Zincum


Zincum 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 Zincum is used…


      Zincum metallicum. Zincum met. An Element. Zn. A. W. 64.9. Trituration of the metal.

Clinical

*Alcoholism. Amblyopia. Asthma. Brain-fag. Brain, paralysis of. Breasts, affections of. Cataract. Chilblains. Chin, eruption on. Chlorosis. Cholera. Chorea. *Constipation. Cracks. dentition. Diarrhoea, nervous, with stupor. Diphtheria. Dysentery. Dysuria. Earache. Eczema. Enuresis. Eruptions, suppressed. *Eyes, *affections of, granular lids. Fag. Foot- sweat, suppressed. Gastralgia. Headache, nervous, chlorotic. Heels, pains in. Hernia, inguinal. Hiccough. Hydrocephalus. Hyperpyrexia, nervous. Hypochondriasis. Hysteria. Inframammary pain. *Joints, *creaking in. Lips, affections of. Lochia, suppressed. Malar bones, neuralgia in. Masturbation. *Memory, * weak. *Meningitis. *Mental weakness. Milk, defective, suppressed. Neuralgia, intercostal, subcostal. Neurasthenia. Nipples, sore. Nose, redness of. Nymphomania. OEsophagus, spasm of. Otorrhoea. Photopsia. Prostatorrhoea. Ptosis. Reaction, defective. Rheumatism. *Screaming. Sleepiness. Somnambulism. Spermatorrhoea. Spinal irritation. Spine, affections of. Spleen, neuralgia of. Strabismus. Suppressions. Tarsal tumours. Throat, sore. tibia, burning in. Typhoid fever. Ulcers. Urine, hysterical retention of. Varicosis, during pregnancy, of external genitals. whooping-cough. Worms.

Characteristics

*Zincum belong to the *Magnesium group of metals, comprising also *Cadmium and *Glucinum. It has long been known in the arts, especially in its combination with *Cuprum in the manufacture of Brass. *Zn. was proved by Hahnemann and his associates, and it appears among the remedies of his *Chronic Diseases. *Zn. poisons the brain and nerve, and it corresponds to nerve-poisoning of various kinds. The word “fag” covers a large part of *Zn. action, it may be nerve or brain-fag, or it may be muscle-fag. Fag means that tissues are worm out faster than they can be repaired. This leaves them poisoned by waste products. *Zn. meets the effects of brain-fag from over-study, from night- watching, fatigue. But there is another kind of nerve-poisoning met by *Zn.: the poisoning of suppressed eruptions or discharges. The common old-school use of Zinc ointment to suppress eruptions, and Zinc injections to suppress discharges, is based on fact: *Zn. does suppress them, and it transfers the morbid action to the nervous system, setting up a poisoning there, and, conversely, in homoeopathic attenuations *Zn. can reverse the process. It can restore suppressed eruptions, can cure the consequences of suppressions, and set free the reactive power in conditions of undeveloped disease. Some of the keynotes of *Zn. will be present to give the clue. The most important of these is: “Incessant and violent fidgety feeling in feet or lower limbs, must move them constantly, cannot keep them quiet.” These movements may continue even during sleep. Another is: “Too weak to develop exanthemata or menstrual function, to expectorate, or urinate, to understand, to remember.” Corresponding to these is: “Relief to all suffering as soon as menses begin to flow,” or as soon as other excretory functions are restored. In asthma “the patient cannot expectorate, but as soon as he can he is relieved” (Nash). General twitchings and *general trembling are, according to Nash, equally characteristic of *Zn. He records this case: Miss X., 20. had been ill for a week with headache loss of appetite, and especially prostration. Over-study was the cause. Under *Gelsemium, and later *Bryonia, she was improving, when she threw off the bedclothes while sleeping and perspiring, and took a chill [*Zn. has “cannot bear any covering during the sweat.” ***J. H. C.] The bowels became enormously distended, profuse haemorrhage occurred (finally controlled by *Alumen), a low form of delirium came on, and prostration increased in spite of the cessation of haemorrhage. This was the condition: Staring eyes rolled upward. Head retracted, complete unconsciousness, lying on back and sliding down in bed, twitching, “or rather intense, *violent trembling all over so that she shook the bed,” her hands had to be held constantly night and day by nurses, hippocratic face, extremities deathly cold to knees and elbows, pulse intermittent, uncountable, all signs, in short, of impending paralysis of the brain.” Two drops of *Zn. 200 were mixed in two teaspoonfuls of water. One teaspoonful was worked, a little at a time, between the set teeth, and the rest half an hour later. About an hour after the latter dose the patient turned down her eyes and said “Milk.” Through a bent tube she swallowed half a glass of milk, the first nourishment she had taken for twenty- four hours. From that time she improved steadily, and received no more medicine for four days. Afterwards she had a dose of *Nux. Recovery was perfect. ***A. W. Holcombe (*Hahn. Ad., xxxviii. 27) reports this case: Man, 40, had gonorrhoea suppressed by local treatment three months previously. A week before Holcombe saw him first he was unable to pass water, and had to resort to the catheter. Since then could pass urine, but passed almost pure blood with it. Could only urinate when sitting down with knees spread apart. Great soreness of perinaeum, on sitting down had to sit side-ways on chair. *Zn. cm one dose. five days later perineal soreness gone, could urinate freely in any position, and had a profuse whitish discharge from the urethra. Suppression of foot-sweat, of lochia, of milk, are all caused and cured by *Zn. Weyner (*H. R., x. 152) relates the poisoning of cows pasturing near a cadmium mine, near which Zinc-smelting was carried on. These were some of the effects: General emaciation, skin clinging tightly to the body, eyes pale bluish, *drawn back into the orbits, horns and ears unequally warm, mouth hot and shiny and hanging down, at times dry, appetite undisturbed, rumination slower, dung grass- green, thin-flowing and fetid, at times cough. As the disease progressed emaciation increased, the horns became rough, *milk dried up, and diarrhoea increased till the animals could no longer rise, and died of total prostration. *Zn meets these suppression effects : Paralysis and vertigo from brain softening following suppressed foot sweat; Chorea from eruptions suppressed by gout puerperal convulsions from suppressed eruption; nymphomania from suppressed lochia *Zn. has a strong action on the generative sphere, it excites both sexes and causes seminal losses and prostatorrhoea of the male, and nymphomania and masturbation in the female. This may be associated with varicosis or pruritus of the external genitals. A notable symptom of *Zn., and one which may indicate it in children and in delirious cases, as well as in affections of the genitals themselves, is that the patient is continually pressing on the pubes or applying the hand to the genitals. With the emission there is backache, which is temporarily better by the emission, and with the female sexual disorders there is also backache and spinal irritation. Dull aching in spine, worse when sitting. Burning pains all along the spine. The burning pains of * Zn. appears in many parts. Pricking, pressive cramp-like pains, tension and constriction are also present. Neuralgia in malar bones with pressive pains. Pressure at root of nose as if it would be pressed in. The constriction is especially felt in the chest, and is connected both with respiration and the heart. “Sudden, spasmodic, bursting sensation about heart, it appears to be beating regularly, when it suddenly seems as if it would burst through the chest.” *Zn. affects the blood-vessels and corresponds to varicosis: varices of the labia, of the thighs, running into the labia, of the legs, with fidgety feet. Numbness, tingling, formication, and fainting spells are other nervous effects of *Zn. It has an insatiable craving hunger and goneness, notably at 11 a.m., thirst quite as great, and “hasty eating” and “hasty drinking” are among the keynote symptoms. Another of the first importance is *intolerance of wine: wine aggravates all symptoms. This is noteworthy in states of nervous exhaustion, which usually crave stimulants. There is the aversion to wine. Other characteristic aversions are: Meat (especially veal), sweets, cooked or warm food. Eating as well as wine-drinking worse the pain. There is a tearing headache, most in side of head, worse from wine, worse after dinner. In meningitis there are sharp, lancinating pains in the head, worse from the least stimulant. Pain may account for the anxious scream which accompanies the convulsions of *Zn. The child springs up in bed, gnashing teeth, eyes rolled up. A characteristic of brain affections of children is “crossness in the evening.” On waking there is delirium as if frightened, knows no one. “Child repeats everything said to it” is another leading symptom. “Grits teeth” occurs in these conditions, and will often give *Zn. a place in worm cases. Among the symptoms indicating lack of power is “teeth fail to develop.” The “fidgety feet” of *Zn. are not the only automatic movements of the remedy, though the most characteristic. Their are automatic movements of mouth, arms, hands, and general restlessness. Among other feature of *Zn. is blueness of surface. Related to this is the tendency to chilblains, which are swollen and painful, and easily made worse by rubbing.There is sensitiveness to frost-bite, the tip of the nose is easily frost-bitten, and the nose remains red long after it has been frost-bitten. The hands and feet are affected with inflammation, painful eruptions, cracks. There is also a “frost-bitter feeling” in the toes. All these point to a lowered state of vitality. *Peculiar Sensations are: As if she had a large goitre which she could not see over. As if hair bristled. Uneasy, as if he had committed a crime. As if he would have apoplexy. As if scalp were drawn together. Pains as if between the skin and the flesh. As if head were moving up and down, with a similar floating of images of his fancy. As if he saw through a mist. As if he would fall over to other side. As if head were swaying back and forth. Nauseating weakness as after smoking too strong tobacco. As if eyes were drawn together by a cord. Stupefying headache as from coal gas. As if root of nose would be pressed into head. As if head would be drawn backward. As if air forced itself into frontal sinuses. As if head would burst. As if strained in occiput. As if scalp wrinkled up and kept tightening. As if insects were crawling from occiput to forehead. Feeling in eyes as if she had wept much. As if sand in eyes. As if upper lids paralysed. As if teeth would be pulled out with neuralgia. As if teeth long and loose. As if a web drawn across throat. As if a hard body were opposing pressure from pharynx into abdomen. As if food remained sticking in pharynx after dinner. As if stomach compressed or empty. As of a heavy weight in hypochondria. As if abdominal walls were retracted against spine. As if flatus pressing against coccyx. As from worms crawling in anus. As if testicles tightly compressed and drawn up. As if pudenda swollen. Cough with stitches in chest and feeling as if chest would burst. Chest: as if hollow and cold, constricted, cut to pieces. As if a foreign substance rising up throat. Emptiness behind sternum. As if a cap on heart. Pain in cervical muscles as if head had been in uncomfortable position. As if cold water were poured down her back. As if muscles of wrist too short. As if kidney would be twisted off. Wrist and foot as if sprained. As if soles swollen. As if tendons of right sole too short. As if ball of great toe frozen. The headache and eye symptoms of *Zn. are well marked, and “Headache with sympathetic amblyopia” may be regarded as a keynote: Kafka (*H. R., x. 153) relates the case of a “pale yet vigorous lady of forty” who for two years had a headache recurring periodically every ten to fourteen days without warning. Simultaneously with the headache was a *weakness of vision, she seemed looking through a fog, and could not distinguish even large objects. The pain, which lasted two or three days, now increasing, now diminishing, was a pressure on vertex and forehead from without inward. Face pale, appetite deficient, head muddled, mood cross and peevish. In forenoon the pain was bearable, in afternoon worse, and still worse evening, when reflex nausea, and even vomiting, occurred. The amblyopia went *pari passu with the severity of the pain, and disappeared as the pain left off. Pupils rather contracted, eyes otherwise normal. *Zn. 3 was given morning and evening. The pains diminished immediately and were gone in twenty-four hours. The remedy was taken in the evening daily for a week. There was no relapse. ***F. W. Payne (*N. A. J. H., xiv. 131, quoting *A. M.) reports this case of cataract: Right eye partially affected, and left practically useless for vision, with bruised, sore, smarting, burning, itching, and stinging sensation, at intervals, suddenly, sensation as if pepper had been thrown into it, causing scalding lachrymation and spasm of the lids. These spells were worse in evening. Burning dryness as if a stick under lid scratching eyeball. Flickering before left eye, blue and green rings, green halo round gas-jet at times. Slight irritation of conjunctiva and tendency of lids to adhere. Worse by warmth, on warm days, by artificial light. Patient nervous, tremulous, impatient, worse by mental emotion. choreic jerking of individual muscles. *Zn. 200, given occasionally, steadily improved the case. In six months right eye was quite clear, and the left steadily gaining. Eleven years later vision was practically perfect, though some small streaks could still be found in the left lens. Gerstel (*H.R., x. 97) calls attention to the action of *Zn. in fevers with inflammation of the brain. In these cases the seat of inflammation was the meninges. He refers to a case of a child suffering from scarlatina who was in this condition: Entirely motionless, extremities icy cold, body cold, skin all over body bluish red, *except the parts about the eyes, *forehead and chin, *which were white. *Zn. was given, and the child gradually recovered. In a case of typhoid (16th day) in a man, in whom mental symptoms had set in: “Muddled feeling in the head, an incapacity to relate anything connectedly, and a sort of *half-smiling loquacity,” and later: Staring look, almost hippocratic appearance, *pale as wax, carphologia, subsultus tendinum, constant trembling of the hands *Zn. 2 saved the patient. The symptoms of *Zn. are: worse By tough. Pressure worse, (better conjunctivitis, toothache, left ovarian pain). Rubbing and scratching better. Jarring, riding worse. Rest worse. Sitting worse. Lying worse, (better vertigo). worse By motion, active or passive: “Child screams out whenever it is moved.” Walking, lifting, exertion worse. Looking up causes vision of falling luminous objects, and dizziness. worse Evening and night. 11 a.m. to 12 sinking worse. Rheumatism worse from over-heating. Wails and moans during sweat. worse By chill when heated. Warm room worse. Warm water better conjunctivitis. Open air worse, (better headache and drowsiness). Very sensitive to draft worse By cold touch (*i.e., when patient touches anything cold). Sea bathing causes herpes in mouth. Approach of storm causes chills. better While eating, worse after. Eating worse. Drinking worse (as soon as liquid reaches stomach he vomits). worse From: Sugar, wine, milk. Emissions better (temporarily). Sensitive to others taking and to noise.

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