The Young Master Pianist
In mid December 2006, I began treating another child diagnosed as a little boy with speech and
language impairment but who came to me for treatment of allergies and asthma.  

David was a master pianist at the age of 14 and performed all over the world at such a young age.  
There was one performance in England and another in Israel, to name a few.  He was and
continues to be an honor student and intellectually mature for his age.  He was a high achiever and
became extremely distressed if his grades were less than 90%.  David is very sensitive, mild
mannered and naive.
 He was disorganized, clumsy and had social issues with classmates.   
Focusing was a problem for him, as he was easily disturbed and distracted by noise, especially in the
classroom.

On the physical level, David's speech and walking were delayed as a baby and he continued to have
some speech difficulties at the time of our consultation.  He had sensory issues and as young child
wore a heavy vest to keep him grounded.  He didn't like the taste and texture of new foods,
although he uncommonly loved sushi.   As a baby he had lots of ear infections, eczema on his face
and a rash behind his knees.  Allergic reactions throughout his life included swollen red eyes, stuffy
nose, coughing and asthma, usually very intense as the seasons changed in the fall and spring. And
lastly, he didn't have much stamina.  His father reported being able to play sports with him for not
more than 10 minutes before he would experience an asthma attack or simply wear out from
exhaustion.

We met several times before I could pin pointing the remedy most homeopathic for his overall
condition.  In our first session, we talked about his intense desire to be nominated for the honor
society.  He explained that grades less than a 90% were like taking a "nose dive" and that he had
difficulty dealing with the reality of any grades less than that.  He described feeling overpowered by
the kids in school, and often sought guidance from the school social worker in dealing with this
problem.  He talked about his love for music and how he used it as a means of expressing himself
because it was a language everyone could understand.  He described music as "jumpy like the waves
of the ocean."  Just last year he learned the composition Scherzo Tarantela which I thought very
interesting since his mother just mentioned he had an intense fear of spiders and bugs.

Like in the case of the boy treated with the remedy Neon, I asked him to draw me a picture or two.   
I really didn't get too much from those pictures except that the first one was a man jet-skying in the
sea ... How interesting? A water scene.

The information I had wasn't enough to clearly lead me to any single remedy, so I chose to delay
prescribing and resumed the consultation a few days later after I evaluated the information I had
collected.  

It is more often than not, that the first few statements of any consultation will lead the homeopath
to the most homeopathic remedy.   So at the second session, I began by asking him to describe in
depth and detail the concept of "nose dive".  Here's what he described.

"When your grade gets much lower than a 90; let's say you have an average of 92 and the next
quarter is a 75 - that would be a nose dive.  It's like an airplane pointing completely to the ground
and still flying, flying while they are doing the nose dive.   It makes you uncomfortable to think that
your going to die unless you're in control.  When somebody else is in control, you do not know
what they are going to do when they need to which feels very horrifying, like your heart is dropping
and there is a lot of tension and (the sensation of) being suffocated."

Then at one point during the discussion he began talking about wrestling.  "It's a style of fighting
that is very creative and allows people to argue it out in the ring.  They do crazy stunts and flips.  
They also settle their rivalries in the ring and sometimes I actually think it's real.  You can feel the
tension in the air.  You see two people fighting in a creative design from orthodox moves to freestyle
and wrestlers also taunt - they do certain motions with their body as a taunt like raise their hand
and say "yeh".  They can point their finger and walk toward the person.  They can make a cut
throat movement."

I asked him what this reminds him of in nature.  "Divide and conquer", he said.  "What divides
and conquer?" I asked.  "People actually just conquer, humans divide and conquer."  He continued
describing animals that conquer, especially spiders that tangle their prey in a web.  He went on to
say they're creepy which "is something you do not want to see and it's very shocking, something that
scares you and freaks you out and you practically run wild all over the place."

So my next question was "Tell me more about running wild."  He replied, "Like particles in a cell
and they don't have anyone controlling them; that's what diffusion is.  Particles in a cell - if the
particles go out of a cell, it can shrink like a slug when salt gets poured on it.  But it can grow with a
lot of particles along with water, then the cell gets bigger.  Cytolysis is what it's called, when the cell
gets big because more gets in and when it comes out it shrinks.  When you're in control, you have
power - power over people or anything that can be capable of being conquered."

Taking into consideration, the concept of divide and conquer along with his prominent mental,
emotional and physical symptoms, I prescribed the remedy Carcinosin which is derived from
cancerous breast tissue.   The nature of cancer cells is to "divide" out of control, running wild and
eventually "conquer" the tissues and organs all around it.  In homeopathic practice, this remedy has
proven very effective in treating allergies, asthma, coughs, delayed speech and stuttering, late
learning to walk and awkwardness.   Carcinosin also effectively treats the mind symptom fear of
spiders and, most particularly, it has a strong association with music which made this case most
unusual.

About a month later, we met again to review his progress...

David's breathing, coughing and stamina had improved considerably and he was eating a wider
variety of foods.  He had gotten a 75% grade on one of his tests but didn't react in the usual manner.
He didn't mention it to his mother nor did he ask the school psychologist to inform her... it just
passed without incident.  His speech also seemed to be smoother with noticeably less stuttering when
he spoke to me.   

He spoke a lot during this session about being harassed and insulted by his classmates which lead
me to think that perhaps an animal remedy which deals with issues of survival would be more
appropriate.  However, since there was improvement with the present remedy, I decided to continue
treatment with Carcinosin, which in itself is indirectly an animal classification.  I did however,
increase the potency to maximize it's effectiveness.

We met again a few times over the next couple of months.  Though there was consistent
improvement in most aspects of his condition, I wasn't entirely satisfied with his progress but it was
difficult to arrive at a more appropriate remedy.  So, I decided to continue the same treatment until
another, more homeopathic remedy became clear to me.

Then on May 7, 2007, David had an intense asthma attack.  Very often, the nature of an acute
illness especially when it happens to be characteristic of his chronic state, will lead the homeopath to
a more appropriate remedy.  So I went to visit him at home.  I asked him to describe the sensations
of the attacks and watched as he experienced them.  He described it as "somebody gasping for air
when he's in the middle of the ocean", "when you squeeze down air comes out and when I let it go
air gets back in", "I squish it down air comes out; when I let it go air fills back up."  A lot of what
he described had to do with the ocean, like dolphins coming in and out of the water for air.  It was
clear to me that he needed a remedy from the sea animals, but just which remedy was most
appropriate.  

And then it occurred to me... Spongia!   When you squeeze a sponge, the air comes out; and when
you release, it fills up with air again.  The sponge is a very simple animal.  It has such a basic
organization that it can't even be considered as a tissue because tissues have organization.  The main
activity of sponge cells is to live together so they can pump the water for nutrients and service.  If
you push a sponge through a sieve, you do not kill it - it just takes another shape and continues to
live.  This is because, the cells are so undifferentiated (like a cancer)... *  

It all seemed to make sense now... his description of cells in the first session, his description of being
squeezed and let go, and the similarity in nature with the first remedy.

Relief from his asthma attacks came immediately upon taking the remedy, and two months later at
the close of school, his school psychologist reported that all his social and emotional goals for the
year had been achieved which was clearly evident by his absence from her office for the last 2
months of school.  Furthermore, he continued to progress academically, achieving his highest grade
point average for the year.  As for his stamina and clumsiness...  his physical education grade was a
perfect 100% - I guess that speaks for itself.

*Remaining in a Safe Environment - The Sea Remedies by Dr. Massimo Mangialavori (Oct 2002)

All the names and non-pertinent details of all the cases presented in this website have been slightly modified to
protect the privacy of those treated.
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