A Study of the difference between Chamomilla and Cina in clinical practice

by Dr. Farhad J. Adajania B.H.M.S. (Mumbai)

Summary:

The article gives a differentiation between two very similar-looking and frequently prescribed pediatric remedies, Chamomilla and Cina. It becomes difficult many times to differentiate between them at the bedside of the patient. This article gives a clinical and objective differentiation between Chamomilla and Cina.

Key words: Chamomilla, Cina, Compositeae, Carried, Tantrums    

Chamomilla and Cina belong to the same family i.e., Compositeae. The physician faces the problem of differentiating these two remedies in pediatric cases. The temperament of both remedies looks very similar, but there are a few differentiating points as follows:

Boericke’s Materia Medica gives a symptom in Chamomilla – child can only be quieted when carried about and petted constantly. Caressing and petting cannot quiet the Cina child because the child is indifferent to all caresses. Caress means to touch or stroke lightly in a loving manner, but the Cina child is very touchy and averse to caresses.

 The Chamomilla child demands instant relief with the feeling that everything moves too slowly. So Chamomilla wants to be carried fast and relieved as fast as possible. (Dr. Gibson, in his study of homoeopathic remedies, describes the growth of the Chamomilla plant – in cultivation the plant will bloom in two months from sowing and thus provide two crops in one season. This manner of growth is suggestive of energetic, even exaggerated response to stimulus and lack of patience).

Refuses help is the symptom of Cina. Also, motion aggravates Cina and so there is no relief from being carried. The symptom of being carried on the shoulder that gives relief in Cina is actually an amelioration of abdominal symptoms from pressure. But other experienced physicians have found this modality useful even in cases of breathlessness.

 It is very interesting to note that Cina children have an aversion to playing. According to psychodynamic studies play is a means of expressing feelings, coming to terms with difficulties, reliving enjoyable experiences and gaining control over conflicting emotions. So the Cina child does not want to express its emotions and does not like anybody stirring its emotions (touched aversion to being; caressed aversion to being; play aversion to). It has aversion to mother’s milk which further indicates that it does not want to receive any form of nurturing or love from its mother. But the deprivation is expressed in the form of unnatural hunger for a variety of things none of which satisfy (Hunger means a compelling need or desire that arises out of lack of needful or desirable elements).

 Here, I am reminded of a case in which the mother was totally indifferent to her child, who was a few months old. The child was suffering from an upper respiratory tract infection and desired to be carried day and night but carrying would not make the child quiet. The child was very capricious. I wrongly prescribed Chamomilla to the child. Then the observation was made that child does not want to be touched or carried by anybody except his mother and even she could not console him. Cina was prescribed and the child improved mentally and physically. Now, when I look back I feel that the mother’s indifferent attitude and treating her child like a burden created a negative effect in the child’s mind. The deprived feeling is present in the child but instead of feeling secure in his mother’s presence, he was becoming more and more inconsolable as if trying to express that when I needed you the most you were not present, and now even I don’t need you (this is a probable interpretation of the situation). But the first year of life is full of anxieties, and the child usually feels helpless and wants to have control over the situation. Since the child who is only a few months old cannot talk, it can express these anxieties in the form of kicking, shrieking, striking, etc.

I treated another case of a 1-year old baby (8kg. / breast fed) suffering from recurrent Upper Respiratory Tract Infections. She passes stools which are brownish black, slimy and offensive. She throws tantrums if she does not get what she wants or if mother shouts at her. She shrieks, throws things and breaks them in anger. She falls on her back and bangs her feet. On the slightest reprimand, she becomes stiff, clenches her fist, kicks and bends backwards. Since 3-4 months she also gets breath-holding spasms. She does not like anybody touching or caressing her cheeks. She doesn’t like anybody washing her face. She doesn’t want anybody to blow her nose when she has a coryza. Her anger cools down when she gets her mum mum (when she is breastfed). She has a habit of caressing her mother’s breast. She is always ready for a breast-feed. Sometimes she does it with a great obsession. She wants to be carried all the time, and indicates her desire to be carried non-stop AND FAST. As long as her mother carries her she is quiet. This phenomenon becomes very intense when she is having fever. She laughs and cries alternately. She wants to eat something and then refuses it when it is given to her. She wants her mother around all the time. She doesn’t allow her to work in the kitchen. She does not like to play with her toys. Instead she loves to play with boxes and diaries. I observed that she was continuously throwing the objects lying on my table. Every time the mother picks up the object she would throw it again. She would start crying if the mother did not pick up the object. Actually she was trying her best to interrupt the conversation. She clings to her mother all night and wakes up if she realizes that her mother is not with her. She also tends to startle during sleep. She prefers to sleep on her abdomen with her knees bent under the abdomen and her hands under her chest. Her mouth remains open in sleep. The tongue is white in the centre. The mother complains of bad odor from her mouth. I already knew the mother’s history in details. She has a lot of problems adjusting with her husband. She feels that her husband loves the baby more than her. He takes a lot of care and scolds her if she fails to fulfil the baby’s needs. She does not love her child and feels that she gets all the reprimands from her husband because of her baby. She cannot tolerate her child’s behaviour and beats her if the tantrums become out of her control. Rubrics selected : 

Quieted, carried, only by being

Carried desires to be; fast

Anger, refused, when things he wants are

Throws things away

Generals; Stiffening out of body

Mouth open sleep during

Anger respiration difficult with

It is interesting to note that Dr. M. L. SEHGAL has added Chamomilla to the rubric clinging in his book ‘Perfect Materia Medica Of The Mind’. Even though the child has a sleeping position of Cina the whole totality goes in favour of Chamomilla. In this case, the child clings to the mother even though the mother does not like her. She compulsively seeks attention and love from her mother. The more her mother tries to avoid her, the more she clings to her mother. (This is exactly the opposite of the previous case where carrying or showing love could not quiet the child. In fact, even the mother could not console the child). She responded very well to Chamomilla 200C. In fact, her tantrums improved within a week after a single dose. Her attacks of URTI have become less frequent. I repeated another dose of Chamomilla during her dentition when she started throwing her tantrums again though not as intense as they were in the past. 

So in both the cases the child feels the lack of care and nurturing because of the indifferent attitude of the mother. But the expressions are different. It is the presence of these objective symptoms that help us in differentiating remedies.  

I tried to trace the differences between the two remedies from the materia medica and the repertory. I essentially chose the objective symptoms as their accurate observation in any given case can lead us to the right remedy. 

Physical generals and particulars (observable signs) that could help in pediatric cases:

I have usually observed in my practice that I always need to go back to the materia medica. I realized that apart from an unprejudiced case taking there are some other requirements for a successful prescription. I started studying the differentiation of remedies depending on the symptoms that were encountered most often in practice. The above differentiation is an attempt in the same direction. 

Actually no remedy is small, big, and more or less important in practice. The beauty of homoeopathy is experienced when we find something new about remedies that we prescribe routinely. 

Dr. Farhad J. Adajania B.H.M.S. (Mumbai)