This case study of homeopathic studies 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
ANNA
(Early teens)
MC: BILATERAL CHRONIC INFLAMMATION OF THE MIDDLE EARS WITH TYMPANIC
PERFORATION
(Draining ears)
• Low physical stamina
• Pains in the legs
• Irritability
Pierre: Please, tell me as much as you can about these “draining ears.”
Mother: “My daughter has had chronic ear infections for the last two years. The diagnosis from Mount Sinai Hospital says “very severe bilateral chronic inflammation with bilateral tympanic membrane perforations.” She had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy a few years ago. She has very low physical stamina; she seems to always be dragging her feet. She always complains of stomach pains and various other abdominal problems. She gets high fevers of 104º F. She has cavities in her teeth and, last but not least, she always complains that her legs hurt.”
Could you tell me more about the ear infections?
Mother: “She has a constant low grade fever which spikes at times. She spikes sudden fevers of 104ºF, which get progressively worse at night. Her cheeks get flushed, her face turns red, and her eyes become glassy. She also gets very listless. When she was about two years old she stopped talking for a few months following a high fever. The ears drain yellowish brown liquid all the time. Yellowish liquid literally drips out of her ears all day, every day.”
Could you tell me more about Anna, more particularly when she is sick as well as her history, please?
Mother: “Up until she was six or seven years old she needed a stroller because she tires easily. Her eyes used to get very crusty and because of the enlargement of her tonsils she could hardly speak. She used to get into rages, responding to everything with anger. She had an inability to be calm. She has calmed down now but it doesn’t take much to start her off, especially in the morning.”
Tell me about being tired, please.
Anna: “My eyes hurt a little and sometimes I can’t keep them open. I really don’t have energy to walk. My legs hurt and then I get very cold. It feels like someone hit my legs.”
Please, tell more.
Anna: “I have not slept through the night since I was seven or eight years old. I get up at least two or three times a night. I wake up all freaked out from nightmares. This morning I thought somebody was coming in my room. In my dreams, I feel my hands start to get cold and I shiver. I start to get scared and my body starts to hurt like someone is smacking me. It feels the same as when my foot hurts. It stings like little pins and needles and then it feels as if a rock falls on it.”
Mother: “She is particularly irritated when she wakes up. Nobody can tell her anything.”
Could you tell me about the sensation of being smacked?
Anna: “It stings and it hurts. I don’t like being touched. I don’t like it when people come up to me either, because I don’t know what to expect.”
Is there anything else I should know?
Mother: “She almost never sweats. She just gets red and overcome by the heat, which can lead to an easy heat stroke.”
REMEDY:
Senecio aureus
HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES : EAR INFECTIONS
FOLLOW-UP: (one month later)
Pierre: What can you tell me? Any good news?
Anna: “My ears are not leaking like they used to. My stomach has been much better, it doesn’t hurt anymore. I also had bumps on my arms which are gone now. I have much more energy. I have not been tired.”
Mother: “She has not been complaining as much and the low-grade fever is gone.”
Tell me how all this happened, how it unfolded.
Anna: “I am not as cranky in the morning when I wake up.
The tingling in my legs, feet and hands has also gotten much better.”
How about your dreams?
Anna: “I have not had any nightmares and I have been sleeping a lot better. About two weeks ago, I remembered a place called “Discovery Zone” where kids would hit you or touch you purposely like in the ball pool. I don’t know why I remembered that. Maybe it’s because I noticed that I don’t mind being touched now as much as I minded before.”
Would you say you are continuing to get better, have stopped getting better, or have gotten worse lately?
Anna: “Just this week I felt a presence in the room. I had not felt that for a while. It had completely gone away for a while.”
REMEDY:
Repeat.
SEVERAL FOLLOW-UPS LATER:
Anna: “I have had lots of energy. The bumps on my arms are gone.”
Mother: “She is not complaining, nor is she irritable. We are very happy.”
DISCUSSION
ANNA
(Early teens)
I present this case because this child went to see the best professors and heads of pediatric departments at famous NYC hospitals and they were stumped. A simple remedy resolved the whole problem and much more, gracefully, easily and without pain.
This is a long name for the simple fact that her ears were in such bad shape that they were constantly oozing a yellowish liquid.
Antibiotics were prescribed numerous times weakening the Vital Force further.
She spikes 104ºF fevers. A severe reaction of this kind tells us that the Vital Force may be very strong, yet it should be so since she is only 12 years old.
We have two main remedies (and many more) for a fever that spikes or starts suddenly: Belladonna and Ferrum phosphoricum. If either one were given at the beginning of the fever the whole situation could be avoided.
At a very young age Anna was already experiencing low stamina. Let’s assume her ears could get “fixed.” OK, great but what about the pain in her legs and not having energy? They are an integral part of the disorder.
The remedy can uproot the whole condition and free her of this encroachment upon her health setting up a return to health as a liberation of the PEM.
The feeling “as if somebody is behind me or somebody is in the room” is a common feature of a certain kind of remedies. This is a facet of the case that gives a good clue in the process of choosing a remedy.
She said before that her legs were “hurting as if someone hit my legs.” Now we have the feeling of being smacked at night, the root sensation for all is the same. It must be around this feeling of being hit.
This is a perfect description for my purposes of giving the most accurate remedy. The plant family called compositae has this precise sensation of being physically hit as in a total invasion to boundaries. Now I need to find the right one within that group which the previous clue of sensing a presence gives me.
One could think that with such a description the child might be getting hit all the time. It could not be further from the truth. I even asked the question. There is no doubt this child is being brought up in a nonviolent household. Read on…
When the totality of the disorder fits the homeopathic remedy perfectly, the results can only be perfect.
She is substantially better physically, the ears are fine and emotionally her moods are fabulously better, but she felt a presence this week. This is what I call a precursor. If nothing were to be done at this point, she would probably start having nightmares again and wake up cranky and physically feel like she has been hit. Then the ears would start draining again. That’s the totality in this case. That’s the “roll call” of symptoms in this case. Repeating at this time will boost her Vital Force again and set her at a higher level of health. If we wait to repeat then the Vital Force will weaken further. The remedy must be repeated until the Vital Force can sustain a healthy state.
From time-to-time (every six months) she repeats the remedy if she feels cranky in the morning or if she feels a presence for several days in a row she repeats the remedy.
Two years later she remains well.
