The thing that is common to both of them is their temperature reaction, all the Pulsatilla children are sensitive to heat, they flag in hot weather, they lose their life, they lose their sparkle, their energy, they hang about, they either get tearful or irritable, and they are very liable to get digestive upsets. But they are much more liable to get digestive upsets.
But they are much more liable to be upset by a to get an attack of acute sickness from being chilled in hot weather, they are liable to get an attack of diarrhoea from being chilled in hot weather, they are liable to get cystitis, they are liable to et earache; but it is the sudden chilling during the heat; they are flagging in the hot weather, no energy, no life, but their acute conditions are much more liable to be brought on by chilling. In exactly the way they are liable to be upset by taking ice cream in hot weather; it is quite as common as the ordinary Pulsatilla aggravation from too rich food.
Then I think sometimes one misses a Pulsatilla case because of their odd reactions when they have got a feverish attack. These Pulsatilla kids very often get acute colds in their head acute coryza, and very often with their acute colds in the head these Pulsatilla kids get shivery, they feel very chilly, they very often, with their coryza, get a certain amount of gastric catarrh too, a feeling of nausea, and they may actually vomit; and yet, in spite of their chilliness, their sense of blockage in the head is better in the open air, it is worse in a stuffy room, and you will never get a Pulsatilla cold that hasnt got a bland discharge.
Then again, with these colds you sometimes get an apparent contradiction too, because with their colds they are very apt to get a conjunctivitis, and it is pretty marked in Pulsatilla, and in the Pulsatilla conjunctivitis the eyes are very sensitive to any cold draught, they simply stream water in the open air. There is usually pretty definitely photophobia in Pulsatilla and a good deal of itching of the eyelids, and of course the Pulsatilla kids are always apt to get styes, particularly affecting the lower lid-the lower lid rather than the upper.
Then there is one point that is sometimes a help in the Pulsatilla earaches which are very intense, and, as I say, are usually brought on from exposure to cold; they get very violent pain, which seems to spread all over the side of the face, as well as into the throat, and if the condition has gone a little farther you often get the Pulsatilla patient describing the condition as a feeling of absolutely bursting out of the ear. The other thing that helps you, of course, is again the amelioration from cold-their earaches are better from cold applications.
Then there is one other thing about the Pulsatilla kids and that is that you very often find them tired and edgy and sleepy during the day, and yet they seem to become more lively as the day goes on, they are liable to get the Pulsatilla nervousness just about sunset, the ordinary sunset aggravation of Pulsatilla, and then become very lively towards bedtime, slow of going to sleep, and once they have they tend to get nightmares, night terrors, usually some kind of strife drams, it may not be particularly being chases by the black dog of Pulsatilla, but is is always something worrying, terrifying. And, of course, most of these Pulsatilla kids are afraid of the dark, afraid of being left alone, just the sort of thing you would expect in that shy, nervous type of child.
There one thing that will produce a night terror in the Pulsatilla child, and that is telling them ghost stories in the dark before they go to bed; you can practically bank on that Pulsatilla child having a nightmare that night.
Then there is one other tip which is sometimes useful in spotting the Pulsatilla children, and that is they are awfully liable to become giddy from looking up at anything high. The only other drug that I know that has it so marked is Argentum not., it has an aggravation from looking down, but it has also an aggravation from looking up, but I think Pulsatilla has it very much more marked than Argentum nit.
Then the other thing that is sometimes a help, although it is by no means constant, is the position that the Pulsatilla child takes up in sleep, that is to say, lying with the hands up above the head.
I think that gives you a fairish sketch of the type of child you are dealing with.
And on to the Pulsatilla kid, the hot-blooded child of that type, the next thing you always consider is the possibility of whether it is Pulsatilla or Kali sulph. Well, Kent says that Kali sulph. is merely an intensified Pulsatilla. Personally I dont think it is. The Kali sulph. temperature reactions are identical with the Pulsatilla ones, that is to say, the child is sensitive to heat and it flags in the hot weather, cant stand stuffy atmospheres, is better in the open air, tends to stagnate if keeping still, and is better moving about.
It has got an aggravation from rich food. It is liable to be upset by sudden changes of weather. But I think there is a definite difference, I think the Kali sulph. child is much more flabby than the Pulsatilla child, it certainly does not approach the thin fine type of Pulsatilla 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 it has got a much more sluggish reaction generally. And there is much more obstinacy in the Kali sulph. than in the typical Pulsatilla. Pulsatilla may be irritable, it may flare up in a temper but it is over; Kali sulph. is much more liable to be obstinate.
Then then Pulsatilla kids are shy, but the the Kali sulph. children tend much more to have a lack of confidence in themselves-it isnt shyness. And they are lazy, they dislike work and you dont get the keenness and interest that you get in the Pulsatilla children. And the Kali sulph. kids are not bright, they get tired out by mental exertion, whereas the Pulsatilla kids are very often bright and sharp and do quite well at school.
Then there is a certain amount of similarity again, they are both nervous, they are both afraid of the dark, they are very easily frightened, easily startled at strange noises, strange surroundings.
Then, I think the typical Kali sulph. child tends to be more sickly than the typical Pulsatilla child; the Pulsatilla kid may not be strong, but the Kali sulph. kid tends to have less colour and if they are flushed it is much more a circumscribed flush on the cheeks rather than the variable circulation of the Pulsatilla.
Then another thing that very often helps you to spot a Kali sulph. rather than a Pulsatilla is that in practically all the Kali sulph. children you get a yellow coated tongue, particularly the root of the tongue, although the coating may spread right over.
Then another point that is sometimes a help is that there is a slight difference in the type of discharges you get in Kali sulph. and Pulsatilla. 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.
The, as far as their liability to actual acute illness, I think you are much more likely to want Pulsatilla for the acute gastric catarrh, the acute gastritis, the acute colic and diarrhoea; but if you have a gastritis that has gone on to a jaundice in a Pulsatilla type of child you are much ore liable to get indications for Kali sulph. rather than Pulsatilla.
And again, if you have got a Pulsatilla type of child who has caught cold, who has developed a bronchitis and the bronchitis 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, and where you have got a yellowish, watery sputum, probably patches of consolidation at the left base-left base more commonly-you get better response from Kali sulph. than you will from Pulsatilla.
And again, if you have got a whooping cough in Pulsatilla child, with a lot of rattling in the chest, of the ordinary Pulsatilla modalities, Kali sulph. does you much more good than Pulsatilla.
You see, that, I think, is what Kent means by saying Kali sulph. is Pulsatilla intensifies-in these acute conditions their symptoms are very similar and yet the more severe the condition the more definitely you get indications for Kali sulph. But where you are prescribing on the type of child I think there are very definite difference between the two.
“What potency of Pulsatilla would you use usually?”.
Usually low in chronic case; they are usually sensitive kids, and where you are dealing with the sensitive type you dont want high potency. Where you are dealing with bovine types I go high. But where it is sensitive type like Pulsatilla they simply blossom on a 30. Phosphorus is exactly the same thing, Phosphorus children respond beautifully to lower potencies.
