Deborah Olenev

I am presenting the case of this beautiful eight year old boy with eczema and asthma for a number of reasons. It shows how homeopathy can cure both these conditions, and how in the process of the treatment the child improves in all areas of his life. Ganeshís case (his name is invented) is also typical of many other children in that he shows symptoms of both asthma and eczema together, a combination that is frequently encountered, so hopefully others will benefit from hearing this boyís story. I will jump into the case and explain the thinking process that I went through to make the prescriptions that brought thischild to excellent health.

Case of Ganesh, a Boy with Eczema

The first time I met Ganesh was in September of 2001. I was immediately charmed by his sweet voice and adorable face. He was very friendly right from the start, without a trace of shyness. The problems with his skin were quite obvious, and he looked like he had impetigo on his face, with discolored and variegated patches of color. The eczema affected his face arms and legs, but not his torso. The family had used hydrocortisone ointment on him, but stopped, because it bleached his skin. They were using many lotions and herbal treatments to try to keep the eczema under control, but to no avail. Ganesh complained that his skin was itchy and rough, and that it bled a lot from being scratched.

The itching disturbed him at all times of the day and night. The family history was not good. His father had cancer when his mother was pregnant with him, and his paternal grandmother died of cancer two years earlier. There was also a lot of asthma and arthritis in the family.

In addition to the eczema, Ganesh suffered from wheezing every time he caught a cold, and had a history of exertional asthma. His parents treated this condition with Primatine and Albuterol to relax his lungs and bronchial tubes. Other physical health complaints that he had were neck and back pain, night sweats and nail biting.

The next step of the case taking process was to investigate all thevarious aspects of Ganeshís life, starting with his diet. It turned out that this young boy loved pizza, pasta, ice cream, eggs and anything with chocolate on it. He had chocolate milk everyday for breakfast. The things he didnít like were all sour foods, and he had to be forced to eat fruit. Ganesh was thirsty and loved water, a wide variety of juices and soda. He liked to have ice in his drinks and to chew on the ice.

An unusual thing about Ganesh was that, "When its cold Iím hot, and when its hot Iím cold." In the winter he went barefoot, because sox made his feet feel hot and sweaty, and he tended to kick the covers off his feet at night.

Ganesh was a very high energy boy, and had to be reminded to keep quiet and control himself in the classroom. He liked to do everything fast, got very excited during recess, and loved to talk to everybody. Academically he was doing very well and was quite advanced for his age, though he had some difficulty concentrating in the classroom. All his life he had been precocious in everything. He walked by seven months, talked at a year and started reading at age three.

Emotionally, Ganesh's parents described him as a very sensitive child, particularly to family relationships. He was very friendly and got attached to everybody. He loved his father very much and became quite upset if reprimanded by him. Ganesh had a temper and could get angry easily and shout if not allowed to do what he wanted.

Ganesh loved to read books and had read all the Harry Potter books and remembered everything in detail. He also enjoyed playing video games, watching movies, building things, sports, and animals. Ganesh was afraid of going upstairs alone at night, of bad dreams, monsters, scary movies, snakes, reptiles and amphibians, the dark and making mistakes. He also suffered from separation anxiety and worried about his mother abandoning him.

Other things I learned about Ganesh was that he was perfectionistic in his school work, and got upset if he made mistakes. He could be obsessive about video games, was sympathetic and had a jealous streak, and became very anxious if he was late to school.

Analysis of the First Prescription

I considered several remedies for Ganesh, including Carcinosin, Phosphorous, Calcarea, Sulphur, Chamomilla and Medorrhinum. The remedy that I chose to start his case with was Carcinosin for the followingreasons:

1) asthma and eczema in children
2) precocious and sensitive children
3) nightmares in children
4) love of reading
5) fear of the dark and being abandoned
6) anxiety about his family
7) perfectionism in his school work and fear of making a mistake, and
8) aversion to fruit

First Follow-up Visit

I saw Ganesh with his family six weeks after he took the remedy in January 2002, and the following changes had taken place at that point:

The eczema was considerably better with the skin looking smoother and a decrease in bleeding and itching. The left arm, however, was still quite aggravated. The neck and back pain were better. His fears, anxieties and waking from nightmares had not improved yet. Ganesh's wheezing was now worse than it had been for a long time, looking the wayit did when he first developed the problem.

I felt that this was a good result for this point in the treatment with evidence of significant improvement in the little boyís chief complaint, some symptoms not showing any change yet, and one symptom in an aggravated state (indicating that it was currently in process), and another symptom, namely the wheezing, looking the way it had several years back, showing that the remedy was bringing up earlier stages of his illness as the disease worked its way out.

Follow-up Nine Months after Commencing Treatment

Over the course of the nine months since commencing treatment there were fluctuations in both the eczema and asthma at various points. I repeated the remedy at six months after a two week span when the eczema had worsened. Three months after repeating, I saw Ganesh again because his asthma hadflared up and was now bothering him both day and night. The eczema had almost cleared completely, except for a few spots remaining on his legs.

His mother reported that Ganesh was restless all the time, and that he had a lot of energy, which became even higher in the evening. He was sleeping later than he had been, and often complained of feeling bored. The foods he was craving now were potatoes, eggs, chocolate, ginger aleand apple and orange juice. He was also wanting fruit which was different from when I first met him.

Second Prescription

At this visit I felt that something definitely needed to be done, because the asthma was in an exacerbated state. I prescribed Medorrhinum 200C for the following reasons:

1) Desire for juices, fruits and carbonated beverages
2) High evening energy
3) Warm body temperature and uncovering at night
4) Feeling of restlessness and boredom
5) Sleeping later at night

Four days after the remedy Ganeshís mother reported that the wheezing was much better. Following a cold in December of 2002 Ganesh had another brief flare-up of the asthma, but his eczema had totally cleared. His restlessness had reduced, and he was doing much better in
class. Now his mother said that he had started listening and doing what he was told to do both at home and in the classroom. He was no longer hyper in the evening hours, and he was getting tired by 8:30 p.m.

Third Prescription

In July of 2003 Ganesh's mother brought Ganesh back to my office, because he had been wheezing on and off for three weeks. He had become very sensitive and was now wheezing from emotion, whether it was crying, happiness, laughter or anger--they all caused him to cough and then
wheeze. The eczema had completely cleared. Two weeks back he had been very angry. This was similar to what he was like three years earlier. He was also very worried about his mother running away and felt very insecure if she went out. Other things he feared were snails, the dark, and monsters.

The Last Prescription

With this follow-up visit, I felt that we were coming to the bottom of Ganeshís case. The remedy I prescribed was Chamomilla, because it had asthma from emotions and anger. The remedy worked beautifully for him. The asthma continued for two days and then stopped. I spoke to his mother several months after he took the remedy and she reported that Ganesh was in excellent health. Both the asthma and the eczema were history and he was doing well in all areas of his life.

Conclusion

Ganeshís case shows how homeopathy can treat and cure people with both asthma and eczema, conditions that are regarded as incurable in allopathic medicine. It also shows how by listening to the language of the body and the patient, the homeopath can get clear directions as to what remedy to give to bring about the miraculous cures for which homeopathy is famous.

Please do not attempt to treat people with these conditions using the remedies I used, because they were tailored to the needs of this patient, and given by an experienced homeopath who knew (at least in part) what she was doing. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions, or if you know someone who needs help with their health problems. My phone number is 650-569-6219, and the web site address is www.homeopathyforhealth.net.