Category: Materia Materica

An Alkaloid from Erythroxylon Coca
(COCAINA)

Besides the great usefulness of Cocaine as a local anæsthetic, it has specific homeopathic uses, though the symptoms are mainly clinical only.

Sensation as if small foreign bodies or worms were under the skin.

Mind.–Talkative. Constant desire to do something great, to undertake vast feats of strength. Cerebral activity. Frightful persecutory hallucinations; sees and feels bugs and worms. Moral sense blunted. Personal appearance neglected. Thinks he hears unpleasant remarks about himself. Hallucinations of hearing. Irrational jealousy. Insomnia.

Head.–Throbbing and bursting sensation. Pupils dilated. Hearing greatly increased. Roaring and noises in head.

Eyes.–Glaucoma, increased tension, decreased corneal sensibility. Eyes staring, expressionless.

Throat.–Dry, burning, tickling, constricted, paralysis of muscles of deglutition. Speech difficult.

Stomach.–Loss of appetite for solid food. Likes sweets. Hæmorrhages from bowels, stomach.

Nervous System.–Chorea; paralysis agitans; alcoholic tremors and senile trembling. Local sensory paralysis. Formication and numbness in hands and forearms.

Sleep.–Restless, cannot sleep for hours after retiring.

Fever.–Coldness with intense pallor.

Relationship.–Compare: Stovain (an analgesic, a vasomotor dilator). Antidote to disagreeable effects occasionally resulting from injection of cocaine into skin or gums, drop doses of nitroglycer. 1 % sol.

Dose.–Lower potencies. As a local application to mucous membranes, 2-4 %.

The Divine Plant of the Incas-but the Spanish priests denounced it as “un delusion del demonio”

The mountaineer’s remedy. Useful in a variety of complaints incidental to mountain climbing, such as palpitation, dyspnœa, anxiety and insomnia. Exhausted nervous system from physical and mental strain. Caries of teeth. Loss of voice.–Give 5-6 drops, every half hour, two hours before expected demand on voice. Nocturnal enuresis. Emphysema (Quebracho).

Mind.–Melancholy; bashful, ill at ease in society, irritable, delights in solitude and obscurity. Sense of right and wrong abolished.

Head.–Fainting fit from climbing mountains. Shocks coming from occiput with vertigo. Noises in ear. Headache with vertigo, preceded by flashes of light. Like a band across forehead. Diplopia. Tongue furred. Headaches of high altitudes. Tinnitus.

Stomach.–Peppery sensation in mouth. Longing for alcoholic liquors and tobacco. Great satiety for a long time. Incarcerated flatus; rises with noise and violence, as if it would split the œsophagus. Tympanitic distention of abdomen. No appetite but for sweets.

Heart.–Palpitation, with weak heart and dyspnœa.

Male.–Diabetes, with impotency (Phos ac).

Respiratory.–Hawking of small, transparent pieces of mucus. Weak vocal cords. Hoarseness; worse after talking. Want of breath, short breath, especially in aged athletes, and alcoholic users. Hæmoptysis. Asthma, spasmodic variety.

Sleep.–Can find no rest anywhere, but sleepy. Nervousness and nightly restlessness during teething.

Modalities.–Better, from wine; riding, quick motion in open air. Worse, ascending, high altitudes.

Relationship.–Compare: Ars; Paulin; Cyp; Chamom.

Antidote: Gels.

Dose.–Tincture to third attenuation.

The Metal Cobalt
(COBALTUM)

Adapted to neurasthenic spinal states. Sexual disturbances. Fatigue, agitation, and bone pains, worse in morning.

Mind.–All mental excitement increases suffering. Constant interchange of mental moods.

Head.–Aches; worse, bending head forward. Itching of hairy scalp and beard.

Teeth.–Feel too long. Pain in teeth. Cracks across tongue. Coated white (Ant cr).

Abdomen.–Shooting in liver. Pain in spleen.

Rectum.–Constant dropping of blood from the anus, no blood from the stools.

Male.–Pain in right testicle; better, urinating. Emissions without erection. Impotence. Backache in lumbar region and weak legs. Lewd dreams. Pain in end of urethra; greenish discharge; brown spots on genitals and abdomen.

Back.–Pain in back and sacrum; worse while sitting; better, walking or lying. Weakness in legs and backache after emissions.

Extremities.–Aching in wrist-joints. Shooting into thighs from liver. Weak knees. Trembling in limbs. Tingling in feet. Foot-sweat, mostly between toes.

Sleep.–Unrefreshing; disturbed by lewd dreams.

Skin.–Dry and pimply. Pimples about nates, chin, hairy scalp.

Relationship.–Compare: Cannab. Ind; Sepia; Zinc; Agnus; Selen.

Dose.–Sixth to thirtieth potency.

Virgin’s Bower

Scrofulous, rheumatic, gonorrhœal, and syphilitic patients. Acts especially on skin, glands and genito-urinary organs, especially testicles. A remedy of much importance in disturbances of sleep, and neuralgic pains in various parts. Many of these pains are relieved by perspiration. Muscles relaxed or twitching. Great emaciation. Great sleepiness. Distant pulsation in whole body.

Head.–Boring pain in temples. Confused feeling; better in open air. Eruption on occiput at base of hair, moist, pustular sensitive, itching.

Eyes.–Heat in eyes and sensitive to air; must close them. Chronic blepharitis, with sore and swollen meibomain glands. Iritis, great sensitiveness to cold. Flickering before eyes. Pustular conjunctivitis, with tinea capitis; eyes inflamed and protruding.

Face.–White blisters on face and nose, as if burned by sun. Swelling of submaxillary glands, with hard tubercles, throbbing, aggravated on being touched. Pain in right side of face to eye, ear and temple; better, holding cold water in mouth.

Teeth.–Ache; worse, at night and from tobacco. Teeth feel too long.

Stomach.–After eating, weakness in all limbs and pulsation in arteries.

Male.–Ilio-scrotal neuralgia. Testicles indurated with bruised feeling. Swelling of scrotum (Orchitis). Right half only. Troubles from suppressed gonorrhœa. Violent erections with stitches in urethra. Testicles hang heavy or retracted, with pain along spermatic cord; worse, right side.

Urinary.–Tingling in urethra lasting some time after urinating. Frequent, scanty urination; burning at orifice. Interrupted flow. Urethra feels constricted. Urine emitted drop by drop. Inability to pass all the urine; dribbling after urinating. Pain worse at night, pain along the spermatic cord. Commencing stricture.

Skin.–Red, burning, vesicular, scaly, scabby. Itches terribly; worse, washing in cold water; worse face and hands and scalp around occiput. Glands hot, painful, swollen; worse inguinal glands. Glandular indurations and tumors of breast. Varicose ulcers.

Modalities.–Better, in open air. Worse, at night, and warmth of bed (washing in cold water); new moon–(monthly aggravation).

Relationship.–Compare: Clematis vitalba (varicose and other ulcers); Sil; Staph; Petrol; Oleand; Sarsap; Canth; Phos ac; Pulsat.

Antidotes: Bryon; Camph.

Dose.–Third to thirtieth potency.

Bitter Orange

Headache with nausea, vomiting and vertigo. Facial neuralgias mostly right-sided. Thoracic oppression. Frequent and irresistible yawning. Disturbed sleep.

Relationship.–Citrus decumana-Grape-fruit (Tinnitus, head noises and ringing in ears. Sensation of pressure in the temporal region). Aurantium-Orange (neuralgic and skin symptoms. Itching, redness and swelling of hands. Diseases of the aged with coldness and chilliness. Boiled dried orange peel excites the intestine in a manner similar to other forms of cellulose or agar. There is an increased flow of bile which continues for hours. It unites both a cholagogue action with a mechanical stimulus to peristalsis). Compare: Citrus Limonum (scorbutus, sore throat and cancer pains; checks excessive menstruation). (Citric Acid.–Useful in scurvy and chronic rheumatism and hæmorrhages. All forms of Dropsy are benefited with Citric acid and lemon juice, tablespoonful every 3-4 hours. Pain from cancer of tongue. Used as a local application and mouth wash, one dram to 8 ozs of water. For cancer pains generally, often effective).

Rock Rose

A deep-acting anti-psoric remedy, with marked action in glandular affections, herpetic eruptions, chronic swellings, when patient is extremely sensitive to cold. Sensation of coldness in various parts. Scrofulous ophthalmia. Poisoned wounds, bites, phagedenic ulcers. Malignant disease of the glands of the neck. Cistus has affinity for naso-pharynx; aborts colds that center in posterior nose. Sniffling.

Face.–Itching, burning, and crusts on right zygoma. Lupus, caries; open, bleeding cancer. Tip of nose painful.

Mouth.–Scorbutic swollen gums. Mouth feels cold; putrid, impure breath. Pyorrhea (Merc cor; Caust; Staph; Kreos). Hurts to protrude the tongue.

Ears.–Watery discharge; also fetid pus. Tetter on and around ears, extending to external meatus.

Throat.–Spongy feeling; very dry and cold air passing over parts causes pain. Breath, tongue, and throat feel cold. Uvula and tonsils swollen. A small, dry spot in throat; must sip water frequently. Hawking of mucus. Swelling and suppuration of glands of throat. Head drawn to one side by swellings in neck. Sore throat from inhaling the least cold air. Heat and itching in throat.

Stomach.–Cool feeling in stomach before and after eating. Cool feeling in whole abdomen. Desire for cheese.

Stool.–Diarrhœa from coffee and fruit, thin, yellow, urgent; worse in morning.

Chest.–Coldness in chest. The neck is studded with tumors. Induration of mammæ. Hæmorrhage from lungs.

Extremities.–Sprained pain in wrist. Tips of fingers sensitive to cold. Tetter on hands. Cold feet. Syphilitic ulcers on lower limbs, with hard swelling around. White swelling.

Sleep.–Cannot sleep from coldness in throat.

Female.–Induration and inflammation of mammæ. Sensitive to cold air. Bad smelling leucorrhœa.

Respiratory.–Asthmatic after lying down (trachea feels narrow), preceded by formication.

Skin.–Itching all over. Small, painful pimples; lupus. Glands inflamed and indurated. Mercurio-syphilitic ulcers. Skin of hands hard, thick, dry, fissured; deep cracks. Itching of swollen hands and arms; general itching which presents sleep. Hemicrania.

Modalities.–Worse, slightest exposure to cold air; mental exertion, excitement. Better after eating.

Relationship.–Antidotes: Rhus; Sepia.

Compare: Conium; Carbo; Calc; Arg n.

Dose.–First to thirtieth attenuation. Locally as a wash to arrest fetid discharges.

Cinnamon
(CINNAMOMUM)

Cancer where pain and fetor are present. Best when skin is intact. Its use in hæmorrhages has abundant clinical verification. Nosebleed. Hæmorrhages from bowels, hæmoptysis, etc. A strain in loins or false step brings on a profuse flow of bright blood. Post-partum hæmorrhage. Flatulency and diarrhœa. Feeble patients with languid circulation.

Female.–Bearing-down sensation. Menses early, profuse, prolonged, bright red. Sleepy. No desire for anything. Fingers seem swollen. Uterine hæmorrhages caused by overlifting, during puerperal state; menorrhagia.

Relationship.–Compare: Ipec; Sil; Trill.

Antidote: Acon.

Dose.–Tincture to third potency. For cancer, strong decoction, one-half pint in a day. Oil of cinnamon in aqueous solution best local disinfectant. 3-4 drops in two quarts of water as a douche, wherever a germicide and disinfectant is needed. Three drops on sugar for hiccough.

Mercuric Sulphide
(MERCURIUS SULPHURATUS RUBER)

For certain forms of ciliary neuralgia and ulceration upon a syphilitic base, this remedy is most effective. Sleepless during night.

Head.–Congestion to head; face purple red.

Eyes.–Pains from lachrymal duct around eye to temple, from inner canthus across brows to ear. Severe shooting pain in bones of orbit, especially running from inner to outer canthus in the bone. Redness of whole eye. Lids granulated; canthi and lids red.

Nose.–Pressive sensation, as from heavy spectacles. Pain about root, extending into bones on each side (Aur; Kal hyd).

Throat.–Stringy mucus passed through posterior nares into throat. Dryness of mouth and throat; must rinse the mouth. Fiery-looking ulcers in mouth and throat.

Male.–Prepuce swollen; warts on it which bleed easily; testicles enlarged; buboes; angry-looking chancres. Syphilides, squamous and vesicular.

Female.–Leucorrhœa. Feeling of pressure in vagina.

Extremities.–Pain in forearm from elbow down, including hands. Pain in long bones when barometer lowers; coldness of joints.

Skin.–Very fiery-red looking ulcers. Nodes on shin-bones. Buboes. Condyloma, easily bleeding.

Modalities.–Worse, lying on right side (feels as if contents of body were being dragged over to that side).

Relationship.–Compare: Hepar; Nitr ac; Thuja; Sep.

Antidotes: Hepar; Sulph.

Dose.–First to third trituration.

Dusty Miller
(CINERARIA)

Has some reputation in the cure of cataract and corneal opacities. Is used externally, by instilling into the eye one drop four or five times a day. This must be kept up for several months. Most effective in traumatic cases. Compare in cataract Phosph; Platanus; Cannabis; Causticum; Naphthalin; Ledum; Nat mur; Silica.

Worm-seed
(CINA)

This is a children’s remedy,-big, fat, rosy, scrofulous, corresponding to many conditions that may be referred to intestinal irritation, such as worms and accompanying complaints. An irritability of temper, variable appetite, grinding of teeth, and even convulsions, with screams and violent jerkings of the hands and feet, are all within its range of action. The Cina patient is hungry, cross, ugly, and wants to be rocked. Pain in shocks. Skin sensitive to touch.

Mind.–Ill-humor. Child very cross; does not want to be touched, or crossed, or carried. Desires many things, but rejects everything offered. Abnormal consciousness, as if having committed some evil deed.

Head.–Headache, alternating with pain in abdomen. Relieved by stooping (Mezer). Pain in head when using eyes.

Eyes.–Dilated pupils; yellow vision. Weak sight from masturbation. Strabismus from abdominal irritation. Eyestrain, especially when presbyopia sets in. Pulsation of superciliary muscle.

Ears.–Digging and scratching in ears.

Nose.–Itching of nose all the time. Wants to rub it and pick at it. Bores at nose till it bleeds.

Face.–Intense, circumscribed redness of cheeks. Pale, hot, with dark rings around eyes. Cold perspiration. White and bluish about the mouth. Grits teeth during sleep. Choreic movements of face and hands.

Stomach.–Gets hungry soon after a meal. Hungry, digging, gnawing sensation. Epigastric pain; worse, first waking in morning and before meals. Vomiting and diarrhœa immediately after eating or drinking. Vomiting with a clean tongue. Desires many and different things. Craving for sweets.

Abdomen.–Twisting pain about navel (Spig). Bloated and hard abdomen.

Stool.–White mucus, like small pieces of popped corn, preceded by pinching colic. Itching of anus (Teuc). Worms (Sabad; Naphth; Nat phos).

Urine.–Turbid, white; turns milky on standing. Involuntary at night.

Female.–Uterine hæmorrhage before puberty.

Respiratory.–Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.

Extremities.–Twitching and jerking distortion of limbs, trembling. Paralyzed shocks; patient will jump suddenly, as though in pain. Child throws arms from side to side. Nocturnal convulsions. Sudden inward jerking of fingers of right hand. Child stretches out feet spasmodically. Left foot in constant spasmodic motion.

Sleep.–Child gets on hands and knees in sleep; on abdomen. Night terrors of children; cries out, screams, wakes frightened. Troubles while yawning. Screams and talks in sleep. Grits teeth.

Fever.–Light chill. Much fever, associated with clean tongue. Much hunger; colicky pains; chilliness, with thirst. Cold sweat on forehead, nose, and hands. In Cina fever, face is cold and hands warm.

Modalities.–Worse, looking fixedly at an object, from worms, at night, in sun, in summer.

Relationship.–Compare: Santonin–(often preferable in worm affections; same symptoms as Cina; corresponding to the “pain in shocks” produced by Cina. Visual illusions, yellow sight; violet light not recognized, colors not distinguishable. Urine deep saffron color. Spasms and twitchings, chronic gastric and intestinal troubles sometimes removed by a single dose (physiological) of Santonin. Dahlke). Helmintochortos-Worm-moss (acts very powerfully on intestinal worms, especially the lumbricoid). Teucrium; Ignat; Cham; Spig.

Antidote: Camph; Caps.

Dose.–Third attenuation. For nervous irritable children, thirtieth and two-hundredth preferable. Santonin in first (with care) and third trituration.