Case by Maarten van der Meer
A 10-month-old baby with sleep problems due to bowel cramps. The boy had many cramps until 7 months, from 8 months the cramps are gone during the day. Blood values are negative. From yogurt, he has a lot of pain, flatulence, and can't sleep. With supplemental feeding (like cereal porridge) he wakes up 10 times a night. Normally he is quiet. Several times a night he cries, cringes, and farts a lot. Often he lies crying with his eyes still closed. During the day he is not bothered at all. Awake at night: There are no fixed times, often 4 am, always 23 am. It starts with crying, then he turns and wakes up, and you have to pick him up and massage his lower back. His stool smells awful, it's a heavy smell. Sticky black-green stools the last month. Two weeks ago he had an ear infection and was given antibiotics, but nothing changed after that. He is a good-natured, easy-going child. The pregnancy was “not smooth,” The mother was incredibly tired, from the third month she had a lot of heartburn and was often sick. Labor took a long time, three days after the waters broke, eventually with labor inducers, and a lot of blood loss. “I was up, I called in sick, was short of breath.” After delivery, the mother was tired for weeks.
AnalysisIn this case study, differentiation on a repertory rubric was used, looking back to see if the thematics were recognizable. The entire rubric is gone through, until a recognition occurs, “a bell rings”. Here a more general heading was taken because the specific headings did not give a suitable solution. A lot of work, nowadays we have
Qjure, but even there is now retrospectively no solution visible either. A search program can have a disadvantage because you build in a limitation in advance, a presupposition. Manually going through the headings gives you the advantage of other possibilities. Abdomen, pain, night: no appropriate medications Abdomen, pain after midnight: no appropriate medications. Night aggravates general: Cytisus laburnum, placed on
Stage 7. Appropriate because: the
Fabaceae theme of “fatigue” predominates, this colors the story and overshadows the other symptoms. Digestion and upper intestine, pancreas, is a
Fabaceae theme too. Birth: obstruction, help was needed, and the body kept trying but did not come to a solution, this fits
Stage 7.
Prescription: Cytisus laburnum MK.
Follow-upAfter a week he sleeps better, with no more pain or crying at night, he still wakes up once or twice for feedings. Wakes up quietly in the morning now, no more crying. The first week after taking it he had a one-day diaper rash. Still pulling ears for a few days, but those nights were good. Stools are no longer green-black but were thin and yellowish for a few days. After three weeks, everything is permanently over. Again, the whole picture was taken, the family, pregnancy, and childbirth, which among other things translates how the mother and child's stresses are and relate, the balance of and sensitivity to. This can be placed into a Plant
Family, or in a Class, Phase, or a Stage. With good perception and interpretation, this may be enough for a prescription, sometimes the Repertorium is a great supplement to use to make a choice, to make the puzzle complete.