This 2 month old infant was seen after having received a Hepatitis B immunization 2 days after his birth. Following the vaccination his mother recognized he was making very little eye contact, and he wouldn’t readily respond to her voice. Mom described him as sometimes in ‘the zone’, and if he was focussed and engaged with others it was on ‘his terms’.
At other times she would find him smiling at a nearby wall, but not in relation to others around him. Apparently he was more alert at night and could wake to the sound of the phone ringing. Mom was concerned because her family practice physician had no answers beyond watchful waiting.
She described a few other non-specific physical symptoms, including nasal congestion, foamy yellow stools, and his hands were usually held in a fist. He would enjoy being held, and didn’t like his arms being bound.
During the appointment I reached down to the infant and snapped my fingers next to both ears. Although he was wide awake, there was no obvious reaction to the sound–no startled look, no blinking of the eyes, no crying–nothing. He just continued to look up at the overhead light. Then I clapped my hands loudly in the same way, and I observed the same reaction.
Finally I lifted him out of his baby carrier and after raising him up over my head, simulated a sudden fall as if he were dropping to the ground, stopping just before he would have hit the floor. Again, not the slightest hint of reaction to the sudden movement or any perception of danger. He just continued to gaze off at the walls or ceiling, never even blinking his eyes in response to the events around him. He seemed oblivious to the fact that Mom or I were even in the room.
My analysis was that although I had few physical symptoms for repertorization, it was significant that he’d wake up to the phone at night but be unresponsive to loud noises during the day. This suggested his hearing was not directly affected, and because he could make eye contact for limited times, neither did it appear his eyesight was compromised.
I thought of the rubrics ‘delusion detached’, ‘delusion separated from the world’, ‘delusion division between himself and others’, feeling those described his disconnection with the world around him. I decided on hydrogen 1M, single dose, recalling the ‘painful experience of earthly restrictions’ described by some provers.
Mom reported excitedly that within a week following the remedy, her son began to make more eye contact with her, and in general was more engaged with the world around him. However, this lasted only about 2 weeks, after which time the symptoms began to return. I tried giving him another single dose of hydrogen 1M, and again he responded positively, but this time for only a few days.
I gave hydrogen one last try, this time in a single dose of 10M. (Incidentally, I would usually not be dosing an infant in this manner, but felt the circumstances were grave and the problem needed to be approached aggressively). I was not surprised when the single dose of 10M did not help, and her son was continuing to live in ‘the zone’.
The next heavier element beyond hydrogen is helium, which had a proving theme of ‘a soul that does not come completely into the body and is unable to manifest itself fully in life’. Jeremy Sherr had written about using helium successfully for an ‘ungrounded’ adult, and Robert and Judith Ullman and Jan Scholten had written of it reversing autism.
Scholten describes the remedy picture as a sort of autistic retreat: “They don’t feel like entering this world . . . It is as if they only act from within themselves . . . You can’t get a grip on them, as if they are slipping away through your fingers each time you try and establish contact . . . They remain locked up inside themselves, unapproachable and distant”.
I switched to a single dose of helium 1M, and incredibly this time the boy came out from his disconnected state and has remained engaged for the past eight months. He needed no further doses of helium beyond that one dose, and in fact Mom cancelled his follow-up app’t. because she felt he was doing so well. She has since told me that he’s now ahead of all his developmental milestones.
Talking to Mom after her son had ‘come back’, she was obviously grateful to homeopathy for his recovery. For my part I felt we’d just ‘dodged a bullet’, and considering that my previous medical training would have offered few good options, I thanked homeopathy as well.
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David A. Johnson CCH, RSHom (NA) is a certified classical homeopath and professional member of the North American Society of Homeopaths. He completed his homeopathic training at the International Foundation for Homeopathy and the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy. He taught clinical medicine at the University of Wisconsin and Augsburg College Physician Assistant Programs, and is an instructor at the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy in Minneapolis. E-mail [email protected].
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Looking for clinical cases on the net of Helium homeopathic remedy I came in touch with this fabulous article by Dr David and felt so blessed!!! Please go on sharing with us your tremendous experience so that we can learn with it!!!!!THANKS!!!!!
TODAY IS MARCH, 5TH, 2011!!!!!
What an incredible testimonial to homeopathy! I recently thought of Helium when a neighbor went beyond her due date–she was ready, but her infant apparently was not–and I wondered whether Helium would provide impetus for the birth.
I never did find out, because her OB/GYN convinced her to be induced, resulting in a long, hard birth and a C-section. Her babe, though, is alert and very present in the word, so perhaps Helium was not indicated.