Medical School. Now it is being accepted by and large. Recognising that dyslexics have problem with their auditory and visual senses of language expression, the Cognitive Control Therapy focuses on dyslexic's tactile senses. Under this children are taught addition, for instance, not through numbers, but through visual aids. For instance : 4+5 is taught by placing four blue balls and five blue balls next to each other. More serious cases are made to feel the shape of the letters of the alphabet so that they can identify their curves or turns. For writing, the normal ruled exercise books are not recommended. In the classroom, dyslexics need to be spoken to softly. For them, the writing on the board should be very clear, and allowances made; more time to complete work, no red marks on their books, and less homework. If the dyslexia is identified at an early age, dyslexics can avoid the humiliation of being branded as slow or lazy, and utilise their exceptional skills productively. They require awareness, sympathy and Homoeopathy.
Obstinacy and undue irritability
Chamomilla
Obstinate children. Child wants many things which he refuses again. Piteous moaning because he can not have what he wants. Impatient, Intolerant of being spoken to or interrupted, extremely sensitive to everything, always complaining. Child will not do things as he is asked to do. Very irritable, peevish, snappish and restless child.
Argentum nitricum
Very obstinate and has the queerest objection to whatever is proposed. Full of strange thoughts. Wants everything cold, cold air, cold drinks and cold food. Feels suffocated in warm room. Great desire for sweets.
Tuberculinum bovinum kent
Difficult and bad tempered child. Kicks off clothes and is rude to other children without any reason. Never a smile on the face. Terrible storm of temper. Violent rage and loud uncontrolled weeping. Irritable. Desire to use foul language.
Nux vomica
Very irritable, ugly, malicious Resists wishes of others. Sensitive to all impressions. Can not bear noises, light, odours etc.
Does not want to be touched.
Phosphorus
Wild temper. Rages a storm of temper, physically as well as mentally. Child would fight with children and teachers in school. Unmanageable child. When angry, would lock himself into lavatory or toilet. Easily frightened, trembles and shakes with fear. Fear of darkness.
Undue irritability in the new born baby may be due to cerebral oedema, cerebral damage or the effects of anoxia. It may be the result of drugs taken by the mother in pregnancy such as tricyclic anti-depressants, barbiturates, or smoking in pregnancy. It may be a withdrawl symptom from drugs of addiction taken by the mother. The most likely cause of persistent undue irritability in a well child is Insecurity, due to probably the mismanagement - or lack of real love, or excessive strictness and punishment. To some extent the irritability may be due to familial personality traits. It may be due to lassitude, boredom, anaemia or any illness, such as a Urinary Tract Infection. A young baby's excessive irritability may be due to Phenylketonuria. The infant with Coeliac disease may vomit and become irritable when given cereals. When a school child habitually arrives home in a bad temper, the most likely cause is Hypoglycaemia, responding rapidly to a meal. Otherwise he may have been bullied at school by a teacher or schoolmates. Drugs are an important cause of excessive or undue irritability, and the worst offender is Phenobarbitone. This may have a paradoxical effect of causing insomnia and irritability, particularly in mentally subnormal children. Aminophylline, Amphetamines and Antihistaminics are also considered to produce such symptoms. Often the emotional of the children are a manifestation of parental rejection at the outset. If this undue irritability is not tackled or taken care of properly it leads into more severe form of obstinacy and stubbornness. Children, who are more whimsical since beginning and whose demands are fulfilled immediately by their over enthusiastic parents finally develop this obstinacy and become stubborn. Parents need to check the child's requirements and utility and not to succumb to the child's desires always. Child should be made to understand that everything what he says can not be accepted in totality always. Parents must reason out for their declining the request of a child in a polite but firm way, so that the child can understand its implication, and he can learn to be contended. This problem of obstinacy again depends upon the environment and the upbringing of a child. Normally the children who are very sensitive by nature and who get offended very soon are the one who become obstinate or stubborn. Children from the family where parents draw a line of discipline for them rarely go hay wire and become obstinate or stubborn. Social values are to be inculcated in the children both at home and institutions, so the children don't get annoyed unnecessarily. Thorough understanding of the child's behaviour after looking into probable causes of undue irritability and obstinacy, can be checked by removing the exciting or precipitating situations and providing them love, affection and happy atmosphere in the family. Still some children may need the help of students counsellors in the school or somebody in the family to whom they can discuss and open up their bottled up fears, feelings etc. and after considering all this the constitutional homoeopathic remedies does wonder in such children. Some interesting cases are mentioned in the separate chapter. Following are the few remedies found to be effective : Anac; Alum; Arg-n; Bell; Calc; Cham; Nux-v; Tarent, Tub. Etc.
Undue irritability in the new born baby may be due to cerebral oedema, cerebral damage or the effects of anoxia. It may be the result of drugs taken by the mother in pregnancy such as tricyclic anti-depressants, barbiturates, or smoking in pregnancy. It may be a withdrawl symptom from drugs of addiction taken by the mother. The most likely cause of persistent undue irritability in a well child is Insecurity, due to probably the mismanagement - or lack of real love, or excessive strictness and punishment. To some extent the irritability may be due to familial personality traits. It may be due to lassitude, boredom, anaemia or any illness, such as a Urinary Tract Infection. A young baby's excessive irritability may be due to Phenylketonuria. The infant with Coeliac disease may vomit and become irritable when given cereals. When a school child habitually arrives home in a bad temper, the most likely cause is Hypoglycaemia, responding rapidly to a meal. Otherwise he may have been bullied at school by a teacher or schoolmates. Drugs are an important cause of excessive or undue irritability, and the worst offender is Phenobarbitone. This may have a paradoxical effect of causing insomnia and irritability, particularly in mentally subnormal children. Aminophylline, Amphetamines and Antihistaminics are also considered to produce such symptoms. Often the emotional of the children are a manifestation of parental rejection at the outset. If this undue irritability is not tackled or taken care of properly it leads into more severe form of obstinacy and stubbornness. Children, who are more whimsical since beginning and whose demands are fulfilled immediately by their over enthusiastic parents finally develop this obstinacy and become stubborn. Parents need to check the child's requirements and utility and not to succumb to the child's desires always. Child should be made to understand that everything what he says can not be accepted in totality always. Parents must reason out for their declining the request of a child in a polite but firm way, so that the child can understand its implication, and he can learn to be contended. This problem of obstinacy again depends upon the environment and the upbringing of a child. Normally the children who are very sensitive by nature and who get offended very soon are the one who become obstinate or stubborn. Children from the family where parents draw a line of discipline for them rarely go hay wire and become obstinate or stubborn. Social values are to be inculcated in the children both at home and institutions, so the children don't get annoyed unnecessarily. Thorough understanding of the child's behaviour after looking into probable causes of undue irritability and obstinacy, can be checked by removing the exciting or precipitating situations and providing them love, affection and happy atmosphere in the family. Still some children may need the help of students counsellors in the school or somebody in the family to whom they can discuss and open up their bottled up fears, feelings etc. and after considering all this the constitutional homoeopathic remedies does wonder in such children. Some interesting cases are mentioned in the separate chapter. Following are the few remedies found to be effective : Anac; Alum; Arg-n; Bell; Calc; Cham; Nux-v; Tarent, Tub. Etc.
Sexual indulgence
Fluoricum acidum
It is indicated in low state of mind, when one stands in a street corner and in his lust craves for innocent girls. Sexual
passion and desire increased, nymphomania.
Phosphorus
Frequent erections and uncontrollable sexual thoughts. Irresistible desire with lascivious dreams. Involuntary emissions, nymphomania.
Platinum metallicum
Abnormal sexual appetite in girls, with melancholia. Parts hypersensitive, nymphomania, Tingling internally and externally. Menses too early, too profuse, with spasms and bearing down pain. Hysterical spasms, arrogant. Impulse to do sodomy, homosexuality and lesbianism.
Caladium seguinum
Violent sexual desire with impotency and relaxed penis. Erections when half asleep in the morning, ceasing when fully awake, Automatic erections without desire. Nymphomania in girls from worms crawling into vagina and causing irritation.
Murex purpurea
Nymphomania, Violent excitement in sexual organs, and excessive desire to embrace. Least contact of parts causes violent sexual excitement. Must keep legs tightly crossed. Especially adapted to nervous, lively, affectionate girls.
Lack of sexual education at school level and living in a conservative Society leads to many a problems which a child faces throughout. Lack of knowledge and curiosity to know more incidentally lends them into reading cheap literature which does more harm than good. The children start fancying about sex and start indulging in all type of sexual activities which includes homosexuality, lesbianism and heterosexual activities. This urge to know more and joy increases the incidents of incest also. Homosexuality starts in early childhood due to some emotional and social influences. Very often it is seen in the young boys who live in hostels develop homosexuality through their friends, colleagues or senior boys, Similarly Lesbians are commonly seen coming from girls hostels. Both these category of homosexuals and lesbians are the vulnerable youngsters whose urge for the sexuality had been suppressed either due to strict disciplinarian attitude or lack of opportunities to mix with the children of other sex. Children living and studying together in co-educational institutions has far less cases of homosexuality and lesbianism. It is the forbidden apple which they want to bite, leads to their dismay, when not able to talk about and discuss about as discussing sex is still considered a taboo. The influence of ever increasing exposure in the electronic media and cinema definitely plays a vital role. As children get more attracted and try to imitate their role model's activities. Promiscuity in the incest and having heterosexual activity is also an outcome of certain family situations. Social stigma still persists for the same, but nevertheless incidents of incest are also increasing. Out of sheer shame and fear the young girl does not get the courage to discern or tell about the advances made by any of her cousin or relative for that matter. In few cases the girl rather takes the first initiative, this has been seen in the cases of bold girls from affluent or so called modern families with mod people around. There have been cases of incest among brother and sister where they both were left alone in the Company of each other as their parents have been away in the parties or business trips which had brought them closer and attracted towards each other and finally they developed the sexual relationship, this usually is seen where both the children are of nearly same age group. There is another group of children who come from upper class rather so called advance families where indulgence in sexual activities is not considered to be something wrong. Children from these families feel great by indulging in such kind of activities as the attitude of their parents is rather indifferent and the liberty given by the parents make the children do any sort of activities and they feel it a matter of pride and boast among their friends that they have been having sexual activities. This group of children are looked upon by the other vulnerable middle class or from low socio economic status children also and some of them fall prey to this kind of activities in order to satisfy their false ego. This pseudo macho feeling or carefree attitude allure them in indulging in any such activity like, Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Incest and Heterosexuality. Basic outlook of the Society specially of the parents is very much needed to tackle these cases of sexual indulgence of the young children. A healthy understanding of sex and sexual activities with the pros and cons should be made to understand rather at home by the parents or in the institution either by the sex and health education or by the school counsellors and social workers. As some children fantasise too much regarding the sex and try to play out their fantasies in any opportunity available to them. The check on the activities of the children and their psychological needs should be well understood by the parents and teachers alike. And a thorough understanding of the chill would reveal so many things which could be corrected very well in time and can save a child from many embarrassing situations, where the sensitive children harbour the guilt feeling which affects them adversely in their personality. A proper approach, happy and contended life and support from family and friends can however help to reduce the number of sexual indulgence i.e. homosexuality, lesbianism', incest and heterosexuality.
Lack of sexual education at school level and living in a conservative Society leads to many a problems which a child faces throughout. Lack of knowledge and curiosity to know more incidentally lends them into reading cheap literature which does more harm than good. The children start fancying about sex and start indulging in all type of sexual activities which includes homosexuality, lesbianism and heterosexual activities. This urge to know more and joy increases the incidents of incest also. Homosexuality starts in early childhood due to some emotional and social influences. Very often it is seen in the young boys who live in hostels develop homosexuality through their friends, colleagues or senior boys, Similarly Lesbians are commonly seen coming from girls hostels. Both these category of homosexuals and lesbians are the vulnerable youngsters whose urge for the sexuality had been suppressed either due to strict disciplinarian attitude or lack of opportunities to mix with the children of other sex. Children living and studying together in co-educational institutions has far less cases of homosexuality and lesbianism. It is the forbidden apple which they want to bite, leads to their dismay, when not able to talk about and discuss about as discussing sex is still considered a taboo. The influence of ever increasing exposure in the electronic media and cinema definitely plays a vital role. As children get more attracted and try to imitate their role model's activities. Promiscuity in the incest and having heterosexual activity is also an outcome of certain family situations. Social stigma still persists for the same, but nevertheless incidents of incest are also increasing. Out of sheer shame and fear the young girl does not get the courage to discern or tell about the advances made by any of her cousin or relative for that matter. In few cases the girl rather takes the first initiative, this has been seen in the cases of bold girls from affluent or so called modern families with mod people around. There have been cases of incest among brother and sister where they both were left alone in the Company of each other as their parents have been away in the parties or business trips which had brought them closer and attracted towards each other and finally they developed the sexual relationship, this usually is seen where both the children are of nearly same age group. There is another group of children who come from upper class rather so called advance families where indulgence in sexual activities is not considered to be something wrong. Children from these families feel great by indulging in such kind of activities as the attitude of their parents is rather indifferent and the liberty given by the parents make the children do any sort of activities and they feel it a matter of pride and boast among their friends that they have been having sexual activities. This group of children are looked upon by the other vulnerable middle class or from low socio economic status children also and some of them fall prey to this kind of activities in order to satisfy their false ego. This pseudo macho feeling or carefree attitude allure them in indulging in any such activity like, Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Incest and Heterosexuality. Basic outlook of the Society specially of the parents is very much needed to tackle these cases of sexual indulgence of the young children. A healthy understanding of sex and sexual activities with the pros and cons should be made to understand rather at home by the parents or in the institution either by the sex and health education or by the school counsellors and social workers. As some children fantasise too much regarding the sex and try to play out their fantasies in any opportunity available to them. The check on the activities of the children and their psychological needs should be well understood by the parents and teachers alike. And a thorough understanding of the chill would reveal so many things which could be corrected very well in time and can save a child from many embarrassing situations, where the sensitive children harbour the guilt feeling which affects them adversely in their personality. A proper approach, happy and contended life and support from family and friends can however help to reduce the number of sexual indulgence i.e. homosexuality, lesbianism', incest and heterosexuality.
Criminal activities
Nux vomica
Malicious, violent, suspicious, rude, jealous, kleptomania, desire to kill with sudden impulse, easily offended, obstinate.
Stramonium
Kleptomania, malicious, jealous, desires to kill, with desire to be killed, lasciviousness, quarrelsome, violent, suspicious, shameless.
Tarentula hispanica
Destructiveness, cunning, anxiety better by exercise, Aversion to black, red, yellow and green, abrupt, Anger, irascibility, disobedience, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied etc.
Hyoscyamus niger
Want of moral feelings, strikes at imaginary things, violent, vehement, rage leading to violent deeds wildness, suspicious, full of rage and fury, shameless, exposes himself, sings obscene songs, desire to kill, tries to kill people, mania, mischievous, insanity and madness. Easily gets excited, averse to answer, abusive, jealousy, heedless haughty complains of supposed injury.
Hepar sulphur
Anger, irascibility, that he could stab anyone, violent, full of anguish, Can't stand contradiction, furious gestures, Irritability, desire to kill, sudden impulse to kill for a slight offence, malicious mania.
In today's world when there is so much unrest all over and regularly increase in the crime rate, children are also becoming more subjected to these criminal activities. Earlier it use to be very petty things done by the children like lying, stealing, kleptomania etc. but now ever since there is more exposure to the children through the videos, T. Vs and pictures the incidents of involvement of children in petty crimes to serious crimes are also increasing. There are cases reported where children have planned and executed thefts, kidnappings and black mailing etc. Very recently cases have come to known that the children after the failure in exams or so have planned their own kidnappings and tried to extract money for their fun and enjoyment. From this one can make out how important it is to understand the child's behaviour and attitude and his psychology. Children are involved in planned gang fights and violence. Few cases of Rape also have come to light, where the school boys have raped the helpless girl or their own classmate. Though the cases of Eve-teasing etc. are very common. The social scene affects the youngster's mind tremendously. With the ever increasing sex and violence in the movies attracts many a children's mind. The child who had been indulging in petty thefts in the class, school or at home are more vulnerable to pick up big criminal and notorious activities. It is important that the movements of the children are very much in the knowledge of their parents and teachers as to whom they are friendly with and what they do. The exposure and the carefreeness, glamour and power shown in the movies etc. influence the sensitive minds of the children, but few children develop these acts. Normally it is seen that they have some socio-economic or unhappy family back ground. At times a child indulges in these activities to escape from the in built mental turmoil, sometimes he is forced by the peer pressure. Though the criminal activities can be considered as unchecked anti-social activities or delinquency in early childhood, or unmanaged and unresolved children with anti-social activities are likely to turn to more serious criminal activities. As such it is a social problem but having psychological background which can be treated very well with psychotherapy and homoeopathy. A clean family atmosphere and bondage between the parents and good social conduct of the friends and teachers etc. can bring back the child to normal behaviour. After understanding the causes of his undesired behaviour, here Homoeopathic constitutional remedies can make an erring child to become a sensible and responsible person.
In today's world when there is so much unrest all over and regularly increase in the crime rate, children are also becoming more subjected to these criminal activities. Earlier it use to be very petty things done by the children like lying, stealing, kleptomania etc. but now ever since there is more exposure to the children through the videos, T. Vs and pictures the incidents of involvement of children in petty crimes to serious crimes are also increasing. There are cases reported where children have planned and executed thefts, kidnappings and black mailing etc. Very recently cases have come to known that the children after the failure in exams or so have planned their own kidnappings and tried to extract money for their fun and enjoyment. From this one can make out how important it is to understand the child's behaviour and attitude and his psychology. Children are involved in planned gang fights and violence. Few cases of Rape also have come to light, where the school boys have raped the helpless girl or their own classmate. Though the cases of Eve-teasing etc. are very common. The social scene affects the youngster's mind tremendously. With the ever increasing sex and violence in the movies attracts many a children's mind. The child who had been indulging in petty thefts in the class, school or at home are more vulnerable to pick up big criminal and notorious activities. It is important that the movements of the children are very much in the knowledge of their parents and teachers as to whom they are friendly with and what they do. The exposure and the carefreeness, glamour and power shown in the movies etc. influence the sensitive minds of the children, but few children develop these acts. Normally it is seen that they have some socio-economic or unhappy family back ground. At times a child indulges in these activities to escape from the in built mental turmoil, sometimes he is forced by the peer pressure. Though the criminal activities can be considered as unchecked anti-social activities or delinquency in early childhood, or unmanaged and unresolved children with anti-social activities are likely to turn to more serious criminal activities. As such it is a social problem but having psychological background which can be treated very well with psychotherapy and homoeopathy. A clean family atmosphere and bondage between the parents and good social conduct of the friends and teachers etc. can bring back the child to normal behaviour. After understanding the causes of his undesired behaviour, here Homoeopathic constitutional remedies can make an erring child to become a sensible and responsible person.
Suicidal tendency
Aurum metallicum
Great desire to commit suicide. Feeling of self condemnation and worthlessness. Oversensitive. Profound despondency with thorough disgust of life, and thoughts of suicide. Talks of committing suicide. Great fear of death. Peevish and can not tolerate contradiction. Thinks of committing suicide by drowning, hanging, or from throwing himself from a height, jumping out from a window. Suicidal dispositions from anxiety, from pain.
Psorinum
Suicidal tendency. Hopeless. Despair of recovery, Fear of failure Melancholy.
Arsenicum album
Great anguish and restlessness. Changes places continually. Fears, of death, of being left alone. Suicidal thoughts with lack of courage. Suicidal dispositions after midnight. Suicidal dispositions from delusions, after fright, by hanging, during heat, during intermittent fevers, with knife, by poison, by stabbing, by throwing himself from a height or jumping out of the window.
Staphisagria
Violent outbursts of passion. Hypochondriacal, sad. Very sensitive as to what others would say about her. Very sensitive.
Suicidal thoughts with fear of death. Suicidal disposition by drowning, by hypochondriasis. Suicidal tendency from sadness, by shooting. Ill effects of anger and insults.
Adolescents may turn to suicide as a solution to psychological and environmental problems. In addition, although few pre-pubertal children kill themselves, many in this age group also consider suicide as a means of handling problems. 9-18% of non-psychiatrically disturbed pre-adolescents entertain suicidal ideas, whereas 1.5% actually make suicidal threats. The incidence of suicide for children under age of 15 years is also rising. Recently Japan witnessed a gory scene when a large number of school students committed suicide in various schools and from different age groups and classes. The national leaders were forced to look into the matter seriously. After lot of hard work and detailed enquiry it was revealed that there had been lot of unrest among the students community. Few children committed suicide as they could not tolerate any more bullying of their classmates, few committed for the reasons that their parents were expecting too much from them. Few were believed to be the victim of Frustration and Failure to attain their love affairs. The individual and family variables associated with suicidal ideation are different from those associated with suicide. Factors influencing suicidal thoughts include depression, preoccupation with death, and general psychopathological factors. No particular diagnosis has been associated with suicidal threats. However, a wide range of psychosocial variables were found not to be associated with suicidal ideation. Age, Sex, Social Status, Race, Family Size, Intelligence, Academic Achievement, Impulse Control, Reality Testing, Parental Separation and Divorce, Parental Medical and Psychiatric Problems, and Drug or Alcohol Abuse. As the life is becoming very busy day by day and people have less time for their children. The competition in studies, sports and in all other fields is increasing, as the social values of life are changing in the Society for the betterment simultaneously it is giving a very negative and confused state to the very sensitive individuals and children. On not being able to cope-up with the pressure and expectation of the parents a good number of children are facing the problems, including guilty, frustration, fear of failure etc. which forces them to take an ultimate step of ending their lives by committing suicide. As they think by opting for suicide will be able to make them free from all that tormenting situations where they feel dejected, cheated, frustrated, neglected and all sort of worries and tensions taking out the charm and interest from their life. I have found out that these tendency to commit suicide is increasing at an alarming rate. Children are very sensitive, and observant now a days. Children coming from broken families, or children living with single parents after the broken marriage are more vulnerable to these thoughts. It is seen that at least one of the parents had either tried to commit suicide or at least mentions quite often in their tiffs and fights which a child takes very seriously, and an innocent child thinks that committing suicide also is a solution to finish some problem. 15 to 40% of completed suicide are preceded by other suicide attempts. In one third of suicides, a parent, a sibling, or other near relative had previously shown overt suicidal behaviour. Children who have killed themselves show an especially prominent preoccupation with death and dying, a wish to die, and feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness prior to the act. In adolescent, the notion of revenge or hostility is particularly prominent, directed either outwardly or against the self, it is present at least in half of those who succeed in killing themselves. Family studies have shown that fathers of suicidal youngsters have been more often noted to be depressed themselves and to have low self esteem, whereas mothers have experienced greater anxiety or suicidal ideation. Males are more likely to use violent methods than females. Among preadolescents, jumping from the heights is the most common method, followed by self-poisoning, hanging, stabbing, and running into traffic. Episodes of self-poisoning that occur after the age of 6 years are less likely to be accidental and should be treated as if the behaviour had suicidal potential or as a possible case of child abuse and neglect. Now a days school-age children in general are surprisingly knowledgeable about the subject of suicide. The major difference between children and adolescents lies in the fantasy and methods of committing suicide. With the increasing competition in every field a child feels burdened all the time. If a child who has different values of his life, and fancies to do something different he is faced with lot of opposition and criticism by the family members and friends even, which bears a negative feeling, if the child is of strong mental faculties with sharpness and guts he rather takes it as a challenge and tries extra hard to prove himself, on the contrariety a child with weak mental outlook or who depends on others gets depressed and frustrated and he sulks and suffers internally without opening up to any one or without confiding into anybody either with the fear, shame or guilt and with the apprehension of failure keeps suppressing himself and when it keeps on accumulating and becomes unbearable, he starts looking for easy solutions. When the solutions are also not achieved, he becomes more depressed and finally starts thinking himself to be of no use and develops suicidal thoughts. I am reminded of a case of a young girl who tried to commit suicide Miss R. D. 14 years student of class 10th who drank a bottle of Insecticide. She and her younger sister were both in the same school. Both the parents are working, hence are away from the home most of the day time. It was nearly in the afternoon when they use to be alone in the house by themselves. As she was studying in the co-educational school their friends also use to come to their house which includes girls and boys both. Though this the parents were also aware that sometimes the classmates of both the daughters do come to their house after the school for studying or playing. One day somebody called on their phone and started using dirty language, the elder girl got very furious and complained it to her parents, so one of the parents took a leave from the office and stayed back, but it was not possible for any of them to take off regularly. Then she stared getting phone calls off and on during the day time which disturbed her so much that she could not concentrate on her studies whereas the younger girl was not bothered at all and did very well in the exams as usual. This incident had a very deep effect in the mind of the elder sister and she started remaining depressed. The Parents also scolded the elder sister for not doing well in the exams; and said sarcastically perhaps she does something of that sort which invites such kind of phone calls from boys or in a way they accused her of flirting. This became absolutely intolerable for her and she took the ultimate step and consumed a bottle of insecticide, soon she was taken to the hospital, and after complete gastric wash and treatment for nearly 15-20 days in the hospital was discharged and was able to talk. This all details and information I could get after persuading her with lot of difficulties. Any way now she is absolutely alright. I gave her few doses of Staphysagria 1M to be taken and gave her lot of psychotherapy and took those feelings of humiliation, guilt, loss of self respect etc. out of her mind. Now she is a cheerful person studying in a degree college and enjoying life. This incident has definitely made the parents to understand their children better and before labelling any charges or blames they should always try to see the facts and should not comment anything which can hurt the feelings of a sensitive child adversely.
Adolescents may turn to suicide as a solution to psychological and environmental problems. In addition, although few pre-pubertal children kill themselves, many in this age group also consider suicide as a means of handling problems. 9-18% of non-psychiatrically disturbed pre-adolescents entertain suicidal ideas, whereas 1.5% actually make suicidal threats. The incidence of suicide for children under age of 15 years is also rising. Recently Japan witnessed a gory scene when a large number of school students committed suicide in various schools and from different age groups and classes. The national leaders were forced to look into the matter seriously. After lot of hard work and detailed enquiry it was revealed that there had been lot of unrest among the students community. Few children committed suicide as they could not tolerate any more bullying of their classmates, few committed for the reasons that their parents were expecting too much from them. Few were believed to be the victim of Frustration and Failure to attain their love affairs. The individual and family variables associated with suicidal ideation are different from those associated with suicide. Factors influencing suicidal thoughts include depression, preoccupation with death, and general psychopathological factors. No particular diagnosis has been associated with suicidal threats. However, a wide range of psychosocial variables were found not to be associated with suicidal ideation. Age, Sex, Social Status, Race, Family Size, Intelligence, Academic Achievement, Impulse Control, Reality Testing, Parental Separation and Divorce, Parental Medical and Psychiatric Problems, and Drug or Alcohol Abuse. As the life is becoming very busy day by day and people have less time for their children. The competition in studies, sports and in all other fields is increasing, as the social values of life are changing in the Society for the betterment simultaneously it is giving a very negative and confused state to the very sensitive individuals and children. On not being able to cope-up with the pressure and expectation of the parents a good number of children are facing the problems, including guilty, frustration, fear of failure etc. which forces them to take an ultimate step of ending their lives by committing suicide. As they think by opting for suicide will be able to make them free from all that tormenting situations where they feel dejected, cheated, frustrated, neglected and all sort of worries and tensions taking out the charm and interest from their life. I have found out that these tendency to commit suicide is increasing at an alarming rate. Children are very sensitive, and observant now a days. Children coming from broken families, or children living with single parents after the broken marriage are more vulnerable to these thoughts. It is seen that at least one of the parents had either tried to commit suicide or at least mentions quite often in their tiffs and fights which a child takes very seriously, and an innocent child thinks that committing suicide also is a solution to finish some problem. 15 to 40% of completed suicide are preceded by other suicide attempts. In one third of suicides, a parent, a sibling, or other near relative had previously shown overt suicidal behaviour. Children who have killed themselves show an especially prominent preoccupation with death and dying, a wish to die, and feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness prior to the act. In adolescent, the notion of revenge or hostility is particularly prominent, directed either outwardly or against the self, it is present at least in half of those who succeed in killing themselves. Family studies have shown that fathers of suicidal youngsters have been more often noted to be depressed themselves and to have low self esteem, whereas mothers have experienced greater anxiety or suicidal ideation. Males are more likely to use violent methods than females. Among preadolescents, jumping from the heights is the most common method, followed by self-poisoning, hanging, stabbing, and running into traffic. Episodes of self-poisoning that occur after the age of 6 years are less likely to be accidental and should be treated as if the behaviour had suicidal potential or as a possible case of child abuse and neglect. Now a days school-age children in general are surprisingly knowledgeable about the subject of suicide. The major difference between children and adolescents lies in the fantasy and methods of committing suicide. With the increasing competition in every field a child feels burdened all the time. If a child who has different values of his life, and fancies to do something different he is faced with lot of opposition and criticism by the family members and friends even, which bears a negative feeling, if the child is of strong mental faculties with sharpness and guts he rather takes it as a challenge and tries extra hard to prove himself, on the contrariety a child with weak mental outlook or who depends on others gets depressed and frustrated and he sulks and suffers internally without opening up to any one or without confiding into anybody either with the fear, shame or guilt and with the apprehension of failure keeps suppressing himself and when it keeps on accumulating and becomes unbearable, he starts looking for easy solutions. When the solutions are also not achieved, he becomes more depressed and finally starts thinking himself to be of no use and develops suicidal thoughts. I am reminded of a case of a young girl who tried to commit suicide Miss R. D. 14 years student of class 10th who drank a bottle of Insecticide. She and her younger sister were both in the same school. Both the parents are working, hence are away from the home most of the day time. It was nearly in the afternoon when they use to be alone in the house by themselves. As she was studying in the co-educational school their friends also use to come to their house which includes girls and boys both. Though this the parents were also aware that sometimes the classmates of both the daughters do come to their house after the school for studying or playing. One day somebody called on their phone and started using dirty language, the elder girl got very furious and complained it to her parents, so one of the parents took a leave from the office and stayed back, but it was not possible for any of them to take off regularly. Then she stared getting phone calls off and on during the day time which disturbed her so much that she could not concentrate on her studies whereas the younger girl was not bothered at all and did very well in the exams as usual. This incident had a very deep effect in the mind of the elder sister and she started remaining depressed. The Parents also scolded the elder sister for not doing well in the exams; and said sarcastically perhaps she does something of that sort which invites such kind of phone calls from boys or in a way they accused her of flirting. This became absolutely intolerable for her and she took the ultimate step and consumed a bottle of insecticide, soon she was taken to the hospital, and after complete gastric wash and treatment for nearly 15-20 days in the hospital was discharged and was able to talk. This all details and information I could get after persuading her with lot of difficulties. Any way now she is absolutely alright. I gave her few doses of Staphysagria 1M to be taken and gave her lot of psychotherapy and took those feelings of humiliation, guilt, loss of self respect etc. out of her mind. Now she is a cheerful person studying in a degree college and enjoying life. This incident has definitely made the parents to understand their children better and before labelling any charges or blames they should always try to see the facts and should not comment anything which can hurt the feelings of a sensitive child adversely.
Some clinical case records
Here I am giving few interesting cases from my clinic records, where I have taken up the case and interpreted the observations into the prescribing symptom mainly based on their psychological background.
Case No 1. : Baby G.K. aged 5 years was brought to me for the complaints of her marked irritability, weeping without any cause and loss of appetite and spells of vomiting and sudden fever. The parents had consulted many paediatricians but her problem would resolve for a while and again develop the same problem with more intensity. Finally some family friend of theirs asked them to try Homoeopathy and that is how they came to me. The child was not a bubbling child rather was reluctant to talk, and was not concerned what all was being talked by her parents, but I observed that she had some kind of gloominess in her facial expression. When I asked that since when the child has been having this problem I was told nearly for the last 6 months or so. I confirmed that it happened suddenly and prior to this the child was not having any problem whatsoever. On further questioning I was told that they have shifted their residence to a new place and ever since that she is not been well. After obtaining this information I came to know that they have left their parental house and now are living on a new rented place, which the child has not taken very happily as she was very much attached with her grandmother and now it was difficult for her to adjust without the Company of her grandmother. This gave me the cause of her problem and instead of taking her fever, vomiting or the other physical complaints I tried to probe more on the emotional and mental side where I could find that since her parents both were working and they were not in the position to give much time to the child and as grandmother use to take care of her completely and when they moved out of the house she missed her grandmother which has result into the unhappiness and fear of insecurity and loneliness. On this I prescribed her Pulsatilla 1M and asked the parents to take her to her grandmother as and when possible or ask the grandmother to spend sometime at their place. The child became completely alright and after that she never had the complaints of vomiting fever and her appetite also returned to normal and she became a cheerful child once again. Here behind her problem the cause was her unhappiness and fear etc., which were taken care of by Pulsatilla.
Case No. 2 : Baby N.G. 7 years old girl was brought to me for her recurrent stomach-ache and loose stools with tendency for vomitings while going to school. She use to have very sleepless nights. The child use to cry furiously on hearing the sound of drums in the bands etc. It was of such an acute nature that the parents could not go to any of the marriages specially when the bands were playing there. This fear of noise was so pronounced that incidentally there was a Barat marriage party going outside my clinic and the Band was playing loudly and the child who was sitting quietly earlier suddenly started howling and crying and looked pale and the father requested my assistant to close the door so that the noise could be avoided. Seeing this I got very curious to find out about this unusual reaction of the child. While interrogating about the history I was told that the mother had developed very acute sensitivity to the noise specially after her cousin brother met with an accident while attending a marriage and with the noise around nobody could hear his voice of crying since than the mother became averse to noise of the bands and the mother was pregnant at that time and was in the first trimester of pregnancy and was carrying this child. On further questioning I could get that the mother also is very apprehensive of the noise. I prescribed three doses of Opium 200 at the interval of 30 minutes and followed by the placebo and asked them to report me after two weeks. On their next visit I was told that the child had developed diarrhoea and vomiting initially but as it was a usual feature with the child they did not bother much but soon it became a frequent stools and vomitings which were horribly offensive in odour but at the same time the child was looking little brighter and comfortable. The child was given Opium 1M single dose followed by the placebo. After a month on their visit I was told that child is much better, her complaints of pain in abdomen has almost gone and the frequency of her vomiting has reduced tremendously and occasionally she use to have loose stools. The child has started tolerating the noise of the bands, but at that time she would hold the hands of somebody standing nearby. She was again given the
placebo and other acute remedies for her other ailments. Nearly after 8 months there was a marriage of her father's brother which I also attended and was amused to see the same girl not only tolerating the band instead enjoying and dancing on the tune of band.
Case No. 3 : Master S.K. aged 6 years was brought to me for being very irritable, jealous, violent and ill mannered complaints with marked obstinacy and constipation for the last 2 years. The child was perfectly normal prior to the arrival of new baby in the family as his younger brother. On enquiring I could find out that the child was very much pampered by the family members and specially by the grandmother. He was given everything whatsoever he asked for. Even at time the parents use to resist but the grandmother would give him the things he desired, which at times use to bring unpleasantness and argument among themselves. Gradually the child became so obstinate that he would not listen to any body and start crying and howling without any rhyme or reason, this became all the more after the birth of his younger brother. He became very fussy and irritated on small things or on the things which were not done according to his wishes. By now the grandmother also became tired of his increasing irritability etc. and started scolding him which child resented to the extent that he started replying back to the grandmother and at times started abusing also, which soon became the habit and he started hitting the small child also. He would push the small child or pull his hairs every now and then, laugh over as the baby use to cry. With such kind of behaviour the entire family was very upset and despite of visiting so many doctors the child was becoming more and more fearless and obstinate day by day. At this stage the child was brought to me. After carefully listening to their tale I tried to find out the basic cause that the child was never handled properly or cared or brought up in a disciplined manner with the result that the child has become almost rebellious and refuses to listen to anybody and would not mend his ways inspite of being beaten and punished by the parents. The over protection by the grandmother had spoiled the child. I prescribed him three doses of Thuja 10M to be taken at the interval of 10 Mts. Followed by placebo and asked the parents to be little more tolerant now and instead of scolding or beating the child, should try to divert his attention to something constructive and give some appreciation for his right behaviour or action and let me know after three weeks. On his next visit I was told initially the child became all the more violent for first two weeks and he started breaking his toys etc. and became rather over active. Simultaneously after getting tired and fatigued when he use to go to sleep he would sweat profusely on the head and after getting up he would be somewhat sober. Gradually his attention was diverting more towards outdoor games and he reduced bullying his younger brother to a greater extent. He was given the placebo to be continued and I talked to the child for some time about things of his interest, then I learnt that he was rather getting frustrated because everytime he was made to believe that he is still a child and can not do this or that. I told the parents to let him share in the family few responsibilities like handling the younger brother or making the bed for the child etc. or try to talk to the child in his own way. Indeed this worked magical the patient started taking interest in the younger brother and started liking and caring for his younger brother. Then he became very possessive of his younger brother at this time I gave him a dose of Hyoscymus 1M which had changed the attitude of the child drastically. Within the period of around 8 months the child had become almost normal and the grandmother and the parents were also not having any complaints regarding his misbehaviour. Pulsatilla, Chamomilla, Belladonna and Calcarea Carb with Antim Crud were also used during the treatment for various stages. After the treatment I saw the child nearly 3 years later and he was a pleasing person by now.
Case No. 4 : Master. S.C. 5 years was brought to me for weeping and crying with obstinacy and recurrent attacks of cold and cough, with loss of appetite and very restless sleep, and having bed wetting even during day time also, and the child use to drink milk with the bottle only. His mother was fed up with this child as she had consulted many physicians and child specialists also, but after the course of antibiotics and some tonics child use to be better for a while but suffer very frequently and on the contrary was becoming more irritable day by day and would refuse to eat and would ask for chocolates and toffees etc. which doctors had advised him to avoid, and after each bout of attack she use to feel helpless. In her anger and rage she started punishing the child by scolding and beating even which eventually resulted in the faulty speech of the child and he started lisping while talking. As the condition of the child was not resolving she came to me for the same child's problems. In her words he was a typical 'problem child' and she did not know what to do with him, or how to handle him, as child was becoming weaker and developing low resistance and he would fall sick on the least of cause like change on the weather, change in the diet or scolding etc. After listening her, I looked at the child who was having very innocent face and had good looking features. Firstly when his mother asked him to say hello to me, he looked very terrified and wished and said hello in a very low and scared tone. I told the child that there is nothing to be afraid about and that I am not going to harm him or going to give him any injections or bitter/tasteless tablets or capsules. Instead I told him that I am just going to talk to him about his playing activities and what he likes most, Initially he was hesitant than gradually he started talking without any fear and rather started speaking more clearly which he was not able to do earlier as the mother was pressing him to say something or recite a poem etc. On seeing this I told him that I just want to be his friend, he looked different immediately, his eyes sparkled with interest and happiness. Than I asked him if he drinks milk with the bottle he felt shy but said yes. Then I explained him that it is not a good thing and that he is a big boy now and should drink milk in a glass, he nodded and said O.K. I asked him very clearly that he should throw his bottle into a dustbin, at this juncture the mother said 'no doctor' he won't do that I know, he is just bluffing you, Then I asked the child "Is it so? Are you bluffing me?" He looked angrily at his mother and said "No doctor I'll definitely throw it. I took a promise from him and asked the mother to give him the bottle, to be thrown and give him milk in the glass. And then I gave him 3 doses of Baryta Carb 1M and asked her to report me after a week with the instructions that if again he demands a bottle just call me. When both of them left the clinic I could see the pleasure and cheerfulness on the face of the child and expressions of surprise and disbelief on the mother's face. Perhaps the child always had been treated straight away with the physical examination and the instructions that he should not eat such and such things and that he would be given injections or he may have to be operated upon, which scared the child every time he went to the doctor, but for the first time they had come to a homoeopath and seen the change in the attitude and that I listened to his problem carefully and talked to the child for quite some time which took away his inhibitions and fear, After 2 days only the mother met me somewhere and on enquiring she told me very happily that its unbelievable that he did ask her to give him the bottle and he really had thrown the bottle into the dustbin. She was full of praise about the way I had taken up his case. At that time I explained her that bringing up of a child needs a thorough understanding of child's needs, desires and his psychology, what which the child resented and started fearing his mother and never could express his feelings as the mother use to be busy with her Kitty Parties etc. and had been feeding the child with the bottle for her own convenience, and this bottle feeding use to be the recurrent source of infection and child would get Upper Respiratory Tract Infection with Tonsillitis and Fever. She realised the whole situation and felt sorry, and pleaded me to cure him completely and assured me that she would follow my instructions and suggestions. After some period of time there were appreciable changes in the child, now he was not falling sick as often, simultaneously he started recovering quickly from the attacks of tonsillitis and Upper respiratory infections. Gradually he started improving over all his soiling of the bed or enuresis also was getting controlled, now he was passing more dry nights than previously. He was given some other intercurrent remedies also namely, Pulsatilla, Cina, and Stramonium.
Case No. 5 : Master A.S. 4 years was brought to me for the Stunted growth, Recurrent Cold cough with Fever, and tendency for loose stools. He was a premature born child at 8th month with birth weight of 1.4 Kgs. Had infantile Jaundice and was kept in Incubator for 20 days. Child had mother's breast feed only for 2 months because of inadequate lactation of the mother. These were the main complaints for which they had taken lot of treatment in all system of medicines, but without any appreciable or lasting effect. At this stage the child was brought under my care in Homoeopathy. On case taking I came to know about his frequent abdominal colics with vomitings and marked irritability and obstinacy. Child does not like to eat food and milk rather would prefer to eat outside food. I was told that he has a very bad habit of eating Brick stones etc., despite of their best efforts child would go out of the house and pick up stone, dust or brick and eat it. The parents were very much concerned and tried many things, but to no avail. He had grinding of teeth at night and would wake up startled. I got the stool and blood test done and the reports were
Hlb-10.3gms%, TLC-9,900/cumm DLC-P-27%, L-58%, E-11%, M-4% and the Stool showed Cyst of Giardia Lamblia. On
23.6.94 he weighed 12 kgs. He was very fond of playing with water and is the only child in the family, therefore was very much pampered also. Calc Carb 200 to1M was given to the child in fractional doses. After a period of 4 weeks I was told that the child is much better now, he has started eating normal food and almost completely given up eating stones and brick. His cough and cold had improved tremendously and the child became playful now. I got the blood and stool test done again on 18.8.94 and the reports were Hlb-11gm%, TLC-7500/cumm, DLC-45%, L-42%, E-8%, M-5% and Stool Normal, No Ova or Cyst. The child had gained 0.5 kg of weight also. He was given Hepar Sulph, Silicea and Cina also in between as indicated time to time. On 24.10.94 The child had no more attacks of Fever, and U.R. I, his stools are normal and no more pain in the abdomen and no more Pica and child weighed 14.00 Kgs. Now I have been told that he is doing very well now even without any medication.
Case No.- 6 : Master G.C. 8 years old was brought to me for Asthmatic Bronchitis, Vomitings, Fever and Pain in the Joints. He was earlier treated by Antibiotics, Anti Allergics, Bronchodialators and Steroids also. But his problem was getting more acute and worse after each attack. He started developing rashes on the body and with Epistexis bouts, Child was becoming very irritable and cross. There had been a family history of Asthma from Maternal side, even his Mother suffers from Allergic Rhinitis and Asthmatic Bronchitis. Father and Grandfather has Eczema. The very peculiar thing about the child was that he may be absolutely normal and the moment any body scolds him he would get an attack immediately, seeing this he was given free hand by the parents and in order to avoid the occurrence of attacks his parents use to tolerate his temper tantrums also. He was becoming mischievous, and ill tempered which parents use to feel bad but could not help it. Each time they gave medicines for his chest complaints his skin symptoms use to flair up and when they treated his skin, his asthma would aggravate. At this stage they came to me for Homoeopathic treatment. After taking the complete case I found out that the child was hyperactive, and he developed this problem nearly 3-4 years ago when there was a clash between his father and mother. The mother took the child along with her to her parents house for quite some time and there had been lots of occasion where he was beaten by the mother as and when she use to be angry or annoyed she use to take it out on him. The child became very nervous and would weep and cry and use to get spasms. After the reconciliation between the mother and father he was brought back to the father's house but by this time he had developed spasmodic breathing on slightest of provocation or on listening to high pitch or tone of any body. I gave the child Chamomilla 1M to start with and used Antim Tart, Ars. Alb, Bell, and Cupr Ars also as per the indications in acute phases of the attack. The child showed a great aggravation initially his skin became very bad he developed Pustular eruptions on his neck, face and extremities, with high fever, A dose of Streptococcin was also given during this phase, it was the worst ever position of the child according to the parents and they had almost decided to take the child to the hospital. At one stage even I felt little shaky, still I asked them to have some more patience and told them about the outcome of the internal morbid phenomenon, which they agreed reluctantly. On the 3rd day after this the child started showing the signs of improvement, his discharge from the eruptions stopped and the sin looked normal and the fever went off and the child felt comfortable and was able to sleep after few restless and sleepless nights. After this episode of the skin lesion his body responded very well his sensitivity to catch cold cough and an acute attack became normal. Now the child was not getting any attacks after least of contradiction or scolding, rather he was getting the problem only after the exposure to cold but that to of very low intensity and for a short while only. Gradually he became absolutely all right. Now the child is sweet, well behaved and intelligent child, who does not shirk from going to school any more.
Case No. - 7 : Master M.S. 14 years was brought to me for the treatment for Forgetfulness, Impaired Memory, as he was doing very badly in studies in the school and had been failing in the same class for consecutively 3 years. On taking his case history I was told that he has become the pain in the neck for the entire family due to his behaviour. He is a habitual Liar, Mischievous, Disobedient, Naughty and Notorious. He would bring the things like Pencils, Pens, etc. of the classmates and on enquiring would say that they have given him whereas he use to steal from the bags of the students. He forged the Marks and grades in his Test Papers and Test Copies. Had no interest in studies, but would make big promises to the mother. He would misplace the Report Card and would say that his Madam has not given him the Report Card. He would fight with the children in school and also in the street and at times would threaten them of killing even. Child weeps at night during sleep. Easily gets frightened. Saliva trickles from the mouth during sleep. On further enquiring about any incident in his life I was told that initially the child was given to some relatives after birth and could restore back to the parents with lot of difficulties and fights etc. among them and after Litigation only he was restored back to the parents. Child was taken to Police Station and Courts on number of occasions which had a very deep impact in the mind of the child. He started getting frightened very easily and developed fear of being taken away from the parents. He was given lot of love and affection by the parents but gradually the child became very obstinate and started taking things for granted and started taking advantage of the situations. On talking to him, he revealed that still he fears that he might loose his parents, and as he was asked not to get afraid and was given a free hand and was let loose, which eventually became his habit and developed into present state of attitude. I gave the child Staphisagria 1M to begin with and followed by Anacardium. He reported back again after 2 weeks with not much of change in him, the only change which was noticeable by the parents were that he had been little less abusive all these days and had felt little better after a huge vomiting few days back. I gave him Staphisagria 10M in fractional doses and again asked to report after 15 days. This time he responded quickly, I was informed on the phone after 4 days of taking the medicine that he has been weeping very often and apologizing his mother every now and then without any apparent cause and the parents enquired that Is it because of the medicine and what they should do now? I told them not to worry and let it be continued as it is going to be O.K. on its own and asked them to let me know of the situation. I did not get any call from them for nearly a week, I enquired from the relative of theirs who happened to come to me for the treatment about the child I was told that now he is quite well. On his next visit after 15 days he looked quite cheerful and he told me that he has become a good boy now, Very rarely he gets frightened now. On asking the parents I was informed undoubtedly there is a change in his behaviour but at the same time his other activities like stealing and lying etc. are same and he still does not sit and study or still can't remember the chapters, but always keep swearing that now he will do the best. I prescribed him Anacardium 200 and 1M and asked him to report after 4 weeks. This time after a month there had been great improvement in the child was observed, he had started retain the context what he had studied earlier and did better in his class tests and of course showed the copies to the parents. It boosted up his confidence I asked the parents to give him more encouragement and not to discuss his bad habits all the time and specially in front of any body in his presence. He was treated continuously for the same and in his final exams he did pass the class. His parents told me still he fears at times that he may loose his parents though other anti-social activities and his delinquent behaviour was very much under control. He was given a dose of Hyoscymus 1M, which had cleared his fear also. He was given Baryta Carb, Kali Phos, Nux Moschata, Cina and Syphilinum also in between at different stages during the treatment Now after 3 years of the treatment the child is altogether a different person with good academic performance and social behaviour.
Case No. - 8 : Master S.S. 12 years old was brought to me for his problems of recurrent cough and sneezings, coryza with fever. Impaired hearing, And constant noise in the ears. Carelessness, Tics jerky movements of the right hand. Dull headed, easily gets excited, short tempered, Weeps off and on and talks while weeping. Does not want to take bath, Makes faces, Jealousy, Grinding of teeth at night with saliva trickling from the mouth at night during sleep. Does not want to mix up with any body and tries to boss around. Becomes violent. In the past he had Seizures and Febrile Convulsions at the age of 1 year with the history of delayed delivery by 8 days and the birth weight was 8lbs. Had delayed speech. The child had chronic habitual constipation and use to miss the days with the result use to have lot of indigestion with sour eructations, heartburn and waterbrash. The only child of the parents. And mother had very acute mental tension at the time of pregnancy as her husband had gone to Germany and after his going only she came to know about the pregnancy and there had been a marital disharmony and the father was reluctant to come back and the mother had very tough time to continue the pregnancy and use to get Hysterical Fits and number of times she thought of committing suicide even. His father had a very typical behaviour and was very obstinate and headstrong he use to take out his anger and rage and would break the doors and household items of the house. His maternal grandmother use to have Hysterical fits. Now when the child was brought to me by both the parents I came to know that even now there is lot marital disharmony and very often they use to have fights in which husband use to assault his wife physically also, and the child use to scream and cry at that situation. With this kind of circumstances the child was getting the feeling of insecurity and in turn it started affecting his mental faculties and started loosing interest in the study or would forget the things very often. After analyzing the whole case and situation I gave him Baryta Carb 10M. in 3 fractional doses. At the same time told both the parents to be careful about their behaviour and attitude as it is affecting the child very much and adversely. After explaining this I asked both of them at least they should not fight in front of the child rather they should give maximum attention to the child so that he gains his confidence back about the family. As the child showed the feeling that he is not loved his parents and that no one cares about him. The parents felt really ashamed and sorry on telling them that they are neglecting the child and becoming the cause of his problem. As the child's mind is very sensitive and he reacts emotionally to the surroundings and family circumstances, and specially told them that apart from my medicine the change in the family circumstances is very essential for the improvement of the child. After 2 weeks I was told that there has been a change in the situation of the child. Further informed that their attitude as I explained them has also changed. They have realised that at least for the sake of their child they have agreed, not to have any altercation and would not give any chance to the child where he could feel lonely or insecure. Their decision did bring favourable response along with the medicine when the child started responding normally. His tics and anger were very much under control. He was rather behaving nicely and started showing score respect towards his parents. He still was having constipation, sore throat and salivation with grinding of teeth. I gave him few doses of Cina and asked them to report again after 2 weeks. Next when he came he was quite better in all respects except that he still use to have jerky movements of right hand specially when he is mentally tensed up or while doing any thing with excitement. At this point of time his mother told me that his obstinacy is becoming more pronounced these days and that he fights with his friends and does not accept his mistakes. Though his behaviour otherwise, was much better and he is not getting any weepings spells or his physical complaints about the stomach pain, constipation and grinding of teeth and salivation are much better now he is passing stool everyday but not at a fixed time. I gave him a dose of Thuja 1M and asked to report after 4 weeks. This time the report was all satisfactory and that the child is overall much better his complaints of throat etc. did come but not lasted for long. He was brought to me again after nearly 4 months when he had high fever up to 105 degrees F. And during fever he had vertigo and had fallen down. At this time the child had mild convulsions also due to which the parents got very panicky and had taken some Allopathic drugs. After seeing him I gave him few doses of Stramonium 200 which cleared up the fever completely. Now it has been more than 3 years and the child is absolutely alright. Here I told them that medicine has played its role but until the parents had not resorted to their normalcy in behaviour perhaps child would have not responded so quickly and positively. The other few remedies used in between were Anacardium, Cocculus Indica, Nux Moschata and Alumina.
Case No. - 9 : Miss J.K. 5 years 6 months old was brought to me on 11.11.1989 for the complaints of Pain in Abdomen, Nail Biting, Thumb Sucking, Recurrent Cough only at night which lasts for months. Involuntary or incontinence of urine (Enuresis), even during day time also while awake would pass urine without notice and at times would pass stool also in the panties (Encopresis). Excessive sweating on the head, Craves Potatoes. Occasionally Stammers also. Tendency to put on weight. The child measured 31 kgs in weight and 3'. 10" height. And she is very obstinate. The child would keep playing and at the end when can not hold the urine and stool any more then would rush to the toilet and invariably before reaching to the toilet, would pass it in the panties itself. Mother use to scold the child and very often use to spank and beat the child for not listening to her and soiling the clothes. Mother said that she keeps reminding her and force the child to go to toilet, that time she would say that she does not have the urge or feeling and suddenly she would pass while standing only that too in front of any body. The parents were very much worried and concerned about her bad habits. After listening to the whole story I asked about the family scene and I came to know that ever since she was a young infant or child she could not be attended properly as the parents were in a joint family where the mother had to look after her old parents in law and most of the time she use to be occupied and there was none else to help her. With the result that the proper toilet training could not be given to the child. But now when they are staying on their own and the mother tries her level best to teach her, rather expects that now as the child is grown up, she should have had the control on her natural calls. This was the main predicament of the parents and use to feel quite embarrassed on this account. And at this point mother was almost in tears as she had tried many things and medicines but failed to get any response in the child, on the contrary she is becoming more adamant and hardly cares about any thing. This case was quite an interesting where I found multiple symptoms which had become the part of habit of the child like thumb sucking, nail biting, enuresis, encopresis, occasional stammering and obstinacy or being indifferent. After analyzing it thoroughly I found the elements of her emotional insecurity, frustration, rage and seeking attention were the prominent features and likely to be the root cause of the whole problem. I started the treatment with making the parents understand that first of all if they were looking for immediate change in the behaviour of the child, it may not be possible but definitely the child will be all right but it would take some time and that along with the medicines I'll have to use some psychotherapy and counselling also, to which they agreed. I suggested some hints to them that don't scold or ridicule the child in front of any body for her unpleasant behaviour and acts rather take her to the toilet along with her and make her sit and pass urine or stool without giving the harsh feeling to the child and acts rather take her to the toilet along with her and make her sit and pass urine or stool without giving the harsh feeling to the child and act very casually, do it little frequently. Secondly instead of shouting at her that go and pass urine or stool everytime ask her to come to you without mentioning about it and slowly and politely take her to the bathroom, Simultaneously I gave her Calc. Carb 1M and asked the parents to get the stool and urine test done. There was Cyst of E. Histolytica in the stool and the urine was normal in the reports.
On 2.12.1989 : I was told that as I had advised the mother she had been doing the same and that there has been a significant change in the attitude of the child now she has almost stopped passing stool in the panties though her bed wetting is also bit better but still continuing and her other habits are also as it is. I gave Calc. Carb 10M and gave some more instructions to the parents to follow while handling their child.
On 9.4.1990 : The child has shown great improvement now occasionally she soils her clothes at night, her thumb sucking and nail biting is much lesser now. She weighed 33,00 Kgs and measured 4'. This time I was told that she does not like to eat anything else but Potatoes and Butter. I explained the child that it is not good for her and that she will become fat and everybody will tease her and laugh at her, nevertheless I gave her Merc Sol 200 and Nat Carb 200 on alternate weeks.
On 2.5.1990 : The child was much better in general the main complaints parents had this time was that the child does not take any interest in studies and forgets everything. Otherwise she is improving in all respects, now the child has absolutely dry nights and days for the last two weeks, the frequency of thumb sucking is almost negligible but nail biting still persists specially when something is asked from her or she is watching T.V. Her craving for butter and potatoes still persists but only change is that she has started eating other things also. Baryta Carb 1M was given to her this time, with some more tips and guidance for the parents and child.
On 1.6.1990 : Very bad cough at night with few wet nights where she passed urine while sleeping. Otherwise child was behaving quite normal and satisfactory. Causticum 200 was given to her.
On 22.6.1990 : Child much better in general the cough has almost gone now and no more bed wetting spells despite of child has been sleeping in the Air Conditioned bedroom. Only complaint was that she started rubbing her genitals every now and then (masturbating) and started having falling of hairs. I asked for the Urine and Stool examination which revealed Urine had Calcium Oxalates (++) and stool-NAD. I gave Nitric Acid 200 and Bufo Rana 30 and again instructed the mother to tackle the child tactfully and not to over react.
On 18.2.1991 : She was brought to me again with previous complaints fully under control. But her weight had been increasing regularly she had been increasing by 2 kgs approximately every month, this time it was 39.00 kgs. I gave Calc Carb 10M.
On 19.4.1991 : Again complained of stomach pain but no gain in weight during this period it measured same 39.00 kgs. And stool again showed Cysts of E. Histolytica. This time I gave her Ematine Hydrochloride 6.
On 12.10.1991 : Child was perfectly alright during this period. Occasional complaints of falling of hairs. Over all child has been doing very fine, her behaviour was absolutely normal now and she has started behaving like any other girl of her age. Now she has become more conscious of her weight. I gave Acid Phos 30.
On 8.7.1993 : She was brought to me for her complaints of sudden onset of Bed wetting on two consecutive nights which had disturbed the parents very much as uphill now she was perfectly normal and they had almost forgotten that she had any problem of such kind. On my enquiring I found that the child was having some problem with her friend to whom she was very much attached and she had played nasty with her. I gave her a dose of Pulsatilla 200 and asked the parents to be little more vigilant about her.
Last on September 1994 when the mother came for her treatment I was told that now the child is absolutely normal and started becoming more matured and does not get affected (by getting any problem) adversely, so soon on any emotional disturbance even.
Case No. - 10 : Mr. A.V. 14 years old was brought to me for Migraine attacks and Epileptic fits, with periodical vomitings which relieves the headache. Breath holding spells while weeping, behavioral changes after the head injury in 1990 when he had a fall from the terrace, In 1985 only he got entrapped in the almirah for 10-15 minutes from then onwards developed breath holding attacks. In 1992 got first convulsive attack. In 1991 he had Typhoid and Haematuria with U.T.
I. The child was taking Velparin tablets. EEG report shows, An abnormal record whereas CT Scan was normal. Feels neglected and gets frightened. Easily gets tired. Left sided temporal region headache "agg" sleep after. Saliva trickles from the mouth during sleep, very obstinate and stubborn. I gave the child Natrum Sulf 10M in fractional doses along with Iris Versicolaris 30 and asked to take Usnea Barbata ô as SOS for acute headache.
After 2 weeks I was told that the frequency of his headache is definitely less but intensity of the pain is still the same and as and when he gets headache it lasts for 2-3 days and only becomes better after vomitings. His father told me that he complains very funny that as if he is walking in the air or as if not lying in the bed despite of being on the bed. I gave Lac Can 200 followed by same Iris Versicolaris 30 and Usnea Barbata Q as SOS.
After a month I was told that his frequency as well as intensity of headache is much better and that as and when he had acute pain after taking the SOS he felt better and could get relief without vomitings. And the feeling of flying in the air was also much better. Father had observed some positive changes in his behaviour also. There was a significant change that he very seldom wept and did not get those breath holding spasms. Same treatment was repeated.
After 2 months I was told that he developed very high fever in between, but soon came out of it. And now by and large the child is completely alright, very rarely he gets headaches, no vomitings, no weeping with breath holding attacks, his behaviour is very much normal. The only thing he wants to do as when he is upset or angry he goes out of the house. His fears and anxieties are absolutely normal. The other remedies used in between were Thuja, Baryta Carb, Belladonna and Lachesis. Now the patient is fully cured of his ailments.
Case No. - 11 : Miss D.N. 8 years old was brought to me for the complaints of Bed wetting, she would pass urine even if slept during day time also. She would pass urine 2-3 times in a night itself. She use to complain of pain in the abdomen with startling at night and dreams of ghosts and fear also. She feels very bad in the morning after soiling her clothes. I gave her Sepia 200 followed by Equisetum H'30 and explained the child that she should take care of eating and drinking and specially to avoid taking any liquids 2 hours before sleeping and not to watch TV and read comics. I asked the mother to give her reward for the day she does not soil her bed and to give light punishment for the day she wets the bed. With in 3 weeks the child showed great improvement, and once she started having dry nights her confidence was boosted up. After another two weeks medicine child became completely cured. Now she is quite happy as she can go out to her relatives etc. which she could not do earlier as she use to feel embarrassed for bed wetting.
Case No. - 12 : Master S.B. 5 years old was brought to me for the complaints of bed wetting with deviated nasal septum (DNS) Right sided. Child use to pass urine 3-4 times in a night and during day time also could not control it and wet his bed. He use to complain of pain in the abdomen also. In the past he had Jaundice. There was grinding of teeth at night and child would wake up suddenly at night and start walking (Somnambulism) while in sleep. And on calling him he would startle and get frightened followed by weeping. This he had started ever since his father went on tour for some time perhaps he felt afraid and insecure which resulted in this problem of his. He had tried many medicines earlier but with no encouraging effect. I gave Pulsatilla 200 followed by Cina 30. But it did not have any effect. I again asked about more details regarding the child. I was told that he invariably complains of stomach pain around 11.00 AM and further he had eruptions on the body after his birth which disappeared but he started getting recurrent cold and Right nasal blockage. I gave Sulphur 200 followed by placebo.
There was unusual change noted in him by the parents that he not only slept comfortably his bed wetting also improved tremendously. Placebo was again administered to him for further two weeks.
Nearly after 8 days the child was brought back to me again for some small tiny rashes on his face and head which gave him itching, I was asked by the parents that should they apply some medicated ointment like Betnovate etc.? I strongly refused them and asked not to use anything. And gave few doses of Placebo again telling them that I am giving some medicine with which it will be O.K.
After 2 days only I got a phone call from them saying that the rashes have not gone instead there is some discharge coming out from them. I reassessed the case and said not to worry and continued the same Placebo, during all this period his bed wetting and walking during sleep was perfectly alright for which they came to Homoeopathy and were insisting that since the eruptions are on the face and look very bad, so they should consult a skin specialist, at this point I told them just to wait for a while and told them about the homoeopathic way of treatment. With lot of difficulty they agreed.
Next to their pleasant surprise the eruptions started drying up and soon they disappeared leaving no mark on the surface and his problem of nasal blockage and cold also got completely cured. Today they believe that had they taken some medicines to suppress the eruptions perhaps the child would still be suffering from other problems also.
Case No. - 13 : Master V.J. 15 years old consulted me for his problem of General weakness, Headaches, Vertigo and Pain in the Eyes with dullness in general. While telling about his complaints he was trying to avoid to see me directly or rather looking here and there as if he wanted to say something but was unable to do so. I talked to him in a very friendly manner and asked anything else?, first he said No doctor; then, slowly asked could it be due to his bad habits also? I understood what actually he meant than I asked him not to hesitate or feel shy and talk openly and assured him that he need not to be afraid of any thing and that he can trust me. After getting assured he said that he has developed the bad habit of hand practice (Masturbation) and told that he has been doing it for a very long time and also told that actually when he was a young boy one of their tenant's college going daughter use to take him inside and use to fondle with his genitals which use to give him pleasure Gradually he started doing it on his own. Even while going to bed for sleep he would put his hands in the Pyjamas and keep playing with his penis, and by now he has become so habitual as it gives very pleasurable feelings so he does it as and when he gets the time or solitude. So much so that he has stopped going out for playing with the friends. Gradually he started feeling the guilt as he grew older and when his classmates teased him. He started losing interest in the studies and was not doing good academically, whereas earlier he was a bright student of the class and now he started getting comments from the teachers also. He consulted their family physician also who gave few tonics but without any relief. At one point he said that he felt like committing suicide as he felt so much guilt and frustrated and ashamed. After listening to his story very patiently I explained him that there is nothing to worry about and that he should not feel so dejected and also told him that he should divert his mind to something more constructive, studies and go for outings and play out door games, also keep the Company of good boys. After assuring him he felt little comfortable and said please take me out of this mess. Once again I assured him and gave him Acid Phos 1M And also I told him to concentrate his mind more to the studies and shun from the bad Company and look for the healthier atmosphere, go for a walk and take up light exercises e.g. jogging etc. and spend maximum time in the Company.
He reported to me after 3 weeks and he was little cheerful this time as he had gained some confidence. He said that as per my advice he has started doing the things and now very seldom he gets those thoughts of indulging in the masturbation specially if he sees something exciting then only he feels the urge. At night also he has started sleeping normally. He said that weakness etc. is still persisting. I told him that every thing would be O.K. he felt quite assured. I gave him China 30.
After a months time he was quite better in general and did well in his class tests also, so he was very happy about it. Finally he was given Acid Phos up to 10M. and he got completely cured, and was a well confident and bright student once again. He thanked me for the same and brought his friend also having the similar problem.
Case No. - 14 : Master S.P. 10 years old boy was brought to me for a very typical problem of his involuntary movement of the neck and shoulders (Tics) for the last 4-5 years. The parents were very much perturbed as this problem was not getting cured despite of medication and reminding the child every now and then, But the child was helpless as he did not know that how it happens, but one thing was sure that as and when he use to be excited or was facing some mental exertion it use get increased. The frequency of the uncontrolled movement of the neck and shoulder was very much increasing with the passage of time. And the child also use to feel bad about it. On taking the case and probing deeply after ruling out any neurological manifestation, I found that the child is very sensitive and seems quite sensible, on my insisting that how exactly it started, he said that he really does not know but one thing he told me that it started after the sudden death of a friend of his to whom he was very close and was his best friend. I enquired and confirmed from the parents, but they never realised it or gave any importance to that incident. On further probing I found out that he misses his friend and at time weeps also. On listening to the whole story I gave him Pulsatilla 1M to 50M and the patient got completely cured with in 6 months.
Case No. - 15 : Master A.M. 7 ears old was brought to me as a problem child by the mother as he had been troubling since beginning. His birth weight was 10 lbs. And initially had jaundice followed by Measles and Diarrhoea in early childhood. Then the child started getting recurrent hyper-pyrexia with tonsillitis and vomitings. So in a way child did suffer from some problem or the other, hence he was given too much attention by the parents and gradually he became very irritable and obstinate. He started refusing to go to school, every day at the time of going to school he would complain of stomach pain or vomiting and show lot of tantrums. Initially parents use to think since the child is not feeling well, so better not to send the child to school. Later they found that practically every day he is doing so and once the school bus has gone he would become normal and start playing. Any amount of logics, reasonings even scolding were ineffective. As the mother came for her treatment she just casually asked that do you have any medicines in homoeopathy which can set an erring child right? Then she gave me this history about her son. After going through his case I was told that he has got a very typical habit of scaring the family members like he would sit in a corner of the room and you keep calling him, neither he would reply nor would come out and when the family searches for him they would locate him in some store room, bathroom etc, and see the child with profuse sweating. The child was given Calcarea Carb 200 initially but did not respond much ultimately child got cured with Sanicula 1M on the basis of his obstinacy, headstrong, restlessness, crossness alternating with playfulness and on typical old cheese like body smell.
Case No. - 16 : Miss A.A. 13 years old was brought to me for recurrent fever with sore throat, Cough, vomitings and pain in abdomen. She was being treated with antibiotics and other medicines for quite sometime but was not getting cured. One very strange thing they had observed that as and when there had been some tragedy or emotional and family disturbance she use to get very afraid and would like to remain with her mother all the time and moreover she even would get acute attacks of respiratory problems with vomitings. On further asking I was told that she is so sentimental that even if her mother or father use to get slight cold or so she would start weeping and start expecting the worst and worrying about them. She would sleep with her mother and never let her go anywhere alone, whereas her brother was not such type rather he had been careless, and would spend maximum time out with friends. Even on asking by the parents patient would not go out to play or go with the friends. She was treated with Phosphorus 200 to 10M which cured her, not only her fears but her recurrent respiratory infections and vomitings also. Other medicines used were Pulsatilla, Hyoscymus.
Case No. - 17 : Master N.M. 10 years old was brought to me for the complaints of his tantrums, cunningness, mischievous and marked restlessness in general. Patient had been operated for Appendix earlier, and now was complaining for acute abdominal pains with tendency for constipation. His mother told me that he is such a child who would not spare any body and seems very vindictive also. On my enquiring how does he react to the music? She told me that he just loves it and starts dancing which makes him tired even. I was sure of the remedy I prescribed Tarentula 200 and told the mother that I am sure the child will be fine, but to my dismay nothing of that sort happened I waited for nearly 3 weeks but without any positive response, then again I reassessed the case and prescribed Tarentula 1M but again after waiting for one month but without any favourable response then again reassessed the case but again came to the conclusion for the same remedy, this time I gave Tarentula 10M and after this there was a remarkable change noticed in the activities of the child, his hyper-activities, tantrums etc. were brought under control up to the satisfaction of the mother.
Case No. - 18 : Miss V.M. 8 years old was brought to me for her sluggishness, increasing weight and constipation. I was told that she is just a dump girl who can not read and retain any thing in her mind that practically the parents felt that she looks mentally retarded. On going into the details I came to know that she is the third daughter in the family and that parents were not at all happy with the birth of third child again a daughter. I felt perhaps that was the basic cause for which the child was not given the same love and affection by the parents and the family members which the child had felt right from the beginning and has been feeling neglected. I talked to the parents in great detail and explained them the consequences of their indifferent attitude towards her which child could understand and has lost interest in everything. She would just keep mum and keep tearing the paper. When I asked the child while talking to her that what she would like to become, she did not reply but the mother told me that she plays with other children and acts as of a teacher and tries to punish the other children with scale. Baryta Carb 200 to 10M was given to her, with some changes, but finally she responded to Staphisagria 1M, now the child is quite better after the treatment of nearly 1 year, here apart from the medicines the attitude of the family members also play a very vital role as after my explaining the parents brought drastic change in their attitude and the family members instead of laughing on her and ridiculing and bullying, started talking of her achievements and praised about her activities with which she is becoming more and more confident gradually and showing a great deal of improvement all over.
Case No. - 19 : Master A.V. 10 years was brought to me for recurrent colds and ear pain, headaches and fever with tonsillitis. His mother who is a teacher in school complained that hardly any change in season goes when he does not fall sick. While she was explaining about his complaints the child started asking me doctor uncle what is this while seeing my computer, on telling him about it he again asked what do you do with this and kept on asking something or the other, and when I asked the mother I was told he is like this only. I was told that her father in law also does homoeopathy and had already given him few medicines like Bell, M.S. , Nat Mur, and Phos etc. Then on my asking for some more detail I found that the child use abusive language at home, and is frightened of animals specially the dog which is up to the extent that while going to school if he sees the dog he comes back home or takes the other road for school which has resulted many a times that he got late in the school and was punished also. After listening to all this I prescribed Tubercullinum 200 and to the surprise of the mother and her father in law the child became absolutely alright and with in the period of 9 months was able to overcome his fear of dog also.
Case No. - 20 : Master A.G. 13 years was brought to me for the complaints of not gaining weight, tendency for constipation and at times bleeding with stool, headaches, weakness and disinterestedness in general with inclination to go for violence and other criminal activities. I was told that the child was a very simple and obedient initially and never use to lie but now he hardly tells the truth. The parents were getting very much concerned with his rebellious and anti-social talks as he frequently use to talk about the crime and criminals. I asked the parents to send the child into my chamber and let me talk to him in their absence. When I was talking to him I was surprised that the child to whom the parents were saying is becoming anti-social, rebellious etc. was on the contrary a very sensitive child who had lots of frustration in his early childhood and was subjected to suppress his emotions his happy childhood when he wanted the love and affection, there had been lots of tension and family disturbance which had a very deep impact in his mind. And after seeing that his innocent behaviour is always looked upon by the family members and was ridiculed very often, gradually he became thick skinned and started behaving in a more clever ways and started getting things done by lying and resorting to all unfair means, cheating etc. It was basically his unhappy childhood which he resents and started taking revenge, there was a great impact of the movies and novels in his life also. On listening to this story I told the child well now you have told me everything I would like to believe him. Acid Phos, Staphysagria, Nat. Mur and Ignatia were the remedies used at various stages for his mental and emotional levels which had changed the attitude of the child completely and after the treatment for nearly 4 years now he has become a very sensible, obedient young adult and does not suffer from any of those emotional and mental fears, guilts and frustrations also.