Childhood Stress
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2002 Mar / Apr VOL 4 NO 2.
Dr Padamaja Pai Shenoy
'Scleranthus

Stress In Infancy:
I. Severe Colic: Treated with Rescue-drop doses every 10 minutes until relief.
II. Teething: Walnut and Cherry-plum- the combination soothes the irritable whining child, helps smoothen teething trouble.
III. Birth of a sibling causes great stress - Holly & Walnut given for 2-3 weeks helps the child to accept the sibling with joy and eagerness.
IV. Schooling: first day of school is the greatest stressor. Later too, especially these days with increased curriculum activities and the accompanying competitiveness. Children with both parents working are left to fend for themselves, have to rush from school to tutitions, to dance, karate and singing classes. There is peer pressure too - so they end up with poor self esteem and feel discouraged. After careful study, I have combined the
Chestnut bud - take very long to learn any lessons.
Clematis - Indifferent to academics; dreamy and drowsy
Cherry Plum - Don’t feel like studying inspite of wanting to
Gentian - easily discouraged
Above four and found to my delight that a large number of children have responded positively. They are more responsible towards academics and are interested and attentive in class. To be repeated TDS for a few months.
V) Stress during exams - Larch - remedy of choice.
VI) Choosing Vocation: Many children are confused as to which stream to choose, they are too young and undecided - Scleranthos will pave the way and within a few weeks they can decide for themselves which stream to choose - viz Arts, Science, Commerce etc.

Adult Life: In these times of stressful living, especially in urban areas, we find most people have a lot of resentment against people, against situations. Also there is an even greater need to be flexible. Tremendous anger, overt and pent up - about queues, being jobless, living in small spaces, having expenses, not matching income etc, all create stress. I generally give a combination of Walnut, Willow, Holly and Impatiens. It is heartening to see the responses within 2-3 weeks, symptoms vanish and a state of well being is established.

Some Cases In Brief:
Case 1: A 50 year old lady came in with pain in elbows, knees and ankles. Pains were erratic and wandering. No swelling or redness. She was a professor in college, tall and big boned. Apart from that, no particular physicals. But she had very strong views about everything. There was nothing positive in the world around her- from the air she breathed, to the quality of young adults whom she taught- she raved and ranted about everything. She was a very angry and resentful person and her feelings were directed equally to all areas and people in her life. I gave her a combination of Willow, Holly and Impatiens. Within 2 weeks her speech was more modulated and she had absolutely no aches or pains. She also seemed more accepting of the changing world and its values.

Case 2: A young lady of 24 yrs, working in the hotel industry, presented with acute breathlessness. This was the first time ever, without previous history of respiratory illness, nor family history of asthma. This breathlessness had no modalities as such - sudden onset lasted a while and abated as abruptly - could be aggravated day or night or early morning.

A little probing revealed her story: She was very attracted to a boy whilst doing her post graduation. He was an out of towner and frequently visited her home where her whole family loved him. After 2 years he finished his course and went back to his hometown. Then she realised that he meant more to her than just a friend, but since he had not expressed his feelings, she hesitated to express hers. She was in touch with him though through emails. In the meanwhile a really rich handsome business tycoon interacted with her in connection with a business seminar. He fell in love with her-wooed her in style-and proposed marriage. She was floored by all the glamour, money and lavish attention. She got engaged to him in the midst of the 1200 people invited to their gala engagement ceremony. Subsequently they met frequently and yet she began to recoil at any physical intimacy with her fiancé. She actually felt nauseous at his touch! The wedding day was fast approaching- she felt trapped! He was a sweet guy who had a broken engagement previously- for no fault of his- and she could not put him through it again! She was in a quandary. In the meantime "her friend" flew in from his hometown and proposed marriage claiming -"wasn’t it obvious I was in love with you all along"- Mighty mess indeed.

I gave Rescue two pills, every 10 minutes for acute breathlessness, which ameliorated immediately. Scleranthus TDS for 2 weeks - she was very clear what her next steps were going to be-she broke the news gently to her ailing father (he was recovering from a heart attack) then to her fiancé - explained her predicament - he gallantly walked away. She then happily married the man she loved. Last I heard, she is a mother of a little boy.

She needed 2 bottles of Rescue, 4-6 weeks of Scleranthus. Once the decision was taken there was no breathlessness at all. Not even a single attack in the last 2 years.

A Brief Note : Scleranthus is a remedy of choice for indecisiveness. On one hand she was engaged to this rich handsome man - an only child- where she stood to inherit and enjoy his crores! Also he literally adored and worshipped her. Also he lived in the same city as hers - so her parents could be nearby. On the other hand, was this really charming, but middle class man from another town - she would be faraway from her own family, would have to adjust to a smaller town- but she really loved him. She was vacillating; this caused the breathlessness. Scleranthushelped clear her mind and paved  the way to choose for herself.