Clinical Cases

Homeopathic Facial Analysis (HFA) Solves a Pediatric case

pediatrics
Written by Rose Mahovsky

Homeopath and Homeopathic Face Analysis (HFA) practitioner Rose Mahovsky presents a case of a 7 yr old with stomach pain.

Patient: “E” is a 7 year old male

C.C. stomach pain, headaches, gas

First visit – August 2011 

Per his mother:  E has been having stomach pain (Homeopathy for Stomach Pain), headaches and gas/bloating going on consistently for a little over two months.  We have seen the chiropractor and he just can’t seem to help him with all the supplements we have tried.  I am so desperate to have my child running and playing, without being laid up on the couch not feeling well.  It also makes him whiny and irritable and he will also have a hard time concentrating and it just affects his whole being. I totally believe in the natural and would only choose to do something that I feel wouldn’t harm him.

We do homeschool and are grateful for it. I just think of how much school he would have missed with the stomach pain and headaches. He is generally better in the AM and slowly gets worse as the day progresses.  If a friend is around to play, he will, despite his discomfort but when they leave he is on the couch.  He is a social child, but not overly outgoing.  He does enjoy playing, either by himself or with his little sister and definitely if friends are near and ready to play. For a while I thought he was fibbing about his tummy bothering him, because he is always so eager to play.  Then when he can’t play, his tummy hurts again.  But I really don’t think he is acting, because it has slowly gotten worse and it will sometimes now affect him wanting to play…which I don’t like to see.  It’s probably why I wasn’t as hot to trot as I am now, knowing that he is not acting.

E has bloating and flatulence regularly throughout the day.  He has stomach pain daily and headaches on occasion.  If I remember right, he did have a history of stomach pain when he was an infant.  Peppermint and warm tea help him a little.  Distractions such as play take his mind off of it but doesn’t actually improve it.  Cold makes it worse.

Right now, we are giving him Beta Food by Standard Process from our chiropractor, but it doesn’t really seem to be helping.

His headaches are in the forehead area. They come and go and he has a few a week. Sometimes they last for a few hours. Sometimes they can last most of the day. He says it feels like he has a hole in his head. He had braces and a palatal expander.  This could be one of the causes of his headaches, but he did get very occasional headaches before the expander

For most of E’s life he has breathed through his mouth instead of his nose.  We were told that contributed to a small upper palate because his tongue rested on the bottom jaw instead of the top and affected his speech.  The expander was to open up his sinuses and make his upper jaw bigger in alignment, and also improve speech.  The braces were put on after the expander widened the palate for the top teeth only. He is very attached to me. Every year in January my husband and I take a vacation. He has a hard time with my absence.  He will have awful anxiety about me leaving.  He will scream and throw a temper tantrum when I leave.  He is a huge worrier.

He has been seeing a speech therapist for 3 years or so.  He has a hard time with pronunciation but is getting much better with practice.  We also think the expander is helping even though it is getting in the way of his tongue.  He occasionally stutters or repeats himself.   H was late in learning to talk; language is and was hard for him.  He has to think about it.  When he was little and took a cognitive leap he would stutter for a few weeks.  This happened a couple different times.  Toilet training for urination was pretty easy, but getting him to poop on the toilet was very difficult.  This is the first time I remember him being constipated as he learned to control his urge.  I had to give him glycerin suppositories and watch him until he had the urge; then put him on the toilet.  This went on for days until he was finally comfortable with it.  We haven’t noticed much snoring since the expander, however I think he does on occasion, perhaps when he is stuffed up.

His stomach constantly hurts – mints help a little.  Often he is able to work through it and go on with his day, but every day he has a time he wants to lay around or can’t focus or concentrate.  It makes him crabby or tired or whiny.  He is always hungry, and he will eat even when his stomach hurts.  He has a nausea feeling as well as general stomach pain.  He sometimes has acid reflux – bloating and flatulence daily and constantly.  Gas smells like stool and is very noticeable.  After passing gas, he feels better for a few seconds afterwards and then it hurts again.

He has a huge sensitivity to gluten and we do not give him gluten food. I figured this out many years ago.  He also has a small dairy intolerance, but I would say the gluten is much worse.  Sometimes we have noticed that sugar can bother him too.  He loves Breads, cakes, pastries (sweets), fruit and fruit juices.  Basically, gluten, dairy, soy, corn, yeast, sugar are all intolerances.

Bowel movements come on during meals.  He sometimes goes a couple of times a day, some days he doesn’t go at all.   Sometimes his bowels hurt after a bowel movement.

He has complained of joint and muscle pain in the past especially when lying in bed.  He doesn’t complain of it as much at bedtime anymore, but does so occasionally during the day.  No pattern.

He tends to sweat when active and a lot in his sleep.  He sometimes wakes up hot and he will have sweat all over, especially his head.

He gets energy at night and wants to stay up late.  He has a hard time falling asleep.  He loves to sleep on his side and he is sweaty when he sleeps.  E usually feels crabby and achy when he wakes up and seems to be weak.  He will drool a lot, from the palatal expander we think.

When he is stressed he shuts down.  He can’t and won’t focus or concentrate. He whines, cries, silly dallies and wastes time.

In my pregnancy I was in a car accident at about 5 months.  It did not affect him but gave me headaches and back pain for the rest of the pregnancy.  I had neck pain and headaches and had just quit my job, adjusting to living on one income.  E had a traumatic labor for almost 24 hours after water broke.  He was delivered vaginally with his head facing up instead of down.  His shoulders were getting caught.  He was pulled out with a suction cup.

He had a severe reaction to oats at about 6 months old.  He had projectile vomiting and diarrhea, was sick for a week. Gluten seemed to be the culprit or just oats.  He was tested for celiac, test was negative.  His great grandmother has celiac. Since then we have found that gluten is food intolerance.  He had rotavirus a few times.  He had antibiotics for an ear infection.

Teething was early not a lot of symptoms.  Talking was normal but with the speech issues he was difficult to understand at first.  He has no issues anymore.  Crawling and walking were all within the normal range.

If he is upset he shuts down, withdraws, pouts.  Sometimes he will cry, but does it away from the situation.  Interaction with friends, family (especially siblings) and at homeschool co-op is good – he generally gets along with everyone.  He has a happy character – he is very easy going.  He is passionate about football, building things, games.  He always tends to be chatty at night right before bed and loves to tell stories.  Something funny about him he eats really slow and talks through meals.

FEARS:

He really doesn’t have any fears – and I even asked him.

AGGRAVATIONS:

Dairy

Gluten

Soy

Sugar

Yeast

Cold

AMEILERATIONS:

Lying down

Peppermint tea/mints

Eructation’s (briefly help)

FOOD CRAVINGS:

Sweets

Dairy

Wheat

Fruit (fruit juices also)

SRP:

Craves gluten, but has an allergy to it.

Mind Generals Physicals/Particulars

 

Whiny PM agg Under bite

 

Company amel. Craves wheat but allergic  

 

Weakness  

 

Sleep position – side  

 

Sleep restless – trouble falling asleep  

 

Lying down amel.  

 

Speech issues  

 

Cold agg.

 

Concentration difficult  

 

HFA results:

(Psora)                                        (Sycosis)                          (Syphilitic)  

YELLOW  7 RED  5 BLUE  9
Eyes downturned Chin ball Hairline crooked

 

Full lids Ears turned out Hairline high

 

Mouth small Teeth gaps Chin defined

 

Lines 2 forehead Forehead straight Dimples

 

Chin sloped Bridge straight Lines, n-m

 

Ears low Teeth crooked

 

Under bite

 

Teeth inward

 

Forehead curved

 

 

MIASM – Blue   (Syphilitic)

RUBRICS USED (complete dynamics software utilized):

Mind; company; desire for

Head; pain, headache; forehead

Abdomen; flatus; amel.

Generalities; food and drinks; bread; agg.

Generalities; weakness

Rectum; flatus; offensive; eggs, like rotten.

 

REMEDY CHOICE:  

The top remedies to appear were; Sulphur, Nat – M., Hepar Sulph., Coffea, Fl-Ac.  I choose Fl-Ac. Because of the miasm confirmed through HFA and the affinity this remedy has to stomach, abdomen, and rectum.  Fl-Ac is known for frequent eructation and discharge of flatus, which can come on after the slightest error in diet.  It also has distended abdomen from flatulence (his mother said he was often bloated).  Fl-Ac can have a sick headache in the forehead area, which can be dull and worse in the afternoon.  This remedy can be forgetful and has an inability to study – which is something his mother has complained about.  It is also indicated for dullness, sleepiness and forgetfulness. Cold aggravates Fl-Ac symptoms, even though they run warm.  Sulphur was a consideration because he has the openness and innocence of Sulphur and they also tend to have a lot of friends. Sulphur is known for digestive disorders.  It does have laziness, but I think he is more weary than lazy.  Sulphur has a lot of fears and this child has none.  Sulphur tends to have an aggravation around 11AM and E is worse in the afternoon.  Sulphur does have amelioration from lying down, however.  Sulphur headaches tend to be on the vertex, not forehead.  Hepar-sulph was the other one considered.  Hepar-sulph has the aggravation from cold.  It has an intense sensitivity to pain – complains intensely.  Offensive odors from discharges.  Hepar-Sulph can feel vulnerability on all levels.

RX Prescription: 

Flouric-Acid LM1 – 5 drops daily

1st follow up two weeks later:

Mom reported that E was much better.  She says that he has improved on all levels, especially mentally.  He has been better with his school work and is able to concentrate and get his work done better. His stomach has been much better and not nearly as much flatus.  She asked me if a remedy could really work this good and fast!!   I told her to continue to daily dose and follow up within a month.

2nd follow up 1 month later:

E he continues to do well.  He falls asleep quicker at night and he isn’t waking as unrefreshed in the AM.  His headaches are much better and he has only complained a few times this month. His stomach still remains good and he is able to do everything he needs to do without it affecting his ability to finish work or play.

I told her to continue to dose daily and to touch base with me in another month.  I asked her to contact me if any symptoms returned or she had questions or concerns.

3rd follow up 2 months later:

He has stalled a bit.  Sleep is starting to decline.  He has had a reoccurrence of flatus and some stomach pain.  All other aspects of his case have stayed or maintained a good balance.

I suggested that we re-make the remedy and start him on that asap.

4th follow up 2 weeks later:

He is back to sleeping and within the first day his flatus and stomach pain was much improved.  Mom said it took two days before his sleep improved and so far so good.

I told her to continue daily dosing.  At first signs of the remedy not working, let’s remake it and assess, just to make sure it isn’t the remedy bottle going bad.

Comments

We did continue to touch base on occasion, so that I made sure things kept progressing.  I treat their entire family, so touching base was easy to do.  Not every case is one in which the first remedy selected works, but here it did.  Normally I have children that move to the 30C and even slowly work up to a 1M chronically (or I have children using what I call frequency dosing) – so for him to stay well on an LM1 is not the norm for my practice.  He continues to do well to this day. He doesn’t need a daily dose and he can go a month or so without even needing it.

HFA is such a helpful tool in determining or narrowing down the choice of remedy.  There are many times I think an individual will end up needing a certain remedy.  I repertorize the case and check their HFA and I am amazed that the remedy ends up working beautifully.  If I didn’t utilize HFA in my practice, I know the outcome for most would be fleeting.  It truly allows my practice to have consistently good results!

About the author

Rose Mahovsky

Rose Mahovsky CF Hom., is a Classical Homeopath residing in Zimmerman, Minnesota (USA). She says she has a passion for helping others regain the well being and balance they deserve. Rose graduated from Caduceus Institute of Classical Homeopathy in Santa Cruz California (USA) and received her certificate in HFA through the Victorian College of Classical Homeopathy, Melbourne, Australia. Rose has utilized Homeopathy since 2005 and started her practice in 2008. For more information, please visit www.lifedesignsllc.com

3 Comments

  • Appreciate the case report Rose
    Just goes to show, we must be unprejudiced in our work- in approach, and remedy selection.

    Best wishes for you continued success!
    Tricia Feijo

    • Hi Tricia! So nice to hear from you. Thank you for comment. I completely agree – we should always be unprejudiced in homeopathy when clinically the outcome is constant and good for those that are healing. I will never stop learning and never stop listening. If I never pursued HFA studies, I know that our oldest son would not be completely recovered from extreme, debilitating OCD, tics and migraines. I hope you are doing well! Thanks again for communicating and thanks for inspiring me to be a homeopath. Your kindness and graciousness to our family was beautiful. Rose 🙂

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