The name of the game

Two steps forward, one back....that's the name of the game when your child is recovering from the onslaught of daily toxins with a compromised immune system. 

As you might have seen from my previous post, we had a LOT of great improvements occurring, but of course I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop....and so it did (sigh).  When there are so many overlapping treatments, it's really very hard to know which are causing or helping what.  We spend a lot of time chasing symptoms, trying to address each one as they come and go.  I'm not going to lie, some of it is guess-work, but after two years of this, typically there is some sort of history to pull from.  I have to admit though, this time around, I am stumped, because with homeopathy, there are two possibilities: aggravation or the need for a higher potency.  I find myself confused about whether to take a break or increase the drops.  My gut is telling me to hold off on the remedy and watch for a few days, because what I felt like we were experiencing last night was more of a worsening of symptoms that already exists (not that the remedy isn't a match) but possibly that he is getting too much of it and we are seeing a slight proving of the remedy.  In case you don't already know, proving in homeopathy, is when a person is exhibiting the very symptoms that the remedy is intended to treat.  In a healthy person, giving them a high dose of a remedy causes provings, which is exactly how homeopathy is tested.  In person taking the right remedy, it's possible to see mild provings when they are taking too much of the remedy. 

Want to know how it all went down last night?  Ok, so we had these fabulous days of progress, everything was going great, he was flexible, patient, happy....then yesterday we noticed some minor set-backs like a growing irritation with daily routine, less flexibility, even a slight belly by sunset.  We were thinking that because he had such a rough night of sleep the night before, he was just tired, but now thinking back, perhaps the rough night of sleep was our first indication that something was brewing.  (note to self - when sleep is disrupted, hold off on remedy)  So even with the irritations, he was still unbelievably calm and went to bed GREAT!  He fell asleep fast, which is not usually the case when something isn't right, so again, we were thinking we were right on track.  9:30 pm rolls around and he started crying.  Usually if something like this happens from a bad dream, he just needs a little attention, we rub his head, let him know we are there and he falls right back to sleep.  Not this time!!  An hour later, I was still trying to calm an irritable, crying, frantic and unreasonable child.  He would calm for a short time and it would all start back up again.  He couldn't keep his legs still, he was thrashing and flipping and screaming.  The poor thing was so tired, but he just couldn't relax and sleep. Something obviously wasn't right with his body.  I ran an epsom salt bath for him thinking the warm water and salts would sooth him, well he fought that too, screaming, kicking, holding onto door jambs to prevent from being brought into the bathroom, but I knew he needed it so I calmly reassured him that this is going to help him feel better and get back to sleep.  He tried smacking the water out of the tub and screaming at us.  He wouldn't listen to calm rational talk and he was fidgeting rather than relaxing, so I finally closed the shower curtain so he couldn't see us and I told him when he is ready to start breathing calmly and steadily (his breaths were jagged, frantic, short, choppy attempts) he could get out.  It took him a while to get control over himself, but he did and within a few minutes, he was relaxing against the side of the tub breathing in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth like I taught him.  This has always been my method for trying to get him to calm himself, focus on deep breathing, open the airways, stop holding his breath.  He had been holding his breath which causes panic.  Once he was relaxed, he came out talking more calmly and ready for rest.  He was telling me that he is sad and he doesn't want to go to school because he misses us.  He has always loved school so I don't know, if this is the cause of the mood or the result of something else going on with his body, but it's a sign that something isn't going well.  And that is the beauty of this process, it's all experimental and hindsight tells us more than the moment we are experiencing.  Just because he could be great for a few days in a row, doesn't mean we have crossed a bridge, it's quite the jagged path!