 A cheerful 8-year-old boy attended my practice on 26 November 2009 because of rheumatic knee and heel pains. The complaints had been present for over a year and first occurred after the third TBE vaccination in July 2007 (previous vaccinations: DTP, Hib, Polio and MMR). The patient himself has been a professional dancer for two years and trains twice a week for 1.5 hours. During the competition season he trains at least three times a week. The pain in his feet and knees starts during sport or immediately afterwards and lasts for at least several days. He describes the knee pain as if someone were gripping it. Because of the heel pain he is unable to land properly. He also suffers from recurring school headaches that are pressing and throbbing. He often also complains of nosebleeds, is afraid of dogs and of the dark. One of his hobbies for more than five years has been playing the piano – he especially likes to perform something at school. He likes to sing and laugh (according to his mother sometimes too much). He has many friends and does not like to argue. If he cannot do something alone, he becomes impatient very quickly. This outburst of feeling can occasionally end in crying and screaming. But after a minute everything is forgotten and he laughs again. Sometimes he also says: "Nobody likes me! I'm stupid!", which the parents immediately deny.
For the repertorisation I used the following rubrics:
- Generalities – vaccination, after – never well again; since then
- Nose – nosebleed – in children
- Head – pain – schoolchildren
- Extremities – pain – knee – rheumatic
- Extremities – pain – feet – heel
- Mind – cheerful – dancing, laughing, singing
- Extremities – pain – rheumatic – in children
Because of the family's sycotic-syphilitic burden (bowel cancer, lymph-node cancer, polio, sudden hearing loss) I initially thought of Carcinosinum as a possible consequence of a vaccination injury. That would also have fitted well with his lovable nature and his preference for dancing and making music, however the repertorisation did not show the rheumatic knee and heel pains.
The two remedies that showed up strongly and covered all the symptoms were Natrium in first place and Phosphorus. He was not a pure Natrium type for me, since he was neither resentful nor did he show any kind of reserve/sorrow. He seemed very joyful and loved the stage. I then noticed that the last symptom "Extremities – pain – rheumatic – in children" contained only one remedy and that was Natrium-Phosphoricum! This remedy fits excellently. So I decided on Natrium-Phosphoricum C200, to be dissolved in water and taken three times daily for three days.
The reactions were as follows:
- On the journey home after the case history he felt back pain, then knee pain and later pain on the underside of the left upper arm.
- At dance training in the evening he had heel pain, but only mild knee pain (Hering's law of cure applies: healing occurs from top to bottom).
- For the following two days he had neither knee nor heel pain.
- Instead he suddenly had very severe pain in his right middle finger for a few minutes, which did not recur afterwards.
- On the fifth day after taking Natrium-Phosphoricum C200 the knees and heels were only slightly painful.
- After two weeks I prescribed Natrium-Phosphoricum LM18 once weekly.
- In early January 2010 he reported at follow-up that he no longer had rheumatic complaints and I have not heard from him since.
On the occasion of publishing this case I spoke again today with his trainer and she confirmed that the rheumatic pains have not been an issue since the homeopathic treatment with Natrium-Phosphoricum. In juvenile rheumatism one should certainly consider Natrium-Phosphoricum, as this remedy has also rendered excellent service in other young patients in my practice. |
