Case 4.13: a spastic child
By Dr. Prashant Shah, India
A two year old child with cerebral palsy was brought in by his parents. He had spasticity with right sided palsy and spinal weakness. He had the following other complaints:
Enlarged head (baby was slanting towards left side).
Frequent, common cold; very low resistance power. (During dentition he had fever, green diarrhoea, etc.)
Nystagmus of right eye.
Past history of chronic diarrhoea.
At the time of his birth, his mother delivered twin boys. One died soon after birth. It was a forceps delivery.
When the child came to me, he had no control over urine; stool was bulky, constipated with an offensive smell. He used to sleep straight with knotting of his legs.
My observation of the patient:
He was a very restless child, constantly speaking, not sitting quiet for a moment.
The moment they entered my clinic (parents and patient), the child started crying with a loud cry. He did not allow me to ask any question of his parents. His mother and father were also busy, paying attention to him to make him quiet. The whole atmosphere was so chaotic that I sent them all out again and called the parents back, without the patient.
The history from the parents:
Even though he had cerebral palsy, he was overly intelligent. That is what was described by his parents. He spoke continuously. He wanted somebody to talk with him. He wanted answers, otherwise he started crying, became very irritable and started throwing things. (Even in the clinic he was constantly talking with his parents and compelled them to answer. But the
funny thing was that he used to repeat the same words and sentences, is what his mother and father said.)
His parents noticed that he has a good recognition of the noises of vehicles passing by the street, whether it was a car, scooter or a city bus. He could recognise sharp noises very well, like crackers, the noise of utensils, music, the whistle of a pressure cooker, etc.
According to his parents, he had a very sharp memory. He could remember things which happened months ago. He would tell the same thing in the same words.
Another characteristic was that he wanted new things all the time. He wanted to be busy, either by physical movement or by talking with somebody, constantly. When he started crying, it was very difficult to stop him or divert his attention. At that time, he made his right side stiff by clenching his right palm. He was really an obstinate child. He used to hit his brother, if his brother did not follow him.
Analysis
In the case of a child, PQRS symptoms are very important. Often it is the entry into a case, and if we rely upon such symptoms, there is no guess work or theory involved.
I learned from my teacher that, that which is unexplained in a case, is the remedy. Looking at the behaviour of the child, I found following symptoms quite unusual.
1. His need for being busy, having a conversation, and the repetition of the sentence or words said by his parents. I could not understand that, so I took it as a symptom.
Conversation, desires for
Repeats same thing
2. He recognises the noises of the vehicles passing in the street very well.
Sensitive to noise, car passing on a street
Sensitive to acute noises, vehicles
These two things were peculiar and rare symptoms in the case, so I looked in the 'Complete Repertory' for appropriate rubrics and to my surprise I found the remedy: Chenopodium anthelminticum. And to my even greater surprise, under the general section of the same remedy, it is mentioned:
'Paralysis one side, paralysis right side.'
I gave that child Chenopodium 1MK on 18.3.97.
I repeated it every month looking at the pathology in the mental and physical sphere. Slowly and gradually he started improving over the span of three months. His head, which was enlarged, has reduced considerably in size. The salivation stopped. He never had a severe common cold after the first dose of the remedy. Now he feels the sensation of urine and stool and he has developed control over them. The most important improvement is in the cerebral palsy. The stiffness of his right side, upper extremity has gone completely. There is some improvement even in the lower limbs. Now he can lift his hand. He can sit on the floor without any support. He developed an extreme desire to walk. On the mental side, his tendency to repeat is reduced to a great extent. His desire for conversation has also gone down. Now he can seat quietly for some time. His obstinacy and weeping disposition are also reduced. The remedy was given in a 1MK potency, every month for thirteen months, with the above mentioned improvement.