A case of a boy with recurring infections and failure to thrive and a sister with mood changes and bed-wetting

Little Jaime, only two years old, has platinum-blonde hair, angelic blue eyes with enormous lashes and an almost translucent complexion. His also charming, green-eyed, four-year-old sister Alexa had come along for the visit and was fighting with her brother over the office toys the entire time.

"Jaime has had problems from birth. He was born underweight and has never really thrived. He has had many infections from birth, including a deep case of bronchitis just recently as well as ear infections. He is sick every six weeks."

He looked absolutely angelic, if a little pale. He has had chronic diarrhea from birth and has never had a normal bowel movement.

"His stool looks like chopped spinach", the mother reported and as if on cue, Jaime had a bowel movement into his diaper, yes, just like chopped spinach.  He also gets blistering, fiery red diaper rashes when he gets sick. He has a history of hives from eating wheat and the mother showed me photos of him being covered in itchy hives.

Family history of multiple allergies

He was tested as allergic to gluten, eggs and cow's milk. Both parents are sensitive or allergic to cow's milk. The father has allergies to wheat as well.

The mother's brother was very sick during his first three years of life and hospitalized most of that time due to failure to thrive with chronic diarrhea. Then the brother had a daughter who almost died from intestinal bleeding after being put on cow's milk formula and ended up in the hospital for four months as a result.

"My brother also had chronic congestion from birth like Jaime. And here is an odd thing: He would only eat meat as a child, only red meat. He still mostly likes to eat meat."

Homeopathic antennas

By now all the homeopathic antennas were going off. With all this failure to thrive in two generations, chronic diarrhea and infections and the family history of dairy allergy as well as the brother's strong desire for meat the main choice was already clear: Tuberculinum, a homeopathic remedy made from Tuberculosis. People with a family history of tuberculosis often exhibit all those symptoms, including a strong craving for meat, as well as the unusually long eye lashes that graced little Jaime's face.

Now it was time to ask peculiar questions about confirming symptoms.

"Was there anything unusual about Jaime's hair when he was born?"

"Yes, funny you would ask. It was so strange, he was born with tons of dark hair, it was actually shocking. So was Alexa. And I had hair growing down my back when I was little."

Perfect. Children requiring Tuberculinum are often born with full heads of hair and the hair may grow down the back in a line.

"What about perspiration?"

"He is just soaked when we wakes up after naps, especially his head."

Check!

"What about his sleep?"

"He sleeps way too much. He as three hour naps and sleeps from 6 pm to 8 am when he is sick. Any less sleep and he looks totally run down. When he is sick he lies on the couch and looks like he is dying." Just a TB patient. Check!

"What about head thumping?"

"Yes, he does that also. He'll thump his head against a window or pillow or against my legs." Check again - Tuberculinum is one of the big remedies listed under head banging.

A bed-wetting sister

Meanwhile, Alexa was taking yet another toy away from her brother. It turned out that she was a bed wetter, which is not that uncommon at age four, but was also another red flag for Tuberculinum. Tuberculinum is probably the number one homeopathic remedy used for bed wetting. The mother had recently tried a new kind of diaper for her which had caused an allergic reaction which in turn caused an infection and was treated with antibiotics. Alexa had been very grumpy and short-tempered since then and was also refusing to go to Kindergarten, whereas she had enjoyed it previously. Sudden mood changes after an infection can also point to Tuberculinum.

In short, both of the kids needed Tuberculinum and happily received their little pills in the office. The mother called three days later to report that by the time the family had gotten into the car Alexa was back in love with her little brother instead of fighting over toys with him and proceeded to go to Kindergarten the next day.

Four weeks after one dose of Tuberculinum Jaime has not had an infection, has stopped perspiring during naps and is no longer banging his head. He is also no longer suffering from bronchial and nasal congestion in the morning which was chronic before.

His digestion is not normal yet but I am sure that it will also improve over time.

Alexa meanwhile has some dry nights now.

Grandpa had TB

Lastly, the mother reported that she just learned that the children's father's father, or paternal grandfather, had had tuberculosis as a youngster, although he was told it was polio!

Check, check and triple check!!

I think that there must have been a history of tuberculosis on the mother's side as well, based on the numerous tubercular symptoms of the mother's brother and niece, as well as the mother having a dairy allergy and being born with hair down her back.

Homeopathy recognizes symptom patterns like this, successfully links them to family health history and is able to treat them effectively, in this case with a remedy made from the disease which affected the previous generations, not unlike a vaccine given after the fact. A great way to treat people, especially kids, and lots of fun for the homeopath to figure out and dream about the wonderful possibilities for future generations if homeopathy was used more widely and from birth.

Please also see my article on homeopathy and epigenetics for more information.