Call me Bhaiyya..."
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 Jan / Feb VOL VII NO 1.
Dr Vishpala Parthasarathy
' Nat-m / Tarent / Phos
A diminutive little fella of 3½ years, walked in one day, wanting to
be all male -tall and muscular. He was wearing shorts and T-shirt &
walked with swagger, so I was very surprised when the mother told me
that the child's name was Divya and that she was a girl. On hearing
this, a shadow passed over the little fellow's face Even now I could
barely accept she was a girl, and had been calling him Beta all
along.- which had made him/her very happy. I learnt later that she hated
being called beti, hated wearing dresses, and would not even wear
earrings.
All her characteristics were masculine. Very dominating, obstinate, and
would get terribly angry when things do not go her way. Totally
fearless. If upset, can walk out of the house at 10pm and go down and
stand at the gate, without being scared of the dark or the lonely road.
She is very moody -occaionally wants to be alone. Strangely, she is very
religious too- love sdoing poojaan d reading the Ramayana. Loved
company. Very attached to her mother grandmother and sister, whe is 7
and very feminine.
She had not gained in height for last 7 mths, and stood at 3 feet
nothing, weighing 12 kg. She often-got colds and cough at weather
changes. Mosquitoes had a field day biting her legs, leaving long
standing marks.
She liked Sweets 3 & chocolates and glucose biscuits. Poor thirst.
She war born normally weighed 3-2 kg, with normal milestones except talking which she started only at 2 yrs.
Here comes the question- what are we treating and what are we expecting.?
The patieent has come to us only for increase in height and building up
the resistance so as not to catch frequent colds. But we think ahead-
what is to be done with this girl-boy? Can we change her to be mid-level
feminine at least? Is the testosterone level so high as to be difficult
to go back. Would she then need a sex change operation?
You cannot blast the parents with all these options at the first go. But certainly all of these have to be dealt with.
To begin with, these very characteristics will help you choose her
remedy. Then you will have to see how much change your remedy can
wrought. She is only 3 ½, so time is on your side.
Rubrics Chosen: (from Robbins Repertory).
| 1 |
Ro |
Aggressive |
|
| 2. |
Ro 1078 |
Masculine girls habit of |
car-v, nat-m, sep, petr, plat |
| 3. |
Ro 1038 |
Egotistical |
nat, sep, sul, Verat |
| 4. |
Ro 1018 |
Contrary |
Nat-m Nux-v, Plat |
| 5. |
Ro 1071 |
Jealousy children |
nat-m, nux-v, sep |
| 6. |
Ro |
Religious |
nat-m, Lach, Sul |
| 7. |
Ro 1018 |
Bold, Courageous |
Nat-m, Opium, Sul |
| 8. |
Ro |
Late talking to |
|
And
Natrum-mur emerges as the drug of choice.
on 4-2-98
Nat-m 10M was given.
11-2-98 She came with pursed lips and wearing a dress.
Ars-a was given for her colds.
18-2-98 Loose motions.
20-2-98 Motions > cold.>
21-3-98 Cold > No further improvenment ;
Sul 200 - 1 dose as intercurrent.
Further watch on the case is being kept. There is some change, so we can
safely expect some more. How much, is anybody's guess.We can only wait
and see.
Case 2
Talking of 3½ year olds. I do not know whether these are aberrations or
fast becoming norms? I have yet another, a much worse problem on hand
and am at my wits' end. So I need help from you.
This boy acts more like 17-year old and holds his mother to ransom at
every turn. What clothes to wear? "Bola na, yehi pahanta huan!" (I told
you no, I am wearing this only!) Wants long pants to go down to play but
for a party, he will wear a faded T-shirt. He will eat what he wants
and drink Pepsi all day long. "Sonu (his father) drinks beer all day,
why can't I have Pepsi all day?," he asks. One day, last week, he wanted
MacDonald's chips at 11 p.m. Much tamasha was created and at the
grandparents' request, the parents took the child just as Macdonald's
was about to close. The mother literally had to beg them to give him
chips.
As for violence, he has written a new chapter on the subject. "Sunte kyo
nahin? Chaku ghusa doonga!" (If you don't listen to me I will put a
knife in your stomach)! He beast up the servants and the children
downstairs till everyone runs away on seeing him. And yesterday, his
mother said: "He raped his sister's doll i.e. tore her clothes in a very
suggestive way. Where does he learn all this? Such language even I have
never heard!" And she has heard quite a lot, considering her husband is
an alcoholic and outspoken. But now there are hardly any fights at
home.
TV influence? Maybe. But the mother has disconnected all channels except
the canton channel. She has dismissed all the male servants and employs
only girls whose language may not be so profane. She has warned the
elder boys not to play with him, so only little children play with him.
In school he is a very good boy, the teacher says! The mother almost
laughs in her face.
His Other complaints : Hardly eats and has severe constipation.
The remedies given so far are:
- Opium 1M and 10M single doses, which helped in constipation and sleep
- Tub-b 1M and later 10M as intercurrent.
- Verat-alb 1M
- Now I have given Tarentula-h 1M
- What I want to give is Mag-flour : Quarrelling parents
suggests Mag. Violence and rape and money spending suggests Flour. I am
now trying to procure that. In the meanwhile I may even try Fluoric-acid itself.
- Any other suggestions anyone?
Case 3
Parents can spoil the sweetest child!
A very good-looking, smartly-dressed mother brought her 3 year old fair,
lean, handsome baby to me on 27-1-98, saying "Doctor, he gets colds all
the time. For the last 7 months, every month he suffers, and the whole
house panics and he has to be given antibiotics. I have brought him to
you to build up his resistance. But when he gets an attack can I give
him antibiotics for quick relief? On hearing my firm 'No!', she almost
cried. "Doctor, you don't know my husband and my in-laws. They bring the
roof down and even make me panic". "So you will have to train them" , I
told her. "Plus I will give you acute medicines to control the attack."
Thus armed, I thought we were ready for the battle. But not quite. There
was more to come. Of course, I should have expected it. This was a
spoilt, protected child we were dealing with. She said, the child is not
scared of anybody; he is very stubborn, does what he wants, cries and
gets angry if he does not get his desire. He beats the servants, he
throws things and kicks. His sleep too is very disturbed and he sucks a
napkin while sleeping.
So, now, is this child like my previous difficult case? Another Hitler in the making?
I examined the data so far. Mother says he is fearless. But is he? She
just said he is not scared of anyone and does not listen. Why? Because
he has been trained to do so. Otherwise, I felt sure he was a fearful
child : he takes a comforter. On specific questioning, I found that he
was scared of being scolded, thunder and cockroaches. And his
constitution and mind - loves company and has a very good memory had
already made me think of Phos.
So I told him a story about my dog Churchill. I said he is a very good
dog but sometime he becomes very naughty and troubles us, and goes and
piddles in the balcony. So what do I do? I tell him "Churchill you have
been a very bad boy and I am going to lock you up! Then I command him -
Churchill, go and get locked in the Red Bathroom!" and he quietly goes.
Now, you, Ankush are a good boy and so we will not lock you in the
bathroom. But if you are naughty, I will tell your mother to put you in
a chair and you will sit there for 5 minutes, till you say sorry. Is
that OK? He readily agreed.
And our battle of the disobedient child was won.
Phos did the
rest. We had no major attack in the last 2 months. His father was so
impressed, that he, who never believed in Homoeopathy, started treatment
for colitis. And he too has been tamed - by
Kali.
We have taken 3 cases and we must examine the issues which come up. Who
is the culprit? I have a lot of theories on these and my brain has
started working overtime on this. So I am going to collect all these
thoughts and keep adding all these cases for the next 9 months and
deliver a perfect baby on January 31, 1999, when we have our Vth SSMS -
same time, same place next year.
