Case report Gallium
Pierre had been coming to my consultation since he was 13 because things were not going well at school. This year (we are now in June 2002) had so far been an absolute disaster for him and he will have to repeat the school year.
Pierre is physically very fit and an excellent skier. In winter he spends every weekend in the Alps and also takes part in races. His whole family are keen skiers and most – brother, sister and cousins – work either as ski instructors or compete professionally in downhill racing.
For two years, however, his school performance has been poor and his mother – a passionate and lively woman with unshakeable confidence in homeopathy – had already told me about it.
The family history is not good. Pierre is the youngest of three children and his father literally left the family immediately after his birth. Even now he has only sporadic contact with him; the father lives 
withdrawn, is prematurely retired and shows little interest in his son. The other two children no longer live at home and are busy with their own lives. So everything falls on the mother.
Now she has only Pierre and lives with him in a small flat. She has had to sell her valuables bit by bit to keep herself and her son afloat.
Pierre is a headstrong boy who cannot bear his mother's nagging and is just waiting for his two siblings to finally move out of the house. His mother knows this but believes she can do nothing about it; she simply feels exhausted.
School is a major challenge for Pierre. He has severe dyslexia but makes hardly any progress despite special support. It is as if Pierre cannot accept the help offered and now he will therefore repeat the year.
On the backs of his hands and on the inside of his elbows he has a keratotic eczema that has been troubling him for two years (since he also began having major problems at school). He also suffers from conjunctivitis every spring as soon as the first pollen are in the air.
For a long time he had been taking SULPHUR, which had helped him well, but now it no longer seemed to be effective.
Pierre dislikes heat and craves cool, fresh air. He sweats a lot, especially when doing sport. His eczema is worse in the evenings and in winter. He has no eczema in summer.
He likes meat, garlic and strong cheese; he hates fish.
I prescribed GALLIUM C200.
Follow-up
Pierre came back to my clinic in September 2002 to collect his homeopathic remedy again shortly before the start of term (he had to repeat the class). He seemed to have become calmer, listened to his mother more, and his eczema and conjunctivitis had gone. I gave him another dose of GALLIUM (1M).
He returned at the end of the school year. Things at school had gone reasonably well, but what pleased him most was that he had been selected for the French junior national team that winter.
Comment
GALLIUM was prescribed for this Sulphur boy because of his poor school performance and his stubbornness. Here was a young man who was holding back his own abilities. He refused any support from outside and wanted to do everything by himself. Quite obviously he was less successful with this strategy than he would have been if he had accepted expert help. GALLIUM helped him out of his academic slump and also gave him an extra boost in sport.
Patriacia Le Roux
Category: Medicinal products
Keywords: Gallium, obstinacy, dyslexia
Original article: Interhomeopathy.org
