Thuja. CHILD:

By Douglas M. Borland, M.B.,
To continue with the PULSATILLA type of drugs, although majority of these are are hot-blooded drugs, there is one other that is always associated with PULSATILLA and that is THUJA, although it is chilly in its reaction. It is a little difficult to give a mental picture of the typical THUJA child because in the majority of outstanding cases there is an element of mental deficiency. In many THUJA children there has been some mental deficiency, some merely backward, some actually deficient. In some there is an obvious pituitary dysfunction, and that tends to colour one's idea of THUJA. But there are THUJA children who are not mentally defective and who have not got a pituitary dysfunction, and that type of child is very like a PULSATILLA child in reaction. The outstanding characteristic of the THUJA child is the fact that it is sensitive; sensitive to people. It is responsive to any kindness; it is conscientious in what it does, and it is easily upset emotionally. And there the first strong indication comes in: THUJA children have a peculiar sensitiveness to music and this is one of the things commonly associated with mentally defective children. Eighty per cent of the mentally defective children that I have treated have been abnormally sensitive to music. Much more sensitive than the average child; and even in the normal child with THUJA indications you get this emotional sensitiveness to music. They are affected by it; they may even weep from it. Associated with that emotional disturbance THUJA children have a sadness a depression, very like the PULSATILLA depression. The THUJA children, even the mentally defectives are astonishingly conscientious. They are very often sensitive to motion, are very often car-sick. Another symptom is a strange contradiction often found in a perfectly lively child- they are apparently keenly interested, and yet have a strange hesitation in speaking. a difficulty in finding the words they want , or a difficulty in saying them. Very often the difficulty in speaking gives the impression that the child is slow mentally, when it is not really slow, it is really seeking words. That may go on to a definite disinclination to talk; they are rather silent and appear to be rather heavy. The majority of THUJA children are rather under than above average height, many are definitely small and rather finely built. Thuja applies equally well to either fair-haired or dark- haired types. A definite factor is that they appear to get wakened, the more active they are. If they are made to sit about they become dull, heavy, and depressed, but any activity brightens them up mentally. Another common feature in many of these THUJA children is very faulty development of the teeth; with irregular dentition, and very early decay. The enamel of the teeth is definitely faulty in places. THUJA children are sensitive to cold, although they are mostly better in the open air. They are very sensitive to damp and liable to be much worse in the morning. Most THUJA children perspire on exertion, and even when they are not exerting themselves they mostly have a rather greasy skin which is more commonly noticed in the dark-haired type than in the fair. Some fair-haired THUJA children have a rather fine skin, and very often a downy growth on the skin, particularly on the back. THUJA children do not stand up well to mental stress. They are liable to get a typical acute neuralgic headache under stress, from getting over-tired or over-excited, and the point about the neuralgic headache is that it very often picks out definite areas which are extremely painful and very often extremely sensitive. These children tend to get chronic catarrhal headaches. They get thick, purulent, yellowish-green nasal discharge, possibly with crusts in the nose and bleeding. They are liable to chronic otitis media, and may develop a mastoiditis with very severe and localised pain, and tenderness over the mastoid region. If they are old enough they will tell you it feels as if something were being bored into the mastoid bone. Another common feature of THUJA children is a poor digestion. The typical picture of the pituitary child with an almost pendulous abdomen is an extreme example, and these children are extremely liable to develop a chronically irritated caecum. Often there is a full, boggy caecum in the right iliac fossa, with a history of recurring attacks of diarrhoea; and the diarrhoea is fairly characteristic. it consists of pale greasy, almost fatty stools and these are always passed with a good deal of flatus; and the attacks are accompanied by a lot of gurgling in the abdomen. Very often these children give a history of having crops of warts. The THUJA warts are soft and bleed very easily on handling if knocked the surface may break and bleed. THUJA patients sweat on the uncovered parts. A girl of about twelve years of age was stripped to be examined, and the sweat poured off her when her clothes were removed. She was not sweating at all when covered. Occasionally that odd symptom of sweating when uncovering is found, but usually THUJA children are chilly and shivery when uncovered. A particular case was of interest because there was rare bony deposits in the muscles in quite a young child, and she did very well on THUJA. The first pointer to the possibility of THUJA was the odd sweating when uncovered. The other constant THUJA feature in children is their strange susceptibility to onions. They are very liable to gastric upsets, and an attack of diarrhoea from eating onions, cooked or raw. Another common symptom, although not met with in young children, may occur in the adolescent-they are liable to get acute digestive upsets from tea. A history is also a great help in deciding on THUJA.