Cerium carbonicum: idiopathic purpura

Dora Lou is age 8 when idiopathic purpura is diagnosed on January 7th, 2008. She is brought to me by her mother, who raises Dora Lou and her small brother on her own. The purpura is diagnosed following a bad cold in December 2007. (Theme: problems with platelets: Lanthanides). The platelets are very low (4 giga/l) and the child is treated with cortisone, 20 mg per day for four days. A few days later, the platelets have gone up to 48 Gi/l and Dora goes back to school.

On the 11th of January, large bruises reappear. At the hospital, the platelets are tested at 6 Gi/l and the cortisone is increased to 20 mg, 3 times per day, finishing on the 23 rd of January. The cortisone is then stopped and platelets are measured on February 13 at 5 Gi/L. The mother writes to me saying that she is not receiving clear guidance from the hospital and that she lives in fear of an imminent hemorrhage. Dora is very weak. (Theme: Fear of new situations).  She then sees a nearby homeopath who prescribed Ledum palustre 9CH, Phosphorus 12 CH and Arnica 7CH for 8 weeks.

First consultation: March 24, 2008

The mother asks for help, so that Dora can have sufficient platelets without a threat to her life (Theme: fear of a new situation). Dora is an independent but awkward child, who does not really know how to handle conflicts. She avoids conflicts and never takes part in fights; she withdraws, both at school and in family surroundings. She has always been very independent and asked for freedom. Ever since her youth, she regularly travels on her own to Canada to visit her father. Her parents divorced when she was 2 years old and her mother never talks nicely about the father.

“I have a hard life,”’ the mother says, “I have organized a cocoon around those two children, they have been so badly abandoned!” (Theme: cocoon). The father left her for another woman and never recognized the two children.

Dora is not particularly brilliant and she is very timid at school, always on the look-out. At home, she has the male role, as the older child. She is also very frightened of new situations, even new food. She changed school last year for primary school and that was terrible for her. She adapted well, however, and wanted to do it herself, as her mother said. The mother herself says that she is scared of this new pathological situation. (Theme: Fear of the new, officially has to do it herself).

Food desires: Dora craves meat and fruit.

Analysis:

-  Lanthanides: She is independent and she suffers from an auto-immune disease, both of which point to the Lanthanides. 

-  Stage 4: timid (timidity indicates Stage 2 to 5). She wants to have little contact with others, in order to have freedom: “out of contact” is a strong indication for Cerium (cocoon). She is also very frightened in new situations.

-  Carbon: this story is strongly connected with the father, indicating Carbon. The lack of self-confidence and timidity also point in this direction.  

Prescription: Cerium carbonicum 200 C

Follow up:

2nd consultation, May 28: The platelets are slowly going up; there has been another course of cortisone at the beginning of May, as the platelets count dropped under 10 gi/L

Prescription: Cerium Carbonicum 1M

 -3rd consultation, July 11: Dora’s mother emails: “We have just had the last results for Dora: the platelets are up to 97 Gi/L. It’s really a very big change, and the progress has been really visible these last weeks after the Cerium 1M.  We will come to see you in September and see how things are going. We all thank you from all our heart, and hope you have a lovely summer.  From the now very happy family of Dora.”

-4th consultation

Dora is seen in September 2008; her platelets have returned to normal and she has had no more problems since then.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Cocoon of a Monarch Butterfly; Greyson Orlando