Anacardium Orientale

• ▸Fixed ideas.
• ▸Hallucinations; thinks he is possessed of two persons or wills.
• ▸Anxiety when walking, as if pursued.
• ▸Profound melancholy and hypochondriasis, with tendency to use violent language. Brain-fag. Impaired memory. Absent mindedness. Very easily offended.
• ▸Malicious; seems bent on wickedness.
• ▸Lack of confidence in himself or others.
• ▸Suspicious (Hyos).
• ▸Clairaudient, hears voices far away or of the dead.
• ▸Senile dementia.
• ▸Absence of all moral restraint.

Hypochondriacal sadness, and melancholy ideas.—Anthropophobia.—Anxiety,

apprehension, and fear of approaching death—Fear and mistrust of the future, with

discouragement and despair.—Disposition to take everything amiss, to contradict, and to fly into

a rage.—Frequently screams loudly, as if to call some one; so furious has to be

restrained.—Manners awkward, silly —Disposition to laugh at serious things, and to maintain a

serious demeanour when anything laughable occurs.—State as if there were two wills, one of

which rejects what the other requires.—Fixed ideas: that he is double; that there is no reality in

anything, all appears like a dream; that a stranger is constantly by his side, one to the r., the other

to the |.; her husband is not her husband, her child is not hers; fondles, then pushes them

away.—Want of moral sentiment (wickedness, impiety, hardness of heart, cruelty).—Irresistible

desire to blaspheme, and to swear.—Sensation as if the mind were separated from the

• ▸body.
• ▸—Weakness of mind and of memory.
• ▸—Loss of memory.
• ▸—Soon forgets everything;

consciousness of forgetfulness takes away appetite—Weakness of all the senses.—Absence of

ideas.

Pressive pains, as from a plug in several places.—Sufferings appear for the

most part periodically.—The majority of sufferings disappear during dinner; but a short time

afterwards they return, and many others make their appearance with them.—The least movement

occasions much fatigue.—Great fatigue, trembling and extreme weakness in the limbs,

principally in the knees, increasing even to paralysis.—Great weariness on walking, and on going

upstairs.—Strong disposition to chilliness, and great sensibility to cold and currents of

• ▸air.
• ▸—Diminution of the senses (smell, sight, hearing.
• ▸).
• ▸—Sensation, as of a hoop or band around

the parts—Cramp-like pains in the muscles —Contraction of the joints—Wounded tendons.

Vertigo. Pressing pain, as from a plug; worse after mental exertion-in forehead; occiput, temples, vertex; better during a meal. Itching and little boils on scalp.

Head confused.—Fits of giddiness.—Vertigo on walking, as if all objects were too

distant, or undulating —Whirling dizziness, with obscuration of the eyes on stooping.—Headache

from noise, and at every (false) step.—Headache with giddiness and vertigo, aggravated by

movement.—Digging and throbbing r. side of head, and along border of orbit; > entirely when

eating, and when lying down in bed at night and when about falling asleep; < during motion and

work.—Headache in consequence of intellectual labour, with pain as from a bruise in the brain, or

tractive pressure in the forehead.—Congestion of blood to the head, with pain in the

cerebellum.—Pressive pains, principally in the temples.—Pressive pain in the temple, as from a

nail; < after eating, in the cold air, and from exertions of the mind.—Constrictive pains in the

head.—Sensation of tearing in the head, chiefly on the right side, and often as far as the face and

neck, followed by buzzing in the ears.—In the evening, sensation of digging in the head,

disappearing with sleep.—Stitches in the head.—Itching in the scalp.

Pressure like a plug on upper orbit. Indistinct vision. Objects appear too far off.

Painful pressure on the eyes ——Pressure in the eyes as from a plug.—Objects appear too

far off—Photophobia.—Contraction of the pupils—Weakness and confusion of

sight.—Myopia.—Threads and black spots appear before the eyes——A nimbus round the candle in

the evening.

Pressing in the ears as from a plug. Hard of hearing.

Shooting and tearing otalgia—Painful pressure in the ears.—Pain, as of ulceration, in

the ears, principally on pressing the teeth close, and on swallowing.—Imagines whispers of

blasphemy in his ears.—Discharge (of a browish colour) from the ears.—Itching in the

• ▸ears.
• ▸—Tingling in r.
• ▸ear—Hardness of hearing.
• ▸—Buzzing and roaring in the ears.

Frequent sneezing. Sense of smell perverted. Coryza with palpitation, especially in the aged.

Epistaxis.—Diminution of the sense of smell——Anosmia.—The sense of smell is too

acute or illusory.—Constant smell before the nose, as of pigeon's dung or burning

tinder.—Stoppage of the nose, with sensation of dryness in the nostrils —Coryza (sneezing and

lachrymation), and discharge of mucus from the nose, both chronic.—Violent coryza, with

catarrhal fever, tension in the calves of the legs and in the legs, and palpitation of the heart.

Blue rings around eyes. Face pale.

Look wild, childish, expressionless; may be red or pale.—Pale, sickly face, with hollow

eyes, sunk, and encircled by dark rings; by blue ridges.—Pressure on the eyeballs.—Rough spots,

scurfy and mealy, round the mouth and on the cheeks, with crawling-like itching.—Burning

sensation round the chin.—Eczema of face and neck, with eruption of small blisters, intensely

itching.

Painful vesicles; fetid odor. Tongue feels swollen, impending speech and motion, with saliva in mouth. Burning around lips as from pepper.

Offensive taste in the mouth and also of the food.—Painful vesicles in the mouth;

speaks with much difficulty Offensive smell from the mouth, not observed by the

patient.—Heaviness and swelling of the tongue, with difficulty of speech.—Tongue white and

rough.—Accumulation of water in the mouth; sometimes it provokes vomiting.—Dryness in the

mouth and in the throat.—Taste lost.

Tearing, jerking odontalgia, principally on taking anything very warm into the

mouth.—Tensive, cramp-like pains in the teeth, as far as the ears, most frequently in the evening

towards ten o'clock.—Swelling of the gums, which bleed easily.

• ▸Weak digestion, with fullness and distention.
• ▸Empty feeling in stomach.
• ▸Eructation, nausea, vomiting.
• ▸Eating relieves the Anacardium dyspepsia.
• ▸Apt to choke when eating or drinking.
• ▸Swallows food and drinks hastily.

All kinds of food appear insipid.—Bitter taste with dryness of the mouth and

throat.—Fetid taste in the mouth.—Violent and constant thirst, with sensation as of suffocation

when drinking.—Want of appetite Weakness of digestion.—After a meal, hypochondriacal

humour, heat of face, pressure and tension in the precordial region, in the stomach, and in the

belly, inclination to vomit or to go to stool, repugnance to exertion, great fatigue and desire to

sleep.—Symptoms disappear after dinner; but begin again in two hours.

In the evening, water-brash and vomiting, followed by acidity in the

mouth.—Morning sickness.—Pressure in the stomach, chiefly after a meal, as well as when

engaged in thought and mental exertion.—In the morning, on waking, pressure in the precordial

region.—Shootings in the pit of the stomach, chiefly on breathing.—Great thirst, with arrest of

breathing while drinking.—Vomiting of the ingesta, which gives relief—Clucking noise and

fermentation in the pit of the stomach.—After a meal, commotion in the precordial region at

every step.—Painful sensation in cardiac end of stomach on walking fast.

Pain as if dull plug were pressed into intestines. Rumbling, pinching, and griping.

Weak digestion, with fulness and distension of the abdomen and

hypochondriacal humour.—Pressure in the liver.—Colic in the umbilical region, mostly pressive,

or dull and shooting, aggravated by respiration; cough and external pressure.—Pain, as if a blunt

plug were pressed into the intestines—Hardness of the abdomen.—Flatulent colic with pinching,

and borborygmi in the abdomen, and an inclination to go to stool.

• ▸Bowels inactive.
• ▸Ineffectual desire; rectum seems powerless, as if plugged up; spasmodic constriction of sphincter ani; even soft stool passes with difficulty.
• ▸Itching at anus; moisture from rectum.
• ▸Haemorrhage during stool.
• ▸Painful haemorrhoids.

Fruitless inclination to go to stool—Urgent desire which passes away with

effort to expel —Difficult evacuation even of soft stools, from inactivity of the rectum.—Stools of

a pale colour.—Evacuation of blood with the stools —Painful piles (both blind and bleeding) in

the anus.—Itching in the anus —Oozing of moisture from the rectum.—Fissures of the rectum.

Frequent discharge of clear, watery urine.—Making water at

night.—Sensation of burning in the glans, during the evacuation of urine and afterwards.—Turbid,

clay-coloured urine.

Leucorrhoea, with soreness and itching. Menses scanty.

Leucorrheea, with itching and excoriation in the parts.—Frequent

but scanty menses, sometimes with spasmodic pains in abdomen.—Nausea during pregnancy, >

whilst eating.

Voluptuous itching; increased desire; seminal emissions without dreams. Prostatic discharge during stool.

Erections without excitation during the

• ▸day.
• ▸—Pollutions.
• ▸—V oluptuous itching in the scrotum.
• ▸—Increased or inexcitable sexual

desire.—Want of enjoyment during coition.—Flowing of prostate fluid while at stool and after

having made water.—Semen passes during a hard stool.

• ▸Pressure in chest, as from a dull plug.
• ▸Oppression of chest, with internal heat and anxiety, driving him into open air.
• ▸Cough excited by talking, in children, after fit of temper.
• ▸Cough after eating with vomiting of food and pain in occiput.

Hoarseness and sensation of excoriation in the throat, principally

after a meal.—Cough, with tickling in the throat and choking.—Cough after meals (with loss of

smell and taste) with vomiting of what has been taken, or in the evening, in bed, with congestion

of blood to the head.—Shaking cough, like whooping-cough, chiefly at night, or after much

speaking.—Violent convulsive cough (whooping-cough), caused by tickling in the pharynx;

worse at night, and after eating; after the attacks, yawning and sleepiness.—Cough (short) with

purulent expectoration.—Expectoration of blood with the cough.—On coughing, pain in the

head.—Y awning after a violent fit of coughing.

Palpitation, with weak memory, with coryza in the aged; stitches in heart region. Rheumatic pericarditis with double stitches.

Breath short, and respiration asthmatic —Oppression of the chest, with internal heat

and anguish, which causes the patient to seek the open air.—Pressure and sensation of excoriation

in the chest —Pressure in the chest (r. side) as from a dull plug.—Prickings in the region of the

heart.—Rattling in the trachzea when lying on the I. side.

Uneasiness in the heart.—Piercing pains (stitches) through the region of the heart,

quickly succeeding each other, sometimes they extend to the small of the back.

Dull pressure in the shoulders, as from a weight. Stiffness at nape of neck.

Stiffness at the nape of the neck.—Pains in the back and between the

shoulder-blades, for the most part drawing and shooting, or pressive.—Dull stitches in the left

shoulder-blade.—Tingling between the shoulder-blades. Pressure upon the shoulder, as if from a

weight.

Weakness and tensive pains in the arms.—A very painful thumping on the

• ▸middle of the |.
• ▸upper arm.
• ▸—Trembling of the hand and of the arm.
• ▸—Trembling of the r.

hand.—Pressive pains in the muscles and in the bones of the arms, with a feeling of

fatigue.—Shooting and heaviness in the forearm.—Cramp-like pains in the bones and in the joints

of the hands and of the fingers —Sensation of dryness in the hands and in the fingers —Clammy

sweat in the palms of the hands.—Torpor in the fingers.

Stiffness of the legs, as if they were bandaged, with agitation.—Trembling,

drawing, and jerking in the knees and in the thighs, as if the legs were fatigued by

• ▸walking.
• ▸—Quivering pressure in the thighs.
• ▸—Sensation of paralysis in the knees.
• ▸—Itchy eruption

round the knee, as far as the calves of the legs.—Jerking and cramp-like pressure in the calves of

the legs, and in the legs —Tensive pain in the calves of the legs during the day, on walking, and

at night in bed, with sleeplessness.—Burning in the soles of the feet, and in the legs.—Cold in the

feet when walking, particularly in the morning.—Chilblains.

• ▸Neuralgia in thumb.
• ▸Paralytic weakness.
• ▸Knees feel paralyzed or bandaged.
• ▸Cramps in calves.
• ▸Pressure as from a plug in the glutei.
• ▸Warts on palms of hands.
• ▸Fingers swollen with vesicular eruption.

• ▸Intense itching, eczema, with mental irritability; vesicular eruption; swelling, urticaria; eruption like that of Poison-Oak (Xerophyl; Grindel; Croton).
• ▸Lichen planus; neurotic eczema.
• ▸Warts on hands.
• ▸Ulcer formation on forearm.

Burning itching, increased by scratching.—Covered with blisters, from the size of a

pin's head to a pea, often scarlet red, and sometimes sense of burning.—Skin not easily excited by

• ▸irritants.
• ▸—Pain, as from an abscess, in the parts affected —Herpes.
• ▸—Pemphigus.
• ▸—Warts.

Spells of sleeplessness lasting for several nights. Anxious dreams.

Comatose somnolency, night and day.—Inclination to sleep at an early hour, with

• ▸disturbed sleep in the night.
• ▸—Goes to sleep late—Heavy sleep till 9 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Anxious dreams,

disgusting or horrible, with cries, lively dreams, with meditation and activity of mind, followed

by a pain, as from a bruise, in the head after waking. —Dreams of projects, of fire, of diseases, of

deaths, and of dangers.—At night, toothache; pains in the limbs and in the bones, diarrhcea,

cramps in the calves of the legs, and twitching of the mouth and of the fingers during sleep.

Pulse accelerated, with beating in the veins.—Chilliness, esp. in the open air, relieved

in the sunshine.—Heat of the upper part of the body, with cold feet; internal chilliness and hot

breath —Strong disposition to shivering, and constant shudderings even in the heat of a

room.—Cold and trembling, with sensation of pulling in the head, ill-humour and agitation, every

second day.—Internal cold with external heat.—Heat in the face, every afternoon, towards four

o'clock, with nausea and fatigue.—Sweat during the day when sitting.—Perspiration in the

evening, on the head, abdomen, and back, even when sitting still—Nocturnal sweat.

• ▸Alcoholism.
• ▸Apoplexy.
• ▸Brain-fag.
• ▸Constipation.
• ▸Cough.
• ▸Debility.
• ▸Dysmenorrhcea.

• ▸Dyspepsia.
• ▸Eczema.
• ▸Elephantiasis.
• ▸Examination funk.
• ▸Hemorrhoids.
• ▸Headache.
• ▸Heart,

• ▸affections of.
• ▸Hypochondriasis.
• ▸Hysteria.
• ▸Insanity.
• ▸Memory, loss of.
• ▸Mental weakness.
• ▸Nervous

• ▸ailments.
• ▸Palpitation.
• ▸Paralysis.
• ▸Pemphigus.
• ▸Rheumatism.
• ▸Se//-abuse.
• ▸Skin, diseases of.
• ▸Smell,

• ▸illusions of.
• ▸Spine, affections of.
• ▸Stiff-neck.
• ▸Vomiting of pregnancy.
• ▸Whooping-cough.
• ▸Warts.

Writer's cramp.

Characteristics——Anacardium has many features in common with its botanical relatives, the

different species of Rhus, especially in its action on the skin, muscles, and joints, but it has also

very distinct features of its own. A very characteristic sensation is a pressing or penetrating pain

as from a p/ug, which may occur in any locality in connection with neuralgias and ear affection,

piles, &c., and whenever present Anacardium will probably be the remedy. Sensation of a hoop

or band around the body or about any part is a leading symptom. It has been used with success in

diseases of the spinal cord with this sensation and the feeling of a plug in the spine, < by any

motion which causes a pain as if the plug were sticking still further in. Paralysed feeling in

knees. Sensation as if knees were bandaged.

The nut is heart-shaped (hence its name), and perhaps this may be taken as the "sign" of its

courage-imparting properties. It has at any rate won for itself a reputation in "examination funk"

• ▸and allied conditions.
• ▸Brain-fag.
• ▸Loss of memory is very marked.
• ▸Deafness with loss of memory.

Headache < by mental exertion; > by eating. The Anacard. patient has many mental aberrations;

is clairaudient, hearing voices of persons far away, or dead; voices behind her. Seems to have

two wills. Is as if ina dream. A curious symptom is a great propensity to swear and blaspheme in

persons not usually addicted thereto. Irritability. There is also a tendency to suicide by shooting

• ▸(Ant.
• ▸crud.
• ▸).
• ▸Fixed ideas of various kinds: that mind and body are separated; that he is double;

that a demon sits on his neck telling him most offensive things; that he sees everybody's face in a

glass except his own. The senses are either too weak or too acute, and there ire sense illusions: a

light has a halo; optical illusions in dark colours; illusions of hearing; illusions of smell: burning

tinder, pigeon's dung. I cured with it a man who had a smell of burning wood in his nose,

remaining after influenza. There is a headache proceeding from before backward. Stiffness in

nape of neck. Stiff-neck < beginning to move. Whooping-cough with gaping and drowsiness

after the cough. Morning sickness of pregnancy > by eating, but returns soon after. The Anacard.

indigestion contrasts with that of Nux in a striking way. With Nux the pain is worst for two or

three hours after a meal, during stomach-digestion, and is > when that is over; whereas with

Anac. it is just then (when digestion is complete) that the pain is worst, and it lasts until the next

meal, which again > for a time.

E. S. Breyfogle narrates a striking case (an involuntary proving illustrating the nerve and skin

effects of the remedy. Acting on Bayes' indications, "funk before examination," "nerve-

exhaustion from over-study," "nervous prostration from seminal emissions," or sexual excess,

Breyfogle had used the remedy with much success. To a patient, for excessive nervousness, he

gave the Ist dilution in discs. He took two discs every four hours till eight were taken. Then a

sore mouth suddenly developed, mucous membrane inflamed, burning, and acutely sensitive.

Vesicles appeared on roof of mouth, and a dirty membrane peeled off easily. Gums were next

affected. Mouth dry, taste offensive: at the same time a papular eruption on wrists and ankles,

later on inside-arms and legs, chest, neck, back, especially defined in bends of knees and elbows,

and worst of all about anus. Scratching < but was compelled to scratch all the same. Water as hot

as could be bore > instantly. Simultaneously the nervousness disappeared. "I haven't had a

nerve since. It has made a profound impression on my nervous system." Later came a sudden

sense of complete prostration: knees gave way; had to keep a flask of whisky by him to relieve it.

Later: cold chills ran over body at least exposure, even putting arms out of bed; feared he was

going to be ill, slept with hot bottles on chest all night. As eruption in mouth disappeared

salivary flow increased; it ran from his mouth on pillow during sleep. "Feels as if a particle of

food were in cesophagus; swallows constantly to get rid of it."

There is not the same < by rest and > by motion as with Rhus, but many symptoms are < by

commencing motion (stiff-neck). Headache is > lying down. Piano-playing caused heaviness and

fulness of the whole body. Like Rhus, Anac. has chilliness, liability to take cold, sensitiveness to

draughts, and > from warmth. The symptoms are < morning, and again evening to midnight. 4

• ▸p.
• ▸m.
• ▸: heat daily.
• ▸The cough of Anac.
• ▸is > by eating.
• ▸Symptoms generally > by eating; recur two

hours after.

There is intermittence in the symptoms of Anac. "The attacks ceased for one or two days, and

then continued again for a couple of days." Guided by this indication alone, Custis cured with

Anac. 200 a case of sleeplessness in a pregnant woman: "Spells of sleeplessness lasting for

• ▸several nights.
• ▸" Anac.
• ▸is suited to affections of the palms of the hands.
• ▸There are warts even on

the palms.

• ▸Compare: Comocl.
• ▸, Rhus t.
• ▸, Rhus ven.
• ▸(botan.
• ▸); Ant.
• ▸t.
• ▸, Apis, Coriar.
• ▸rusc.
• ▸, Fer.
• ▸,

• ▸lod.
• ▸, Jug.
• ▸c.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸, Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, Phos.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Plat.
• ▸, Urt.
• ▸ur.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Caust.
• ▸, Thuj.
• ▸(fixed

ideas). It is an antidote to Rhus if there are gastric symptoms, or symptoms going from r. to 1.

• ▸Antidoted by: Coffea, Juglans cin.
• ▸Follows well: Lyc.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸, Plat.
• ▸Followed well by: Lyc.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸,

Plat.

Antidote: Grindeleia; Coffea; Juglans; Rhus; Eucalyptus.

Compare: Anacard occidentale (cashew nut) (erysipelas, vesicular facial eruptions), (anaesthetic variety of leprosy; warts, corns, ulcers, cracking of the skin on soles of feet). Rhus; Cypriped; Chelidon; Xerophyl.

Platina follows well. Cereus serpentina (swearing).

Sixth to two hundredth potency.

Other. He is disposed to malice and has an irresistible desire to curse

and swear. Laughs when he should be serious. So it is carried on

until all things in the external will are inverted. Internal anxiety,

i. e,, the internal will is in a turmoil over this external disturbance.

“Contradiction between will and reason” is an attempt to express what

the individual knew nothing about. “Feels as though he had two

wills.” That is better. It finally destroys or paralyzes the external

will, and when a man is naturally evil and is under the paralyzing

influence of Anacardium he will do acts of violence. A wicked man

is restrained, not by his conscience, but by fear of the law. Anacardium paralyzes the external will and places him in a position of

imbecility, and he does acts of violence from his own natural perverted

self. It has so acted on a portion of the mind that it teaches a great

deal. I have learned much from Anac., Aurum and Argentum of the

strange action of medicines on the human mind. Psychology must

be figured out by the action of drugs on the human mind. By this

means we get at facts and can Jay aside many hypotheses.

Ideas as if nothing were real, all seems to be a dream. Fixed ideas.

He thinks he is double. This comes from a vague consciousness that

there is a difference between the external and internal will, a consciousness that one will is the body and another is the mind. Dwells on

thoughts about salvation. That a stranger is by his side, is another

recognition of the two wills. That strange forms accompany him, one

to his right side and one to his left. This mental state drives him to

madness. Alternation of his moods and understanding. One moment

he sees a thing and another moment he does not understand it. One

moment she sees it is her child and another that it is not. One moment it is a delusion and next moment it is an illusion. One moment

thinks it is so and next moment has enough reason left to know that

it is not so. Delusion is an advanced stage of illusion. In the Repertory we have the same remedies often in illusion and delusion, it is

a matter of grade. When the intellect is slightly affected it is an illusion, and what he sees he knows is not so. He sees demons, and at

first he knows from his intelligence that a demon is not there, but later

he /wants you to drive him out. It docs not matter which, they arc

similar symptoms, and it is a matter of degree, and so, in the Repertory, delusions and illusions are not given separate places.

• ▸Anac.
• ▸, Hyos.
• ▸, Siiam.
• ▸and Bell are important in bringing out the

quality of the perverted human mind as to the intelligence and affections. Whenever a medicine makes a man desire to do something it

affects his will, and when it affects his intelligence it is acting on hi^

understanding. Medicines act on both.

Low-spirited, disheartened, fears he is pursued, looks for thieves,

expects enemies, fears everything and everybody. Full of internal