Pulsatilla Pratensis

This is not only one of , the easiest of drugs to realize and learn, but it is also one of Hahnemann's Polycrests, or " drugs of many uses". In its provings it establishes symptoms on every part of the body and may be prescribed on its striking mental and peculiar symptoms.

Hahnemann says, " This very powerful plant produces many symptoms on the healthy, which often correspond to the morbid symptoms commonly met with." Hence the smallest homoeopathic medicine chest, even one of a dozen remedies only, invariably contains Pulsatilla.

He says that " this, like all other medicines, is most suitably employed when not only the corporeal affections correspond but also when the mental and emotional alterations peculiar to the drug encounter similar states in the disease to be cured, or at least in the temperament of the subject of treatment ".

Therefore "Pulsatilla will be the more efficacious when the patient exhibits a timid, lachrymose disposition, with a tendency to inward grief and silent peevishness, or at all events a mild and yielding disposition, especially when the patient in normal health was good-tempered and mild (or even frivolous and waggish)."

" Pulsatilla is especially adapted," he says, " for slow phlegmatic temperaments ; and little suited for persons who form their resolutions with rapidity, and are quick in their movements, even though they may appear to be good tempered."

He tells us : " It acts best when there is a disposition to chilliness and adipsia. It is particularly suitable for females when their menses come on some days after their proper time ; especially also when the patient must lie long in bed at night before he can get to sleep, and when the patient is worse in the evening." " Useful for ill-effects from eating pork." He suggests the 30th potency.

Chilliness ! . . . One looks upon Pulsatilla as one of the " warm remedies ". But it has produced and cured chilliness, as we shall see when we go through its black letter symptoms. Among other things, it has chilliness in a warm room.

Pulsatilla hates and abominates warm rooms and stuffy rooms. Of all remedies it is the one that craves the open air.

Two of Pulsatilla’s great characteristics are, better from slow movement " (like Ferr.) and " better in the open air "

One remembers that Pulsatilla cured distressing headaches in a man, who only found relief from " walking about on the Common at night " ; they were only tolerable during motion, in the cool air. Pulsatilla is not one of the drugs " better lying " !

With Pulsatilla, walking relieves vertigo, toothache, sticking pains in stomach and liver, bruised pain in back and knees. While open air relieves vertigo, pains in head, eye symptoms, fluent coryza, toothache, cough, etc., etc.

But Pulsatilla cannot afford to get wet. This may mean colic, attacks of mucous diarrhoea, suppression of urine, ovaritis, metritis, suppressed menses, rheumatism. Cold air, yes : cold dry air : but not wet cold ! Thus we see that drugs have all the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of mortals — and therefore are able to cure them, where these agree.

Pulsatilla has a very wide range of action : but the mental symptoms, and the " modalities ", these peculiar distinguishing symptoms, must agree.

For instance, a case of severe erysipelas in a woman who had had frequent attacks, was cured in a couple of days by Pulsatilla, because her symptoms would not allow of any other drug being prescribed.

And a recent case of terrible skin disease, that had resisted all treatments elsewhere, and came to our hospital as a last hope, is curing rapidly — is practically cured — after a few doses of Pulsatilla. Others of our doctors will tell of cases of psoriasis wiped out by Pulsatilla, . . . and so on. It is a great skin medicine — symptoms agreeing.

An interesting case was one of severe asthma of eight years' duration, attacks every fourteen days, confining her to bed, with absolutely and entirely Pulsatilla symptoms, " Irritable ; changeable ; laughs and cries easily ; fear of the dark : of death.

Suspicious ; loathes fat, and dreams of cats." Pulsatilla has all these symptoms in the highest type, and has caused dreams of cats ! Pulsatilla in high potency was given in September, 1929, and again in January, 1930, for " a threat ". She was seen a few days ago : she has remained well ever since. If one could always get such clear cut indications, prescribing would be indeed easy. This woman, after eight years of asthma, had actually only two attacks soon after her first dose of Pulsatilla.

A severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, one remembers, in hospital some years ago, utterly helpless and crippled, could hardly move arms, and they were useless ; but among her symptoms, she craved cold, open air, and liked a cold wind to blow upon her. Pulsatilla enabled her to put hands up ; behind her ; and in time she got onto her feet : and went out a different woman and with a very different manner of life before her.

Remember, it is not the disease but the drug, that matters, and it must match, in its mentality, and its strange, rare, and peculiar symptoms, those of the individual with that disease.

Hahnemann says, " The occurrence of symptoms on only one-half of the body is a frequent peculiarity of Pulsatilla." And he draws attention to many such.

One curious symptom of Pulsatilla, which would take some explaining, is that it has one-sided sweat — profuse sweat on one side of the face !

Some years ago one of the Residents at hospital was in an acute state of worry, because he was perspiring profusely one side of the face and not the other. " What had he been taking ? "" Pulsatilla " — and the symptom was looked up ; when it was realised that he was merely proving that drug.

Pulsatilla produces : " Sweat only on the right side of the body." — " Sweat only on the left side of the body." ` Heat of one hand, and coldness of the other." " Hand and foot cold and red on one side, hot on the other." " Shuddering on one side of the face...

Nux also stands in black type for sweat on one side of face. And quite a number of remedies have one-sided perspiration, notably among them Bar.c., Chin., Nux , Phos., Petrol, Puls., Sulph., Thuya .

Lycopodium, like Puls., has one foot hot and the other cold.

Thuja has a most peculiar symptom, which has led to striking cures, viz. profuse sweat on uncovered parts. Sir John Weir in his lectures quotes two such cases.

Hahnemann gives 1,156 symptoms, in all parts of the body, as produced by Pulsatilla. Allen , from further provings, adds to these, and gives 1,323 symptoms.

The following are Hahnemann's black-letter symptoms, which he considers most characteristic of the remedy. Allen gives many more of these black-letter symptoms, caused and cured by Pulsatilla, but they are almost too numerous to quote in what must be a short article this time. As said, the drug attacks every organ and tissue in the body ; and to apply it successfully one only needs to see in the patient, Pulsatilla.

Vertigo, as from intoxication.

Vertigo especially when sitting.

Heaviness of head.

Transient obscuration of sight.

Itching burning in eyes, compels scratching and rubbing.

Smarting itching on hairy scalp.

A tension of face, as if parts would swell.

Alae nasi ulcerated externally and exude watery fluid.

Epistaxis.

Flow of blood from nose with stuffed coryza.

Gums painful as if excoriated.

Tongue covered with viscid mucus, as with a skin.

Middle of tongue, even when moistened, a sensation as if it were

burnt and insensible, at night and in the morning.

Throat painful as if raw.

Sore throat : — scratchy : dry.

Dryness of throat in the morning.

Taste as of putrid flesh, with inclination to vomit.

A burnt taste in the mouth.

Bitter beer has to him a disgustingly sweetish taste.

After drinking beer, a bitter taste remains in mouth.

Dislike to butter.

Bilious eructations in the evening.

Diminished taste of all food.

Adipsia.

Frequent eructations with the taste of what has been eaten.

Sensation of sickness in epigastric region, especially after eating and drinking.

Inclination to vomit, with grumbling and rumbling in subcostal region.

Hiccough when smoking tobacco.

In the morning in the scorbiculus cordis, aching and drawing pain.

Immediately after supper flatulent colic : flatulence rumbles about painfully, especially in upper part of abdomen.

The .flatus is discharged with cutting pain in the abdomen in the morning.

Bellyache as if diarrhoea must ensue, and yet there only occurs a good natural stool.

Bellyache after the stool.

Frequent urging to go to stool.

Frequent soft stool mingled with mucus.

Stools consisting of nothing but yellowish-white mucus, mingled with a little blood.

Quite white stool.

Frequent call to urinate.

The urine dribbles away when sitting and walking.

Itching, smarting inner and upper part of prepuce.

In the morning on awaking excitement of the genitals and desire for coitus.

Sneezing.

Coryza.

Nocturnal dry cough, which goes off by sitting up in bed, but returns on lying down (Hyos.).

Expectoration of blood.

Shooting pain in nape.

Heaviness of legs by day.

He moves about in his sleep.

Sleeplessness from ebullition of blood.

He starts up in affright in his sleep.

At night he wakes up frightened and confused, not knowing where he is, and cannot rightly collect himself.

Chattering in his sleep.

Yawning.

Chilly feeling with trembling, which recurs after some minutes, with little heat thereafter and no sweat.

External warmth is intolerable to him, the veins are distended.

Anxious heat as if hot water were thrown over him, with cold forehead.

Palpitation of the heart with great anxiety so that he must throw off the clothes.

Hypochondriacal moroseness : takes everything in bad part.

Everything disgusts, is repugnant to him.

Breaks out into weeping.

Fretful : irresolute : trembling anxiety, relieved by motion.

Morose : ill-humoured : discontented : fretful.

Mothers come to hospital, " cannot think what is the matter with the child: it is so grizzly lately ".

Pulsatilla generally cures.

Among other peculiar and characteristic symptoms of Pulsatilla that must be noticed, are the following. We will run through Kent's great lecture, quoting . . .

" The Pulsatilla patient is an interesting one found in any household where there are plenty of young girls.

She is tearful, plethoric, and generally has little credit for being sick from her appearance : yet she is most nervous, fidgety, changeable, easily led and easily persuaded. While mild, gentle and tearful, yet she is remarkably irritable — extremely touchy — feels slighted ; sensible to every social influence.

Melancholia, sadness, weeping, despair, religious despair, fanatical ; full of notions and whims ; imaginative : extremely excitable.

She imagines the company of the opposite sex a dangerous thing to cultivate. . . . These imagination., belong to eating as well as to thinking.

They imagine that milk is not good to drink, so will not take it.

That certain articles of diet are not good for the human race.

Aversion to marriage is a strong symptom. . . . Religious freaks . . . misuses and misapplies the Scriptures to his own detriment, , . . thinks he is in a wonderfully sanctimonious state of mind, or that he has sinned away his day of grace. . , . . Tearful, sad and despondent, ameliorated walking in the open air, especially when it is crisp, cool, fresh and bright.

" Aggravations from fats and from rich foods-worse for fat, pork, greasy things, cakes, pastry and rich things. The Pulsatilla stomach is slow to digest. .

" Can't breathe in a warm room wants the windows open ; chokes and suffocates in a warm bed at night. . . .

Kent contrasts the Chamomilla and the Pulsatilla child (with pains in ears). In Chamomilla you have a snapping and snarling child, never pleased, scolds the nurse and mother, ameliorated by walking about.

The irritability decides for Chamomilla. You can detect a pitiful cry from a snarling cry. Both are ameliorated by motion, by being carried. Both want this and that and are never satisfied ; they want amusement. But the Pulsatilla child when not amused has a pitiful cry, and the Chamomilla child a snarling cry. You will want to caress the one and spank the other. . . ."

" Pulsatilla is one of our sheet anchors in old catarrhs with loss of smell, thick yellow discharge, and amelioration, in the open air ; in the nervous, timid, yielding, with stuffing up of the nose at night and copious flow in the morning. .

" Pulsatilla has wandering pains, rheumatism goes from joint to joint, jumps around here and there ; neuralgic pains fly from place to place ; inflammations go from gland to gland."

Here is the characteristic changeableness of Pulsatilla, carried from the mental to the physical sphere.

But Kent says that Pulsatilla, " though it jumps around, does not (like some drugs) change to a new class of disease, so that the allopathic physician can say, as of the Abrotanum patient, ' This is a new disease to-day.' "

With Pulsatilla, as said, digestion is slow.

And Kent says : " A striking feature here is, he never wants water.

Dry mouth, but seldom thirsty.

Craves ice cream, pastries, things which make him sick."

A picture of Pulsatilla that one has gradually evolved is :

Not hungry.

Not thirsty.

Not constipated.

Weepy : can't tell symptoms for tears.

Changeable ; and will laugh the next moment.

Very responsive to sympathy.

Like " Phosphorus ", fears : — alone — in the dark — in the twilight — in the evening. (Pulsatilla is worse in the evening.)

Great fear of insanity.

Imaginative : jealous ; suspicious.

Chilly, yet worse for heat.

Craves open air.

Craves movement, if in pain, mental or physical.

Pulsatilla is a great medicine for measles for chilblains where they are unbearable when hot (Agaricus, when cold).

The classical description of Pulsatilla is, " sandy hair, blue eyes, pale face, easily moved to laughter or to tears ; affectionate, mild, timid, gentle, yielding disposition, inclined to be fleshy ".

But cases wholly atypical may, by their symptoms, demand, and be cured by Pulsatilla.