• Labour pain flying in all directions with no progress of labour
• Leucorrhoea in little girls
• Leucorrhoea preventing pregnancy
• Habitual abortions due to want of uterine tonicity and leucorrhoea
• Rheumatic affections of small joints with intermittent, spasmodic, erratic pains

Source: Vegetable kingdom
Synonyms: Blue cohosh, Papoose root
Family: Berberidaceae
Prover: Dr W. Burt
Duration of Action: Not definite
Miasmatic Background: Psora as a background
Diathesis: Rheumatic and gouty
Temperament: Nervous
Thermal Relationship: Chilly patient

Introduction and History: Caulophyllum ‘Blue cohosh’ is closely related to Cimicifuga. It has only had one proving, that by Dr Burt, the majority of indications having been derived from tradition and clinical experience. Caulophyllum’s special sphere in labour is :

1. When pains do not come regularly.
2. When they disappear from exhaustion.
3. When they are too painful.
4. Nash regards ‘internal trembling’ as a strong characteristic when associated with the weakness; he has cured long continued passive haemorrhage associated with other symptoms with this remedy.

Preparation and Parts Used: It is prepared by tincture or trituration of the root.

Constitution and Physiognomy: Suits women during pregnancy, parturation and lactation, having moth spots on the face and forehead with drooping of eyelids.

Ailments From: Childbirth, miscarriages.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): It mainly acts on the female reproductive organs, locomotor system, muscular system, joints, central nervous system, brain, etc.

Physio-pathological Changes (Pathology)

1. It acts upon the cerebrospinal system, affecting especially the female generative organs through the motor and sentient nervous system.
2. Through the spinal nerves it has a special action upon the muscular system and small joints – metacarpal, tarsal, metatarsal and all the phalangeal joints.
3. It especially affects the uterine motor nerves, so as to cause painful contractions, menorrhagia and metrorrhagia.
4. It causes passive haemorrhage; an oozing from the lax uterine vessels from debility of the excito-motor nerves of the uterus.
5. It causes articular, inflammatory rheumatism of the small joints in women.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Patient is fretful, irritable and apprehensive.
2. He is nervous, excitable, easily displeased.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

Rheumatism: Indicated in rheumatism of women, especially of small joints. Erratic pains changing place every few minutes; painful stiffness of affected joints.

Pains: Pains are intermittent, paroxysmal, spasmodic. Indicated in chorea, hysteria, epiplepsy at puberty, during establishment of menstrual function.

Leucorrhoea: There is acrid, exhausting leucorrhoea in little girls with heavy eyelids, has to raise them with the fingers; preventing pregnancy.

Abortion: Tendency to habitual abortion from uterine debility.

Labour: Spasmodic rigidity of the os, delays labour, needle-like pricking pain in cervix.

Labour pains: Labour pains are short, irregular, spasmodic, tormenting, useless pains in the beginning of labour, no progress made.

Haemorrhages: Passive haemorrhages after hasty labour, want of tonicity after abortion.

After pains: After pains felt after long exhausting labour which is spasmodic across the lower abdomen; extends into the groins.

Lochia: Lochia is protracted, great atony and passive oozing for days from relaxed vessels.

Important Characteristic Features

Female reproductive organs: Weakness of the female reproductive system causing sterility or abortion in the early months of gestation. Uterine haemorrhage from inertia of the uterus. Relaxation of muscles and ligaments. Heaviness and even prolapsus. Subinvolution.

Patient is sensitive to cold and wants warm clothing. She is hysterical, fretful and apprehensive. During parturition the contractions of the uterus are too feeble to expel the contents, and they are only tormenting.

Labour-like pains during menstruation with drawing pains in thighs and legs, even feet and toes. Menses are too soon or too late. Excoriating leucorrhoea.

Rheumatism: It is indicated in rheumatism of small joints. She suffers from after pains, and they are felt in the inguinal region. Rheumatic stiffness of the back; spine is very sensitive. She is sleepless, restless and very excitable. Worse cold air, colds.

General Modalities

Aggravation: From pregnancy, suppressed menses, open air, evening, coffee.

Remedy Relationships

Incompatible: Coff.

Precedes well: Gels.

Dosage: Low potencies. From mother tincture (Pierce) to 3x (Boericke). High potencies.

Repetition: Should be repeated at short interval in emergencies. At long intervals to stop tendencies.

Therapeutic Value: After pains, Amenorrhoea, Aphthae, Bearing down pains, Breast pains, Chloasma, Cholera morbus, Chorea, Dysmenorrhoea, False conception, Feet disorders, Gonorrhoea, Hand disorders, Infertility, Labour pains – abnormal and false, Leucorrhoea, Menstrual disorders, Miscarriages, Ovarian neuralgia, Pityriasis, Pregnancy disorders, Premature labour; Rheumatic gout, Rheumatism, Uterine atony, Uterine Spasms.