Case of an Eleven Year Old with ADHD Solved with Homeopathic Facial Analysis

Patient: 11 yrs old girl – Dx: ADHD, ADD, OCD, Tics, diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome.

First visit – December 2011 (“A” refers to the patient)

Per her mother:  A is a very social girl.  She is the fourth child in a family of five kids.  Within the past 3 years she has started some doing some tics. She has always been such an easy kid, but now has become more disruptive and isn’t maturing as fast as her siblings did and/or her friends.  We went to the doctor a year ago and she was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome (doctor said she displayed all the typical signs) and I was devastated.  I will use drugs (Tylenol, antibiotics, etc…) if we have too, but to look at putting A on drugs that may not even help – I just felt hopeless when we left.

She tends to make a noise which irritates her 5 other siblings. A has to make noises when reading out loud. She has also started making noises during times when she should remain quiet, like in church and school. Thankfully we homeschool, even though that can be a challenge since she mentally does not have the same stamina as her siblings.

A does suffer with headaches – they are not often, but when she gets one, usually she has to just go to bed.  I wonder if they are migraines.  She doesn’t see an aura, but they do wipe her out.

I have noticed in the last year that she will get sores on her face.  I really don’t think they are pimples; they look like red sores around her mouth and on her cheeks.  She can have dry, chapped lips in the winter.

We just went to the dentist and she had five cavities!  I couldn’t believe she had so many, when the rest of the family had none.  The dentist always has commented that our children have such strong teeth and so does A, so why so many who knows?

She tends to have a lot burping and flatulence (one of her tics is burping though).  I think it is linked to some of the foods she eats?  She did have acid reflux when she was an infant.

She does have some warts on her hands.  Nothing terrible.

She craves sweets, cheese, fried foods, cakes and pastries, fruit juice and milk.  She tends to like to eat a lot and we are trying to control it – she should be a lot heavier than she is.  She is not my skinniest kid, but you can tell she is not overweight either.

Last week she woke up two nights in a row about 1 am and was crying.  She got up to talk to me about her dream and went to bed, but remembered nothing about it in the morning. Falls asleep fast, she sleeps on side, and sweats during sleep.  She has frightening dreams like being left somewhere, family being eaten by dinosaurs, and one where she can’t find her toothbrush.

She is very frightened by thunderstorms and lightening and is happy to share a room with her sister when there is a storm out.  She also does not like hot weather.  She tends to run warm, and even in the winter will refuse to wear her hat. When it is hot outside, her face will get really red, but she really doesn’t sweat.

She’s very scared of heights, public speaking, and is uncomfortable being alone, especially in the dark.

Her tics right now are:  clearing her throat, eye rolling, eye darting, high pitched noises, moves her hands – spreads them apart, sniffling.  She tends to be worse in the afternoon.  And they can be worse if she is mentally excited.

She loves to play on the computer, draw, play outside, jump on trampoline, play tag (games), and just being with her friends.

She’s easy going, but will hold her own. She does fight with her siblings and will kick and hit on occasion.  It’s so hit or miss with how she will interact with them.

My pregnancy went fine.  She came very quickly, as soon as they gave me my epidural and laid me down; my blood pressure went way down and I was in danger.  I was given a shot, and in less than a few minutes she was crowning.

As a baby she was good.  She ate plenty but spit up often. That’s when we found out she has acid reflux.  She also would not lie down and sleep, so she often slept in her swing or car seat.  All of her childhood milestones were average.

Some traumatic things that may have impacted her…2 yrs old her baby brother was born and she was very jealous, she started nursing again fulltime for about 3-4 months.  4 yrs old we had a major house fire.  At 4 yrs old she was abused by a family friend: She has no remembrance of this being a hurtful thing – it was all a game to her.  6 yrs old her oldest brother was asked to move out.

FEARS:

Heights

Public speaking

Alone and alone in the dark

AGGRAVATIONS:

Warmth

PM aggravation

Mental exertion

Mental excitement

AMELIORATIONS:

Eating

Lying down

Playing

FOOD CRAVINGS:

Sweets

Cheese

Fried foods

Cakes and pastries

Fruit juice and milk

SRP:

When she exercises she will get really red, but doesn’t sweat – except she sweats while she sleeps. Note: in the chart below, Yellow = Psora, Red = Sycosis,       Blue = Syphilis

HFA

MIASM – Blue

RUBRICS USED (complete dynamics software utilized):

Mind; concentration; difficult

Mind; dreams; frightful, nightmare

Mind; fear; thunderstorms, of

Mind; tics

Head; pain, headache; periodical

Extremities; warts

Generalities; sensitiveness

REMEDY CHOICE: 

The top remedies to appear were; Sepia, Lycopodium,Silicea, Phosphorus, Lachesis, Conium, Tuberculinum  I choose CON., because of the miasm confirmed through HFA.

RX :  Conium 30C in a 2oz dropper bottle – 5 drops daily…

1st FOLLOW UP two weeks later:

Mom reported that A was a little better.  She says that A has improved in her tics; they are probably the most noticeable. Even her siblings are saying she is better. She said “I need them to help me, because I am not always around her.”

I told her to continue to daily dose and follow up with me in another two weeks.

2^nd FOLLOW UP almost two months later:

A has slipped – mom is disappointed, “she was doing so well.”  Everything was getting better and she said “even my husband notices”…but over the past weekend she starting tic’ing more and more and her attitude has gone downhill; we need to change something.”  She has been complaining of more headaches (which she did have prior to remedies) and her eruptions around her mouth have really come out and itch.  She is consistently hungry – “it’s driving me nuts.”  Help.

NEW REPERTORIZATION:  with the presenting symptoms:

Mind; work; agg.; mental

Head; pain, headache; forehead

Face; mouth, around

Stomach; appetite; increased, hunger in general

Skin; eruptions; itching

Generalities; weariness; afternoon; agg.

REMEDIES:

The order of the remedies was as follows:  Staphysagria,Lachesis, Phosphorus, Aurum., Nat Mur.

Since she came out in the blue miasm (syph.) I choose Aurum.

RX:

Aurum 30 C in a 2oz bottle – 5 drops daily. And a follow up in two weeks.

1^st FOLLOW UP in two weeks:

We are very pleased and amazed – A is better than at the end of Conium.  Her tics have calmed down and she is leveling out emotionally.  She only had two headaches in the last two weeks and is just overall more calm.  Her face eruptions are still present, but not bothering her as bad.

I told her to keep dosing every day and follow up in two more weeks.  Follow up sooner if something happens.

2^nd FOLLOW UP in a month:

Things are still on the up-swing.  She is improving in all areas.  OCD/tics are better than the two weeks prior and concentration is a little better – “I asked her to go do something and she was able to do it and stay on task.”  She is interacting better within the household and her older sibling said that she thinks the medicine is working.

I told her to keep dosing on the remedy and follow up in another month.  Contact me if she needs anything in between.

3^rd FOLLOW UP in a month:

A is still doing well.  Her tics do ebb and flow, but are never consistently bad…she has not had a blow up with her siblings and is still able to complete a task, without a million reminders.  OCD is better as well.  She will still re-do some tasks, but it is slowly improving.

I told her to keep dosing and follow up in another month.  I do re-send new remedies to clients when we have hit a month to two months.  So I re-sent a new one.

4^th FOLLOW UP in 5 months:

It is now the middle of Sept. 2011.  A has been holding very well and the mother just really forgot to check in. She did send an email to get new remedies made, and stated that things are continuing to go well.  (It was fairly brief, but I take that as a good sign).  One thing the mom mentioned was summer camp in August.  A forgot to take her remedy with her and she could tell she needed her remedy – a mistake not likely to happen again.

5^th FOLLOW UP in 7 months – A is not doing well…I re-sent a new potency Aurum 200C; we gave it about 7 days and she was not recovering.  Her OCD was going downhill and tics were coming back (not as bad, but were bothering even her).  She is also suffering with a major amount of acne on her face.  I repertorized her case again:

Generalities; sensitiveness

Mind; thoughts; persistent

Face; eruptions; acne

The order of blue remedies was as follows:  Baryta Carb., Aurum, Conium, Mercurius  I chose Baryta Carb

RX :  Baryta Carb., 30C – 2 oz dropper bottle – 5 drops daily.

6^th FOLLOW UP in two weeks –  A is not doing well.  There has been no aggravation, but no improvement.  I chose to stop this remedy.  Since the case had not changed, I referred to the previous repertorization and chose Mercury.

RX :  Mercury 30C – 2 oz dropper bottle – 5 drops daily.

7^th FOLLOW UP in two more weeks – A is improving…we are so grateful to see her doing better again.  She can tell it is helping too and is taking it first thing in the AM.  It’s amazing to see her change for the better again and she is eager to take it.

I told her to continue dosing daily and report in a month.

The 8^th FOLLOW UP was brief.  Things continued to go well –Acne is still off and on and most bothersome now around her menses, but not terrible. OCD is continuing to improve and tics are not around all the time.  She will have a few for four days and then they can completely disappear for weeks.

They check in and order a fresh remedy every now and then.  See below…

It is now March, 2014 and she is still using Mercury 30C.  She doesn’t need the remedy every day, but when she does, it puts her back on the right track.  Granted, she did go through 4 remedies, but all continued to propel her in the right direction, not wrong.  Not all cases are amazingly quick. Most are slow and gentle like the founder ‘Hahnemann’ said they should be.  HFA is the only diagnostic tool I personally deem most vital to helping my patients reach their fullest health potential.