About the ‘Case Receiving Process’ in Children

 

Being homoeopaths, we all know that patients who knock on our door are people suffering from individual and unique pattern of disturbed vital energy, and that’s the fun and brilliancy of homoeopathic science. This holds true for all our patients, including children. But, when it comes to the case receiving process in children, the fun gets even more intense to the extent of thrill. I like this quote very much, quite attuned with what I just expressed-:

“Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.” - John Wilmot

Each child patient has his / her own unique pattern of disturbed vital energy, like adults. But, when it comes to revealing this pattern, children are much more fun to be with, because they live in the world of their own fantasy, imaginations and phobias with hardly any trace of compensation that we usually witness (often as hurdles) in adult cases. Many times while exploring a child’s case, we face difficulties in the form of children refusing to talk, or getting weepy or hiding away behind mother, thus splashing cold water on all our hope and much awaited thrill. This again reminds me of another quote-

It has been a constant observation that if we learn the Art of Patience, if a child is given his space, is allowed to go with his / her own pace, is shown enough interest and thus confidence that we believe in him and his imaginary world, he never lets us down. That’s it. We then have the entire melodrama of his disturbed vital energy getting unfolded either through his talks on fantasies, or phobias, his gestures, timely drawings, interests, etc.

This reminds me of one of my cases, a girl child who suffered from recurrent upper respiratory tract infections with chronic otitis media and oozing from her left ear. She would just not talk, or actually take many seconds to come out with her next sentence. A time came in her case, where I just offered her a piece of paper and a pencil, and that was it. She started expressing beautifully what she felt and experienced and all her phobias, through her drawings. Within no time the entire melodrama of her disturbed vital energy came unfolded!

The Case receiving process in children demands a sound understanding of a child’s psyche, readiness to leave the “adult logics” aside, an open mind that gives them their own space, skill and art of conversation and enough patience (which, of course is a demand in any case in Homoeopathy). Although this sounds challenging, it actually imparts a lot of thrill and excitement, while you travel with them in the case receiving process(period). Once the exploration is over, it fills you up with a sense of satisfaction and elation.

Here I present one case of a ten year old child suffering from multiple corns. This case is one example of what I just narrated.

 

A Case of Multiple Corns

By Dr. Urvi Chauhan

(In bracket is the road of thoughts I traveled along with the case.

In green, is the explanation after the case was over [taken from my lectures]. The finer differentiations amongst kingdoms from the patient’s narration are explained here)

Italics are used to highlight characteristic points of the case.

He first saw me on 27th August 2004 for the complaint of recurrent development of corns over his soles.

When he came, he had 2 big peanut sized, blackish elevated corns - one over the back of his right great toe and one over the sole.

P:      It itches a lot. If I scratch, it spreads. The poison inside it spreads on scratching.

(Quite strange way of description-“poison inside spreads” isn’t it? Lets see if it holds any intensity.)

D:      Tell me more about these corns?

P:      I get problems while walking. I get pains as if it’s been pricked by needle. (HG of something pointed pricking).

As if it is from both the sides- inside as well as outside, something pierced my skin (same HG), as if something hurt me.

(Here, something very interesting I want to share. This kind of talk where a patient describes “somebody trying to hurt me /cause me harm etc. are the words of of a patient needing a remedy from the Animal kingdom, because, one of the main issues of this kingdom is victim v/s aggressor- the feeling is either getting victimized by some greater force or they are victimizing the weaker.

But, most importantly, we cannot start thinking about the kingdom at this junction- it’s too early. First, we need to understand the entire phenomena in its complete existence, the way it is happening within the patient, in order to understand the content and the context of it. Then, we need to palpate other uncompensated areas of his life, so as to check out what vital experience we get there and to finally understand the vital core of the patient.

In this case, if he belongs to the animal kingdom, the feeling of being victimized [being hurt and harmed] will come with a lot more refinement and in many unrelated uncompensated areas. We will see this as the case progresses).

D:      Tell more about this pain?

P:      It’s as if, pressed hard over your hand, some object say-hummmm, table falls over your leg.

Pains as if pressed from both sides on toes, as if that corn is getting pressed and it pains on pressure.

Pain as if pricked by a throne.. as if a stone pricked my skin.

Stone is like,….. it’s pointed stone like a needle. It pains me when I am seating in my class room.

(He is suffering from corns [name] which causes pains and itching, [facts], In that, what bothers him is associated pains - which are of pressing, piercing, pricking in nature and he gives various examples [delusions] to describe this pain.

Type of pains that he describes like piercing, as if pricked by a pointed stone / throne is not an unusual phenomenon with the pathology like corn--it’s a common symptom of corns-so I am double careful even though it is coming with so much of intensity and gestures and if this is the vital- issue it should be true for rest of the uncompensated part of his life as well –so let’s see further-)

(We can witness the issue of his talk – from “something hurting my skin” it is coming now as “throne pricked, stone pierced”.)

D:      How does it affect you? (Your C/C)

P:     I cannot walk properly.

It’s as if pressed from both sides (outward & inward) and then I feel that corn will burst.

(Again he goes back to pressure from both the sides)

D:      Tell me what happens because of that pressure?

P:      It pains as if a stick hit forcefully.

It pains while climbing staircase.

(He travels to another delusion (like hit by sticks) and level below but not further that, so I hold back to my original question.)

D:      What’s the effect of it upon you?

P:     It starts with itching, which leads to scratching and then the pain increases.

Pains as if some injection has been given (HG same). As if hit by a stick / hammer, you just take off that part away, it pains like that.

I feel not to walk only, I just feel like stopping my walking activities. I just want to get rid of it, just want to sit at home and rest.

(Instant reaction to pain is to “just take off that part away” points towards his miasm.)

(Witness or to be more precise palpate the quality of his talk, his experience, his reaction with pain- no where do you sense the cry of victimization. In all the delusions, the experience is being described as a mere matter of fact experience- a throne pricking, a stone piercing, a stick or a hammer hitting, an injection been injected- that’s it- and then an associated reaction. The entire focus of the narration by the patient merely represents the sensitivity towards that experience. This is the issue of Plant kingdom - a pure sensitivity towards a particular phenomenon/experience and the associated reaction pattern.

If this would have been animal kingdom, the narration of the talk would have been completely different – something like “somebody trying to pierce, prick, hit, harm, hurt me, etc. The focus of the talk is not only the sensitivity of that experience [of hurt] but also the associated strong feeling of being victimized {he doing this to me} [if he needs a remedy which is a prey animal]

In this patient, in other uncompensated areas of his life again, you will witness the sensitivity of a plant kingdom)

On asking repeatedly the same question of “how it bothers you” he kept describing the type of pains. So, I decided to move on to further areas in the case.)

D:      What dream do you get?

P:      of ghost- frightful, but I don’t remember them completely.

But I do imagine a lot.

I imagine lion attacking me.

Animals (any) eating away my leg, my arm.

D:      what’s the feeling in a dream?

P:      I am scared when lion attacks, I am scared that it will take me and kill me.

I feel ghost is besides me; I am scared, I just run away from that place. I am so scared that out of that fear I start shivering.(miasm)

D:      Tell me about this fear.

P:      fear…I feel scared. (Keep his hands over his chest).

D:      Tell more about that fear (I repeated the same gesture what he did).

P:      I feel scared (pointing at chest) – you know it feels (in chest) as if when somebody hits you tight- how you get scared – like that when my teacher hits me- I get scared. The part, which get hit, gets red, I get really scared. I then feel I wish I finished all my homework on time.

D:     Tell me more about that fear of getting hit by teacher?

P:     It pains, it pains as if it will start bleeding, as if I got a hurt, like a pin-prick, where she has hit me.

(This reminds me of one case of mine where the girl was very scared of punishments and hitting from her teacher. When this fear was explored further, it beautifully leads to her sensitivity towards blunt injuries- like beatings from scale, stones, injury, falls, beaten hard, like a punch etc. Her Asthma was treated with Senecio that belongs to the plant family Compositae. The plant family this patient belonged to and that of Compositae come quite close to each other- the differentiation amongst them, we’ll see later.)

D:      You were telling me about being attacked by a lion.

P:     Yes, of his attack, I am very much scared. He will attack & his nails will hurt my skin. I am so much scared that I just don’t want to be alone.

D:      what about the attack that you are scared of?

P:      The pains- it’ll pain when nails will hurt my skin- it will be very painful as if something very pointed hit me. Some pointed object pricking inside – I am scared of that.

D:      What are your other fears?

P:      Nothing.

Only of this (points towards his corns), once it will go, my fear will go.

D:      What is the fear about?

P:     What if it grows in size & it will be very very very big and what if it bursts?

D:      So what will happen?

P:     I will have to go for dressing. It will pain a lot.

D:      What kind of pain?

P:     As if when you press the corns intensely (HG), the way it pains.

D:      Like?

P:     as if a big throne pricked from one end and come out from another, very intense.

D:      What is intense?

P:      Meaning suddenly it happens like when there is an accident. How you get scared when you observe that, you get startled- your thoughts starts “what will happen next; what I’ll have to undergo” you know thoughts starts, but the way it creates an impact on you is very intense. (miasm clear-Acute)

D:     Any other incidence which creates impact or which had created any impact upon you?

P:     Yes, I didn’t want to go to school and I wanted to be at home as I was so scared of my teacher. My school teacher hit me and the part upon which, she hit, turned red and it pained a lot. There was itching and the part turned red. I was scared of getting beaten next time from her so I did not want to attend her class again and so was afraid.

D:      Any other incidents?

P:     I can’t recollect at present.

D:      Anything specific you enjoy/ prefer/ don’t like in food?

P:     I like salty food, like cucumber in salad.

D:     anything else about you?

P:     no.

Understanding:

So, from local when we move to a level higher and deeper (dream)-we get characteristic dreams and images (lion, ghost, being pursued, etc). He moves from delusion to fear (feeling level) to again a delusion-‘being attacked and killed’ to again feeling-‘scared’-there we get clue to the miasm-the intensity with which the fear happens and his spontaneous reaction to that. - He then jumps to fear of his teacher- fear is when she hits him-where he jumps back, to an incident of his life where one of his teachers had hit him and the fear was so intense that he didn’t want to go to the same teacher’s class again.

The interesting point is, finally he came to something which remained common to all the areas he spoke of –and that was the sensation he experienced everywhere. The sensation is pricking, piercing, like a thorn, needle, injection, any pointed object.

His sensitivity pointed toward the plant kingdom in general and his sensation, towards the plant order Theales in particular. Theales and Compositae come very close to each other.

Hypericum (belongs to Theales) and Arnica (from Compositae) are both very good drugs for injuries. But, the difference is –

As Phatak defines-

Hypericum-

“An excellent remedy for the injury to parts, rich in sentient nerves, esp. fingers, toes, matrix of nails”.

Punctured or penetrating wounds, very sensitive to touch.

Hence, the character of pains are-

“Intolerable, violent, shooting, lancinating pain”.

Whereas for Arnica- he mentions,

 “INJURIES-falls, blows, BRUISES; after labour; over-exertion; sprains.”

“Exertion of any kind.”

“Excessive use of any organ”

Hence the pains are-

“VERY SORE, PAINFUL, BRUISED; all over.”

The vital experience in Theales is pricking, punctured, piercing as if caused by injury with pointed sharp objects, as if the injury is to nerve endings. This the patient will experience in all the instances of his life with or without being actually injured over the nerves and /or with pointed object.

Where as, the vital experience of Compositae is hit, beaten, sore, lame, bruised as if after a blunt Injury (Punch / box / stick), fall, overexertion, etc. This is the basic difference between the two of them.

Miasm of the case:     

His reaction to this sensation is very intense (shivering with fear) and instant (running away, take off the part immediately, etc.) And he also feels it happening suddenly and intensely.

So, the miasm is Acute.

The patient’s narration speaking of miasm:-

“You just take off that part away”

“I just run away from that place. I am so scared that out of fear I start shivering.”

“very very very big”

“Very intense”

“Suddenly it happens”

So Theales + acute is Hypericum perforatum.

Hypericum Perforatum:

In Allen’s Keynotes-

“Bunions and corns when pain in excruciating, showing nerve involvement.”

Also, Choudhuri mentions,

“Piercing wounds from sharp instruments,”  … “taking on nails, needles, pins etc., come under the influence of Hypericum”.

“ Excessive painfulness, therefore, should be considered an index of the remedy.”

Rubrics- (Complete )

         Sensitiveness: pain: to.

Pain: general: appearing suddenly

Pain: pressing: internal.

Plug, wedge or nail sensation.

Plug, wedge or nail sensation: external

Shuddering, nervous

Wounds: penetrating, punctured: palms and soles, of. {only 2 drugs}

Ailments from: fright or fear.

Delusions, imaginations: specters, ghosts, spirits, sees.

Despair: pains, with the.

Dreams: animals, of.

Starting, startled: fright, from and as from

Corns: general

Remedy given: Hypericum perforatum 1M one dose.

Follow up: 10/09/2004

(His corn over the great toe fell off in first week after the dose)

D:      how are you?

P:     corn fell off on the 6^th day of after starting homeopathic medicine.

No pains/ itching.

           New corn developing on (RL) sole -  but no pains/ itching & small in size.

No dreams now.

No fear of school teacher.

Feel fresh, I feel very happy, I am really enjoying this.

I feel as if I have got new leg, as no pains/ discomfort.

I feel much better.

Plan: Placebo.

Follow up: 29/10/2004

Developed cold with throat pain (took allopathic treatment without informing)

P:     Skin- Hypersensitive, turns red, it was like this since long time but I forgot to tell you.

D:      What happens?

P:      Skins turns red and itching.

(Appears like Urticaria)

O/E:  Right sole: a small corn still present.

P:      but no pains/ discomfort.

Plan: Placebo

Follow up: 10/12/2004

Overall much better.

Skin rash (urticaria) has decreased.

Corn on (rt) sole- > has decreased in size.

Now no frightful dreams. Previously dreamt of being attacked by ghost / lion, but now no such dreams.

D:      What other changes have you noticed since the time of treatments?

P:      I feel better, fresh. Now no pains at all. Now I don’t get scared of my schoolteacher; now I don’t think that she will hit me, no such thoughts. I feel good.

No fear of ghost or any such dreams since the first time itself (after the treatment started), now good sleep without dreams.

D:     How are you with your energy?

P:     I feel fresh, no problems.

No pains, so no thoughts, no fears, so no problems at all.

Previously if I walked  / while seating in classrooms, corn used to give me trouble, pains etc. Now no such discomfort. So nothing is bothering me. I enjoy my studies. I do my homework well, so no fear of teacher as well.

O/E:  Rt Sole: No corn, only black Scar of corn is present

D:     How much better can you say in percentage wise?

P:     80% I am better.

Mother complaints that he does not eat vegetables at all.

Plan: Placebo.

(He kept reporting me from time to time when he felt bothered and till corns went completely. His medicines were stopped and he was asked to report back if any problem appears.)

End of the case.

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Dr. Urvi Chauhan

SWASTHYA HOMOEOPATHIC CLINIC
Email : drchauhan@vsnl.net, swasthyaclinic@vsnl.net

Web site : www.homeohome.com

Web Phone: skype online: swasthyaclinic

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“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.” –Kahlil Gibran