This case study is an excerpt from Pierre Fontaine’s book “Homeopathy, Sweet Homeopathy: Coming Home to Perfect Health”. Find out more information including how to purchase a copy.
ARTHUR
(4 yr old)
MC: COUGH
• Asthma
Pierre: What is happening with your child?
Mother: “He has this horrible cough and his eyes are always tearing. Can you tell me why his eyes get better in the cold?
I don’t know. I could give you a lot of “reasons” that would sound good but really no one knows, Please tell me about the cough.
“Between the ages of 1 and 2 he didn’t get anything, he did not get sick or anything. Then he started to have eczema around his mouth. The skin became dry and lighter in the area. After that, a couple of weeks ago he got croup. He was wheezing and gasping for air. It was very difficult to see him like this. The doctor gave him a steroid medication and he kind of got better. Then he got sick again and he got steroids again but we don’t think he should be on steroids.”
Is this what is going on now?
“No, now he has had a cold ever since he had the croup. He doesn’t have any fever, his nose is running and the mucus is yellowish green.”
Could you describe the cough, please?
“He coughs every morning around 5 AM. It is a wheezing cough. Whenever he runs around he has short bursts of DRY cough. The doctors only want to give him steroids but there must be something better. He is not himself. He complains that he is very hot, he wants to open the windows all the time. He is annoyed, irritated and short tempered. At the same time, he looks for sympathy. He wants to be held all the time. He doesn’t want to be put down. He doesn’t want to eat anything or drink anything. He just wants to sip some water.”
REMEDY:
Pulsatilla. Call me tomorrow.
PHONE: (next day)
“He is not better”
REMEDY:
Spongia tosta
ONE DAY LATER:
Pierre: How is it going?
Mother: “He slept the whole night. He didn’t cough and woke up at 12PM. The short bursts of cough are gone. Usually when he is sick he is restless but this time he slept very well. His watery eyes are totally better.”
FOLLOW UP: (4 months later)
Pierre: It has been a little while.
Mother: “He has been well ever since we last saw you but he coughed all night. His eyes have been watery for a couple days. He is scratching them too; they seem to be itchy. Now he has a barking cough. The cough is not as dry as it used to be. He does not like the heat. I gave Spongia but it didn’t do anything this time.”
That was a good decision. Try to tell me more about him now.
“I noticed he seems to get sick after he has a problem in school. He was very agitated last week. He was breathing differently. I never noticed this before but then again I never paid attention to these things before I started with homeopathy.”
Pierre: What other observations have you made?
“I don’t know, His watery and itchy eyes seem to be the most important symptom I see right now. They have been like that for a couple of days.”
REMEDY:
Euphrasia.
PHONE:
“The cough and the watery eyes have completely cleared up.”
DISCUSSION
“Can you tell me why his eyes get better in the cold?” the mother asked. Truthfully, these questions can’t be answered. To me, this is just a symptom that should fit in with the whole picture. It is what is called throughout this book an SRP define SRP). Indeed, many “reasons” could be given but no one really knows.
It is not in the nature of this child to want to be held so wanting to be held and looking for sympathy become qualities that should be considered as the way he is being affected. Yet, most children want to be held when they are not feeling well. It’s a bit of a quandary but since there were no other qualifying attributes I decided on the remedy Pulsatilla.
The remedy Spongia Tosta acted very well and his condition improved a lot overnight. The parents repeated the remedy a few times during the week. They were watching for symptoms such as either getting hot with or without fever or watery eyes. If either happened the remedy was repeated. Wait and observe is the best way to go about repeating a remedy. In a situation like this, there is no need to automatically repeat the remedy. What is important is to watch the signs of the Vital Force and act accordingly. All is well. There is great order in the disorder one could say. Symptoms don’t occur out of the blue but rather in order.
Here we have the eye symptoms again.
“I never paid attention to the details of symptoms before.”
This is a very interesting comment. People do observe more acutely once they start homeopathy. I believe that alone is a substantial benefit towards knowing one’s body more deeply.
I have to admit that I overlooked the remedy Euphrasia for a cough. His watery eyes led me to feel a tug on my shirt and look it up in the Materia Medica. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the symptoms listed for it in the MM fit a cough very well. Euphrasia is well known for its eye symptoms, particularly for allergies. In fact, the common name of Euphrasia is eyebright.
It never ceases to amaze me as to how deep the MM really is. Every time I read about a remedy, I discover something “new” about it. It is a daily and endless quest for perfection.
