Cerium carbonicum

Case:

Little girl K., born February 2003.

She was brought in by her mother in April 2006, because of bellyaches and watery diarrhea. She was irregular, mostly in the evening, with ‘wet’ flatus. It is like it is ‘left-over’ from a sudden high fever with headache and pain in the neck some months ago. Then she had fatty stools for a few days. The laboratory-tests gave no abnormal results for the stools or urine.

During the conversation, K. sits and listens quietly, but does not give an answer when I ask her anything. She is quite timid. She is stoutly built, her face is somewhat square and she has deep dimpled cheeks just like her mother.

She was conceived through IVF at the ‘first shot’ and both parents were overly happy with her. During the pregnancy the mother, who suffers from Crohn's disease, was diagnosed with a kidney tumor which had to be removed straight after the birth.

“Since her illness she is very sweet and it is like she has a fresh view on life. She is playful and has a big imagination. She is very sensitive and knows things in advance, a real new-age child. " The mother is an aura-reader and combines her university education with spiritual courses.

K. is shy at the first contact. In kindergarten she avoids the domineering children and looks for the like-minded ones. She can play alone for hours and expresses her daily experiences in her play. She has been in kindergarten since age 1.

From 2 to 3 years of age she had been quite cross with her mother, who was away attending courses. “She was angry, did not want to look at me and was just cross, like a cat". She only wants things her way. She is very meticulous. Sees every imperfection, stain or crack. She is enthusiastic and lively, can be very stubborn and self-willed. She likes patterns, almost ritualistic.

Her appetite is good, even with the bellyache. She is interested in food, but has an aversion to some vegetables. She likes meat a lot, likes yoghurt and the white of the egg, but not the yolk. Apart from that she is "an easy eater". She drinks little, but likes apple juice or milk both diluted with lukewarm water.

She had eczema till age 2 with an asthmatic tendency. She easily catches a cough which can stay for some weeks and can breathe quite heavily. As a baby she perspired easily on the head and nose. Sleeping is “not her hobby”. She wants to go to bed late and wants to get up at 05:30am. If not at kindergarten she does not sleep during the day. When she is not well she is pale with "tired eyes", listless and unsatisfied, then dawdles terribly.

She has a fear of making mistakes and it is difficult for her to be corrected or criticized, especially if witnessed by strangers. She likes to boss people around and takes her frustrations out on mum and adores daddy, who takes a large part in the care of his child.

At kindergarten she refuses to try to do things she has not mastered. She is careful with items. If she breaks something she is very upset.

Her memory is very good.

The sight in her right eye is not good. They were advised to correct it by covering the other one, but the parents decided to postpone it for the time being.

She is a careful climber, she hardly falls down and never has bruises.

Analysis:
It is most remarkable in this case to notice her self-willed character and the meticulousness and need for order and structure. Her tendency to be overly careful which reminds the mother of a 60 year old person.

The need for autonomy, a basic theme of the Lanthanides, is quite obvious. The timidity and fear to make mistakes before mastering things puts it in Stage 4, which is Cerium, but combined with which salt? The strong need for order, the perspiration on face and nose, and her being "a daddy’s girl", made me choose Carbonicum.

So she got Cerium carbonicum MK.

Follow up:
4 weeks later;
When I opened the door to them I saw her standing next to her mother holding her hand, grinning up at me with a big smile and I really enjoyed her shining face with maximum dimples in her cheeks. Her mother tells me that the very day after the remedy her stool was normal and instead of "like a careful 60 year-old person", she turned into a child who smashes things up, clambers and tries things out and now regularly has bruises. She follows her own imagination immediately, like improvisational theater.

She sleeps little compared to children of her age and mum can find her sitting quietly in her bed, in meditation-position. If she does not feel like going to kindergarten she makes up grown-up excuses. She needs to be persuaded, but when she is there she is excited.

The difference before and after the remedy is very remarkable. Her perfectionism is much more relaxed. Before she used to clear away things before starting her next play. Now she can make a mess and it does not matter to her anymore if her hands are dirty. She is a lot more flexible, “as if she is more grounded, really incarnated.”
She still has a little cough, as a reflex.