• Sudden loss of memory
• Headache relived by eating
• Great desire to curse and swear
• Lack of confidence
• Patient has fixed ideas

Source: Vegetable kingdom
Synonyms: Marking nut
Family: Anacardiaceae

Introduction and History: This heart shaped nut was known to our ancients for mental diseases like nervous disorders, loss of memory, etc. Abuse of this nut is known to cause madness. Indians ate this nut with much relish after removing its outer rind and roasting it on the fire.

Ailments From: Bad effects of mental excitement, excessive utilization of brain for purposeless thoughts, emotions, anger, fright, care, sedentary habits, examination, mental exertion, over study, consequences of mortifications, suppressed eruptions.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Fixed ideas.
2. Hallucinations; THINKS HE IS POSSESSED BY TWO PERSONS OR WILLS. Anxiety when walking, as if pursued.
3. Profound melancholy and hypochondriasis, with TENDENCY TO — USE VIOLENT LANGUAGE. BRAIN FAG.
4. IMPAIRED MEMORY.
5. ABSENTMINDEDNESS. VERY EASILY OFFENDED.
6. Malicious; seems bent on wickedness. Lack of confidence in himself or others. Suspicious (Hyos).
7. Clairaudient, hears voices far away or of the dead.
8. Senile dementia. Absence of all moral restraint.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

• The Anacardium patient is found mostly amongst neurasthenics; such as have a type of nervous dyspepsia, relieved by food.
• IMPAIRED MEMORY, depression and irritability; diminution of senses (smell, sight, hearing).
• Syphilitic patients often suffer with these conditions. Intermittency of symptoms.
• Fear of examination in students.
• Weakening of all senses, sight, hearing, etc.
• Aversion to work; lacks self-confidence; irresistible desire to swear and curse.
• SENSATION OF A PLUG in various parts like – eyes, rectum, bladder, etc.: also of a band.
• Empty feeling in stomach; EATING TEMPORARILY RELIEVES ALL DISCOMFORT. This is a sure indication, often verified.
• Skin symptoms are similar to Rhus-t, and it has proved to be a valuable antidote to Poison oak.

Important Characteristic Features

1. Head: Vertigo. Pressing pain, AS FROM A PLUG; worse after mental exertion, in the forehead, occiput, temples, vertex; BETTER DURING A MEAL. Itching and little boils on scalp.
2. Eyes: Pressure LIKE A PLUG on the upper orbit. Indistinct vision. OBJECTS APPEAR TOO FAR OFF.
3. Ears: Pressing in the ears as from a plug. Hard of hearing.
4. Nose: Frequent sneezing. SENSE OF SMELL PERVERTED. Coryza with palpitation, especially in the aged.
5. Face: Blue rings around eyes. Face pale.
6. Mouth: Painful vesicles; fetid odour. Tongue feels swollen, impeding speech and motion, with saliva in the mouth. Burning around lips as from pepper.
7. Stomach: Weak digestion with fullness and distention. EMPTY FEELING IN STOMACH. Eructation, nausea, vomiting. EATING RELIEVES THE ANACARDIUM DYSPEPSIA. Apt to choke when eating or drinking. Swallows food and drinks hastily.
8. Abdomen: PAIN AS IF A DULL PLUG WERE PRESSED INTO THE INTESTINES. Rumbling, pinching and griping.
9. Rectum: Bowels inactive. INEFFECTUAL DESIRE; RECTUM SEEMS POWERLESS, AS IF PLUGGED UP; spasmodic constriction of sphincter ani; even soft stool passes with difficulty. ITCHING AT ANUS; MOISTURE FROM RECTUM. Haemorrhage during stool. Painful haemorrhoids.
10. Male: Voluptuous itching; increased desire, seminal emissions without dreams. Prostatic discharge during stool.
11. Female: Leucorrhoea, with soreness and itching. Menses scanty.
12. Respiratory: Pressure in chest, as from a dull plug. Oppression of chest, with internal heat and anxiety, driving him into open air. Cough excited by talking, in children, after a fit of temper. Cough after eating with vomiting of food and pain in the occiput.
13. Heart: Palpitation, with weak memory, with coryza in the aged; stitches in the heart region. Rheumatic pericarditis with double stitches.
14. Back: Dull pressure in the shoulders, as from a weight. Stiffness at the nape of the neck.
15. Extremities: Neuralgia in thumb. Paralytic weakness. Knees feel paralyzed or bandaged. Cramps in calves. Pressure as from a plug in the glutei. Warts on palms of hands. Fingers swollen with vesicular eruptions.
16. Sleep: Spells of sleeplessness lasting for several nights. Anxious dreams.
17. Skin: INTENSE ITCHING eczema with mental irritability; vesicular eruptions; SWELLING, urticaria; eruptions like that of Poison oak (Xero, Grin, Crot-t). Lichen planus; neurotic eczema. Warts on hands. Ulcer formation on forearm.

General Modalities

Aggravation: On application of hot water.

Amelioration: From eating, when lying on side, from rubbing.

Remedy Relationships

Follows well: Plat, Puls, Lyc.

Antidotes: Rhus-t.

Antidoted by: Grin, Coff, Jug-r, Rhus-t, Eucal, Crot-t, Ran-b.

Compare: Rhus-t, Chel, Xero.

Comparision

Anacardium occidentale (Casheppnut): Erysipelas, vesicular facial eruptions, anaesthetic variety of leprosy; warts, corns, ulcers, cracking of the skin on soles of feet.

Cereus serpentina: Swearing.

Potency: 3x, 6x, 12x, 30, 200, 1000.

Therapeutic Value: Amnesia, Brain disorders, Brain weakness, Constipation, Delusions, Dementia, Dyspepsia, Eczema, Fears, Hallucinations, Headache, Haemorrhoids, Hearing disorders, Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, Insanity, Lichen planus, Mental disorders, Neuralgias, Neurasthenia, Phobias, Poison ivy, Senile dementia, Skin affections, Urticaria, Vomiting, Warts, etc.