Cimicifuga Racemosa - General symptoms

GENERAL

General

Cimicifuga racemosa, Ell. Synonyms, Actaea racemosa, Linn; Macrotys actaeoides, Raf.; Botroflus serpentaria, Raf. (Med. Flora).

Nat. order, Ranunculaceae. Common names, Blacksnake root, Bugbane, Rattleweed.

Preparation, Tincture of the root.

(Morning), On waking, pain in head.

on getting up, dull headache.

before breakfast, pain in forehead.

on waking, at 2 o'clock, pain in forehead, etc.

after rising, pains in vertex, etc.

on rising, pain in eyeballs, etc.

after rising, coryza. dry mouth.

before eating, faintness at epigastrium.

before breakfast, pain in epigastrium, etc.

after breakfast, sense of tremor in stomach.

after rising, disposition to diarrhoea.

papescent stools. stitches in urethra.

on waking, quickened respiration.

on bending neck forwards, pain at points of spinous processes of vertebrae.

early, pain in small of back.

feeling in joints. from 3 to 5 o'clock, disturbed sleep, etc.

in bed, before rising, chilly.

soon after waking, surface cold.

(Afternoon), Depression, etc.

pain in head. dull pain in forehead.

pain in eyelid. at 4 o'clock, sneezing.

inclination to sneeze.

uneasiness in teeth. at 4 o'clock, dryness of pharynx.

sensation in stomach. towards evening, soreness, etc.

in region of tendo Achillis.

stinging of great toe.

nervous weakness. itching on hand.

chilliness. chilliness in back.

(Evening), Pain in head.

at 10 o'clock, pain in forehead, etc.

fulness in vertex. after retiring for the night, pain in eyeball.

obstruction of nostril.

stinging in nose. sore throat.

towards night, hoarseness.

at supper, no appetite.

at 10 o'clock, rumbling of flatus.

at 10 o'clock, flatulence.

disposition to diarrhoea.

dry cough. stiffness of neck.

from 8 to 9 o'clock, pain in great toe, after going to bed, jerking.

feeling of lameness, etc.

itching, etc., on hands.

drowsiness.

*Dull pain in the region of the moral organs.

a pressing outward and upward, as if there was not room enough in the upper portion of the cerebrum.

this pain was very oppressive and almost intolerable.

it began about 5 o'clock P.M., after taking the second dose, and continued unabated till morning, when it was relieved in thirty minutes by a single dose of Bryonia ^Bryonia,.

At first, dry, stuffed condition of the nostrils, which was soon followed by an open, moist condition, with great sensitiveness to the cold air, as if the base of the brain were laid bare, and every inhalation brought the cold air in contact with it.

this is exactly similar to that produced by a sudden change of weather in winter, from cold and dry to damp thawing, as by a south wind, which melts the snow,.

Itching of the dorsal surface of the left hand and wrist, particularly on the dorsal surface of the thumb, in the evening.

small red papulae first appeared, becoming, after slight irritation, a diffused redness, which disappeared in a few hours, but could be reproduced at any time by slightly irritating the surface.

this symptom gradually disappeared in a few days,.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS.

Objective.

Nervous shuddering through upper and back part of body,

Very trembling,

Tremors all over (after third dose),

After going to bed, jerking commenced on the side on which he was lying, obliging him to change his position; it began by a perceptible twitching in the left foot,

Easily fatigued, as after great exertion,

Weak, trembling, exhausted, sinking feeling, with slight nausea,

Nervous weakness, afternoon,

Prostration (during the first twelve hours),

Restlessness.

Restlessness,

Restlessness, afternoon, moving about, not knowing what to do,

Continual restlessness during the forenoon; desire to move about, not knowing where to go, or what to do,

Restless the latter part of the night,

During night, very restless,

Nervous uneasiness, during the afternoon (second day),

The general uneasiness and disturbance in the whole system was such that it was difficult to fix the attention on any subject of business or study,

Uneasy feeling, hardly amounting to pain, in all parts, principally the right side,

All day nervous, full of work, and doing it fast,

Sensibility.

Sensitiveness to cold air,

Great sensitiveness to cold air, which seemed to penetrate the system (second day),

Subjective.

Desire to lie down and close the eyes,

General feeling of weariness, weakness, and prostration, as if from over-exercise,

Feels tired,

Feels very tired,

Feels very tired and worn out (fourth day),

Feeling of exhaustion, as from over-exercise,

Sensation as if from severe muscular exercise, especially in the small of the back,

Feeling, which only those know who "spree," "court," or watch all night with the sick,

Feels bad generally (third day),

General feeling of illness,

In morning, general feeling of lameness, and many unenviable feelings, which he thinks the feeling on getting over a "spree" would hardly express, unless it was a pretty hard case,

Sick all over; so weak and trembling as not to be able to go out or study; believes the condition to be but one remove from mania-a-potu; next morning weak and trembling (after fourth dose),

Soreness and stiffness of whole body, as after hard labor,

General bruised feeling, as if sore,

Peculiar tingling in the muscles, followed by an aching pain in the limbs, from above downward,

Affects the left side most,

September 29th, 1852. Took 25 drops of the tincture at 3 P.M. At 10 A.M., next day, a dull oppressive headache came on.

pain principally in the forehead, extending along over the vertex down to the occiput. In the whole forehead the pain is very severe. On walking out into the open air, pains in the muscles of the lower limbs as from great fatigue.

felt more particularly in the anterior parts of the thighs. Great disposition to yawn. Inclined to drowse much. Sleep disturbed by dreams of accidents, seeing limbs broken, great suffering, etc.

On the following morning awoke at 3 o'clock, with severe cutting pains and great uneasiness in the lower part of the abdomen (hypogastric region), with urgent desire to go to stool. Stool very thin and partly undigested. Great uneasiness in the bowels all the forenoon, without much desire to go to stool, but a sensation as though I should be obliged to soon. Next morning awoke at 3 o'clock, with diarrhoea of thin undigested character. Pain low down in the bowels. Diarrhoea continued through the day.

stools once in four or five hours.

October 8th. At 6 A.M., dull oppressive headache came on, extending from the forehead over the vertex to the occiput.

violent pain in the whole forehead.

pain dull, with a sense of heaviness. Great dizziness. Constant disposition to yawn. Occasional shooting pains about the sides of the head, in the region of ideality and sublimity. Pulse rather accelerated. Feeling of great prostration of whole system. Appetite poor. Limbs feel excessively fatigued. Forehead dry and hot. Pains in head partially relieved by throwing head backward. At times very chilly over the entire body. Continually stretching and yawning. Great uneasiness and oppression in the epigastrium. Stomach feels greatly oppressed. On attempting to read immediately go to sleep. Disposed to get angry easily. Rather melancholy. Symptoms nearly all subsided by 2 P.M. In the evening great pain in lower part of bowels, with great fulness of the abdomen. Sensation as though diarrhoea would come on. Very bitter and disagreeable taste in mouth Very drowsy and sleepy. Slept well till 3 A.M., after that time very restless. This symptom appeared regularly every morning for two weeks.

Second, third and fourth days after 3 A.M., each day, pain in lower part of bowels, with diarrhoea of a thin, undigested character, lightish-colored. Pains in the head grew less and less severe for three or four days, and gradually subsided by the fifth. Upper lip very much swollen and inflamed for eight days. Skin cracked and came off. A small ulcer on each cheek, near the centre.

very much inflamed for several days, bleeding almost constantly. Eruption, on the hands and wrists principally, resembling mosquito-bites.

September 29th, 1852. Took 20 drops of the tincture at 9 A.M. One hour after, fluent coryza, with violent tickling in the nares, which excited sneezing, going off in about half an hour. Great drowsiness after dinner. Weakness of the knee-joints, preceded by unnatural warmth in the feet. Weakness in the lower limbs. When walking, have to proceed with great cautiousness for fear of falling. General feeling of intoxication. Dull, heavy rheumatic pains in the upper posterior region of the neck. Tearing in the centre of the vertex, in a spot about the size of a Argentum Metallicum ^silver dollar. Jerking in the muscles of the left thigh, more particularly in the region of the inferior third. Cold feeling of the left thigh and knee, as though a cold breeze were blowing on them. Stitching pain as of fine needles in the region of the heart, accompanied with slight twitching or pulsation in the external muscles of that region. Slight palpitation of the heart. Sleep imperfect.

waking at midnight. General burning and itching of the skin after rising in the morning, continuing half an hour.

It lessens the frequency and force of the pulse soothes pain and allays irritability.”

Cimicifuga racemosa. Actaea monogynia. C. serpentaria. Macrotys racemosa. Botroflus serpentaria. Black Bothrops Lanceolatus ^snake root. Black Cohosh. (Canada, Georgia, Western States of America.) N. O. Ranunculaceae. Tincture of the root. Trituration of the resinoid, Macrotyn.

One of the most marked symptoms of Actaea rac. is found in the mental sphere a sense of gloom and dejection, as if there was a black Palladium ^pall over everything.

agg. slightest motion. Peculiar sensations are as of lifting up of skull.

as if top of head would fly off.

as of a bolt through from base of skull to vertex. Inspired air seems to penetrate skull and into brain, causing a cold sensation. Intense pain in and around eyes (lancinating), agg. moving head or eyes. In cases of tinnitus aurium it has proved curative in old-school practice, in 15 to 30 drops of the tincture, whether due to direct or reflex irritation (L'Art Méd., July, 1898). In the face there is malar neuralgia, ceasing at night. There are many symptoms of disordered digestion, bad taste and breath and coated tongue.

sticky saliva, viscid mucus in throat. Sinking at epigastrium is very marked. The generative organs in the female are particularly affected by Actaea. Uterine and ovarian pains are very marked. Infra-mammary pains. Tenderness of uterine region. Pains fly across hypogastrium, extending from one side to the other. Painful and irregular menstruation. Leucorrhoea, with feeling of weight in uterus. Labour-like pains. Left ovarian pains. Given before term it renders labours easier.

head and neck retracted. There are sharp pains in chest, especially in heart region and down left arm, which is numb (Aco., Pulsatilla ^Puls., Rhus Tox ^Rhus) as if bound to the side. Palpitation from least motion. Heart ceases suddenly. A patient who was taking 6-drop doses of the Ø tincture complained of a feeling "as if his heart had stopped." The pains of Act. r. are like electric shocks here and there sharp, lancinating in various parts.

chest and uterine pains shoot from side to side. There is a general bruised feeling all over as if sore.

agg. by touch. Rest amel., motion agg. Cold air seems to penetrate the system.

is very sensitive to it. But headache is amel. in open air.

agg. in warm room. The symptoms are agg. at night (malar neuralgia amel. at night).

in the morning. Pains in arms and tendo Achillis, agg. as evening approaches. agg. During the menses. Eating amel. It is suited to the climacteric period.

to nervous persons. to children during dentition.

(Or Cimicifuga.). Black Cohosh. Jeanes. Ranunculaceae.

From its proving we can perceive that it is similar to diseased states in the human family, and especially in women, namely, hysterical and rheumatic conditions.

The patient is always chilly, easily affected by cold, sensitive to cold and damp weather, which rouses the rheumatic state and develops a state of rheumatism not only in the muscles and joints all over the body, but also along the course of nerves.

In the general nervous disturbance there is a lack of will balance, or great disturbance in the voluntary system, which is the underlying feature of hysteria, the symptoms are intermingled with rheumatism.

With the pains we have soreness all over the body. Trembling, numbness, jerking of muscles.

Inability to exercise the will over the muscles of the body, turmoil in the voluntary system, with stiffness.

Tendency to take cold and thereby she takes on sensitiveness in the glands and larger organs, such as the liver and uterus.

Complaints in these organs come on from cold damp weather (Dulcamara ^Dulcamara) and from being chilled.

The patient is sensitive to cold in all parts except the head, and is aggravated from becoming cold both in parts of the body and in general.

The headaches, however, are better in the open air and from cold, which is an exception and a particular, for the general feature is aggravation from cold.

Sits and mopes in great sadness, like Psorinum ^Psorinum and Pulsatilla ^Pulsatilla.

Cimicifuga Racemosa may pass off instantly, or be brought on and aggravated from motion, from fear, from excitement, from taking cold.

Very commonly there is muscular soreness, a bruised feeling all over, with drawing and jerking.

Cimicifuga Racemosa will let up very suddenly and leave a nervous, hysterical girl in a state of sadness, and she will sit and say nothing. When questioned perhaps she will break into tears or ex press in various ways the overwhelming sadness.

With the headache there is marked sadness. Changeable moods. The physical and the mental are all the time changing. Other symptoms alternate and change.

The jerking has made physicians see the resemblance to chorea in these hysterio-rheumatic constitutions.

The rheumatisms will change in a day into chorea, and again the choreic movements will keep on with the soreness throughout the muscles of the body.

The jerking and soreness and numbness often keep on together.

There are certain features about the chorea that should be noted. Jerking of the muscles when in a state of emotion or from becoming chilled. If any part of the body is pressed upon jerking of the muscles of that part will take place.

One of these nervous, rheumatic, hysterical subjects may not have chorea constantly, but as soon as she retires at night the whole of the side lain on will commence to jerk and prevent her from going to sleep. If she turns on the back the muscles of the back and shoulders will jerk and prevent sleep.

She turns over on the other side, but after a little while the muscles pressed on commence to jerk. All this time she has become so restless and nervous that she is driven to distraction.

The mind is full of all sorts of imaginations and the body is full of all sorts of uneasiness, because she can find no place to rest upon.

Sometimes the muscles are so sore that they cannot be lain upon for any length of time; sometimes it is a numbness, sometimes a jerking.

These things are queer, but they belong to the patient, affecting not one part, but the whole economy.

It has a mania such as occurs in nervous, hysterical women, and it has cured puerperal mania.

Puerperal mania from taking cold during or soon after confinement. The remedy belongs especially to women, because its symptoms are so commonly associated with the affections of women.

Mental states following the disappearance of rheumatism is a strong feature. The rheumatism gets better, but the mental state becomes worse.

Sometimes the rheumatism disappears in short order and the mind is not disturbed, but then it is because a diarrhea has come on, with great soreness and aching in the bowels, or because a flow from the uterus has given relief.

There must be some relief or a disturbance will take place like Abrotanum ^Abrotanum Some flow must be established, and hence the menstrual flow or diarrhea gives relief; otherwise the mind takes on trouble, the patient becomes gloomy, or has a low form of mental excitement.

One of the symptoms is quite descriptive of this sadness I have referred to

"Sensation as if a black cloud had settled all over her," while at the same time it weighed like "lead upon the head."

Cimicifuga Racemosa is entirely figurative. It can all be expressed in the word "sadness".

We will find "melancholy," "gloominess . low spirited," etc., running all through out text, but the word "sadness" is just as broad as any of them.

"Sore, bruised feeling all over the head. Bruised sensation in the occiput. Sore, bruised feeling in the top of the head, as if the top of the head would fly off."

"As if cold air was blowing upon the brain."

Yet most of these headaches are better by being in the cold air.

"Headache brought on from catching cold, from the weather changes, cold, damp weather."

There are many headaches. Pressing headache. Many of the headaches are intense, and described as if a bolt were extending down into the back of the neck. Soreness in the back of the neck. Pain in the back of the neck. Hysterical girls; they have much pain in the back of the neck.

With the headache the eyeballs are very sore, "painful to turn in any direction."

"Pain in the eyes, bruised pain in the head."

"Soreness in the abdomen; sore and bruised. Alternate diarrhea and constipation. Alternation of diarrhea and physical complaints."

That is not a legitimate saying concerning any remedy and such expressions encourage routine practice. It is true that when Cimicifuga Racemosa has been given to pregnant women in accordance with its symptoms it has proved capable of making confinement easy.

But the way it has been given has been the routine practice of giving it in the tincture or in the 2d or 3d, until the patient was under its influence even when it was not indicated, as it was not similar to the case.

But the homoeopathic physician never practices in this way. A remedy fits a general condition when the symptoms of that general condition are found in the remedy.

Remember that it does so because all the symptoms agree.

"Pain in the uterine region, darting from side to side. Bearing down and pressing out."

These bearing down sensations, taken with all the other states that relate to the patient in general, show that it is a very useful remedy in prolapsus of the uterus.

It has the relaxation of the parts. Do not suppose that our remedies are not sufficient to cure these conditions, when the symptoms agree. It is true that remedies will cure prolapsus when the symptoms agree, and at no other time.

If it fits the patient in general, these bearing down sensations will go away, the patient will be made comfortable, and an examination will finally show that the parts are in normal condition. You cannot prescribe for the prolapsus.

you must prescribe for the woman. You cannot prescribe for one symptom, because there are probably fifty remedies that have that symptom.

There are menstrua! disorders in these hysterical rheumatic constitutions. Irregularity of the menstrual flow. It may be copious, suppressed or scanty. Severe pain all through the flow.

The more the flow, the greater the pain That is very peculiar. Generally the flow will relieve pain, but with Cimicifuga Racemosa the pain is during the flow Generally the most severe and most painful attack is at the beginning of the flow, and with some women again just after the flow has ceased.

Each woman is a law unto herself. In Cimicifuga Racemosa the sufferings are during the menstrual flow as a rule. The most severe mental symptoms, the most severe rheumatic symptoms, the most extreme jerking and cramping of the limbs and sleeplessness are during the menstrual flow.

During menses, epileptic spasms. All sorts of sufferings in the nerves. Soreness along the course of the nerves, soreness in the muscles or joints during the flow. Increase of mental symptoms.

Cold and chilly, must be wrapped rip.

"Rheumatism. Dysmenorrhoea."

"Soreness in the uterus and ovarian region. Lame, bruised feeling all, over; painful menstruation,"

and some one has named that rheumatic dysmenorrhoea, not a bad name.

So markedly do her troubles alternate with each other that alternation is in the nature of her case. You will commonly find that all the rest of her troubles have passed away, and that now nausea has come on. In all the years past she has had a hysterical constitution, but now when she is pregnant she has nausea all the time.

You will find when one set of symptoms becomes extremely severe others have temporarily subsided, and so they change about like Pulsatilla ^Pulsatilla

But the symptoms have to be taken collectively to get at the image of the patient. A woman will come to you with one group of symptoms today and may come back to you with an entirely different group in a couple of weeks.

These are very troublesome cases to prescribe for, and you have sometimes to take the symptoms a dozen times and put them all together as if she had felt them all in one day, and so make your prescription.

A hysterical patient is difficult to manage because of this changing of symptoms, and also because she has a tendency to deceive the doctor.

"Shivering in the first stage of labor. Hysterical manifestations through labor."

Pains have all ceased or are irregular, so that they do not good. No dilatation has taken place. But when the regular pains come on we have some important symptoms.

A pain comes on and it seems to be about to finish satisfactorily; it has been regular and prolonged until about two-thirds through, and all at once she screams out and grasps her hip-the pain has left the uterus and gone to the hip, causing a cramp in the hip, and she has to be rubbed and turned over.

Cimicifuga Racemosa medicine will regulate the pains, and when the next pain comes it will hold on to the end.

So impressionable is this woman during confinement that if she is subjected to any emotion - such as having an emotional story told in the room - or if anything excitable occurs, the pain will stop.

If she has passed through the labor and the lochia has been established, from such a cause the lochia will stop, as if she had taken cold, and she will have cramps and troublesome after-pains, the milk will be suppressed, she will feel sore and bruised all over, and have fever.

Cimicifuga Racemosa should be compared with Caulophyllum Thalictroides ^Caulophyllum,which has the following symptoms

Weakness in the reproductive system of the woman. From weakness she is sterile, or she aborts in the early months of gestation. During parturition the contractions of the uterus are too feeble to expel the contents, and they are only tormenting.

Labor-like pains during menstruation with drawing pains in the thighs and legs, and even the feet and toes. Uterine haemorrhage from inertia of the uterus. Relaxation of muscles and ligaments. Heaviness, and even prolapsus. Subinvolution. Excoriating leucorrhoea. Menses too soon or too late.

She is sensitive to cold and wants warm clothing-quite unlike Pulsatilla ^Pulsatilla She is hysterical, like Ignatia ^Ignatia. She is fretful and apprehensive. She is rheumatic, like Actea, only the small joints are most likely to be affected.

Later she suffers from after-pains, and they are felt in the inguinal region. Rheumatic stiffness of the back and very sensitive spine.

She is sleepless, restless and withal very excitable. Cimicifuga Racemosa has cured chorea at puberty when menstruation was late.

You need not be surprised that such an emotional subject has a fluttering, quick pulse, and irregular, action of the heart, but many of the most marked hysterical features are present without any disturbances whatever in the action of the heart.

"A feeling in the region of the heart as if the heart were sore, and as if it were enlarged."

"Back of head and neck sore."

The head is drawn back from contraction of the muscles at the nape. Violent aching down the back.

Rheumatism in the back. Impossible to lie upon the back because of the contraction of the muscles of the back. impossible to lie upon the slide of the body because of the contraction and jerking of the muscles.

"Numbness of the limbs. Trembling. Soreness."

The symptoms of the nerves are simply a reiteration of what I have said.

"Hysterical spasms. Convulsions. Trembling of the legs; hardly able to walk."

The numbness is such as is associated with paralysis. Paralytic weakness.

The best effects have resulted from the 30th, 200th, 1000th and still higher potencies, and from the use of medicine in single doses.

It is similar in some of its conditions to the Caulophyllum Thalictroides ^{Blue Cohosh}

Nervous symptoms, twitchings, spasms, convulsions, neuralgias; chills without shaking worse at menstrual period. Muscular rheumatism; stiff neck, drawing head back; can't turn the head; rheumatism of the belly of muscles, by preference.

Headaches pressing outward; or upward, as if top of head would fly off, or into eyes (ciliary neuralgia), or down nape into spine.

Gloomy, sad, sleepless; thinks she will go insane.

Menorrhagia; pains run through hips into thighs, passing down.

Climacteric; infra-mammary pains left side, persistent.

Modalities worse menstrual period and during climacteric.

Actaea racemosa is another remedy which exerts a strong influence upon the female organism. The nervous system manifests its action in a multitude of symptoms, many of them being what is known as hysterical in character. There are twitchings, spasms, convulsions, neuralgias and mental symptoms in abundance. She shivers (nervous chill without coldness), faints, talks incessantly, frequently changing subjects; is grieved and troubled, with sighing, or is very gloomy with sleeplessness.

In the head there are severe pains, pressing outward, as if the top of the head would fly off, or running into the eyes, which ache fearfully or the pains settle in the occiput and shoot down the neck. There are very few, if any, remedies that have worse ciliary neuralgia than Actaea racemosa.

In the female sexual organs it cures "pains in the uterine region, darting from side to side." The menstrual function is performed irregularly. Sometimes the flow is scanty, but more generally profuse, and we have the mental and nervous symptoms above enumerated in abundance, with these irregularities. It is one of our best remedies in menorrhagia, when there is "severe pain in the back, down the thighs and through the hips, with heavy pressing down," as I have often proven. It is also excellent in infra-mammary pains in the left side during the climacteric, as I have also proven.

Also in backache and spinal irritation sympathetic with uterine troubles. It cures sharp lancinating pains in various parts, either nervous or muscular, if they are connected with uterine disturbances. In rheumatism the affection attacks the belly of the muscle by preference. Actaea is a many-sided remedy and adapted to nervous troubles of many forms.

Introduction

Cimicifuga Racemosa has been only meagerly proved, yet there are a few useful points in it.