The carcinosin child

- GEORGE VITHOULKAS
Precocity is a characteristic of Carcinosin that is seen frequently in children. One sees extremely early and rapid development on the physical and mental levels (including the exaggerated sense of responsibility I described above). These children may learn to walk very early and may be toilet trained at a very young age. They may have a keen intellect and learn very quickly. One could call them 'early developers'. Their ability to talk is particularly striking. You feel you are talking with an adult; a three-and-a-half-year-old Carcinosin boy was described as 'talking like a lawyer' by his mother. This particularity of being able to speak in a very refined way at a very early age is a useful characteristic.
Sexual development may also set in very early and proceed quickly. Carcinosin children become sexually excitable unusually young, which may lead them into early and frequent masturbation.
On the other hand, Carcinosin children may be very slow in their development (especially mental). Problems of 'holding their own' at school are very frequent in Carcinosin children of different types, but in these slow-developing children the problems are also on the mental-intellectual level. They have childish behaviour and no inclination for learning. All the proving symptoms mentioned above may be found in these children: mental dullness, disinterest, difficult concentration. Carcinosin has also been used with favourable results in mentally backward or underdeveloped children. Even in children suffering from Down's Syndrome, Carcinosin should be considered as a constitutional remedy (as well as Medorrhinum) because its action may greatly benefit them. Even though the basic chromosomal defect cannot be corrected, Foubister observed good results from such treatment.
An important characteristic of Carcinosin children is their sleeplessness, which is sometimes present from their very first days onward and may be a very persistent and extreme symptom. They simply cannot fall asleep in the evening and cannot sleep until late in the night. Often they are very excited and lively in the evening. They do not want to miss what is happening around them and so do not want to go to bed. Also, in order to be able to fall asleep they frequently need the mother's company. The child wants to sleep in its parents' bed, or cannot sleep through the night. If the child wakes and doesn't see its parents, he or she calls for them or goes to their bed. Being rocked may make it much easier for them to fall asleep.
There will be frequent waking, sometimes with a sudden jerk as if from a fright (similar to Sulphur children). The Carsinosin child is easily startled and wakes up trembling with anxiety. During sleep frequent involuntary jerking and twitching can come on, which might also wake them; in more advanced cases we see chronic convulsions at night. Frequent nocturnal urination may also keep them awake for a long time. Some children need to be carried around time and time again. They are unable to sleep for more than one hour at a time and become deeply exhausted and over-tired, or they awake after midnight and cannot fall asleep again for two or three hours. Night terrors have also been noted, as in one of Foubister's cases: 'She screams while still asleep, when wakened she answers correctly and forgets about the episode in the morning' (This was a condition of five years' standing. A relapse two years later also yielded to Carcinosin).
The position during sleep for children is often on the abdomen and, more specifically, on the elbows and knees as in Medorrhinum. According to Foubister, this is a valuable symptom if the child is more than one year old, because in their first year many children adopt this position and abandon it later on.
Another pathology that we frequently see in children, and that we have to be aware of, is their tendency to develop asthmatic conditions. Many times children's asthma will require this remedy before it clears up. It is interesting to see how the lack of affection they so acutely feel leads to a pathology that is very much connected with the deprivation of love and affection.