Brachythecium rutabulum
Case by Britta Dähnrich
Boy, 9.5 years, epilepsy.
The mother comes alone for the first consultation, because she first wants to report without the presence of the son and it would be quite an effort to bring the son to the practice.
He is severely handicapped and sits in a wheelchair.
He has epileptic seizures when he is frightened and is afraid when a door opens, often he gets a seizure because of fear.
At birth, he lost half his brain because the child's head was stuck in the second uterine's muscular ring (the mother had an uterine anomaly). He was born dead, was reanimated for 13 minutes, the mother was almost bleeding to death. He then had a severe cerebral haemorrhage, was operated, everyone thought: he will not survive. After the operation he had a massive skull deformation, looked terrible. He was getting worse, he was not eating, and although he was probably in great pain, he never screamed.
At 11 months, he was operated by another neurosurgeon again, he got a new skullcap and the massive head deformation was lifted. He was much better. 4 months later he again had an operation to remove the screws.
He has never slept carefree ever since. Haircutting, washing his head were very difficult when he saw that the mother was combing her hair, he shouted.
He is afraid of doctors, he says: doctor no, hospital no.
He is particularly startled when the doors open, when it is cracking somewhere, when it rings at the front door, everything that makes noise, e.g. also the toaster. If he is startled, he has extreme muscle twitching, tremors.
Every change is stressful. He likes to have solid processes and rituals. If anything is different, e.g. visitors, he asks non-stop, how many minutes, and hours it still lasts until the visit comes, he is then very excited. He is totally open, sees and hears everything, is never focused on one thing.
He is afraid to fall asleep; He does not want to sleep at noon, no matter how tired or sick he is. In the evening he tells the whole daily routine in the complete sequence. He then says before falling asleep always: "Hospital bed stupid, here Heia-bed great" (he had the last big operation at 1.5 years).
He likes to be the observer, does not like to be part of the group; but he gets in contact; as soon as he has played, he withdraws and observes; He always has to look what the others are doing.
He is interested, has a strong will and has many tricks in store to enforce his will.
At the age of 2 ¾ he started to speak, the oral motor skills and the language are delayed.
He likes to travel by tram, bus, suspension railway and boat.
In the evening, he prefers to have everyone wear their pyjamas, all the blinds are down and nobody will come anymore. He resists when the parents want to leave. He cannot stand any stranger when he is tired.
He is startled when falling asleep.
He loves to eat, he is an enjoyable eater, he likes to go to the restaurant, and to different restaurants.
He is interested in movies with cars and with planes, likes music videos where people dance.
He likes to travel to where he has never been before, by train, tram, etc. He likes to sit somewhere else. He lets himself be shown everything by the conductor, takes pictures, etc. He only gets frightened in the flat, unforeseen noises are possible on the street.
Last year, the mother was with him for 6 weeks in a rehab, since then he is afraid when the door opens, he then cramps. That's where the epileptic seizures began. The program was tight there and probably overwhelmed him. He always wanted to go home. When he returned home, the seizures were less frequent.
In the second consultation, the mother comes with her son, he has a friendly nature, anxious, he screams shrilly at unforeseen sounds. In between, he dives into his own world. He speaks indistinctly and not complete sentences, the mother often has to translate what he says.
The mother herself gives the impression of being brisk, assertive, ambitious and restless.
Analysis
Because of his severe skull injury at birth with subsequent disability, I think of a moss. The strong power to survive (dead at birth, no one believed he would survive the skull surgery) indicates a moss, as well as the diving into his own world. Strong will and assertiveness, mother and father do what he wants and fully adapt to his needs; mentally simple, open to everything.
I choose Brachythecium rutabulum as the combination of trauma, mental retardation, lack of focus, friendly nature, and a dominant mother indicates Brachythecium for me.
Phase 5: likes to travel, go out in restaurants; very friendly and open; stuck at birth; cerebral haemorrhage.
Phase 7: epilepsy.
Stage 13: withdraws.
Therapy and progress:
Since he is very sensitive to external stimuli and the therapy with the mosses is still in the early stages, I start with a daily dose of Brachythecium rutabulum C6. After about three weeks I have a phone call with the mother and she reports that the twitching in frightening situations has not come up any more, the fright of a door opening and screaming and crying with fatigue has remained the same. Since I was at that time still quite uncertain whether Brachythecium rutabulum would be the right remedy for him, I gave him Opium C30. At first, he responded well, he could visit the mother, who had a hospital stay for three days, without much fear. However, after two weeks, the seizures came back more often, so I return to Brachythecium rutabulum. After two weeks of Brachythecium rutabulum C6, I gave C12 daily and since then, a steady process of improvement has been observed.
After four weeks, the mother reports that he is more balanced, falls asleep well and the problem with the opening doors is better; the toaster noise is still the horror, she says.
After another four weeks, the problem with the doors opening has disappeared, he does not scream so loud when he's startled. The mother can go away for an afternoon without being a drama.
In the special school the teachers reports that he can be challenged more. He once ran away from school to look at buses.
Another two months later, the mother reports that he has had no convulsions for four weeks (at the beginning of treatment 3-6 times daily); he is now frightened in the normal context, so no longer with all sounds and trifles.
The mother continues to say that a normal evening after long years is finally possible for her, since he only slept when the mother was at his side, otherwise always quickly startled. Now he falls asleep quickly and well and does no longer need the mother at his side.