by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman
We have treated thousands of children with behavioral and learning problems in our practice. Many of these children are diagnosed with Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (ODD) and suffered from irritability, anger, rage, and violence. We document some of these cases in our book, Rage-Free Kids. Here we include two of our many success stories.
Alan: Mischievous, Defiant, and Fixated on Violence
Alan was five years old with sandy blonde hair, a freckled face, and a mischievous gleam in his eye His mom was at her wit’s end. She hoped and prayed that homeopathy could solve his behavior problems. She described Alan as “disobedient.” Listening was not his strong suit. Alan’s parents had tried many different parenting techniques to no avail. He balked no matter what approach they tried. It took the youngster thirty to forty-five minutes to get dressed in the morning. He would stop, then start, then riddle his parents with questions. There was no getting through to him. He was unable to focus. If Alan’s parents told him, “no, you can’t”, he would “lose it” and become hysterical. The child screamed, cried, and threw things. He was very stubborn, “He could go from black to white in a matter of seconds. Something snaps.”
The youngster engaged in slugging matches with his mother. He yelled at her “in a cursing tone but without the four letter words”. He threw tantrums in public during which he pushed his mother and asserted vehemently that he was not afraid of her. Alan told her loudly and repeatedly that she was “a mean, bad mommy”. It embarrassed her terribly. He pushed and hit others, but when they did the same to him, he insisted, “It’s not fair”. Alan got along better with other kids when he was in charge. He liked to wrestle and play karate.
Alan had a fixation on violence and weapons. Fearless, he was terrible with animals. His parents had to tell him ten times a day to leave the cat and dog alone. The child was constantly “on the go.” He had an incredible memory and vocabulary and a very quick mind, which he used to his advantage. Tools and mechanical objects fascinated the child. Alan was bold and liked to climb up high.
He could talk for hours on end and loved to play “Guess what?” Loud noises annoyed him. The child was lanky, strong, and the height of a six and a half year old. He had grown a lot over the previous four months and was complaining of his bones aching.
Alan’s mom had a good pregnancy, nursed him until he was 19 months, and did not introduce dairy into his diet until 10 months. He walked at 11 months and talked at 18 months. He developed a severe ear infection at ten months following a DPT immunization.
Alan had an incessant habit of grinding his teeth at night so loudly that he awakened his parents in the next room. His sleep was restless. He flailed his arms and legs and awakened “upside down”. The child also salivated constantly since birth. He habitually lapped his tongue, resulting in scabs below his lips. He picked his frequently and suffered from recurrent gas. When asked about itching, his mother confirmed that he did have periods of intense anal itching but was never tested for pinworms. Alan had warts on his left sole under the big toe that were starting to be painful. Alan also loved noodles, bread and butter, sweets, and salt, which he sometimes licked off his hand. His appetite was huge. He complained of being “hungry to death.”
Alan’s Rapid, Dramatic Turnaround With Homeopathy
We gave Alan one dose of Cina 200C. Cina (Worm-seed) is a well-known homeopathic remedy for children who are cross, contrary, and disobedient. These children can exhibit violence, malice, and cruelty. They are capricious and like to be rocked and carried. Those needing Cina are often afflicted with pinworms, causing anal itching. Children needing this medicine typically grind their teeth, have ravenous appetites (and sometimes large bellies) and may have seizures. Also common is boring their fingers into their noses and ears to relieve the itching. They desire sweets.
At his next appointment six and a half weeks later, the warts on the bottom of his foot were completely gone. Alan’s mother considered the disappearance of the warts “amazing in itself”. His teeth grinding was much reduced. His mother described now him as “your normal average kid.” There were no more slugging matches or temper tantrums. He was significantly less defiant. The heavy, deep breathing when he didn’t get his way had resolved. Not did he complain about having bad mommy. The salivation was much better and the nose picking improved by 80%. Alan had gone through a really hungry period for about one week after the remedy during which his appetite could not be satisfied. He was no longer fixated on violence. The child had stopped complaining of bone aching. He had no gas. The anal itching had happened only twice.
Two months later, when Alan’s mother brought him in, “He is doing terrific. As perfect as a boy can be.” The warts were still gone. The teeth grinding was slight. His attitude had improved considerably. He had occasional temper tantrums, but nothing compared to before. He was not as rebellious and defiant. There was no salivation. The nose picking was occasional. He had a much better relationship with his dog and the other farm animals. He no longer had problems with sensitivity to noise, even hearing the chain saw. His appetite was strong and he had begun to try a lot of new foods. He had no bone aching, though he did experience it briefly. There was no anal itching. He had gas and diarrhea every once in a while.
As of five and a half months later, Alan continued to do “great” and did not need a repetition of the Cina.
Brent: Disobedient, Contrary and Out of Sorts
Brent was a “homeopathy baby.” What we mean by this is that his mother became pregnant with him shortly after being given Lycopodium for her endometriosis-related infertility. She first brought Brent to see us when he was ten months old. His chief complaint was ear infections and recurrent colds. At four month of age he took a trip to Connecticut with his parents. From that time he suffered from cold after cold. A month before we first saw him, he was treated with Amoxycillin for otitis. The child was unresponsive to treatment and was subsequently given Sulfa for two weeks, which resulted in a rash.
The youngster was born with a right-sided bronchial cleft cyst. Circumcised at the age of one day, he had received all of his immunizations. Brent’s mother’s was still breastfeeding him four times a day at the time of his first visit. The ear infection developed immediately after he was first fed him cheese. Brent had received an HIB immunization the day before, which produced a welt. He was at the 50th percentile of height and weight levels, had a huge head, and was late to teethe and slow to walk.
Brent’s had suffered a bilateral ear infection. He yawned for two days, then developed a 102-degree F fever three days later. The child became irritable and fussy and wanted to be carried all the time or he cried. He had begun to drool at nine months. The ear infection had resolved by the time his mom brought Brent to see us, however she wanted him to be treated homeopathically to prevent future episodes, as well as to mitigate his behavioral problems.
Brent’s temperament was moody and contrary with lots of screaming. He only stopped crying when his mother carried him. The youngster typically experienced five to ten screaming fits a day, beginning two months and progressively worse after that. Brent had little patience, did not tolerate being alone, and cried when strangers came close.
Brent’s Remedy
We gave Brent Chamomilla (chamomile) 200C in a single dose. It s the first remedy to consider for fussy, contrary children whose crying and irritability is relieved by being carried. It is an important remedy for ear infections in infants associated with teething. These babies become easily frustrated and tend to be whiny, complaining, and restless.
Brent’s mother wrote us one week later to say he was doing much better. He had been extremely irritable for two days after taking the remedy, but improved steadily afterwards.
Four and a half weeks after the remedy his mother called to report that she had “gotten her baby back.” Brent’s behavior was much improved. No more ear problems. His nursing had reduced to only twice a day. We waited. One month later, she called again to let us know that his symptoms were returning. We repeated Chamomilla 200C with little effect, so we increased the potency to 1M. The higher dose worked like a charm.
We did not see Brent again until nine months later. He was now 22 months old. We immediately noticed that he had a kind of tough guy look on his little face. Now he was often grumpy, overly reactive, whiny, and quick to throw temper tantrums, even up to seen times a day. He had an overall “Don’t mess with me!” attitude.
The child insisted on doing things his own way, was extremely obstinate, and showed no patience whatsoever. Brent thrashed when angry. The only thing that would stop the crying was to give him what he wanted. He loved to sit in the rocking chair when his mother put on his shoes. He had experienced another ear infection when his most recent teeth came in.
We prescribed another dose of Chamomilla 1M. The response was very positive. Within four days the mucus and irritability were 90% better. The following week the child’s appetite increased, he was more independent, and played more creatively. He continued to do well until three weeks later when he was exposed to eucalyptus, which can interfere with homeopathic remedies. Several days later his runny nose and irritability returned. He was again very sensitive to being touched, yelled, whined, was oversensitive, and became easily upset by the slightest thing. We prescribed Chamomilla 10M.
The response was immediate and significant. His temperament again evened out, he no longer screamed at the other kids. All the rest of his teeth came in. He only whined when tired. Brent needed another dose of Chamomilla 10M five months later.
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