Cicuta Virosa


Cicuta Virosa signs and symptoms of the homeopathy medicine from the Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica by J.H. Clarke. Find out for which conditions and symptoms Cicuta Virosa is used…


      Cow-bane. Water Hemlock. *N. O. Umbelliferae. Tincture of fresh root gathered at time of flowering.

Clinical

Bladder, paralysis of. *Cancer. *Catalepsy. Cerebrospinal meningitis. *Coccygodynia. Concussions. Convulsions. *Eczema. *Epilepsy. Epithelioma. Eyes, inflammation of. *Face, *eruption on. *Hiccough. Hysteria. *Impetigo. *Meningitis. *Myelitis. *Numbness. Oesophagus, stricture of. Paralysis. *Psoriasis. Puerperal convulsions. *Screaming. Strabismus. Stuttering. Tetanus. Trismus. *Waking, *weeping on. Worm complaints.

Characteristics

*Cicuta v. is one of the most active of the poisonous Umbellifera. Its chief influence is excited on the medulla oblongata, the gastro-intestinal tract, and the skin. Twitching and spasmodic jerks are a keynote of *Cicuta. “Bending the head backward” is very characteristic. The remedy has cured many cases of cerebrospinal meningitis, the opisthotonos being the leading indication. Violence is a leading feature: violent spasms, moans and howls, great agitation, makes gesticulations, odd motions, strange desires, as to eat coal. “Head turned or twisted to one side” is no less indicative of the drug in convulsions of children or adults. (See cases referred to below.) It corresponds to falls and the effects of concussions. Utter prostration follows the convulsive attacks, sudden rigidity, then jerks and violent distortions, then prostration. “Jerking of the left arm all day” is a very characteristic symptom. Tremor when touched. Trembling palpitation. Convergent strabismus, from fall or blow. Soporous sleep, weeps on being roused, distorts facial muscles and stares vacantly. Pupils dilated. Shocks from head down body. Face bluish. Froths at mouth. Jaws locked. Bites tongue. Hiccough. Hungry immediately after a meal. Tearing, jerking in coccyx. *Cicuta has a marked action on the skin: eruption of pustules which run together with yellowish honey-coloured scabs, especially about mouth, and matting the whiskers. Nash cured eczema capitis in a young woman with *Cicuta *v. whole scalp was covered as with a solid cap. Epithelioma, growths covered with honey-coloured scabs. Suited to old people and children. Teste places *Cicuta in the *Sulphur group. He regards it as antipsoric, and considers that as its eruptions are mostly found in the head and face, so its symptoms, when repercussion of skin eruptions occur, are chiefly felt in the brain. *Bovista and *Aethusa are like *Cicuta*v. in this. Teste mentions the case of a lady of fifty-eight who ceased to menstruate at thirty in consequence of a fright, and who was “of robust constitution, irritable, nervous, and excessively fanciful and odd.” She had a chronic swelling of the left ovary. *Cicuta *v. had a remarkably quieting effect for several weeks, and during that time the swelling diminished considerably. The patient had to leave Paris, so the treatment could not be followed up. The two following cases illustrate the action of *Cicuta in a striking way. The first, a case of acute meningitis, is quoted from *N.A.J.H. by *Amer. *Hom. of January 1, 1898: Dr. H. von Musits treated ***J.N.R., age. 43, male, married, a user of alcohol and tobacco, bookkeeper. After the intense summer heat, these symptoms developed: Convulsion, distortion of limbs, head turned backward. Trismus. Froth from mouth. Biting of the tongue. Oppression of breathing. Entire loss of consciousness and of power of swallowing. Convulsions, followed by complete exhaustion. Stupor. Swelling of face. Inability to move the tongue. The whole body seems to be of enormous size. The patient had three attacks of convulsions during twenty-four hours, followed by the swelling of the tongue and body. Extreme trembling of the hands. Articulation difficult. Next day profuse watery diarrhoea stools worse by any noise, sudden entrance of any person into the room or loud talking. better By rest and in a dark room. Several times previously he had symptoms of nervous exhaustion. His brother, a physician, died the previous spring from paresis in consequence of excessive use of alcohol and drugging. After two doses of *Cicuta vir. 200 there were no more convulsions and the patient was perfectly cured in two weeks. There was no relapse. The next case, one of cholera, is quoted from the *Indian Hom. Rev. by *Amer. *Homoeopathy., December 15, 1896. Banerjee records the case: “A lad, aged five years, had an attack of cholera three days before my visit. Had been treated by a homoeopath from beginning of attack. The patient was suffering from convulsions, when I first saw him on the fourth day. The convulsive fits were very severe since the third day of the attack of cholera. The symptoms were: eyes half turned, head drawn toward the left side, and the hands and feet of the same side were contracted. He was given *Belladonna, *Hyoscyamus, *Cina, and *Bryonia without effect. *Cicuta virosa was then given. The first dose mitigated the severity of the fits, the second dose put the child to sleep, and thus he was saved from imminent death.” The chief Conditions are: worse From concussions, especially of brain and spine, from turning the head, from slightest touch (renews the spasms), from cold. better From warmth. Immediately after eating: bellyache and sleepiness. Immediately after commencing to eat: feels satisfied. Soon after a meal: great hunger.

Relations.

*Antidoted by: Arnica, Opium, for massive doses, Tobacco. *Antidote to: Opium. *Compatible after: Lach, after Arsenicum and Conium (cancer of lip), Cuprum (aphasia in chorea). *Compare: Conium, Aethusa, Oena. Croc., Hypericum (spinal concussion), Hyoscyamus (twitchings), Hell, Hydr-ac. (body thrown back, cramps in neck), Nux-v. and Stry. (tetanus, but with Nux-v. there is not the utter prostration and great oppression of breathing of *Cicuta, nor the loss of consciousness, Nux-v. is less epileptiform and has more excitability).

SYMPTOMS.

Mind

Strange desires, as desire to eat coal, etc. Anxiety, and great tendency to be deeply affected by mournful stories. Groans, complaints, and howling. Discontent and ill-humour. Suspicion and mistrust, with misanthropy. Disposition to be frightened. Mania, with dancing, laughing, and ridiculous gestures, with heat of the body and longing for wine. Forgets his own name. Dementia. Giddiness and absence of mind. He confounds the present with the past. He thinks himself a young child. Want of confidence in and dread of man, retires into solitude.

Head

Vertigo, and staggering, to the extent of falling. Giddiness, with falling forward. Whirling vertigo on rising in the bed, with obscuration of sight. Feeling as of intoxication. Headache above the orbits. Congestion of the brain with vomiting and purging. Attacks of semi-lateral cephalalgia, with nausea. Semi-lateral headache, as from congestion to the head, relieved when sitting erect. Heaviness of the head with dizziness. Compression from both sides of the head. Stupefying pressure on the forehead. Diminution of pain in the head on rising, and on passing flatus. Affections of the brain, from concussion of the brain. Headache, as from commotion of the brain. Feeling of looseness of the brain, as if it were shaken in walking, early in the morning, disappearing when thinking of the pain intensely. Severe headache in occiput, like a dull pressure, as with coryza. Suppurating eruptions on the scalp, with burning pain. Startings and spasmodic shocks in the head, with drawing backward of the head. Staring at an object, the head inclines forward, is frequently bent back again, with twitching, trembling, and tension in the neck while moving it. Jerking and twitching of head.

Eyes

Burning pain in the eyes. Pupils either much contracted or dilated. Suspension of the sight, with vertigo, on walking. Look fixed, sometimes from a sort of absence of mind. Wavering of all objects before the sight. Iris-like circles round candle. Mobility of the characters on reading, the letters turn, and are surrounded with a coloured areola, the same as round the light. Diplopia, or obscuration of the eyes, sometimes alternately with hardness of hearing. The objects appear double and black. Luminous and coloured circle around all objects. Photophobia. Nocturnal agglutination of the eyelids. Twitching of the orbicularis muscle.

Ears

Sensation of excoriation, and pain, as of contusion, behind the ears. Purulent eruption before, behind, and on the ears. Discharge of blood from the ears. Hearing indistinct, sometimes alternating with obscuration of the eyes. Detonation in right ear

when swallowing.

Nose

Pains as of excoriation and of a bruise, in the (r). ala nasi. Scabs in the nostrils. Yellowish discharge from the nose. Obstruction of the nose, with abundant secretion of mucous. Frequent sneezing, without coryza.

Face

Pallor and coldness of the face, with coldness of the hands. Cheeks pale, with eyes sunk, and surrounded by a livid circle. Redness and swelling of the face and of the neck. Eruption on the face, confluent, purulent, and of a deep red colour, with lenticular pimples on the forehead. Burning scabs, with yellowish serum, on the upper lip, cheeks, and chin. Thick, honey-coloured scurf on the chin, upper lip, and lower portion of the cheeks (milk crust), burning soreness and oozing, accompanied with swelling of the sub-maxillary glands, and insatiable appetite. Painful ulcer on the lips. Painful swelling of the sub-maxillary glands. Trismus. Disposition to grind the teeth.

John Henry Clarke
John Henry Clarke MD (1853 – November 24, 1931 was a prominent English classical homeopath. Dr. Clarke was a busy practitioner. As a physician he not only had his own clinic in Piccadilly, London, but he also was a consultant at the London Homeopathic Hospital and researched into new remedies — nosodes. For many years, he was the editor of The Homeopathic World. He wrote many books, his best known were Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and Repertory of Materia Medica