Remedy
Picricum Acidum pic-ac.
Relationships
Polar generals
Boger's Synoptic Key — Materia Medica
C. M. Boger · Boger's Synoptic Key — Materia Medica · 1915
Region
Nerves: Brain. Occiput. Cord. Lumbar region. Kidneys. Sexual organs.
Worse
Exertion; mental or physical. Seminal losses. Heat.
Better
Rest. Cold. Bandaging. In sun.
General
Weak, tired and heavy, in mind and body. Profound anæmia. Easily prostrated. Burning, in many parts; along spine; in legs, etc. Numbness. Formication.
Particulars
Weak will. Heavy occiput; down spine and in lower limbs. Brain-fag. Headache, < mental exertion, > nose-bleed (Fer-p.). Neurasthenia. Oily burning stool. Ammoniacal, dribbling urine. Priapism, or sexual erethism. Backache with languor; from mental exertion. Writers' cramp. Aching, legs. Small, painful boils, < nape. Sleepiness.
Related
Related: Gel. Ox-ac. Pho. Pho-ac.
Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica
H. C. Allen · Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica · 1898
Keynote
Is often restorative of a wasted and worn-out system; a fair picture of "nervous prostration" (Kali p.). Progressive, pernicious, anaemia; neurasthenia. Brain fag: of literary or business people; slightest excitement, mental exertion or overwork brings on headache, and causes burning along the spine (Kali p.). Headache: of students, teachers and overworked business men; from grief or depressing emotions; in occiputal-cervical region (Nat. m., Sil.); < or brought on by slightest motion or mental exertion. Priapism, with spinal disease; erections; satyriasis (Canth., Phos.). Small boils in any part of body, but especially in external auditary canal. Burning along spine and great weakness of spine and back; softening of cord (Phos., Zinc.). Weariness, progressing from a slight feeling of fatigue on motion to complete paralysis. Tired heavy feeling all over body, especially of limbs, < on exertion.
Relations
Compare: Arg. n., Gels., Kali p., Phos ac., Phos., Petr., Sil.
Amelioration
From cold air and cold water.
Aggravation
Least mental exertion; motion; study; wet weather.
Seven Hundred Red Line Symptoms from Materia Medica
J. W. Hutchison · Seven Hundred Red Line Symptoms from Materia Medica · 1905
Red line symptom
Brain fag and neurasthenia, especially sexual; great mental and physical prostration from reading, writing, or any attempt at mental labour.
Homœopathic Materia Medica
William Boericke · Homœopathic Materia Medica · 9th edition
Common name
Picric Acid-Trinitrophenol
General
Causes degeneration of the spinal cord, with paralysis. Brainfag and sexual excitement. Acts upon the generative organs probably through the lumbar centers of the spinal cord; prostration, weakness and pain of back, pins and needle sensation in extremities. Neurasthenia (Oxal ac). Muscular debility. Heavy tired feeling. Myelitis with spasms and prostration. Writer's palsy. Progressive, pernicious anæmia. Uræmia with complete anuria. A one per cent solution applied on lint, is the best application for burns until granulations begin to form. Sallow complexion.
Mind
Lack of will-power; disinclined to work. Cerebral softening. Dementia with prostration, sits still and listless.
Head
Head pains; relieved by bandaging tightly. Occipital pain; worse, slightest mental exertion. Vertigo and noises in ear. Boils within ears and back of neck. After prolonged mental strain, with anxiety and dread of failure at examination. Brain fag.
Eyes
Chronic catarrhal conjunctivitis with copious, thick yellow discharge.
Stomach
Bitter taste. Aversion to food.
Urinary
Scanty; complete anuria. Dribbling micturition. Urine contains much indican, granular cylinders and fatty degenerated epithelium. Inflammation of kidneys with profound weakness, dark, bloody, scanty urine. Nightly urging.
Male
Emissions profuse, followed by great exhaustion, without sensual dreams. Priapism; satyriasis. Hard erections, with pain in testicles and up cord. Prostatic hypertrophy, especially in cases not too far advanced.
Female
Pain in left ovary and leucorrhœa before menstruation. Pruritus vulvæ.
Extremities
Burning along spine. Great weakness. Tired, heavy feeling all over body, especially limbs; worse, exertion. Feet cold. Cannot get warm. Acute descending paralysis.
Modalities
Worse, least exertion, especially mental, after sleep, wet weather. A summer or hot weather remedy; patient is worse then. Better, from cold air, cold water, tight pressure.
Relationship
Compare: Oxal ac; Gels; Phos; Sil; Arg nit. Compare: Zinc pic (facial palsy and paralysis agitans); Ferr pic (buzzing in ears, deafness; chronic gout; epistaxis; prostatic troubles); Calc pic (boils in and around ears).
Dose
Sixth potency.
Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics
E. B. Nash · Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics · 1899
Leaders
This is a comparatively new remedy, but has already, developed some valuable therapeutic powers. In the first place, it attacks the vital force, as is manifested by an excessive langour or persistent tired feeling all over the body, which is generally accompanied with corresponding weakness of mind, indifference, and want of will power, and a desire to lie down. There is great heaviness of the legs, can hardly lift them from the ground, tired, aching feeling in the back with some burning (Phosphorus and Zinc met.) at times low down. Even the brain is fagged and the slightest exertion or mental effort brings on headache. This headache is oftenest found in students, overworked business men, and in persons depressed by grief or other emotions.
It oftenest locates in occipito-cervical region (Nat. mur., Silicea). < especially by mental exertion. In short, this remedy presents a perfect picture of nervous prostration. I found this remedy very useful in apparent failure of brain power in an old man who had always been strong up to within a year or so of the time he called on me. He complained of heaviness in the occiput and inability to exert the mind to talk or think, and general tired "played out" feeling. I feared brain softening but I gave him Picric acid 6th trit. and it promptly cured him. This remedy has strong points of resemblance to Phosphoric acid and Phosphorus in its effects upon the sexual organs especially of the male. There is strong sexual desire with terrible erections, which is followed by corresponding weakness or complete impotence. There seems to be no doubt that it is destined to become one of our most valuable remedies for brain, spinal, and general nervous prostration, especially if connected with or arising from sexual excesses. It may be studied along with Gelsemium, Phosphoric acid, Phosphorus, Argentum nitricum, Sulphur, Alumina and Silicea and all those remedies affecting the brain, cord, and general nervous system.
A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica
John Henry Clarke · A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · 1902
General
Picric Acid. Carbazotic Acid. Tri-nitro-carbolic Acid. (C 6 H 2 (NO 2 ) 3 OH). Trituration. Solution in rectified spirit.
Clinical
Acne. Anæmia . Boils. Brain, base of, pain in. Brain-fag . Burns. Cancerous cachexia. Condylomata. Debility. Diabetes. Ears, boils in. Emissions . Enuresis. Epistaxis. Erotomania . Erythema. Hæmoglobinuria . Hands, perspiration of. Headache, of students. Hemiplegia. Jaundice. Leucocythæmia . Liver, congestion of; fatty. Locomotor ataxia. Lumbago . Myelitis. Neurasthenia. Otitis. Paralysis . Paraplegia. Pernicious anæmia. Priapism. Pruritus vulvæ. Self-abuse . Spinal exhaustion. Spinal irritation. Spinal sclerosis. Styes. Sycosis. Urine, bloody. Writer's cramp.
Characteristics
Pic. ac . was discovered by Hausman in 1788. It is formed by the action of Nitric acid on Carbolic acid, Salicin, Silk , and many other substances. It crystallises in bright yellow needles or scales, of very bitter taste, sparingly soluble in water. The yellow colour is imparted to the eyes and skins of patients who take it in the crude, and it not only produces a semblance of jaundice, but actually disorganises the liver if pushed. In some experiments by Parisel ( C. D. P .) these symptoms were observed: Buzzing and whistling in ears; sparks, whirling round of objects; heaviness of head alternately with sense of emptiness. Moderately copious, oily-looking , yellowish stool, with > of cerebral symptoms. Pulse slow, small, very feeble. Great weakness, compelling to lie down ; limbs hardly able to stir themselves; no anxiety , profound calm. Vivid colouration of sclerotics and integuments; urine coloured blood-red . These were effects of 0.5 grm. doses. Slow poisoning set up an intermittent fever of quotidian type, and "anorexia, thirst, often sweat, cancerous tint about skin, tendency to cachexia ." These observations give the chief features of the drug's action: Fatigue, mental and bodily; symptoms < by least exertion fatigue going into actual paralysis; brain fatigue, nerve fatigue at the same time absence of anxiety — indifference. Like so many other yellow substances, Pic. ac . acts powerfully on the liver, and produces jaundice, cachexia, and cancerous tints. "Tired-out, washed-out feeling — must give in," is the chief keynote of Pic. ac . and its salts. Nash cured promptly with Pic. ac . 6 trit. an old man who had been failing for a year, and complained of heaviness in the occiput, inability to exert the mind, talk, or think, and general "played-out" feeling. Nash had feared brain softening. Halbert ( Clinique , September, 1898) reports a case illustrating the power of Pic. ac . over the effects of fatigue in professional neuroses. A stenographer and typewriter after using her right index finger continuously for six years, noticed weakness of her thumb and index, and inability to hold pen or pencil. Next there was difficulty in striking correctly the keys of the typewriter and some wrist-drop. The finger when Halbert first saw her was quite rigid and straight, showing extreme spasticity. Massage, electricity, &c., had failed to give any relief. Pic. ac . 3x six times daily cured the case and made great improvement in the patient's general health. Evans has found it Curative in girls and young women who, under the strain of many studies, show signs of breaking down — lose appetite — sleep lightly and lie awake ( Pic. ac . 30 caused a patient of mine, previously a good sleeper, to lie awake a long time at nights. — J. H. C.), exhaustion after the day's studies, fatigue even from a short walk, twitchings of muscles when asleep or awake; hysterical state, loss of will power; constant headache, irregular menses. Such patients are usually given iron, which does little or no good. Pic. ac . and its compounds are among the most powerful explosives known, lyddite being an example. Pic. ac ., like Glon ., has occipital headaches and bursting headaches. The headache, frontal or occipital, is < on any attempt to use the mind, and it may extend down the spine. There is also a headache extending from the top of the spine up over the head to the eyes. In a case of spinal irritation I relieved with Pic. ac . 30 a pain which shot up from the spine into the head. The pains referable to the spinal cord are strongly marked. Any attempt to study = burning along spine; with great weakness of back and legs; soreness of muscles and joints. To the spinal congestion must be attributed the remarkable disturbance in the sexual sphere: Priapism; penis distended almost to bursting. Terrible erections, disturbing sleep. When over-excitement of sexual system is associated with spinal or cerebellar affections in either sex. Great sexual desire with emissions. Amorous fancies. On the skin Pic. ac . produces jaundice with itching; small painful furuncles, particularly in the auditory meatus; and erythema and pruritus of abdomen and feet. Théry of Paris accidentally discovered in Pic. ac . solution a remedy for burns. He twice dropped burning matter on his hands whilst working with a Pic. ac . disinfectant, and was astonished at the absence of pain or injury. From that date Pic. ac . became his principal remedy for burns, and though others have complained that it caused violent pains, Théry has only once in some thousands of cases had to abandon its use on that account. A. C. Blackwood ( Clinique , October, 1898, H. W ., xxxiv. 133) gives the details of its use. Burns of the first and second degree only are suitable. A saturated solution ( Pic. ac . gr. xc to alcohol three ounces) diluted with one quart of water is used. The clothing is removed and the burnt surface cleansed with the solution and absorbent cotton. Blisters are opened but the epithelial covering is carefully preserved. If extensive, the whole surface may be bathed with the solution, and strips of sterilised gauze soaked and applied to entirely cover it, a layer of absorbent cotton held with a light bandage over all. After three or four days the dressing is removed carefully after thorough moistening, as it adheres closely. The second dressing is applied as at first, and allowed to remain a week. Blackwood finds it painless, anodyne, antiseptic, preventing inflammation and suppuration and septic poisoning. It coagulates the albuminous exudation, and healing takes place under the coagulum. The staining of the hands and linen caused by the dressing can be removed by Boracic acid . Gaucher ( Sem. Méd ., May 26, 1897) has removed acute vesicular eczema by the same treatment. The skin and kidneys are intimately related, and Pic. ac . has a powerful action on the latter. Among other affections it has cured diabetes. Halbert ( Clinique , quoted H. W ., xxxiv. 542) reports this case-Mrs, C., 49, had "nervous prostration" since the shock of the loss of a child three years before. Wasting with great appetite. Intense thirst and copious urination, especially at night. Great perspiration and some jaundice. Heart flabby, mitral bruit, dyspnœa; emaciation, anæmia, exhaustion. Urine 1040, 7 1/2 per cent. of sugar and some albumen. Pic. ac . 6x six times daily. Rapid and continuous improvement followed. Kent ( H. P ., viii. 168) says Pic. ac . cures fig-warts and gonorrhœa; he was led to infer its relation thereto by its power over pernicious anæmia, which he has often traced to a gonorrhœal base. Pic. ac . is suited to dark complexioned persons, with dirty appearance about knuckles (from bile pigments); anæmic and cachectic persons; worn-out persons, overtaxed mentally and bodily. Peculiar sensations are: As if sand, or sticks, in eyes. As if throat would split. As if legs enclosed in elastic stockings; as if chest encircled in a tight band. Pricking as from needles in legs. As of a lump back of thyroid cartilage. As if stairs or ground coming up to meet him. As of ants crawling over surface. Nose-bleed accompanies heat and congestion of head. Heaviness of head alternates with emptiness. The right upper part of the body is more affected than the left, the left leg more than the right. Touch < pimples. The headache is > by binding head tightly; > by rest; lying down. < By motion; walking; raising head; sitting up; stooping; ascending stairs. < By study or slightest mental exertion. The throat is > by eating; < empty swallowing. Turning over, and turning the head < headache. < Morning; 5 a.m. nausea. Open air and cold room > headache. Work in open air = prostration. Wet weather < pains. > From cold air and water. Chilliness predominates. Lamplight, strong light, moving eye < pain in eyes. During and after micturition, burning.
The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica
Constantine Hering · The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica · 1879–91
General
Picric Acid. HC 6 H 2 (NO 2 ) 3 O.
Discovered by Hausman in 1788.
Crystallizes in bright yellow needles or scales.
Provings by Couch, N. Y. J. of Hom., 1874, vol. 2, p. 149 ; T. F. Allen, Linsley and S. A. Jones, Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 7, p. 519 .
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Brain fag , Allen, Organon, vol. 3, p. 94 ; Headache , Hale, B. J. H., vol. 36, p. 389 ; Otitis , Houghton, T. W. H. Con., 1876, p. 649 ; Boils in meatus auditorius , Houghton, B. J. H., vol. 34, p. 356, from Hom. Times, Nov. 1875, N. E. M. G., vol. 11, p. 188 ; Enuresis , Martin, Trans. H. M. S. Pa., 1883, p. 59 ; Satyriasis , Allen Hah. Mo., vol. 13 ; p. 202 ; Spermatorrhœa , Allen, Times Ret., 1875, p. 89, from N. Y. J. H., 1874, p. 412 ; Posterior spinal sclerosis , Lilienthal, N. A. J. H., vol. 24, p. 64 ; Debility , Morgan, Hah. Mo., vol. 19, p. 101 ; Nervous disorder , Jones, Hom. Times, vol. 6, p. 70.
Mind
Great indifference, lack of will-power.
Cannot collect thoughts ; quickly prostrated from using mind.
Disinclination for mental and physical work ; desire to sit still without taking any interest in surroundings.
Mental prostration after least intellectual work ; any attempt to study brings on brain symptoms anew, and develops burning along spine, with great weakness of legs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints.
Brain fag.
Sensorium
Vertigo and nausea, with intense pain in frontal region and vertex ; could not sit up ; < from raising head.
Vertigo < from stooping, walking, going upstairs.
Inner head
Dull headache in forehead or occiput, may extend down spine ; < from slightest attempt at using mind.
Severe pains in neck and occiput going up to supraorbital notch or foramen, then extending into eyes.
Headaches, with dull throbbing, heavy feeling or sharp pains ; < from study or movement of eyes ; > from rest, open air and binding head tightly.
Any attempt at using mind brings on headache and causes burning along spine.
After every severe mental effort, intense throbbing headache, < at base of brain ; often with congestion of spine, increase of sexual excitement and violent erections.
Headache of students and overworked business men, or when grief or other depressing emotions have resulted in nervous exhaustion with passive congestion ; seat of pain is in occipito-cervical region.
Brain fag in a school-teacher ; so tired after her labors can scarcely reach home ; headache completely incapacitating her for work, begins in morning on waking, increases as day advances, always > by sleep at night ; chiefly affects forehead, extending gradually to vertex and involving entire cerebrum, with constant vertigo, < from motion, mental exertion, especially schoolwork and going up-stairs ; at times intense throbbing, at others dull pressing ; always > by quiet ; pain in eyes < moving them ; with the headache sense of terrible prostration, she feels so tired ; feels > in open air, but too tired and exhausted to walk ; after walking a few yards thinks she will never reach next block, it seems so far away ; sometimes unrefreshing sleep.
Brain fag of literary or business people ; slightest excitement or mental exertion, or any overwork, brings on headache.
Congestion of head with nosebleed.
Cerebro-spinal congestion.
Sight and eyes
Sparks before eyes.
Sight dim, confused.
Has to bring objects close to eyes to see them ; everything blurred as from looking through fog.
Pupils dilated.
Dryness of eyes ; tingling and smarting, < by constant use and by lamplight ; acrid, thick matter in corners in morning.
Feeling of sand in eyes, smarting pain, acrid tears.
On waking and for an hour, feeling of sticks in eyes.
Pressure over eyes < from studying and motion, > sitting still.
Severe pain over right eye, sharp, vibrating, intermittent.
Conjunctivæ yellow.
Eyes smart and burn.
Thick matter forms in canthi.
Eye symptoms < from artificial light.
Hearing and ears
Otitis externa circumscripta, furuncle in ear ; burning sensation in external ear ; pain behind r. ear, running down side of neck.
Furuncular or circumscribed inflammation of meatus ; chronic or subacute forms ; debilitated cases with redness and localized tenderness of meatus. θ Otitis.
Furuncles in external auditory canal.
Smell and nose
Nose full of mucus ; can breathe only with mouth open.
Upper face
Papules on face, which turn into small boils.
Taste, speech, tongue
Sour, bitter taste in mouth.
Bitter taste with thirst.
Inner mouth
Saliva frothy ; stringy.
Palate and throat
Thick white mucus on tonsils.
Throat feels rough and scraped ; > from eating, < from empty swallowing and after sleep.
On swallowing throat feels sore, as if it would split.
Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting
Wants to belch but has not the power.
Sour eructations with frontal headache.
Nausea, < in morning and on attempting to rise and move about.
Nausea, < 5 A. M. and when attempting to rise.
Scrobiculum and stomach
Pressure and weight about stomach.
Hypochondria
Tendency to jaundice.
Liver full of fat granules.
Abdomen and loins
Rumbling of flatus in abdomen.
Stools and rectum
Stools : thin, yellow, sometimes oily, with much burning and smarting at anus ; prostration and ineffectual urging to stool ; yellowish-grey (like gruel).
During stool : burning, smarting and cutting at anus.
After stool : great prostration ; burning and smarting at anus.
Diarrhœa in persons exhausted by mental overwork.
Urinary organs
Kidneys congested.
Urine of abnormally high specific gravity and containing sugar ; albuminous.
Urine rich in phosphates and uric acid, and poor in sulphates and urates.
Albumen and sugar in urine.
Urine red as blood.
Dribbling after urinating.
Male sexual organs
Great sexual desire, with emissions ; emissions every other night.
Violent erections all night ; profuse seminal emissions.
Terrible erections, with restless sleep.
Overexcitement of sexual organs from irritation of cerebellum, in both sexes.
Priapism, associated with spinal disease ; erections violent, penis distended almost to bursting.
Satyriasis of three years' standing.
Impotence or weakness with irritability ; penis relaxed and shrunken ; coldness of genitals.
Spermatorrhœa.
Pregnancy. parturition. lactation
In diseases of nipples ; (locally) inflammatory symptoms cease and skin becomes tougher.
Neck and back
Heaviness in small of back.
Burning along spine and very great weakness of legs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints ; < from study.
Tired aching feeling and some burning in back and legs ; in women.
Heat in lower part of spine ; aching and dragging in lumbar region, < from motion.
Tired, aching in lumbar region on awaking.
Urine intense red ; violent, long-lasting, painful priapism ; anesthesia of legs, with a feeling as if enclosed in an elastic stocking ; chest feels as if encircled in a tight band ; pricking, as if from needles, in legs and feet ; < from least motion. θ Myelitis.
Tonic and clonic spasms ; keeps legs wide apart when standing ; looks steadily at objects, as if unable to make them out ; limbs too weak to support body. θ Myelitis.
After doing much fine work, especially at night, gradual failing of eyesight, blur before eyes ; hands became very tired, even when doing but little, and was unable to manage them skillfully ; this tired sensation was noticed first of all in hands ; sat in a chair and desired to remain very still ; on attempting to walk pressed hand upon loin and slid feet along ground, as in a paretic condition, soon becoming exhausted ; constipation ; could not read a line without becoming much exhausted ; played-out feeling of whole body ; no will or power at all ; chilliness down back, in immediate region of spine, during damp weather ; paretic condition of lower extremities ; dull and heavy headache in occiput ; bodily exhaustion with mental clearness ; sleepless at night from exhausted feeling ; as soon as he falls asleep priapisms and seminal emissions, with or without sensual dreams ; semen ejaculated too quickly during coition. θ Posterior spinal sclerosis.
Completed the cure of a case of spinal exhaustion following acute disease.
Lower limbs
Great weakness and heaviness of lower limbs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints.
Great weakness of legs, especially left, which trembles ; heavy, like lead ; lifted from floor with difficulty.
Great weakness in region of hips.
Numbness and crawling in legs, with trembling and pricking as if from needles.
Heaviness of feet, with dull frontal headache.
Great coldness of feet.
Limbs in general
Great heaviness in arms and legs, especially legs, on exertion.
Extremities cold.
Rest. position. motion
Rest : headaches > ; pressure over eyes.
Lying down : headache better.
Raising head : vertigo worse.
Could not sit up : vertigo.
Stooping : vertigo worse.
Motion : vertigo < ; pressure over eyes < ; nausea < ; aching and dragging in lumbar region ; pricking in legs worse.
Walking : vertigo < ; up hill, readily winded.
Going up-stairs : vertigo worse.
Nerves
Tired feeling : on least exertion ; all over body ; with heaviness ; excessive languor ; no desire to talk or do anything ; indifferent to everything ; is obliged to lie down ; it seems difficult to move limbs ; great muscular debility ; readily winded by walking up hill ; inclined to day-sleepiness ; poor appetite ; general sense of torpidity.
Generally "run down," owing to anxiety, loss of sleep, etc. ; left lower first and second molars had been recently filled and the gum between, in contact with the metal, became sore and painful ; inflammation extended to third molar, which was painfully loose, and also to upper jaw and auditory meatus ; a furunculoid swelling, as from lymphatic extension, appeared on the lower wall of latter, with soreness going from teeth to ear, on pressing jaws together ; dull pain in back of neck and head, due to astigmatism, returned in spite of glasses ; sexual system irritable but weak ; despondent yet enduring mood, with sensitive feelings.
Great prostration ; ears transparent ; face, neck, lips and hands of a deathlike whiteness ; three to five attacks of vomiting, coming on suddenly and without warning, ejected matter being of bright-yellow color and very bitter ; easily prostrated, slightest exertion obliging him to quit ; often the prostration caused by some little outdoor work in morning compels him to keep his bed the remainder of the day ; sometimes feels like dropping down where he is, as if he were unable to reach house ; mouth badly ulcerated ; tongue smooth, cracked, having appearance of alligator's hide ; mouth very dry ; dry feeling commencing in throat and working upward, causing him to drink often, but little at a time ; cannot double tongue ; a feeling as if tongue would crack were it not moistened ; sensation as of a lump back of thyroid cartilage ; very troublesome when swallowing ; appetite poor ; no desire for any particular kind of food, eats what is set before him ; what he eats tastes well and seems to digest well ; retires about 10 P. M. almost prostrate, but in a short time it passes away, and he quickly goes to sleep ; awakens a number of times in night to moisten tongue, but readily goes to sleep again ; when he awakens in morning feels quite strong, but this soon passes away and he dreads the day ; constipated eight months ; evacuation once in four or five days ; stool hard as a rock, sometimes bloody ; great straining, with pain during and after, easing up after a little ; head feels badly all through, but pain is on right side, extending from forehead back and in top of orbit of eye ; > in a cool room or lying down ; inclined to be drowsy ; sometimes feels as if he could sleep all day ; when walking up-stairs or up a hill has a sensation as if stairs or ground were coming up to meet him ; vertigo on rising from bed, chair or stooping position and immediately after work ; unable to retain urine, it was hot, almost scalding, but soon passed off, leaving him weak ; no erections ; scrotum lengthened, hanging down almost to knees ; penis retracted.
After a severe mental shock from a death, languor, exhaustion, feels so tired, wants to lie down and sleep all the time, which she would do if not aroused.
Neurasthenia.
Weariness progressing from a slight feeling of fatigue on motion to complete paralysis.
Paralysis from softening of cord.
Tingling of lips, formication about head and crawling, as of ants over surface.
Sleep
Sleep restless and disturbed by erections.
Time
Morning : thick matter in corners of eyes ; nausea < ; out-door work easily prostrates.
At 5 A. M. : nausea worse.
Night : sleeplessness.
Temperature and weather
Open air : headache > ; work in, prostrates.
Cool room : headache better.
Pains < wet weather. θ Locomotor ataxia.
Amelioration from cold air and water.
Fever
Chilliness followed by clammy sweat.
Useful in typhoid conditions.
Attacks, periodicity
Every other night : emissions.
Every four or five days : evacuations.
Three years : satyriasis.
Locality and direction
Right : severe pain over eye ; pain behind ear.
Left : leg trembles.
Sensations
As of sand in eyes ; as of sticks in eyes ; as if throat would split ; legs as if enclosed in an elastic stocking ; chest as if encircled in a tight band ; pricking as if from needles in legs ; as of a lump back of thyroid cartilage ; as if stairs or ground were coming up to meet him ; as of ants crawling over surface.
Pain : in eyes ; behind right ear ; running down side of neck.
Intense pain : in frontal region and vertex.
Severe pain : in neck and occiput to supraorbital notch or foramen, thence into eyes ; over right eye.
Cutting : at anus.
Dull, throbbing, heavy, sharp pains : in head.
Aching : in back.
Dull pain : in head ; in back of neck.
Smarting pain : in eyes ; at anus.
Burning : along spine ; of eyes ; in external ear ; at anus.
Heat : in lower part of spine.
Soreness of muscles and joints ; of throat ; from teeth to ear.
Pressure : over eyes ; about stomach.
Heaviness : in small of back ; in legs.
Dryness : of eyes ; of throat.
Numbness : in legs.
Played-out feeling : of whole body.
Weakness : of legs and back ; in region of hips.
Coldness : of genitals ; down back ; of feet.
Crawling : in legs.
Tissues
Restorative of a wasted and worn-out system.
Progressive pernicious anemia.
Cortex cerebri cerebellum, medulla oblongata and spinal cord were found reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, dark brown in color and loaded with shining, greasy particles.
Touch. passive motion. injuries
Binding head tightly ; headache >.
Skin
Small furuncles in any part of body, particularly in ears.
Stage of life, constitution
Man, æt. about 30 ; enuresis.
Man, æt. 35, lithographer, marked hydrogenoid constitution, father of two children ; posterior spinal sclerosis.
Man, æt. 62, weight 140 lbs. ; nervous disorder.
Woman, principal of school ; brain fag.
Relations
Compare : Arg. nitr . (headache and backache) ; Gelsem . (brain fag, occipital headache in sexual neurasthenia) ; Phos. ac . (tired feeling, exhaustion from sexual excesses) ; Phosphor . (effects of mental application) ; Petrol . (occipital headache) ; Oxal. ac . (softening of spinal cord) ; Sulphur (congestion of lumbar spine) ; Alumina (spinal pains) ; Silica (nervous exhaustion, sensitive spine).
Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica
James Tyler Kent · Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica · 1905
Mind
The weakness of body and mind is the first impression wrought upon the mind of the reader who goes carefully over this proving.
It is progressive, passing from weariness to paralysis. The evidences of softening of brain and cord are strong. He, soon becomes sensitive to heat and desires the cool air which ameliorates his head and bodily condition.
Cold air and cold bathing are grateful to him. He is sensitive to wet weather. Numbness of many parts, trembling, lassitude, heaviness, must lie down, worse from least exertion are marked features. Loss of sleep, mental, worry, mental labor, are the exciting causes of symptoms. Extreme indifference.
It is a typical brain-fag remedy with indifference and lack of will power, aversion to talk, think, or perform any mental exertion. He is quickly prostrated from the least mental work, and it brings on many complaints, such as soreness and lameness, diarrhea, burning along the spine, general weakness and heaviness of limbs and back. He loses all interest in things; becomes irritable from any mental exertion.
Head
In young school children we have a common use for this very valuable but neglected remedy. When the child begins to learn the alphabet, headaches come, and return with every repeated effort, often with dilated pupils. After every examination at school come these violent headaches. A young man at school with the following symptoms was cured promptly.
Student's headache, vertigo when remaining standing, heaviness in the head, epistaxis, dilated pupils, congestion of conjunctiva, inability to bear artificial light, loss of appetite, bitter taste in mouth, vomiting, jaundice. Vertigo from mental exertion, lameness from stooping, walking, ascending, from raising the head from the pillow, can not sit up, soon nausea comes from it.
It is often associated with the head pains, For headaches of students, teachers, professional men, and overworked business men, it is a most useful remedy. For headaches with great nervous weakness from grief and de pressing emotions, it has been often overlooked.
It has violent pain in vertex, forehead and occiput, extending down the spine with much heat. Congestive headaches. The head must be cool, it is worse from warm room, and wrapping up the head or body, and better from rest of mind and body.
The headaches often begin and increase with the day, and are better by sleep at night. The patient is wholly incapacitated in the daytime, but comfortable from rest and sleep during the night. Extreme prostration often comes with these headaches. Extreme sexual excitement often comes with the headache as with many of its "complaints," but it is not an essential concomitant.
Eyes
The eye symptoms are due to loss of tone in the eye muscles of such as are suffering from brain fag. Looking, reading We print and exertion of vision will bring on the headache and eye symptoms (Onosmodium).
Sensation of sand in the eye, smarting, acrid tears, sparks, fag before the eyes, near sighted, dim vision, objects confused, pupils dilated, severe pain over eyes. Thick mucus in eyes.
The symptoms from the eye arc worse from artificial light.
Small boils and pustules in external auditory canal.
Digestion
Eructations, abortive, sour.
Nausea in the morning worse on rising and moving about.
There is evidence of liver trouble, and the patient is jaundiced.
Rumbling in the abdomen, diarrhea from mental exertion.
Yellow, watery or thin faecal, oily stool; smarting after stool; stool like yellow cornmeal gruel. Great weakness after stool, in debilitated persons.
Urine contains sugar and albumen, Urine of high specific gravity. Urine heavy with urates, uric acid, phosphates, and poor in sulphates. Dribbling after urination. Weakness of the bladder. Great waste of phosphates.
In the proving it turns the normal sexual sphere into lust, and salacity with violent erections, especially during the night. It has many times cured these symptoms even when of long standing.
Pain in occiput and spine, heaviness of limbs and sexual excitement. Where great restlessness of feet is present the Zincum Picricum acts better. It cures impotency and spermatorrhea when the mind is unable to control the lustful state.
Burning heat in the spine from mental or physical exertion. Weakness of the spine and heaviness of the limbs, especially the lower limbs. The back is so tired that he cannot sit up erect, he must slide down in the chair or lie down. He is relieved while lying. It has been very useful in myelitis, with the weak limbs and a sensation as if body and limbs were bandaged or constricted; also with anesthesia of legs and as if he had on elastic stockings.
In locomotor ataxia where there are tormenting erections and emissions as soon as he falls asleep, Many cases of spinal weakness have been cured by this remedy.
Weakness of the lower limbs with trembling, numbness and constriction. Formication and prickling as from needles. Marked coldness of the feet. Physical exertion greatly intensifies all these symptoms after long rest he is ameliorated.
Tired after least exertion in limbs and whole body; excessive lassitude. Great muscular weakness. Sleepiness in day-time and sleepless at night, especially after mental labor.
Hand Book of Materia Medica and Homœopathic Therapeutics
Timothy Field Allen · Hand Book of Materia Medica and Homœopathic Therapeutics · 1889
General
Pure picric acid is dissolved in distilled water for the 1st centesimal dilution.
General Action
It causes a profound alternation of the blood, even disintegration of corpuscles; degeneration of the spinal cord, with paralysis, inflammation of the kidneys, etc.
Allies
Phos. ac., Petrol., (Gelsem.).
Generalities
Veins sunken, agg. left side. ▶ Bright yellow color of sclerotic, skin and urine. ▶ Trembling of all muscles. ▶ Rheumatic stitches in different parts, with muscular debility. ▶ Darting pains in various parts, extending into bones, every hour in the day. ▶ All pains lasted till 8 P.M.; P. in right side; P. agg. left side. ▶ Soreness and lameness, agg. left side, in morning when rising, with heavy throbbing pain extending from behind ears to supraorbital notch and thence into eye, with burning-throbbing pains and dilated pupils, conjunctivitis and lachrymation.
▶ Tired feeling (Pho. ac.); in morning on waking; in morning on waking, with heaviness; in afternoon on walking; at 7 P.M. when walking, legs heavy, feet tired all the evening; on least exertion; on walking; on ascending stairs; on rising from bed, with lame sensation; amel. open air; with lame sensation over whole body; with no desire on talk or do anything, indifferent to everything around me, sleepiness and desire to lie down. ▶ Numbness, with pains, as when taking cold. ▶ Aggravation between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M.; between 11 A.M. and 2 P.M.; till after 2 P.M. of symptoms of head, eyes legs and of fever; from least motion. ▶ Amelioration in afternoon and from motion, aggravation again in evening; at 7 P.M.; 11 P.M.; in open air; open air and motion; cold water and walking in open air; at rest.
Clinical
Hysteria. ▶ Neurasthenia. ▶ Extreme exhaustion at the menstrual period.
Mind
Nervous feeling, which I never have except when fever is leaving me, feeling as if about to be crushed by the bed-clothes, arms, face, tongue and forepart of brain seemed to reach to the clouds when I was going to sleep. ▶ Although enjoying the society of gentlemen the idea of marriage was unendurable. ▶ Desire to be alone. ▶ Irritable. ▶ Low spirits. ▶ Indifference, lack of will power to undertake anything (Phos.). ▶ Disinclination for mental or physical work, aversion to talking or movement, with the headache. ▶ Mental prostration after reading a little; after writing a little. ▶ Inability to collect thoughts or to study (Phos.).
Head
Aching; all day, agg. rising, amel. open air; in morning, probably from oversleeping; in forenoon, agg. afternoon; in afternoon and evening, with trembling; in evening; in evening, with thirst and heat, chiefly in temples, and burning in external ears; agg. afternoon; amel. pressure; amel. bandaging head; with heat of head; with sleeplessness till 2 A.M., after going to bed at 9; so that I did not feel able to study; peculiar, agg. motion, turning head and stooping, amel. lateral pressure; changeable, alternating between right and left temple sometimes in centre of forehead; heavy, blind, dizzy, agg. vertex and forehead, at 9 A.M., increasing till I go to bed, with fulness, feeling as if it would burst, agg. stooping, which causes vertigo, head feels too small, scalp sore to touch, sore aching in infraorbital region.
A Primer of Materia Medica for Practitioners of Homœopathy
Timothy Field Allen · A Primer of Materia Medica for Practitioners of Homœopathy · 1892
General action
Disintegration of the blood.
Degeneration of spinal cord, with paralysis.
Inflammation of the kidneys.
Generalities
A general tired feeling; feels incapable of the least effort, with lameness over the whole body and complete indifference.
Numbness and paralytic symptoms.
Mind
Loss of will power.
Disinclination for mental or physical work.
Unable to collect the thoughts.
Head
Pains, particularly in the occiput, < mental work.
Confused, heavy pain as the base of the brain, extending down the neck and spine, at times, throbbing, < mental work, with general prostration.
Ears
Buzzing and hissing in the ears, with vertigo and pain at the base of the brain.
Chronic deafness.
Urinary organs
Urine dark colored, scanty, albuminous, bloody.
Sexual organs
Violent, persistent erections day and night, at times associated with sexual desire and emissions, at others, without any sexual desire whatever.
Extremities
Heaviness, < any effort.
Weakness, < left leg.
Skin
Development of small, painful boils on the face or back of the neck or within the ears, with burning, stinging pains or itching, < night.
Fever
General tendency to coldness, especially of the extremities.
Cold, clammy sweat on the extremities.
The Mnemonic Similiad
Stacy Jones · The Mnemonic Similiad · 1904
Mnemonic names
Pic. / (Pick-Picking.) / Picket.
Verse
Picric acid,-Thine a mind
To erotic flame inclined.
And a mental status nil
To the exercise of will.
Thine an itis most severe
In the eye and in the year.
Whilst anaemic thy condition
Companied with vomiturition.
With a weight of legs like lead,
And a coldness as if dead.
Mnemonic sentences
The Picket,-Has Erotomania.
The Picket, Tare Plat, is eloping to India, with the devilish Spanish twins Crocus and Staphy.
This Picket,-Who is subject to a sense of heaviness in the legs,-Is away in China, a mourner in black.
Indications
Erotomania-Nymphomania: Pic. a., Taren., Plat., Lach., Pho., Can. I., Dul., Ver. a., Canth., Hyo., Stram., Cro., Stap. (Shameless exposure, Am. c., Hyo., Stram., Ver. a.)
Sense of heaviness in the legs: Pic. a., Alu., Apis., Chin., Mer., Rhus., Nux v., Sep. (Heavy as lead and cold, Pic. a.)