Marianne, a 17-year-old high school student was first seen on March 17, 2011 for complaints with chronic depression, fatigue and lung problems. The fatigue and depression had been present for over a month now. She was avoiding her friends, crying a lot and barely going to school.

Not a good situation as she was in her last year of highschool. She had also quit doing her previously favorite interests, including musical theatre and band.

She was seen by a psychologist who called it a normal teenager thing.

The mother, a teacher, was not so convinced. Additionally, Marianne's older sister had gone through a similar spell at this time in her life.

Health history

Marianne was a sick baby, asthmatic and allergic to many things. She often had diarrhea for no apparent reason. She had pneumonia twice as an infant. The allergies were severe and overwhelming for her mother. She has outgrown most of her allergies but is still allergic to fish. She used to be deathly allergic to peanuts, but has outgrown it. She also used to be allergic to milk. She is highly allergic to cats and fur, will get a runny nose, itchy eyes, asthma and rashes all over.

At one point she was on Singulair for allergies, which helped her physical symptoms but made her very cranky and moody and she became more and more withdrawn, so it was stopped.

Alexa has chronic fatigue and has been tested for mono a few times. She is also very petite and quite thin, but the pediatrician told the family she was in the normal range.

Family history

The maternal grandmother has severe allergies and was a sickly child. She also had severe asthma and almost died twice from it. She is now 84 and doing quite well.

She also had tuberculosis. Oh, here go the red flags for the homeopath, so far everything already looked like a good chance of a history of TB again. The picture shows a scene from a TB sanitorium in the 19th century. TB was rampant.

"And my father had tuberculosis as well," tells the mother. Double TB, that would explain why Marianne had been so sick since a baby. Please see my case "Tuberculosis anyone?" for a similar history in a two-year-old. Fortunately we were able to treat him early. Her maternal grandfather died at 66 of liver cancer, he drank a lot of scotch. He was also a player and had syphilis before he married.

The joys of family history, a gold mine for homeopathy.

Marianne's  father also has eczema, had asthma when young and a history of depression and alcoholism.

Marianne's mother's sister als has chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Both the mother's brother and sister had 'Primary Complex', an initial form of TB.

Assessment:

A teenager with chronic fatigue, asthma and multiple allergies and sudden onset of depression. Strong family history of tuberculosis indicates the remedy Tuberculinum. It is not uncommon for teens who require this remedy since birth to develop depression in their teen years. Her sister went through a similar phase and likely would have benefitted from this remedy also.

Plan: Tuberculinum 200CH

Follow-up April 1, 2011

Marianne reports a bit more energy. She looks better and is wearing full make-up and ear rings, her appearance is quite different.

The mother reports that after taking the remedy Marianne slept a lot for three days. Then she started to see friends. By the end of the two weeks she was seeing and inviting friends again. Now she is more normal overall, still tired, but less than before. Before she was not going to school, missed most of February and had not submitted any work at all that month. This last week she went to school and even played sports.

Her digestion is better, too. Before the remedy she felt nauseous every time she ate, now her appetite is better and she his no longer nauseous.

Assessment:

Good improvement. I decided to give a higher dose of Tuberculinum.

Plan: Tuberculinum 1 MK

Follow-up April 15, 2011

Shortly after the remedy Marianne was teary and weepy.

She functions normally now and is going to school and doing homework. She even started a blog.

Assessment:

She is doing much better. Wait to repeat the remedy.

Follow-up May 25, 2011

Marianne is still doing much better overall, going to school most of the time and engaging in her usual activities and socializing with her friends. She is not depressed any more. Her eating is normal, no nausea. The mother reports that she is however still not quite her really happy self.

Assessment and plan:

She is doing well. I decided to give a higher dose of tuberculinum, 10 MK.

Follow-up June 29, 2011

She is doing quite well. Her spirits are good, she is more cheerful and normal. She is very sociable. Her nausea is returning a bit. She finished all her exams and will graduate from highschool just fine.

Assessment and plan:

Repeat Tuberculinum 10 MK.

I have not heard from the family since, it is December 2011 now, so I'm hoping that all is well. This was a very clear and illustrative case of Tuberculinum again with a clear family history of tuberculosis on the maternal grandparent's side. Please also see my article on homeopathy and epigenetics for more information on the biological mechanisms of infections and family history.