Ambra grisea
Ambra Grisea seu Ambrosiaca.
Ambra vera seu maritima
French: Ambre gris
German: Graue ambra
English: Ambergris; Gray amber
Animal substance
Ambra grisea or Ambergris is a grayish, waxy pathologic secretion from the intestine of the sperm whale and is found floating in tropical seas. It occurs as a flammable, waxy mass, insoluble in water with a melting point of 60o C.
It contains cholesterol and benzoic acid. Along with its Homeopathic use it is also used as a base for perfume. Mode of preparation: Trituration and tincture
The essential features
The key word that best describes the mental emotional state of an Ambra grisea case is INHIBITION. Most of the symptomatology of this remedy revolves around the idea of not being able to loosen up, to relax and “exchange”, to let go when in the company of other people. Yet when we read the excellent exposition of Kent on this remedy this idea does not come across clearly. Stress has been given to the state where the patient talks incessantly, without really understanding what she is talking about, while asking questions without waiting for an answer and jumping from one subject to another. I believe this description capable of giving a wrong impression to the student. It was so with me until I met some severely inhibited cases that were unable to open up and would give no information and yet were constitutional Ambra grisea cases. Then I knew better. Then I understood the inner structure of this remedy.
An Ambra grisea case is manifested when the person comes face to face with the idea of “failure“. This idea can indeed easily be imposed on them by others, in cases were they might put them down, or alternatively the cause might be an objective situation in which a heavy loss in their business or some embarassment in their work might have been incurred. They seem to loose their self-confidence instantly, they retreat into themselves and eventually develop a tremendous bashfulness, a peculiar timidity when in the presence of others. It is as if they were tied up in knots; the mind seems to stop working, and it becomes impossible for them to express anything. Ideas do not emerge if they are with other people; if someone is present the mind becomes cramped, inhibited, perception is lost and the expression nullified. It is impossible for them to open a conversation with others especially if they are not well known. In the text it says “aversion to conversation” but the real cause is the state of their mind. There is no reflection, no real perception of the situation.
But Ambra patients are emotional, sentimental people who suffer tremendously from this crippling inhibition. They need to express themselves, but in the company of other people they become mute. As a result they start to phantasize in order to balance their psychological needs. They are people who are easily excited and easily depressed. One can easily perceive the inconsistency of their idiosyncracies. They are especially sensitive to music, “the tones seem as if they were a material substance taking hold of him”. Kent attributes aggravation to music to the fact that their hearing is diminished. From the cases I have seen I have understood this aggravation to come from a different level: As music brings about an emotional reaction, and as at the same time they feel incapable of responding to such a reaction in a natural way, that is to say, by letting out the emotions that have been stirred up by the tones of the music, the resulting conflict created within themselves leads to intolerable and extreme aggravation. They tremble and have palpitations; they suffer from a host of symptoms, including even pains in the back, while listening to music. Sometimes the stirring of the emotions is such that they will feel like weeping all the time. This last symptom shows how deeply music can touch their emotions.
We come now to their sexual life. In view of their mental-emotional make-up it is easy to understand the problems that will be encountered in their sexual life. While they are easily excitable and aroused sexually, tending to fantasize and yet unable to bring about and sustain a proper relationship, it is understandable that they will easily resort to masturbation. It is a desperate situation which brings into conflict the desire for physical contact and their inhibition: they feel the need for physical contact, they even have lascivious thoughts and fancies even in their dreams, yet they are so inhibited, and timid and easily embarassed that it is very difficult for them to establish a relationship. As a result we see constant and long term masturbation with feelings of guilt.
In our modern society you will find that almost all these cases have already had several sessions with the psychiatrist, not to mention the psychologist. Actually in the end they may become psychologists themselves. Such is the psychological torment they undergo in their social life. It was with one such woman psychologist for whom we were not able to find the correct remedy, since she gave no symptoms, no reason for her chronic colitis, that I investigated deeper and found this tremendous inhibition which put me on the right track. Even once she appeared to have overcome several of her problems of expression, she would intellectualise and mention only those symptoms that did not touch upon her real mental or emotional problems.
Ambra patients may have been people with a lot of confidence and a certain degree of egotism in the past, who, after a “failure” or the stress of an offending remark or the pressure of a business embarassment or the trial of a series of deaths of people on whom they relied, have changed, and gone to the opposite extreme; they start seriously questioning their mental abilities, they lose their confidence entirely, they lose their self esteem and their mind becomes almost paralysed with thoughts of their inability.
From this point onwards you will notice that they start to avoid meeting people; the mere idea of meeting a new person on a business appointment or socially sends them to pieces. Anticipating a meeting with people is torture for them. They feel they cannot make an effort to do any mental work; they become physically indolent, they feel weak, nervous, fidgety, aggravated by noises. They cannot fall asleep easily, they fall asleep quite late.
It takes on their part a tremendous effort to keep up a conversation, they actually do not feel their own self to be present at the moment of a conversation, they tremble, twitchings come to their face, a dreamy or a cloudy state overtakes them and any ideas they might have had seem to vanish. The rubric “aversion to conversation and aggravation from it” has to be understood in this context.
There is such difficulty in communicating with others at any level that the sight of people laughing creates an aversion to laughter, almost a disgust! This symptom cannot be understood, however, unless we perceive the whole picture of the remedy. Laughing is a free expression of the emotions, manifest when a person feels free to externalize completely their state of emotions at a given moment, and it is an expression that almost demands a participation from the other person. Yet the inner state of Ambra cases is such that they cannot “let go”; they cannot bring themselves to a sufficient state of relaxation to participate in this most natural condition. Naturally, as a result, they are embarassed, and aggravated. The point that must be understood with Ambra people is not that they never laugh, but that, with strangers present at a social gathering, their state of mind is so confused that if a joke is cracked they will not grasp it immediately and therefore will not like to see others laughing. They are in a state of embarassment. In this way “the disgust from seeing others laughing” that we encounter in our Materia Medica can be fully understood.
The timidity, the bashfulness the inhibition of an Ambra Grisea case are unbelievable. This remedy is many times confused with Bar-c., Gels., or Alumina. When they feel this bashfulness their face becomes red and “boiling” hot.
It is impossible for Ambra Gr. to appear in public and give a speech. We often see a claustrophobia, an aversion to crowded areas or narrow places. In the presence of other people, Ambra’s personality seems to be minimised and eventually almost totally eliminated: they become non existent. They feel completely inhibited, cannot express anything and of course any conversation that demands their presence of mind seems to aggravate them. They become irritable, restless and anxious during a conversation and any pain they may have is aggravated. In fact when they are stirred up emotionally, instead of expressing their feelings to others, they start experiencing pains and aches and discomforts inside their own body. This weak state of mind could be identified with a state of mind that is breaking down, that is weak, that is prematurely old.
If such a state is left to undermine the constitution, we may eventually see a situation such as that of an older lady, who, having made a conscious effort all her life to participate in social conversation, seems gradually to have divorced herself from reality, and in a hazy and dreamy state of mind will keep up a bizarre conversation, jumping from one subject to the other, asking one question after another without waiting for an answer. It is a type of insane behaviour.
We see an unbalanced state of mind where the person has decided before the meeting to behave “socially” to talk to everyone, to overcome his shyness etc. but as soon as he is in the presence of others the mind becomes clouded, weak, hazy, the hands tremble, the face twitches and it becomes impossible to sustain a proper conversation.
Kent describes this state beautifully. He writes: “We recognise trembling and a peculiar kind of feebleness that cannot be described by any expression but senility, it is not the confusion of mind belonging to sickness, but the peculiar state we recognise in old people, in declining life. Trembling and tottering and a dreamy state of mind with forgetfulness. He goes on from one subject to another, asking a question and without waiting for it to be answered, asking another. And so he jumps about from one topic to another. It can hardly be said to be confusion, it is a dreamy state of mind, a state of senility. This remedy is useful when such a state is found in young persons, when the mind is not insane and yet is weak. It is especially indicated in those persons who manifest a momentary, fleeting inquisitiveness, jumping from one subject to another.”
Yet, I think, in actual practice, the patient will very seldom tell you that “I keep asking questions not waiting for an answer”, or that “I jump from one subject to the other”. However, if you have thought about this remedy during the interview and describe this behaviour to her she will recognise it and admit it promptly. In a constitutional case of Ambra grisea, it will easily be established from the patient’s description that the most prominent elements in their mental/emotional symptomatology are inhibition and timidity, such states taking precedence over the dreamy state of mind discussed above.
The torture felt by Ambra grisea when appearing in public to make a speech, or when in the presence of other people, is so great that many of them eventually become misanthropic. They will seldom go out with strangers, preferring always the company of people with whom they feel secure.
The main idea that we have been describing so far, namely that of inhibition in front of others, or in the presence of people who are not familiar, happens during stool as well. It is impossible for the Ambra case to “let go” and have a stool with anyone present. In hospital they cannot have a stool in the presence of a nurse; in the house of a friend they cannot have a stool out of the mere thought that something can be heard by those outside. Even in their own house, knowing somebody to be near the toilet, who may hear the noises of a natural evacuation, can cause them to sit on the toilet and go into a state of anxiety with an ineffectual desire for stool, but without the organism being able to relax and let the stool go. In order to have a normal stool they must be quiet and alone in the house. This also applies to urination or the emission of flatus.
Every student of homeopathy knows that this is a keynote of this remedy; we must always look at the overall picture of a remedy, however, before attempting to understand a local symptom.
It is also in the nature of this remedy to have a tremendous concern about others: “what will they say”, “what will they think about me” are typical exclamations, especially if something “bad” comes out. This idea pervades on all levels, and it is an idea that seems to affect Ambra Grisea cases so deeply that it inhibits all natural expression, all natural eliminations! This is the way to understand the essence of this remedy.
They may perspire and feel anguished for no reason, or because the perspiration might be offensive and bother others. They go to tremendous lengths and out of their way to please others, not to offend or displease. They can never say “no”. “Sometimes I decide to say no but at the last moment I cannot. Once I said no and then I felt bad.” This is a typical expression. The idea that others might put them down by an offending remark terrifies them. Thus we see that Ambra Grisea patients try to please everybody except themselves.
It is easily understood now that if this state is left to progress we shall eventually witness a gradual degeneration of the condition of the patient’s mind. Furthersy mptoms include forgetfulness, dulness of the mind, a state of mental torpor, where what is read is not understood; the same sentence must be read two or three times for the meaning to sink in to their conscious mind. They are unable to calculate.
Difficulty in thinking and comprehending. “He has to make an unusual effort to bring his thoughts back to the place before he can concentrate the mind to meditate upon the same idea. He gets up in the morning with dullness and confusion of mind and is in a dreamy state and towards the evening takes on symptoms of insanity”.
The power of reflection is lost and the capacity for mental work is minimised.
Eventually, these initially excitable people fall into a state of indifference, where they do not care about anything. “…He treats with indifference things that would naturally break the heart of a well-balanced person. He does not even wonder why he is not excited over these wonderful things, so decided is the state of indifference.”
Periods of excitability and periods of indifference alternate for some time until sadness, depression, and despondency take over and become more or less permanent. Accompanying this state is a feeling as though they were going insane, with desperation, and no desire to live. Loathing of life. They have delusions, imaginations; he sees diabolical faces crowding in on him; he sees hideous faces. He has delusions that there is too much light in the room while falling asleep. When going to sleep she sees herself doing things and has other visions also. He has visions on waking, sees windows full of people, strange lights etc, and the visions frighten him. Once in a state of depression, Ambra grisea sits wrapped up in deep, sad thoughts and takes no notice of his environment; he broods over past experiences: incidents that took place long ago are continued as vivid reality. Disagreeable things from the past force themselves onto his mind. He cannot get over old events where he was hurt, and his mind comes back to them again and again to be tormented. Similar to Natr-m. with the difference that Natrium actually enjoys delving into such painful experiences. “Haunted by persistent unpleasant subject”. This dejection, this sadness sometimes give way to irritability, to vehemence, with quasi insane behaviour, cursing, with impulses to yell and strike out. In his rage Ambra Grisea has the fear that he may kill his child and feels he is going crazy. It is an alternating state that resembles manic depression.
To conclude this description of the mental/emotional picture, I would like to pass a remark concerning this remedy: almost all our Materia Medica’s stress the hysterical aspect of this remedy, which I have not experienced in the cases I have seen so far; the only aspects of this remedy which I have encountered are the ones described above. I mention this so as to remind the student to keep this information in mind, and apply it, when faced with the typical hysterical Ambra Grisea, which I have yet to encounter myself.
Generalities
This is a remedy for people who are primarily prematurely old, lean, emaciated, marasmic.
Over-impressionable patients, worn out, tired, suffering in their majority from a nondescript vertigo with high blood pressure, headaches or colitis.
The peripheral nervous system is affected with twitches, jerks and nervousness. The symptoms are most erratic, they look inconsistent and therefore the general idea of the remedy should be taken into account.
There seems to be a definite and strong connection between the emotional complaints and the effect that these have upon the alimentary canal.
In younger people we shall see mostly duodenal ulcers, gastritis and colitis, while with older people we see high blood pressure, dizziness, vertigoes, headaches and mental weakness.
Aggravated in the presence of others, from music, from emotional upsets, from embarassment, in spring time.
Aggravation in the morning on waking. Trembling on rising, with dizziness and pressure in the occiput.
Lassitude in the morning, in bed. Symptoms come in bed, in the morning from 5 to 9 A.M. Weakness in the morning, in bed, especially with old people. Warm milk aggravates.
Pressure on painless side aggravates.
Feeling of external pulsation after walking in the open air.
Occasional epileptic convulsions of a mild type; at other times a sensation of inner convulsion, aggravated by lying down on either side. Complaints aggravated by the presence of people in the room Ameliorated by cold drink, cold water.
The weakness is better after having their dinner.
Itching and tickling internally.
Abscesses, suppurations with grayish pus.
Perspiration of affected parts in the morning.
One sided perspiration.Numbness in general in different parts of the body, diminished sensibility, feeble circulation.
Vertigo
Ambra grisea is almost a specific remedy for the nondescript dizziness of old persons. It has been used a lot by older homeopaths for this condition.
It is a kind of giddiness which is something between a dizziness and vertigo, usually the complaint of old people, denoting a process of arteriosclerosis without any other modalities.
They are so dizzy that they cannot go out in the street. The dizziness makes them want to go and lie down and have a nap.
They wake up in the morning and have to wait for some time before being able to walk around. There is noticeable aggravation in the morning in this remedy in general. Vertigo in the act of lying down. (In the case of Ambra grisea, the term vertigo generally means the kind of giddiness we described above.) Vertigo while walking in the open air.
Vertigo accompanied by weakness in the stomach and head.
Head
In ‘head’ we have a great keynote for this remedy: a kind of hyperemia, heat of the head while listening to music. It is a rare, strange and peculiar symptom.
Brain feels loose, falls to side lain on.
Dryness and falling-out of hair.
Heaviness in head from talking.
Numerous pains in the head: Pressing headache starting from both temples; lancinating shooting pains shooting through the head worse from exertion, better lying down; pressing pain in the left frontal eminence and in the eye.
Soreness of head in the morning, turning to numbness and extending to body.
Headache in old people.
Cold perspiration on forehead in warm room.
Trembling sensation in the head from conversation after talking.
Eyes
The eyes are affected in accordance with the general idea of “senility” that this remedy produces.
Dimness of vision without obvious pathology except the one that comes with old age. Dulness of vision as though looking through a mist. Itching in eyelids as if a stye was forming.
Pain in the morning.
Redness of lids. Eyelids are heavy; cannot open them.
Ears
In ears we see a similar condition as with eyes: the hearing is diminished without underlying pathology. Diminishing hearing with coldness in abdomen. Deafness of one ear with roaring and whistling noises in the other.
All through this remedy the ageing process is much speeded up with relevant effects, becoming a keynote of the remedy in itself. This is how we should look upon the study of our remedies. This remedy seems to be similar to Bar-c. in many respects yet it has its own unique individuality.
Hears noises in the afternoon. Whistling in ear in the afternoon.
Tearing pain behind left ear.
Noises in ear sound as if one was winding a watch. Pain in ear extending to occiput.
Nose
Copious bleeding from the nose.
Epistaxis early in the morning while lying in bed.
Dried blood gathered in nose.
Dryness of nose.
The nose inside becomes shiny and withered.
Epistaxis during menses.
Cramping pain in right wing of nose.
Pressing pain above nose, changing to tearing pain followed by dulness in back of head.
Dry sneezing.
Spasms in wings.
Tingling in root of nose.
Increased gray mucous secretions that have salty taste.
Face
Convulsions, spasms of lips.
Twitching. Tingling on forehead.
Tingling of beard.
Spasmodic trembling of face.
Twitching of face in the evening after lying down.
Old looking expression.
Perspiration on one side of face.
Music brings on congestion and redness of face.
Lips are dry and numb on waking in the morning.
Enormous swelling of lips worse in the morning on waking after suppression of menses. Pimples on forehead.
Mouth
Blotches on the palate, under the tongue, that look like vegetable growths.
Nodosities under right side of tongue.
Tubercles under tongue.
Ranula (sublingual cyst).
Grayish-yellow discoloration of tongue.
Burning, raw and smarting pain in velum, palate.
Tearing pain in palate extending to left ear.
Dryness of mouth on waking in the morning with sensation of numbness in the mouth, tongue and lips.
Caries, decayed, hollow.
Anything cold ameliorates toothache.
Toothache from warm drinks, food.
Teeth feel as if cold air was forced into them.
Inclination to bite teeth together and grinding of the teeth at night.
Eating ameliorates drawing pain.
Drawing pain in one of the incisors.
Drawing pain in right molar.
Stitching, stinging pain after dinner.
Tearing pain as from a current of air.
Throat
The throat complaints are worse in the morning, after eating and from warm drinks, especially warm milk.
Sensation as if of plug in throat with difficulty of swallowing.
Choking, constricting sensation when clearing the throat.
Dryness in throat on waking.
Mucus is difficult to detach.
Accumulation of grayish mucus in the throat.
Dryness and accumulation of mucus in the throat which he tries to expel and when making an effort to cough out the mucus he gags and sometimes vomits. Pain in throat from draft of air.
Pain in throat on moving the tongue.
Rawness of uvula.
Stitching pain from motion of the tongue.
Itching of internal throat when coughing.
Itching of larynx and trachea.
Rawness in trachea.
Trachea is sore.
Burning pain in larynx extending to abdomen
Stomach
Gastritis and duodenal ulcers have been cured with this remedy.
Emptiness, weak feeling at the pit of the stomach after stool.
Faintness, goneness, hungry feeling after eructations.
Lying down ameliorates emptiness.
Empty eructations after cough or together with violent convulsive cough.
Eructations after eating.
Cough and gagging after eating and a feeling as if food did not go down to stomach. Acrid eructations in the evening.
Hawking up mucus when vomiting.
Heartburn after milk.
Indigestion in the evening.
Indigestion after warm drinks. Pain in stomach in duodenal ulcer is ameliorated by drinking a sip of cold milk every 5 to 10 minutes.
Pain in stomach worse from tea, coffee, vegetables and any excitement.
The increase in the desire for salt combined with aversion to fat, general inhibition and “impossibility to urinate in front of others” mean that there could be some confusion with Nat-mur.
Pain at midnight. Lying on abdomen aggravates pain.
Pain in stomach is ameliorated while walking in open air.
Distension of stomach after midnight.
Eructations ameliorate cutting pain in stomach.
Vomiting after rising up in bed.
Nausea worse motion and worse thinking about it. Thirst alternating with thirstlessness.
Abdomen
There is a lot of flatulence, especially after eating, but in accordance with the general pattern of this remedy they cannot relieve themseves if they have the slightest suspicion that others may hear them.
In this remedy there is always great relief at letting gas out by the anus or the mouth.
Sensation of coldness in abdomen, it feels as if the whole insides of the abdomen are cold.
Sometimes coldness on one side only; on left side.
The abdominal complaints can come in the middle of the night rousing him with rumbling and cutting in the abdomen. Distension after midnight, or after drinking.
Perspiration in abdomen and thighs during exercise.
Colitis is one of the most common pathologies that we encounter in Ambra grisea cases.
Some of the keynotes in the abdomen are:
Aching dull pain in right hypochondria, ameliorated by lying on it.
Cramping, griping pain in hypogastrium while lying on one’s back.
Cutting pain in morning during stool. Pressing pain in hypogastrium after stool.
Cutting pain in noon after soup.
Pressing pain in region of umbilicus on coughing.
Eructations ameliorate pressing pain in region of umbilicus.
Stitching pain in hypogastrium on pressure.
Tearing pain in hypochondria on coughing.
Tearing pain in spleen.
Rumbling in hypogastrium in the morning.
Tension in abdomen after drinking.
Rectum
Old people who feel constipated in case they cannot be left alone in the house to have a stool.
There is no urging, no desire if people are present.
Constipation during pregnancy; from sedentary habits.
Hemorrhage from anus during stool.
After the normal stool there is pressure in the abdomen or a sense of emptiness and weakness in the abdomen which is better after passing flatus or eructations.
Urinary organs
Cannot pass urine in front of others.
Frequent urination in the morning after rising.
Pain in bladder and rectum at the same time.
Itching during urination.
Voluptuous itching.
Burning smarting itching and titillation in the urethra and vulva during urination.
A feeling in urethra as if a few drops were passing out.
Brown sediment. Bloody urine with red sediment.
Cloudy urine when passed of a yellowish brown colour which leaves a brownish sediment. Urine has dark, brown color.
Sediment is like coffee grounds.
Sourish odor of urine during whooping cough.
Copious urine- that far exceeds the amount of fluids taken – mostly at night and on waking in the morning.
Genitalia – male
Sexual desire increased with intense masturbation and guilty feelings. Sexual desire lost.
Itching of glans.
Voluptuous itching of scrotum.
Numbness of penis, with violent morning erections. Burning pain after walking.
Genitalia – female
The sexual desire is increased, nymphomania and resort to masturbation.
Exertion aggravates the already copious menses.
Metrorrhagia after exertion; between menses; after every hard stool, after every little accident. Walking aggravates metrorrhagia. Intermittent metrorrhagia.
Itching during menses. Intolerable itching of pudendum with soreness and swelling. Leucorrhea produces itching. Leucorrhea of bluish mucus worse at night. During menses left leg becomes quite blue from distended varices with pressive pain in leg. Pain in uterus on lying down.
Lying aggravates uterine symptoms.
Chest
Music aggravates cough.
Coughs when in company.
Cough is aggravated if many people are present.
Cough at night only.
Kent says “a good deal of this cough is of nervous origin. It is a cough with excitement, with nervousness, with trembling, which would make one of considerable experience wonder if that patient did not have brain and spinal cord trouble. Nervous cough such as occurs often in spinal irritation.” Hollow, barking cough coming from deep in chest and then eructations. Eructations excite cough. Dry cough in the evening, loose in the morning. Paroxysmal cough after waking in the morning.
Violent spasmodic cough with frequent eructations and hoarsness. Cough when talking loud.
Coughs on lifting heavy weight.
Cream-like, yellowish-white expectoration.
Asthmatic respiration in old people.
Difficult respiration in old people with cardiac symptoms. Comes on with even little exertion and especially during coition. Eating ameliorates asthmatic respiration. Music aggravates asthmatic respiration.
Breathing short, oppression of breathing.
Being in a weak physical and mental state it is easy to understand that they are easily prone to palpitations.
Palpitations after excitement, after the slightest exertion of body or mind, from any effort to exert the mind, and the palpitations are accompanied by a general feeling of trembling and quivering. Whenever you see trembling in the ages of 45 to 55 that are of nervous origin, apparently due to a weakness of the nervous system, this remedy should be considered. Palpitation when listening to music.
Palpitation when walking in open air, with paleness of face, and pressure in the chest as if a lump were lodged there, or as if the chest were obstructed. He is conscious of his arteries everywhere. He notices the palpitation up to his extremities. Pain in chest is ameliorated while lying on painful side or ameliorated while lying on back. Pain on left side is ameliorated by lying on it.
Pain on lower right side of chest.
Tearing pain during cough; on left side of chest.
Pressing pain on sides of chest during expiration.
Tearing pain in the evening.
Trembling of the heart at night.
Back
Stiffness in back from rising from a seat; after sitting.
Pain from music.
Lying on back ameliorates tearing pain in lumbar region. Stiffness in sacral region after sitting.
Extremities
We see a lot of numbness and pains in the extremities and these symptoms make this remedy a good one for arthritis, rheumatism and even rheumatoid arthritis. Pains as if sprained, tearing pains in joints. Heaviness and paralytic weakness as well. It has cured cases with numbness, paralytic weakness and feeble circulation.
We shall give below the main keynotes of this remedy.
Numbness of extremities in the morning.
Numbness in upper limbs when carrying anything.
Motion ameliorates numbness in upper limbs.
Heaviness with numbness in upper limbs.
Numbness of upper limbs in daytime during rest.
Numbness in upper limbs from resting on it.
Tip of thumb has tingling, prickling sensation.
Tingling, prickling in upper limbs when carrying anything.
Trembling from conversation.
Being alone ameliorates trembling in lower limbs.
Twitching of lower limbs in bed, at night.
Jerking of extremities at night in bed.
Contraction of hamstrings in thigh.
Contraction of muscles and tendons in hand, making it grasp things involuntarily.
Cramps in lower limbs at night.
Cramps in thighs, in calves or feet at night.
Cramps in hands and fingers on grasping something.
Upper limbs feel as if they’re sprained. Elbow feels as if sprained. Shoulder feels as if sprained. Sensation as if lower limbs were short.
Rheumatic pain in joints of thumb.
Tearing pains in nail on second finger; in third finger in the evening; in fourth finger in the evening; goes from left to right in lower limbs; between nates; in leg in the morning.
Paroxysmal, tearing pain in the calf of the leg. Aching pain in leg during menses.
Varices in left leg during menses. Left leg is blue during menses. Leg feels full during menses. Cold perspiration in the hand in warm room.
Perspiration between thighs while walking.
Excoriation between thighs. Excoriation in bend of knee.
Weakness of upper limbs and fingers at night.
Hands are icy cold. Coldness of right leg.
The hair in the left axilla is blond and in the right black. Itching in inner side of foot; sole of foot; of toes.
Sleep
They can get excited easily and then cannot go to sleep.
Late falling asleep from worries.
Sleeplessness after a conversation, from daily care; from business; from excitement.
Inspite of the fact of being tired when they go to bed, as soon as their head touches the pillow they cannot fall asleep. Sleeplessness after going to bed in the evening.
Sleepy during the day and sleepless during the night.
Sleeps with bent knees.
Sleeps on right side.
Restless sleep from coldness of body.
Anxious; vexatious dreams in children.
Fever
Chill is ameliorated after eating.
Chill of single parts.
External chill in spots.
Chilliness before dinner is ameliorated by eating.
Creeping chill after stool.
Perspiration of affected parts.
Perspiration from conversation.
Perspiration during anxiety in the evening.
Skin
Ulcers.
Anesthesia in the morning on waking.
Painless skin eruptions,
Itching and soreness especially around genitals. Itching, tickling of skin.
Clinical
GASTROINTESTINAL:
Gastritis, duodenal ulcer, spastic or ulcerative colitis. Respiratory: Cardiac asthma. Cough. Epistaxis.
PSYCHOLOGICAL/NERVOUS:
Arteriosclerosis, with dizziness and high blood pressure. Prematurely old person with concomittant symptoms. Convulsions. Puerperal convulsions.
Relationships
Compare: Bar-c, Ignatia, Natr-m., Staph.
Remedies that follow well: Lycopodium, Pulsatilla, Sepia and Sulphur.
It is antidoted by: Camphor, Coffea, Nux vomica, Pulsatilla and Staphysagria
Food and drink inimical to it: Alcoholic drink, wine, tobacco, cold drink, cold food, milk, potatoes, salt, green vegetables and warm food.
Dosage
From 6c up to the highest potencies.
