Comparing materia medicas
Here are a few examples of the same remedy from two different materia
medicas. Following each are some questions which require the use of Boericke's
materia medica, the most popular one today.
Vermeulen
(1992) – Phos
Region
Outlines
body organs, systems and sides affected.
Modalities
Worse:
LYING ON [LEFT or painful side; BACK]. SLIGHT CAUSES {EMOTIONS; talking; touch;
odours; light], COLD [HANDS [in water]; open air]. WARM FOOD. Salt. Puberty.
Weather [sudden changes; windy; cold;
thunderstorms]. Morning and evening.
Mental fatigue.
Better:
Eating. Sleep. Cold [food;
water; water to face]. Rubbing [mesmerism]. Sitting up. Lying on the right
side. In the dark.
Leading
Symptoms
- M
– Extroverted, expressive, AFFECTIONATE and SYMPATHETIC.
- M
– Too OPEN and easily IMPRESSIONABLE. Sensitive to ALL EXTERNAL IMPRESSIONS.
Sensitive to surroundings/atmosphere. May be clairvoyant.
- M
– Easily distracted. Suggestible. Quick perception.
- M
– Full of FEARS and ANXIETIES: darkness, twilight, death, alone, ghosts,
future, health, diseases, about others, thunderstorms.
- M
– “Quickly prostrated by unpleasant impressions” [Boger]
- G
– Usually CHILLY, may be warm. <COLD in general.
- G
– Cold air > the head and face symptoms, but < those of the chest,
throat and neck.
- G
– Strong craving for COLD drinks, ICE CREAM and SPICY food.
- G
– Great THIRST, especially for water.
- G
- > Rubbing [3]. > Magnetism [3].
- G
- > SLEEP, even SHORT sleep.
- G – Weak, empty, all gone sensation [head, stomach, chest, ABDOMEN].
- G – COLD WATER [desire + amel.]
- G – BURNING pains; local; in small spots. Burning heat up the back.
- G – Sensation of HEAT when eating WARM food [3].
- G – Acuteness of senses during headache [especially of SMELL]; can even think better during headache[due to rush of blood to head].
- G - < LYING on LEFT SIDE [especially palpitation and cough]. <Lying on BACK [3].
- G – HAEMORRHAGES [ecchymosis, epistaxis, bleeding gums, apoplexy, prolonged bleeding of small wounds]
- G – Ravenous hunger; nightly [waking from hunger]; preceding attacks [e.g. headache].
- G – Tendency to hypoglycemia [skipping a meal = headache, weakness and trembling].
- G – too RAPID GROWTH in children.
- P – HEAT of HANDS [seeks a cold place in bed for relief; puts them out of the covers].
- P – Vertigo & hot head or rush of blood to head.
- P – Descending nasal catarrhs [= hoarseness, cough, bronchitis, etc.].
- P – cough < change of temperature.
- P – Goiter & palpitation.
- P – Burning between scapulae.
Reverse index of symptoms found in MacRepertory.
Food
Aversions, desires, worse and better foods and drinks.
Nucleus
- Too open and impressionable [sensitive to all external impressions; acute senses];
sympathetic – lots of fears and anxieties.
- Cold drinks
[desire + amel.]
- Burning heat [hands; up the back] and pains [local; in small spots]
- < Lying on left
side.
- > Sleep, even
short sleep [cat naps].
- Craving for highly
seasoned food and ice cream.
Exercise
What similar symptoms does Vermeulen have to Boericke for
Phosphorus?
Describe a person by profession, daily routine, possible
presenting symptoms, habits, physical form, etc. that would have a high
possibility of needing Phos.
What relationships are there in the symptom picture of Phos that
make sense to you?
Jouanny (1984) – Phos
Pathogenetic action
The
pathogenetic action of Phosphorus
includes both toxicological and experimental symptoms.
the toxicological symptoms,
which are caused by acute or chronic intoxication, are mainly lesional. By means
of the blood and the circulatory system, phosphorus affects all of the
parenchymatous tissues and most particularly the hepatic, pulmonary, and renal
parenchyma. It then attacks cardiac muscle. In all of the above parts it causes
intense congestive phenomena with hemorrhaging and (secondarily) fatty
degeneration.
the experimental symptoms, which
are obtained by administering infratoxic doses, are mainly functional, general
or psychic and may essentially be seen in a particular sensitive type.
Typology
The
sensitive type is a longilineal, tall thin, slender individual with a narrow
chest and a tendency to stoop.
He
tends to look sickly and his features are drawn. His skin is pale and sallow.
He
may also be an adolescent who is tired out from having grown too quickly and
traumatized by emotional upsets which deeply affect him due to his sensitive,
enthusiastic and generous nature.
It
has also been observed that most longilineal individuals are particularly
sensitive to phosphorus and its salts while undergoing experimentation or
therapy. For this reason, longilineal people are sometimes referred to as
“phosphoric constitutions” (see the various Calcarea).
Psychologically,
the Phosphorus type is
-
Hypersensitive with excessive sensory acuity: to light, noise, smells.
-
Full
of anxiety. He is deathly afraid of storms
but is also afraid of solitude, diseases, and death. His anxiety is worse
at dusk.
-
Sentimental. He prefers company to solitude and is very interested in other people.
He is talkative (Lachesis,
Paris quadrifolia) if people are friendly to him but his emotional nature
makes him shy.
He quickly becomes enthusiastic but just as quickly becomes disgusted. His pace of life is quick and irregular. Because of a lack of physical
energy which also causes him to be psychologically depressed, he tends to be productive
in stops and starts.
This
alternation between excitement and depression in an emotional
individual who is prone to sexual excess as well as to over-zealous work when he
is doing well, is just as characteristic of the longilineal or “phosphoric”
constitution as the slow, continuous, repetitive pace of life is of the
brevilineal or “carbonic” constitution.
Characteristic
symptoms
Aggravations,
improvements, causalities, sensations, likes and dislikes.
Main clinical indications
Similar to pathogenetic action which this follows from.
Indications related to toxicological symptoms
These
are
-
Hemorrhagic
conditions
- Conditions
involving hepatic degeneration (hepatitis
and cirrhosis).
- Non-tuberculous
pulmonary congestive centers.
- Degenerative
renal conditions.
- Certain
cardiac conditions.
Discussion
of each follows…
Indications
based on experimental symptoms.
Exercise
What is Jouanny interested in when dealing with the symptom
picture?
What symptoms are stronger here than in Boericke when dealing
with the mentals and generals?
