Kali Sulphuricum. [Kali-s]: CHILD

By Douglas M. Borland, M.B.,
When considering the hot-blooded child of PULSATILLA type, the next thing to consider is whether it is PULSATILLA or KALI- SULPHURICUM. Kent says that KALI SULPH. is merely an intensified PULSATILLA. I do not think it is . The KALI SULPH temperature reactions are identical with the PULSATILLA ones, the child is sensitive to heat it flags in the hot weather, cannot stand stuffy atmospheres, is better in the open air, tends to stagnate if keeping still, and is better moving about. It has an aggravation from rich food; and is liable to be upset by sudden changes of weather. But there is a distinct difference. The KALI SULPH child is much more flabby than the PULSATILLA child, it certainly does not approach the thin fine type of PULSATILLA although it approaches more to the sluggish heavier type of PULSATILLA. Its muscles are flabby, it is easily exhausted by muscular effort. It is more liable to sit about, and has a much more sluggish reaction generally. There is more obstinacy in the KALI SULPH. type than in the typical PULSATILLA. The PULSATILLA child may be irritable, it may flare up in a temper but it is over; KALI SULPH. is much more liable to be obstinate. Also the PULSATILLA children are shy, but the KALI SULPH. children tend much more to have a lack of confidence in themselves-it is not shyness. They are lazy, they dislike work and there is not the keenness and interest of the PULSATILLA children. The KALI SULPH children are not bright they get tired out by mental exertion, whereas the PULSATILLA children are very often bright and sharp and do quite well at school. There is a certain similarity in that they are both nervous, both afraid of the dark, are very easily frightened, easily startled at strange noises, strange surroundings. The typical KALI SULPH child tends to be more sickly than the typical PULSATILLA child. The PULSATILLA child may not be strong, but the KALI SULPH. child tends to have less colour and if flushed it is much more a circumscribed flush on the cheeks rather than the variable circulation of the PULSATILLA. Another thing that indicates KALI SULPH rather than PULSATILLA is that nearly all KALI SULPH children have a yellow-coated tongue, particularly the root of the tongue although the coating may spread right over. Another point which helps is that there is a slight difference in the type of discharges. The typical PULSATILLA discharge is a thick, creamy, non-irritating discharge. The typical discharge in KALI SULPH. is a much more watery, more stringy, yellowish discharge. As far as liability to actual acute illness is concerned, PULSATILLA is more often needed for acute gastric catarrh, acute gastritis, acute colic and diarrhoea; but if the gastritis has gone on to a jaundice in a PULSATILLA child the indications are more for KALI SULPH than for PULSATILLA. With a PULSATILLA type of child who has caught cold and developed bronchitis which has gone on to a broncho-pneumonia with the ordinary PULSATILLA indications, that is to say, aggravated from stuffy room, relief from air, sense of suffocation possibly a loss of voice, very dry mouth without much thirst, with a yellowish, watery sputum and probably patches of consolidation at the left base-left base more commonly-the response is better from KALI SULPH than from PULSATILLA. With a PULSATILLA child who has whooping cough with a lot of rattling in the chest, and the ordinary PULSATILLA modalities, KALI SULPH. does more good than PULSATILLA. That is perhaps what kent means by saying KALI SULPH is PULSATILLA intensified-in these acute conditions the symptoms are very similar and yet the more severe the condition the more definite are the indications for KALI SULPH. It is sometimes useful to remember that the heavy PULSATILLA child is liable to go on SULPHUR whilst the finer PULSATILLA child is much more liable to become chilly and go on to SILICEA or PHOSPHORUS. I usually give PULSATILLA in low potency in chronic cases. They are mostly sensitive children, and where you are dealing with the sensitive type you do not want a high potency. When dealing with bovine types I go high, but in a sensitive type like PULSATILLA they blossom on a 30 potency. PHOSPHORUS is exactly the same, PHOSPHORUS children respond beautifully to lower potencies. I have found very good results from ANTIMONIUM CRUDUM 12, repeated three times a day for two days, in impetigo. With CALC CARB or GRAPHITES I would give a high potency every time-a 200, or higher, as one is dealing with an insensitive type.