This is the (true) story of a 4 year old girl who I am going to call Zizi (not her real name).
From the age of 3, Zizi was continuously unwell. It coincided with the start of nursery – not uncommon with young children. Her mother told me that Zizi had not managed a full week at nursery and that Zizi’s immune system was very weak. She had had 7-8 rounds of antibiotics prior to seeing me. And it had not stopped her immune system from getting weaker. In fact, the infection kept coming back. It had started a year before and then got worse from October onwards.
Her symptoms were:
A raging temperature; lethargy; huge white spots on tonsils, inflamed tonsils and swollen glands.
At this point I needed a lot more information.
Her developmental milestones were met, with no delays. (This is something I always enquire about with children as any delays can be clues for certain remedies).
Her medical history was uneventful till she was around 2 years old. Once she was toilet trained she started getting urinary tract infections.
Zizi started nursery when she turned 3. From then, she was out of nursery more than she was in nursery, with one thing or the other. It was always her tonsils – every time! She had bright red cheeks and was very hot and sweaty with the fever. She would lie down complaining of a sore neck, moaning and feeling absolutely exhausted. The tonsils were enormous, red and inflamed every time, and sometimes had white spots. She would often get a cough, worse at night. Her urinary problems had diminished, but she was still getting sore tummies.
I asked how Zizi was in herself when not well? The reply was that because she was so tired, her tolerance levels were very low. At it’s worst, she would shout, scream and even hit Mum to get attention. Once she kicked her grandfather to get attention. When well, Zizi was outgoing, funny, sociable and confident.
Did she get angry? Yes, when she did not get her own way. Being headstrong, she wanted to do things her way all the time.
One thing I have not mentioned yet was the tendency in the family for tonsillitis. There were several people in the family who had suffered from this. This was noted as being important.
I studied Zizi’s case and decided on a remedy with chronic inflammation in the tonsils in it’s picture. The remedy is Tuberculinum and is listed in our materia medicas for those with a family history of chest and throat issues. Other symptoms associated with this remedy are:
- taking cold easily,
- symptoms ever changing with ailments affecting one organ then another;
- emaciation,
- relapses with increasing exhaustion and lowered vitality.
This is not a remedy that is used for acute complaints in general. This is very much
a remedy to address long lasting issues so that the person's constitution is made stronger. I found that the physical picture, the family history and the mental/emotional picture of the remedy and the patient matched well.
So Tuberculinum was duly given – just 2 doses of a 30c potency.
At the follow-up 2 months later, her health was significantly better. Her tonsils were still big, but she had not had full blown tonsillitis. There had been no fever since the remedy and only one or two insignificant colds. And Zizi had managed nursery and playgroup without missing any days at all. The nursery noticed a big difference, and she was making friends now which had been difficult in the previous 5 months because she was barely at nursery.
As an added bonus, on her 4th birthday, she decided the time was right to give up nappies at night. I like to think the remedy helped with the process of ‘growing up’.
Zizi is still under my care as I write. There are other issues that come up and need to be addressed – as happens with children. Children grow, develop, blossom and hopefully thrive. Sometimes there are blocks along the way and remedies can help to clear those blocks.
This example shows how one remedy can make a huge difference to the life of one person and the lives of everyone around them.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you know someone who might benefit from reading this, please do pass on the link.
If you suffer from recurrent infections, then you might want to consider how homeopathy can help you. You can always get in touch with me - I am one email away. Here is a link to my website where you can read my other blogs and book in for a chat or consultation.
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