The Jumping Jack
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 Jan / Feb VOL VII NO 1.
Dr Parinaz Humranwala
'Agar

Your child is very mischievous and his naughty ways are often injurious to other children. Please meet me personally. 'The stiff note from the principal of the boy's school made the mother's heart sink. This was yet another complaint of her son's doings. The little imp was brought over by his distraught mother.

Master A M, aged 4 ½, was born with a congenital heart disease-Fallots Tetra logy (A combination of high ventricular septal defect, dextraposition of aorta, pulmonary stenosis and high ventricular hypertrophy). The child had been operated upon. The presenting complaints were:
1) Poor appetite
2) Caries of teeth
3) Recurrent tonsillitis with high fever< from eating ice cream
4) Recurrent pain in the abdomen every morning. The child would point to his abdomen and say, "it pinches inside" After he had passed a lot of flatus and then stools, the pain would be ameliorated.
5) Feels very thirsty. Demands water on waking
6) Right thumb flaccid with no power for its usage
7) Family history of tuberculosis
8) Chilly patient
9) Desires chocolates, sweets, ice cream, milk

The parents of this child were residing in Poona. Differences grew between them when father lost his job and refused to take up another due to reasons best known to him. The mother then returned to Bombay with her son and started working. Though the parents are separated, they do not intend to divorce each other. The boy is dropped to school by the mother and his grandmother picks him after school and drops him at the near by crèche as she cannot control him. The boy writes with his left hand due to his flaccid right thumb, but he can use his right hand for other activities with equal strength.

The little imp is very mischievous and extremely talkative. Even in the clinic he climbed up the examination table and shouted "Jai Bajrang Bali". No threats seem to work, he only repeats his mischief leaving you exasperated. At school he jumps from bench to bench, inciting others to follow him. He has hurt himself and his friends but never learns by experience. He prefers the company of elder children. When angry, he hits his friends and never forgets the incident until he has settled the score. He is often thrashed by his mother. The mother describes him as accident-prone and he has a propensity to walk into trouble. Intelligent about day-to-day activities, but hates to study and learns with difficulty. But he is an affectionate child and after playing with his friends, he always kisses them goodbye. Even as he leaves my room, he makes it a point to plant a kiss on my cheek, as well as on my receptionist's.

Discussion: The remedy selected should be restless, threatening, courageous and fearless. Various remedies crossed my mind- Tuberculinum, Calc-carb, Agaricus, Merc-sol, Lach, etc. using the following rubrics:

1. Mischievous
2. Jumping
3. Kisses the hands of his companions
4. Restlessness
5. Plans, Revengeful
6. Loquacity
7. Courageous
8. Injure, frenzy causes him to injure himself
9. Concentration difficult
10. Destructiveness
11. Appetite wanting
12. Thirsty extreme
13. Pain griping, griping
14. Flatulence
15. Caries, decayed, Hollow

On Repertorisation, the remedies, which appeared high, wereSulph, Calc, Agar, Merc, Silicea, Lach, Phos, Arsenicum,Stramonium and Lyco.
Agaricus, the remedy with internal restlessness was chosen based on the following description: 

·         Fearless, menacing, mischievous frenzy: also, frenzy which causes the patient to assail and injure himself, with great exertion of power (Hering). He is intoxicated with fearless frenzy: forming bold and revengeful projects (Hering). Courageous, audacity (Kent). Fearless, threatening, destructive frenzy, also turns against itself injures itself. Combines with great strength (Hahnemann). Delirium; he imagines himself a military officer, commanding at a drill and directing various maneuvers (Allen).

Agaricus muscarius is a mushroom used in the olden days to stupefy flies. It is not so much a lethal poison as an intoxicant and narcotic - the three alkaloids isolated from it are Muscarine, Muscaridine and Choline.
The follow- up was as follows: