A friend's young son has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. His mother puts it as "space outs", where he just glazes over and "leaves this dimension" for a moment. No fits or major loss of consciousness.
He is eight and on the second lot of medication, with both drugs having been increased in dosage to control the space outs which are occurring more frequently. Since medication he has started to wet himself involuntarily, and this is causing him major embarrassment at school. He is a quiet child (in company anyway)and is often seen with his thumb in his mouth, for which he is constantly admonished. He is quite different from his siblings, who are all very confident and extroverted. He enjoys giving adults whom he has known for a long time, shoulder massages (very nice, having been a recent recipient!!). He really comes alive when he dances and loves watching and imitating Michael Jackson videos. He's pretty good on the co-ordination skills as he can do one handed somersaults and plays basketball in a league above his usual age grouping.
I know he's had quite a bit of cortisone cream for skin conditions, (the whole family has exzcema, and both parents have a history of epilepsy too, although mother had only one or two episodes in early adolescence and father is continuing to take dilantin.)
I'm really nervous about this for several reasons 1. we're not allowed to treat epilepsy in Australia, 2. it's a child of a friend, & 3. he's on heavy duty allopathic medication, so would really appreciate some input to point us all in the right direction.
I looked at Tarantula, because he seems to be better for movement, especially the dancing, but it doesn't fit.He had a space out at the end of dance he did for me yesterday, but was fine during the dance. Hyos - he doesn't have tantrums or bite, although his elder brother did when younger. Bufo - he doesn't get aggravated by sleep or have any noticible convulsions during sleep.
He loves water and swims frequently ( they have a home pool) and is an active, cheerful child, conscientious at school, but with some difficulty at first with reading. Also loves futomaki, but not unusual as he has lots of Japanese food around him. (His aunt lives there)
I will try to get more modalities to fill in the gaps and will observe him again tommorrow.
Hoping that those with greater experience can guide me here.

Ozzie,
I'm not really qualified to suggest a remedy. From recent study, I remember Sepia having the modality "better for dancing vigorously", the eczema and also involuntary urination and inattention spans. Whether that remedy qualifies for petit mal and your case, I don't know. - Check it out. Also, could vaccination play a part ?
Claudia

[ 10 April 2001: Message edited by: ClaudiaRosemarin ]

Thanks Claudia & Snoopy, I will look at Sepia. Vaccination will have played a part for sure as they have all had the recommended shots, and there is always a tube of cortisone for the kids when they break out in rashes.(it's hard trying not to be too judgemental when people use that stuff on kids of such a young age - so important to get our education thing going)I will ask his mother if she remembers if he was OK before using the cortisone, but I'm pretty certain it's been used from fairly early on. Phenergen was another thing she used fairly frequently, which I have my suspicions about.
I remembered another thing, when he was in utero, his mother was hospitalized for incarcerated uterus, with her bladder totally full and had to be catherized. She also has kidney problems, so I have been thinking along miasmatic lines, should I go for the space outs first or the general family picture ?

[ 10 April 2001: Message edited by: ozzie ]

Ozzie,

Would I be correct in thinking of this as:
Ailments from suppressed eczema? Was he fine before the cortisone cream?

Snoopy

I wonder about Phos- it has the'spaciness'(petit mal),loss of bladder control and love of movement. Also his desire to massage /touch people is very phos.

Dear Ozzie,


The remedy for over-use of Cortisone and ailments since vaccination is Thuja. Try thuj. 6C three times a day. You can't give a suppressed eczema patient a high potency--the eczema could come back with a vengence! I would prescribe on the etiology, which means you may not actually see symptoms of his constitutional state in the remedy. He may well be phos. like the previous writer says.

Snoopy

This is either a Silica or a NM case.

Rubrics

Children, fingers in mouth
Mind dancing behaviour
Mind learning disabilities

There is not enough info given here to choose between them.

My advice for case management is to examine the characteristics and to decide first with certainty whether to give NM or Sil. Then use LM1 asking for a report as soon as any change is observed and take the dosing very slowly from there.

Thank you for your input.
I have been able to observe the child closely since Friday as we have all been away camping in the bush and have only just returned.
He started to come down with flu like symptoms and a Gels 200 worked really well,("You fixed my headache") and he bounced back as children do. We talked about his space outs and he really is quite aware of them but says they do not worry him. I am certain the involuntary urination is separate to the absence seizures and is more due to anxiety, although it seems an elder sibling wet until aged 11.
Had plenty of opportunity to patch this young fellow up over the week, a bruised and cut head from a swing seat, a sore thumb from playing Aussie Rules football and a big fall from a bmx bike. (boys will be boys!). However the really interesting thing was, when I was treating the thumb (ice, pressure and tlc) his mother said he was just about to space out as I put the Arn 30 in his mouth and it stopped. He had a couple more doses over the weekend for various things, but no more absences.
I have been looking more closely at his whole history and have found that Calc is coming out very strongly, but I am still concerned about the use of Phenergen as a much younger child. He was given it very frequently as part of a controlled crying program to train him for sleeping. The Thuja may well be useful here too. Would LM be more appropriate or is the 6c sufficient, before going on to another remedy. (it may be that Calc is not indicated after clearing the vaccination/cortisone/medication muddle)

I do agree with anna for silicea and second calc phos ,if we go with sucking fingers
if sweat , obstinacy favours
Cuprum is another to think

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Dr.P.K.Sinha

Hi Ozzie,

Calc is a huge remedy for epileptic seizures.
The best results in the treatment of homeopathy can take place if the patient has not been subjected to longterm use of the allopathic drugs to treat epilepsy. True, this child has had some suppressive drugs used routinely, but he does seem to have a great deal of resilience. If he's not taking those suppressive drugs anymore, you could use the dosing system you are familiar with most, and see how it goes. LMs are great if you need to repeat frequently, though, and as a result they offer some control.

I know this is not much help, but I just mean to encourage you as you treat this child.

Divina

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...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine