DULCAMARA
(Bitter – sweet)
Hot days and cold nights
towards the close of summer are especially favorable to the action of
Dulcamara, and is one of the remedies that correspond in their symptoms to the
conditions found as effects of damp weather, colds after exposure to wet,
especially diarrhoea. It has a specific relation also to the skin, glands and
digestive organs, mucous membranes secreting more profusely while the
skin is inactive. The rheumatic troubles induced by damp cold are
aggravated by every cold change and somewhat relieved by moving about. Results
from sitting on cold, damp ground. Icy coldness. One-sided spasms with
speechlessness. Paralysis of single parts. Congestive headache, with neuralgia
and dry nose. Patients living or working in damp, cold basements. [Nat.
Sulph.] Eruptions on hands, arms or face around the menstrual period.
Head:- Mental confusion. Occipital pain ascending from nape
of neck. Headache relieved by conversation. Rejects things asked for. Back part
of head chilly, heavy, aching, during cold weather. Ringworm of scalp. Scaldhead,
thick brown crusts, bleeding with scratched. Buzzing in head.
Nose:- Dry Coryza. Complete stoppage of nose. Stuffs up
when there is a cold rain. Thick, yellow mucus, bloody crusts. Profuse Coryza.
Wants nose kept warm, least cold air stops the nose. Coryza of the new born.
Eyes:- Every time he takes cold it settles in eyes. Thick,
yellow discharge; granular lids. Hay-fever; profuse, watery discharge, worse in
open air.
Ears:- Earache, buzzing, stitches, and swelling of parotids.
Middle-ear catarrh [Merc.dulc.; Kali.mur.]
Face:- Tearing in cheek extending to ear, orbit and jaw,
preceded by coldness of parts, and attended by canine hunger. Humid
eruption on cheeks and face generally.
Mouth:- Saliva tenacious, soapy. Dry, rough tongue, rough scraping in
throat, after taking cold in damp weather. Cold-sores on lips. Facial
neuralgia; worse, slightest exposure to cold.
Stomach:- Vomiting of white, tenacious mucus. Aversion to
food. Burning thirst for cold drinks. Heartburn. Nausea accompanies the
desire for stool. Chilliness during vomiting.
Abdomen:- Colic from cold. Acts prominently in umbilical region.
Cutting pain about naval. Swelling of inguinal glands [Merc.]
Stool:- Green, watery, slimy, bloody, mucus, especially
in summer, when the weather suddenly becomes cold; from damp, cold weather and
repelled eruptions.
Urine:- Must urinate when getting chilled. Strangury,
painful micturation. Catarrh of bladder from taking cold. Urine has thick, mucous,
purulent sediment. Ischuria from wading with bare feet in cold water.
Female:- Suppression of menses from cold or dampness. Before
appearance of menses, a rash appears
on skin, or sexual excitement. Dysmenorrhoea, with blotches all over; mammae
engorged and sore, delicate, sensitive to cold.
Respiratory:- Cough worse cold, wet weather, with free
expectoration, tickling in larynx. Cough, hoarse, spasmodic. Whooping-cough
with excessive secretion of mucus. Winter coughs, dry, teasing. Asthma with
dyspnoea. Loose, rattling cough; worse wet weather. Must cough a long time to
expel phlegm. Cough after physical exertion.
Back:- Stiff neck. Pain in small of back, as after
long stooping. Stiffness and lameness across neck and shoulders, after getting
cold and wet.
Extremities:- Paralysis: paralyzed limbs, feet icy cold. Warts
on hands. Perspiration on palms of hands. Pain in shin-bones. Rheumatism
alternates with diarrhoea. Rheumatic symptoms after acute skin eruptions.
Skin:- Adenitis. Pruritus, always worse in cold, wet weather. Herpes zoaster, pemphigus. Swelling and indurated
glands from cold. Vesicular eruptions. Sensitive bleeding ulcers. Little boils.
Red spots, uritcaria, brought on by exposure, or sour stomach. Humid
eruptions on face, genitals, hands etc. Warts, large, smooth, on face
and palmer surface of hands. Anasarca. Thick, brown-yellow crusts, bleeding
when scratched.
Fever:- Dry burning heat all over. Chilliness towards evening,
mostly in back. Icy coldness, with pains. Dry heat and burning of skin.
Chilliness with thirst.
Modalities:- Worse, at
night; from cold in general, damp, rainy weather.
Better, from moving about, external warmth.
Relationship:-
Antidotes: Camph.; Cupr.
Complementary: Baryta
Carb.
Incompatible: Bellad.;
Laches.
Compare: Pimpinello – (Bibernell)
– Respiratory mucous membrane sensitive to draughts, pain and coldness in
occiput and nape. Whole body weak; heavy head and drowsiness; lumbago and stiff
neck; pain from nape to shoulder; chilliness. Rhus; Cimicif.; Calc.; Puls.;
Bry.; Nat. Sulph.
Dose:- Second to thirtieth potency.
