Migraine in a Child of 8

His mother expired in a road accident. He was adopted by his aunt as his father also had expired long back. By nature, he was very dominating and did not go along well with his aunt’s children.

The pain started when the child came to his maternal aunt’s place. The pain was very intense and violent. He used to hold his head and say ”This pain is killing me”.  He did not show any emotions when his aunt was talking about this accident.

As he was in the midst of an acute migraine attack, I had to prescribe on the information available. I repertorised the case and prescribed Haliaeetus leucocephalus which covered both the causative factors. Also the expression used while describing the attack was like an animal, “This pain is killing me.”  This “pain” is treated like an entity. The “me vs you” phenomena of an animal.

The pain subsided in about 30 minutes. I took further details when he came for the follow up.  He was a pessimist. He never spoke good about anything. Whenever anyone left home, he would ask “What if he never came back?”, “What if he met with an accident?”, “What if the house went on fire?”

This was even before his mother met with an accident. When I asked him, why does he think negative when someone leaves home, he said “I am afraid and anticipate every moment.”  Whenever he goes out of his house he has a fear that some eagles may be flying outside which can attack.

He did not like to go to school. He said his teachers insulted him as he could not read properly.  I gave him a word “elephant”, which he was unable to read. When I was enquiring about his reading difficulty, he was curious and asked me whether I could help him. I asked him how that would help him. He said, “I love competitions and I love to win.”  This reading disability was hampering his performance at school.

Nature of his father: He was a very successful businessman. He had achieved financial freedom and that gave him the liberty to keep on exploring the world. He was not involved much in raising his family and was very domineering. He too died in an accident while travelling.

This gives some clue to the Bird kingdom- King series. His aunt said that he used to hold her hand during attacks. He does it otherwise also. On repertorising further, I got the  same remedy.

After a dose of Haliaeetus leucocephalus 1M , when he came after a month, he was happy as his reading skills had improved. Also he did not get any attack of migraine. It has been almost two years and he has been free of any migraine attack.

Going back to study the proving of American bald eagle threw further light into the psyche of the case. Psychologically, this remedy is characterised by extreme emotions, ranging from euphoria to deep depression and despair. The elation is expressed by “up” words, obviously related to the eagle’s capacity to fly higher than almost any other living being. “High,” “uplifted,” “elated”  “bouncy,” “jubilant,” and “jumping for joy”were used to describe feelings of confidence, contentment and ease.

At the other extreme of elation, Haliaeetus can experience profound and deep despair, lack of motivation, frustration and low self-esteem. This remedy reflects the sad predicament of our eagle as a lifelong prisoner. Like a caged bird with clipped wings, provers experienced total helplessness and dejection, birds with clipped wings. Provers experienced total helplessness and dejection, together with despair of ever escaping their miserable plight. Life imprisonment, being maimed, or profound grief are situations that come to mind.

Caged, shackled and hooded, it had not lost the commanding air of a king, but had acquired the deep sadness born out of hopeless captivity.

This was the exact situation of the child. He was adopted after the death of his parents. This resonates with the sad predicament of our eagle as a lifelong prisoner. The despair and violence which was expressed in his migraine is the syphilitic expression of the remedy. His father’s nature also gives some clues towards a bird remedy.