PROTEUS

---

Hypothesis	Features	Similars
Predisposed types	Angry, unstable types Highly strung perhaps hysterical Unrelaxed Autonomically aroused Perhaps mainly thin and dark haired Perhaps stubbornly self-righteous and indignant. Unwillingness to accept change.	Colocynthis Nux vomica Magnesiums Muriates Nitrates Natrum mur Staphysagria
Main aetiology	Stress (especially persistent unremitting)
Secondary aetiologies	Infective / antibiotics or both	Helicobacter Sarracenia
Emergent disturbance	Psycho-neuro-endocrine
Secondary disturbances	Degenerative change at sympathetically innervated sites. Fibrositis at sites of chronic musculoskeletal tension.	Cuprum met.
Principle locations	Autonomically innervated systems and organs: – increased sympathetic activity + Circulatory including Raynaud’s phenomenon	Adrenaline Noradrenaline
Secondary locations	CNS / PNS Musculoskeletal Cardiac + Stress headaches Fibrositis	Ignatia Natrum mur
GI pathophysiology	Duodenal ulcer Irritable bowel

Below is a concise list of various symptom categories.

Mind

Tense; irritable; depressed. Outburst of temper, especially if opposed; will throw, kick or strike. Violence, spasms, particularly in the young.

Head

Headache frontal with sense of weight. Headache < before menses, < morning. Migrainous headaches are often with blurred vision. Meniere’s disease.

Vision

Blurred vision during migraine. Burning pains. Acute pains. Pains > by pressure. Photosensitivity.

Nose

Impression of greasy discharge at the back of nose. Tightness.

Mouth

Angular cheilitis. Gums tender. Buccal ulcers. Taste salty.

Neck and Back

Fibrositis head and neck. Backache. Slipped disc.

Chest

Pain < with cold, < with exertion. Tightness; short of breath. Panniculitis.

Heart

Anginal attacks due to spasm of coronary capillaries. Heart strain. E.C.G. coronary insufficiency, but no infarction.

Fond of / Upset by

Fond of fats; sweets; salt; butter; eggs. Upset by eggs.

Stomach

Acidity; heartburn; sourness. Flatulence. Hunger pain not relieved by eating. Nausea and migraine after meals. Frequent hiccough after meals. Vomiting after meals. Dilated stomach. Bilious at menstrual period.

Abdomen

Flatulence. Pain R.I.F.; pain L.I.F.

Upper Limbs

Contraction palms/fingers. Loss of grip strength. Hands numb in the morning.

Lower Limbs

Intermittent claudication. Cramps legs. Numb feet. Feet feel frozen. < cold atmosphere. Sciatica. Raynaud’s disease.

Urine

Urethritis. Loin pain. Urine cloudy and foetid. Whitish fibres in the urine.

Genitalia

Leucorrhoea profuse and offensive. Leucorrhoea brown; thick; scalding. Vaginitis. Boil in vagina. Pruritis vulvae. Blood-streaked, brownish discharge before menses; menses with blood clots. Fibrous blood clots at the end of menses. Menses irregular, with blood clots for 7 days.

Bowel

Alternative diarrhoea and constipation. Emotional diarrhoea. Diarrhoea with headache and furred tongue. Constipation with empty urging.
Stools yellow, soft in morning after breakfast. Oxyuris. Sensation of ball in bowel.

Anus

Piles itch and bleed. Itch very bad. The child may suffer recurring rectal spasm.

Skin

Angioneurotic oedema (cf Apis Mellifica) is found in the clinical proving of Proteus, also herpetiform eruption at the muco-cutaneous margins. Skin is light, sensitive and may be pigmented or the opposite, leucoderma; liable to flexure dermatitis, of knee and elbow. Herpes, hives, and intractable dermatitis, usually pruriginous. Dermatitis on back of hand with discharge (very bad). Pruritis intense. Anal and genital pruritis. Boils axilla. Erythema with papulopustular eruption — dry, scaly, crusting, itching; six months duration on chin and upper lip.

Proteus mirabilis is a histamine producing organism “Proteus can alter the soil in which psoric symptoms grow” (A.C. Gordon Ross)

Perspiration

Under the arms, hands clammy. Copious perspiration from the axillae, falling in large drops. Nails split. Hair falls out.

“Suddenness of onset is outstanding characteristic of this nosode and this is seen in the herpetic eruptions of lips, mouth and eyes where pain is out of proportion to the size of lesion. Similarly if boils are present, they are exquisitely tender, indurated, discharge little and are slow to heal. There is marked sensitivity to exposure to ultra violet rays.”— (Agrawal)

“Convulsive and epileptiform seizures and meningismus in children during febrile attacks often respond to the action of the nosode Proteus. Among the remedies related to Proteus are many chlorides especially Natrum Mur. Paterson noted an increase in Proteus after the last war and associated it with nerve strain, continued over a long period.”— (Agrawal)

Modalities

< in the morning on waking, from exertion, from climbing stairs, in stormy weather, heat, exposure to the sun and also in the winter, from cold.
Nightly aggravations and < from lying down. > from moderate temperature, from resting and in the mountains.