Staphisagria

HAHNEMANN , Materia Medica Pura, in his introduction to the provings of Staphisagria , says :

"It is just to the most powerful medicines in the smallest doses that we may look for the greatest curative virtue in the most serious diseases of peculiar character for which this and no other medicine is suitable.

" For these reasons I anticipated a great treasure of curative action in the most peculiar diseases from Staphisagria ; and these reasons led me to make careful trial of it on healthy subjects. Thus, curative virtues have been elicited from this medicinal substance which are of infinitely greater value than its power to kill lice ! (the only medicinal property the ordinary quackish medical art knew' it to possess) — curative virtues which the homoeopathic practitioner may make use of with marvellous effect in rare morbid states, for which there is no other remedy but this."

He says this seed got its name as an exterminator of head vermin. That a certain physician, when suffering from toothache, took some of it in his mouth, but it gave him such a violent exacerbation that he thought he should go mad. " What enormous power must not this drug possess ! "

It is in this little preface he writes, " Now, as our new and only true healing art shows by experience that every drug is medicinal in proportion to the energy of its action on the health, and that it only overcomes the natural disease by virtue of its pathogenic power provided it is analogous to the latter ; it follows that a medicine can subdue the most serious diseases the more injuriously it acts on healthy human beings, and that we have only to ascertain exactly its peculiar injurious effects in order to know to what curative purposes it may be applied in the art of restoring human health.

Its power, be it ever so energetic, does not by any means call for its rejection ; nay, it makes it all the more valuable ; for, on the one hand its power of altering human health reveals to us all the more distinctly and clearly the peculiar morbid states which it can produce on healthy human beings. so that we may all the more surely and indubitably discover the cases of disease in which it is to be employed similarly (homoeopathically), and therefore curatively.

Whilst, on the other hand, its energy, be that ever so great, may be easily moderated by appropriate dilution and reduction of dose, so that it shall become only useful and not hurtful, if it is found to correspond in the greatest possible similarity to the symptoms of the disease we wish to cure."

The keynote to Staphisagria is its peculiar mentality, " Complaints that come from pent-up wrath : suppressed anger : suppressed feelings. Speechless from suppressed indignation . . . he controls it, and then suffers from it . .a Staphisagria patient when he has to control himself, goes all to pieces, trembles from head to foot, 'loses his voice, his ability to work, cannot sleep, and a headache follows." Thus, graphically, KENT .

As one has seen : when an officer, after the strain of the Great War, comes out of it with a feeling that he has not been fairly treated, that he has not received due recognition ; and his health suffers, and month after month he cannot get himself together, till a dose of Staphisagria , with its hidden magic effect ; — and health improves, to his great astonishment. He wonders what that marvellous medicine could have been.

Staphisagria also affects the eyes, and especially the lids. It has a great reputation for recurrent styes, and for styes that leave induration, and for scurfy margins to the lids. Also for injuries to the eyes : — for clean cuts, as in operations : for stretched sphincters, with the agonizing pain that ensues, — as when a hospital patient, after operation on the anus, was in such pain and distress that a male nurse had to be arranged for to keep him in bed.

Luckily the R.M.O. knew his work, and fetched a dose of Staphisagria : and came back an hour later, to find patient and watcher both asleep. These things, once realized, are never forgotten. They are more rapid, and more satisfactory than morphia, since they are curative. Not merely a drugging, till, as is hoped, the worst of the suffering will be over.

Staphisagria is one of the drugs that greatly affects the teeth . Useful where teeth turn black as soon as erupted : and the first teeth quickly decay (comp. Kreos .) : or in toothache with such exquisite tenderness that no liquid even, to say nothing of the tongue, must touch the teeth.

It is also a skin medicine : " Eczema : yellow acrid moisture oozes from under the crusts; new vesicles form from contact of exudation. Humid, itching, fetid eruption on head and behind ears : — scratching changes the place of itching, but increases oozing."

Black Letter Symptoms

( Hahnemann and Hering , chiefly :)

Weakness of memory ; when he has read something, after a few minutes he remembers it only dimly, and when he thought about anything for himself, it soon after escaped him, and after long reflection he could hardly recall it.

Indifference, low-spirited, dullness of mind.

Children are ill-humoured and cry for things which after getting they petulantly push or throw away ( comp. Cham. ) : worse early morning.

Great indignation about things done by others, or by himself ; grieves about consequences.

Ailments from indignation and vexation, or reserved displeasure ; sleeplessness.

Aching, stupefying pain, in HEAD , especially in forehead.

As if brain compressed, especially forehead, with roaring in ears which goes off sooner than headache.

Feels as if occiput were compressed inwardly and outwardly.

Heaviness of head ; hard pressure in head, right temporal bone and vertex.

Pressive pain in left temple outwardly and inwardly, as if the finger were strongly pressed on it.

Pressive boring stitch, left forehead, from within outwards, its violence wakes him from sleep in the morning.

Sharp, burning needle-pricks in left temple.

Obtuse shooting in right temple, outwardly and inwardly, as if the bone would be pressed out : more violent when touched.

Painful drawing externally on several parts of head, more violent when touched.

Itching papules on nape.

Very dilated pupils for many hours.

Blepharitis, margins of lids dry, with hardened styes or tarsal tumours.

Styes, nodosities, chalazoe on eyelids, one after another, sometimes ulcerating.

Pressure on upper lid : smarting sore pain in the inner canthi. ( Hahnemann adds footnote " in a man who had never had anything the natter with his eyes in his life " ) .

Inflammation of white of eye, with pains.

The eyes are excessively deeply- sunk, with blue raised borders — as after great excesses.

Tensive stitch in left ear.

Tearing and tugging from head down through cheeks into TEETH .

Burning, sharp shooting in left cheek : must scratch.

Teeth turn black, or show dark streaks.

Gums ache.

Gums bleed when pressed, or when brushing teeth.

While eating, tearing in gums and in the roots of lower molars.

Much toothache : — in decayed teeth : in a whole row of teeth ; during menses, shooting into ear.

Worse cold drinks and touch, not from biting ; from drawing in cold air ; after eating.

Toothache when eating : teeth are not firm, but when touched waggle ; when eating, feels as if teeth were pressed deeper into gums, and the same when the two rows of teeth only touch one another ; but the gums are white.* [[ Hering gives a cured case. " Prosopalgia in an old lady, made life unendurable ; on touching spoon or fork to lips inexpressible pains shot from lips over face ; fluid food had to be oaten with fingers ( sir. ) , could take no solid food, mastication impossible." ]]

Tickling pricking in right lower molars.

Rough throat.

Constant accumulation of mucus in mouth, without bad taste.

Frequent hiccough.

Adipsia : drinks less than usual.

After indignation, cardialgia.t

Colic, after indignation : after lithotomy ; with urging to stool : or urging to urinate and squeamishness. < food and drink.

Flatulence becomes displaced in hypogastrium.

Hard painful pressure in right ABDOMEN below navel.

Pinching stitch in abdominal viscera.

Violent, twisting about, pinching pain in whole abdomen, now in one part, now in another.

Hot flatus ; much flatus is developed. [[" After indignation, aster becoming angry, ail sorts of complaints." Comp. Chamomilla, Colocynth. ]]

Itching needle-pricks in renal region.

Costiveness.

With the feeling as if flatus would be discharged, a thin, unnoticed stool occurs.

Itching in anus while sitting, independent of stool.

Frequent call to URINATE , when very little dark urine is discharged.

Call to urinate ; scarcely a spoonful passes, mostly reddish or dark yellow in a thin stream, or by drops, and after he has passed it always feels as if the bladder were not empty, for some urine continues to dribble away.

On awaking from sleep, pressure on the bladder.

Every time water is passed, burning in the whole urethra.

Violent drawing burning stitches out of right inguinal ring, as if in the spermatic cord as far as right testicle.

Aching pain in left testicle, when walking, and whenever rubbed ; the pain is more violent on touching it.

Effects of onanism or sexual excesses. Seminal emissions followed by great chagrin and mortification : prostration : dyspnoea.

Frequent sneezing without coryza — or with.

Coryza : at first blows only thick mucus from nose, afterwards thin discharge.

Adhesive mucus lies in his CHEST .

At top of sternum, immediately below pit of throat, itching, fine, sharp pricks : must scratch.

Tightness in chest at end of coitus.

Pricking itching between the cartilages of the ribs. .

Sharp stitches in region of fourth costal cartilages of right and left sides, intermitting . . . they penetrate slowly from within outwards, without relation to respiration.

Itching pricks in both axillae.

Pains like dislocation in right shoulder joint, only on moving.

Obtuse shooting pains, shoulder joint, < moving and touched.

Violent aching pain in left shoulder joint, not > motion.

Paralytic aching pain left upper arm, < touch and motion = arm weakened.

Paralytic pressure on both upper and forearms, < by motion and touch.

Paralytic drawing pain in proximal joints of fingers : < by movement.

Fine twitching tearing in muscles of thumb, and several fingers ; especially in their tips.

Deep, itching, burning, sharp needle-pricks in thumb, must scratch.

Feeling of a hard skin drawn over finger-tips left hand : little feeling in them, and loss of sense of touch.

Prickling itching muscles of buttocks : on inner sides of thighs.

When walking, pain in thighs.

Drawing shooting, or obtuse stitches in knee joint < movement.

On touching, stitches change into an aching pain.

Burning shooting under left knee, outer side : ( ? ) in paroxysms.

Boring stitch in right tibia, when at rest.

Tearing in muscles of one or other leg : shooting under and in right calf and above left heel.

Pricking itching just above right outer ankle.

Must scratch.

Drawing pains here and there in the muscles of the whole body.

Itching, sharp pricks on various parts of the body.

Pain in all the bones.

Weak in body, especially knees when walking.

Violent yawning, so that tears come into eyes.

Drowsiness in afternoon, so that eyes close.

Amorous dreams and seminal emissions.

In the night often wakes with chilly feeling, but cannot properly collect himself.

Shivering and chilly feeling when eating, without thirst. Indisposed for serious work.

Incised wounds.

And stretched sphincters should be added.

And Hahnemann seems to lay far more stress on the action of Staphisagria on joints and limbs than his followers have done : though Hering gives, " Stiffness and sense of fatigue in all joints : arthritic nodosities on joints." But, in joint troubles with the Staphisagria mentality, one should consider the remedy : especially wherever its outstanding characteristic " worse from touch " occurs. Chamomilla , so like Staphisagria in mentality, is also often neglected where it would be so useful in rheumatic affections.

But Cham . cannot keep still, especially at night. The wretched pains in limbs keep the patient awake, and jerking, and perhaps up and pacing the floor. Whereas the Staphisagria pains are unbearably worse from touch.

Who has used Staphisagria for instance in rheumatoid arthritis ? Here, from its provings, it ought to be useful, where its mental outlook prevails ; mental symptoms being in " the grading o` symptoms " the most important, provided they are marked, and especially if showing change, due to sickness, from the normal of the individual. But, one has observed, in some of the worst and most intractable cases of rheumatoid arthritis, just such restless misery and feeling of resentment against (at all events, fate) as appear in the provings and as have been cured by Staphisagria .

HUGHES ( Pharmacodynamics ) says : " Hahnemann was thus led to prove it ; and he found it so powerfully to affect the healthy body that he thought it likely to prove a great medicine. His pathological results have been substantiated by the active properties found to belong to the two alkaloids of staves acre ( Staphisagria ) — delphinine and staphisagrine ; but his therapeutic expectations have hardly been realized as yet.

Staphisagria , in fact, is one of those drugs which one hardly ever thinks of in connection with the treatment of the ordinary forms of disease. Every now and then, however, the consultation of a repertory leads us to choose it as the simillimum to the group of symptoms, and in time, perhaps it will attain a forward place in therapeutics ; for its provings evidence its possession of a very extensive range of influence."

Hughes also quotes different writers on its uses in sea sickness, and in the vomiting of pregnancy ; in diseases of the eyes, especially the lids ; in periostitis and the shifting pains of long bones ( Dros .) in neuralgia ; in caries. All these, especially " in those who are extremely sensitive to mental and physical impressions — as an antidote to the after-effects of Mercury and also to those of indignation and chagrin ". It also has been helpful in sexual' troubles.

Some peculiar symptoms, — " When he walks quickly he feels as if someone were following him ; this caused anxiety and fear ; and he must always look about him." Lach., Med. and a few other drugs have this Ancient Mariner sensation :

" Like one who in a lonely road

Doth walk in fear and dread,

And, having once turned round, walks on

And turns no more his head,

Because he knows a fearful fiend

Doth close behind him tread."

Another characteristic symptom is, " Inclined to throw away everything he took in his hand." This is part of the " Wants a thing, and when he gets it, throws it away." (Comp. Cham, Cina. )

As NASH says, " Staphisagria, Chamomilla, Nux vomica, Cina, Colocynth stand very close to each other for cross, ugly, irritable subjects, and there are few cases that one or the other will not fit."

And Nash draws attention to another characteristic, — he says, unique : " This remedy has a very peculiar symptom, which appeared in the provings, and which I have verified, viz. ' burning in urethra when not urinating '. While urinating the burning ceased. We have plenty of remedies for burning before, during and after urination, but Staphisagria is the only one having this burning all the time between the acts of urination."

NASH'S résumé :

Cross, ugly, scrawny, pot-bellied children ; subject to colic ; worse after food and drink. Extreme hunger even when stomach is full of food.

Styes, nodosities, chalazae on eyelids, one after another, sometimes ulcerating.

Burning in urethra when not urinating.

Very sensitive to slightest mental impressions ; least action or harmless word offends.

Bad effects of sexual abuse ; mind dwelling continually on sexual subjects.

Teeth decay early in children ; cannot be kept clean.

Sensation as if stomach and abdomen were hanging down, relaxed. Craving for tobacco.

GUERNSEY , Guiding Symptoms , sums up Staphisagria , and one sees how greatly, mentally and physically, it resembles that most sensitive of sensitive remedies — Hepar .

" Patients are so sensitive that the least action or word troubles or annoys his feelings : anger and indignation. . . .

" Worse from mental affections, from anger with indignation. "

From grief : from mortification, especially if caused by

offences.

" From loss of fluids : tobacco : mercury : sexual excesses. "

From sleeping in the afternoon.

" From touching the part, as in toothache : can't bear the tongue, drink, or anything to touch the teeth.

" From least touch on affected parts."

Among Hahnemann's symptoms, the last one reads. " Good humour ; he was cheerful and talkative in society, and enjoyed existence ." And in a footnote, he adds, " Curative secondary action of the organism, in a man of an opposite character of disposition ." Staphisagria is indeed one of the mighty remedies of warped mentality.