• Nocturnal aggravation of all complaints
• Violent linear pain
• Craving for alcohol in any form
• Leucorrhoea – profuse, soaking through the napkin and running down to the heels

Source: A nosode
Synonyms: Syphilitic virus, Lueticum
Prover: Dr Swan, Dr Skinner, Dr Thomas Wildes, Dr E.B. Nash, Dr H.C Allen, Dr J.T. Kent
Miasmatic Background: Syphilis as a background

Introduction and History: It is called the ‘queen of antisyphilitic remedies’.

Preparation: Trituration is prepared from the syphilitic virus and higher potencies are prepared from 3c.

Constitution and Physiognomy: Suites patients who have had chancre treated by local means and as a result have suffered from throat and skin troubles for years.

Ailments From: Sun, damp weather, thunderstorms.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): It mainly acts upon the mucous membranes, nerves and bones.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Patient is hopeless; has despair of recovery.
2. Patient is antisocial, has horrid depression.
3. Patient is cross, irritable, peevish.
4. Feels as if going insane or being paralysed.
5. Feels as if he is not himself and he cannot feel like himself, with apathy and indifference to the future.
6. Patient has an impulse to wash hands.
7. Patient has terrible dread of night.
8. Patient does not remember faces, names, events, places, etc., but remembers everything previous to his disease.
9. Patient is very nervous, laughs or weeps without cause.
10. Patient does not want to be soothed.
11. Nocturnal delirium. Syphilitic insanity.
12. Patient has an aversion to company; is sad and lamenting.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

Periodicity: Pains from darkness to daylight. Pains increase and decrease gradually shifting and require frequent change of position.

Eruptions: Eruptions are dull, red, copper coloured spots, becoming blue when getting cold.

Extreme emaciation: Of the entire body.

Heart: Lancinating pains from base to apex, worse at night.

Leucorrhoea: Profuse, soaking through the napkins and running down to the heels.

Headache: Neuralgic in character, causing sleeplessness and delirium at night; commencing at 4 pm; worse from 10 to 11 pm and ceasing at daylight.

Hairfall: There is falling of hair.

Acute ophthalmia neonatorum: Lids are swollen, adhere during sleep; pain intense at night, worse from 2 to 5 am; pus is profuse, better by cold bathing.

Ptosis: Paralysis of superior oblique muscle of eyeball; sleepy look from drooping lids.

Diplopia: One image seen below the other.

Decayed teeth: Teeth are decayed at the edge of gums and break off; are cupped, edges are serrated; dwarfed in size, converge at their tips.

Craving: Patient craves for alcohol in any form.

Hereditary tendency: Hereditary tendency to alcoholism.

Obstinate constipation: A very useful medicine for obstinate constipation since years; rectum seems tied up with strictures; when enema was used the agony of passage was like labour.

Rectum: Useful for fissures in anus and rectum; prolapse of rectum; obstinate cases with a syphilitic history.

Rheumatism: It is useful for rheumatism of the shoulder joint, or at insertion of deltoid; worse from raising arm laterally.

Syphilitic tendency: It is suited to syphilitic patients, chancres which have been treated by local means and as a result have suffered from throat and skin troubles for many years.

Important Characteristic Features

Constipation: A very useful medicine for obstinate constipation for years; rectum seems tied up with strictures; when enema was used the agony of passage was like labour. It is useful for fissure in ano and rectum; prolapse of rectum; obstinate cases with a syphilitic history.

Menstrual troubles and leucorrhoea: A useful medicine for irregular menses. Menses have a putrid, meat-like odour. Mammae are sensitive to touch, feel sore during menses and at other times. Leucorrhoea yellow, offensive, acrid; so profuse that it soaks through napkins and runs to the heels; with ovarian pain; in sickly nervous women; with itching of the genitals.

Bone affections: Valuable remedy for syphilitic bone affections. Useful medicine for osteosarcoma; in centre of tibia. Itching eruptions about elbows. Cold pain in legs. Festination. Bones pain as if sawed. Bilateral exostoses, sore and painful. Shin bones painful, better by pouring cold water on them. Patient cannot sit on low chair or squat. There are affections of the middle finger.

General Modalities

Aggravation: Night, sunset to sunrise, damp, extreme heat or cold, every alternate full moon, during thunderstorms, in any position, motion, raising arms laterally, squatting, winter, summer, seashore, protruding tongue.

Amelioration: Continued or slow motion, changing positions, high altitudes, applied heat, during the day.

Comparison

Thinks he is going crazy: Cimic, Syph.

Pains increase and decrease slowly: Stann, Syph.

Dosage: 200 to higher potency.

Repetition: Bears repetition well after a weak in 200 potency. Single dose of CM in chronic cases.

Therapeutic Value: Acute ophthalmia neonatorum, Anal fissures, Caries and depression of nose, Dental troubles, Hairfall, Hodgkins disease, Inflammation of cornea, Insomnia, Leucorrhoea, Lupus of face, Paralysis of lids, Syphilis.