• Ravenous hunger; eats freely yet loses flesh
• Forgetful; what is to be spoken or done
• Brain feels as if stirred around with a spoon, must keep in motion, day and night
• Bitter taste of solid foods, not drinks (Tyler)
• Constipation, relieved by cold milk
• Wedge-like pains from ovary to uterus

Source: Mineral kingdom
Synonyms: Iodine
Group: An element
Formula: I
Prover: Dr Samuel Hahnemann
Duration of Action: As per Dr Clarke, 30 to 40 days
Miasmatic Background: Psora, sycosis, syphilis
Diathesis: Scrofulous
Thermal Relationship: Hot patient

Introduction and History: Iodine tincture is an allopathic skin disinfectant. Ioduretted solution of Kalium iodatum is said to expel tapeworms, dead. Locally, it is an effective and easily managed microbiocide. The most prominent feature of action of Iodium is its power of causing absorption. It is this power which has made this drug such a favourite amongst old school practitioners as a paint in all kinds of swellings.

Preparation: Tincture is prepared by saturation of the crude drug. One part of iodine is dissolved in ninety nine parts of alcohol. From this dilution potencies are prepared.

Constitution and Physiognomy: It is specially suited to persons of dark hair and complexion; dark yellow, tawny skin. Suitable to overgrown boys with weak chest and to aged persons.

Ailments From: ill-effects of nervous shock, disappointed love.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): It has fifteen special centres of action as follows: Glandular system including thyroid and salivary glands; mammae, ovaries, testicles, uterine glands, lacterals, lymph, pancreas, liver, kidneys, mucous membranes, skin, serous membranes, blood and arteries.

Physio-pathological Changes (Pathology)

1. Through the organic nervous system, iodine acts upon the glandular system causing hypersecretion and atrophy of glands.
2. It acts on the mammae producing increased secretion and complete atrophy of mammae.
3. Also acts on uterine glands causing increased secretion and atrophy of
   uterine glands.
4. Acts on ovaries in women and testicles in men causing over stimulation and then their atony and atrophy.
5. Acts on the salivary glands causing salivation without foetor.
6. Acts on the pancreas producing hypersecretion followed by atrophy and loss of function of pancreas.
7. Acts on the liver producing over stimulation, atrophy, emaciation and jaundice.
8. It acts on the kidneys producing tubular nephritis and albuminuria.
9. Acts on mucous membranes producing congestion, inflammation and mucorrhoea.
10. It acts on the skin producing acne-like nodes, urticaria, eczema and anasarca.
11. It acts on serous membranes producing plastic inflammation, effusion.
12. Acts on blood producing anaemia and increased fibrin in blood.
13. Acts on arteries producing prolonged arterial spasm.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Anxiety felt both mentally and physically.
2. State of anxiety is attended with a thrill that goes throughout his frame unless he removes it by motion or change of position.
3. While attempting to keep still, he is overwhelmed with impulses – impulses to tear things, to kill himself, to commit murder, to do violence.
4. He cannot keep still, so he walks night and day.
5. Insanity threatens, or the graver forms of disease are threatening.
6. There is great excitement, anxiety, impulses, melancholy; patient wants to do something, wants to hurry, has an impulse to kill.
7. Forgetfulness; patient is forgetful, cannot remember the little things, they pass out of mind. Forgets what he was about to say or do; goes off and leaves packages he has purchased.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

Ravenous hunger

(i) Ravenous hunger, patient eats freely and well, yet loses flesh all the time.

(ii) Suffers from hunger, must eat every few hours. Becomes anxious and worried if he does not eat. While eating, after eating stomach feels full.

Weakness: Great weakness and loss of breath on going upstairs, during menses.

Itching: Itching low down in the lungs, behind the sternum, causing cough; extends through the bronchi to the nasal cavity.

Croup

(i) It is a useful remedy for membranous croup with dry cough, hoarseness, worse in warm, wet weather, with wheezing and sawing respiration.

(ii) Child grasps the larynx, face is pale and cold especially in fleshy children.

Eructations: Empty eructations from morning to night; as if every particle of food was turned into air.

Constipation: Constipation with ineffectual urging, better by drinking cold milk.

Palpitations: Palpitations worse from least exertion.

Sensation as if: There is sensation as if the heart was squeezed together, as if grasped with an iron hand.

Hypertrophy: Hypertrophy and induration of glandular tissue like thyroid, mammae, testes, uterus, prostate and other glands.

Breast: Breasts may dwindle and become flabby.

Hard goitre: Hard goitre in dark haired persons; feels better after eating.

Leucorrhoea: Acrid, corrosive leucorrhoea, staining and corroding the linen, most abundant at time of menses.

Cancer: Cancerous degeneration of the cervix, cutting pains in the abdomen and haemorrhage at every stool.

Important Characteristic Features

Glandular system: It is a very useful remedy for the affections of the glandular system of the body. Hypertrophy runs through this remedy. There is enlargement of the liver, spleen, ovaries, testes, lymphatic glands, cervical glands and of all glands except the mammary glands. Mammae dwindle while all other glands become enlarged, nodular and hard.

This enlargement of glands is especially observed among the lymphatic glands of the abdomen – the mesenteric glands. The mesenteric glands can be felt as knots. A peculiar feature of Iodium is that while the body withers, the glands enlarge. The glands grow in proportion to the dwindling of the body and the emaciation of the limbs. Glands under the arms, in the groin and in the belly are enlarged and hard.

Leucorrhoea: It is useful for uterine leucorrhoea with swelling and induration of the cervix. Uterus enlarged, tendency to produce menorrhagia. Leucorrhoea reddening the thigh; it is thick, slimy and sometimes bloody. Chronic leucorrhoea, most abundant at the time of menses, rendering the thigh sore and corroding the linen.

Cough: It is a useful medicine for cough which is violent. Patient has grave and severe difficulties of respiration. Dyspnoea with chest symptoms. Croupy, suffocative cough in delicate constitutions.

Nasal catarrh: It is a very useful medicine for the catarrhal condition of the nose. Patient has loss of smell; the mucous membrane of the nose is thickened. Patient takes cold on the least provocation.

Patient is always sneezing, which is accompanied by a copious watery discharge from the nose. Ulceration in the nose with bloody crusts; blows blood from the nose. The nose is stuffed up so he cannot breath through it. This increases every time he takes cold. The mucous membrane of the nose is constantly in a state of ulceration.

Throat affections: There is a tendency to exudation. White velvety, grayish-white or pale ash coloured exudations in the throat, all over the mucous membrane of the nose and all over the pharynx. The pharynx seems to be lined with the velvety, ash-coloured exudation. With these throat symptoms, tendency to ulceration has a wide range of usefulness in throat affections. It is useful in enlargement of tonsils when tonsils are studded with exudations. Enlarged tonsils in hungry, withered patients. They are subject to quinsy.

Stomach affections: An Iodium patient has ravenous hunger, cannot be satisfied, must eat every few hours and feels better after eating. Also has great thirst. All the complaints of Iodium are increased by fasting. Indigestion from overeating.

Food tastes sour, patient is troubled with sour eructations, with much flatulence, with belching, with undigested stools, with diarrhoea, watery, cheesy stools and he digests less and less. The digestion becomes more and more feeble until he digests almost nothing of what he eats, and yet the craving increases. He vomits and diarrhoea comes on; thus he increasingly emaciates, because it is like burning the candle at both ends. Articles of food act as foreign substances to disorder his bowels and stomach. Worse fasting. Better after eating.

Jaundice and glandular affections of the abdomen: Liver and spleen become enlarged after repeated or progressive gastric derangements. The patient becomes jaundiced. The stool is hard and lumpy, and white or colourless, or clay coloured, sometimes soft and pappy. There seems to be little or no bile in it. This stage gradually increases until hypertrophy of the liver comes on. Finally, the abdomen sinks in revealing this enlargement of the liver and the enlarged lymphatic glands. These are knotty and hard as in tabes mesenterica.

It is indicated in the tubercular condition of mesenteric glands with diarrhoea, emaciation, great hunger, great thirst, withering of mammary glands, dried beef-like or shrivelled appearance of the skin and sallow complexion. It is a very useful remedy in chronic morning diarrhoea of emaciated children.

Male sexual organs: There is incontinence of urine in old people. Iodium is especially suited when testes have dwindled, when there is impotency. Flowing of semen with dreams. Loss of sexual instinct or power with an irritated state. An erethism of sexual instinct. Testes are enlarged and hard, indurated and hypertrophied. Orchitis.

General Modalities

Aggravation: By warmth, wrapping up the head.

Amelioration: By eating.

Remedy Relationships

Complementary: Lyc, Bad.

Follows well: Merc, Hep, Ars.

Antidotes: Merc.

Followed well by: Arg-n, Calc, Merc, Phos, Puls.

Comparison

Fasting aggravates: Croc, Iod.

Dosage: It acts in all potencies, from lowest to highest.

Repetition: Bears repetition well. Repeat only when symptoms call for it.

Therapeutic Value: Brain atrophy, Cancer, Chilblains, Chyluria, Coryza, Cough, Debility, Diabetes, Diarrhoea, Emaciation, Enteric fever, Galactorrhoea, Goitre, Haemorrhoids, Headache, Hiccough, Hydrocephalus, Infertility, Iritis, Jaundice, Laryngitis, Melancholia, Ozaena, Seborrhoea, Tabes mesenterica, Tuberculosis, Vomiting, Worms.