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H. K. is a 4½-year-old boy. He comes with his mother and his grandmother for consultation. I am amazed at how smitten the grandmother is with him, and how domineering he behaves towards both women during the consultation. |
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| He is extremely large and sturdy for his age; the word "bull-like" comes to mind. He weighs more than 45 kg, and his head is enormously large and sits right on his shoulders, with no visible neck between. His eyes are slightly prominent, his mouth is small and muscular, he has very small teeth, almost pegs, some of which are crowned. He comes into the consulting room and sits cross-legged in the lotus position in the middle of the sofa. He immediately starts a conversation and gestures with his hands. His voice is quiet and, for such a small child, rather hoarse; his forehead folds into deep horizontal furrows when he speaks. | |
| His main complaint, as the mother reports, is nocturnal screaming awake within the first hour after falling asleep. He wakes from sleep and runs screaming through the house. These episodes usually last 10–20 minutes, and he cannot remember them afterwards. He says that sometimes the loud screaming makes him vomit. He has never slept through the night. |  |
| He complains that his nose is blocked at night and says, "Sometimes I have difficulty breathing." | |
| He does not want to sleep in his room and spends most nights on the sofa in the living room. "In my room I sleep on the floor under the window to get enough air. Also I have a sheet of plastic in front of the door; if someone tries to break in I hear it because the plastic sheet makes a rustling noise." | |
| He sweats terribly in his sleep, mostly on the head, throws off the blanket and drools heavily. He wears a nappy at night because he is a bed-wetter. He often wakes at 3 o'clock in the morning and is thirsty. He talks a lot in his sleep. | |
| He suffers from a very strong gag reflex, and his sense of smell is heightened. "The smell of coffee makes me want to vomit. No one is allowed to drink coffee near me." | |
| He begins to tell me when he was born, and that he remembers that his spine was "outside." I never got complete clarity about this, but I had the impression he wanted to tell me that he remembers the birth event. | |
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His mother enjoyed being pregnant - her husband was not interested. She had a rupture of the membranes, and three days later labour was induced because the birth was not progressing and she was at term. He was born with a congenital right-sided hip dysplasia. At 2½ months he became severely ill with chickenpox. |
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His gums hurt constantly, he has dental caries and at 2 years old he already had dental surgery to remove the decayed teeth, which were replaced by silver crowns. He was breastfed for 18 months. He had middle ear infections three times and was treated with antibiotics. He is left-handed; sometimes he has itching under the armpits; last year he was bitten by a cat. He vomits often. He likes to be massaged; his feet are very touch-sensitive, and he cannot bear to have his fingernails cut. |
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Grandmother: "He is very clever. When he began to speak, he spoke in whole sentences straight away, instead of single words. He is often very demanding and naughty, and if he feels he has been wronged he becomes physically aggressive and takes revenge deliberately. He is a perfectionist – he becomes frustrated and screams if everything does not go his way, and in his rage he hits himself on the head. He starts arguments if things do not go his way." |
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"Once, when I was angry, I broke a magnet apart; I broke it with my hands." |
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| He is physically strong but cautious: "Wolves are dreadful, and I am afraid to go down the stairs." | |
| His mother says he is easily over-stimulated, although he is a joker and has a lot of humour. He always wants to be the centre of attention .... and he is a mummy's boy. He fakes some things, e.g. pain, to get attention. He cannot play well with other children. As you can see, he can be very loud. | |
| H. talks a lot about death. He has a mysterious connection with his paternal grandfather, who died last February, and with whom he says he has conversations. For such a small child he can have very profound conversations. | |
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His mother had given him Belladonna because she felt his nerves were over-stimulated: "His metabolism runs at full speed so that he gets out of control. He is easily over-stimulated, but he is also constantly seeking stimulation. This alternates with a very soft, tender behaviour." |
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"Sometimes my head feels too full, as if there is too much in it. My brain is all confused!" He pats his mother under the chin ... and tells me that he likes her breasts. His speech is laced with vulgarities, and since none of the adults comment, I presume they do not want to make a fuss about every little thing. |
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"Sometimes my spine feels numb, and my fingers tingle." |
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His favourite foods are raw meat, chocolate and crunchy vegetables. He does not like pumpkin, mashed potatoes or onions. He eats very well but does not take dairy products and drinks only rice milk. This surprises me, as given his size and bulk I would have expected him to live on sweets and fast food. |
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| "I like snakes and beetles and want to know everything about plants. I like working in the garden. I like fishing and going hunting and camping with my father. I prefer being in the country or by the sea. I also like carrying out projects and often play with a rope from which I can make things." | |
| He has almost daily bowel movements between 15:30 and 16:00; he has to vomit if he has not been to the toilet. | |
| His mother reports that his father has run away 10 times since H.'s birth. The first time H. was 2½ or 3 months old, and his father could not bear that he had chickenpox. | |
| Her husband is very intelligent and has a drinking problem. In the past he was – like his mother – at risk of suicide, and one of his uncles committed suicide. He had his appendix removed at age 9. H. volunteers that his father likes to pick his nose. | |
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His grandmother reports that his mother as a baby often had high fevers and was overly emotional and hysterical; she had an attack of purpura as a child. Three years before H.'s birth she herself had right-sided ovarian cysts, as did her daughter. "In our family there is frequent anxiety and neuroses, also high blood pressure and heart disease. My mother had 21 nervous breakdowns. My daughter has a drinking problem, although she would never admit it." A few years before H. was born, his mother repeatedly suffered streptococcal throat infections, tonsillitis and osteomyelitis of the jaw: "I nearly died of it." |
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Conclusion: |
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The precocity and size of the child are unusual for his age. His nocturnal screaming awake is more typical of the Solanaceae, yet other factors – such as feigning illness, bed-wetting, prominent eyes and pain sensitivity – point more towards an insect remedy. |
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| His mother's streptococcal infections and his severe skin rash at 2 months suggest that the rubric "skin rashes" should be considered a significant part of the case. It emerged that the potato-beetle remedy, Doryphora, covered both his puffy appearance and his starting from sleep, the bed-wetting, frequent vomiting and his violent outbursts. | |
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After the C200 his sleep normalised, his behaviour calmed, and he began to behave more kindly towards others. He removed the plastic sheet from his room and now sleeps in his own bed ... he is no longer a couch-potato! After six months he lost quite a lot of weight. |
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Nancy Frederick lives and practises in Portland, Maine. She is the founder of the "Baylight School of Homeopathy" in Portland, Maine. |
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| Photos: BigHead_iStock_000007789412_11-15-08_©_vtupinamba Kartoffelkaefe_Fotolia_25312719_XL_©_Marianne_Mayer-Fotolia.com |
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Category: Cases |
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