Evocationer: would you be willing to take this?

Evocationer--I know I am already asking you to take my case and my infant son's case on, so I don't want to overburden you, but would you mind also looking at my 4 year old son's information? If this is too much please let me know, I don't want to be a bother.



Here is the questionnaire.



____________________________


1] Your Complaint:

My 4 year old son, Ethan, seems like he is developing emotional and behavioral issues that concern me. Specifically, he obsesses about the things he is interested in, to the point that if he can't have control over those things and do them just the way he thinks they should be done, he gets overly upset and it ruins his day. I feel also that he uses those things as an escape from reality. He has dark circles under his eyes every day, seems lethargic, apathetic about eating and life in general. Sometimes seems morose and is emotionally sensitive. Picky about food. Occasional headaches (back of the neck, makes him hunch his shoulders up). Skin has had pimple-like colorless bumps on arms and legs, and some on face, since infancy. Some of the bumps are pink or red, but most are skin color. Grinds teeth at night. Sometimes wakes very early in the morning (like 3 or 4 am) and can't (or won't) go back to sleep.

The mood problems seem to have been developing slowly over the last couple of years. I (his mom) struggle with depression (you can view my questionnaire here http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/422290/2), and I know this must be affecting him. I am currently starting on homeopathy for me, but want to make sure I am helping my son too. Two years ago I had a miscarriage and had one of the darkest times of my life for about 6 months, and still struggle with depression now, so I think he is just trying to cope. His attitude is better when he gets outside in the sunshine and plays in the fresh air, but then worse again when we get home and he is back in his regular environment.
The dark circles under his eyes seem to have started almost a year ago. I haven't found anything that seems to help them get better or make them worse.
His appetite has been lower over the last several months, about since December, when he had a stomach/intestinal virus, with vomiting and not being able to keep anything except water down for 2 days. It seemed like his appetite started being poorer shortly before that, and never really picked up. He gets in his obsessed mode with his monster truck toys, and has no interest in eating for hours.
He occasionally has bad dreams, but usually doesn't want to tell me what they were. He often will wake at night crying and calling for me but then can't tell me what woke him up or why
he was crying.
He seems sensitive to loud sounds. Things that don't seem too loud to us might make him say, 'Too loud!' and cover his ears. He seems sensitive to textures of foods, very picky about what he eats.




MIND

________________________________________

1] What are the issues which are bothering you the most? How does it
feel to have these issues? What about these issues bothering you the
most and why?

What bothers me that I see, are the obsessions with a certain theme, at this point he loves flags and monster trucks. He wants to watch shows about monster trucks and play his monster truck toys all day long, and if something gets broken or isn't just right, he will get very upset. Or if he is interrupted in what he's doing, he gets upset and does not want to change gears to do something different, such as eating or leaving the house, etc. I know some of this is just normal kid stuff, but it seems more extreme than what I would expect. I worry that he's developing the beginnings of OCD or something else. He seems fearful and as a result, tries very hard to control his environment, and also seems to use his obsessions to escape from the present. He is very sensitive to emotions around him and always worries about how someone might be feeling if they are expressing some negative emotion. It seems like he is always wanting something to make him feel better, like a sucker, candy, cake, etc.

3] Any incident which had a deep impact on you? Describe in detail.
What are the thoughts/feelings/sensations associated with it? At that
moment of time what were your feelings/thoughts, sensations and
reactions associated with it?

When he turned 4 years old, about 3 months ago, we made him get rid of his pacifier. He was super attached to it, and has been sine he was just a day or two old. It was a really hard time for him. He would use the pacifier to soothe himself whenever he felt sad or scared or upset, and I feel like he hasn't really figured out what to do to help himself in those situations without it. At the beginning he would often ask for a sucker candy to suck on, so it would feel like a pacifier. He often sucks on his fingers throughout the day (which we don't discourage him from doing), or on toys. To me, it seems like his emotions tend to overwhelm him, or the emotions of others, and he just doesn't know how to cope.

4] What are your anxieties/fears/phobias real or imaginary? Describe
them in detail. What about them is bothering you the most? What are the
feelings associated with it? What could be the worst form of
fear/phobia/anxiety according to you?

When I asked him what he's scared of just now, he says, 'I'm scared of monster trucks because they will crush me (he LOVES monster trucks). I'm scared of guns because they will kill me. I'm scared of balloons (something he also loves) because they will pop, they will snap me. They will be too loud. I'm scared of the vacuum because it's too loud. I'm scared of cars because they will crush me too.'

5] What are your interests and hobbies? What about it you like the most and why?

He likes to draw, be read to, watch TV (seems to use as escapism). Likes to dig in the dirt, making roads and hills with his toy construction trucks. But most of all, he likes to play with his monster trucks, setting up shows which he does by mimicking the shows he's seen on YouTube, sometimes watching them over and over and over so he later copy them just right. He also loves flags. State flags, country flags, any kind of flags. He takes great interest in them. He loves having a flag on each of his monster trucks. I help make them for him at times, painting the little cardboard flag so it is like the one that monster truck has in real life, but then something happens and it breaks, etc, and we keep having to make them over and over again. I got tired of it and so he makes his own flags now.


8] What is/are the bodily sensation/s you experience with all your
fears/ feelings and thoughts. Please describe the complete picture of
it.

He has described feeling an upset or owie tummy when he is sad or scared. His eyebrows furrow and he looks very worried. At night he often grinds his teeth.


10] What according to you will be best moment of your life? How does
it feel to be in that moment? What will be opposite feeling of this
moment or feeling?

11] How do/did you react in situations which have/had a deep impact
on you? What is your first reaction when you face your worst
fear/situations? Describe your reaction as it is? How do you react when
you are faced with stressful situations?

He gets very upset when he has to stop doing what he's doing in order to do something mundane or unpleasant, even something that should be pleasant like eating. He will furrow his brows, make an unhappy far, jump up and down like he's having a tantrum, saying, 'I don't want to!' He especially dislikes trying new foods. He likes everything predictable. Stressful situations seem to make him feel anxious, scared, and he will act clingy and whiny. I believe he also acts out when he is stressed or too tired or hungry, at those times he will deliberately do things that are wrong, even though he knows we will react unfavorably. (I know, normal kid behavior.) As for worst fear scenarios, I imagine he would cry and call for Mommy, since that's what he does when he has a bad dream.

12] What you feel/feel like doing when you are alone and free of all your work?

He likes to either play monster trucks or watch TV.

13] How is your relation with your near and dear ones, at your work
place? Anything in the relationship that is bothering you the most? If
yes, describe that in detail? How does that feel like? How do you
experience that?

To clarify, I am emotionally sensitive myself, so perhaps I overthink things. However, it seems like in the last 6 months to a year, he has withdrawn from me, which I suppose might be natural considering his baby brother was born 10 months ago. But I feel like he has withdrawn from life in general, keeping his deeper thoughts more to himself and playing by himself a lot. He has small bursts of being engaged/engaging, laughing and playing, but

14] Describe five negative and positive points in you? Which out of
it you would put first and why? How does it feel to have that?

Negative points:
Often does not listen well---seems to be off in his own world and not paying attention to reality.
Nervous a lot about things that should not concern him.
Stubborn.
Argumentative at times about following directions.
Often seems morose and apathetic.

Positive points:
Compassionate when others feel sad, wants to cheer them up.
Very loving toward his baby brother.
Very friendly and outgoing with everyone he meets.
Loves to be a 'ham' and be silly to make people laugh.
Very smart, and thinks deeply for a 4 year old, asking complex questions.

I think I'd put 'stubborn' first, that's what stands out to me. However, I myself am pretty stubborn, so I understand it. It can be a pain when I'm trying to convince him of why he needs to do something. Usually, knowing the 'why' seems to help him, but sometimes he will continue to argue about it and we get nowhere.
________________________________________



DREAMS





1] Tell about the dreams that had a deep impact on you.

Most recently, we were away from home staying with my husband's aunt and uncle. Ethan had been asking to go home for a couple of days. The last night we were there, he woke in the night crying. Next day, he told me what he had dreamed: He dreamed that he got into our car, and drove himself all the way home. On the road, other cars parked to the side of the road so he wouldn't crash into them, he says. He made it home. He says I (his mom) got into another car and followed him there. He said we went inside together, and he started playing toys, and he felt better about leaving all of us, because he had felt bad before about it (he even apologized to me). Once we were all home and he was playing with his toys, he felt all right.

He dreamed once that he was sitting outside in the grass, and a big white bunny came to him and was going to bite his big toe. That dream was scary to him.
I recall him telling me about a dream where there was a black TV flying through the sky, and guys in airplanes were trying to get it. That was scary for him too.

Often he will wake crying, I'll ask if he had a bad dream, and he'll say yes, but he won't want to talk about his dreams. Very rarely do I hear about them. I can't recall any other dreams he's told me about. The last two dreams were many months ago, while the last one was a few days ago.





A] Which part of this/these dream/s is most important according to you? Describe that part in detail?
With his first dream I listed, where he left us in the car, he felt really bad about doing that. He said, 'I'm so sorry for leaving you, Mom.'



CHILDHOOD HISTORY

1] Any incidents from your childhood which had a deep impact on you,
which touched you the most. Describe in detail about that incident/s
and the feelings/thoughts/perception and sensations associated with it.
What was your reaction to these incidents?

As a baby, he was VERY fussy, crying often, needing constant movement, rocking, bouncing, singing, swishing through the air. He woke 8-10 times a night every night well past a year old, wanting comforted/nursed back to sleep. Did not sleep through the night until almost 4 years old. Many times, he would waken to immediately scream, other times he would start by moaning and then starting to cry. We never did find out what the trouble was, but he did get better around 10 months and better still by a year. It was very slow improvement to the point where he slept through the night. My feeling about his infancy was it was a time I do not want to remember, because it was so stressful and we rarely got happy moments with him.
After a year old, though, he became so laid back, cheerful, quiet and easygoing. It was night and day.

2] Describe your fears during childhood in detail.
At this point, he seems to fear death the most. When he thinks something is dangerous, he will be afraid of it killing someone he loves, or himself. We often reassure him about it, but it seems to be sort of fixated in his mind.


4] What you wanted to become as a child and why? He wants to grow up to be a monster truck driver. He LOVES monster trucks and so he wants to drive one when he gets older.

________________________________________





S L E E P



1] Describe your posture in sleep. (On the back, side, abdomen etc.)
Are you able to sleep in any position? In which position you can’t
sleep?
He generally sleeps on his stomach, or his back, sometimes his side. Stomach seems to be predominant, though.


2] During sleep do you:

a) Snore? sometimes lightly.

b) Grind teeth? YES---very often.

c) Dribble saliva? occasionally.

d) Sweat? Sometimes he will wake up crying, drenched in sweat. Seems like he had a bad dream, but won't say what.

e) Keep eyes or mouth open? Mouth, yes, often. Eyes, not that I have noticed.

f) Walk? Talk? Not that I've seen.

g) Moan? Weep? Occasionally will make a noise but most often not.

h) Become restless? Wake up with a jerk? I don't often see what he does when he wakes, because I'll hear him cry for me and I'll come in at that point, after he's already woken. He does sometimes get restless and wake partially, kind of moan and then call for me.



3] Describe if anything else is unusual about your sleep: (sleepy,
sleeplessness, etc. if so when?) He always, always has dark circles under his eyes, as if he is not sleeping well. That seemed to start about 6 months to a year ago.
________________________________________



APPETITE AND THIRST



1] How is your appetite?
His appetite is a bit poor, it seems. He has lost a few pounds over the last few months. However, he was a little bit overweight for his age prior to that, so at this point, he looks pretty proportionate. However, it still concerns me that he seems apathetic about eating.

2] When are you hungry?
He seems to be hungry at random times throughout the day. Sometimes he won't eat breakfast until noon. Then he will pick at his food, and then at times will eat a lot.

3] What happens if you have to remain hungry for long?
He gets cranky and irritable.

4] How fast do you eat?
He eats at a relaxed pace.

5] How much thirst do you have?
He waits until he feels really thirsty and then chugs his drink.

6] Any particular time are you especially thirsty?
After eating salty foods, also he seems more thirsty in the evenings than in the mornings.



Food/Drink likes and dislikes, and how strongly
He seems to crave salt. He also has a sweet tooth. He would eat sweets all day, if we let him. We try to limit him to a treat every few days or once a week, but he still asks for them all the time. He also seems to use sweets as a crutch when he is feeling down or sad.

STOOL

1] Do you have any problem regarding your stools?
He seems embarrassed by them, and sometimes will try to avoid using the bathroom even though he needs to.

2] When and how many times a day do you pass stools?
Usually once every day or two.

3] When is it urgent?
When he has been trying to hold it in too long.

4] Do you have any problem about bowel movements?
Doesn't seem to have any trouble, once he does go, it's over pretty quickly and his stool seems soft enough.

5] Do you have to strain for stool? Even if soft?
No I haven't noticed that being a problem.

6] Do you have belching or passing gas? Describe its character.
Yes he has both, infrequently though, nothing concerning.







URINATION & URINE

1] Any problem about urine? No, seems normal and he has no trouble with it.

2] Any strong smell? Like what? Haven't noticed a strong smell except in the morning.

3] Do you have any trouble before, during and after passing urine? Not that he's told me.

4] Any difficulty about the flow? Slow to start, interrupted, feeble dribbling etc.? Seems like a strong stream.

5] Any involuntary urination? When? I think possibly when he is trying to have a bowel movement, sometimes he involuntarily urinates as well.






SWEAT/PERSPIRATION-FEVER-CHILL

1] How much do you sweat? He only seems to get sweaty when he's running around a lot.

2] Where and on what part do you sweat the most? I notice it most on his head, around his temples the most.

3] Do you perspire on the palms or soles? Yes, often on his feet when he wears shoes/socks for any length of time. They don't seem to sweat if he stays barefoot (he prefers this).

4] Is the sweat warm, cold, clammy, sticky, musty, greasy, stiffens the linen etc.? Warm, and stiffens his socks if it is dry.

5] What is the smell like? E.g. foul, pungent, sour, and urinous. Just a faint smell of body odor.

6] What color does it stain the clothing? None that I could tell.

7] Is the stain easy to wash off or difficult? Easy

8] Any symptoms after sweating? None that I'm aware of.

9] When do you get fever or chill? He sometimes will be chilled or cold when he is tired or has just woken up from sleeping. Usually warms up within about an hour of waking, and then he is a bit on the hot-blooded side. He prefers to run around half naked no matter how cool it is indoors.

10] What brings it on? Body being tired



CHEST-HEART – COLD – COUGH

1] Do you catch cold often? If so, how often? Yes, he seems susceptible to getting illnesses.

2] Describe the symptoms, nature of discharge etc. Stuffy/runny nose, clear discharge, cough, slight fever, and appearing tired and run down. Not quite as playful when he is ill.

3] Is there any trouble with your CHEST or HEART? No

4] Is there any trouble with your voice or speech? No

5] Is there any difficulty in breathing? Doesn't seem to be, but occasionally he will snore at night, lightly. Sleeps with his mouth open, very often.

6] Do you have cough? Not at this time.

7] Is it more at any particular time? When he is sick, yes.
________________________________________



Aggravated or Ameliorated by various Factors





Affected by the Environment in any way, and how does it affect you? He seems to be affected by his emotional environment, by those around him. So if he is around sad people, he will feel sad for them, and happy people make him feel good.



Affected by position in any way? Not that I'm aware of.



Affected by some physical activity? He seems happier when he is running around and playing.



Affected by some mental activity? Not sure...he does get rather morose when he has to do something unpleasant (like cleaning up).



Anything else you are sensitive to? He listens very closely to what others are saying around him...if he hears anything that makes him think that someone is in trouble, such as my husband reading the news headlines, he will ask questions and try to figure out what was wrong with that person.