5. Pulsatilla (Wind Flower)
he remedy Pulsatilla
is made
from the meadow anemone, a plant which grows in the plains and
pasturelands of Central and
Northern Europe and is commonly known at
the 'wind flower.' It is small and delicate, with a flexible stem which
bends one way or another according to the direction of the prevailing
wind" (Coulter).Physical Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Head:
Girls may develop schooltime headaches accompanied by digestive upsets, aggravated by eating too much ice cream, meat or fats; by watching television, reading, or becoming overheated in a warm room.
Teenaged girls may complain of headaches associated with the menses. The pain will be felt on one side or temple and be congestive in nature; the adolescent feels a constant throbbing. The hot head is relieved by cold packs, pressure, and sitting up. Aggravation is from quick motion and stooping. The face becomes red during the congestive headache and the eyes feel engorged, as if there is pressure pushing them outward.
Pulsatilla children sometimes have headaches that are associated with upper respiratory tract infections such as sinusitis. The headache may be aggravated by lying down and ameliorated by outdoor activity. Parents state that the child always takes the hat off, even in the coldest weather.
(b) Eyes:
The eyes are frequently affected by various problems in the Pulsatilla child. During any disease, especially of the upper respiratory tract, the child may develop either conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis ["inflammation of the lacrimal sac of the eye," Yasgur's Homeopathic Dictionary], or marginal belpharitis ["inflammation of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands along the margins of the eyelids," Yasgur]. The eyes become inflamed, even in the newborn. Children rub their eyes continuously, which they say burn and itch, especially at night, with the sensation that there is sand in the eyes.
Colds can settle in the eyes and produce a thick, purulent, yellow-green, bland discharge. Agglutination of the eyelids during the night is common. When the child awakens in the morning, the lids must be moistened with water to loosen the dry, crusty mucus away.
Some children develop styes that recur over and over again. All Pulsatilla eye symptoms are aggravated in a warm room or by warm bathing, and are tremendously amiliorated by cold air, bathing the eye in cold water, or applying cold compresses. Even small babies will push away a warm cloth if it approaches the troubled eye. The temperature modality is very important to ask about because the answer will help to differentiate Pulsatilla from other homeopathic medicines that alleviate eye problems.
(c) Ears:
Pulsatilla cures many ear symptoms as well. It is one of the prime remedies for otitis media. The external ear may be red, hot, and swollen. Severe throbbing pains in the ears become worse at night and with the warmth of bed, and feel better outdoors and with cool applications.
(d) Nose:
The nose is involved in almost every upper respiratory tract infection. Pulsatilla children develop repeated colds accompanied by much sneezing and which are aggravated at night. Six-year-old Sally was typical in her infection, which began with frequent sneezing. Her conjunctiva became red and her eyes began to itch. Her lips dried out quickly and began to crack and bleed over the next few days. She then started to have sharp, pressing pains in the ears accompanied by a high fever. During the inflammation she also developed vaginitis and became lethargic, wanting to be held much of the time by her mother. Pulsatilla prevented this girl from developing any further infections and stopped her cycle of upper respiratory tract breakdowns.
(e) Hay Fever:
Pulsatilla is one of the most useful remedies for curing hay fever. It begins with itching of the upper palate, causing those afflicted to make clucking sounds with their tongues while trying to scratch the upper palate. The eyes then begin to itch and lacrimate greatly. The nose also itches, discharging a clear, bland mucus. All hay fever symptoms are aggravated out of doors on hot days, at night, and by the change of seasons. The attacks are ameliorated by cool days and by splashing cold water on the face.
(f) Face:
With fevers the face becomes flushed. Occasionally only one cheek becomes flushed while the other becomes pale.
While quite rare in these times of antibiotic use, one may find a patient with mumps in which the face is very flushed and the inflammation has metastasized to the breasts or testes and is accompanied by much swelling and pain.
(g) Mouth:
A dry mouth yet lack of thirst is a classic keynote for Pulsatilla.
The breath can be quite foul when the children get up in the morning, even in the very young. While examining Pulsatilla children, one can often see a thin, white or lacy coating on the tongue just as they open their mouths.
(h) Lower Respiratory System:
The chest is the site of many problems for the Pulsatilla child, both acute and chronic. There may be a history of bronchitis or pneumonia.
Bronchitis or croup may begin with a dry, raw throat. This may develop after or along with a rash that is suppressed by ointments and does not fully develop. The cough is caused by a dry tickle in the throat, which is worse when the child lies down at night or becomes warm or overheated. The cough usually subsides when the child walks in the cool, open air; or sits up.
A keynote of Pulsatilla, as well as of Calcarea carbonica, is the common complaint of a dry cough throughout the entire day and night and a loose, wet cough only upon awakening, accompanied by much expectoration at that time.
The Pulsatilla child is often very allergic to the environment, developing asthma from any bark dust or pollen in the air. At first the child only manifests hay fever. Eventually, the hay fever stops and the child progresses to asthma.
(i) Food Cravings and Aversions:
It is interesting to note that many of the foods Pulsatilla children crave aggravate problems of their digestive tracts. They desire cheese, ice cream, eggs, butter, pastry and cakes, peanut butter and sweets. They are aggravated by pastry, ice cream, lemons and very sour foods, fats, and meat (especially pork). Many of these foods cause vomiting, diarrhea, and headaches. They are averse to eating milk, bread, fats, warm foods, and fatty meats.
A commonly confirmed keynote is that the child is quite thirstless, even though he may have a fever or a very dry mouth.
(j) Stomach:
The stomach is troubled as often as the respiratory tract in the Pulsatilla child. Gastroenteritis is accompanied by severe abdominal cramps.
The stomach of Pulsatilla digests both food and emotional interactions slowly. Any time there is a strong emotional stress, the child develops stomachaches, nausea and/or vomiting, similar in this regard to Phosphorus. The child may also develop ulcers in the stomach from strong emotions that remain unresolved.
The stomach is easily upset by eating rich foods, and unfortunately, by foods Pulsatilla children enjoy immensely, such as ice cream, cake, and cheese. One parent described her daughter's sensitive stomach as "Post-Halloween-Birthday-Easter-Christmas-Syndrome."
One last distinctive digestive symptom, often observed in Pulsatilla infants, is that most will hiccough after they eat.
(k) Abdomen:
Infants with colic often respond well to the remedy Pulsatilla. The abdomen distends and there is audible rumbling and gurgling.
(l) Rectum:
The infant may develop diarrhea or the diarrhea may alternate with constipation, conforming to the adage "No two stools alike." While this is a bit of an exaggeration, what one does find is that there is no predictability as to what type of stool will emerge next.
Very often a homeopath will observe symptoms and prescribe Pulsatilla only to find that it does not work -- but that Calcarea carbonica will. Likewise, many times Calcarea carbonica will not work and Pulsatilla will; as usual, the general symptoms lead and must prevail in the selection of the remedy, as the local symptoms often overlap between remedies.
(m) Urogenital System:
Pulsatilla is a key remedy to consider for children who develop increased frequency of urination and/or bet-wetting that is aggravated by lying down, recurrent cystitis [inflammation of the bladder], and for those who may have a history of kidney infections.
Little Mary developed a bladder infection two weeks after her sister Susan was born. When it started, she became very droopy and weak and began to cry more than usual. She then developed a fever along with more regressive behaviour. The next day she had increased urinary frequency accompanied by blood in the urine. The case was clearly Pulsatilla, as illustrated by the regression, the sibling rivalry, and the clinginess. Her mother reported that even when the child urinated more frequentlly, her thirst decreased instead of increased. This modality, contrary to what would seem to make sense physiologically, pointed especially to Pulsatilla as an effective remedy, which it proved to be.
Even at an early age, girls may develop a thick, creamy, offensive smelling vaginal discharge. This is often associated with an upper respiratory tract infection.
Many Pulsatilla conditions tend to develop more fully during puberty or at the menarche. Along with the emotional changes that first emerge during this time are some specific menstrual problems that are commonly seen.
The first year's menses can be irregular for girls of all types, with cycles commencing from every twenty-odd days to every six months as the hormonal system "gets into gear." For Pulsatilla, however, this irregularity is particularly pronounced and may last for several years.
Before the menses, girls become weepy and morose. Everything seems to be fine when suddenly the thought arises in them that there is no purpose in living.
The menses are accompanied by much pain, causing the girls to double over, toss and turn in bed, or pace the floor. A special keynote is that the pain may be aggravated by hot applications and ameliorated by cold ones; an unusual finding, as most girls report amelioration of menstrual pain by heat.
(n) Extremities:
The most common Pulsatilla symptom in the extremities is the warmth found there. The children want to walk around barefoot even in the wintertime. They often stick their feet out of the covers at night.
Pulsatilla may be used to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis with wandering joint pains that are aggravated in the morning, by warmth, and by lying in bed. The pains are ameliorated by motion and by cool air. The joints are swollen, red, and hot. Nodules develop during the early stages of the disease. Of course, the mental picture must also be consistent with Pulsatilla before it is assumed to be the correct remedy.
(o) Skin;
Pulsatilla babies have a characteristic feature of the skin: it takes on a purplish, marbled, mottled appearance most of the time, especially in a cool room. This remedy type also develops large hives, especially from strong emotional stresses, but also from aggravating foods.
Pulsatilla is a valuable remedy in many childhood exanthems such as measles, chickenpox, and roseola. The rash will commonly be accompanied by otitis media, conjunctivitis, or bronchitis. All skin problems are aggravated by warmth (especially at night in bed) and by contact with wool. These problems are ameliorated in cool, open air.
Sleep (Herscu):
Sleep offers many keynotes to the remedy. One finds that Pulsatilla babies need to be rocked and nursed in order to fall asleep. Every time the infant awakens, it cries for the mother who must rock, caress, or nurse the child back to sleep. Finally the baby falls asleep, but as the mother puts the child down again, the crying begins anew.
Older children may have difficulty falling asleep. Fourteen-year-old Anna started to weep as she described her nights: she worried for hours if she had studied enough for the next day's test; would she do well, and would her parents think less of her if she did not? The thoughts keeping these children up are rooted in the fear of losing the love of their parents.
When the child becomes old enough to walk, waking up and finding the way to the parents' bed will be common. Likewise, when a parent announces bedtime and time to be tucked in, the child often resists because sleep separates him or her from the parent. Such children pretend that they need a glass of water, need to urinate, need yet another bedtime story, or that they are scared.
They generally fall asleep on their backs, possibly with their hands above their heads, or on the abdomen. They dislike covering up and will kick off the covers.
High fevers may accompany any acute disease and, during sleep, the children may become slightly delirious, dreaming and talking of black cats or large dark animals, or just of ominous, amorphous dark shapes.
Important General Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Pulsatilla youngsters are warm-blooded children who dress lightly even in the wintertime, and hate to wear hats.
(b) Pulsatilla weaknesses are aggravated by becoming overheated. Problems become more evident from the time of puberty.
(c) Symptoms tend to change often; they may be experienced only on one side of the body, may wander from place to place or change in character from time to time.
(d) Pains and illnesses are ameliorated by cool applications, being carried or gently rocked, in the open air, and by weeping.
Mental/Emotional Characteristics (Herscu):
At a glance, one can see the Pulsatilla youngster's gentle, clingy, fearful nature. The first characteristic noticed about these children is how close they sit to their parents in the doctor's office. In a waiting room full of toys and other distractions, the Pulsatilla child chooses the chair closest to the parent and then leans toward the mother or father. The sicker the child is, the closer she leans -- until she finally sits on or lies across her parent's lap.
The child must remain close to the parent. If a Pulsatilla toddler is on the floor at the parent's feet and the parent stands up to get a glass of water, the child begins to cry. Parental cuddling and rocking almost always manages to staunch the flow of tears, which begins again as soon as the mother tries to put the child down. The mother's story is that she goes through this sort of thing all day long. She is unable to shop, cook, or do housework because she has to hold the child in order to prevent continuous crying.
During the interview, timidity and bashfulness are very evident. The child may blush, appear anxious before every answer, look at the mother or father to see if they have answered correctly -- the "right" answer, or promptly head for the parent's lap and not respond at all.
In a new classroom or playground situation, Pulsatilla children will want to be liked but often lack the initiative to begin a dialogue or interaction themselves. They tend to bashfully wait until a Phosphorus or Sulphur comes along and scoops them up into the fun -- a follower, not a leader. According to the parents, at home where the child is relaxed, he "yaks away" with family members all day long.
The only time Pulsatilla children are not talkative at home is when they have taken offense at something and are upset. Similarly, if a coach is unfair to a child and will not let her play, she often mopes about pouting and cries. The ability to challenge unfair practices does not belong to the Pulsatilla child.
The Pulsatilla child is affectionate, yielding, and submissive -- producing whatever behaviour it takes to win the attention and security so craved.
The child likes to be neat and tidy; the hair is combed perfectly, as it is in Natrum muriaticum. The mother reports that her Pulsatilla child is easy to handle, mild, and quickly persuaded to do his chores. He helps around the house, makes his bed, and cleans his room. In contrast, the Natrum muriaticum child cannot help but clean his room; the desire comes from within. In Pulsatilla children, it is an action for which they seek an emotional reward. They want the parents to praise them again and again. "Is this how you want it?" "Watch me dance." "How do you like the triangle I drew?" They need constant attention and affection, without which they wilt into feelings of worthlessness.
The fear of abandonment can become very strong as the children grow up. This can take several forms, such as feigning illness to get attention. What I find amazing is the fact that if they feel that no one is paying attention to them, they may actually produce a fever. Another very common manifestation of this insecurity is the refusal to go to bed alone. Occasionally one finds a Pulsatilla child of very strict parents sitting during the interview with hands folded, perfectly dressed and not moving in the slightest. This unusual behaviour in a child is indicative of the intense desire for acceptance by the parents and the equally intense fear of alienating them.
One major shock that frequently pushes this fear into an acute state is the birth of a sibling. The child may become extremely jealous of the newborn. Every time the parent wants to change the baby's diapers, the Pulsatilla asks for something from the parent: "Can you draw me a cat?" "I want a drink." They become selfish and possessive about their parents' attention and their toys and material possessions. The child becomes manipulative; learning early how to "turn on the tears" to satisfy a constant desire for attention.
Due to this jealousy, irritability and anger develop, which promote aggression against the younger sibling. The child, however, maintains her typical Pulsatilla sweetness with others.
Other Pulsatilla children may become obstinate in order to secure the desired attention. This is particularly true of hyperactive boys, a phenomenon that only angers most parents further. The boy demands attention so strongly and for so long that the parent finally become annoyed and pushes him away, and may even hit the "pestering" child. This causes the child to feel even more abandoned and misunderstood.
Another peculiarity often noticed within the first two months of a sibling being born, is that the child will develop "real" physical illnesses, usually of the respiratory variety. An older child or an adult Pulsatilla may present with a health history revealing that the asthma from which they have suffered for so many years began soon after the birth of a sibling.
Regression is particularly acute in Pulsatilla children when they experience a major stress, such as the birth of a sibling. There is a resistance to growth and the attainment of maturity: they will wet the bed after being "dry" for years. Another child will begin to suck a thumb or exhibit basic babylike behaviours.
The reaction to intense grief in the Pulsatilla adolescent may render them inarticulate. They just sit in their rooms or mope around the house. They respond monosyllabically: "Is something wrong?" the parents ask. "No." "What happened?" "Nothing." Self-pity engulfs them. This very deep, morose state can be especially dangerous for a Pulsatilla teenager. One must be careful here that the child does not entertain thoughts of suicide.
School is a big cause of stress for Pulsatilla children. They become sad and forlorn when an older sibling goes away to school. Even so, when it comes time for them to go to school, they are afraid. When left off at school in the morning by a parent, the children cry nonstop for the first few days. This is followed by a period of shyness after which the teacher receives near complete compliance. If, however, a parent is late to pick her up after school, she fears that she has been forgotten and begins to cry.
Although she may not be the most popular child in the class, the Pulsatilla's friends will be close to her. If favorites change, the child feels emotionally destroyed. If for some reason she believes a friend has slighted her, she will arrive home with a tearstained face and near hysterics.
Emotions flow freely in the Pulsatilla child, especially in the form of sadness and tears, which are expressed openly and with ease. Equally striking is the ease with which these children, boys and girls alike, talk about their weeping. "I cry because my feelings are hurt," said Alan without hesitation or inhibition, as though weeping were a natural language with which he communicated. It is interesting to find weeping in older boys, given that our society has such strong mores prohibiting it.
The tears that so easily flow help the child both physically and emotionally. The sympathy and consolation that he receives from displaying sadness re-establishes the bonds of love so critical to his emotional survival.
These children are very sensitive to pain, and cry continuously when hurt until an adult picks them up. Eight-year-old Betty was seen for recurrent earaches and sinus infections. When ill she would cry dramatically, running to her father to be picked up. While the otitis media symptoms did not give any special clues to the remedy, the intense sensitivity to pain -- expressed in the form of needing consolation -- pointed to Pulsatilla. After the remedy was given, Betty's next earache was her last.
Six-year-old Tommy had gastroenteritis accompanied by vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. The symptoms of the case weighed equally between Sulphur and Pulsatilla. The symptom that sent the verdict to Pulsatilla was that Tommy was ultrasensitive to the pain. He had to be held and rocked to ameliorate the hurt. If his mother left the room while his stomach was hurting, he would yell for her until she returned.
It seems that the emotions rule this child. When upset, she becomes irresolute and unable to make any decision, trivial or important. When she goes to a restaurant, she cannot decide what she wants to eat, and the parents must make the choice for her. She cannot make up her mind what to wear, may change her clothing several times or ask the mother to pick something out for her.
This irresoluteness, when pronounced in a boy, may make him seem effeminate and softer than his peers. He gives in on most issues if there are differing or louder opinions. The other boys at school may pick on him. When teased at school he, more often than not, will burst into tears, which only eggs on the taunting children more.
Ten-year-old Nathan was seen for recurrent diarrhea. When probed about his feelings, his mother volunteered that he wept easily. Asked if this was true, Nathan burst into tears, becoming uncontrollable with loud, racking sobs. It was easy to see that he had been told he was too old for this type of behaviour, because he tried to cover his mouth so that no one would see him crying hysterically. "It is because my sister hurts my feelings on purpose, calling me a sissy," he finally managed to say.
What a dilemma in which the Pulsatilla boy finds himself, placed in our society and having to stifle these natural inclinations in order to conform to a sex role. The basic psychology is that the children act as they do from an insecure nature, the fear of abandonment, indecisiveness, and easy, strong emotionality.
Pulsatilla (Coulter):
Almost all Pulsatilla children have a sweet manner, observable in their facial features, smiles and gestures, of soft and pleasing voice. In many cases there is a corresponding sweetness of heart. Delicacy of feeling, consideration of others, and a gentleness that restrains her from making any comment likely to wound another's sensibilities all reflect Pulsatilla's essential sweetness.
The type is encountered in the "good," obliging child who seeks approval and affection. She is not prone to argue, nor does she anger easily, being basically unaggressive. She helps out in the home and is eager to be "mother's little helper" in return for love and caresses.
The child also knows how to demonstrate affection. She comes up with hugs and kisses, climbs in your lap, cuddles there and sits quitely without wriggling and squirming. In her need to be physically close to those she loved, she instinctively assumes a sweet, acceptible manner.
She also possesses strong peacemaking instincts. Both child and adult are inherently conciliatory and will avoid a quarrel whenever possible. If a rupture does occur, Pulsatilla will bend over backward to restore harmony and even shoulder the blame, since she relies on others' moods to be happy. Her apologies are sincere and she yearns to be forgiven so as not to suffer withdrawl of the affection she craves.
Another prominent Pulsatilla characteristic is dependence. In the young this dependence is manifested in actual clinging: the child hangs on to her mother's skirt in public. Even at home she may not venture two steps away from the mother. And she cries when her mother has to leave her. Carried to the extreme (when ill) she may be virtually glued to her mother.
Pulsatilla boys may appear girlish in their behaviour: fearful of the dark or of being left alone, whining and crying easily. Although they usually outgrow this stage, they may retain a certain softness throughout life. These attributes, of course, are not always clearcut.
A five-year-old boy came to the physician for chronic earaches. He was a rambunctious, husky little fellow with nothing of Pulsatilla in his looks or outward manner -- these boys being usually fair, slender and gentle. So we are surprised to hear from the mother that he defended the very young children at the playground, being known as their "guardian angel" and performing these duties between turns at bat or during pauses in games of kick-ball. If any youngster was teased or mistreated, tears would well up in the boy's eyes and, though he would not fight (Pulsatilla children avoid physical skirmishes), he would hover protectively over the offended party, guarding him from future harm. This symptom suggested Pulsatilla which successfully cleared up his ear condition.
This boy was in no way soft or girlish. He just had the Pulsatilla desire to care for smaller, weaker creatures. While this trait is, understandably, found more frequently in girls, many a boy doubtless suppresses this aspect of his nature for fear of being considered a sissy.
Pulsatilla's dependence does at times, prevent her from maturing. She may retain the characteristics of a child of rather infantile character.
An important symptom is: "first serious impairment of health begins at puberty" which is not surprising in view of the nature's dependence. Puberty is the first stage of true psychological emancipation from the family, which Pulsatilla does not seek. She does not fight against her parents to assert her independence.
In her resistence to maturation, she acquires a host of unexplained little aches and pains: last week in the knee, yesterday in the head, tomorrow in the abdomen. In this way she remains reliant on her parent's support.
Another Pulsatilla characteristic is indecisiveness and irresoluteness. Like the meadow anemone which is swayed by every passing breeze, the individual is blown one way and another, revealing a habitual inability to make up her mind on matters both large and small. In choosing which flavor of ice cream, which Matchbox car, or which doll to buy, the child goes through agonies of indecision.
Pulsatilla's irresoluteness is also seen in the child who cannot get down to the next day's homework, less from laziness than from extreme hesitancy: which subject should be done first -- math or history, English or French? She sees reasons for and against each one and ends up studying none of them unless firmly directed, "Begin with the math." Then she starts work obediently, almost gratefully.
Pulsatilla's emotionalism can be manifested in a tendency to self pity. The self-pitying note can even be detected in the tone of a baby's cry. It is distinctly plaintive and differs from the yell of a Sulphur or Calcarea baby. The snarling cry of a Chamomilla baby makes one want to spank the child, while the pitiful cry of Pulsatilla makes one want to comfort and caress it.
Later the child may become a crybaby who whimpers and whines a lot, or wails piteously from the smallest scratch -- not so much from pain as from a desire to be bandaged, kissed, and fussed over. The slightly older child is easily discouraged, feels insufficiently liked, is woulded by teasing, and resorts to gentle tears whenever crossed or reprimanded. The self pity is seen in the touchiness of adolescents who are offended in a situation where another would laugh.
Altogether, Pulsatilla has a prepossessing and pleasing nature, and when its softness and malleability are combined with stronger qualities, they fulfill a nice balancing function. Although mild and unaggressive, Pulsatilla is by no means weak. There is strength in a sociable and civilized disposition, a sympathetic and sensitive attitude, and even in a yielding and adaptable nature. After all, the massive oak was laid low by the North Wind, not the delicate but resilient Wind Flower.
6. Sulphur
or homeopathic use the roll sulphur of commerce
is redistilled at a
gentle heat, forming flowers
of sulphur, and then washed by
shaking with alcohol to
remove any acid that may adhere to it" (Samuel Hahnemann, Chronic Diseases).Physical Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Head:
The head is often the site of skin eruptions such as cradle cap or eczema. The rash turns an angry red any time the child is washed, and the child screams from the irritation of the water.
There are definite stages to such eruptions. Soon after it commences, the eruption begins to discharge a yellow, watery pus that later crusts over. The skin easily becomes infected, causing pimples with the above-mentioned symptoms.
The head is quite warm and the child often refuses to wear a hat. Many Sulphur children perspire profusely from the head.
A chief presenting complaint is often that of frequent headaches. Migraines are preceded by visual disturbances such as flickering lights and halos around objects. A common cause of headaches is mental exertion. Some children say that they get headaches from school. The headache tends to throb and lying down in a darkened room with the head slightly elevated on a pillow will offer some relief.
(b) Eyes:
Sulphur influences the eyes, causing dacryocystitis ["inflammation of the lacrimal sac of the eye," Yasgur] and conjunctivitis ["inflammation of the mucous membrane covering the anterion surface of the eyeball and lining the eyelids," Yasgur]. Dried, thick, yellow pus coagulates and prevents the eyes from opening in the morning, much like that found with Calcarea carbonica. There are, however, a few differences. The inflammatory process in Sulphur is very destructive to the mucous membranes of the eye, whereas that of Calcarea carbonica tends to be more benign. In Sulphur the eyelids become red, especially at the edge.
The eyes may feel or actually be extremely hot, and during infections are almost always dry and itchy. If the child is old enough, he may report that it feels as if someone had thrown sand in his eyes. With all this sticky mucus and irritated, dry, hot eyes, one would naturally assume that the child would wish to cover the eyes with a damp cloth. Not so. The Sulphur youngster screams and kicks as a warm or cool wash cloth nears the eyes. Instead of soothing the itch, water irritates every little cut; instead of helping the burning and stinging, the water brings as much relief as applying tiny daggers might, causing much additional pain.
A common time to observe this symptom complex is during summer hay fever season. Pulsatilla types may also be similarly affected, but the eyes will not be as irritated as they are in Sulphur individuals, and the Pulsatilla eye complaints will be categorically ameliorated by cold water applications.
(c) Ears:
One usually notices the redness of the ears within the first few seconds of observation.
Occasionally one prescribes Sulphur during acute otitis media. The following case describes the classic Sulphur otitis. Ricky, a Lycopodium child under chronic treatment, developed an otitis with a thick, yellow, offensive-smelling discharge that was streaked with blood. After trying Lycopodium to no effect, the intense redness of the ear was noticed and the remedy Sulphur was prescribed, successfully ridding Ricky of the problem.
Finally, the ears are often plagued by eczema, either on them or behind them.
(d) Nose:
The nose may be affected in a similar manner to the eyes, with discharges that excoriate and redden the tip.
There is one very unusual thing about Sulphur that should be mentioned here. Occasionally I meet a child who cannot blow his or her nose, even at eight or nine years old. This is not because the nose is blocked, but because of a lack of the coordination needed to blow the nose; the hapless youngster huffs and puffs and tightens the chest, but can only manage to pass a little air through the nose. This is a very strange clue to Sulphur children to tuck away in the back of your mind.
(e) Face:
There are so many clues to the remedy written on the face of a Sulphur that it is often tempting not to elicit a full case history at all and just give the obvious remedy.
The first and most striking feature of the face is the redness of the eyes, ears, and lips. At times the face may be pale, but as soon as the child begins to laugh, cry, or become excited, the red, ruddy glow suddenly radiates.
The optimistic, happy nature of the child can often be read on the face.
The next trait one notices is the skin eruptions, such as acne, blackheads, or eczema, that crop up easily in Sulphur patients, especially during adolescence. The acne becomes bright red or purplish when the teenager exercises or after taking a hot shower. These are not little eruptions, but resemble angry red boils.
(f) Mouth:
Babies may be prone to aphthae [canker sores] that become bright red, the color spreading much further than the actual ulcer. In reaction to what is happening inside the mouth, the lips become red, chapped, and cracked, and may feel as if they are on fire. The mouth is extremely sore, making the child cry out in pain.
Sulphur children, along with Pulsatilla, make clucking sounds when trying to scratch an itchy upper palate with the tongue, especially during bouts of hay fever.
The tongue may guide us to the remedy as well, having a bright red tip in some, while in others, red edges join the red tip.
(g) Throat and Neck:
It is not uncommon to have to decide between Sulphur and Calcarea carbonica with regard to the throat. The child may have chronic tonsillitis, with huge tonsils, swollen glands, much post-nasal catarrh, and stuffy sinuses. Since both remedies share all these symptoms, a mistake may easily be made here. The easiest way to tell a Sulphur is by how bad the breath smells. There is a decaying, rotting odor inside the Sulphur throat. The throat and tonsils have a dark, reddish color.
(h) Asthma:
The bronchi and lungs are often involved; many parents of Sulphur offspring bring their children for the treatment of asthma. When these children are having breathing problems, there is a great deal of perspiration on the face and extreme fatigue. The asthma may alternate with or follow a skin eruption, or follow a cold that has dropped into the chest. The asthma may also be triggered by household allergies, especially exposure to mold or cats.
(i) Pneumonia:
Sulphur is one of the most frequently prescribed remedies for pneumonia, either current or residual. The child becomes hot, uncovering the legs or the whole body, panting, and needing ventilation from an open window to ease his or her breathing. The fever attending the infection rises as the day goes on. The child seems to cough incessantly, bringing up green mucus as if there is no end to the supply. A common story is that the Sulphur child had pneumonia of the left lung and then recovered slowly, but never totally lost the cough.
(j) Bronchitis:
There is a hard, dry, racking cough, which finally yields a white or yellowish expectoration. The cough is aggravated by lying on the back, being in a warm room, or getting warm at night. It is ameliorated in the open air.
(k) Food Cravings and Aversions:
Sulphur children desire sweets, spicy foods like pizza, and meat.
They often dislike milk, having the same sorts of reactions to it that Natrum muriaticum does. The reaction can be anything from gas, bloating, and regurgitation to vomiting or diarrhea after drinking the slightest amount of it. They dislike sour foods, and they strongly dislike eggs. This helps to differentiate them from children requiring Calcarea carbonica, who love eggs.
Sulphur children tend to be very thirsty, drinking large quantities of cold water or soda pop. In fact, the Sulphur child with any health complaint will remain thirsty, especially for ice-cold drinks. Lack of appetite combined with much thirst is a symptom frequently observed in many of the child's acute illnesses and should be remembered as a Sulphur keynote.
(l) Stomach:
Stomach symptoms found in practice belong to two general groups of children. The first group consists of those who are thin and hungry all the time. While they may not like to eat breakfast, they eat voraciously the rest of the day. Because they often skip their morning meal, they are particularly hungry from eleven o'clock until noon. If the child is in school, by ten or eleven o'clock she is feeling faint and finding it hard to concentrate. She becomes hypoglycemic and hyperactive and, therefore, more difficult to control.
The second group does not wish to eat much at all. These children eat little snacks throughout the day and then merely pick at supper.
(m) Rectum:
The rectum is the most ill-affected portion of the digestive tract. The healthy Sulphur child has very regular bowel movements, sometimes having two or three (or more) movements a day. The parents state that when the child becomes ill, even with a respiratory tract infection, diarrhea ensues. Diarrhea also develops quite easily every time the child is on antibiotics.
The diarrhea is usually painless in itself except for the excoriated anus it produces. It is so acrid as to redden the anus and make the skin raw. The parents of some children report that the child's buttocks are sore and red to the point that sleeping, walking, and sitting are extremely uncomfortable. This rawness can make the child very irritable and peevish. The child is very cross and cries, and does not wish to be talked to, touched or held.
One may find constipation rather than diarrhea. The hard stools that are passed with difficulty cause burning, stinging, and itching of the anus. In Calcarea carbonica children the constipation may be painless, whereas in Sulphur it tends to be so painful that the child refuses to move his bowels for fear of the pain it will bring.
A final observation is that the entire area around the anus, as well as the underwear, can be messy and soiled, even in older children. Personal hygiene is not high on the list of Sulphur priorities.
(n) Urogenital System:
Boys: The history elicited may contain many bouts of inflammation of the penis. The genitals, like the anus, may smell bad on examination due to poor personal hygiene. The mother states that the child tends to develop rashes all over the area.
Girls, likewise, tend to develop rashes and mild infections of the vaginal area. Improper wiping after stool is the most common causative factor. They must always be reminded to wipe front to back, not back to front, which so easily spreads bacteria to the vaginal area.
(o) Extremities:
The extremities are quite warm. The children walk about barefoot even in the winter and stick their feet out of the covers at night. Parents often complain of offensive foot sweats in their little ones.
A main Sulphur complaint is eczema of the hands, palms, soles, elbows, and knees that is red and itchy.
Sulphur may also be thought of as one of the four main remedies for weakness of the ankles. This weakness causes turning of the ankles or "pigeon-toed" walking.
(p) Skin:
The skin is perhaps the most affected body part in Sulphur. The eruption can be of any type from scales, hives, boils and pustules to vesicles and scabs. The eruption is almost always wet. If the child gets a scratch or cut, or is bitten by an insect, the skin locally turns purple and aften develops an infection. There is a poor recuperative and regenerative ability of the skin that makes both eruptions and surface injuries slow to heal, and leads the child from one skin infection to another.
All these eruptions have some common characteristics. They all itch intensely, especially when the child becomes heated. Burning is also common, especially after scratching or bathing. Most eruptions do not do well after bathing.
Sulphur is the main remedy to think of for suppressed eruptions. For example, if the child had an acute or chronic rash to which a salve or drug was applied, and the eruption disappeared shortly before the onset of asthma, bronchitis, diarrhea, or mood changes, a suppression of the disease has probably been accomplished. This is such a common occurrence that many parents will not remember it without persistent questioning. Treating diaper rash, eczema, and psoriasis with strong topical medications is the norm these days, so such histories must be carefully elicited.
Finally, the remedy Sulphur should be considered for neonatal jaundice. The Sulphur neonate will have the typical diarrhea described above as well as skin that itches intensely. As they cannot yet scratch themselves, they love to have a parent run a hand up and down the body.
Sleep (Herscu):
They may have a great amounts of energy at night and do not wish to sleep at all. They will be up running around, jumping and doing acrobatics to burn off the last stores of that day's energy.
Sleeping positions on the left side or abdomen are usually preferred. They sleep restlessly, tossing and turning, and may awaken every hour or so after one or two o'clock in the morning.
Most of the children will be the "early birds" in the family, waking up at dawn to read or watch television. Sulphurs feel sleepy after eating lunch.
Important General Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) The child is extremely warm-blooded. They like to play outside and dislike remaining in a warm house all day.
(b) The next strong Sulphur sign is the body type. While some resemble the Calcarea carbonica type, being round and plump, they will be much more robust and ruddy than the typical Calcarea carbonica. Most of the children, however, become taller and thinner than the rest of their age group, stretching out from the chubby toddler they once were.
(c) These children hate to get into the bath, screaming and kicking all the way to the bathroom.
(d) Another situation where the remedy Sulphur can be invaluable is after vaccinations. There are some patients who improve quite nicely with a remedy until vaccinated. Then the case begins to unravel. If one elicits keynotes of Sulphur in such cases, if will often as not put things back in order.
(e) Skin eruptions accompanied by intense itching and burning pains, as well as offensive-smelling discharges from practically anywhere on the body are typical.
Mental/Emotional Characteristics (Herscu):
In the waiting room the Sulphur child is typically all over the office exploring everything, touching the pictures, pulling toys off the shelves, and generally making a mess of the reception area. If the child has any fear, it is easily overwhelmed by this intense curiosity. Upon entering the reception area, the doctor may find the child speaking to the secretary, asking about the telephone or the computer, wanting to know how it works and what all the wires are for.
If the Sulphur child is on the floor playing with other children, it can be observed that he is in charge of the play. It is also evident from the interaction with these new children that the Sulphur child has no fear, but is rather good at clear, easy communication.
Looking at the child, one can see that he is not accustomed to being personally neat, as his clothes are messy, his shirttails are hanging out, and his hair is flying in all directions.
Already the doctor has formed certain conclusions about this child and, by extrapolation, Sulphur children in general. They are curious and without fear of strangers. They can make contact with others quickly and gain their trust. They are messy; but what is more, they do not care a bit about their appearance. Along similar lines, they do not care about the doctor's property. The child may have to be forced by a parent to put all the toys away. When the child finally does comply, he simply picks up a pile of toys and dumps them in a heap in the closest repository.
Sulphur children tend to fall into one of four categories of temperaments: happy-go-lucky, irritable, hyperactive, or cerebral.
Most common is the happy-go-lucky, smiling type. I remember eight-year-old Melinda slouching in her chair, chewing gum and swinging her legs back and forth vigorously, as her legs were not long enough to touch the ground. She seemed very relaxed even though it was her first visit to my office. When I asked who the patient was, the girl volunteered, "Meeeeee! I am the patient," before her mother could answer. Melinda's mother stated that the child was happy and easygoing.
With a smile and a winsome personality, and questions that are thought-provoking even for adults, the child leaves a strong, positive impression. The Sulphur energy, on the verge of exuberance, always shines out.
It is this exuberance coupled with a strong sense of self-centeredness that allows a Sulphur to both wish to and truly be able to impress others. This is observed in many ways, from informing the receptionist all about a new toy she just got, to telling the doctor she won an award at school, to directing the attention of other waiting patients to the blocks she just stacked.
The Sulphur child enjoys being the center of attention. Even is he is not the actual patient but rather the sibling of one, he may come up and pull at the sleeve of the doctor and say, "You know what?" He just does not wish to be left out.
The second type of Sulphur children, the irritable type, have a negative attitude toward practically everything. They complain about household chores, that nobody appreciates them; they seem dissatisfied with everything. Toddlers can become peevish and irritable, screaming so long and loudly that it is difficult to quiet them down.
Children may become quite aggressive and may slap, hit, bite or pull the hair of the mother, or abuse animals when upset. It should be stressed that this irritable type is the rarest form of Sulphur.
The hyperactive child is commonly cured with a prescription of Sulphur. The child has a great amount of energy, unstoppable by parents and teachers alike. He breaks all the rules of home and school, becoming more unruly and disobedient before lunch when the blood sugar level drops.
They nag to be let out to play, crying louder and louder, their faces quickly becoming crimson, pestering the mother nonstop until she hits them or until they win the struggle. It is amazing how quickly the crying stops as soon as he has what he wanted. He immediately becomes his lovable self again and does not hold any resentment. The fact that the parent is now in a rage or distraught is meaningless; he has his candy or toy, which is all that counts.
The cerebral Sulphur child can be quite different from other Sulphur children, resembling Natrum muriaticum. Such children are very articulate, answering questions with well-thought-out, direct responses.
These more intellectually oriented youngsters tend to have few close friends, unlike the gregariousness of other Sulphur types. They may love to read about faraway places, indulge in endless science fiction books and movies, or even pore over technical manuals on computers, farm equipment, or airplane mechanics. Boys commonly spend time making airplane models and meticulously arranging baseball card collections.
When they become upset they may wish to be alone and not be consoled. All of these traits often mislead one to think of Natrum muriaticum, especially since most of the physical general symptoms are the same for both remedies. However, as the patient talks, the doctor may notice a slouched posture. Then the doctor elicits the information that the child is messy instead of neat. As one delves deeper into the case, another differentiating point to look for is that these children are not overly sensitive to any grief in their lives and that they do not hold grudges at all, forgiving and forgetting easily. The cerebral Sulphur is also more haughty and condescending than one would find in a Natrum muriaticum, and is able to look directly at the doctor for longer periods of time.
Sulphur children are usually born with a great natural intelligence: an ability to quickly and integrate new information. With this innate intelligence comes the openness and desire to explore new situations. As a result, the child appears very bright in comparison to other children who, due to shyness, reservation, or the fear of new situations, are slower to experiment and acquire knowledge.
This intelligent youth often assumes the leadership position in a group. While other children may wish to be leaders, it is Sulphur children who glide effortlessly into such roles. They love the position and feel secure in it.
There is a strong degree of self-determination in these children. They are strongly opinionated and have the audacity to tell any adult what their wishes are in no uncertain terms.
Sulphur children then, are fiercely independent. One finds four-year-olds who demand to wash and dress themselves. They like to do everything by following their own schedules and on their own terms. A three-year-old girl was the only child who talked back to her parents out of a family of four children.
The child touches everything. It is this inquisitiveness that is partially responsible for the "messiness" of the child, who quickly figures out the workings of a toy, object, or game and them goes on to the next one. There is a degree of joyful abandon in this disorder as opposed to other remedy types who can be wantonly destructive. One feels almost guilty for stopping this amiable child's exploration of the office. This little demolition expert makes the doctor feel like a "stick in the mud" for curtailing the happy child's fun.
Sulphur children, however, do tend to have a dirty and messy appearance. Their clothes, hair, and their rooms are typically dirty, unkempt, and disordered, and they do not mind. It is as if the grooming impulse and personal hygiene gene is missing from these children.
If one looks past the cuteness, past the curiosity, one can discern a self-centered child who does not care about others' feelings or possessions. The messiness in these children is just one facet of the personality that reflects an attitude that others do not really count -- that other's opinions about their habits do not count. The child tracks mud into the house, puts dirty shoes on the furniture, and seems immune to repeated reprimands. They devour the last piece of cake, drain the orange juice pitcher, or snitch the last candy bar from the cupboard. They do not do this out of meanness but rather out of only thinking of their own needs.
Thus far we have seen the sharpness of the mental processes. Some children who need the remedy Sulphur can also enter into the opposite state of dullness, lethargy, and lack of concentration. It appears to be a sort of facultative breakdown that often first begins just before lunchtime and then gradually generalizes to the entire day. The teacher tells the parents that at eleven o'clock in the morning the child begins to prop her head up in her hands with the elbows on the desk, gazing out blankly with almost crossed eyes due to weakness and lack of concentration.
They then begin to daydream frequently and stop doing well in school. They come home from school and lie around, listen to music or watch television. Instead of their previous top grades, they now seem not to care. Since they have an innate mental agility, they easily take tests without studying and receive adequate marks. As they enter the higher grades, the information becomes too complex to pass tests without studying. They no longer do their homework, and instead will try to "cram" for the test the night before or to cheat outright. Anything goes for these once precocious children as long as they do not have to strain their mental faculties.
Parents report that their children have poor concentration, lack ambition, and never finish chores. The children may try to bluff their way through life with a keen sense of humor. They no longer care about external demands on their mentality, since it has become more difficult to concentrate. Instead, more time is spent on social activity. It is important to think of this laziness not as a conscious choice to slack off, but as an actual dulling of the mind. A prescription of the remedy Sulphur can do wonderful work here.
The most common fear is of heights. These children may also have the well-known anxiety about family members. If a parent does not come home on time, they begin to imagine the worst and will fret and worry.
Sulphur (Coulter):
Sometimes the Sulphur child's aggressive unwillingness to cooperate, attributed to selfishness, is actually generated more by an extreme independence and resentment of outside interference. "I want to do it my own way!" he insists. "By myself, by myself!" he cries angrily, pushing away help as he struggles to tie his shoe laces or attempts some other difficult task.
Sulphur can also be materialistic. "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable." At an early age the child can be quite ferocious in snatching away toys from others while protecting his own tenaciously. "It's mine!... Don't touch!" The remedy was once successfully prescribed for this reason to an eighteen-month-old boy with a complicated respiratory tract infection: while sitting in his mother's lap he tugged at her earrings and shouted "Mine... mine" with an angry and determined expression on his face.
At times, however, the reverse is encountered. Instead of grabbing, babies will insistently thrust a toy or rattle into another's hand. An older child will approach whomever he had taken a fancy to and generously hand over his book or stuffed animal in the same assertive manner. Thus, the extremes of selfishness and generosity are strangely encountered in this remedy.
As Sulphur grows older, he or she begins to collect things: rocks, shells, stamps, matchboxes, baseball cards, dolls, or tiny china animals. They are by instinct pack rats.
The child is extremely pleased with his possessions. He is proud of them, talks of them, displays them. However cluttered and messy his room, he knows exactly where everything is and cannot bear having anything moved. The pockets of a younger Sulphur boy will be stuffed with his favorite objects.
A vivid illustration was the eczematous three-year-old who walked into the physician's office with five -- not one, but five -- pacifiers in his possession: one in his mouth, one tightly clenched in each fist, and the remaining two dangling from each arm where he could see them. If any of the five disappeared, he would fly into a passion. This situation called for Sulphur. Soon after receiving a course of the remedy his eczema started to resolve and he decided to give "all" the pacifiers away to Santa Claus. "Will he come [it was July] to get them?" However, being Sulphur, he wanted an electric train in exchange.
During his boyhood stage Sulphur loves swapping his goods and seldom emerges the loser in these transactions. The child may have an astonishing money sense, having a sharp eye for bargains and insisting that his parents shop accordingly. Here again, however, the reverse is encountered in the child who will happily trade a camera or a new BB gun for an irresistible sack of worthless old toys and feel proud about it.
The child hates to part with any object, even the most useless because, "Who knows? -- some day it might come in handy." He resents lending even the most easily replacable things. This need for tactile contact with his possessions, keeping them on his person or within reaching distance, is a particular Sulphur characteristic.
The "heated" or eruptive nature of Sulphur can be seen clearly in both the physical and mental spheres. The infant is active, restless, and colicky. He is always hungry and continually on the go, fussing against whatever holds him back or holds him still. He may lie awake crying at night, wanting to be fed and amused, then sleep most of the day. One of these night-time babies, a five-month-old boy, was brought to the homeopath for a severe case of diaper rash. The skin on his buttocks and groin was not only raw, raised, bright red and shiny-tight, but also cracked and so inflamed that the heat could be felt a foot away. How the baby could stand this was a mystery, but he was a tough little fellow (as Sulphur often is) with a demanding but basically sanguine disposition. He received three doses of the remedy at twelve-hour intervals. Not only did the rash begin to subside immediately, disappearing completely in a few days, but his inner clock was also changed. Thereafter, he began to sleep at night and do his playing and nursing during the day.
Sulphur hates being washed, dressed, put to bed, or seated at the table. They may not be able to sit through a meal. Later in school they cannot sit quietly at their desks. Sitting still, and especially standing still, are intolerable.
As the boy grows older, noise-making and movement continue to be intrinsic to his nature: slamming doors, tumbling downstairs, loud shouting, fidgeting about, and making noise for its own sake. Adults are constantly telling him, "Keep quiet! Be still! Sit down!" or "Stop it!" But Sulphur needs to be active. He loves to be outside playing ball, riding his bicycle, and engaging in various strenuous activities.
Some boys must always be talking. Often they are only quiet when listening to music. Even here, however, the music must be stimulating and loud. He also likes his books, movies, and television programs to be full of excitement, fast action, and lively stimulation.
The disposition can be fiery and pugnacious. They are not necessarily obnoxious -- just obstreperous and constantly asserting themselves. In fact, they may be remarkably uncomplaining, possessing the positive, buoyant outlook of those two charming Sulphur immortals, Tom Sawyer and Dennis the Menace. They emanate heat, but, like fire, also radiate cheerfulness.
The maturing lively boy may turn his creative energies to troublemaking, with a most disruptive influence on the class. In contrast, the boy who is the social core of the class is also frequently a Sulphur. He is still making waves, but in a constructive way, by manifesting his leadership qualities.
Given the heat-emitting and commotion-causing qualities of this remedy, it is hardly surprising that Sulphur is the "ace of spades" of homeopathic adolescent remedies.
7. Medorrhinum (Nosode of Gonnorhea)
edorrhinum
is the sterilized and potentized product of one of those deadly acute
diseases which Hahnemann recognized as basic to
chronic disease. He put
forward two remedies, Thuja
and Nitric Acid,
as producing symptoms "like" those of the acute gonorrheal
manifestations, and therefore potently curative; given, one or other,
as most indicated."Since his early work, we have advanced yet further; proving and employing, with tremendous effect, the disease-product itself; but tamed, after the methods of preparation and administration he laid down, and so rendered absolutely harmless even to the new-born babe.
"Homeopathy has, for the last 100 years [This was written in 1942] employed the deadliest poisons with not only perfect safety, but with a maximum of success, with the absolute foreknowledge of where and how they may be relied upon merely to stimulate vitality to curative reaction and do no harm.
"But, first, let us say emphatically, -- no one must think that because Medorrhinum is the remedy called for by the symptoms of any case, that therefore the patient must have had the disease. By far more commonly the taint may have filtered down through several generations; and it may be impossible to obtain really satisfactory healthward progress without a few intercurrent doses of Medorrhinum" (Margaret Tyler, Homeopathic Drug Pictures).
Physical Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Head:
The scalp lacks oils in an inverse proportion to that which the face produces, resulting in dry hair and a dandruffy, flaking scalp.
(b) Eyes:
Infants may develop conjunctivitis ["inflammation of the mucous membrane covering the anterior surface of the eyeball and lining the eyelids," Yasgur] or blepharitis [inflammation of the eyelids] with much swelling and redness. The pus that is exuded is thick, greeen, and excoriates the entire area of the eye.
Older children may report these eye inflammations as something that occurred in the past, or complain of low-level chronic blepharitis as the chief complaint. The sensations that they mention -- eyelashes falling out and a sensation of sand in the eyes -- are similar to Sulphur.
(c) Ears:
Some Medorrhinum children have frequent colds. If these colds are repeatedly treated with antibiotics, sequelae develop in the ears. The most common sequela is a great amount of fluid in the middle ear that causes impaired hearing. If the eardrum ruptures, one finds that the fluid pours out of the ear for a long time, not soon resolving as it does in children of other types.
(d) Nose:
Since the immune system in Medorrhinum children is damaged from birth, problems such as eczema, asthma, and hay fever abound. The infant or child will catch colds very easily and it may seem as if he always has mucus either running from or stuffing up the nose. The parents remember that from the first few months of life the child sneezed often and developed crusts surrounding the outside of the nostrils and was plagued by thick, yellow-green mucus that had to be suctioned out of the nose. This condition may be quite intractable and obstinate, not yielding to orthodox treatment or the more common homeopathic remedies. The state of the nose should be considered a major confirmatory clue in the diagnosis of Medorrhinum.
(e) Mouth:
Occasionally a child complains of tiny blisters in the mouth that recur, especially after drinking citrus juice.
(f) Face:
The faces of these children are often graced with very distinctive features. The skin may be pale or gray toned. Medorrhinum is especially indicated if the child has a greenish, shiny look to the skin. The skin looks as if it were polished with wax. This is due to the excess oil produced by overzealous sebaceous glands.
The amount of facial hair is minimal. This may be noted as a thinness of the beard of teenaged boys. What may be observed in many Medorrhinum children is pencil-thin, narrow eyebrows.
Occasionally, the face bears a keynote of this remedy and of this inherited Medorrhinum tendency in general: spider hemangiomas. The reddish-blue, spidery-looking spots made up of dilated capillaries under the surface of the skin can be seen in infants as well as children and adults.
Younger children develop fever blisters easily, especially on and around the lips.
(g) Throat and Neck:
The child tends to get colds that lead to a postnasal drip with copious, thick mucus. The child hawks or coughs up phlem, almost choking on it at times. Often there is a raw pain in the throat and the tonsils are painfully swollen.
(h) Lower Respiratory System:
The Medorrhinum child is susceptible to chest colds and/or asthma from birth.
The asthma, described as "tightness," may be felt high up in the chest as opposed to lower in the chest, where most other asthmatics describe the location of this sensation. The cough that accompanies the asthma as well as shortness of breath are both ameliorated by lying down, especially on the abdomen. Some children exhibit the keynote that when they begin to cough, they throw themselves onto the bed and bury their heads in the pillows. They either lie in the knee-to-chest position, on their knees at the side of the bed with the abdomen and head pressed on the bed, or on the abdomen. The remedy Medorrhinum may at times be prescribed on these signs alone.
Chronic chest colds also plague the Medorrhinum child. There is a deep, rattling cough. No matter how hard they try, they cannot dislodge the mucus. The constant cough is severe and seems to tear the throat apart. It may be ameliorated by lying on the abdomen.
A one-year-old girl was brought in for chronic upper respiratory infections. The worst complaint for the mother was the child's incessant wet cough. She carried the sleeping child into the office and put her down on the floor and the child promptly rolled up into the knee-to-chest position, burying her face in the carpet and thrusting her seat up into the air. This was the first clue to the remedy which was given to the great benefit of the tiny patient.
(i) Food Cravings and Aversions:
The food cravings are quite unique. The strongest cravings are for salt, fat, sweets, and unripe fruit, especially the sour, tart, or green varieties. Many times the favorite is citrus: oranges, grapefruit, and even lemons. Babies often like juice in general and orange juice in particular. They can eat many pieces of citrus fruit at one sitting: "As many as there are in the house," tells one mother.
These children strongly dislike any foods that tend to be slimy, as well as onions, beans, and peas.
They have a great thirst for cold drinks and especially love to chew on ice.
(j) Stomach:
Medorrhinum is one of the main remedies for the infantile condition commonly known as failure to thrive. Although the child has a large appetite, due to the vomiting and diarrhea that constantly arise he will be slow to develop. Mothers notice that after the baby nurses he vomits not only milk but also yellow mucus along with the milk.
In older children, they eat but do not gain weight as they should. After the remedy is given the children usually begin to quickly put on weight and height. Many Medorrhinum teenagers complain of bloated, distended abdomens after eating.
(k) Rectum:
The infants usually have a characteristic fiery red rash around the genitals and anus. This is such an intense and persistent eruption that it is remembered by the parent and reported even when the child is seen much later in life after the rash has disappeared. The parents report that they went from one doctor to another, yet no matter what treatment was tried, the rash would not go away.
The child may have diarrhea from birth along with the other symptoms of failure to thrive previously described. This diarrhea in infants is yellow-green, excoriates the anus and surrounding area, and has an offensive odor.
Many children have chronic constipation from birth. The child strains and strains, only to pass very hard, round pellets.
(l) Urogenital System:
Medorrhinum children are plagued by bed wetting. The urine is acid with a very strong odor, and may cause or exacerbate the fiery red rash just described.
Boys may develop an acute phimosis (inflammation of the foreskin of the penis). They may also have rashes and warts on the penis. In an infant or young child such a history reveals that a parent or grandparent at one time had contracted gonorrhea. Many boys awaken with erections and, if in the same bed, like to rub against the parents or siblings.
Girls may develop a variety of vaginal infections very early. Even infant girls may develop a vaginal discharge. Older girls may likewise develop vaginitis and, what is more unusual in sexually inactive girls, pelvic inflammatory disease.
The menstrual flow in adolescents is also often affected. The cycle tends to be irregular. The blood may be dark and clotted, and gives off an offensive odor. The flow may arrive with ovarian pains so intense that the girl doubles over with them. An acccurate keynote, if one can ask and confirm it, is that the adolescent feels chilly before the flow, especially in the breast area. Also before the flow, girls may become sad, weepy, and occasionally suicidal.
Both sexes engage in early sexual experimentation, and both tend to masturbate as children.
(m) Extremities:
Two clues to the prescription of Medorrhinum are persistent, nervous up and down movements of the child's feet, and uncommon warmth of the feet. The child wants her shoes and socks off and often walks barefoot through the house, even in the wintertime or on cold cement. In the evening these two characteristics combine and fidgety, hot feet can be seen protruding from the covers during sleep.
Older children may complain of pain and swelling of the soles and ankles. Medorrhinum should be the first remedy considered for painful soles, making the child favor the sides or edges of the feet as a walking surface.
Teens may complain of a painful stiffness in the joints, an arthritis that often begins in the ankles or knees. Arthritis is aggravated at night, in damp weather, and ameliorated by motion. What stands out most in Medorrhinum cases is the degree of swelling of the joints, most especially of the ankles. This swelling is a good guiding symptom for the remedy.
Some children describe a feeling as if their joints are tightening up and that they must "pop" them to loosen them up and get relief.
Another common keynote of Medorrhinum is that children bite their nails to the quick.
(n) Skin:
The skin of Medorrhinum children is susceptible to growths such as moles and warts.
The infants often have very bad rashes in the genital area. Medorrhinum should be one of the first remedies considered for infants who have eczema from birth, especially if the eczema alternates with bouts of asthma. The alternation of eczema and asthma or eczema and allergies is very consistent with this remedy type. Also consistent is the ease with which the eczema is suppressed by strong medications and thereafter the child develops respiratory problems or bone disease in response.
The child may develop neurodermatitis and hives from drinking citrus juice or eating strawberries.
Medorrhinum should be among the first remedies contemplated for lipomas or fat cysts.
Quite a few Medorrhinum children have vitiligo, consisting of large, circular patches of pale discoloration on the face and abdomen. After the remedy is given, one may find the patches becoming pigmented and fading away.
The skin may appear oily all over the body, especially on the face.
It is peculiar, but these children also tend to get many insect bites and allergic reactions to these bites.
Sleep (Herscu):
The Medorrhinum child tends to be a "night person," finding it difficult to fall asleep until late at night. Their sleep is restless, with much tossing and turning. Most especially commented upon is the thrashing of the legs throughout the night.
The child is very hot and will often sleep naked and uncovered, especially the feet.
Even though their sleep is restless, they favor sleeping on the abdomen or in the knee-to-chest position with the buttocks in the air.
Many Medorrhinum children have nightmares. Being chased, bitten by animals, etc., are common themes.
The child may either wake up with much frantic energy, or wake up tired and unrefreshed.
Important General Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) The remedy Medorrhinum is frequently prescribed after the case has been treated first with another remedy. A common scenario follows: After prescribing the first correct and well-chosen non-Medorrhinum remedy, the child does very well. Yet after a time the case stalls. Simultaneously, a few Medorrhinum keynotes arise. Medorrhinum is prescribed and the child progresses nicely again. The original prescription may have matched the case perfectly. It is as if there were a genetic flaw that undermined the child's vital defenses and made them too weak to react properly to the well-chosen remedy in order to reestablish homeostasis.
(b) Medorrhinum should be considered for children who appear stunted in physical, emotional, or mental development.
(c) A detailed family history is of the utmost importance. The Medorrhinum child's family history may contain diseases common to this remedy type: gonorrhea, asthma, arthritis, angina, and heart disease. The family tree may begin with diseases of the skin, which progress from there to the respiratory tract, then to the bones and joints, and then to the heart, either in one person or across a family lineage.
(d) These are hot-blooded children who like the cool, open air and dislike heat.
(e) All their discharges are offensive smelling, acrid, and profuse.
(f) Health complaints are ameliorated by lying on the abdomen, especially respiratory symptoms.
Mental/Emotional Characteristics (Herscu):
Medorrhinum children are among those who are frequently ill from birth, carrying as they do a genetically determined constitutional weakness. There is a general unability to shake acute illnesses quickly or totally.
The Medorrhinum child has a number of distinctive characteristics in the psychological and mental spheres. Extreme extroversion or extreme introversion may be reported, although the former is much more common. Most children of this type are very extroverted and vital.
For some, this vitality is amplified to the point of irritating those around them. They usually play hard and enthusiastically. This "open" type of Medorrhinum can easily approach total strangers and begin a conversation on almost any subject. They enjoy socializing and usually have many friends.
A directness, at times extreme, may first offer a clue to the probability of a Medorrhinum layer existing in the child. An older patient in a wheelchair and wearing an eye patch was waiting in the reception area. A Medorrhinum child, Howard, burst into the office, and before his huffing mother could catch up, he lunged at the patient and yelled, "Hey, what do you have under that thing?" and tore the patch off the astonished man's face!
This overly-exuberant nature often leads to early experimentation with drugs and other experience-altering substances such as model airplane glue fumes, cough medicine, pain killers, and even car exhaust.
There is a great deal of sexual acting out at an early age as well. With some embarrassment, parents report of their young children such behaviours as erections, kissing and playing erotically with both adults and other children, masturbating, and repeatedly being found naked with young neighbor children. I once treated a six-year-old girl who showed violent tendencies in general and who liked to "pick" at her vagina all the time. The child would coerce her mother to dress her in the tightest possible clothes and underwear.
Evidence of greater than normal vitality may be observed in their hurried behaviour. The parents confirm that the child does everything quickly, always seeming to be in a big rush. Like many symptoms of this remedy, the exact opposite may be true: there may be periodic swings toward total, incapacitating inertia.
Such energy may over time lead to a true hyperactive state. At school they may become restless to the point of wildness. Hyperactive Medorrhinum children cannot concentrate very well, especially when tired. They are messy by nature and may be confused with hyperactive Sulphur children because of this.
Another negative attribute commonly found in these children is meanness and cruelty; coupled with high energy, it can lead to frequent quarrels, screaming matches, and out-and-out fighting, especially when the child is contradicted or reprimanded. When this happens, the child wants his own way even more and seems to develop superhuman strength. In this state, he can fight everyone around him, even parents and bigger, stronger siblings with great tenacity. The child becomes implacable, throwing things and striking their parents, siblings, and friends without remorse.
Parents state that during these "mean" times, the child can become totally out of control, where meaningful discipline or punishments are impossible. The situation can quickly degenerate into a struggle for control in which the parents have to physically overpower the child in order to stop a tantrum or other violent behaviour. The child may even wait for his chance and take reprisals against the parents. This meanness can help to differentiate Medorrhinum from other remedies sharing similar physical symptoms, and a prescription has, time and time again, ameliorated fits of anger, brought more emotional balance, and helped whatever physical complaint brought the child to the homeopath in the first place.
An episodic cruelty or rudeness, the fitful, changeable nature of the child, when times of great aggressiveness alternate with times of introversion and playful coyness, most often indicates a need for this remedy. The parents report extreme polarity of behaviour, swinging from very sweet and charming to very nasty and destructive, without apparent cause. Self-destructive tendencies born of hot tempers and mindless fitfulness, and without thought of the pain it might impose on the child himself, are characteristics of this remedy. One troubled teenager, who suddenly became angry, punched his fist into a door, breaking three bones in his hand.
These fitful children may become very obstinate and bossy. Parents bemoan the constant struggle to determine who is in control, even in the case of a three-year-old. The child yells, "I want this!" while tugging at the doctor's stethoscope and screams and carries on until the object is handed over. The parents assert that it is no use to try and reason with the child once his mind is made up. They have found that attempts to discipline the child in this state only have a deleterious or negligible effect.
Another was to guage the depth of the obstinacy is to see how long children hold grudges. The length of time can be amazing, even in small children. They blurt out angrily, "I'm gonna get him back." These little ones remember everyone else's perceived transgressions and desire to mete out appropriate retribution while forgetting their own substantial meanness and trespasses against others.
Medorrhinum children exhibit temper tantrums that are often rooted in a great intolerance of contradiction. Explosive violence and other generally antisocial behaviour is reported upon the slightest contradiction.
The child may nag and confront a parent until getting an emotional rise out of him or her. It is as if she wants, needs, and almost longs for a reprimand and punishment. I remember nine-year-old Sally, who would provoke a fight whenever possible. If her mother told her not to make noise at the theater, it was guaranteed that she would yell so her mother would be moved to swat her. It was as if the contact that she made with her parent in that fashion was desirable. As soon as a parent became angry with her, she would become cooperative and sweet. Loving attention by a parent may go unheeded or even be rejected by such a child.
In addition to behaving violently themselves, these children like to observe violence as well. They love to watch scary or violent movies with lots of blood and gore.
Medorrhinum children are often caught lying. Lying often begins with the relatively innocuous and common excuse, "It's not my fault."
In the office a careful listener will frequently hear this type of lying: the parents describe a negative trait, like temper tantrums or cursing, and the child will exclaim over and over with the utmost conviction, "No I don't! No I don't!" in response to every point. If the doctor finally turns to the child and asks, "What didn't happen?" the child will say "That didn't happen lately" or "That didn't happen on Thursday like Mom said." This lying by omission in children can evolve into an adult behaviour.
Another form of lying by omission is noted in children who do not wish to have anything "bad" said about them. No one does, but their reactions speak loudly of the remedy itself. They scream, "No! No! Stop!" at the parents as they describe ordinary symptoms to the doctor. Others hide behind the parent's chair or behind a plant and yell, "I'm not telling!" in answer to any question asked of them.
Some lying is evoked by jealousy of siblings. Since some children appear not to comprehend parental love, they may measure love by getting equal shares of objects, toys, and food. I know a boy who wanted a duplicate of everything that his brother had. He would steal and hide his brother's toy because he did not one also. He would even hide his own toys and blame his brother for stealing them just to get him into trouble. He seemed not to know of affection at all, desiring only the outer manifestations, the physical trappings of love.
There is a thoughtless selfishness. Behaviour can reflect a complete disregard for the wishes of others. This is also manifested as manipulativeness. The child may tattle on other siblings so that he will receive more attention, even lying to get a sibling into trouble.
The child needing Medorrhinum may have one of two main problems in the ability to think clearly. The first problem is an inborn mental and physical dwarfing, as though from a minor chromosomal defect. The second is only a functional problem with the ability to concentrate.
The former difficulties include a memory weak from babyhood on, especially for conceptual thought. They are usually poor spellers and forget the meaning of words. The child is easily confused by more abstract information. They can have difficulty expressing themselves clearly.
Anomalies in gross or fine motor skills abound. A child may not be able to use scissors or demonstrate good penmanship. He may also walk with a jerky gait.
For the second type of child, the short attention span often leads doctors to diagnose an attention deficit disorder. Parents are often told that the child requires Ritalin. This type of child begins to lose the thread of conversations. In teenagers, confusion is seen most commonly in school-related learning. Their fragile concentration is easily broken by any noise. Dyslexia, mistakes in speech, and poor recall are not due to mental dullness so much as to confusion. As memory declines over time, abstract theoretical knowledge is easily lost. While the child may forget what was heard or read, she can still remember concepts that have visual, experiential clues. There can be a chronic mental disconnectedness symptomatic of both the remedy and the inherited susceptibility, the slow dissipation of attention that takes place over a period of years and is replaced by growing confusion.
Many children who require the remedy Medorrhinum are pseudoambidextrous. It is not that they are equally able to use either hand as a true ambidextrous person can, but rather that they do not have a dominant hand. Because of this, they may switch hands during activities and never quite master a skill with either one.
Initially, the Medorrhinum child who is a slow learner is perfectionistic, spending a long time trying to fashion letters correctly. As the confused state worsens over months and years, the child begins to procrastinate and to hate being pushed to read, write, or do homework.
There is a subgroup of Medorrhinum children that is shy and timid. An inferiority complex is observed in their demeanor during the interview. They can become mentally dull and develop increased anxiety about upcoming events, especially those revolving around school projects. This is due to decreased confidence in his own mental capabilities. In general, they are either intermittently or consistently bashful and introverted. The boys of this subgroup are softhearted and sensitive to an extreme degree.
The mother may state that the child has been psychologically tested and found to have very low self-esteem. These unfortunates have no confidence or pride in themselves.
As these children grow up they become increasingly more introverted. Many become depressed. In their depression they begin to act out, just as more extroverted Medorrhinum children do. They start to take drugs and smoke cigarettes. This taking of drugs is not done with the relish and enjoyment found in their outgoing counterparts, but instead with a sense of despondency. They become gloomy, feeling that all around them is blackness and depression.
In such a severe emotional condition, some girls may develop anorexic or bulimic behaviour. There is one major clue that will make one consider Medorrhinum over other remedies for anexoria: the adolescent may not eat for days, starving herself so that she emaciates, but when she finally forces herself to eat, she will eat mainly fruit. This is a major indication for the remedy.
She blames herself for anything that goes wrong in her life as a way of justifying her self-destructive behaviour. This self-blame can lead to more extreme self-destructive behaviour. Some girls even begin to physically punish themselves, cutting their arms with razors. The two most common stressors that make the girl more vulnerable to suicidal impulses are drug use and premenstrual tension.
One final comment on eating disorders: while homeopathic remedies can be very effective in helping to rebuild the body as well as the mind, they should never be the sole treatment. A homeopath's success rate with these disorders will rise dramatically if treatment is combined with family-centered counseling and skill-oriented therapies that work on developing new methods of relating to food.
A common fear of Medorrhinum children is the fear of being alone, especially in the dark. The reason behind this fear is really a deeper fear of an unseen "presence," something eerie in the house lurking in the dark. Fear of large bodies of water is the other well-known fear of this remedy type. This fear is related to the fear of eerie, unseen things; something under the water may come up and snatch them. On the other hand, a love of bathing in the ocean is also sometimes characteristic of this remedy.
Another fear that about one in five Medorrhinum children has is the fear of closed-in places. Any time the child wrestles and becomes pinned down, he aggressively punches his way out, completely losing all reason in doing so.
One final note on the mind: if the doctor is very attentive to his or her own feelings about and reactions to the patient, this alone may provide a strong clue as to whether or not this remedy is needed. Some of these children elicit a feeling of disgust in others. It is not that they do or say anything that could be considered repulsive; it is just a general feeling in the observer of something repellent that seems to exude from the child.
Medorrhinum (Coulter):
Even if Medorrhinum starts out to behave moderately and methodically, somehow his actions take on a non-systematic, exuberant coloration. He takes the second step before the first, hurling himself into any chosen endeavor: "When my mind is on a particular point, I act as if it were the only thing in the world, sometimes to my own detriment," an adult patient admits.
Exuberance, enthusiasm, even excess, can be positive traits, encouraging high productivity and nourishing talent. But when unmanageable or misdirected, as seen most clearly in hyperactive children with uncontrolled exuberance, they become serious handicaps. Medorrhinum is one of the most effective remedies for the unruly or undisciplined youngster who is constantly touching things, breaking them, tripping over himself, and rashly lurching to do everything hastily -- as likely to hurt himself as others.
Such behaviour actually reflects a deeper stratum of the Medorrhinum makeup -- the general way in which he processes knowledge and experience. He must act out a situation before it is credible, or even comprehensible, to him; knowledge is born of action, or must first be experienced in action. The child does not learn from being told that the stove is hot but must burn himself more than once before anticipating the consequences of his actions.
Another idiosyncratic Medorrhinum symptom is a deranged sense of time. Time seems to move too slowly. This contributes to his impatience. He is always in a great hurry. Yet, while rushing to accomplish everything that is on his agenda, he is a procrastinator. A methodical approach tries his patience (at best, never a distinguishing feature). He puts everything off until the last moment and must then operate in haste and under pressure.
The hurried quality is often exhibited in Medorrhinum's very speech. He talks hastily, eruptively, in a compulsive rush of words, at times in garbled phrases, beginning in midthought, repeating himself frequently as if fearful of being misunderstood. Thus even in speech habits, this nosode's overall pattern is encountered -- an internal welling up that finds urgent release in an eruptive and exuberant form.
Medorrhinum may perform in spurts of haste because he fears that otherwise he will not only lose his thread of thought but also his rush of inspiration. In fact, when the energy-generating pressure, or the focus supplying intensity are missing, the individual might be unable to collect his thoughts, have difficulty concentrating his mind on abstract subjects, and may be even hard put to express himself, at a loss for words or breaking off in the midst of a sentence.
As mentioned previously, Medorrhinum is usually prescribed as an intercurrent remedy when well-selected remedies, that match the case very well, fail to act. The following cases will help to illustrate this.
The case of a brain-damaged boy of six is an example. The condition had commenced at the age of eight months when he suddenly stopped breathing and had to be rushed to the emergency room. His life was saved, but the brain had been impaired, and soon afterwards the parents noticed signs of inadequate mental development. When first seen by the homeopath he was mentally retarded, living isolated in his own autistic world, emitting peculiar noises, talking disconnectedly and off topic, and with a two-year old's sense of responsibility for his behaviour and actions. He attended a special school where he learned little and could not relate to his peers.
He was primarily Sulphur, which he received regularly during years of homeopathic treatment. His progress in developing mental strength was heartening, and, at length, although still in school for the learning disabled, he was able to take his place as a well-functioning member of his class and family. Certain intellectual disabilities remained, especially in mathematics, and his reading skills were below age level. In many other developmental areas, however, he was well within the normal range of normality. Although he still went off on a tangent occasionally, he could carry on thoughtful conversations most of the time and displayed a well-developed moral sense. He was as controlled and responsible as any other teenager.
But his progress was not uniform. Especially in the early stages of treatment he occasionally relapsed and seemed to lose ground. As is typical of such cases, his behaviour degenerated, he would make loud noises, and retreated into his autistic world. When Sulphur, and Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium, Natrum muriaticum, or Baryta carbonica, which are generally the most useful remedies for treating mental retardation (also the less severe dyslexias, etc.), failed to act, he was given a dose of Medorrhinum 10M or 50M, and the case once again jumped forward; furthermore, he now responded to the indicated remedy. This illustrates what might be called the nosode's "tugboat role" of assisting other remedies to do their work.
Another case was a ten-year-old boy with nocturnal enuresis [bed wetting]. Sulphur, Calcarea carbonica, Natrum muriaticum, and Pulsatilla had helped only marginally, so the physician resolved to address a probable underlying level. Although Tuberculinum is the classic nosode for this condition, the boy's study habits provided the guiding symptoms to the curative Medorrhinum. He was a notorious procrastinator, putting off all the weekend homework until Sunday night, then working in haste until very late. He generally succeeded in completing the assignments on time and, despite the unnecessary pressure, or possibly due to it, got good grades.
A final case was a twelve-year-old girl suffering from asthma. While Natrum sulphuricum, a prime remedy for children's asthma, had helped in the past, its effect did not hold; the same was true for Sulphur, Psorinum, and Arsenicum. There were several suggestive symptoms, but above all, in severe asthma attacks she breathed better from lying draped over a chair with her head down -- an interesting variant of Medorrhinum's time-honored symptom: better in the knee-chest position. In fact, a patient's preferred lying or sleeping position can be crucial for choosing a remedy.
Medorhinum 200X was prescribed every week for a month, then less frequently in ascending potencies. Over the course of a year it was the girl's principal asthma remedy and proved wonderfully curative.
The obvious question is whether the nosodes should not have been administered at the start. Did it break through some impediment to cure and help resolve the case because its way had been paved by the earlier remedies or was it the simillimum from the start? Since every case is unique, one can only speculate. But Medorrhinum, like any nosode, often acts especially well when held in reserve, and is then brought out with a dramatic flourish.
8. Tuberculinum (Tuberculin Nosode)
here have been many preparations from different
manifestations of
tubercule, and they all act. It is a 'nosode' which in one form or
another,
one would be sorry to be without. In potency, killed and sterile and
triturated and, in the 30th potency, merely one part in a decillion, in
alcoholic tincture; and of that, only sufficient used to medicate a few
tinest pellets of milk sugar. By the methods of Hahnemann, the most
terrible poisons and disease products can be so tamed and roped-in as
to affect curatively the strong man, who needs them and is therefore
hypersensitive to their action, and yet perfectly innocuous to a
healthy infant a day old. Neither is the delicate preparation per se a power, nor
is the sick man sensitive all round; but it is only 'like to like' that
makes contact, and then things happen."And as to any objections to its use, founded on its unpleasant origin, Burnett says, 'If phthisis [tuberculosis] can be cured by bread and butter or attar of roses, well and good; but if not, then let us have something that will cure it'" (Tyler).
Physical Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Head:
The head provides a number of clues to this prescription. The first clue is that these children are often born with a large amount of long hair on the scalp and on the back. Most parents remember this hair, as it is not very common for babies to be so hirsute, especially down the centre of the back.
These children develop ringworm of the scalp very easily. The eruption causes circular patches of hair to fall out.
The third clue is that these children often strike their heads. Some strike their heads against a wall or the floor when they are mad. Others do it during a headache. The most common time, however, is during attempts to sleep, when they burrow their heads into the pillow or hit their heads against the pillow or mattress as a way to relax.
(b) Headaches:
Headaches can be caused by studying or by reading or watching television for too long. The headache may begin with visual disturbances like those found in Natrum muriaticum, Sulphur, and Phosphorus: flickering, zigzags, and lights. Occasionally, the child notices that everything he looks at just before a headache strikes has a blue tinge to it. This is very confirmatory of Tuberculinum. Also, as in Phosphorus and Lycopodium, the headache may be preceded by a feeling of severe emptiness of the stomach and an intense hunger.
The headaches are severe, with so much pain that it typically leaves the little patient ravaged for days afterward.
An interesting, though rare, observation is that these children sometimes sweat profusely, especially from the scalp and forehead, during a headache. This is only peculiar to a few remedy types and so may be used to confirm the remedy.
(c) Eyes:
Just as these children are often born with long hair on the head, they are also born with long, full, beautiful eyelashes. The child has a twinkle or brightness in the eyes like that found in Phosphorus.
The sclera [the white of the eye] may have a blue hue. These children are often born with strabismus, astigmatism, or weak eye muscles that give rise to weakness of accommodation such as myopia, all of which cause the child to develop headaches from reading.
Eczema may occur on the eyelids. The children who develop upper respiratory infections also develop blue allergic "shiners" around the eyes.
(d) Ears:
The adenoids enlarge easily, causing Tuberculinum children to develop chronic fluid in the ears. These children develop recurrent ear infections in which the ear becomes red and painful, making the victims cry before the eardrum finally and inevitably ruptures. The ear then discharges thick, yellow pus. Sometimes this discharge develops into a chronic condition with a thin, white discharge that lasts for months.
(e) Nose:
The nose is affected in two ways. Nosebleeds occur from overheating, exertion, fevers, sleep, or from the slightest blow to the nose. The other problem is the ease with which Tuberculinum children contract colds. These frequent colds begin when cold, wet weather passes through the area. Others develop chronic corysas after they drink milk products.
The child who has allergies wakes up with a stuffy nose that stays stuffy until he goes outside to play. Then the nose begins to run with a clear mucus, just as it does in Calcarea carbonica. Authentic corysas begin with the production of thick, yellow mucus that extends to the ears, sinuses, and lungs.
(f) Face:
The face is often pale, or pale with patches of ruddiness, especially on the cheeks.
The face may have terrible acne in the teenager, almost to the point of boils. The central line of the face (the nose, chin, and central forehead) is most affected.
Finally, Tuberculinum perspires quite easily on the face, noted most during exertion or sleep.
(g) Mouth;
The child may be born with anomalies, such as cleft palate or a small dental arch. The teeth are greatly affected. First is the curious fact that the child may be born with too many sets of teeth. In most, the teeth are too crowded and will not align properly along the dental line, so that some of the teeth will lay in front of or behind the others. Commonly seen are teeth that are severely serrated.
These children grind their teeth in their sleep; if a child is old enough to have worked at it for awhile, the teeth may be ground down and perfectly flat!
(h) Throat and Neck:
The throat may show large tonsils from repeated or chronic tonsillitis. With tonsillitis or any respiratory infection (even if the child does not currently have an infection but tends to contract them), one will be able to palpate all the cervical lymph nodes, as they will be large and indurated. The nodes of the neck will feel like a chain of marbles.
(i) Chest:
The chest is greatly affected in these children, just as might be expected from the remedy's namesake. Afflictions vary from physical deformities to acute or chronic infections. The chest may be narrow and long or take the form of a pigeon chest or a funnel chest. The shape of the chest and rapid growth during adolescence often lead to chest pains, felt as stitches whenever there is exertion.
(j) Weak Lungs:
Lung problems may begin from the first day of life. Some of these children are born with fluid in the lungs. Most catch colds frequently that drop into the lungs and settle into a persistent cough. The health history commonly reveals repeated and frequent bouts of bronchitis, croup, whooping cough, pleurisy, or bronchopneumonia. A child seems to recover from one attack, retaining perhaps only a lingering cough, only to suddenly develop a new infection.
There are a few symptoms common to all these respiratory infections. The child has a high fever in the evening that is accompanied by a red face, profuse perspiration, and very swollen, hard cervical glands.
Tuberculinum children develop chronic coughs due to a little tickle in the back of the throat. Weakness of the lungs precludes the ability to recuperate completely, and so the children maintain this cough. Parents might add that it is always there but that sometimes it gets worse. Such a cough becomes more noticeable after playing outside in cold air. Once an acute cough is fully developed, however, it is aggravated in a warm room and eased somewhat in the fresh, open air.
(k) Pneumonia:
Tuberculinum is one of the best remedies to give during pneumonia with chills, nausea, vomiting, and high fevers that recur in the afternoon, and where there is a distinctly red face. The coughing fits that accompany the pneumonia typically begin in the afternoon and consist of dry, painful coughs that make the child cry. Headaches also prevail at these times.
The lungs of the pneumonia patient are full of mucus that makes breathing difficult, causing shortness of breath and wheezing. This is especially the case when lying down at night. While much mucus can be heard in the rattling breathing, the child may not be able to bring it up. Sufferers cough and cough, moaning with the pain of each spasm.
They perspire profusely all over with this illness, most especially on the face. They constantly grind their teeth. They desire cold water during coughing fits. Diarrhea develops, as well as bone aches throughout the body.
The remedy Tuberculinum is also helpful for children who have had pneumonia that never fully resolved and left them with the type of ongoing cough described here and a tendency for recurring bouts of bronchitis.
(l) Asthma:
These children may also develop asthma quite easily. It may be the allergic variety, set off by animal fur or by pollen and grasses. It may follow an acute infection such as pneumonia or come on during a simple cold.
(m) Food Cravings and Aversions:
They strongly crave cold milk and spicy meats such as ham, bacon, sausages, and salami, especially if these are smoked. Many have a strong desire for sweets, salt, spices, eggs, butter, peanut butter, yogurt, and macaroni and cheese.
About a third to a half of Tuberculinum children are averse to eating meat as well as vegetables.
In Tuberculinum cases the main clue is the strong desire for cold milk, some children drinking gallons a day. They also have a high thirst for cold water, even if they themselves are chilly.
(n) Stomach:
Children tend toward poor nutrient absorption or a fast metabolic rate. This can be recognized by the fact that they can eat as much as an adult but not gain any weight.
Like Phosphorus and Lycopodium children, Tuberculinum youngsters may have an increased appetite before or during a headache, feeling an emptiness in the stomach that must be filled with food.
(o) Rectum:
If present, constipation is usually quite severe, with the stools becoming very hard and consisting of little balls. It is accompanied by colic.
The more common complaint, though, is diarrhea. The thin Tuberculinum child may suffer from lactase deficiency, causing profuse diarrhea every time milk is taken. In other children, there may appear to be no reason for the diarrhea. The common history elicited from the parents is that the child has recurrent bouts of diarrhea that last for one, two, or even three months; for some children this type of stool gets to be the norm. Diarrhea may accompany any illness, but especially respiratory disease and fevers. The loose stools often persist long after the illness has ended.
The specific symptoms of the diarrhea may remind one of Sulphur. It occurs mainly in the morning when the child wakes up, forcing the child to run to the bathroom. The stool is painlessly and explosively expelled without effort. This is common with Sulphur and may lead the doctor to mistakenly prescribe it. After the remedy does not work and the case is reanalyzed, it will be realized that the stools do not have the characteristically strong Sulphur odor, nor do they excoriate the anus as one would expect to find with that remedy.
(p) Urogenital System:
Enuresis: The remedy Turberculinum is the best friend that the parents of a bed wetter can have. This remedy has cured more children of the embarrassing, socially-stigmatizing disorder than any other remedy in the materia medica. The problem may be lifelong or have only begun after an acute illness.
For most children the cause of the problem is that they cannot rouse themselves from a deep sleep to get up and go to the bathroom. It is commonly found that after the remedy has acted the sleep is not as profound and the child will awaken if needed.
Boys tend to masturbate from the early age of four or five years. Embarrassed parents mention that the child either masturbates or is always touching his genitals and can maintain an erection.
Girls: Even from menarche the girls develop dysmenorrhea before the period, complaining of severe cramps, backaches, and swelling of the breasts. It is interesting to note that the pains increase with the flow. This is unusual as most women experience relief as the flow becomes heavier.
Some thin, emaciated-looking girls do not begin to menstruate at the normal age. They can get to be fourteen or fifteen years and still not show any sign of approaching menarche. These girls begin to lose weight in their teens, have slow comprehension, and develop one respiratory disease after another. The problem is not so much the menstrual cycle or the lack of it, but rather a deep constitutional disorder that may first make itself known at the expected time of menarche.
(q) Back;
Along with pigeon or funnel chest, there may also be scoliosis. Teenagers may complain that their backs hurt whenever they stand for too long and feel better if they walk about or play.
(r) Extremities;
One may observe out of the corner of an eye that the feet and legs are restless during the interview. The child kicks the legs vigorously from the knees down.
The child may have deformities of the limbs. The children may be bowlegged or have weak ankles that frequently turn. Looking at the fingers and toes, one may notice that they are deformed and crooked, turned medially or laterally. It is incredible to watch these crippled digits straighten out over a period of months with the prescription of Tuberculinum.
There may be abnormally slow bone growth. There may be no apparent problem during the first few years. However, as the child continues to grow older, X-ray examination will reveal that the child is falling behind in bone development.
Alternately, the child may undergo rapid bone growth accompanied by many problems in overall health. With every growth spurt, the tall, thin person grows weaker and more lethargic, with problems such as a runny nose, swollen glands, tonsillitis, and aching joints. The child just lies around watching television until the growth reaches a plateau.
Fingernails and toenails may split or peel easily, be plagued by hangnails, or become ingrown.
The child perspires from the feet, especially at night.
(s) Arthritis:
Tuberculinum is one of the common remedies for juvenile arthritis. The pains and stiffness are aggravated by damp weather, a change of weather, sitting or standing for too long, rest, and first motion after rest. They are ameliorated by continued motion and heat. Children with arthritis wake up stiff and feeling crippled until they move about.
The pains wander and are accompanied by swelling, heat and redness. After the inflammation stops, the joint remains large and becomes externally pale looking. This apparent cessation of the arthritic process only seems to prompt another joint to go through the same sequence of events.
(t) Skin:
As mentioned before, the health history may contain the fact that the child was born hirsute. This is a big keynote for the remedy.
Looking at the child's skin, one finds it is pale, thin, delicate, and has a translucent quality.
This type of skin is very susceptible to ringworm, making Tuberculinum the main remedy for this condition.
The overall allergic predisposition of the child may show itself on the skin as well as in the respiratory system. The child may develop hives.
Eczema also readily develops. Some Turberculinum children have eczema from birth. The eczema and hives have common modalities: the itching is intense at night, as it is in cold air or during cold, wet weather, and is especially intense when the child is undressing for the night. The most beneficial palliative is dry heat.
In general, the Tuberculinum child perspires easily.
(u) Fevers:
These children develop fevers very easily. Tuberculinum is the main remedy to consider for a fever of unknown origin. The fevers usually begin to rise at three or four o'clock in the afternoon and continue into the night, dropping in the morning and rising once again in the afternoon. Perspiration is evident all over the body, but especially on the head. The face becomes very red. A great thirst for cold water is not uncommon.
Sleep (Herscu):
Even though the child is tired he may find it hard to fall asleep both from physical restlessness and an inability to calm the mind. He may need to rock to sleep or bang his head rhythmically on the pillow until he fades away.
Once Tuberculinum children do fall asleep, they usually sleep quite deeply -- so deeply, in fact, that they often lose the inhibition against wetting the bed and urinate. This is a common symptom for Tuberculinum. The sleep may be so deep that the child does not wake up when a parent carries him to the bathroom or even while urinating there.
Almost all of these youngsters grind their teeth during sleep. Many also experience severe night sweats.
Tuberculinum children often wake up slowly and unrefreshed, but eventually they feel okay. However, of one wakes them up or if they are pushed in the slightest in the morning, one will find their tempers very difficult to handle. If the child is allowed to approach the parent, then everything is fine.
Important General Characteristics (Herscu):
(a) Tuberculinum may be called for in the case of a child exhibiting only a few keynote symptoms of the remedy, plus a family history of tuberculosis. This remedy may also be considered for cases in which a disease recurs over and over again. There is a weakness that not only prevents acute conditions from ending quickly but also brings out constitutional symptoms with every acute attack. It is this underlying weakness that forms the basis for understanding this remedy type, similar to that discussed in the chapter on Medorrhinum.
(b) The child is negatively affected by changes in weather such as those coming before a storm, at the onset of cold, wet weather, and in fog and drafts. Ironically, the child tends to be chilly yet prefers the cool, fresh air even though it may aggravate the physical complaints. Their ideal, preferred environment is cool, dry, mountain air.
(c) Complaints often change location from one body system to another, and are never completely eradicated from the body.
(d) Tuberculinum should also come to mind for the congenital anomalies and illnesses that seem to be plaguing humanity ever more frequently.
(e) One commonly finds retarded Tuberculinum children with large heads, swollen glands, and bone anomalies who have constant upper respiratory problems. After taking the remedy, they seem to brighten up and become healthier.
An Illustrative Case (Eugene Nash, Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics):
While on a visit to my daughter in Athens, Pa., I called upon one of the homeopathic physicians of the place, whom I had never met before. He had read "Leaders," and after we had talked books for a while he asked me if I would not like to see a curious case, and there was no money in it, but it had come into his hands from the allopaths who had given it up to die. Of course, there being no money in it, I readily consented to go. Found a child of seven months, with "head on him" larger than a man's head, with eyes pushed out and turned upwards, only movable a little from side to side. It looked idiotic. The fontanelles could not be felt, because of the hydrocephali condition which filled the whole scalp, distending it as above described.
I could not see that the child recognized anything, except that its whining and moaning (almost constant) seemed to increase if it was spoken to or moved.
Inquiring into its family history discovered that several of the mother's sisters had died with tuberculosis. She was the only one left of the family, I think. I gave, with the doctor's consent, a powder of Tuberculinum 1M and advised to let it act. This was on the Monday following Easter Sunday.
May 24th, 1900, I received the following letter:
"Dr. E. B. Nash,
Cortland, N.Y.
"Dear Doctor: -- You will
doubtless remember the case of hydrocephalus you saw with me while in
Athens, and for which you prescribed Tuberculinum. Well,
from that day, the head ceased to increase in size and (though it has
taken no medicine at all, since taking that) has begun to gradually decrease. They
measure it in the same place every Sunday, and last Sunday it was half
an inch smaller than a week before. Will you kindly send me a graft at
once of Tuberculinum
high, that I may continue the remedy at intervals, etc., etc."
I received one letter since, reporting further improvement. I can hardly expect a cure in such a case, but the effects of the remedy, so far, seem to be quite remarkable.
Mental/Emotional Characteristics (Herscu):
Mental and emotional states are often the leading qualities that lead to a prescription of the remedy Tuberculinum. As with all remedy types, the state of the mental faculties will often be the first clue that the child needs this particular remedy, although this may not be the reason that the parents bring the child in for a consultation.
A proportion of these children may be born with mental handicaps ranging from mild learning difficulties to severe mental retardation. Mental or emotional retardation is often accompanied by many other disorders or physical deformities.
Within the wide range of mental difficulties, on the less affected side of the spectrum we find children who merely find it exhausting to apply themselves to a lesson or project. Though the mental aptitude to work at a certain level may be there, the child has a weak ability to concentrate on the task at hand. The strain of focusing on the task, of sitting and doing the work, is too great.
Some develop headaches from studying or concentrating for too long. Because study can easily lead to physical aggravation, the child becomes averse to taking on mental activities. Homework is an agonizing topic for many Tuberculinum children. The parents may state that the child absolutely cannot, or will not, sit still long enough to do an assignment.
Another common scenario of of the Tuberculinum child who excels in school until befallen with a severe illness. Then the spark with which she studied and concentrated flickers out. The parental description is that "ever since she had pneumonia, she just cannot study, concentrate or comprehend the way she used to."
The memory becomes affected, forcing them to read a chapter or learn numbers or letters over and over again. After taking the proper remedy, the child will be able to concentrate and learn much more easily. The degree and depth of amelioration varies greatly, so parental optimism needs to be tempered with actual class reports from teachers who, unaware of the homeopathic treatment, have noticed significant academic improvements.
Restlessness is an important feature of the Tuberculinum child's behaviour. There is an odd dissatisfaction with whatever he is currently doing, which manifests in a desire to move, to change positions, to ramble from room to room and from toy to toy. In church, the parents must struggle to keep the child well behaved.
These hyperactive children are noisy, screaming when upset or when they want someone's immediate attention. They are also loud in general, repeating things over and over.
Tuberculinum constitutes the main group of hyperactive children that responds to changes in the diet. Like Lycopodium and Sulphur types, they react intensely to sugar. But for Tuberculinum children, it is especially dairy products that trigger impulsive, restless, and malicious behaviour. After eating cheese or drinking milk they often end up breaking things and hitting others.
Many parents can tell the moment their Tuberculinum offspring is at all under the weather because the amount and intensity of basic energy expended is greatly reduced. During a respiratory illness she will become lethargic and weak. She will need to sleep long hours or lie in bed all day -- almost the opposite energy expression of her usual self.
These restless juveniles, like Tuberculinum adults, may love to travel. The parents of such a child state that he likes to go to new places all the time. The most common way to elicit this is by asking about car rides. A usually nasty, irritable Tuberculinum child may become quite agreeable, attentive, and playful during a ride in the car. The ride fulfills an inner desire for change.
Many Tuberculinum babies seem to be born irritable and angry, crying and being very fussy, especially on first awakening. The children exhibit irritability, contrariness, or destructive tendencies early and to an extreme degree. These strong negative tendencies may remain hidden until the child has an acute illness. The child with a high fever may become totally uncontrollable in the office: kicking, screaming, hitting, and pushing the mother or father away. "This is unusual," apologizes the parent for a usually well-behaved child.
They have fits of irritability that lead to temper tantrums. During these tantrums it is common for the child to pound his fists and feet on the floor or strike his head on the floor or wall. This "head thumping" is very characteristic of this remedy, as is the strong aversion the child has to being touched when having one of these attacks.
Contrariness is also noted with great regularity; the child is negative. "Let's have supper." "No!" "Let's go shopping." "No!"
There is an intolerance to contradiction that makes the child violently angry. The contrariness and quarrelsome nature, for which this remedy is well known, leads to the aggressive fighting behaviour often seen in these children. When corrected, the Tuberculinum child may tighten his lips, clench his fists, and then explode. This type of child opposes another's every decision. This is the child who disobeys for no apparent reason, deliberately doing what is not allowed.
Parents may complain that it is a constant power struggle over every issue at home. "It does no good to punish him. If is spank him, he slaps me back." Or, "If I punish him, he seems to be unaware of it and continues to act the same way. He is so obstinate."
Mood and behaviour can change quickly. A parent often describes the child as unpredictable, expressing a wide range of responses, even is very similar situations. One time the child will comply with a request. The same request on another day may trigger a temper tantrum. This unpredictability can drive parents to distraction. The child suffers internally, not really knowing what she wants. Yet she knows that she needs something, something other than what she has.
Distructiveness and violence should always make one think of Tuberculinum. One finds both self-distructive behaviour and disructiveness toward others.
This violence may begin after a bout with an acute illness. "Now," one mother reported, "my son Nate is whiny and nothing seems to please him. He has become strong willed, wanting everyting his way. If he does not get it, he quickly becomes angry, making fists and hitting people for little reason." Such dramatic changes in the ability to deal with authority, especially after an illness, should always make one consider the remedy Tuberculinum.
Lodged deeply within the psyche of these children is an eye for an eye mentality. If they are hit, they hit back as a matter of course. If thwarted, they lash out at the offending person directly or indirectly. For example, the child may wait on purpose, dillydally, and waste time dressing just to perturb the parents by ruining their plans. Another method of irritating offending persons is by intentionally ruining their belongings. They destroy books, presents, favorite plants -- in short, anything that is cherished by the other.
These children break things easily, repeatedly, and with enjoyment. Breaking things is one way to release tension. Younger children love to sit and destroy a magazine or newspaper in the middle of the floor of the waiting room. If a sibling builds a model, the Tuberculinum child will break it. It is as if they are relieved of some mental anguish when they demolish something.
The family pet commonly takes the brunt of a Tuberculinum child's temperament. It is very common to hear that the child enjoys choking the animal, pulling the tail, pulling the hair a little too roughly while petting, dragging the pet on the ground, etc. There is a malicious character to this remedy type. The parents often fear for their child's future. "What will he be like when he is sixteen?" is a frequent anxious comment.
The children may also enjoy teasing others in a mischievous way. Their pranks can be playful or have an edge of destructiveness. For example, the child may hide toys of books that a sibling wants. He then watches with pleasure as the sibling frantically searches for the object.
Tuberculinum children who are not aggressive or mentally slow, tend to be leaders. This type of child is extroverted and easily communicative. She looks all around the office, like Sulphur. The child is an "up" person -- active, wriggling about in her chair, asking, "What's an MD? What's an ND? What's this thing for?" She shares with others and has many friends. With her individualistic manner she usually gets what she wants. She tends to be quite competitive, never giving up or quitting when she plays.
The strongest fear of Tuberculinum is a fear of animals, especially cats and dogs and all their wild derivatives such as lions, tigers, wolves, and bears. Unlike other remedy types who have a fear of animals, the Tuberculinum child may try to bluff by ascribing negative attributes to these animals. They state that they are gross, ugly, and disgusting. I recall the case of John, a child who had always loved animals. During an acute episode of pneumonia, he developed a strong fear that his own pet dog would bite him.
Fear of being alone is often found in developmentally delayed Tuberculinum children. They feel that something bad will happen to them if a parent is not around, similar to that of Lycopodium.
Notes on Tuberculinum (Coulter):
Children who have been repeatedly given antibiotics for respiratory tract infections, who can't get rid of one cold before another comes, will benefit especially from a dose of this medicine in high potency at the beginning of the school year. If fact, its value as a preventive as well as its efficacy in chronic ear infections, enlarged glands, tonsils, and adenoids, epistaxis [nose bleeds], enuresis [bed wetting], eczemas, ringworm and other skin conditions, its service in young persons who grow too tall too fast without corresponding muscular development, cause Tuberculinum to be prescribed for children and adolescents more frequently than any other nosode.
The mental instability of Tuberculinum is not the suddenly contradictory mood of some other remedy types, but a chronic, inherent tendency: accommodating behaviour alternates with disruptiveness, tenderness with violence, restlessness with passivity, anger with indifference, reliability with capriciousnes, cheerfulness with negativity, febrile activity with lethargy, need for security and support with the desire for independence, a desire for seclusion with eagerness for intense experience -- making the individual a constant fountain of emotional upheavals.
The alternating moods can be observed from an early age. The normally attractive and affectionate child periodically becomes ornery and disobedient, exhibiting violent fits of temper that upset the whole family dynamic. He constantly wants attention but at the same time desires to be let alone. He is quick to strike out at others, will bite at a restraining hand, or hurls objects with a desire to break things and to injure. The child hurls not only objects but also words, the most offensive, preferably scatological, ones he can muster, and certainly the frequent tantrums of the "terrible twos" -- the violent outbursts of peevishness and fury from little apparent cause -- yield to Tuberculinum as to no other remedy.
Misbehaviour may take other forms than destructive behaviour: this remedy ranks high for excessive stubbornness and wilfulness in a child. The principal distinction is that many other remedy types are content when the object has been gained, while Tuberculinum soon desires something else.
This type can also be mischievous. In fact, a mischievous streak in children often signifies an underlying Tuberculinum susceptibility. One three-year-old with chronically runny ears was not disagreeable. He was, however, unmanageable in an impish way. For instance, discovering the potential of a really sharp pair of scissors, he began to cut tiny, almost unnoticeable, holes in the backs of upholstered living-room furniture. Confronted with these misdeeds and reprimanded, he stoutly denied his guilt and blamed the family dog, Patches. He realized that no one believed him but was sufficiently shrewd to sense that, unless caught in the act, he could not be proven guilty. No threats or punishment could induce him to change his story. And, to make it more credible, in the presence of other family members he solemnly delivered upbraiding homilies to poor dumb Patches.
A pleasing attribute of this type is a lively sense of humor. A ten-year-old girl cured of enuresis by periodic doses of Tuberculinum 1M used to warn her father that smoking, coffee, and alcohol would hasten his aging. One day he parried, "I'm not aging any faster than you, young lady. You are growing older every day yourself!" "Not so," was the ready reply. "Once you're over the hill you start picking up speed!"
Incidently, this child who so fearlessly confronted adults -- parents, teachers, and anyone else with whom she could match wits -- was extremely fearful of dogs and when younger became quite hysterical if approached by one. This fear is a key to the remedy. When the drowning physician finds himself in a sea of non-specific symptoms, it may prove a sturdy plank.
The Tuberculinum dilemma consists in the need to fulfill both the civilized and primitive sides of one's nature. The conflict occurs largely at the subconscious level and, when thwarted, is expressed in tantrums on the slightest provocation, melancholy, restlessness, and alternating moods and modes of conduct.
But the homeopathic remedies are directed precisely at the unconscious level. And the potentized tuberculin virus, like the other deep-acting nosodes, achieves its profound cures by addressing our archetypal conflicts and helping to resolve them.
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