CHILDREN MIND TECH

A little girl aged 8 years was brought to me with severe bronchial congestion which was not allowing her to breathe properly restricting her to sit bending forward, her head almost touching the knee at home.

Since last two days she had been suffering from this problem after exposure to the cold winds during the change of climate.

As her father was a defense personnel, they had given her allopathic medicines with which she is able to at least sleep in the night but again from morning the wheezing and cough starts incessantly making the child very restless and the parents feel pity for her.

While in the clinic she was sitting calmly on the chair looking mostly towards her father evading my look. But when asked, she used to look towards me and nod. She was holding a handkerchief and almost played continuously with that till the time she was in the clinic.

His father told till the time they were giving antibiotics she was sleeping during night time but yesterday night after the course was over she stopped sleeping at night. Through out the night she was changing her position restlessly on the bed. When we tell her to sleep without any movement, the cough used to increase and she used to become more restless. She will listen to us and stop for sometime controlling her cough but after few moments when we fall asleep again she starts moving on the bed.

She never calls her parents for any help though she continuously coughs through out the night. It is only when the parents get up after hearing the sound of her cough, they ask her if she need any medicine or help but she tells them calmly to sleep and she would manage on her own.

She would never miss her school even during the extreme state of her sickness. She is the house captain and her house is the best in the school in junior category. She topped in the class and at the same time managed her house to bag the best in category award. She used to bring works related to her house even during her bronchial congestion and work till they are finished.

The peculiar thing the parents told me that till the time she is totally down with the sickness when ever she is free from her work she used to run on the bed in circular manner and enjoy doing the same. Only when she is totally down she lie on the bed but she never disturbs any body for any help and try to manage her problems on her own.

A dose of Cocculus Ind. 30 was given to her which reduced her cough immediately and she got total relief in a week.

The following rubrics were taken for prescribing the remedy.

RESTLESSNESS - bed - tossing about in - amel.
PLAYFUL
CARES, full of - others, about
RESPONSIBILITY - taking responsibility too seriously

Let us try to understand this case from different facets.

In a case the most important point where you should prescribe is the Concern, Adaptation and Reaction of the patient during the sickness.

Here the adaptation is very vital as the girl was trying to manage herself to be at ease during the sickness with out troubling her parents.

The adaptation was tossing about which gives relief to the patient. The girl used to be very restless because of the cough but continuous movement up and down helps her to ease the suffering. (Toss – throw up, to move impatiently, to be flung to and fro, toss up a coin)

We have two remedies in this rubric, Chamomilla and Cocculus Ind.

Now we can easily differentiate these two remedies by understanding their concern and reaction during sickness.

Chamomilla individual is totally uncivil in her behavior towards others let it be her own parents or any fellow person.

ANSWERING - civil, cannot be

She is very abusive and reacts very violently during suffering.

ABUSIVE
VIOLENT - pain, from

These children can not tolerate suffering and keep quiet, rather they keep on complaining about their problem even to the extent of exaggeration, never allow their parents to be at peace for a moment, always wanting them to do something so that they get some relief from the suffering. Though the parents try their best to help them during the crisis but they are never happy with their parents and never hesitate to abuse them in front of others.

COMPLAINING - disease, of
EXAGGERATING - symptoms; her
IMPATIENCE – wants the doctor to cure him at once (Complete Repertory)
CARRIED - desire to be carried
DISCONTENTED - wrong, everything another does is
ABUSIVE - children - parents; children insulting

In the above case the girl is very caring and sees to it that during her cough and extreme suffering also her parents are not being troubled by her. She tries to control her cough when her tossing disturbs her parents from sleeping but when it goes beyond her control then only her parents come to know about her suffering.

CARES, full of - others, about

Though she is suffering during cough but she takes full responsibility of her house and unmindful of her own condition. She feels that others shouldn’t suffer because of her illness.

RESPONSIBILITY - taking responsibility too seriously

Cocculus Ind. individuals always gives precedence to other’s welfare. They enjoy taking responsibility and fulfill them happily. They keep themselves occupied with play without disturbing others. You will notice these children play on their own without asking for any partner. Like moving their car on the bed during sickness, crossing the fingers of both hands and playing with them, they just love playing. They are so mild that they will never complain for little disturbances they face. Even if there are problems they will not complain and try to manage by making some compromise as they feel it will help other to be at peace.

PLAYFUL
MILDNESS
YIELDING disposition

Though both the remedies are in the same rubric but their presentation during the case will differentiate them easily.

Cocculus Ind. child will toss about on the bed as the suffering is at the peak and only by tossing she gets relief but she will see to it that it does not disturbs her parent and will try to control the tossing when they gets disturbed.

Chamomilla child will toss on the bed with lot of noise (NOISE - inclination to make noise). She will purposefully disturb her parent and make them to carry her till the time she gets relief.

We have to be very careful in considering rubrics for repertorization not just mathematically but by understanding their purpose, why and how they are present in the rubric from the source books. This will lead us to the similimum.