Hydrocyanicum Case 6
by Deborah Collins
This case concerns a little boy who was one and a half years old at the time of the first consultation. He had not breathed after birth, had been pale and had bluish lips. His parents said he had looked "as if dead". He had trouble drinking because anything that touched his lips seemed to throw him into a spasm. He cried constantly and only wanted to be carried if one of his parents walked up and down with him.
(Both parents suffered from acute sleep deprivation because they had to take turns on night duty. The father responded well to Cocculus, while Ferrum muriaticum helped the mother.) In the first six months of life the little boy could neither make eye contact nor look towards objects or light sources near him. Whenever he felt unwell he would fall into a kind of "trance" and stare into the distance. He was easily frightened, especially by new surroundings. His muscle tone was extremely high and he was held in a constant spasm, arching backwards. The spasm pulled his head to the left. His little hands were clenched into fists and he seemed unable to control them. His skin was very dry and cold and his feet were very cold as well. He had breathing difficulties; his breathing sounded tight and wheezy, sometimes with apnoea. He appeared very mucous, but despite the rattling respiratory noises he had never had pneumonia. His abdominal muscles were also tense; he had stomach cramps, diarrhoea and bloating. Sometimes he had difficulty passing stools because his anus would spasm and stool sometimes had to be removed manually. Feeding and nursing were a constant source of stress because he went into spasm at any touch to his mouth. He had difficulty swallowing and was tube-fed. He had already had bleeding in the oesophagus and stomach, had vomited blood and passed blood rectally. He was prone to high fevers without apparent infections. All complaints worsened during teething; he also ground his teeth.
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In this case everything seemed to revolve around the theme of "convulsions" and I gave the boy Cuprum C200. The remedy seemed to bring him some relief, but had to be given at increasingly shorter intervals. Belladonna and Oxygenium did not help. I considered Laurocerasus (blue babies and convulsions), which also contains hydrocyanic acid, but finally gave him Hydrocyanicum acidum C30. Afterwards his mother reported: "He is much more content, relaxed and less panicked. He looks at us more and smiles happily when he sees us. He seems to perceive everything around him. He no longer arches backwards as much. He can breathe better and his lungs have become clearer. His hands and feet also warmed up immediately. His skin, which had previously been dry, cold and covered in red spots, improved immediately."
Because I moved abroad I was only able to treat him for six months. During that time he made great progress. The convulsions became less frequent and less severe. I heard that he continued to develop well in the years that followed.
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Source: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/case_hydrocyanicum_acidum_5
