Borax, two children with socially evasive behaviour

Case 1
Girl, 16 years old
Consultation is prompted by a swelling of the knee caused by straining during sport. The girl's parents, however, are more concerned about the way she functions socially.
At home her behaviour is quite normal, she is lively and talkative but as soon as she is called upon to do something outside the family circle, she in fact closes down. She has no friends to speak of, because she is unable to maintain contact, dares not call them back, let alone go somewhere to meet them.
Superficial contacts she manages quite well, but as soon as something is discussed at a more personal level she seems not to understand and tries to evade the issue, with a lie if need be, anything to avoid having to show herself or say something personal. This makes more personal contact impossible and she becomes rather isolated. At school she is bullied, as a result she doesn't want to go there anymore. She was slow in learning to talk. She has cognitive difficulties [1] and therefore attends a special school.
Her great passion is swimming, she is quite good at it and her achievements are such that she could take part in national championships. However, over the past year she has been coached by someone who in fact discourages her: 'he yells at me', she says, and she believes she is the only one he yells at. She cannot stand yelling. She used to train almost every day, now she only goes twice a week and wants to give it up altogether. Her physical condition and achievements are therefore in serious decline. She claims not to mind, but in fact she does, considerably. She dares not admit what is bothering her, though she wants to try and find another coach.
While swimming her knee has become painful, swollen and purple, and her parents - who have long wished their daughter to see a homeopath because of her social difficulties - now take this as an excuse to persuade her to do so.

She has been feeling very tired lately. She often falls asleep on the sofa at four o'clock in the afternoon. She goes to bed at 9.30pm and though tired she wakes up at 1.30pm (often because of her father's coughing), she then falls asleep around 3.30 but wakes up exhausted in the morning.

During the pregnancy her mother was frequently examined gynaecologically, for reasons unclear to the parents until, just before the baby was due, the gynaecologist told them, with relief, that the baby's spine was closed [2]. A couple of days after delivery the mother had a haemorrhage during which a foetus was released. The foetus had been dead quite some time.

Analysis
This is clearly a girl with a serious developmental disorder [3], of which the delayed closure of the spine, the speech retardation and serious cognitive limitations are clear indications. Considering the fact that the girl is seriously lacking in self-confidence and is frightened when having to present herself, we would traditionally consider Baryta, Natrum.mur. or Silica. As her inability to engage in deeper contact with her surroundings would seem to be associated especially with stage 3 of the periodic system, my attention was drawn to Borium and Borax. The way Borium affects growth, the early and cognitive development seemed to provide additional confirmation. The combination of Borium and the more relational Natrium (her problems in making contact showed rather a Natrium pattern) induced me to prefer Borax to Borium.

Reaction
Early on, during the first two weeks on the remedy, a marked improvement of her energy occurs: she is no longer tired and is sleeping well. After a month the mother says it is as if her daughter has become a different person: she likes to go to school, where she is no longer bullied. She is able to share more with her peers and is better at making contacts, she takes the initiative to call her friends and clearly feels comfortable with them and for the first time she goes out at weekends. She now dares to be open about herself and no longer displays the evasive behaviour she resorted to in the past. The cognitive retardation is still there, but less so: when things get too complicated she still ceases to respond but it takes longer for this to happen and it no longer makes her feel insecure. She is now much less interested in swimming, which used to be her only means of manifesting herself; it is much more fun to do things with friends. Eighteen months after the first dosage of Borax she is still much better and a repeat [prescription?] [4]has not been necessary to date.

Case 2
Girl, 7 years old
She has come because of insecurity. Whenever she is unsure about her ability to handle a situation she loses control completely: her whole body starts to shake and all her muscles stiffen, she starts to cry and becomes unapproachable. The only thing you can do is leave the scene of the disaster and, if she is not there already, take her to her mother. With other children she is insecure at first, but once this has been overcome she becomes a bossy little girl who, when she does not get her way, loses control in the same manner. It seems impossible for her to interact with other children on a basis of equality. She is much better with grown-ups, with whom she behaves like a little know-all.

A seizure can furthermore be triggered by anything that moves (especially animated toys in shopping centres), accelleration on a bicycle ('don't go so fast, mommy'), dark spaces, the car wash, strangers who approach her too directly, animals, water (shower, or water on her head), loud noises (also when she knows they are coming), see-saws and other playground apparatus, unfamiliar stairs, elevations, slides. What she wants most is to be at home, inside ('how I miss my home').

She has trouble with her eyesight. According to the ophtician she has great difficulty projecting the images her eyes ‘see’. Before she wore glasses she would twist her head into a kind of torticollis in order to see things better.Where motor processes are concerned, especially during play, she is clumsy, wooden and stiff and easily tenses up.

She complains of abdominal pain, which becomes worse when she is upset and when she drinks cold liquids. Her appetite is poor, she is averse to milk, tea and water. Meat and bread are least problematic. Apple juice causes diarrhoea.
During sleep her head often becomes damp. She used to have a difficult start in the morning, crying a lot. This has now improved. Her lowest point now occurs around five o'clock in the afternoon. As a baby she had regular cri encephalique, and during her first year she cried a lot. According to the grandmother, the girl's mother presented the same picture as a small child but to a lesser degree.

Analysis and reactions
At first - she was then 4 years old - she came to me because of abdominal complaints and showed several clear symptoms for Lycopodium and she responded well to Lycopodium. When repeated for the fourth time Lyc. failed to bring an improvement. The same applied to Aurum, which caused a bout of aphthae in the mouth. This pointed to Borax, which brought marked improvements, in particular with regard to insecurity in motor functions and social behaviour in particular Borax proved superior to Lyc.

Discussion
Borax has long been a remedy with a reputation for developmental disorders in children and this has been confirmed by recent biochemical information on the influence of Borium on developmental processes. However, the essence of the Borax image has never become entirely clear. From the ideas of Jan Scholten on the periodic system, and many supporting case studies, the importance of Borium in the treatment of dissociation disorders has become clear. Borium is a major remedy in situations where people are overwhelmed by impressions from their surroundings and are in danger of losing their identity. With Natrium and Natrium salts the problem of maintaining relations has been known. When an evasive personality disorder has developed alongside a dissociation disorder the combination of Borium and Natrium, as in Borax, could be an important additional remedy.