My daughter was recently diagnosed with Dermatomyositis. This disease causes muscle weakness. She has no muscle weakness at this time, but has wart-like papules on her knuckles along with peeling, dry cuticles and a rash on her knees and face. They want to treat her with Plaquinel, a low dose chemotherapy medication used for Lupus and Prednisone. I told my husband the side effects and explained to him that I want to try homeopathy first. He's giving me 2 months to try it. He is skeptical about it, but I have faith that it will work. I began studying homeopathic remedies and have her on Kelp, Echinacea, Nettles, and B-complex. If anyone has any other suggestions, please tell me. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

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John,(hope john is okay)
My daughter is 2 1/2 years-old. She was diagnosed 1 week ago. She wakes up in the middle of the night after sleeping for about 3 hours. She doesn't fall asleep until about 10:30p.m. every night. Although, last night she fell asleep 1 hour early (not like her). When she wakes up, she has to come to bed with us. She won't fall back to sleep in her bed. She does not like the blankets on her at this point. Her legs can be ice cold and she refuses to have the blanket on her. She is adopted. She is a daddy's girl. She is outgoing and likes attention. She is flirtatious. At the time she was diagnosed, she had just gotten over a reflux problem. She is very likable and gets a lot of attention from strangers and family. Lately she has been complaining about her knees hurting. That's all I can think of right now. Thanks for replying.

Dear Faith,

How was her "REFLUX PROBLEM" treated? (please explain)
Please describe her characteristic symptoms attributing to the "REFLUX" problem.


Has her personality changed at all during these sicknesses? Or has she always been sick at 1 time or another? Was she different before any of these occurances? Does she seem affected by this at all? (Please explain)

Are you still doing your own personal treatment upon her? What are the results?

[This message has been edited by Johnstanton (edited 25 July 1999).]

please don't treat her by yourself.It is a chronic problem and 5 varieties are there ,at first it afffect proximal muscles and tenderness of muscles may be there,later cotractioin ,dystrophy etc may occur.The course is very slow ,so give homoeopathy some more time not 2 months.Has your child got peculier eruption on face and oedema around eyes?In one type the disease may caused by secondaries of malignancy some where.So in this case a perfect homoeopathic approch is necessorry.Your explantion is very scanty regarding the nature and symptoms
So give details as asked by John.

My daughter was never treated for the reflux. She would vomit at least once a day. We were told that she would out grow the reflux by the age of 2, which she did. She did not have any personality changes during this illness. She would complain of the ocassional tummy ache, but would continue to play. She has no edema or purplish area on her eyes. She has a little rash on her chin and cheeks. She also has papules on her knuckles, dryness on her cuticles and rash on her knees. She has always been sick at one time or another, at least once every 2 months. Not much gets her down. The only time she is quiet and does not want to play, is when she has a fever. She has not been different with this illness. She complained of a tummy ache 5 days ago and vomited Saturday, she has not done that since March. I started her treatment on 7-22 in the evening, she complained about her tummy ache before the treatment. She was great yesterday and today. She woke up in a good mood, she usually fights me in the mornings, unless she wakes up on her own. She hasn't had any muscle weakness.

Dear Faith,

(1) Is your daughter outgoing even with new people? (please explain)

(2) What do you mean by " nothing gets her down"?

(3) If you were to put her back in bed alone after waking , Then how would she respond?

(4) Please explain "usually have to fight her in the mornings"?

John,
My daughter is outgoing with people at a distance. For example, when at a restaurant, she will look at people and blink her eyes, but when someone responds to her and speaks to her, she hides and acts shy. Then when they aren't looking she continues with the staring and smiling at them.
What I mean by "nothing gets her down" is that, she is a fighter. If she's ill, she will continue to play, unless she has a fever. For instance on Saturday, she threw up and then went back to playing. It takes a fever to make her tired and not playful.
After waking in the middle of the night, we have to put her to bed with us. She will not go back to sleep. She wants to be picked up and taken to our bed. My husband gets up with her. He can't wait to see if she stops crying, he gets up immediately when she starts crying and brings her to bed.
She is a "daddy's girl".
What I mean by "fight her in the morning" is that when I wake her, she starts crying and kicking. I usually wake her up and put her right on the potty chair. She whines the whole time. Then after about 5 - 10min. she "snaps out of it". She starts smiling and talking to me.
When her father and I are both with her, she prefers her father. She wants him to take her to the bathroom, get her drink, whatever she needs, she prefers that he does it.

Dear Faith,

I have not forgotten. I tend to ponder more, and react slower when considering "SKIN DISORDERS". Yet feel free to relay "ANY" information that seems peculiar.

Does your daughter seem fine besides the "SKIN DISORDER"?

John,
I appreciate that you reply. My daughter is doing fine other than having the rash. She's very active and healthy, I just thought that I would build up her immune system by giving her the Echinacea. The nettles I believe were for the nails and arthritis that could occur with this disease. The Kelp was for her circulation as well as the B12 complex. I don't have my book with me to refer to the herbs. Am I doing the right thing? I can't hurt her by giving her these things, can I? I am so frustrated with the idea of her possibly getting the muscle weakness. I want to fight it. I was told that I should give it more than two months, shouldn't I see an improvement with the rash soon?

Lookas like a calcium carb child, try it.

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Homeopat MNNH Geir E.T. Marcussen
email: getm@eunet.no
http://www.homeopati.no