spectrum of homeopathy
Anne Koller-Wilmking ¦
various remedies
Problem Children ¦
Cases of our time
10
school. It really got me down. I’m someone who is there for my
friends, I listen, and then suddenly, they stopped talking to me.
I’ve never had lots of friends. When they cut me out like that,
I feel small and insignificant. I always wanted to do things
properly and be someone who is liked. To protect myself, I now
come across as arrogant and bitchy. I’ve started becoming a
bitch, walk around in class with my head held high to avoid
being attacked. The attacks are very bad. I’m really furious but
it doesn’t help to want to change myself for other people. I’m
not as popular as I wanted to be, and I’m not the person I
wanted to be, someone who gets on well with the others.”
About her relationship to animals, she says: “I’ve got a little
rabbit who I love more than anything else. I love animals. I have
been going riding for several years, and I have an insect phobia
– I find spiders in particular totally disgusting. I like cats and
dogs, cats most of all – they’re so stubborn (Gesture: throws
her head and her hair back), me too (she laughs).”
She would like to be a lawyer or a journalist: “Law is very
demanding. I’m very ambitious and goal-oriented. You can earn
a lot of money with that, so then I’d also be independent.”
When asked about her anger she says: “I don’t go in for revenge
but I say what I think and shout at them.”
Analysis:
expressions like “one-on-one combat, beaten, trample
around, attack, revenge and so on point to the animal king-
dom. The need to belong to a group (living in the security of an
intact family and being accepted by schoolmates) leads to the
mammals. “Princess, arrogance, head held high, superiority,
stubborn, demanding, independence” are hints for Lac felinum.
Jana feels the tension between a desire to belong on the one
hand, and the need for independence, “individuality“, and
“being able to be herself“, on the other hand.
Prescription:
Lac felinum
M/XM
Follow-up:
she is given
Lac felinum
M followed by XM, with
gaps of varying duration. At the next follow-up, she says: “The
cat is very similar to me, rather idiosyncratic, elegant, very
feminine, including bodily hygiene. I’m very clean whereas a
dog isn’t. I shower often and regularly, and I use deodorants
and perfume.”
With the remedy, she felt gradually but steadily better on all levels.
After two years, she did not need the remedy for long periods. A
tetanus booster, not discussed with me, led to a noticeable
relapse, with depression, weight loss, and renewed self-harming.
She needed two doses in the space of four weeks to “get out of
this black hole.” Follow-up is now almost four years; no remedy
has been required in the previous six months, very stable.
CASE 5: two-year-old David, with severe developmental
delay, among other things
David, premature birth in the 32
nd
week of pregnancy, first-
born of triplets. After birth, he had breathing difficulties,
pneumothoraces, intracranial brain hemorrhage 4°, post-
hemorrhagic hydrocephalus treated with a catheter, focal epilepsy,
right-sided spastic tetraparesis, and microcephaly. Recurrent,
sometimes severe bronchial infections with pneumonia. The
clinic stated that he would probably remain severely disabled
and never learn to walk.
I first saw David at the age of almost two. He cannot sit or
crawl, is very small and emaciated, and developmentally well
behind his siblings, who have scarcely had complications and
are almost complaint-free.
The parents would like him to have supplementary homeo-
pathic treatment and would be happy if at least his infections
would improve, since each time, he needs to go to hospital for
treatment. He continues to have physiotherapy and occupa-
tional therapy, of course.
Despite his severe disability, David is a cheerful, open little lad.
He is curious, can put up with a lot, and is brave when he is
having blood taken. He makes contact easily, is very lively and
restless, almost tireless. Sometimes, he can also become angry
and irritable, especially when his siblings are annoying him.
He grinds his teeth at night and shakes or hits his head. In
both families, there is a tubercular taint, so it is not difficult to
see why he has been given
Tuberculinum
for a long period in
differing potencies, with intermediate doses of Antimonium
tartaricum. Both his parents and I find his positive develop-
ment to be almost miraculous. Apart from minor setbacks,
his susceptibility to infection as well as his motor develop-
ment improved very noticeably. After six months, he lifts him-
self up and walks holding hands. Another six months later,
he walks on his own with a beaming smile. The rate of fits
drops and his antiepileptic medication can be somewhat re-
duced. He is given his remedy from time to time, whenever
an infection is starting or he is becoming angry again and
hitting his head. So far, these symptoms have always im-
proved within a few days.
Prescription:
Tuberculinum
and
Antimonium tartaricum
Follow-up October 2013:
David is now three and a half years
old. His mother calls to say that in the last few days, he has
been extremely angry, striking his head on the floor. This time
Tuberculinum does not help at all. I ask his mother to bring him
to my practice to re-evaluate his case. There is no hint for any
other remedy. His mother says she has a “gut feeling” that, this
time, it is somehow different – maybe he is in pain. The clinical
examination finds nothing different from usual. David just
seems rather floppy, yet we both feel something is not right
and I ask his mother to take him to hospital. There they find
that the catheter for the hydrocephalus is no longer functioning
correctly, so this time his symptoms no longer need a homeo-
pathic remedy but rather neurosurgery. The dysfunctional valve
is replaced with a new ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. Thereafter,
he recovers rapidly. The head-hitting stops and he does well for
a long time without a remedy. His overall developmental is
extremely encouraging.
