Sepiae succus. Tincture from the inspissated juice.
INTRODUCTION
THE inky juice of the cuttle fish was introduced as a remedy by Hahnemann, and is still extensively used by his followers and by them alone. It is difficult to imagine its being used on any other than the homoeopathic basis.
The chief source of our knowledge of its effects, pathogenic and curative, is clinical, i.e., is due to the observations of its effects on the sick. This has been confirmed by a proving in 1874, carried out on thirty observes by the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Laboratory testing of this substance as a drug seems to be lacking.
PATHOGENESIS.
(1) GENERAL EFFECTS.-Clinical experience has abundantly supported the claim made for it by the early homoeopaths. Its effects on the healthy were explained as inducing general and local congestions. It seems probable that modern science would attribute the general symptoms to a widespread influence on metabolism. The prover becomes chilly, seems to”lack vital heat,” flushes or faints, or feels faint under a variety of different circumstances, is very sensitive to extremes of heat and cold, and becomes sad and timorous; he has itching and sallowness of the skin, mostly patchy, and scanty high-coloured urine; his (or her) sleep becomes restless and is disturbed by dreams like nightmares,.
(2) LOCAL EFFECTS.- The foregoing symptoms are associated with disturbed digestion abdominal distension, combined with a feeling of sinking and epigastric emptiness, constipation, piles, disturbed menstruation and “bearing down,” itching of the skin and sallow, k yellowish-brown spots on the face and trunk, and with scanty high-coloured urine, frequently passed, and depositing sticky urates.
It may be that the digestion is the cause of the general symptoms which we have referred to as of metabolic origin, but this is a matter of explanation, and its accuracy or inaccuracy in no way invalidates the use of these symptoms groups as valuable therapeutic guides.
THERAPEUTICS.
It is to this group (printed in italics) that we chiefly look for guides to the selection of the remedy, or perhaps we should say in a case, for example, of piles or prolapsus uteri, we must look to the combination of the two. Piles or prolapsus are not by themselves a sufficient indication for the use of sepia. Associated with the foregoing general group they are a reliable guide; in short, Hahnemann’s totality of symptoms” must here (at any rate) be invoked. To this group with its refinements and modalities some attention must be paid.
(1) “Deficient vital heat” or “poor circulation” means more than “cold hands and feet.” It is sensitiveness to temperature- variations, to draughts, to either extreme of heat or cold but especially to cold air. This is a persistent condition, manifest to the patient and associated with ready liability to “catch cold,” and is independent of the temporary temperature of the hands and feet, which, however, are usually cold, especially the feet. It is a valuable evidence of the lowered body resistance present in cases calling for sepia. E.B.Nash in his “Leaders,”., says, “If the feet are hot the hands are cold and vice versa.” This conjunction of phenomena would be a confirmatory indication.
(2) Fainting and flushing are in this case evidences of lessened resistance to stimuli. The fainting is usually a question of feeling faint rather than of actual syncope. It is induced by slight wet, or by various emotions. In this last case the flush may followed by perspiration, more or less general and it has been used as an indication for sepia in the flushing of the menopause. This has sometimes, in our experience, proved itself a useful guide.
(3) Extremes of Temperature.- Sepia is one of the few remedies stated to be useful for sensitiveness to either extreme. There are long lists of drugs for one or either. As it is a common symptom in patients sepia will often present itself for consideration as a remedy.
(4) Mental symptoms always where striking rank high in indication value those of sepia are all on the side of depression, weeping easily, sadness, different expressions being naturally used by different patients. They are not of great value as indications unless notably increased during the illness under treatment. Exception may be made in the case of two symptoms. Indifference to life, to usual occupations, to relatives and friends to whom the patient (usually a woman) was previously attached, lack of interest in general this may call for the consideration of sepia, and has proved reliable. It must be a new symptom or be markedly aggravated to have full value. The timorousness, which dreads being along yet dreads meeting even old friends, is a feature of some sepia cases and may be equally present in either sex. It is liable to be associated with symptoms of the pelvic organs. “Melancholia,” “stupor” and confusional states “sum up sepia conditions.
(5) Skin symptoms are of general value. The itching is not confines to one part of the body, though it is most conspicuous in the genital organs (both sexes). it has the feature that it is not relieved by rubbing or scratching, after which it changes to burning.
Yellow patches, or yellowish-brown discolorations have a metabolic significance. They may occur on the trunk, but when occurring on the face and forehead are regarded by some as very important indications for sepia. The yellow “saddle” across the nose and upper part of the cheeks has also been considered an important one. When recent and when associated with other general or local symptoms they are useful confirmations.
Other spots, such as papules, or even pustules, may be present, as also scaly symptoms, ex. gr., herpes circinatus; but these are not of any value as indications.
Perspiration of offensive odour has been induced and though not common in sepia cases may easily form a feature in the disease picture. It occurs in the axillae,.
(6) The urinary must be regarded, in the main as symptoms indicative of general rather than local origin and value; at nay rate the striking change in the urine was evidently due to some chemical change from a distance. This causes us to classify it as a general symptom, and in any case it is one of the utmost value, and we have not seldom proved its reliability clinically. The urine is faithfully described in the textbooks – it is scanty, frequently passed, decidedly acid, deposits urates, which adhere closely to the side of the vessel; the odour of it is very offensive; it is foetid-not like the hippuric acid type of horses’ urine and that found in benzoic and nitric acid cases. It is strongly suggestive of the need for sepia.
Other urinary symptoms may be local, but are mentioned here to save subsequent reference. There are frequent micturition (in pelvic cases) and incontinence of urine during the early part of the night (children), and in any form of straining (women). These are of much less importance of straining )women). These are of much less importance than the state of the urine.
(7) Sleep is disturbed at night, chiefly in the early part of anxious dreams, which wake the patient in a fright with screaming out; or she may talk in her sleep. She is correspondingly sleepy during the day.
The foregoing can hardly be disassociated from the more local conditions to which reference must now be made. We have placed them first, in a separate category, to emphasize their greater importance as clinical indications.
(a) Digestive Symptoms.-These again are evidences of lowered functional activity, variously expressed, according to the lowered resistance of the particular portion of the tract affected or sometimes in accordance with the pictorial powers of the narrator.
Constipation is usually present in sepia cases, and by itself is not very indicative; when combined (in chronic cases) with straining it is of more value (nux). The stool is hard. Evacuation is preceded by pain or by the sensation of fulness above the anus, which is not relieved by an action. When that is the case the sensation may be due to piles or even to prolapse of the uterus or vaginal walls. Passing along the digestive tract we find nausea-the thought (nux vom.), sight and smell of food, causes a feeling of sickness; the tongue is coated, but is not characteristics; in some cases milk disagrees. With abdominal distention due to flatulence is a contrary sensation of emptiness in the epigastrium, described as “sinking” or an “all-gone” sensation, which may be alarming in young and delicate persons who have not learned to understand its import. It is probably due to hyperacidity and is relieved by an alkaline drink. Its only association with pelvic disorders (to be mentioned) appears to be that such maladies are commonly accompanied by some from of dyspepsia. The most common time of the occurrence of this symptom is about 10 or 11 o`clock in the morning or in the evening after food, according to the patient`s habits; it is usually not relieved by food (compare Sulphur).
Edwin Awdas Neatby founded the Missionary School of Homeopathy and the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1903, and run by the British Homeopathic Association. He died in East Grinstead, Sussex, on the 1st December 1933. Edwin Awdas Neatby wrote The place of operation in the treatment of uterine fibroids, Modern developments in medicine, Pleural effusions in children, Manual of Homoeo Therapeutics,