We gave Katy one dose of Calcarea carbonica 200c. She was scheduled for an eight week follow-up, to allow plenty of time to elapse before re-evaluating her stuttering. Katy had the Calcarea carbonica features of slowness to teethe and talk, sweating on the head during sleep, slow hair growth, weak nails, and sleeping on the left side. She also had the imaginative quality of Calcarea carbonica as well as the tendency to otitis media, vaginal yeast infections, and eczema. Her desires for ice cream, milk cheese, salty, and eggs were highly characteristic of Calcarea carbonica. She was basically a happy, spunky little girl, who was likely to respond very well to the remedy. It is interesting to note that Calcarea carbonica does not appear in Kent's Repertory in the rubric "MOUTH; SPEECH; stammering".

One month later, Katy's mother brought her in because she thought the remedy had worked, then been antidoted. Her stuttering had decreased to three stutters per 100 words. It had been 17 per hundred prior to the remedy. Katy had developed another bout of otitis. The mother, not yet convinced of the effectiveness of homeopathy for otitis, had given her antibiotics rather than calling us. Within a week, the stuttering had reverted to its previous frequency. Katy now had right ear pain. She had some brownish discharge from the ear. She was crying, holding her ear, and wanted to be held and comforted. We gave her Belladonna 30c acutely and recommended that she repeat the Calcarea carbonica 200c when the acute otitis flareup was over. Belladonna is known to be needed as an acute remedy in many cases where the constitutional remedy is Calcarea carbonica , such as with Katy. However, it would have been just as correct in this case to have given the Calcarea directly without having given the Belladonna first, since the right-sided otitis is part of Katy's constitutional picture.

Her mother's report after three weeks: The ear infection resolved quickly from the Belladonna. After the second dose of Calcarea carbonica, the stuttering was again much improved, yet only for a few weeks.. Then her stuttering began to return. At this point we gave her one dose of Calcarea carbonica lM, since the 200c appeared to have only a short-lived effect. In cases where a remedy has worked, then seems to fizzle out quickly, it is best first to give the next higher potency. If this does not work, it is likely that the remedy is only close, and a different remedy will have a more long-lasting and deeper effect.

We didn't hear from Katy's mother until six months later. At that time she reported that it took a full nine weeks after the Calcarea carbonica 1M for the stuttering to disappear completely, but that it had never returned. Her speech was "infinitely better" and she was needing no speech therapy at all. An extensive workup on Katy's speech before and after the homeopathic treatment confirmed the dramatic improvement. She had no recurrence of vaginal yeast, no longer sweated on her head, and didn't want cold foods and drinks anymore. Popsicles had sat in the freezer for months untouched. Her mother was now sold on homeopathy. Now she was bringing Katy in for another bout of ear pain, this time bilateral. She had decided to come to us directly rather than try antibiotics. She had given Katy Belladonna on her own, with no improvement. On examination, there was erythema, worse in the left ear. We gave Katy's mother one more dose of Calcarea carbonica to give, only in the case that the ear pain persisted. We anticipate this dose, if needed, should last at least six months.