Temper Tantrums In Children

Gallicum Acidum

Aggression, Adulation, Abandoment

Gall Nuts

One of the joys of homeopathy is learning about ‘new’ remedies.  These remedies may either be new to the materia medica, that is, recently introduced worldwide, or they may be a remedy that is new to me.

The latter is the case for Gallcium acidum. It is a remedy that has been utilised in homeopathy for a long time, though it’s application has not been that obvious to me.

I was intrigued to be on a webinar describing Gallicum acidum, then the next day, when out walking, I found these two beautifully formed Gall nuts.  These are one such source of Gallicum acidum. It is also found in tea, red wine and sumac.  In the days of past, it was used to stop haemorrhaging.

The main mental symptom for Gall-ac that was originally published has lead to an interpretation, where it is useful for children that I may see in clinic today.

Original Mental Symptom

“wild delirium at night; very restless; jumps out of bed; sweats profusely; afraid to be alone; insists on constantly being watched; is exceedingly rude and abuses everyone, even his best friends; jealous of his nurse and curses every one who speaks to her”

When originally published, this was the only mental symptom.  After clinical use, the following symptoms are utilised in practice:

Typical Symptoms

• Fear of being abandoned
• Fear of being alone, worse when alone
• Demanding of attention
• Tense and angry
• Destructive
• Loss of control
• Intense tantrums
• Rude, abusive, cursing
• Jealousy
• Compulsive behaviour
• Restless

A summary of this presentation can be the child who is constantly demanding your attention, always wanting to be watched when they are doing something, to be praised for the thing they have done.  When your attention is diverted from them, there is a jealousy of this, resulting in some different behaviours, tantrums (loss of control, destruction, cursing, swearing, rude behaviour) and manipulation of the situation to return the attention to themselves.

There may be a constant “Mummy, Mummy (or Daddy), look at me, look at what I’m doing”, “I want to sit by Mummy/Daddy”, “Mummy, do you like what I’ve done?”. This desire for attention, to be watched and observed by their loved one appears to derive from an underlying fear of abandoment, a fear of being left alone.  Often this situation can occur when it’s time for the primary care giver to return to work, and the child is placed in daycare, or they begin schooling.  The separation feels like this abandonment they have been fearing will happen.  It may also occur after a family breakup, when the child is unsure which parent they’re to go with.

Often strangers will comment that they are such a sweet child, as they wish to be seen to be doing the best, so until the relationship is stronger, the tantrums will not show themselves.  Instead, the anger may be held in, resulting in a very tense body or a clenching of the jaw.

When tantrums occur, they are very intense, as well as sudden.  The intensity can be destructive, malicious, cursing, rude and inconsiderate of how it’s affecting those around them. Picture the situation in a shopping centre, when the parent is very embarrassed by the tantrum of the child where there is biting, cursing, kicking and screaming.  Once the attention is returned to them, the tantrum ceases.

There can be a restlessness in their sleep also, a tossing and/or moaning, or a rolling of the head, along with excess saliva or perspiration.

Compulsive touching, smelling or collecting (stealing) of things can be seen also.

Although they will do a ‘wrong’ thing, e.g., stealing, or bad behaviour, they will deny that it was them, as they want you to see them in a good light, so will lie or hide what they have done wrong.

This remedy compares closely to Stramonium, Belladonna, Hyoscymus and Tuberculinum.  Differentiating between them is the art of Homeopathy.

For more information on homeopathy, http://www.sandravenables.com

Science, Research & Health

….all had an increase in risk of adverse events, still safe to use combination vaccines…

I was reading through a newly published research article and read with disbelief the statement that resulted in my interpretation given above.  The actual statement was:

“……had an increased incidence of sepsis evaluations and increased respiratory support and intubation after routine immunization. Our findings provide no evidence to suggest that physicians should not use combination vaccines ….”

The research was recently published in the JAMA Pediatrics and was a study of  Extremely Low Birth Weight infants (or ELBW infants, I sometimes think shortening the words to just letters allows the reader to forget that this is a human being), and the affect routine immunisation had on various health issues for these infants.

The study itself was evaluating single vaccinations versus combination vaccinations, but it did surprise me when the study showed that these infants had a higher risk of an adverse event for either type of vaccination, then they stated that it was still safe to give the combination vaccines to them, as it was no different between single shot or combination vaccines.  An interesting conclusion to arrive at.

Thankfully they also conclude that further studies are needed to be undertaken on the timing of immunisations and the spacing of them on this vulnerable group.

Note that these infants were all generally born at 23 – 28 weeks gestation, and were generally immunised after at least 53 days postpartum.

The editorial in the same journal also discusses the study, to critique it, however mainly in the area of the measurement of the adverse events, e.g., how was the incidence of sepsis evaluated, were these children actually less at risk of adverse events because of the timing of the immunisation.  Ultimately, it was advocating that these children in the study were potentially stronger and more healthy than other children not included in the study.  I sometimes struggle to see the logic of the reasoning, I suppose more reading of research is needed!

While checking out these articles, I also found another article on the risk of administering measles containing vaccines in relation to febrile seizures (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccines, MMRV, or as separate shots, MMR and V, these live ).  It was deemed that administering the MMRV or the MMR+/- V vaccines in a timely manner, i.e. when the children are 12 – 15 months of age, reduces the risk of increased febrile seizures.  While waiting until the second year of life actually increases the risk (16 – 23 months).  These febrile seizures were those measured in the 7 – 10 day period post immunisation, compared to the control interval.

What I find interesting, and worth thinking through more, is that the delay of immunisation creates a higher risk of fever and seizures (febrile seizures), would this be associated with the developing immune system? This was suggested by the authors also that it may be because of the stronger immune response in the older child.

I remember from my training, that the first two years of a child’s life, their immune system is continuing to develop.  Would the increased risk between 16 – 23 months merely be an indicator that the child’s immune system is fighting the introduced vaccine harder than when they are 12 – 15 months of age?

By looking through the references for this article, it is easy to see that the research into febrile seizures and the administration of a vaccine containing measles has been ongoing for over 20 years now (1991) and into febrile seizures for longer (1969), showing that they appeared to reach a peak in the second year of life.

The conclusions will always be difficult to arrive at, as we are treating individuals who respond to external stimulation in an individual manner. Why homeopathy excels in helping those who are individuals.

A Form Of Snake Oil

A recent article I have read about the value of vaccines in our modern world has given rise to suggestions that the current flu vaccinations are as effective as snake oil.

I’m an advocate of a person’s personal right to choose what they wish to put into their own body, and agree that this should be done after considerable research so that the individual can make an informed decision.

I was horrified to read how the CDC in America publishs incorrect figures, or suppresses information, when it comes to the flu vaccine.

That the efficacy of the 2014 – 2015 flu vaccine is as low as 23%, according to the CDC.  There was even information showing that the flu vaccine for those over 65years, last year was as ineffective as snake oil, with only a 27% efficacy in this age group.

Very interestingly, one of the reports highlighted that the nations with the highest outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases, namely measles, mumps, pertussin, rubella and polio, were the nations with the highest number of mandatory vaccines, including US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  Indeed, an interesting concept!

In my field, we hear a lot about why vaccinations are so important, I just want to see truthful reporting of the scientific studies that show efficacy and safety and the precautions that need to be taken for those at risk populations.

To read the full article and garner your own opinion, check it out here

Childhood migraines and research

For children who suffer from migraines this dibilitating symptom results in days off school – which a lot of children don’t want to happen.  A study that was undertaken in 12 countries, with children who suffered from migraines.  These children were treated preventatively and also during episodes of migraines, using homeopathy.  The interesting aspect of this study was that the treatment resulted in a signficant decrease in days off school.  Check out the abstract of this study in the following link.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22978244