Cocculus Indicus

• ▸Anger.
• ▸Fright.
• ▸Noise.
• ▸Sleep, loss of.
• ▸Seasickness.
• ▸Travelling.
• ▸Over-strain, mental or

bodily. Sun. Tea-drinking.

• ▸Capricious.
• ▸Heavy and stupid.
• ▸Time passes too quickly; absorbed in reveries.
• ▸Inclination to sing irresistible.
• ▸Slow of comprehension.
• ▸Mind benumbed.
• ▸Profound sadness.
• ▸Cannot bear contradiction.
• ▸Speaks hastily.
• ▸Very anxious about the health of others.

Pre-occupation of mind, and sad and melancholy reflections, as if the patient had

sustained wrongs.—He sits as if wrapped in deep sad thoughts, and does not take notice of

anything; anxiety.—Loss of will and power to decide on any action —Hypochondriacal humour;

despair.—Strong, anxious apprehension, inquietude, and fear of death—Disposition to be

frightened.—Excessive susceptibility —Disposition to take everything in bad part and to be

angry.—Mania.—Mistakes concerning the lapse of time; it passes too quickly.

Pullings and paralytic tearings, by fits, or continuous, in the limbs and in the

bones.—Paralytic immobility of the limbs, with drawing pains in the bones.—Convulsive

movements of the muscles in different parts—Aching, digging pains in the limbs.—Pains, as from

a bruise, even in the internal organs.—Sensations of hollowness; as if bruised in outer parts; same

in bones; numb feeling of outer parts; sensation as if single parts had gone to sleep.—Affections

of the r. hypochondrium (particularly of the liver); inner hypogastrium, inner forehead, back,

upper arm, bones of the arm.—Aversion to open air; hysterics; paleness of the skin, red spots;

shuddering in general.—Sensation of hollowness or of constriction in the internal

organs.—Painful sensibility of the limbs to the slightest touch.—Painful stiffness and crackings in

the joints —Semi-lateral sufferings Rheumatic pains, with hot swelling of the parts

affected.—Attacks of gout, with swelling of the affected parts.—Shooting pains in lymphatic

• ▸swelling.
• ▸—Engorgement and induration of the glands.
• ▸—Heemorrhage.
• ▸—Cramps and convulsions

of the limbs, and of the whole body, sometimes induced by ulcers, or by wounds, painfully

sensitive to the touch, or on using the parts affected—Convulsive movements of the limbs and of

the muscles, as in St. Vitus' dance.—During the convulsive fits, face red, puffed, and

• ▸hot.
• ▸—Trembling of the limbs.
• ▸—Attacks of epilepsy.
• ▸—Paralysis, chiefly semi-lateral, with

insensibility of the parts affected—A ggravation of the sufferings by sleep, speech, drinking, and

eating, but esp. on taking coffee or smoking tobacco, as well as by cold air.—Hysterical spasms,

with anguish.—Weakness and loss of strength, after the least bodily fatigue, movement, or the

interruption of sleep.—Want of vital energy.—Fainting fits—Numbness, sometimes of the hands,

sometimes of the feet, in transient fits—The open air is insupportable, whether it be warm or

cold.—Emaciation.

• ▸Vertigo, nausea, especially when riding or sitting up.
• ▸Sense of emptiness in head.
• ▸Headache in occiput and nape; worse, lying on back of head.
• ▸Sick headache from carriage riding, cannot lie on back part of head.
• ▸Pupils contracted.
• ▸Opening and shutting sensation, especially in occiput.
• ▸Trembling of head.
• ▸Pain in eyes as if torn out of head.

Confusion of the head, esp. after eating or drinking.—Dulness in the head, increased

by reading or meditation.—Vertigo, as from intoxication, or on rising up in the bed, with

inclination to vomit, which forces the patient to lie down again.—Fits of vertigo, with nausea and

loss of consciousness.—Headache, with inclination to vomit or vomiting, and pain as from a

bruise in the intestines.—The headache is aggravated after sleeping, eating, or drinking (coffee),

in the open air, while riding in a carriage; and is relieved in a warm room, or when becoming

• ▸warm in bed.
• ▸—Violent aching pains, esp.
• ▸in the forehead.
• ▸—Stupid feeling in the head (cold

perspiration on forehead and hands).—During motion, headache, as if the eyes were being torn

from the sockets, with vertigo.—Pain in the head, which seems, as it were, empty and hollow, or

sensation of constriction in the brain.—Pulsative pains, sometimes in the crown of the head,

sometimes in the temples.—Convulsive trembling of the head, caused by weakness of the

muscles of the neck; worse after sleeping and in the open air, from coffee and tobacco; better in

the warm room.

Pressure and pain, as from a bruise, in the eyes, and difficulty in opening the eyelids at

night.—Pain in the eyes, as if they were torn out of the head (with headache).—Convulsive rolling

of the balls of the eyes during the spasms.—Pupils very much dilated; or contracted—Dryness of

the eyelids.—Inflammation of the eyelids ——Eyes prominent and glassy.—Dim-sightedness (after

reading a short time the print is all blurred).—Confusion of sight, with black spots before the

eyes.—Phantoms before the eyes.

Buzzing in the ears, with hardness of hearing, and sensation as if the ears were

• ▸stopped; with noise as from rushing water.
• ▸—The r.
• ▸ear feels closed.
• ▸—Swelling of the parotids.

Swelling of the nose, sometimes semi-lateral (r.).—Coryza, with ulcerated

nostrils.—Very acute sense of smell.

Paralysis of facial nerve. Cramp-like pain in masseter muscle; worse, opening mouth. Prosopalgia in afternoon, with wide radiations of pain.

Face of a burning red, puffed and hot.—Transient heat in the cheeks.—Flushes of heat

• ▸in the face after drinking.
• ▸—Blue circles round the eyes.
• ▸——Face convulsively contracted.
• ▸—Cramps

in the cheek-bone and in the masseters.—Swelling and induration of the sub-maxillary glands.

Dryness of the mouth (in the night), without thirst—Foam before the mouth, forming

bubbles.—Tongue loaded with a yellow coating.

Pains in carious teeth, but only when eating.—Looseness of the teeth, with swelling of

the gums.

Difficulty of speech, as from paralysis of the tongue Dryness of the

throat.—Excessive sensitiveness of the palate; the food seems to be too strong, or too

salt.—Constriction in the gullet, which seems to be paralysed.—Burning pain in the cesophagus,

and in the throat, with sulphurous taste in the mouth.

• ▸Nausea from riding in cars, boat, etc, or looking at boat in motion; worse on becoming cold or taking cold.
• ▸Nausea, with faintness and vomiting.
• ▸Aversion to food, drink, tobacco.
• ▸Metallic taste.
• ▸Paralysis of muscles preventing deglutition.
• ▸Dryness of oesophagus.
• ▸Seasickness (Resorcin.
• ▸1x).
• ▸Cramp, in stomach during and after meal.
• ▸Hiccough and spasmodic yawning.
• ▸Loss of appetite.
• ▸Desire for cold drinks, especially beer.
• ▸Sensation in stomach as if one had been a long time without food until hunger was gone.
• ▸Smell of food disgusts (Colch).

• ▸Metallic, copperish taste.
• ▸—Acid taste, esp.
• ▸after a meal, or when coughing.
• ▸—Acid

• ▸taste of bread.
• ▸—Bitter taste of tobacco.
• ▸—Desire for cold drinks, and esp.
• ▸for beer.
• ▸—Thirst during a

meal.—Excessive loathing of all food and drink.—Repugnance to all acids —Bulimy.

Risings, with pain in the stomach and in the epigastrium.—Risings with

inclination to vomit.—Frequent empty eructations, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth and

throat —Eructations with nausea and sticking pains in the pit of the stomach.—Empty, or fetid and

putrid risings.—Attacks of nausea inducing syncope.—Inclination to vomit on rising up in the

bed, which compels the patient to lie down again.—Inclination to vomit during a meal, or in

consequence of a chill, with abundant accumulation of saliva.—Vomiting and nausea from the

motion of a carriage, or of the sea.—Sensation of fulness in the stomach, with difficulty of

respiration.—Violent cramp-like pains, squeezing, as if from a claw and cramps in the stomach,

sometimes a short time after a meal.—Anxious oppression and pinchings in the epigastrium, with

difficulty of respiration.

Distended, with wind, and feeling as if full of sharp stones when moving; better, lying on one side or the other. Pain in abdominal ring, as if something were forced through. Abdominal muscles weak; it seems as if a hernia would take place.

Pain in the hypochondria as from a bruise.—Pressive pain in the hepatic region,

aggravated by coughing or stooping.—Shootings in the hepatic region.—Abdominal pains, as if

the intestines were bruised, or as from an internal abscess, when moving.—Pressure, as from a

stone, in the umbilical region, and in the abdomen.—Sensation in the abdomen, as if it were

hollow and empty.—Inflation of the abdomen.—Contractive pinchings in the upper part of the

abdomen, with suspension of respiration.—Burning pains, pullings and tearings in the

abdomen.—Cramp-like pains in the abdomen.—Hysterical spasms in the abdomen, in

• ▸women.
• ▸—Flatulent, cramp.
• ▸like colic, esp.
• ▸at night, aggravated by coughing, or by stooping

forwards.—Tendency to protrusion of inguinal hernia.

Constipation, with tenesmus.—Evacuation hard and difficult.—Ineffectual

desire for stool, with constipation.—Contractive pain in the rectum, preventing sitting (in the

afternoon).—Diarrhcea, with emission of flatulency before the stool—Loose evacuation of a

putrid smell.—Feeces soft and yellow, which cause burning in the anus.

Aqueous urine with urgent inclination —Frequent want to make water,

even in pregnant women.—Frequent desire to urinate, with small discharges.

• ▸Dysmenorrhoea, with profuse dark menses.
• ▸Too early menses, clotted, with spasmodic colic.
• ▸Painful pressing in uterine region, followed by haemorrhoids.
• ▸Purulent, gushing leucorrhoea between menses; very weakening, can scarcely speak.
• ▸So weak during menstruation, scarcely able to stand.

Premature catamenia, with cramps in the abdomen.—Painful

catamenia, with abundant discharge of coagulated blood, followed by

heemorrhoids.—Suppression of catamenia, with spasmodic and pressive colic, flatulency,

paralytic debility, oppression, anxiety, cramps in the chest, fits of nausea, even to fainting, and

convulsive movements of the limbs.—Catamenia too scanty and irregular, with leucorrhoea in the

• ▸intervals.
• ▸—(Metrorrhagia.
• ▸).
• ▸—Discharge of sanguineous mucus from the uterus, during

pregnancy.—Leucorrheea like blood.—Leucorrhcea, similar to water in which meat has been

washed, intermixed with a sanious and purulent serum.—Cramps in the uterus.

Itching in the scrotum.—Pulling pains as from a bruise in the testes,

on their being touched.—Great sensibility and excitability of the genital parts, with desire for

coition.

Sensation of emptiness and cramp in chest. Dyspnoea as from constriction of trachea, as if irritated by smoke. Choking constriction in upper part of oesophagus, oppressing breathing and inducing cough.

Fatiguing cough, from oppression of the chest, which manifests itself

only during the cough.—Oppressed breathing, from contractive sensation in the trachea, as if

irritated by smoke, causing constant coughing.—Periodical cough, every fourth night, towards

midnight, or about two o'clock in the morning, with constriction in the throat which brings on

coughing.

Suspension of respiration, which stops in the pit of the throat, as if from constriction

• ▸of the throat.
• ▸—Tightness and constriction of r.
• ▸side of chest.
• ▸—Stitches in the chest (sternum)

when walking.—Short, intermittent respiration Pressure on the chest, as if from a

stone.—Hysterical spasms in chest—Cramps in chest, with sighs and groans.—Tensive

constriction in the chest, sometimes on one side only, with difficulty of respiration.—Gurgling

and sensation of emptiness in the chest —Fatigue of the chest, from reading aloud.—Congestion

in the chest, with anxiety—Red spots on the chest.

• ▸Cracking of cervical vertebrae when moving head.
• ▸Paralytic pain in small of the back.
• ▸Pain in shoulder and arms as if bruised.
• ▸Pressure in scapula and nape.
• ▸Stiffness on moving shoulders.

Cracking of the vertebre of the neck, during movement.—Weakness of the

muscles of the neck, which are inadequate to the support of the head.—Red spots on the

neck.—Paralytic tearings (in the back and) in the loins.—Pullings and tearings in the back, esp.

when speaking, walking, and stooping. —Tremor in the back.—Shootings between the shoulder-

blades, and in the loins.

Lancinations in the shoulder-joint, and in the arm, during

repose.—Lancinating pains in the arm, proceeding from a wounded finger.—Convulsions of the

arm, with retraction of the thumbs.—Paralysis of the arms.—Palpitation of the muscles of the

arm.—Pain, as from a bruise, in the bones of the arm, during movement (when lifting them up,

and when touching them).—Lameness of the arm (cannot write).—Hot and arthritic swelling of

the hands ——Numbness, or heat and cold alternately, of one or other of the hands.—Tingling of

hands and paralytic trembling.—Torpor of the hands.—Cramp-like contractions, and starting of

the fingers.

Paralysis of the lower limbs, proceeding from the loins —Drawing tearings

in the knees, feet, and toes.—Pain as if from a bruise in the thighs, during movement.—Pain in the

• ▸heel (os calcis) as if bruised.
• ▸—Cracking in |.
• ▸hip-joint.
• ▸—Cracking of the knees, during

movement.—Inflammatory swelling of the knee, with transient lancinations.—Burning sensation

in the feet—Hot and itching swelling of the feet, sometimes in the evening.—Numbness in the

feet.—Cold and perspiration of the feet.

• ▸Lameness; worse by bending.
• ▸Trembling and pain in limbs.
• ▸Arms go to sleep.
• ▸One-sided paralysis; worse after sleep.
• ▸Hands are alternately hot and cold; numbness and cold sweat now of one, now of the other hand.
• ▸Numb and unsteady.
• ▸Knees crack on motion.
• ▸Lower limbs very weak.
• ▸Inflammatory swelling of knee.
• ▸Intensely painful, paralytic drawing.
• ▸Limbs straightened out, painful when flexed.

Great itching, esp. in the evening, or when undressing, or at night in bed.—Red

pimples, like grains of millet, with itching in a warm temperature.—Eruption of hard and knotty

pimples, with red areolas and burning pain.—Induration, cold swelling of the glands, with

stinging pains.—Ulcers very sensitive to contact.—Red spots in the chest and on the side of the

neck.—Pale (chlorotic) colour of the skin.

• ▸Spasmodic yawning.
• ▸Coma vigil.
• ▸Constant drowsiness.
• ▸After loss of sleep, night-watching, nursing.

Obstinate inclination to sleep in the morning.—Sleeplessness on account of anxiety

and bodily restlessness.—Spasmodic yawning.—Sleep retarded in consequence of a great flow of

ideas.—Half sleep, like coma vigil.—Sleep interrupted by frightful anguish and

inquietude.—During sleep, starts, cries, convulsive movements of the hands, of the eyes, and of

the head.—Vivid dreams, exciting fear—Anxious, frightful dreams, dreams of death, of disease,

&c.—Fear of ghosts at night.—Sleep unrefreshing, with frequent waking.

• ▸Chill, with flatulent colic, nausea, vertigo, coldness of lower extremities, and heat of head.
• ▸Sweat general.
• ▸Nervous form of low fever.
• ▸Chilliness, with perspiration, and heat of skin.

Shivering, and sensation of cold, with trembling.—In the evening, shivering and

shuddering in the back.—Chill in the afternoon and evening, principally on the legs and in the

back; not relieved by heat.—Dry heat during the night —Perspiration during the night, which is

• ▸only cold on the face.
• ▸—Morning sweat, esp.
• ▸on the chest.
• ▸—Intermittent fever, with colic and

lameness of the small of the back.—Fever, with tendency to become chilly, though the skin is hot

to the touch.—Chilliness alternating with heat—Burning heat and redness of the cheeks, often

with cold in the feet—Fever with cramp-like pains in the stomach, and paralytic weakness in the

loins.—Easy perspiration during movement, with great fatigue-—Sweats night and

morning.—Pulse full, hard, and frequent.—Pulse small and spasmodic; sometimes it cannot be

felt.

• ▸Anger, effects of.
• ▸Bones, affections of.
• ▸Cerebro-spinal meningitis.
• ▸Chorea.
• ▸Colic.

• ▸Convulsions.
• ▸Debility.
• ▸Faintness.
• ▸Fear, effects of.
• ▸Heemorrhoids.
• ▸Headache.
• ▸Hernia.
• ▸Intermittent

• ▸fever.
• ▸Knee, weakness of; cracking in.
• ▸Memory, weak.
• ▸Mental excitement, effects of.
• ▸Menstrual

• ▸headache.
• ▸Menstruation, painful.
• ▸Overstrain, bodily or mental.
• ▸Palpitation.
• ▸Paralysis.
• ▸Parotitis.

• ▸Phthiriasis.
• ▸Rheumatism.
• ▸Riding in carriage, effects of.
• ▸Sea-sickness.
• ▸Sleep, affections from loss

• ▸of.
• ▸Somnolence.
• ▸Spasms.
• ▸Spinal irritation.
• ▸Tympany.
• ▸Vertigo.
• ▸Vomiting.

Characteristics——Cocculus has been used from ancient times as a poison for stupefying fish,

and making them easy to catch. Correspondingly we find it produces great disturbance of the

sensorium in human beings, and all the symptoms of intoxication. It is commonly used as an

adulteration of beer to heighten its intoxicating properties. A very characteristic symptom is a

sensation of hollowness or emptiness in the head or other parts. Allied to this is a sense of

lightness of body. Another characteristic is an opening and shutting sensation, especially in the

occiput. Along with the vertigo is nausea and vomiting which bring it into close relation with

sea-sickness and carriage-sickness. Coccu/. corresponds perfectly to the sensitive condition

caused by loss of sleep and night-watching, and is the first remedy to think of for removing this.

"Irritable weakness" is a leading note in the Cocculus effects. The Cocculus patient is very

sensitive to fear, anger, grief, and all mental disturbances; also to noise and touch. Enlargement

• ▸of liver after anger.
• ▸Easily startled.
• ▸Fear of ghosts and spectres.
• ▸Stinging pains, stitches,

constriction; in the hands a pithy feeling. Many symptoms are < at menstrual period; piles during

menses. Cocculus has cured a case of delirium at onset of menses during first and second days;

the patient said, "I always see something alive, on wall, floor, chairs, or anywhere, always

rolling, and will roll on me." Cocculus is suited to persons of mild and sluggish temperament;

light-haired persons; hypochondriacal, timid, fearful, and nervous persons. Other prominent

features of Coccul. are: Paralytic pains, or pains as of dislocation. Paralytic weakness; lax-

muscles. "Weakness of neck muscles with heaviness of head." Sensation as if single parts had

gone to sleep. Immovability of parts affected. Of localities, the right hypochondrium (especially

liver), inner hypogastrium, inner forehead, back, upper arm, and bones of arm are chiefly

affected. This has been verified: "Spasmodic, flatulent colic, about midnight, flatus passed

without relief," recurring several nights; promptly cured by Coccu/. 3x. Lippe cured a case of

enlargement of the liver after parturition, the indication being "the liver was more painful after

anger." The sensitiveness to touch is very great and serves to indicate Cocculus in preference to

other remedies in many affections where this is pronounced, in articular rheumatism, in ulcers, in

neuralgic affections of bones. The least jar is unbearable (travelling by land or sea). < By touch,

pressure, or jar. < From motion generally; moving body; rising from bed; bending over or

• ▸stooping.
• ▸< Kneeling; walking; swallowing saliva.
• ▸Sitting > some symptoms.
• ▸Many symptoms

are < evening and night, especially about midnight and 1 a.m. Sensitive to air either hot or cold.

Longs for cold drinks, but eating or drinking anything cold = tearing in limbs. < Open air. <

• ▸From sun.
• ▸< By warmth of bed.
• ▸> In a room.
• ▸A decoction of Cocculus is a domestic remedy used

locally for destroying head- or body-lice.

• ▸Antidoted by: Camph.
• ▸, Cham.
• ▸, Cupr.
• ▸, Ign.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, Staph.
• ▸/t antidotes: Alcohol,

• ▸Tobacco, Cham.
• ▸, Cup.
• ▸, Ign.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, and the fever of Thuj.
• ▸Jncompatible with: Caust.
• ▸, Coffee.

• ▸Compatible: Follows well Aco.
• ▸(endocarditis with fearfulness); Cham.
• ▸, Nux, Ign.
• ▸Compare:

• ▸Aco.
• ▸, Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸; Ant.
• ▸c.
• ▸(gastralgia), Agar.
• ▸(Somnolency), Ant.
• ▸t.
• ▸, Ars.
• ▸, Bell.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Carb.
• ▸v.

• ▸(parotitis), Cham.
• ▸, Coff.
• ▸, Cupr.
• ▸, Ign.
• ▸(headache), Ip.
• ▸, Iod.
• ▸, Lach.
• ▸, Merc.
• ▸, Mosch.
• ▸, Nitr.
• ▸, Nux mos.

• ▸(somnolency), Oleand.
• ▸, Petr.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸(headache), Rhus, Sabi.
• ▸, Sassafras, Scutel.
• ▸, Silic.
• ▸, Stram.
• ▸,

• ▸Tab.
• ▸, Val.
• ▸, Ver.
• ▸In effects from noise, Nux, Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸Sense of lightness, Asar.
• ▸, Can.
• ▸ind.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸,

• ▸Gels.
• ▸, Sticta, Sil.
• ▸, Thuj.
• ▸; menstrual sick headache, Lac.
• ▸def.
• ▸; fear of ghosts, Aco.
• ▸, Ars.
• ▸, Bro.
• ▸,

• ▸Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸, Pho.
• ▸, Pul.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸, Zn.
• ▸Umbilical hernia, Nux (without urging, Bry.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸mur.
• ▸, Ver.
• ▸);

• ▸< from kneeling, Mag.
• ▸c.
• ▸, Sep.
• ▸; nausea constant, Ip.
• ▸, Kalic.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸, Ign.
• ▸, Acet.
• ▸ac.
• ▸; uterine spasm,

dysmenia, dark flow, Ign. (Coccul. is distinguished by having weak, lame feeling in small of

back; as if about to be paralysed; trembles on beginning to walk); weak from talking, Ver., Sul.,

• ▸Calc.
• ▸; functional paralysis from fatigue or mental emotions, Ign.
• ▸, Pho.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Collins.
• ▸; in

• ▸occipital headache, Gels.
• ▸, jug.
• ▸c.
• ▸Weakness of neck muscles, Ant.
• ▸t.
• ▸; > putting head back, Seneg.

• ▸(<, Clem.
• ▸, Cinnab.
• ▸).
• ▸Compare also: Picrotoxin and Picric acid in paralytic sensations and effects

of fatigue. Teste places Coccul. in his Causticum group.

Antidotes:; Coffee; Nux.

Compare: Picrotoxin-alkaloid of Cocculus--(epilepsy, attacks in the morning on leaving horizontal position, hernia, locomotor ataxia, night-sweats); Symphoricarpus (morning sickness); Petrol; Puls; Ignat.

Third to thirtieth potency.

We will study the general system and the mind as usual. Cocculus

slows down all the activities of the body and mind, producing a sort

of paralytic weakness. Behind time in all its actions. All the nervous

Impressions are slow in reaching the centres. If you pinch this

patient on the great toe he wants a minute and then says “oh,” instead

of doing it at once. In response to questions he answers slowly, after

apparent meditation, but it is an effort to meditate. And so with all

nervous manifestations, thought, muscular activity, etc. He cannot

endure any muscular exertion, because he is weak ; he is tired. lirst

comes this slowness, then a sort ' of visible paralytic condition, and

then complete paralysis. This may be local or general. Ihere are

certain causes which produce thest effects. A wile nursing her husband, a daughter nursing her father, becomes worn out by the

anxiety, worry and loss of sleep. She is exhausted , unable to sustain

any mental or physical effort ; weak in the knees, weak in the back,

and when the times comes for her to sleep she cannot sleep. Sickness

brought about in this manner is analogous to that caused by the Cocculus poison, and hence Cocculus from the time of Hahnemann to the

present time has been a remedy for complaints from nursing, not

exactly complaints that come on in the professional nurse, for Cocculus needs the combination of vexation, anxiety and prolonged loss of

sleep, such as you have in the mother or daughter who is nursing, or

the nurse when she takes on the anxiety felt by a member of the

family; a wife nursing her husband through typhoid, or other long

spell of sickness. At the end of it she is prostrated in body and mind,

she cannot sleep, she has congestive headaches, nausea, vomiting and

vertigo. That shows how a Cocculus case begins. One who is thus

exhausted in body and mind goes out for a ride. She gets sick headache, pain in the back, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. She gets mto

the car to take a journey. Sick headache comes on. She goes on

390 COCCULUS IKDICUS

a mile or two and will have nausea, vomiting and sick headache. She

feels weak all over, feels as if she would sink away.

The Cocculus patient gets into a w^agon to ride, sick headache,

nausea, vertigo come on. The Cocculus patient cannot endure motion.

Aggravated by talking, by motion, by the motion of the eyes, by

riding. Wants plenty of time to turn the head cautiously to see things.

Wants plenty of time to move, to think, to do everything. The whole

economy is slowed down, inactive.

Tremulous, tired, excitable. The hands tremble when taking hold

of anything, or he takes hold of it awkwardly and drops it. Incoordination runs through this remedy, and hence it has been used

• ▸with good effect in locomotor ataxia.
• ▸It has staggering and numbness.
• ▸Numbness is quite a feature of this remedy.
• ▸Numbness of

the lower extremities, in the fingers, in the shoulder, of the side of

the face. Complaints from anxiety.

Extreme irritability of the nervous system. The least noise or jar

is unbearable. You have heard that BelL is worse from a jar. So

is Cocculus, and quite like BelL Cocculus is also like Belladonna in

its sleeplessness, and other general conditions. This sensation of seasickness and dizziness is sometimes felt all over the body ; a sort of

faint feeling which is followed sometimes by loss of consciousness,

or a paralytic rigidity. Stiffness of the joints is a common feature in

Cocculus. It belongs to the limbs in generah But it is such a strong

symptom I will mention it here. Limbs straightened out and held

there for a while are painful when flexed. Persons who have been

suffering from anxiety, prostrated, will lie on the back, straighten out

the limbs, and get up only with great difficulty. The doctor comes

and he discovers what is the matter. He bends the limbs and she

screams, but she is relieved after the bending, and then she can get

up and move about. You cannot find that anywhere else. It is

entirely without inflammation. It is a sort of a paralytic stiffness, a

paralysis of the tired body and mind. The Cocculus headaches and

backaches, pains and distress are present. A man will stretch out his

leg on a chair and he cannot flex it until he reaches down with his

hands to assist. Such things arc strange. Faintness on moving the

body, fainting from pain in the bowels, from colic. With all this

slowing down of the thoughts and activities the patient remains extremely sensitive to suffering, sensitive to pain.

Spasms through the body like electric shocks, convulsions after loss

of sleep. This patient goes on with nervousness and excitement,

anxiety and loss of sleep until convulsions supervene. Tetanus.

Cholera, attacks of paralytic weakness with pain, paralysis of the face,

of the eyes, paralysis of the muscles everywhere, paralysis of the limbs.

Even diphtheria has been known to induce a state very much like I have

39 *

described as due to loss of sleep and anxiety. I remember a case of

paralysis of the lower extremities that was prescribed for by a very

careful homoeopathic physician many years ago. It was one of the

things that surprised me in the early days of my prescribing and

observation. It was the case of a little girl with paralysis of lower

extremities after diphtheria and no hope was given. But Doctor

Moore (he was then an Octogenarian) looked over the case. I was

acquainted with the family and with the doctor. He studied the case

carefully and gave Cocculus c.m. It was not many days before the

child began to move the legs, and the condition was perfectly cleared

up, and I have never ceased to wonder at it. It was a good prescription perfectly in accord with all the elements of the case. Doctor

Moore was one of the pupils of Lippe and Hcring.

You can hardly sec what is coming when the mental activities arc

slowed down, from anxiety, and loss of sleep, such as we have in

nursing. The mind appears like approaching imbecility, and as you

look upon the true Cocculus case you wonder if that patient has not

been growing insane for a year or two, because the mind seems almost

a blank. He looks into space and slowly turning the eyes toward the

questioner answers with difficulty. It occurs in nervous prostration,

in typhoid fever. It is so nearly like Phos, acid that the two remedies

must be carefully individualized. Time passes quickly. He cannot

realize that it has been a whole night. A week has gone by, and it

seems but a moment, he is so daked. Slowness of comprehension ;

cannot find the right word to express his thoughts, so slowly docs his

mind w'ork ; what has passed lie cannot remember ; forgets what he

has just read ; cannot talk ; cannot bear the least noise ; cannot bear

• ▸the least contraction.
• ▸The tongue will not respond.
• ▸There is confusion of mind and difficulty of articulation.
• ▸An idea comes into his

mind and becomes fixed. He cannot convert it or move it, but it just

stays there, and if he speaks he will say something that will cause you

to realize that that same idea is holding on to him. So he appears to

be in a state of imbecility. Mental derangement wuth vertigo. With

most all the mental symptoms there is vertigo. He lies in a state of

apparent unconsciousness, yet knows all that is going on and at times

is even able to remember and describe what was going on, but docs

not even wink ; does not move a muscle. Tlicre is an appearance of

ecstacy, a smile upon the face. Knows what is going on, yet with

complete relaxation of the muscles without speech or apparent recognition of anyone. Perfectly relaxed, and yet knowing what is going on.

• ▸That resembles catatonia.
• ▸Unable to think.
• ▸Fears death.
• ▸Feels as

if some awful thing was about to happen. All this is the result of

grief, anxiety, vexation, prolonged loss of sleep. The vertigo is

usually attended with nausea, A Cocculus case cannot look out of

the car window, cannot look down from the boat and see water moving,

without nausea immediately.

Perhaps you can even now surmise what the head symptoms are to

be. With the headaches comes dizziness, extreme nausea and gastric

symptoms. Headaches brought on from riding in a wagon or riding

• ▸in the cars or on shipboard ; headache from motion.
• ▸Cannot accommodate the eyes to moving objects ; dizziness and whirling and headache.
• ▸Congestion of the head, pressing, throbbing headache.
• ▸Headache as if the skull would burst, or like a great valve opening and

shutting. Sick headache with vertigo. Headache again from working

in the sun. Sick headache from riding in a carriage.

Dim sightedness and disturbance of vision. Paralytic weakness of

the muscles of the eyes, as well as the muscles of accommodation.

The face becomes pale and sickly. Pale as death, with pains in the

face, vertigo and nausea. Tearing pains in the face. Neuralgia of

the face. Face bloated. Quivering and twitching of the muscles of

the face. Paralysis of the muscles of the face. Numbness of the

face. Twitching, jerking, numbness, paralysis, tearing pains.

Prostration and nervous exhaustion accompany most of the complaints of Cocculus.

Stomach symptoms. Loathing of food. Metallic taste in the

mouth. Bitter taste in the mouth. Sour, nauseous taste in the mouth,

and no food tempts him. He lies there sick with a little fever or a

‘'cold." Headache, vertigo, nausea, loathing. Intermittent fevers

with pains in the limbs, especially in the knees and bones of the legs,

with that peculiar stiffness, nausea, and loathing of food. In intermittent fever or perhaps a low typhoid state, we have this loathing

of food with nausea. You go to the bedside and you ask the nurse,

“What have you been feeding the patient ?“ and the patient gags.

The thought of food makes the patient gag. The nurse will say that

every time she mentions food the patient gags. The thought of food

or the smell of food in the other room, or in the kitchen, will nauseate

the patient. Two medicines have this — Cocculus and Colchicutri,

• ▸Paralytic conditions.
• ▸Paralysis of the oesophagus.
• ▸Cannot swallow.
• ▸“Paralytic condition of the throat after diphtheria.
• ▸" Sore

throat with low forms of fever. The fever is gone but the patient

does not rally, there is much nervous trembling, numbness, twitching

of muscles and great weakness. Sensation as though a worm were

crawling in the stomach. Spasms of the stomach. Violent attacks

of gastralgia, violent cramp of the stomach. Griping, pinching, constrictive pain. The pain in the bowels feels as if the intestines were

pinched between sharp stones. This causes fainting and vomiting.

Colicky pains in the bowels ; great distension of the abdomen, such as

is found in typhoid fever : tension of the abdomen after drinking ;

coccus CACTI

flatulent colic. Tearing, cutting, spasmodic pains in the bowels.

Radiating pains in the bowels accompanying diarrhoea. A paralytic

condition of the rectum. Inability to press at stool. Urging to stool

and burning in rectum. Disposition to stool, but peristaltic motion in

upper intestines is wanting.

Copious menstrual flow, menses too soon ; last too long. Catamenia

two weeks before the time. In women prostrated from grief and from

anxiety, and from prolonged loss of sleep, menses come too soon, are

• ▸copious and prolonged.
• ▸Headache, vertigo, nausea.
• ▸Violent, cramping pains in the bowels, clutching pains in the uterus during menstruation.
• ▸Again,, just such a patient as described will have a suppression

of the menstrual flow, or for weeks and months will have no menstrual

flow ; or just at the rime the menstrua! period should come on there is

a copious leucorrhcea that takes the place of the menses. The woman

is emaciated, and grows more and more sickly and chlorotic. The

face is of greenish, yellow, sallow hue. '‘Leucorrhoea in place of the

menses,” or “copious leucorrboea between the menstrual periods.”

The heart is weak, pulse feeble. Paralytic weakness in the limbs,

numbness, jerking of the muscles, twitching, quivering, loss of^ sensation, loss of power, muscular weakness in all the limbs. Numbness

and paralytic feeling in the limbs. Awkwardness of the fingers and

hands. On attempting to grasp the one hand with the other there is

migratory numbness, or a more permanent numbness associated with

paralytic weakness, sometimes chan^able ; sometimes one side is

numb and the other paralyzed. The soles of the feet go to sleep.

Numbness of the soles of the feet, such as we have in locomotor

ataxia ; cold feet. The knees give way from weakness. Totters

while walking and threatens to fall to one side. Knees stiff. Paralysis of the lower extremities, proceeding from the small of the back.

Arising from cold, from the abuse of Mercury, Paralysis of the lower

limbs, with stiffness, numbness and bruised feeling.

Sleeplessncxss from long nursing and from night watching ; that is a

symptom that I have called your attention to so often. Anxious,

frightful dreams ; ill effects from loss of sleep and night watching.

‘‘Slightest loss of sleep tells on him.’'