Stress & Its Effects on Unborn Child
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2002 Mar / Apr VOL 4 NO 2.
Dr S J Sutarwala
'Staph / Staph / Ign / Nat-m
The pocket Oxford Dictionary defines Stress as a) a pressure
or tension b) physical or mental strain.
The purpose of this article is to show a better, perhaps a
newer understanding of the effect of stress on hitherto unrecognized target age
group through treated and cured clinical cases.
All of us know that stress is a very important component,
being in some cases an exciting cause and in some, a maintaining cause for the
manifested sickness. It can also modify and so to say, add a new layer, in an
active ongoing miasmatic chronic disease.
Therefore, it is very important to understand the effect of
stress on each of our patients so that we can know how much has it contributed
to the sickness of the patient in question. We have to understand how each
patient is reacting to stress, and whether this reaction is morbid or not. (for
all reactions to stress need not be necessarily morbid, and therefore may not
require therapeutic aid). By doing this in fact we are facilitating the patient’s
recovery.
It is very important to know both: 1) the nature of stress
and 2) the patient’s reaction to it , in order to come to a selection of the
indicated medicine. We intend to talk about the effect of stress on:
1. Unborn Child
2. Children
3. Adults where the patient was subjected to stress during
the childhood days and in many cases even during the gestational period!!!
Since the first point may appear to be unbelievable (in view
of lack of published papers on this subject). We are going to discuss each one
of these with clinical cases treated.
STRESS AND ITS EFFECT IN UNBORN CHILD
Logically speaking each cell has a will and understanding of
its own. It therefore is also capable of receiving and reacting to stimuli. At
the level of cellular existence therefore each cell is constantly subjected to
stress of different kinds. Its reaction to this stress can either be (i) a non
morbid one, (different changes which a cell makes in response to a stimuli
within its limitations of physiological and biochemical capacities, and (ii) in
some cases it can also react morbidly.
A fertilized ovum (zygote) in the first place, is a
totipotent cell. I have a Will and Understanding of its own, and logically this
Will and Understanding is different from its parents. The ultimate development
of this totipotent cell to a foetus and at last to a newly born child is totally
dependent on this Will and Understanding. Just like all the cells are subjected
to stress at a cellular level, so also this, zygote is constantly subjected to
stress during its gestational period by a continuous change in its environment
- both physical and mental. The developing zygote then also reacts to stress
either in a non morbid or in a morbid manner. If the reaction is a non morbid
one, a healthy child is born, (providing the inherited miasmatic status allows
the child to remain healthy) on the other hand if the reaction is a morbid one a
sick child is born. The health and qualities of life of the new born child than
is going to depend on two factors.......1) Inherited tendencies from the
parents and 2) the reaction of the foetus to stress during the gestational
period.
All of us know about the first point, but when it comes to
the second, not much is known, maybe because it is very difficult to show this,
it can only be shown by analogy, and again this type of work requires, in
Hahnemann’s words, an accurately observing capacity and an unprejudiced mind,
which very few of us (including me) have!!!
Those very few who have the accurately observing capacity can
infer the stress just by seeing the patient in different parameters. According
to them the effect of stress can clearly be visualized through the whole being
of the patient, even long after the stress has ceased to act on him!!! I would
like to present a case to elucidate this trait.
Case 1:
This case was treated and cured by my teacher.
A female child of about 5 years was brought to him with P/C
of the child vomiting intermittently since her birth. Once the vomiting started
it would not be controlled by any medication and the child had to be
hospitalized, put on IV fluids, and later on put on ryle’s tubes and fed and
then discharged. The same cycle would be repeated again after some time. The
attending paediatrician could not find any organic or pathological lesion. There
were no elicitable triggering factors for these bouts of vomiting. On appearance
she was an emaciated child and appeared mild and sweet. The child was brought by
her father who said that she became very quiet and would like to be alone just
before those attacks of vomiting started. Staphysagria 200/2 doses were
prescribed and the father was asked to report after 4 weeks and to also bring
along the mother. On asking the logic of Staphysagria I was told,
"the child is feeling insulted. Its sense of self-respect has been wounded.
And this has most probably occurred in utero. After 4 weeks the report was....
the child is eating food, passing stools daily, and most important of all there
have been no bouts of vomiting- She was prescribed placebo. After this, she
never had vomiting problem. On careful questioning of the mother now i.e. after
4 weeks after the prescription had been made, it was revealed that due to
certain circumstances during pregnancy, she had had negative feelings regarding
her pregnant state and had wished for an end of the problem!!! (termination of
pregnancy) And now I could perceive the statement my teacher had made to me 4
weeks before without seeing the mother!
Discussion: This case highlights some important yet often
misunderstood aspects.
1) Effect of stress on the unborn child - mother’s
negative feeling towards the pregnancy and wanting a termination and the child’s
reaction to it.
2) Observation of the effect of stress by just observing a
child of 5 years who by herself did not know she was subjected through this
stress, and nor did her father knew of this!!! (Mother revealed it in the next
meeting, by the time the medicine had already acted curatively on the child!!!)
