CROTALUS HORRIDUS

Every homeopathic remedy is explained in detail by William Boericke, M.D. in the Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica and Repertory, a book which is highly respected by the homeopathy profession. The following text is excerpted from that book and explains the symptoms covered by this remedy:

CROTALUS HORRIDUS
Common name: Rattlesnake

Snake poisons are supposed to be chemically Cyan hydrates of Soda and other salts. Alcohol is the natural solvent of these salts and is an antidote. Has a profound trophic action. Old age nutritional troubles.

Low septic states. General disorganization of the blood, hæmorrhages and jaundice. A crotalin injection decreases the rate of coagulation of the blood. In epilepsy the average rate is far greater than in normal conditions. Blood decomposition, hæmorrhages (dark fluid that forms no clots), tendency to carbuncles, malignant scarlatina, yellow fever, the plague, cholera, give opportunity to use this remedy. Hæmorrhagic diathesis. Acts as a sedative. Sleeps into his symptoms. More right-sided in its action.

Mind: Weeping mood; clouded perception and memory; impatient. Loquacious, with desire to escape. Sadness. Delusions of cerebral decay.

Head: Vertigo, with weakness and trembling. Dull heavy occipital pain, on right side and right eye. Headache with pain in heart on lying on left side. Headache; must walk on tip-toe to avoid jarring.

Eyes: Very sensitive to light, especially lamp light. Yellow color of eyes. Illusions; blue colors. Ciliary neuralgia; tearing, boring pain, as if a cut had been made around eye. For absorption of intra-ocular hæmorrhages, into the vitreous, but particularly for non-inflammatory retinal hæmorrhages. Diplobia.

Ears: Auditory vertigo. Blood oozes from ears. Feeling of stoppage in right ear.

Nose: Epistaxis, blood black and stringy, ozæna, after exanthemata or syphilis.

Face: Acne. Lips swollen and numb. Leaden-colored and yellow face. Lockjaw.

Mouth: Tongue red and small, but feels swollen. Tongue fiery red, dry in center, smooth and polished. Moldy smell of breath. Fills up with saliva. Tongue when protruding, goes to right. Spasmodic grinding of teeth at night. Cancer of tongue with hæmorrhage.

Throat: Dry, swollen, dark red. Spasm of œsophagus; cannot swallow any solid substance. Tight constriction. Gangrenous, with much swelling.

Stomach: Intolerance of clothing around stomach. Unable to retain anything; violent vomiting of food; bilious vomiting, vomiting of blood. Constant nausea and vomiting every month, after menstruation. Cannot lie on right side, without vomiting dark-green matter. Black or coffee-grounds vomiting. Cancer of stomach with vomiting of bloody, slimy mucus. Trembling, fluttering feeling below the epigastrium. Intolerance of clothing about epigastrium. Faintness and sinking at stomach. Ulceration of the stomach. Atonic dyspepsia. Gastritis in chronic alcoholism. Hungry, craves stimulants, sugar; averse to meat.

Abdomen: Distended, hot, and tender. Pain in region of liver.

Stool: Black, thin, offensive, like coffee-grounds. Intestinal hæmorrhage; blood dark, fluid, non-coagulable. Blood oozes from rectum when standing or walking.

Female: Prolonged menses. Dysmenorrhœa; pain extends down thighs, with aching in region of heart. Uterine hæmorrhage with faintness at stomach. Puerperal fever; offensive lochia. Phlegmasia alba dolens. Sensation as though uterus would drop out. Painful drawing in uterine ligaments. Cannot keep legs still.

Urinary: Dark, bloody urine. Casts. Inflamed kidney. Albuminous, dark, scanty (Merc cor).

Heart: Action feeble, pulse tremulous. Palpitation, especially at menstrual period. Trembling feeling of heart.

Respiratory: Cough, with bloody expectoration. Tickling from a dry spot in larynx.

Extremities: Hands tremble, swollen. Lower extremities go to sleep easily. Right-sided paralysis.

Fever: Malignant fevers of a hæmorrhagic or putrescent character. Low bilious remittents. Yellow fever. Bloody sweat. Cerebro-spinal meningitis (Cicuta; Cup acet). Cold sweats.

Skin: Swelling and discoloration, skin tense and shows every tint of color, with excruciating pain. Vesication. Sallow. Yellow color of the whole body. Great sensitiveness of skin of right half of body. Purpura hæmorrhagica. Hæmorrhage from every part of body. Bloody sweat. Chilblains, felons. Dissecting wounds. Pustular eruptions. Insect stings. Post-vaccination eruptions. Bad effects of vaccination. Lymphangitis and septicæmia. Boils, carbuncles, and eruptions are surrounded by purplish, mottled skin and œdema. Anthrax. Sore sensation relieved by pressure.

Sleep: Dreams of the dead. Starting in sleep. Yawning. Smothering sensation when awaking.

Modalities: Worse, right side; open air; evening and morning; in spring, coming on of warm weather; yearly; on awaking; damp and wet; jar.

Relationship: Compare: Bothrops; Naja (more nervous phenomena); Lachesis (more markedly worse on left side); Elaps (preferable in otorrhœa and affections of right lung); Crotalus cascavella (thoughts and dreams of death. Paralysis of articulation, embarrassed stertorous breathing and semi-consciousness. A magnetic state is produced; cutting sensation all around eyeball). Bungarus-Krait--(poliomyelitis).

Antidote: Lach; Alcohol. Radiant heat; camphor.