Capsicum Annuum
Cayenne Pepper (South America and West Indies)
O. Solanaceae
Tincture of the dried pods.
The essential features
The constitutional Capsicum individual is usually obese, flabby with a red face (especially a red nose) and has varicose vein conditions. On close examination, it becomes clear that this red appearance of the face is due to a fine interlacing of dilated capillaries such as may be seen in drunkards. The end of the nose is red, as are the eyes and cheeks.
This remedy appears more frequently in males than females. The Capsicum individual is plump and round and lacking stamina; he is in a sluggish and tired state and has a lazy constitution. The whole organism is sluggish, flabby and slow. This low vitality is due to faulty assimilation. Capsicum’s abdomen feels like a flabby sack with heavy intestines that drag him down. The Capsicum flabbiness is rather unique, though it may be confused with that of Kali bichromicum, Calcarea carbonica or Ferrum. Ferr. differs from Capsicum in that the redness of the cheeks is circumscribed and the face pale. When Calc. is given to Capsicum patients, it tends to make them even more obese.
The Capsicum pathology develops in stages like most of our remedies, each stage possessing some common and some opposing characteristics. In the beginning stages, Capsicum patients are extremely sensitive. Psychologically, they tend to be so sensitive that they are easily insulted. They are quite insecure about social relationships, but are not withdrawn. They make an effort to be more gregarious than they actually are in order to hide their insecurity; consequently, it is often difficult to correctly determine their inner psychological state. It is interesting to note that their insecurity and feeling of guilt (Mercurius, Natrum carbonicum) can produce a fear of the police.
Homesickness
They have strong emotions. However, what is truly strange about Capsicum is that their emotional attachments focuses on the past. Thus they frequently experience profound nostalgia. These feelings of nostalgia may be so strong as to overwhelm them; they may suffer so much from their sense of separation from the past that they believe they will die from the sorrow and nostalgia. Nostalgia can actually bring about fever. Such feelings represent an archetypal ‘homesickness‘, a key-note of Capsicum. If you encounter intense homesickness with red cheeks, sleeplessness and a burning feeling in the throat you must not hesitate to prescribe this remedy. Sleeplessness due to homesickness is a strong characteristic of Capsicum.
They seem to live totally in the past. Their childhood and other pleasant past experiences are overwhelming. I recall one case of a man whose powerful nostalgia had such a grasp on his subconscious mind that he experienced very vivid, repeated nostalgic dreams of his earlier years. Capsicum does not experience his homesickness only when he is away from home, but at any time he remembers the past. At some point these people are so overwhelmed with remembrances that they feel they will die, will burn out from the memories. The memories and consequent emotions are so strong and consuming that they may become intolerable. At this point the individual enters the second stage of Capsicum.
During this stage they bury all the memories and experience almost no feelings. They want to be left in peace; they are apathetic and often depressed. They can no longer be easily excited. One observes a lack of reaction in these obese patients. They are averse to doing anything outside of their customary routine. As a matter of fact, they love routine and hate anything unexpected. They seem to be happy with a boring, routine life. The organism seems too heavy, too slow to move on short notice. They hate all exercise and all effort, whether physical or mental. They feel heavy in body and mind. They are not fond of cleanliness. During this second stage Capsicum can also become physically awkward, as in Apis, Agaricus and Bovista. Though they do not like physical exercise, if they do engage in it they feel better.
This second stage is not one of actual indifference, such as with Phosphoric acid, nor is it the deathly void of Carbo vegetabilis. Instead, as this state progresses, Capsicum people develop tremendous anxiety and the feeling that they are incapable of accomplishing much. They are ambitious, yet their ambition contains an element of paradox because they are also lazy and do not want to depart from their usual routine.
They hope to accomplish a great deal while expending minimal energy. However, by this stage, their mental functioning has slowed down and they are duller than before. Realising their limitation, they fear that they cannot achieve their goals. This fear leads to insomnia. After having felt fatigued all day, at night they only manage to sleep for only three or four hours before they awaken feeling overwhelmed by anxiety. Their anxiety focuses mostly around their social insecurity. They have a great fear of being criticised. After about two hours of wakefulness they go back to sleep. In the morning they wake feeling very tired and unrefreshed.
As they become anxious and depressed, they lose their joi de vivre. They become absorbed in themselves and feel thoroughly discontented. They suffer from sadness and mental depression, but I have yet to personally confirm the symptom reported by Kent of overwhelming thoughts of suicide. In my experience, they possess no fear of death, nor anxiety about health. They also tend not to reflect deeply on important issues in life, due to their indifference and laziness. Routine is all that they love.
During this second stage there is a desire for stimulants. Capsicum has an overworked intellect. It is always in need of stimulants and tonics. When faced with a task, they procrastinate; then, as the deadline draws near they resort to stimulants to help them finish their work. After taking stimulants they feel terrible. They become taciturn, sullen and obstinate, even to an extreme.
They desire coffee, beer, whisky, and peppery food. They also greatly enjoy salt, though not to the extent of a craving. Everything they consume turns to fat. They often sleep in the following peculiar position: on their back with one hip partially flexed and abducted about ninety degrees, the knee of the same side flexed, and the foot resting near the opposite knee. They find that this particular posture helps them sleep.
Capriciousness
Capsicum is capricious. Mirth and hilarity alternate with bursts of indignation. One moment he is jocular, laughing and singing and the next angry from the slightest cause and weeping. He takes offence at trifles, finds fault with others and is malicious. If someone offers him something, he will refuse it even though he may have wanted it earlier. He gets angry from coughing. He utters jokes and witticisms, but has a tendency to take everything badly and easily flies into a rage.
He is very clumsy and awkward. He has ailments of emotional excitement; during a chill he becomes excited and irritable, with an acute sensitivity to noise. He gets very confused and is unable to think clearly. He gets feverish after emotions; tearful during the heat. During both the chill and the heat he is easily startled; restless, nervous, and anxious.
He feels confused, unrefreshed and frightened on waking in the morning, screams, and the fright remains all day. He is indifferent to everything and disinclined to work or think; the intellect is dull and sluggish, especially on waking in the morning and during a chill. He displays idiocy and imbecility, he goes around kissing everyone; experiences delirium.
In cases of sleep disturbance, if the patient goes to bed around 11 p.m. and wakes up (after three or four hours) around 2 a.m., remaining awake until approximately 5 a.m., it will be all the easier to confuse such cases with Kali bichromicum. Generally, Capsicum is worse from cold and ameliorated by warmth. Also, motion provides a general amelioration.
The capsicum child
Overweight children with red faces, born to alcoholic parents, is a strong indication for Capsicum. These children are clumsy and awkward, angry, irritable. They lose their temper very easily and frequently. The remedy is indicated in schoolgirls who become very homesick and cannot study or work; they just want to go home.
These children are headstrong, really obstinate and capricious. Capsicum children can be as capricious as Chamomilla and Cina. They can cry for days without any apparent reason (Antimonium crudum). They can refuse something just because you proposed it, though they may want it. If someone tells them to do a certain thing, they will do quite the opposite.
They are frightened on waking in the morning; he awakens with fright, screams, and the rest of the day he remains with the fear. They shriek during sleep (with dreams of ghosts and monsters) and wake up in a fright (Stramonium).
Generalities
Usually these patients seek consultation for varying complaints, peptic ulcers, palpitations, haemorrhoids, etc. You will try different remedies with them (Calcarea, Ferrum, Nux vomica, etc.), yet find the organism difficult to arouse until you find out about the extraordinary nostalgia for home and then Capsicum becomes apparent. Capsicum haemorrhoid cases can be difficult to differentiate from Aesculus; the combination of haemorrhoids and a red face suggests both remedies.
There are a number of physical symptoms very characteristic of Capsicum of which two peculiar symptoms relate to chills: the hearing becomes very acute during a chill rendering the patient very sensitive to noise. Also, there is thirst before a chill, but drinking aggravates. Both of these symptoms are key-notes of the remedy. Thirsty after stool is another strange symptom.
There is pain in the facial bones and particularly in the mastoid bone. Cases of severe mastoiditis with pronounced burning pain are almost exclusively Capsicum. There is a marked tendency to suppuration in every inflammatory process. There is ulceration in the mouth.
These are chilly patients, sensitive to air, who hate draughts and want to be in a warm room. Even in normal weather the open air causes a chill. They are sensitive to cold and to bathing.
Capsicum dysentery or diarrhoea cases are associated with a pronounced burning sensation in the rectum or a sensation of coldness in the rectum or scrotum. There can be coldness of the genitalia in the morning on waking.
Eye inflammations with burning pains are typical. Smokers and drinkers who suffer from sore throat and pains that go to the ears, with foetid breath, can be Capsicum..
These patients are chilly. They cannot bear the slightest draught of either warm or cold air and, as such, are averse to going outside into the cold.
The patient is better for heat and worse for cold. The body tends towards obesity and the stomach and abdomen become flabby.
There is lack of reactive force, especially with overweight people; they can be older people who have become debilitated by disease or who have exhausted their vitality, especially by mental work. Weakness with a great desire to lie down and sleep is manifest. He does not want to exert himself in the least. He shuns all motion and the vital force seems depleted. The muscles are weary and painful; they burn and the pain is often accompanied by chill. The remedy acts with great intensity on the mucous membranes, producing a sensation of constriction. Myalgia, aching and jerking of muscles are common.
There are constricting sensations in the throat, chest, bladder and rectum; tearing and stitching pains that move downwards. The mucous membranes become are dark, spongy or ooze bloody mucous; the circulation is sluggish.
Very characteristic is a cough with foetid breath, or with a bad taste. The Capsicum cough is noteworthy for the offensive odour of the air expelled during the cough. Ailments appear from over-stimulation of the digestive system due to eating too many spices, especially peppers. Symptoms are usually left-sided.
The patient desires coffee, which nauseates; alcohol, liquid food, spices and stimulants. These patients have the same prostration and feeble digestion as alcoholics.
He is thirsty, but drinking cold water causes him to shudder. Local burning combined with a general chill are indicative of this remedy.
He experiences vertigo during chills, yawning and stretching before and during the chills; violent thirst during the chills, but worse after drinking; no thirst during fever or heat.
There is trembling during fever; trembling from sexual arousal, while being caressed.
The patient has one-sided paralysis in his joints; a sensation as if parts of the body are about to go to sleep.
He is aggravated by uncovering, bathing, drinking, empty swallowing, lying with the head low down, at the beginning of motion.
Continued motion ameliorates or ameliorates the part affected, or, on the contrary, causes pain in the head as if it would split; going upstairs brings on asthma. He feels better while eating.
Rest aggravates some headaches and ameliorates others. Capsicum exhibits general uncleanness of the body.
‘All the senses are more acute. He shuns all movement He tends to start. His temperament is contented; he is jocular and sings and yet on the slightest cause he is disposed to get angry’. (Hahnemann).
Capsicum is useful in gouty constitutions in which the joints crack and have gouty deposits in them or in cases of stiff joints and joints which are clumsy and weak and soon give out.
Vertigo
Vertigo in the morning on waking; during chill. He reels from side to side with giddiness. The senses are obtuse and the digestion torpid.
Head
There can be an enlarged sensation of the head and pain in the head (burning, peppery) during cough. The brain feels as if it is too full or the head is too large.
Confusion in the head.
When moving the head and when walking, headache, as if the skull would burst. Throbbing, beating headache, in one of the temples. Beating headache in the forehead.
Pressive pain in the forehead. Drawing tearing pain in the left side of the head. A headache more shooting than tearing, which is worse when at rest, but mitigated by movement. A headache which stretches from within outwards, or one that feels as if the brain were too full. Drawing tearing pain in the frontal bone, more on the right side. He has attacks of a one-sided headache; drawing, tearing and jerking pain in the left side of the forehead with nausea and vomiting. Stitching pain in the vertex extending to the forehead. Moving the head or eyes aggravates. He has darting, stitching pains which are worse during rest; better on motion. There is an aching above the root of the nose, with stitches through the ear and over the eye.
Walking in the cold air, draughts and cold bathing also cause a headache, but heat ameliorates the pain. Headache during chill.
Pressing headache in the forehead, as though pressure from the occiput would force the brain out through the forehead, accompanied by a cutting pain coming forward from the occiput. The cutting pain is aggravated by rest and better by walking. Looking up or stooping causes pressing and stitching pain in the sides of the head.
Megrim and hysterical cephalalgia.
Swelling on the mastoid process behind the ear which is painful to touch. Periostitis and caries of the mastoid process.
Eruption of herpes; corrosive, burning itching of the scalp ameliorated by scratching. Sensation as if the hair is being pulled out.
Eyes
The eyes protrude from the sockets and there is a sensation of enlargement, with burning and lachrymation.
An aching pain in the eyes, as if from a foreign body.
The eyes burn and are red in the morning and he has difficulty in opening them. They itch during coryza. Vision is poor in the morning and he sees black objects before the eyes. Rubbing the eyes ameliorates the dim vision.
During a chill the pupils are contracted.
Ears
Tearing in the concha of the ear. An itching pain quite deep in the ear. An aching pain quite deep in the ear.
The hearing is extremely sensitive during a chill and he cannot bear noise.
Hearing is impaired from catarrh in the ears, also during pregnancy. Abscesses erupt behind the ear.
Threatened caries of the mastoid process. Tearing pain behind the left ear. The mastoid bone and the petrous portion of the temporal bone become extremely painful and inflamed. The middle ear suppurates, the ear becomes very hot and the tympanum perforates; the cavity fills with thick, yellow pus.
Pressive pain very deep in the ear when coughing. Stitching in the ear with the headache.
Nose
Epistaxis. Creeping and tickling in the nose as in stuffed coryza. Hoarseness.
The nose is red but, though cold, but the tip is hot, in the evening.
The nose bleeds, especially in bed in the mornings, and when he coughs there is a bloody mucous discharge from the nose.
Thick mucus collects in the nose and throat and there is a viscid, tough discharge from the posterior nares. The nose gets stopped up and there is crawling and tickling inside. The left nostril and the tip burn and there is a constricting pain in the left nostril extending to above the left eye. Sneezing from tickling in the trachea.
Painful pimples erupt under the nostrils.
Face
The face is red and cold and often alternates with paleness or has a dirty discoloration and the expression is haggard. Circumscribed redness of the cheek with pain.
Dilated veins give the typical red appearance to the face and are more pronounced in the zygomatic areas.
Facial neuralgia begins above the right temple, goes downwards over the face, especially to below the eye, and on the right side of the nose. Sensitive to touch which causes pain. Slight pressure brings on the pain.
Crawling, tickling burning like fire, sensation as if there were hot needles running through the face, and fine threads drawn tightly through the face. Pain in the face, partly resembling bone pain, excited by external touch; partly like fine pains, piercing the nerves, which are agonizingly painful when falling asleep.
The pain burns like needles, is worse in the evening and worse from touch.
Redness of the face with asthma and with homesickness is typical in a Capsicum case. There is red discoloration in spots.
The face can be hot, but the hands and feet are cold.
Pimples appear on the left side and below the nose and itching eruptions break out on the forehead. Chaps on the lips; fissured lips. Acne on the lips; rosacea.
The lips are swollen, cracked and peeling; they smart and burn. Fissures appear on the lips or ulcers erupt, which make the lips very painful on motion.
Mouth
Viscid mucus in the mouth. Watery insipid taste in the mouth, then heartburn. Burning, painful vesicles in the mouth. Foul, putrid taste in the mouth, followed by heartburn; food tastes sour.
When coughing, the air from the lungs causes a strange, offensive taste in the mouth and the air expelled is unbearably foul and carrion-like.
The tongue is dry and discoloured green, but he is not thirsty; or there is copious saliva, which is viscid and offensive. He salivates during a chill. Small, burning vesicles erupt on the tongue; the inside of the lips are full of flat, sensitive, spreading ulcers with a lardaceous centre. Pimples in the inner cheeks.
Ulcerative stomatitis.
The palate is discoloured red and swallowing brings on a pinching pain. The teeth look dirty and are painful; the pain extends upwards. The gums are hot, burning, swollen and sensitive. They become spongy and retract from the teeth.
Throat
Tough congealed mucus in the posterior nares, on rising in the morning, requiring much hawking to dislodge.
The throat burns and feels very sore with ulcers on the fauces. Burning and other pains in the throat, worse between acts of deglutition. Pain and dryness in the throat. The throat is inflamed, dark red, burning and pressing. There is painful pressure in the hard and soft palate while swallowing and the uvula elongates and feels as if it is pressing on something hard.
There is spasmodic contraction of the throat with a convulsive, constricting choking feeling; paralysis of the throat. Continuous stitches in the throat, exciting trigger a dry, convulsive cough.
Pressive pain in the throat, as if an abscess would burst, during a paroxysm of coughing.
Burning ulcers in the fauces and throat. Tonsillitis with burning, smarting pain.
In scarlatinal angina with redness of the face, small red spots on the face, burning vesicles in the mouth and on the tongue. Twitching tearing pain in the right cervical glands. Pain when swallowing, tearing and jerking pain in the external throat. Sore throat of smokers and drinkers.
Hoarse voice of public speakers (Argentum nitricum).
Respiration
The nose feels blocked, the throat rough and the voice becomes hoarse.
Hoarseness from straining the voice, from singing or from talking.
Excessive tingling and tickling in the larynx, which is worse after lying down, in the evening.
He develops a dry, hacking cough, and the exhalation from the lungs causes a strong offensive taste in the mouth.
Inspiration causes a pain in the trachea. The breathing is deep, almost like sighing, and he feels as if he cannot get air deep enough into his lungs.
Dyspnoea, which seems to rise from the stomach, or from fullness of the chest, ameliorated on sitting upright. Pain and stitches in the chest which impede respiration. Impeded respiration from flatulence.
Asthma with redness of the face and eructation. The chest feels distended and the breathing is wheezy, worse when he is moving about, going upstairs or walking.
Cough
The cough is noteworthy for the offensive odour of the air expelled during the cough. There may be bladder pain during a cough. With every explosive cough (and at no other time) there escapes a volume of pungent, foetid air.
When coughing he develops a headache, as if his skull would burst.
He frequently has a dry, paroxysmal, hacking cough. The sudden paroxysms convulse his whole body. Nervous, spasmodic cough; spasmodic autumn cough. As soon as his head touches the pillow at night he begins to cough.
Coughing is painful and causes pain in distant places in his body; bladder, legs, ears. When he coughs he feels as if his head would fly to pieces; cough with a feeling of pulling upward from the stomach, up the chest to the throat pit. Coughing with stitching in the epiglottis; in the pharynx. The cough is aggravated after anger, after warm drinks, worse in the afternoon, 5 to 9 p.m., when lying down, after sharp winds, dry, cold weather, any draught, either warm or cold.
Coffee aggravates the cough, but cold drinks ameliorate.
Motion ameliorates the cough.
The expectoration is a dirty brown and has an earthy taste. It is difficult to raise and he is too weak to cough it out.
Chest
Tightness of the chest, which appears to come from the stomach. Pain as if the chest were constricted, which oppresses the breath, and increases on very slight movement. Throbbing pain in the chest; in the sternum during respiration. Pain and a sensation of constriction which arrests breathing and is worse even on slight motion and when sitting. The ribs seem dislocated. Lying down is also painful, and the sides of the chest ache. Raising the arm causes a sore, bruised pain in the region of the axilla.
Coughing causes drawing pain in one or both sides of the chest, up to the neck. Drawing in the clavicle extending to the tips of the fingers.
With the cough, there is a feeling of pulling upwards from the stomach, up through the chest to the throat-pit.
Pressing and stitching pain; worse with deep breathing. After eating there is a feeling of fullness and anxiety in the chest.
The chest is very cold during a chill. The pulse is either irregular, intermittent and slow or full and strong and most frequent in the evening.
Stomach
Appetite increased, alternating with aversion to food and complete anorexia. He desires stimulating foods and pungent flavours or strange, indigestible foods.
He desires coffee but it makes him feel nauseous. After drinking it he will retch or even vomit.
There is much thirst, especially when the a chill begins but drinking causes shuddering.
Food tastes sour and after eating he suffers with chronic dyspepsia and eructation. Pungent eructation on coughing. Dyspepsia from torpor, particularly in old people.
Mucus and acids accumulate in the stomach, and there is much burning in the stomach after eating. which extends to the mouth. The stomach either feels icy cold or burning.
Vegetables cause flatulence.
Flushes of heat extending that extend to the fauces.
Dipsomania with morning vomiting and sinking in the stomach.
Nausea and vomiting, with headache, with a chill; nervous and spasmodic vomiting. Tension in the stomach that is aggravated by motion. Gnawing and cramping pain aggravated by sitting bent; stitching pain between breaths and while talking; during the menses. The Capsicum stomach resembles a sack that lacks strength.
Abdomen
An aching tension in the abdomen, especially in the epigastric region, between the scrobiculus cordis and navel, which is particularly increased by movement, at the same time with an aching tension in the lower part of the back. A drawing and turning over in the abdomen.
The abdomen is distended almost to bursting with the suspension of respiration, and he cannot bear tight clothing. He has a pressive tension, especially in the epigastric region, between the pit of the stomach and the navel. A tensive pain from the abdomen to the chest, as from distension of the abdomen. Sensation as if the abdomen was distended almost to bursting, whereby the breathing is impeded to the point of suffocation, and there are dragging movements and strong pulsation in the abdomen.
Burning or cutting pain in the abdomen, such that he has to bend over double. Cutting pain in the region of the umbilicus during motion, that is aggravated on stooping. The pain comes and goes slowly before a stool. Cramping and griping after eating and during fever. Pain in the hypogastrium from flatus.
Stitching pain in the hypochondria during eructation and from motion; stitching pain in small spots in the iliac region.
Coughing is painful and with each cough there is a catching pain in the area of the liver or in the lower portion of the right lung. Drawing and twisting in the abdomen, with or without diarrhoea. The loins and inguinal glands are sore and there is a tendency towards strangulated inguinal hernia.
The spleen enlarges and becomes hard and painful, especially during a chill.
Colic, with cutting-twisting pain about the navel, and passage of tough mucus, resembling diarrhoea, at times mixed with black blood.
Rectum
Burning pain in the anus. Small frequent passages, consisting of mucus, at times mingled with blood and causing tenesmus, preceded by flatulent colic in the hypogastrium. Stools are frequent, small, greasy, hot or tough with much tenesmus and burning in the rectum and bladder. One may see great thirst after a stool.
Dysentery with tenesmus and strangury; the pain is worse from a current of air, even if it is warm. The anus and rectum smart and burn; burning during pregnancy, or there is a sensation of coldness in the anus.
Nocturnal diarrhoea with burning and smarting pain in the anus. Simultaneous tenesmus of the rectum and bladder.
Afterwards there is tenesmus and thirst, but drinking causes shuddering and severe drawing pain in the back.
Constipation is ameliorated by drinking but drinking cold things can also bring on diarrhoea. Urging to defecate after drinking. Diarrhoea in overweight people.
Diarrhoea from currents of cold air on the abdomen.
Swollen, itching haemorrhoids, which burn as if pepper was sprinkled on them. Scratching aggravates the itching.
They throb and are either blind or bleeding. The anus is sore and has a mucous discharge. Haemorrhoids during pregnancy. Suppression of the haemorrhoidal flow causes melancholy.
Urinary organs
Frequent ineffectual urging to urinate, especially while sitting down. Scalding of urine.
Painful urging to urinate with urging to stool. Dysuria during apyrexia.
Frequent micturition with scalding, smarting and sticking pain in the urethra. The urine comes first in spurts and then in drops.
Chordee; extreme sensitivity of the urethra. Cutting and biting pains which extend backwards when not urinating and after urination. Stitching and needle-like pain in the urethra, especially in the morning.
Everted meatus; the meatus burns before urination.
He passes pure blood from the urethra and it is very painful to the touch.
Strangury, tenesmus of the neck of the bladder; it becomes constricted, particularly in the morning, and exertion causes the bladder to become paralysed with painful retention of urine.
Stitching, stinging pain in the neck of the bladder when coughing. The bladder aches and burns.
Chronic, purulent discharge from the urethra, which is cream-like and acrid, or bloody, yellow, slimy and thin. Renal pain, with or without calculi.
Pain in the prostate gland after coitus; during gonorrhoea.
Genitalia – male
Increased attacks of sexual passion with continued painful erections and extreme sensitivity in the urethra.
The urethra is painful to the touch and oozes a white or cream-like discharge; the patient has chordee; cold water eases the discomfort. Protracted non-specific urethritis.
The scrotum is cold, sexual desire disappears and he becomes impotent. The testicles dwindle and the spermatic cords shrivel up. Coldness in the genitalia in the morning on waking. The testes become numb.
Cramp-like, testicular pain during and after emissions.
Pain in the prostate gland; drawing pain in the spermatic cords during and after urination; pinching pain in the testes in the afternoon and while urinating.
Genitalia – female
Disordered menstruation, with a pushing or sticking sensation in the left ovarian region. She feels nauseous during menstruation and there is pressure in the epigastrium.
Metrorrhagia during menopause.
During pregnancy a lot of problems: infection of the ears; heartburn, vomiting; mucous diarrhoea; haemorrhoids and burning in the anus.
Neck and back
The glands of the neck are swollen and painful and there is jerking and tearing in the right cervical glands. The neck is stiff, but is ameliorated from motion.
Pain in the cervical region with chill on coughing. Coughing causes pain all the way down the back. Drawing-tearing pains in the back and near the spine which are so bad that they force him to double up; stitching pain between the scapulae when breathing; drawing pain on motion.
Pain in the sacral region with dysentery. Drawing pain in the back on standing and after stool; pulsating in the back after stool; drawing downward pain in the lumbar region. The back is tense and stiff.
Coldness extends up and down the back, and he has a sensation as if cold water were dropping down his back. Shivering in the back in the evening.
Extremities
Cutting and shooting pain in the extremities on coughing or sneezing. Weakness of the extremities is ameliorated on motion.
Upper limbs
The hands and fingertips are cold; cold after eating, and the fingertips are cold, especially when the weather is hot.
The finger joints crack, and the muscles and tendons of the first finger contract. Drawing and burning pain in the hands from motion or from washing in cold water. Stitching in the ball of the fourth finger.
The palm of the hand twitches and there is a sensation of vibration in the hand.
Pustules erupt between the fingers.
The upper limbs itch and there is a sensation of formication.
The upper limbs, especially the hands, feel heavy and weak while writing; the shoulder feels as though it is dislocated; tearing pains in the elbow extend downwards to the fingers. Letting the arms hang down ameliorates. The upper limbs are stiff and extension is impossible.
Lower limbs
Sciatica worse on bending backward and from coughing; also on stretching the leg and from touch, but motion ameliorates the pain.
Caries of the right hip; the left leg becomes atrophied and painful.
Drawing pain in the hip joint, which is worse from touch and on bending the trunk backwards.
Pain shoots through the hip when he coughs, and the stitching pain extends down to the knee and to the foot. Outward stitching in the tips of the toes; the pain in the first toe is ameliorated by stamping. Trembling weakness of the foot.
There is a sore, bruised paroxysmal pain in the heel, which feels better if he exercises. The thighs ache, feel sore and bruised, and the pain travels downwards to the knee when he coughs or during an effort to urinate. Drawing pain in the posterior part of the thigh, which is ameliorated on motion. Tensive pain in the knee.
Cold sweat breaks out on the thighs in certain locations. He sweats on the legs when walking in the open air.
The lower limbs become awkward and he knocks against things and stumbles when walking. The knees and ankles are lame; the ankles are stiff and lame in the morning when he gets up. Paralytic stiffness of the joints when rising from sleep and on beginning to move, especially in the morning. The joints, especially the knees, crack, and the joints are sore and bruised and feel as if they are dislocated.
He has a sensation of paralysis. The extremities are painful on beginning to move and the feet are cold even though the face is hot.
The limbs feel heavy and tired, but motion ameliorates the fatigue.
The lower limbs tingle on getting up from sitting. They feel tremulous and weak. Rheumatic pain in the limbs with redness about the painful joint. The muscles and tendons of the calf contract and the extremities are drawn upwards during chill. Formication in the lower limbs, in the foot, which extends over the body.
Sleep
Sleep full of dreams. Yawning. Sleeplessness from emotions, from homesickness, or from coughing.
Sleeplessness from pain in the face. He yawns constantly, after eating, when he is chilly and especially during diarrhoea. The sleepiness he feels after eating is ameliorated by motion. He constantly wants to lie down and sleep. When he does go to bed he frequently wakes after midnight and then cannot sleep again. Comatose sleep with eyes open.
His sleep is restless and full of dreams: dreams of fright, of falling from a height, of worries and difficulties.
Fever
The chill begins in and extends out from between the scapulae to the whole body, accompanied by great thirst and ill humour. He gets chilled from the least draught of air and drinking increases the chill and causes shivering and shuddering. Chills run up his back and he feels thirst at the same time. He feels chilly externally but inwardly there is great burning. The chill occurs at 10:30 a.m., beginning between the shoulders and running down the back. Symptoms are worse during the evening, from 6 to 9 p.m. Delirium tremens.
Chill as if water is trickling down the back and he only feels better if he can sleep with something hot against his back. He sweats with the chill.
Chill in warm weather; during the fever; during diarrhoea; on moving.
The chill begins in the morning or in the evening around 6 p.m. and he shakes and shivers with it. Walking in the open air ameliorates the chill and the fever.
The chill is followed by heat, by heat with sweat, or by sweat but without the intervening heat.
Hectic fever from excitement, after emotions, and when he feels nostalgic, with violent burning and headache. There is an absence of thirst during the heat, but the heat is followed by chill and then he is thirsty. The ears become hot towards the evening and the tip of the nose gets red and hot. Fever with intense heat during sleep. He sweats copiously all night and the acrid perspiration is only ameliorated by motion. The perspiration is cold on the upper part of the legs.
The fever goes in a succession of stages: heat, then cold sweat, followed by the chill. He shudders with the heat. Internal heat with external chill.
Skin
The skin looks bloated and flabby and is burning. It itches in spots and is worse from scratching, particularly when going out into the cold open air. Scarlet eruptions appear on the neck and breast and the face is bright red or it alternates between red and a mottled appearance. Eruptions of carbuncles or stinging pimples. Pseudo-herpetic eruptions appear on the forehead; on the face they itch and burn. Corrosive, discharging eruptions; with ulcerative pain.
Coldness of the affected parts.
Cold gangrene from burns or gangrenous sores.
Withered warts.
Clinical
Amaurosis. Asthma. Brain, irritation of. Delirium tremens. Cough. Diarrhoea. Diphtheria. Dysentery. Ear affections. Glandular swellings. Haemorrhoids.
Headache. Heartburn. Hernia. Homesickness. Intermittents. Lungs, affections of. Measles. Mouth, ulcers in. Neuralgia. Nose, affections of. Obesity. Oesophagus, stricture of. Paralysis. Pleuro-pneumonia. Pregnancy, disorders of. Rectum, diseases of. Rheumatic gout. Rheumatism. Sciatica. Scrofula. Seasickness. Stomatitis. Throat, sore. Tongue, paralysis of. Trachea, tickling in. Urine, disorders of. Whooping-cough. Yellow fever.
Relations
Compare: Arn., Bell. (headache), Bry. (headache from cough); Canth. (burning pains, throat symptoms, dysentery, urinary symptoms); Pso. (lack of reaction; despair of recovery; Caps. in persons of lax fibre); Lach. (thirst before chill; continues into chill; drinking worse; also Elaps); Nat-m., Carb-v. and Meny. (intermittents; Nat-m. is the ‘chronic’ of Caps.); Carb-an. and Nit-ac. (inflammation behind ears, Aur. and Nit-ac. preferable in abscess; Sil. in chronic suppuration); Ph-ac. (homesickness; Caps. has red face); Ars., Alum., Carb-v., Lyc. have burning pains worse by heat. Merc., Nit-ac., Sul. have passage of blood from bowels. Crot-t. (after drinking urging to stool); Hell. (colic with spasm of bladder); Plat. (burning, pungent pain in face, worse slightest draught of air, warm or cold).
Compare also Solanaceae.
Antidoted by: Calad., Camph., Cina, Chin., Sul-ac. , or vapour of burning sulphur.
It antidotes: effects of Alcohol, Coffee, Opium, Quinine. Compatible: Bell., Lyc., Puls., Sil.
