My Learning Curve
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1996 Mar / Apr Vol V No 2.
Rashmi Nagar.
Cases.
` Tub / Tarent.

Epilepsy or Tuberous Sclerosis: An inherited abnormality of brain tissue resulting in mental defect. It may be associated with epilepsy.

CASE 1:

Master W aged 10 had a h/o epilepsy. His first and only attack was in May 93. He was immediately put on allopathic treatment after which he did not have further attacks. He had stopped the Rx suddenly on 16/5/94 when he went for a school tour. The mother was not keen on continuing the Rx as she felt the child was becoming irritable, angry and memory was weakened.

ODP: 1st attack was when he was staying with his aunt. Started suddenly in the morning. There was stiffness of the body with tightly clenched fists and blue face. He was unconscious for about one min. Frothing (3+).

Physical Generals:

Aversion to regular food.
Craving-Spices, potatoes, pani-puri, tomatoes, bhel-puri.
Thirst-N. Urine: N. Bowels: N.

Birth History - FTND.
Mile stones - Early.
Sleep - sleeps on abdomen, restless and tosses about.
Dreams - constant of being killed, ghost or killing someone. Occasionally wakes up and cries.
Thermal - History of + perspiration: copious.
Family History: Tuberculosis / aunts, father.
Past History: Pyloric stenosis, Chicken pox.
Mentals: He wants to do everything very fast. Speaks fast. Playful. Likes video games, skating and watching TV especially love stories. Anger violent and abusive. Back answers parents. Dominating. Never says sorry. He is defiant and fearless (Except in his sleep). Never steady for a minute. spoilsport. Short span of concentration. Intelligent but not sincere in work. Ranks between 10-20 in a class of 33. Hand writing: very bad. He is cunning - cheats the tuition teacher-copy from the book and lie. Mother dotes on him but she is at her wits end at times on how to handle him. Even if she fasts in protest, the child is unaffected. Mothers state during pregnancy - normal.
Observation: very confident child, questions about everything. Restless - playing with fingers, speech: Hurried (3+).
Reports: Paediatricians note: 11/6/93 - 9 years old FTND male child - h/o convulsions - 15 days back - First time generalized tonic lasting 1 minute - cyanosis, followed by unconsciousness. No h/o head injury. No focal neurological signs. No evidence of

1. Pering fibrosis
2. adenoma sebaceous
3. hypopigmented macules.

No MR, No infantile spasm.
CT Scan - Periventricular subepidymal calcified lesions may suggest tuberous sclerosis? Gray matter hetertopio in the left parietal region.
X-ray skull - Faint areas of calcification in the right parietal region consistent with tuberose sclerosis.
X-ray both hands - No changes seen with tuberosclerosis viz cystic destruction of phalanges and cortical thickening of the metacarpals.

This was a difficult case to undertake as there was a risk of status epilepticus due to sudden stoppage of continuous treatment with anticonvulsants.

Case Summary:

Essential Totality

1. Hurried Obstinate
2. Anger violent
3. Concentration difficult.
4. Restlessness
5. Abusive
6. Fearless
7. Cunning
8. Moral feeling want of
9. Ideas abundant
10. Sleep on abdomen
11. Dreams of ghosts, killed being
12. Convulsions: fits clenched stiff, face blue. Froth, consciousness without
13. TB Family History.

My impression of Tarentula came very strong after history taking and observation - with a strong tubercular background.

Treatment and Follow-up: Case 1
Date Treatment

2/7/94 Nux Vomica 200 (2) doses to antidote the allopath Rx.
9/7/94 Tarentula H 200 (I) HS. SL for 10 days.
23/7/94 No dreams. No getting up at night and crying.
Restlessness same. Tuberculin 200 (I) HS. SL 1 dr.
31/7/94 GC same: Tarentula H I M (I) SL for 4 days. Tuberculin 1 M (1) after 4 days.
10/8/94 The child came with a big abscess (size of a tennis ball) on his buttock with dirty purple pustular discharge. For this, dressing was done for seven days.
17/8/94 h/o fever, Pus: Hepar Sul 200 was given. no more dressing required.
25/8/94 Mother reported that for the first time the boy cried when mother had gone out phoned his aunt to inquire about her. This was something that he had never done in past. He got very scared after seeing a horror movie on TV. No medicine given. Scored 70 percent in school.
3/9/94 Mild cold. Anger is reduced. Turning in sleep is less.
21/9/94 Fever-high temp, headache ++, vomiting ++, Belladonna 200 for 2 days.

CASE 2: CHRONIC ILL HEALTH

Master S G, 5 1/2 years of age has never kept well since birth.

Past History: Diarrhoea with dehydration, tendency to septic skin eruptions, scabies and chronic cold.

He was last hospitalized in July 94 for acute abdominal pain. He developed severe allergic reaction after allopathic treatment.

Investigations:

Abdominal sonography : NAD
Barium meal study: suggestive of hyper acid state Relatively fixed appendix.
CBC - Eosinophils increased.

Physical Generals:

App - NAD
Craving - Tasty spicy food chips and sweets ++
Urine - Occasional bed wetting.
Past History: of fever with convulsion when 1 1/2 years old. Cervical gland enlarged. Mantoux +ve. Treatment given for 6 months.
Sleep: Occasionally talks in sleep.
Sweat: ++
Thermal: Hot 3.
P/H Diabetes. Thyroid - GM Cold Kochs: Father and Grand Father. Thyroid - MO.
Mentals: Short tempered. Intelligent and over-active physically and mentally. His anger is so violent that the whole family can not handle him. He became abusive. He is good in studies. Always wants to come first and finish everything fast. Good in sports. Questions about everything.

Case Summary: Anger-violent abusive. Hurried 3 Activity 3. Tubercular background. Septic conditions. Suppressed skin violent nature of complaints. Medicines thought of were Sulphur, zincum-met, Iodium, Tarentula-h, Tarentula and Tuberculinum.

Prognosis is good as it has followed Herrings Law.
Treatment and Follow-up Case 2
1/10/94 Fever, Headache, Thirst ++ Bryonia 200 for 2d
3/10/94 No fever, cough ++ Drosera 200
6/10/94 Cough. h/o mild stomach pain ---
7/10/94 No complaints Tarentula 200 HS (silent phase).
12/11/94 Had few mild pustular skin Tuberculin 200 (1) eruptions that subsided on its own after 1 week.
Anger; Constipation, Hair fall ++ Tarentula 200 (1)
23/11/94 Fever: 102 - loose stool after eating food outside. Nux vom 200 1 dose SOS.
1/12/94 Rt Posterior cervical gland swelling. Mild cold++. Merc if 200 Ids.
5/12/94 Better in all respects. ---.

In this case Bryonia, Drosera, Nux and Merc had to be given as and when the symptoms surfaced. Tarentula and Tub-b seems to be the similimum as there is return of skin eruption and cervical gland swelling after its administration.

CASE 3: MIGRAINE

In this case there is no date-wise data as it is my own 11 year old sons case. he had h/o migraine-regular attacks, once in 2-3 months since age 5. Right sided headache with throbbing pains and acute vomiting, better by vomiting.

He is a child with lot of mental and physical energy who can control every one and everything except his anger. Always hurried and wants to come first. Dreams of becoming scientist and loves magic and tricks. School report is good in everything except transcription because in each line he wants to experiment with a different hand writing!.

He was given Belladonna and Lycopodium which helped only marginally. Later when we were doing Tarentula issue, the medicine seemed to be right for him. I only had to give few doses of Tarentula h 200 and later 1 M each at 1 months interval. Since then there has not been a single attack of migraine and his writing has improved dramatically. He seldom gets angry.

After the above experience how I wished we had come out with the spider issue earlier!.

Keynotes of Tarentula: Hurried, Cunning. Anger-Violent, Restless 3. Whenever the mother is full of stories about her child, think of Tarentula. To bring up a Tarentula child is a mothers agony and ecstasy.

Medicines to be differentiated are:

1. Iodum: No rest, Hurried, emaciation.
2. Lycopodium: wants to be first, intelligent, emaciation.
3. Zincum: Restlessness, CNS manifestations.

Discussion:

1. We come across so many cases where only after one attack of convulsions even if it is febrile, the child is put on long term anti-convulsant treatment-which has its own hazards. Should we not train ourselves to keep the patient under observation and do so only if it is necessary?
2. Homoeopathy should be given earlier as it acts better when anticonvulsants drugs are not given for a long time.
3. In the above case, there is a strong tubercular background. This child has been vaccinated so there are no external manifestations of Kochs but the tendency to disease formation is not eradicated but is pushed deeper.

Accidents may also result from falls caused by hypotension and rarely, drug induced cardiac arrhythmias and convulsions. Elderly people particularly those with disorders affecting stability and mobility (for eg - neurological disease, defective vision, vertigo and arthropathies) are especially vulnerable.

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