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What is dyslexia?
"Dyslexia" means word-blindness or reading blindness; this disorder is related to the inability to recognise letters, to form words from letters and to perceive sentences within a string of words. This issue has been increasingly researched over recent decades. For people with dyslexia, recognising pictures, symbols and even spoken words can be a major problem, although it is known that these difficulties are not related to intelligence or the ability to store sensory impressions. People with dyslexia may find it difficult to put ideas into words; abstract concepts, feelings or associations can be hard for them to express verbally. This leads to difficulties with reading and writing, which in turn can cause learning problems and frustration, and ultimately limit social contacts.
Learning processes are connected with growth processes in the brain. Nerve cells with their axons are connected by synapses, forming an electrical network that serves conduction of excitation. In this way learned material can become automatic. Dyslexia may possibly be the result of a disorder or dysfunction of these processes.
What can homeopathy do?
It is known that a homeopathic treatment can have a positive effect on concentration, attention, calmness and balance. Often one observes a marked improvement in dyslexia after a homeopathic constitutional treatment, and in some cases the problem disappears completely. Dyslexia is related to the themes of the lanthanides and the mallow family.
People with dyslexia often feel "different", excluded or alone, because they find it difficult to understand and express ideas and words. They often have a particular way of thinking and choosing words. The need to do things in their own special way and to follow their own path can here point to the lanthanides. On the other hand, this "overly autonomous" behaviour can also indicate a lack of contact with the social environment due to insufficient neuronal networking.
Mallow remedies suit people who have developed a strong non‑verbal communication because they want to "feel" the world, or because they need these abilities due to their dyslexia. They react very sensitively on an emotional level to external impressions, and therefore they shut themselves off. Mallow types experience their environment through feeling; they extend their antennae. For this reason they do not need words as urgently. This concerns the topic of the "non‑verbal", and this can, depending on the circumstances, be either the cause or the consequence. The communication of the mallow family corresponds to the way people with dyslexia handle words: they take stock of impressions without interpreting them.
The following cases show how the particular experience of dyslexia led to healing prescriptions. |
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Child learning
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Case 1:
Caesium muriaticum: "I suddenly see words!"
- Note for this case: The author refers to caesium as a lanthanide, which is not physically correct. However, due to its immediate proximity it can also be seen as a stage‑1 remedy of the lanthanides. -
The patient is an eight‑year‑old boy with developmental disorders, restlessness and concentration problems. Dyslexia and colour blindness were diagnosed in early childhood, and at school he was considered an ADHD child. He is a cheerful and friendly child, sensitive and attentive: he takes everything in and hears every sound. Everyone is his friend and he shares everything. His speech development is delayed, and at school he has difficulty concentrating and is restless and constantly in motion. His pen quickly becomes a "racing car".
His learning and speech problems undermine his self‑confidence, and he says: "I am the dumbest in the class!" His mother is very empathetic with him and communicates with him on his level, which he likes. He feels "at one" with his mother, warm and cosy. She is a single parent — her partner left her after arguments because of his drug use — and she has to deal with the finances and the upbringing of her children alone. She reacts very directly to feelings and impressions and seems easily influenced, both by her own emotions and by her environment. She accepts anything without question in order to support herself and her child.
Her son is like a playful puppy. He often takes on the complaints of people close to him, e.g. he develops the same complaints as his friend. His mother is surprised that he does not notice the family problems at all: "He always makes the best of everything." In sports he is very impulsive. His mother says: "He is not a follower!"
The pregnancy was shaped by the mother's everyday life. The birth did not progress until the mother took miracle oil (castor oil), after which the child was born quickly. In the first three months the mother could not bond with him and did not want to accept him because he did not look like her other children. But after three months she suddenly "fell in love" with him and still is.
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Analysis: Experience teaches us that the most important symptoms are those which — taking into account the complaints, the cause and the subjective experience or objective observation — most accurately lead to the appropriate remedy. In this family the mother is on her own, must make her own decisions, and is aware of the darker sides (drugs, poverty). Mother and child are independent and must look after themselves. They are helpful and sensitive to other people — all of this fits the lanthanides. Mother and son are spontaneous, open, impulsive and naive.
The theme of independence and autonomy (lanthanides) for the child began already in the womb. In the first three months of his life he had no intense contact (lanthanides) with his mother or the childminder (muriaticum). Birth: the mother initially did not want to let him go (stage 17), but after taking miracle oil the birth happened very quickly (stage 1). His cheerful, impulsive, spontaneous nature and his "magical thinking" together with his independence in thought and his choice of words led me to consider Caesium. An independent, spontaneous mother confirmed the prescription of Caesium muriaticum. Jan Scholten describes the lanthanide remedies as strong helpers in dyslexia, especially the lanthan salts.
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Prescription: Caesium muriaticum MK, single dose
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Follow‑up one month after remedy: At the last consultation he behaved charmingly and waited until attention was turned to him, then turned round on his chair and asked: "Why did I come here?"
This time he immediately says that he feels better and that he can concentrate better now. His mother had been practising reading with him for a while, but on the second day after the remedy he called out in surprise: "I can suddenly recognise words!" Up to then they had been single letters for him, which he could only decipher with difficulty and which did not interest him.
Overall he is easy to deal with; he is easy to motivate and finishes what he has started. He does what he is told, which had not been the case before. Now he wants to read. In the following year there were considerable improvements at school and in his general behaviour.
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Letters in the head
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Case 2:
Dirca palustris: "Wow, I can finally hear how words are written."
A 40‑year‑old woman presents with back and joint pain and hyperventilation. She is in a bad mood and reacts aggressively, and around her menstrual period she often has pain and sees everything in a negative light. She lacks confidence.
"At school I was completely overwhelmed because of my dyslexia, including socially. I felt that everyone was against me. That made me insecure and restless. Sometimes I could not find the right words. At school I was always teased, and at home I sat angrily in my room. My performance dropped because I couldn't read well; I was sent from one school to another and had to take test after test. Often I thought: 'What's actually going on here?' At home my problem was never discussed, my parents only always told me to do my best.
I find it hard to take the initiative or to engage in a confrontation. I react sensitively to everything — to moods, to what other people think. When I start something I throw myself into it with enthusiasm and want to help, but then I block and have to write everything down. No one must notice that I can't manage it (hide, stage 4; start and then hesitate, stage 4). I work in nursing, but I want to change jobs. I have great self‑doubts, think a lot, and take a long time to make a decision. I know what I want, but I don't dare to express my own opinion. I sweat under my arms when I speak to someone."
What do you dream of?
"Of people from my past."
She appears vulnerable and anxious, and shows a disarming smile. She seems to perceive her counterpart with her whole face and not just with her eyes. Her facial expression often looks surprised. When asked whether she has a feel for things, she says: "Yes, I always know when something is wrong with my parents, e.g. healthwise. I have a sense for the atmosphere of a place. Because of my insecurity other people often feel superior to me, and I don't dare to voice my opinion. But by nature I am more direct — I used to always say everything bluntly, now I prefer to keep things to myself."
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Analysis: Mallow family: keep what they want to say to themselves. Fear of what they say, unclear speech. Strong non‑verbal thinking approach. Soft, empathetic patient.
Stage 3‑4‑5: insecurity, low self‑confidence and self‑esteem.
Reserved, creates her own world, has difficulty maintaining boundaries: stage 4, Dirca palustris. Vulnerable, receptive, looks after others, appears surprised, self‑doubt: stage 4, Dirca palustris. Other cases of Dirca palustris confirm its place in
stage 4.
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Prescription: Dirca palustris MK, one dose
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| Follow‑up after one month: She pulls faces to express fine nuances and to explain what she is experiencing. Internally she knows what she wants to say, but she is still searching for words to "translate" her feelings to the outside world. At home she is more peaceful and no longer so unfriendly to her husband and children. She has dry skin on her calves, which sometimes becomes quite hard and forms crusts. Her menstruation this time was painless, although she had oversensitive breasts and some acne as before. She says her joints feel better and that reading is now easier for her. |
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Follow‑up four months later: "I am no longer afraid to speak and no longer fear that I will stammer. If I cannot find the right words, I just think: 'Okay, we understand each other anyway.' I can express my feelings better and approach people more. I am taking part in a study.
Dyslexia is much better, and writing is now easier for me. Now I can hear from the sound of a word how it is written, e.g. whether it has a double consonant or not. It is astonishing — now I can actually hear it! Reading is easier and faster for me. I no longer just read the headlines — I read the whole article. Today I can understand a text; before it was just a jumble of words in which I could not recognise any sense. Dyslexia cost me a lot of energy — I always had to be at 200%."
The following three years went very well. Due to family problems her dyslexia returned briefly; she was quickly helped with Althea (from the mallow family, stage 2 ).
My differentiation of the stages of the mallow family differs from that of Jan Scholten.
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