Sepia Officinalis

General

SEPIA. [Sepia] Ink of Cuttlefish. Hahnemann. Mollusks.

Mind

► Weak memory. ► Heavy flow of ideas. ► Inability for mental activity. ► Fits of involuntary weeping and laughter. ► Aversion to one's occupation. ► Sadness about one's health and her domestic affairs. ► Dread of being alone. ► Anxiety : with fear, flushes of heat over the face ; about real or imaginary evils. ► Antagonistic states ; imagines what he does not want to ; uses wrong words knowing them to be so, etc. ► Great indifference even to one's family, to those one loves best. ► Is easily offended and inclined to be vehement. ► Great irritability alternating with indifference. ► Greedy, miserly. ► Great excitability in company. ► Restless, fidgety. ► After overexertion of the mind, as with book keepers, etc.

Sensorium

► Stupefaction of the head. ► Momentary attacks of giddiness when walking in open air or while writing. ► Congestion of blood to the head. ► Heaviness of the head.

Inner Head

► Paroxysms of hemicrania, stinging pain from within outward, in one (mostly left) side of head or forehead with nausea, vomiting and contraction of pupils ; worse in-doors and when walking fast ; better in open air, and when lying on painful side. ► Boring headache from within outward, forenoon till evening, feels as if he would die ; worse from motion and stooping ; relieved by rest, when closing eyes, from external pressure, and sleep and when enough has been had. ► Shooting pains in-out, especially over left eye, extorting cries, with vomiturition. ► Pressing or bursting headache as if eyes would fall out, or head burst, worse from stooping, motion, coughing or shaking the head ; continued hard motion relieves headache. ► Pulsating headache in cerebellum, beginning in morning, lasting till noon, or sometimes till evening ; aggravated from least motion, when turning eyes, when lying on back ; better when lying on side when closing eyes when at rest and in dark room. ► Beating : in head ; in occiput. ► Headache, with aversion to all food.

Outer Head

► Involuntary jerking of head backward and forward, especially forenoons and when sitting. ► Fontanelles remain open, with jerking of head pale, bloated face, stomacace, green, diarrhoeic stools. ► Sensation of coldness on vertex, worse when moving head and stooping ; better when at rest and in open air. ► Disposition to take cold from dry cold wind, or getting head wet. ► Sweat on head smelling sour, with faintish weakness in evening before sleep or in morning. ► Violent itching, like from insects, on occiput or behind cars. ► Eruption on vertex and back part of head, dry, offensive stinging, itching and tingling, with cracks ; feeling sore when scratching. ► Sensitiveness to roots of hair, worse in evening, to contact, to cold North wind, when lying on painless side, burning after scratching. ► Falling off of the hair.

Eyes

► Dulness of sight ; also when writing ; sees only one-half of the object clearly, the other half is obscured. ► Many black spots before eyes. ► Green halo around candle light. ► Great sensitiveness of eyes to light of day. ► Prickling in eyes, evenings from candle-light. ► Yellow color of whites of eyes. ► Lachrymation, morning and evening. ► Burning in eyes in morning. ► Inflammation of eyes, with redness of white ; stitching and pressure in eyes. ► Follicular conjunctivitis, worse in summer ; eyelids will close. ► Redness of eyelids, with styes on them. ► Nightly agglutination of eyes, or dry scurf on the eyelids on waking. ► Pustules on cornea, also fungus haematodes. ► Acne-like pustules on edges of lids ; the latter feel tight. ► Painful heaviness of upper lids on awaking.

Ears

► Oversensitiveness to noise, particularly music. ► Humming in ears, followed by loss of hearing. ► Stitching in ears. ► Discharge of thin matter from ear. ► Much itching in affected ear. ► Tetters on lobe of ear, behind ears and in nape of neck. ► Stitches in parotid glands which swell, with tensive pain in turning the head.

Nose

► Great sensitiveness to odors. ► Loss of smell, or fetid smell before the nose. ► Epistaxis, also during pregnancy and with hemorrhoids. ► Fluent coryza sneezing, early morning. ► Dry, worse left nostril. ► Swollen, inflamed nose ; nostrils sore, ulcerated and scabby. ► Blowing of large lumps of yellow-green mucus or yellow-green crust with blood, from the nose. ► Painful eruption on tip of nose.

Face

► Small red pimples on forehead ; rough forehead. ► Face : pale, yellow. ► Yellow saddle across nose ; yellow spots on face ; yellow around mouth. ► Tetters around mouth, with itching of face. ► Swelling of under-lip, soreness, burning pain and a pricking as of a splinter in lip ; or, ulcers covered with large thick scurfs ; corrosive ichor oozes from under the scabs ; epithelioma. ► Inflammation and swelling of one side of face, from the root of a decayed tooth. ► Intermittent prosopalgia, with congestion of eyes and head, jerking pains, like electric shocks upwards.

Lower Face

► Swelling of submaxillary glands.

Teeth

► Toothache : drawing in upper molars ; in a hollow tooth, extending to ear ; throbbing ; stitching. ► Early decay of the teeth. ► Teeth feel dull. ► Swelling of gums, dark-red, painful, bleeding from slightest touch. ► Gums painful, as if burned.

Tongue, Etc

► Taste : bitter ; saltish ; putrid or offensive. ► Food tastes too salt. ► Tongue painful, as if sore or scalded ; vesicles ; white-coated.

Mouth

► Offensive smell from the mouth. ► Profuse flow of salt saliva ; yet throat is very dry.

Throat

► Pain in throat, as if raw, when swallowing ; also stitching and scraping from empty deglutition. ► Inflammation of throat, worse on left side. ► Sensation of a plug. ► Much mucus in throat. ► Hawking of mucus in morning.

Desires And Aversions

► Canine hunger ; or, no appetite, nothing tastes good. ► Aversion to food, particularly meat. ► Desire for vinegar ; also for wine. ► Thirstlessness ; or, much thirst in the morning.

Eating And Drinking

► During and immediately after eating the pains are renewed or aggravated. ► After eating : eructations ; empty or bitter tasting ; hiccough. ► After drinking milk : 20. From acids : 28.

Nausea And Vomiting

► Eructations : frequent with efforts to vomit ; bitter ; sour ; taste like rotten eggs. ► Heart-burn, extending from stomach to throat. ► Nausea : after eating, also in morning fasting ; from smell of food ; when riding in a carriage. ► Vomiting : of bile and food in morning of milky fluid ; during pregnancy.

Stomach

► Sensitiveness of pit of stomach to touch. ► Painful sensation of emptiness in stomach and abdomen. ► Pressure in stomach, as from a stone ; after eating. ► Pain in stomach after the simplest kind of food. ► Cramp in stomach. ► Stitches, or burning in stomach. ► Beating in pit of the stomach. ► Twisting in stomach and rising in throat, tongue becomes stiff, speechless, afterward the body may become rigid. ► Hardness in pyloric region.

Hypochondria

► Stitches : in region of liver ; also, when riding ; in left hypochondrium ; better lying on painful side.

Abdomen

► Colic : with great distention and sensitiveness. ► Rumbling in abdomen, especially after eating. ► Abdomen puffed up. ► Pot-belliedness of mothers. ► Brown spots on abdomen.

Stool, Etc

► Diarrhoea : jelly-like stools, with colic and tenesmus of green mucus ; sour smelling ; debilitating ; worse after drinking milk, especially if boiled. ► Unsuccessful urging to stool, only wind and mucus passes ; sensation of lump in rectum. ► Stool insufficient, retarded, like sheep-dung. ► Pain in rectum during and long after stool ; hard, knotty, insufficient stool, mixed or covered with mucus ; involuntary straining. ► Sense of weight in anus, not relieved by evacuation. ► Discharge of blood with stool. ► Pain in rectum extending to genitals. ► Heat, burning and swelling of anus. ► Almost constant oozing of moisture from rectum. ► Soreness between the buttocks.

Urine

► Urging to urinate from pressure on bladder. ► Frequent micturition, even at night. ► Involuntary discharge of urine at night, especially during first sleep. ► Mucous discharge, periodical, not at each micturition ; sometimes pieces of coagulated mucus clog up urethra. ► Urine : turbid, with sediment of red sand ; blood-red, with white sediment and a cuticle on the surface ; very offensive, with much white sediment ; with dark brown admixture. ► Smarting in urethra, when urinating. ► Difficulty of urinating, especially in morning ; a feeling as if drops came out of the bladder, which is not the case. ► Gleet no pain ; discharge only during the night, a drop or so, staining the linen yellowish.

Male Sexual Organs

► Increased sexual desire, with weakness of the genitals ; profuse sweat, especially on the scrotum ; itching around the genitals. ► Emissions, also after onanism. ► Semen watery. ► After emission, burning in forepart or urethra, languid and drowsy, sensitive to damp air. ► During coition, insufficient erection and but little thrill. ► After coition, great weakness in the knees.

Female Sexual Organs

► Pain in uterus, bearing down comes from back to abdomen, causes oppression of breathing, crosses limbs to prevent protrusion of parts. ► Stitches, or shooting, lancinating pains mostly in neck of uterus, go up to umbilicus and pit of stomach. ► Prolapsus : of the uterus ; of the vagina ; with constipation. ► Induration of neck of uterus. ► Dropsy of uterus. ► Tenderness of female parts to touch. ► Coition painful to women. ► Menses : too early and too profuse even with mania ; too late and too scanty ; suppressed. ► Metrorrhagia during climacteric age ; or, during pregnancy, especially fifth and seventh months. ► Amenorrhoea at the age of puberty or later. ► Redness, swelling and itching eruption on inner labia. ► Leucorrhoea : yellow or greenish water ; like pus ; of bad-smelling fluids, accompanied by much itching in genital organs.

Pregnancy

► Soreness of abdomen of pregnant women ; feel the motions of child too sensitively. ► Abortion after the fifth month. ► Offensive, excoriating lochia. ► Bleeding and soreness of nipples, preceded by itching. ► Nipples crack very much across the crown.

Larynx

► Hoarseness : with tickling in larynx and bronchi ; with coryza and dry cough from titillation in throat. ► Sensation of dryness in larynx. ► Roughness and soreness of larynx and throat.

Breathing

► Oppression of chest and shortness of breath when walking. ► Severe oppression toward evening. ► After emotions of mind, loses breath and gets palpitation.

Cough

► Dry cough : especially evening in bed, till midnight, frequently with nausea and bitter vomiting ; during sleep, without waking ; from tickling in larynx, or, in bronchi, toward morning. ► Cough every evening, not ceasing until he coughs loose a little phlegm. ► Paroxysms of spasmodic cough resembling whooping-cough, excited by tickling in chest, from larynx to the stomach ; daytime without, morning with expectoration of yellow, green or grey pus, or, of a milk white, tenacious mucus, generally of saltish taste. ► Cough and coryza, with sneezing, commences every morning before getting out of bed, and lasts until 9 A.M. ► Irritation to cough so sudden and violent can scarcely inhale at all. ► Cough worse : when at rest ; when lying on left side ; from acids. ► Coughs phlegm loose, but cannot get it up. ► Expectoration profuse, purulent, offensive, green, tasting salty only in morning ; of blood while lying down.

Lungs

► Sensation of emptiness in chest. ► Great pressure on chest, more left side. ► Stitch in left side of chest and scapula, when breathing. ► Sensation of soreness in middle of chest. ► Chest symptoms relieved by pressing on chest with hand.

Heart And Pulse

► Palpitation of heart after emotions of mind. ► Interruption of the beating of the heart most after dinner ; alarmed ; quivering motion. ► Wakes up with violent beating of the heart. ► Palpitation, with anxiety about things which happened years ago. ► Congestion of blood to chest, with violent palpitation of heart. ► An occasional hard "thump" of the heart.

Outer Chest

► Brown spots on chest.

Neck And Back

► Pain in back and small of back, particularly with stiffness, improved by walking. ► When stooping, sudden pain in back as if struck by a hammer, relieved by pressing back against something hard. ► Weakness in small of back when walking, generally from disease of the uterus. ► Belching relieves pain in back.

Upper Limbs

► Humid tetter in arm-pit. ► Pains as from dislocation, in shoulder-joint, after exertion. ► Lameness and falling asleep of arms and fingers. ► Drawing in arms down to fingers. ► Bruised pain in arms. ► Herpes on elbow (scaling off). ► Stiffness in wrist-joint. ► Heat in hands during day, with nervous excitement. ► Cold hands even in warm room, and from hands chill through whole body. ► Skin on palms peels off. ► Itch and scabs on hands, soldier's itch. ► Panaritium with violent beating and stitching pains. ► Painless ulcers on tip of fingers ; or, on the joints.

Lower Limbs

► Coxagra, with lancinating stitches, must get out of bed for relief ; pains worse from rising, but better from slow walking. ► Sciatica, better during pregnancy ; pains 3 to 5 A.M., veins swollen. ► Lower limbs go to sleep, when walking. ► Icy-coldness of lower limbs. ► Swelling of limbs and feet, worse when sitting or standing, better when walking. ► Swelling of knee, soft, painless. ► Cracking in knee-joint. ► Sensation of running as from a mouse, in lower limbs. ► Coldness in legs and feet, especially in evening in bed, when the feet get warm, the hands get cold. ► Burning, or, heat of the feet at night. ► Feet swollen, with sensation as if fallen asleep. ► Profuse sweat of feet ; or, sweat of unbearable odor causing soreness of toes. ► Tension in tendo-achillis, also swelling of the tendon. ► Sciatica becomes chronic, localizing in the heel. ► Ulcer on the heel.

Limbs In General

► Stiffness of joints. ► Arthritic pains in joints. ► Jerking and twitching of head and limbs, during the day. ► Limbs go to sleep easily, after manual labor. ► Weakness of joints, especially the knees. ► Patient fears the joints cannot beat the exertion of lifting.

Position, Etc

► Rest : 3, 4, 27. Lying on painful side : 3 ; on painless side : 4 ; on left side : 27 ; on back : 3.Sitting : 4, 33. Standing : 33. Rising : 33. Stooping : 3, 4, 31.

Motion

3, 40. Exertion : 32, 40. Walking : 2, 3, 26, 31, 33, 36, 40. Stretching : 36. Kneeling : 36. Legs crossed : 23. Writing : 2. Shaking head : 3. Moving head : 4. Turning head : 6. Closing eyes :

Nerves

► Restless, fidgety. ► Hysterical spasms. ► Sensation of ball in inner parts. ► Jerking and twitching of head and limbs. ► Spasms in buttocks in bed, at night, when stretching out the limb. ► Twitching of limbs during sleep. ► A short walk fatigues much. ► Paralysis, with atrophy. ► Fainting : after getting wet ; from riding in a carriage ; while kneeling in church.

Sleep

► Great sleepiness in daytime or too early in evening. ► Frequent awaking from sleep without cause or because he thinks he has been called. ► Talks aloud during sleep. ► Awakens in morning at 3 o'clock and cannot go to sleep again. ► Wakeful, sleeplessness from rush of thoughts. ► Restless sleep.

Time

► Morning : 4, 5, 7, 13, 14, 16, 21, 27. Forenoon till evening : 3. Morning and evening : 5. Evening : 4, 5, 19, 26, 27, 33, 38, 40. Evening till midnight : 27. Night : 21, 27, 33, 36. 3 A.M. : 37. Day : 27, 32, 34, 37, 40.

Temperature And Weather

► Warm room : 3, 32. In bed : 27, 33, 46. Open air : 2, 3, 4, 40. Cold winds : 4. Damp air : 22. Getting wet : 4, 36.

Chill, Fever And Sweat

► Want of natural bodily warmth. ► Shuddering during the day, without chill. ► Chilliness evening in open air, and from every motion. ► More thirst with the chill than with the heat. ► Heat with attacks of chilliness, with thirst. ► Intermittent fever, with thirst during the chill. ► Flushes of heat from least motion ; or, as if hot water was poured over him, then sweat, weakness, faintness. ► Heat ascends. ► Morning-sweat after awaking, profuse. ► Sweat, more when walking and from the least exertion. ► Sweat more after a nervous shock and when sitting quietly after exertion. ► Night-sweat : on chest, back and thighs ; from above downward on the calves, every third night ; smelling sour ; offensive ; or, like elder blossoms.

Sides

► Right : 18. Left : 3, 7, 13, 18, 27, 28. Within outward : 3. Below upward : 23, 40. Above downward : 32, 40. ► Pains extend from other parts to the back.

Sensations

► Sensation of a ball in inner parts. ► Tingling in outer parts. ► Excessive sensitiveness to pain.

Tissues

► Bad effects from loss of fluids. ► Painless swelling of the lymphatic glands. ► Erysipelas, generally pustulous. ► Arthritic affections of the joints. ► Crippled nails.

Contact, Injuries, Etc

► Touch : 4, 10, 17, 23. Pressure : 3, 28, 31. Scratching : 4. Riding : 18, 36.

Skin

► Itching in face, on arms, hands, back, hips, feet, abdomen and genitals. ► Itching often changes to burning, when scratching. ► Soreness of the skin ; humid places in bends of knees. ► Brown ; or, claret-colored, tetter-like spots. ► Humid tetter, with itching and burning. ► Vesicles, itching, followed by abundant desquamation. ► Ringworms ; boils ; pustules ; pemphigus. ► Ulcers : painless, on joints or tips of fingers or toes ; itching, stinging and burning.

Stages And States

► Especially suited to persons with dark hair ; for women, and particularly during pregnancy, in childbed, and while nursing.

Relationship

► Sepia is frequently indicated after : Pulsat., Silic., Sulphur. ► Antidotes to Sepia ; Its action is reduced by vegetable acid ; the most powerful antidote, is inhalation of Spir. nitr. dulc. ; less powerful Ant. crud. or Ant. tart. ; when the circulation is much excited, Acon. ► Sepia antidote : Calc. ostr., Cinchon., Mercur., Phosphor., Sarsap., Sulphur, Rhus-poisoning (with desquamation). ► Incompatible : Laches.