Here is a great article I came across on how Homeopathy was used to treat several young children with Down syndrome in Paderborn, Germany to relieve a multitude of symptoms from:
Recurrent vomiting
Failure to thrive
Recurrent infections of the upper respiratory tract
Enuresis nocturna
Constipation
Sleep disturbances
Hyperactivity
Autism and emotional and neurotic ailments
It’s not like we parents have enough to do, but believe me, you will see patterns emerge with regards to biting if you do this for a few days to one week. Grab a sheet of paper and tack it to a wall or the fridge door and leave a pen nearby. Every time your little one bites you note the following:
- time of day
- what led up to the biting behavior (e.g., jealousy over a toy, lack of attention)
- was hunger or thirst involved
- what were you doing (eating, email, telephone call, laundry, dishes, etc.)
- near sleep, e.g., pre-naptime
- during therapy sessions (specify which therapist)
- anything else that might clue you in to why they bit you or another person
Self-reflect and be honest!
This will make you hyper aware of how you are contributing to the problem of biting and help you focus your efforts with changing your child’s behavior by modifying your own. Believe me, we are all addicted to being innocent –as in “I’m not guilty of causing my kid to bite me; I do everything for them!” but when I did a bit of self-inventory I had to admit that I was getting bitten most when I was doing email and talking on the phone. The next biggest time of getting bitten was because I was late with my daughter’s meal –by minutes. I adjusted my times to do these things and reduced biting greatly –like by half!
Who else is getting bitten?
If you are like me, a mom, you are probably the one getting the most bites and you have my utmost sympathy. It hurts! And it scars. Mom is the favorite target of biters with siblings and dad tied for second place. It’s not uncommon for care givers and therapists to also get bitten. This means that everyone must be involved in your efforts to modify your child’s behavior. To do this, it means that either a.) you explain everything you learn to your spouse, care givers, grammie and gramps, etc. and/or b.) make sure your behavioral therapist makes appointments to be present at your next therapy (PT, OT, VT, SLT, etc.) appointments. Don’t be shy and ask them to be present so you don’t misrepresent how these changes are going to take place.
Tip #3: Homeopathy
Yes, our homeopath mentioned that there are many remedies that can be used to help a child who bites, however, I have to confess that I never got around to investigating what remedies could have worked in my daughter’s case. Remedies are created from things that are known to bite, induce biting, and such and while it is hard to explain other than using the Law of Similars –firefighting with fire, remedies are gentle medicine for children since they respond quickly and beautifully if the right remedy is identified. With Cuprum Metallicum (Cup Met), there is a constant protrusion and retraction of the tongue like snake when accompanied by rage. Cup. Met., Lachesis, Belladonna and Stramonium are some other remedies used in children who bite but they must be prescribed and monitored by a homeopath who knows how to pick the correct remedy since biting is usually one symptom of many which a good homeopath will match up with your child’s nature and emotions, body type or constitution and other symptoms that may be present like teething or developmental delays.
More tips coming! Stay tuned!
With a situation like high intraoccular eyeball pressure, you can expect to be checking the eyeball pressure and condition of the optic nerve and retina surface every 30 days to assess the effectiveness of the treatments. Ideally, there is no damage from the steroid use and treatments are bringing the eyeball pressure down into the normal range. A normal pressure is considered between 10 and 20 millimeters mercury (mmHg) of pressure. At the peak of steroid use we were seeing 42 and 44 mmHg which was putting her into the danger zone for potential optic and retina damage. After 5 months off steroids, her pressure was down to 14 and 15 mmHg consistently for 60 days. This made everyone sigh with relief. The numbers came down in this order: 44, 32, 29, 24, 22, 19, 18, 16, 14. So you can see that the combination of 2 prescription eyedrops, homeopathic remedies, Epsom salt baths, osteopathic and nutritional therapy all contributed to a steady progression of better eyeball pressure.
Current Strategy: Today, at 19 months of age, exactly 13 months since starting the steroids and 5 months off them, her eyeball pressure is at 14 mmHg and we are hoping for 12 at next testing. We continue to administer the two Rx eyedrops twice daily and the homeopathic Prednisonium 6X once a week and continue to see greater cognitive/physical milestone developments emerge. Once we reach either a 3rd consistent measure of 14 mmHg or a 12 mmHg pressure we can discontinue 1 of the Rx eyedrops. A 30 day follow-up to removing that drug will reveal if the eye is stable at 12-14 mmHg at which point we would remove the last Rx eyedrop or if the eye pressure goes up we will return to the drug we eliminated. The homeopathic remedy will continue until we feel that all the side effects to steroids has been reversed in her body.
16 Month Old Arabella - Two Months Off Prednisone
Faced with an Exam Under Anesthesia (EUA) and possible surgery (a.k.a. the “S” word) to drain the eyeballs of excess fluid, I went into creative mode and did the following things to help bring down the eyeball pressure:
– Called our Osteopath to make a series of appoints back to back to get Osteopathic Manipulative Treatments (OMTs)
– Called our Homepath to get advice on what remedies we could use to bring down the eyeball pressure
– Called our relative who is an Ayurvedic doctor from India for herbal ideas
– Discussed the use of Epsom Salt baths with Dr. Granet to draw excess water out of her little body
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Neatly folded in a small square plastic storage box is a list of remedies for teething and the remedies themselves. I have been keeping this box and my Helios brand First Aid Kit For Travelers close at hand for a good number of months, throwing them into my daughter’s diaper bag when we leave the house. When the right remedy is used, my baby girl gets rapid pain relief and her gentle sweet nature returns.
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