Condensed Materia Medica

Colocynthis coloc.

Hering (1877)In every bookSave

Mind

Confusion in the left side of head, with pressing burning pain in the left orbit, temple and nose, on dorsum nasi and in the upper teeth.
Greatly affected by the misfortunes of others as well see as her own.
Depressed, joyless; disinclined to talk, to answer, to see friends.
Extreme irritability; nothing seems right to him; extremely impatient; every word provokes him.
Anger with indignation; also bad effects therefrom particularly vomiting and diarrhœa.

Sensorium

Vertigo, when quickly turning the head, as if he would fall, tottering of the knees.
Dulness of head and giddiness, at beginning of colic.

Inner Head

Pressive frontal headache, worse while stooping, or lying on the back.
Painful tearing through the whole brain, becoming unbearable when moving the upper eyelid.
Severe burning pain, on right side of forehead.
Tearing in the left side of forehead.
Pressure in both temples.
Boring stitches in the right temple, disappearing on touch.
Pressing and dull throbbing in left temple, growing gradually more acute and cutting.

Outer Head

Roots of the hair painful.
Smarting, burning on the scalp, left side.

Eyes

Vision obscured.
Painful pressure in the eyeballs, especially on stooping.
Sharp cutting in the right eyeball, with pain in the eyes.
Smarting in the eyes.
Discharge of acrid fluid from the eyes.

Ears

Roaring and throbbing in both ears, especially the left.
Crawling; itching; stitching; cutting or aching in the ears, relieved by putting the fingers into the ear.

Nose

Fluent coryza, worse in open air than in the room.
Beating and digging pain, from left side of nose to glabella.

Face

Face: dark red; or pale, with relaxed muscles and sunken eyes.
Tensive tearing pain, with heat and swelling, especially of left side; worse from touch or motion, better in perfect rest, and from external application of warmth.
Left-sided tearing, or burning and stinging pain, extending to the ear and head; tearing in the cheeks.
Constriction and pressing in the left malar bone, extending into the left eye.
Transient stitches in the upper jaw recurring frequently.

Teeth

Drawing and twitching toothache.
Beating toothache, first in one, then in another tooth of left side.

Tongue, etc

Taste: bitter of food and drink, less frequently offensive or metallic.
Tongue: coated white, or yellow; rough; burning on tip.
Scalded sensation of the tongue.

Throat

Dryness; rawness; roughness; or scraping in throat.

Desires and Aversions

Canine hunger, with longing for bread and beer.
Aversion to food, with scraping in the throat.
Diminished appetite, without thirst, still great inclination to drink; succeeded by a putrid taste in the mouth.

Eating and Drinking

After the least food or drink, diarrhœa.
Potatoes cause bellyache; coffee relieves the colic.

Nausea and Vomiting

Nausea arising from the stomach.
Vomiting of bitter tasting, yellow fluid.

Stomach

Feeling of emptiness in the stomach.
Burning pain in the stomach.
Feeling of fulness in the epigastric region.
Griping in the epigastrium, after each meal, worse toward evening.
Cramp in the stomach at night, relieved by belching.
Pit of stomach very sensitive to touch.
Violent cutting, tearing pains, which from different parts of chest and abdomen, concentrate in the pit of stomach, better from hard pressure and bending double; brought on by vexation and indignation.

Hypochondria

Transient stitches in the hepatic region.

Abdomen

Abdomen distended and painful; tympanitic.
Incarcerated flatus.
Cramp-like pain in both sides of abdomen, worse after pressure or leaning with belly on a table.
Collection of fat in abdomen since her first confinement.
Severe colicky pains, mostly around the navel; has to bend double, being worse in any other posture; great restlessness and loud screaming on changing position; worse at intervals of five or ten minutes.
Colic so distressing that they seek relief by pressing the corner of a table, or head of bed post, against abdomen.
Colic-like, spasmodic pain after vexation.
Colic spreading from the navel, better from frequent discharge of flatus.
Isolated, deep stitches, sometimes in felt, at others in right flank, apparently connected with the ovaries.
Pain in the groin, like from hernia, and on pressure, sensation as if a hernia were receding.

Stool, etc

Chronic watery diarrhœa, mornings, with pain in sides of abdomen.
Dysentery-like diarrhœa, renewed each time by the least food or drink.
Bloody diarrhœa, with violent pain in the bowels, extending down into the thighs.
Frequent urging to stool, with sensation as if the anus and rectum were weakened by long continued diarrhœa.
Stools: copious fecal diarrhœa, accompanied by great discharge of wind; fluid; after eating, with discharge of flatus and painful feeling in abdomen, better after getting warm in bed; thin, frothy, saffron-yellow, of musty odor; slimy, bloody, like scrapings of the bowels, with tenesmus during stool; relief of pain after stool.
Constipation, stools hard; also when caused by cheese, painfully swollen hemorrhoids, in rectum and at anus.

Urine

Sudden violent pressure upon the bladder, which was full, passed off suddenly on the emission of flatus.
Abundant urine; frequent desire to pass water, with burning in bladder and stitches; alternating with stitches in the rectum.
Frequent tenesmus vesicæ, with scanty emission.
Urine: fetid; brown; viscid; deposits copious sediment which becomes jelly-like; faint flesh-colored, with light brown, flocky, unequally translucent sediment and depositing small, hard, reddish crystals, which adhere to the vessel, and are not easily removed by water.

Male Sexual Organs

Sexual desire strong; with erections.

Female Sexual Organs

Cramp-like pain in the left ovarian region, as though the parts were squeezed in a vice.
Intense boring or tensive pain in ovary, causing her to draw up double, with great restlessness.
Deep stitches, worse in left ovary.
Suppression of the menses, caused by chagrin.
Dysmenorrhœa, cramping pains, must bend double, sometimes worse after eating or drinking.
Swelling of labia, with dragging pain and heat to vagina.
Metritis, from indigestion, colicky pains bend her double; cutting, as from knives, in the bowels, great distress, distention of the abdomen; feeling as if the intestines were being squeezed between stones.
May be indicated in some cases of very painful cancer.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, frequent attacks of colic, which draws the patient nearly double.
Suppression of the lochia; with violent colic; from anger of indignation; with tympanitic swelling of the abdomen and diarrhœa.

Larynx

Frequent tickling and irritation in the larynx.

Breathing

Asthmatic attacks at night, with slow, difficult breathing, which provokes cough.
Oppression of chest, worse evenings and before midnight.

Cough

Titillating cough, frequent during the night.

Lungs

Stitching pains in right or left side of chest.

Heart and Pulse

Stitches in the cardiac region.
Pulse: generally full, hard and accelerated; less frequently, small and weak.
Strong throbbing in all the blood-vessels.

Neck and Back

Feeling of stiffness in the muscles of the nape, when moving the head.
Drawing in the nape.
Violent tensive drawing in the left cervical muscles, worse on motion.
Pressure in left side of nape, worse from turning.
Drawing pain, internally, in region of right scapula, as if the nerves and vessel were made tense.
Tensive stitches in the right loin, felt only during inspiration, and most violent when lying on the back.
Painful lassitude in small of back and lower extremities, in the evening.
Pain in the small of the back.

Upper Limbs

Swelling and suppuration of the axillary glands.
Drawing, lancinating in left shoulder from the face and neck.
Rheumatic pains through the arms.
Pains in the palms, as if the muscles were contracted.
Tearing in joint of left hand.
Tensive pain in left thumb, impending motion.
Violent drawing pain in left thumb, like in the tendons, beginning in the ball and passing off at the lip.

Lower limbs

Crampy pain in the affected hip, as though the parts were screwed in a voice; lies upon the affected side, with knee drawn up.
Drawing, twitching, with dull throbbing in region of left hip, and right loin.
Pain as if the hips were screwed together.
Shooting pain, like lightning, down the whole limb.
Pain in right thigh only when walking, as if the psoas magnus were too short.
Dancing in inner side of left thigh, afternoons.
Drawing pain in right thigh, down to the knee.
Drawing in external condyle of right femur.
Continuous pain left knee-joint, impeding walking.
Cramp in the left calf.
Drawing, aching in the left foot.
Left foot "goes to sleep".

Limbs in General

Tearing or drawing pains in all limbs.

Position, etc

Rest: 8. Walking: 33. Motion: 8, 31. Moving the head: 31. Turning the head: 2, 31. Moving the upper eyelid: 3. Stooping: 3, 5. Bending double: 17, 19, 23, 24. Bending the knee: 33. Lying on back: 3, 31. Lying on effected side: 33.
Motion generally relieves drawing, tearing and burning pains.

Nerves

Great tendency of the muscles of all parts of the body top to become painfully cramped.
Sensation of weakness, of faint feeling.

Sleep

Yawning and sleepiness.
Sleeplessness and restlessness, with the pains.
Dreams: disturbing sleep; vivid; anxious.

Time

Morning: 20, 26. Afternoon: 33. Evening: 17, 26, 31. Night: 17, 27, 40. Before midnight: 26.

Temperature and Weather

Warm applications: 8. Warmth of bed: 20. Open air: 7.

Chill, Fever and Sweat

Chill and coldness of the whole body, frequently with heat of the face.
Coldness of hands, of soles, of the feet, rest of body warm.
Chill and shivering, with the pains.
External dry heat.
Internal sensation of heat, with external flushes.
Sweat at night, smelling like urine, causing itching of the skin.
Sweat principally of the head and extremities.

Attacks

Increasing gradually: 3.

Sides

Right: 3, 5, 18, 19, 26, 31, 32, 33. Left: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 19, 23, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33.

Sensations

Rheumatism, with all sorts of pains, with formication and numbness.

Contact, Injuries, etc

Touch: relieves pain in temples: 3; in ear: 6; increases faceache; stomach sensitive to it: Hard pressure relieves: 17, 19. Pressure relieves, but after is worse.

Skin

Itching; prickling; crawling; formication.
Desquamation over the whole body.

Relationship

Coloc. antidotes Caustic.
Antidotes to Coloc.: Camphor., Coffea, Staphis.
Large doses are counteracted by tepid milk, infusion of galls, Camphor., Opium.
Staphis. is very similar with regard to mind symptoms and pains in abdomen.
Smoking relieves pain in bowels.
In aggravations of colic, give a cup of coffee to palliate, and repeat Coloc. if necessary.