By Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH, October 11, 2022 Lack of Focus and Strong Interest in Violence I first met Jake, a handsome, dark-haired, 8-year-old boy, on May 1, 2012. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and an auditory processing disorder about a year ago and was currently attending a special school for children with developmental and behavioural challenges. His mother's main concerns were his lack of focus and his interest in violence. "I love to watch violent movies, I love all the blood, guns and knives, " he gleefully shared. We were off to a running start! "I really liked this movie about a guy who was chased by the police because he was killing everyone, and doing incredibly illegal things such as blocking off the doors to a hospital so lives would be lost."  Scorpions and Killer Plants He dreamt about a giant scorpion trying to kill him, "but I jumped backwards and killed it by landing on it! The scorpion was the size of my room and lots of blood came out of it." Jake also liked killer plants, including pitcher plants and Venus fly traps. "The venus fly trap will suck nutrients out of me, and sun dew will make my mouth stick together, then I won't be able to talk. The pitcher plant will make my stomach puff up like a balloon and then pop! and I'll die." He imagined himself being underwater and killing everything, including little kids. He interspersed this story with a wicked laugh, then told me "I'm stunned with boredness," and added more wicked laughs. Then he said: "Hell is a place where you die and burn for infinity." Dislike of Tomatoes and Brains He is afraid of spiders and clowns. He likes all foods except "tomatoes and brains". He loves white bread, potatoes (10), pickles (9), and pasta. Falling asleep can be difficult, he can lie there and ruminate about things for hours. During the office visit he created an incredibly detailed drawing with many symbols and a script that looked like Japanese or Chinese even though he had no background in either language or ethnicity. I found it very creative and interesting. Lack of Social Awareness "Jake does not fit in, he lacks social awareness and gets in trouble a lot", his mom told me in private."He says he feels lonely, like an outsider. He will act goofy and inappropriate when put into a new environment with new people." She described Jake as easily frustrated and being unable to follow verbal directions if they are given quickly. He may only hear part of what is said. He may also answer a question but then not remember answering it at all. He sometimes seems very spacy. It is also difficult for him to tell a story in the sequence of events. He says: "No one can understand what I'm saying, " and feels sad and angry about this. "He likes to figure out what people's buttons are and will push them. The best way to deal with Jake is by not reacting and staying calm. When he knows he cannot make you react he drops it," his mother told me.  Pregnancy can be a challenging time for couples A Difficult Pregnancy Jake's parents were going through a difficult time in their marriage during the pregnancy and mom wasn't very happy about being pregnant initially. Then it was discovered that she had placenta previa and started bleeding at 21 weeks. She was hospitalized repeatedly for bleeding over the next four months and given two steroid shots to help mature the baby's lungs. She told me that she felt very lonely during the last two months of her pregnancy as she was staying with relatives to help care for her other child or was in the hospital and her husband only occasionally came to visit even though he only live three minutes away. The labour was intense: "I broke all of the blood vessels in my face and eyes pushing for two hours." There were complications after the delivery and the baby was separated from his mother. Chickenpox Vaccine Reaction, Antibiotics Jake was a happy baby but had a bad reaction to his chickenpox vaccine at age one. His feet swelled up about two weeks after the shot. He had bronchiolitis at age two and was given Ventolin in hospital, followed by several bouts of croup and pneumonia for which he received antibiotics. At age four he had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. The tonsillectomy was traumatic for him, the hospital would not let the parents visit right after he woke from the procedure. He recognized nobody and became inconsolable. Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies and Anger Around age two his mom noticed that Jake was a little obsessive-compulsive. He wanted to always be first to go through the door after coming home from daycare. If not, he had to be taken back to the daycare and start all over again. He received speech therapy for a language delay. Then the parents separated when he was three and mom reported that Jake took it hard: "Up until that age he was organized, happy and polite. After the separation and alternating homes he started throwing watermelons at the walls."  Homeopathy may be helpful to alleviate adverse reactions after vaccinations Bad Reaction to Flu Shot At age five Jake had the HN1 flu shot and the a severe reaction with a fever of 106 F and convulsions. In grade one would not sit still in circle time, but lie down and rock back and forth a lot. In grade two he was inattentive, easily frustrated, easily angered, would ruminate about slights, took forever to fall asleep and lick his lips a lot with anxiety. He received a psychoeducational assessment and was placed into a special school for children with developmental and behavioural concerns in grade three. Assessment and Plan Because of the early history of obsessive-complusive tendencies and the language delay, the auditory processing problems as well as the bad reaction to the varicella/chickenpox vaccine at age one, I suspected a vaccine injury and decided to start homeopathic care with a varicella vaccine clearing. I was also concerned about the impact the difficult pregnancy may have had on Jake. Jake took Varivax 30CH twice a week for one week, followed by the same in a 200CH potency for another week, then IM and 10M in the same manner. I essentially followed Dr. Tinus Smit's method of CEASE Therapy for Jake, a wonderful system developed from his 30 years of experience in helping children with autism and related challenges. In addition to the homeopathic remedies Jake took ascorbyl palmitate, 500 mg/day, vitamin C, 1500 mg/d, zinc, 15 mg/d and fishoil, the usual supplements recommended and used with CEASE Therapy. Happier and Calmer At a follow-up on July 7/12 Mom reported that Jake seemed to a lot happier and calmer. In fact, he had received two compliments in school and after school care on being so calm recently. After the Varivax 1M he had an aggravation with increased lack of focus and a runny nose as well as some diarrhea. He also slept in which is rare. On the 10 M he slept in again. "His ability to listen to instructions has improved as has his tendency to revenge." Interestingly she had not mentioned the revenge before. "And he is not swearing as much. He was often cursing and swearing at school and had been assigned a 'safe spot' for saying in appropriate things there." I had given his mother Dr. Smit's book, 'Autism - Beyond Despair' and she had recognized many of Jake's symptoms in Anacardium, a remedy Dr. Smits uses in his system of 'Inspiring Homeopathy', a fascinating topic in it's own right, but too much to describe here. Plan I repeated the Varivax clearing with instructions to repeat a dose to which he reacted more for longer. Then I added a Saturday remedy, Anacardium 30 CH.  Autism Beyond Despair - a wonderful book that certainly changed my life and that of untold families Follow-up August 11/12 Mom reported that other children were now much more interested in playing with him, even begging to get him on their teams. That had never happened before. He still forgets what he has just said. After the Varivax 10M he had a nightmare. He had some auditory testing again and the technician commented on how much more focused he was now. He also had an EEG and did very well on it. He is not talking as much about blood and guts. Follow-up September 14/12 In an email from September 14/12 mom wrote: "Jake is finishing at the (special school) and will be going into a regular school soon. The staff at the school cannot believe the change in Jake, like day and night. They say he definitely lets go of things quickly now and is able to tell them if he's frustrated instead of just getting angry. He can finish tasks whereas last year he needed assistance. One staff member even said he is a role model for the younger kids!" His writing was also much improved, previously he had great difficulties creating written output. I repeated the whole course of Varivax again with each potency given twice a week for two weeks and Anacardium on Saturdays. Follow-up November 2012 During a follow-up in November mom reported that he still had clear reactions to the Varivax with aggravations in each potency, including a return to the 'old' Jake with lack of focus and increased aggression but was doing very well overall. Follow-up January 19, 2013 Jake is doing well overall. He is in a the regular public school now but has an Individualized Eucation Plan (IEP) with a focus on his social skills. His written output is much improved and he is doing quite well behaviourally. An auditory discrimination test showed him testing at age 4.5. At this point I decided to tackle the H1N1 vaccine to which he had a severe reaction at age five, using the same protocol as described previously. I also changed his Saturday remedy to Carcinosin 30CH. Follow-up March 15/13 In March mom wrote: "Things are good. He is amazing, doing homework on his own. He had a reaction to the H1N1 30CH and became really clueless and not able to control an emotional outbreak in school." We continued the H1N1 clearing and Carcinosin. Follow-up October 11/13 - may no longer need an IEP! I next heard from Mom on October 11/13: "I just had an IEP meeting with Jake's school. First of all he is doing amazing. The only struggle now is math, focusing when there is noise in the class. We deleted a ton of stuff of his IEP. Socially he is doing really well and they were shocked when I said that I was NOT medicating him and he has gotten this far on homeopathic remedies and some cognitive exercises. It is truly inspiring. They even went so far as to ask if Jake even needed an IEP any more, can you believe it! I just had to share this with you." Over the last six months Jake has taken a couple of doses of Cannabis and Stramonium for residual spacyness and fears. He is doing very well, but can still improve more. Using Dr. Smit's method of CEASE Therapy with an initial focus on the vaccines as well as constitutional remedies proved to be a good match for this boy. He is a lovely, bright, highly creative and entertaining young man now. The Many Stressors Affecting the Modern Child There are many stressors affecting children these days, from processed foods to family upheaval, frightening and overstimulating media exposure and the use of multiple medications, vaccines and other medical interventions. I believe that the increased rates of ADHD as well as neurodovelopmental disorders, including auditory processing disorders, are a direct result of a combination of these stressors. As this article shows a careful case history will help to elicit causative factors in individual cases. Many of these children can be successfully assisted with homeopathy and a few supplements. It is wonderful to be able to help these children and families with safe, effective healing methods! I also highly recommend this type of practice for other professionals as it is incredibly rewarding for the practitioner. I get good news reports every single day! Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH Questions? I offer a free 15-minute meet-and-greet consultation
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AuthorAnke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH is a homeopath with a special interest in children with developmental and behavioural concerns. Cases are all from her practice. Names have been changed to protect privacy. The cases were published with permission and are intended for education only. They are not intended as medical advise or solicitation. Homeopathy treats the person, not the condition. Archives
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