Clinical Cases

Tourettes Syndrome

Written by Robyn Williams

A useful article about Tourettes Syndrome.Full details about Tourettes Syndrome

10th January 2006

This young girl aged 10 was brought to my clinic for consultation. Her mother said that she was very emotional and that it was impossible to reason with her. She was described as very argumentative. Often she would burst into tears even when sitting alone on the couch. At this point the patient burst into tears, started grunting and said that she was very scared and did not want to be like that. She had been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when she was 7 or 8 years of age. The first symptom noticed was constant blinking, followed by a period of time when the grunting started and occurred at the same time as the blinking and then the blinking stopped and now she grunts. She can exert some conscious control over it for a short period. The patient is the eldest of 2 children and the younger child was experiencing psychological problems that caused a lot of conflict in the home and took up most of her mother’s attention and energy when the syndrome was first noticed. She was very healthy apart from suffering some mild hay-fever in spring and needing to wear glasses for reading, due to short sightedness. The only other symptom of consequence I could pick up was an aversion to sweets -she always avoided them.

She was born 6 weeks premature following a difficult pregnancy for her mother. Mother suffered very high BP during the pregnancy, was in and out of hospital and finally had a caesarian because the placenta had started to disintegrate. The patient likes to be doing something all the time. Although not academic she is doing well at school, is quiet, well behaved and has good friends. She also loves craft activities and swimming. At home she can be very difficult and argumentative. Recently there had been a lot of fighting between friends at school.

FACIAL ANALYSIS

YELLOW (psora) RED (sycosis) BLUE (syphilis)
Ears position
Smile shape
Hairline
Nose width
Eyes position
Mouth
Chin
Hairline height
Forehead shape
Eyes shape
Teeth
Asymmetry
2 5 5

There being an equal number of red and blue features this girl was assessed as belonging to the purple miasm (syco-syphilitic).

Repertorisation; (Mac Rep for Windows):

The rubric for grunting which was the dominant “Tourette” symptom at the time only contained 5 remedies which were nowhere near enough to use this with confidence. I decided to look a bit more laterally for rubrics which might convey the same intent and chose SPEECH: stammering. On some of the occasions that she grunted she did so several times before starting to speak.

RUBRICS CHOSEN

MIND; WEEPING, tearful mood; tendency (356)
MIND; CONTRARY (78)
SPEECH & VOICE; SPEECH; stammering (94)
EYE; BLINKING (24)
VISION; MYOPIA, nearsightedness (70)
GENERALITIES; FOOD and drinks; sweets; aversion (40)

Given that the patient was assessed as purple the remedies that came up for consideration were Belladonna, Anacardium, and Lachesis. Nit Ac. Stramonium, Hyoscyamus and Cuprum were also present.

Given that Belladonna was one of the 5 remedies that appeared under the rubric MIND: grunting I chose this remedy.

Belladonna 200C 1 dose

30th January 2006: No change. Chose the next “purple” remedy from the repertorisation

Anacardium 200C 1 dose

21st February 2006: Phone contact. The patient had no observable grunting for 1 week, then gradual return of symptoms.

Sent Anacardium 1M 1 dose

23rd October 2008: She has had no Tourette symptoms since taking the Anacardium 1M. Blinking had returned in the last 2 months. Her parents had separated 2 years ago and she spends equal time at both her parent’s places – her grandparents are heavily involved in her care as her mother is working long hours.
Had started a new school this term and found it to be very difficult and was very teary describing what it was like. She said she had no friends and she had commenced her period a month ago. Blinking was first noticed when her grandparents went away on a holiday.

As it was over 2 years since I had seen this patient I re-took her photos and did another facial analysis:

Facial Analysis:

YELLOW (psora) RED (sycosis) BLUE (syphilis)
Ears
Smile
Hairline
Nose width
Ears position
Mouth
Chin
Forehead shape
Gums show on smiling
Hairline height
Eyes position
Eyes shape
Teeth
Asymmetry
Forehead shape
Bridge
2 7 7

As people age, more miasmatic features are observed. This patient although she has two more red (sycotic) and two more blue (syphilitic) features is still the same miasm. The HFA system states that we are the one miasm for life – this case reminded me of that fact. She is once again assessed as purple.

Since she had not experienced the Tourette symptoms for 21/2 years from taking the remedy I decided to repeat the Anacardium

Anacardium 1M 1 dose

22nd November 2008: Been very good. No further symptoms. She is asked to contact me if symptoms return.

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Robyn Williams
Dip Hom. Aroh, Dip PE HDTS (PE)

About the author

Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams
Dip Hom. Aroh, Dip PE HDTS (PE)
Melbourne, Australia

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