A new doctor sailing on the great homeopathic sea must first learn how to navigate correctly in all weathers. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes turbulent, and sometimes it is quite a challenge when you enter an area where the sails have to struggle with the wind.
To name just one thing: there are so many ways of practising this art, often radically different from one another. From one great homeopath to another, from one school to another, from one approach to the next, therapeutic methods can seem completely opposite, yet in their origin equally justified. And furthermore, these different approaches can be interwoven. There are homeopaths who give a single dose and wait, wait, wait. Others give one dose of the remedy and repeat, repeat, repeat.
In the 1990s a doctor prescribed me two polychrests to take alternately every two weeks. I did this for four years! Only in the third year did a patch of rash on my ankle begin to heal.
Often we do not really know how to set the rudder to steer towards the desired goal. Some say we should (again) call on Hahnemann and adhere strictly to his teachings. Others say that homeopathy is continually evolving, and that we should enthusiastically accept the work of Scholten, Sankaran, Smits and others — we should not be afraid to dive into the infinite depths of the water memory.
If Hahnemann had lived to be 200 years old — how many versions of his Organon would he have written? How far would he have developed his method — he who never stopped asking questions and perfecting his method?
These are the thoughts of a seafarer who feels that he is only just beginning to become familiar with this huge sea into which he has only just dipped his paddle. But it is a great joy for this seafarer to share his successful forays, especially with those who are also new to this craft and who do not yet possess the large experience base of remedies that experienced therapists can draw on.
Case
A four-year-old girl comes with her mother to consult me about her asthma. Every cold turns into asthma for her and each time ends in the emergency department. Her very experienced chest physician says this little girl is one of the most difficult cases she has experienced in her long career.
The first thing I notice about her is her beauty, her radiant and slightly shy smile, and her thick hair. She is dainty and not at all affected, although she likes to play the princess. Everyone always tells her how beautiful she is. Nevertheless she often asks her father whether she is pretty. Is that a need for admiration resulting from an underlying insecurity? Beauty seems to be of great importance in her daily life. She always wants to look pretty and stubbornly refuses help from strangers in choosing her clothes.
She is very thin. Her muscles are not well developed. However, she has lots of energy and is very body-oriented. She enjoys dancing and gymnastics. While her mother and I talk, she eagerly does her exercises. Apparently she can amuse herself quite well without me paying her attention. Or is that just a trick?
Her mother says she can concentrate well. She is clearly precocious and intelligent, and at 3 years old could already do a 100-piece puzzle. She loves learning and enjoys mental exercises. Ironically, her speech development is delayed. She mumbles and has difficulty forming full sentences.
Because of her friendly manner and her brilliant presence I immediately thought of Phosphorus. However, there is another side to her personality that quickly overlays this first intuitive impression. If other children in kindergarten try to take her toys, she hits them. She ignores her teachers when they ask her to stop. At home she is very harsh with her little brother and quarrels with him quite a lot.
When faced with a new challenge she always says: "I can't do that!" She prefers to observe first before engaging in a new situation.
She has difficulty falling asleep at night. She gets up, whines and says she has stomach aches, wants to watch TV, etc. She also often needs to eat something at night. When she gets up in the morning she is in a good mood.
She has little appetite, likes snacks, loves sweets and drinks a lot of juice. She is picky at mealtimes.
Other significant symptoms:
- Foul-smelling foot sweat
- Bad breath (according to her mother)
- Chronic rhinitis
- Eczema in the creases of the elbows, very dry skin
- Severe constipation
- Very sensitive when her mother brushes her hair |
Lycopodium |
hesitate to hit and shove others. On the other hand I perceived both her stubbornness and her hesitation when it came to engaging in new activities. These two guiding symptoms together with the strong craving for sugar led me to Lycopodium. In Jacques Lamothe's "Homéopathie Pédiatrique" (Paediatric Homeopathy) I found several indications that this could be the right remedy. These were the most important:
- Sentimentality
- Desire for admiration
- Harsh with younger children
- Precocious, active, an overachiever
- Delayed speech development
- Problems with physical development, underweight; underdeveloped musculature |
These symptoms seemed to confirm the picture of this child. I was still concerned about some inconsistencies, however, especially because she possessed important characteristics that seemed completely contrary to the remedy as I understood it. For example she is very body-oriented and mostly in a good mood, especially in the mornings, two significant traits which to my knowledge do not fit this remedy at all.
Therefore I prescribed Lycopodium with some reservation. I chose a C 15 to be on the safe side. I instructed the dilution to be taken every two weeks, to move to longer intervals as improvement became apparent. |
Follow-ups
May and July 2011
In the first four months of treatment she had no more asthma attacks, although she had fever twice, once very high and associated with a cough. She had never had a fever before, so I see this as a positive sign. Her vital force is beginning to regenerate.
In her behaviour she shows visible progress. At nursery she now does what the teachers tell her, she can wait sometimes and is less rough with other children. At home she is kinder to her little brother and even hugs him. She is also less tearful and no longer behaves so "princess-like".
Further improvements: her chronic rhinitis has disappeared, her appetite has improved and she is less picky; she can fall asleep more easily, her constipation has improved, she no longer has bad breath (and no coated tongue), and her foul-smelling foot sweat has gone. She is also less sensitive when her hair is brushed. Her eczema comes and goes, but overall her skin is not as dry.
The mother did, however, have the impression that her daughter's symptoms began to return when she came back to see me in July. She showed some impatience, refused to tidy away her toys and was again very picky at meals.
As she responded well to the remedy in this potency and further improvements in the clinical picture were noticeable, I recommended repeating Lycopodium C 15 as required.
November 2011
She and her mother visited the chest physician two weeks earlier. Tests showed that the child's "pulmonary vascular resistance" had improved, so she no longer needs to see the doctor every six months. The doctor is amazed at this improvement and cannot understand why she is doing so well.
She has been coughing for a month. More frequent repetition of the remedy did not help.
She is better on several other levels; her speech has also improved significantly.
Several physical symptoms have recently returned, including her foot odour; on the behavioural level she wants to be number one; at nursery she pushes others when they have to stand in a line.
She now reports a fear of skeletons.
Analysis
Lycopodium C 15 has had an effect. One option is to increase to C 30.
Some homeopathic directions advocate waiting for signs of miasmatic blocks before prescribing a nosode. Others prescribe them during a treatment when there are clear signs of miasmatic involvement. In my practice I generally choose the latter. So I gave her a dose of Psorinum (thin, foot odour, asthma, eczema, fear of skeletons).
Lycopodium C 30, two weeks later 1 dose Psorinum C 30.
Informal follow-up (early January 2012)
In the past month there have been some major changes in the family. Her father travelled away to undertake military training, and her mother returned with the children to her parents' home and lived with them in another town. The little girl says she wishes her whole family were together and living in their own flat. She has nightmares and some constipation. On the other hand she no longer has a cough.
Lycopodium C 30, repeat as needed.
Observation: In the 4 to 6 weeks before the informal follow-up (which corresponds to the period when she was taking Lycopodium C 30 and Psorinum) I had feared bigger setbacks. I thought above all that her asthma might recur, or at least that the recurring cough would not subside. But none of that happened. The little girl worked through the problems in her life — both by verbalising her unhappiness and through dreams.
Conclusion
I must admit that at first I thought the remedy picture of this child was miles away from the difficult, combative, unhappy child we associate with Lycopodium.
But if one considers that under this remedy lurks the feeling of being small and insignificant, it follows that it fits children who are unhappy about being small and seek means and ways to hide their vulnerability. Is it not then plausible that Lycopodium, for this purpose, attempts to step into the footsteps of a princess?
Paul Labrèche practises in Montreal, Canada and via Skype. Website: www.facebook.com / PaulLabrecheHomeo
This article was published on www.interhomeopathy.org. |
