Sepia officinalis

by C.M. Boger — General Analysis

Historical reference for practitioners and students. The statements below reflect the named author’s homeopathic teaching and do not establish treatment effectiveness. This text is not medical advice and must not replace appropriate diagnosis or care.

ACRIDITY, excoriations, etc.
ADHESIVE, adherent, torn, loose, etc. (Comp. Sticky)
ALBUMINOUS, glairy discharges (Comp. Gelatinous)
ALTERNATING EFFECTS, sides, states, etc.(Comp. Periodicity, Wandering, Waves).
ANGER, irritability fretfulness, bad temper, etc. (Comp. Emotions)
ASCENDING, Agg.
ASSOCIATED effects.
BALL.
BLOOD VESSELS.
BLUISH, purple, livid, etc.
BROWNISH, RUSTY, ETC.
BURNT, scalded as if
CALCULI, atheroma, etc.
CALF
CHANGE of position, Amel.
CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE, weather, seasons, oncoming storms, etc. Agg.
CHEST, backward in
CHEST, right
CHILLED, cold becoming, while hot, by ices, uncovering a part, as head, hand-hands, etc. in cold water, etc.., Agg.
CHILLY, cold
CLIMAXIS, Agg.
COITION, Agg.
COLD AND HEAT, Agg.
COLDNESS, Partial
COMPANY, CROWDS, ETC. AGG., CRAVES SOLITUDE, ETC.
CONGESTION
COUGH.
COUGH, excited from Throat or Larynx
COUGH, incessant
CRACKS, fissures, chaps, etc.
DAMPNESS, getting wet, wet weather, bathing, working in water, damp rooms, etc., Agg.
DESQUAMATION, hair falls, etc.
DIRECTION OF SENSATIONS, ASCENDING.
DIRECTION of sensations, Backward
DIRECTION of sensations, Crosswise, across, side to side, etc.
DIRECTION of sensations, Forward
DIRECTION of sensations, Outward
DISCHARGES, eruption appearing etc., Amel.
DISCHARGES, vicarious
DRAWING
DRINKING, Amel.
EATING, affected by.
EATING, Amel.
EMPTY, HOLLOW, SINKING, INTERNAL WEAKNESS, SENSE OF, ETC.
EPIGASTRIUM
ERUPTIONS
ERUPTIONS, Herpes
EYES
FAINT, FAINTS EASILY, ETC.
FALLING
FEARSOME, anxious, etc.
FEMALE ORGANS
FOREHEAD
FORMICATION, crawling, etc.
FROST, FROSTY AIR, HOAR FROST, ETC., AGG.
GELATINOUS (Comp. Albuminous)
GNAWING, eating, festering pains
GREENISH
HARDNESS
HEAD
HEART, CIRCULATION AND PULSE
HEAT, partial, local, etc.
HEAVINESS, general
HEAVINESS, partial
HEMORRHAGE, bloody discharges
HOLDING, being held, etc., Amel.
ILEO-COECAL REGION
INACTIVE, APATHETIC, LIES DOWN, LETHARGIC (COMP. REACTION, RELAXATION)
INCONTINENCE, stool, urine, sexual, etc.
ITCHING
ITCHING, tickling, etc., internal
JARRING, SHAKING, STEPPING HARD, RIDING, ETC., AGG. (COMP. SENSITIVE)
LIGHT, artificial, Agg.(Comp. Sensitive.)
LIMBS, upper.
LIMBS, lower.
LIVER AND GALL BLADDER
LUMPY EFFECTS, discharges, etc.
LYING, Agg.
LYING, Amel.
LYING, on abdomen, Amel.
LYING, on back, Agg.
LYING, bent or doubled up, Amel.
LYING, left, Agg.
LYING, painless, of unaffected side, Agg.
MENSES, before, Agg.
MENSES, after, Agg.
MENSES, during, Agg.
MENSTRUAL DISTURBANCES
MENTAL EXERTION, Agg.
MIGRAINE
MIND
MOISTNESS, FLUIDITY, INCREASED SECRETIONS IN GENERAL, ETC. (COMP. DAMPNESS.)
MORNING AND EVENING, AGG.
MOTION, Amel.
MOTION, beginning, Agg., continued, Amel.
MUCOUS SECRETIONS, ALTERED.
NASO-PHARYNX, posterior nares
NASO-PHARYNX, posterior nares, discharge thru.
NAUSEA
NERVES, nervous patients, etc.
NEURASTHENIA
NOSE AND ACCESSORY CAVITIES
OCCIPUT, nape and NECK
ODORS, SMELLS, ETC., AGG. (COMP. SENSITIVE.)
OFFENSIVENESS, fetor
OPENING AND SHUTTING or contracted then relaxed alternately or as of a valve (Comp. Alternating.)
ORIFICES
PAROXYSMS, REPEATED (COMP. SPASMODIC.)
PLACID, TRANQUIL, INDIFFERENT, APATHETIC
PREGNANCY
PRESSING OR BEARING DOWN, STRAINING, TENESMUS, ETC.
PRESSURE, Amel.; Lying on painful or affected side, etc., Amel.
PRESSURE, simple, sense of
PROSTATE AND PERINEUM
READING, Agg., eyestrain, Agg.
REDNESS
RESTLESSNESS
RIDING ON HORSEBACK AGG. (COMP. JARRING.)
RISING from sitting, Agg.
ROLLING, turning over, etc., as if (Comp. Loose, Ball, etc.)
SALTINESS, TASTE, SMELL, FISHY ODORS, ETC.
SENSITIVE, also to noise, light, odors, pain, can't stand it, touch, triffles, etc. (Comp. Jarring.)
SHOOTING, darting like lightening, quick pains
SHOULDER AND SCAPULAE, etc.
SHOULDERS and scapulae, between
SHUDDERING, nervous
SIDE, lain on, pain goes to
SIDE, LEFT
SITTING, AGG.
SKIN
SKIN, folds, flexures of
SLEEP, Amel. Loss of, Agg., etc.
SLEEP, falling to, or first, Agg.
SLEEPLESSNESS
SMELL
SNOW AIR, AGG.
SOURNESS
SPASMODIC OR CONVULSIVE EFFECTS, twitchings, etc. (Comp. Paroxysms.)
SPOTS, PAIN, ETC., IN (COMP. MOTTLED.)
STANDING, Agg.
STERNUM, region of, also throat-pit, etc.
STIFFNESS
STINGING (Comp. Burning, Stinging.)
STITCHES
STOMACH AND BOWELS
STOOPING, Agg.
SWAYING, swinging, etc. Agg., car or seasickness, etc.
SWEAT, partial
TEETH, DENTITION, ETC.
TENDO ACHILLES
THIRST, absent, especially during fever, aversion to water, etc.
THROBBING, pulsating
TIME, 8 A.M. to 12 Noon.
TIME, 4 P.M. to 8 P.M.
TRICKLING, dropping or flowing, as of water, etc.(Comp. Gurgling.)
ULCERATION (Comp. Suppuration)
URINARY ORGANS
VERTIGO
VESICLES, blisters, etc. (Comp. Eruption.)
VISION
VOICE
WAVES, FLUSHES, ORGASMS, FLUCTUATION, ETC. (COMP. ALTERNATING, ASCENDING AND FLOATING.)
WEIGHT, as of, a heavy. (Comp. Heaviness.)
WHITENESS
YELLOW
3 A.M.
5 A.M.
7 A.M.
9 A.M.
10-11 A.M.
6 P.M.
7 P.M.

Sepia officinalis across the other classic books

Sepia officinalis appears in 17 of the 21 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.

Allen HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Cuttle Fish. (Mollusca.) Adapted to persons of dark hair, rigid fibre, but mild and easy disposition (Puls.). Diseases of women: especially those occurring during pregnancy, child- bed and lactation; or diseases attended with sudden prostration and sinking faintness (Murex, Nux m.); "the washerwoman's remedy."…”
Allen TF — A compiled symptom record drawing on proving reports and other named observations.
“Sepia officinalis, L. Animal Kingdom: , Mollusca; Class , Cephalopoda; Order , Dibranchiata; Family , Sepiidæ. Common name , Cuttlefish. Preparation , Triturations of the dried black liquid contained in the "ink bag" of the mollusk. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 6 , from Hahnemann.) [The Editor has been enabled to compare a…”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Inky Juice of Cuttlefish (SEPIA) Acts specially on the portal system, with venous congestion. Stasis and thereby ptosis of viscera and weariness and misery. Weakness, yellow complexion, bearing-down sensation, especially in women, upon whose organism it has most pronounced effect. Pains extend down to back, chills…”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“Venous circulation: Digestive tract. Portal system. FEMALE PELVIC ORGANS. Nerves. Skin. COLD: AIR; North wind. Wet. Snowy. Sexual excesses. Before menses. Pregnancy. Abortion. Morning and evening. After first sleep. VIOLENT MOTION. Warmth. Cold drinks. Draggy , relaxed females -lithæmic, plethoric, - subject to…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“officinalis. Cuttle Fish. N. O. Cephalopoda. Trituration of dried liquid contained in the ink-bag. [I have found a preparation made from the fresh ink-bag, given to me by Dr. Swallow, of Ningpo, in every way superior to the official preparation, which I now rarely use. The provings and recorded cures were, however…”
Dunham — The method — how symptoms are weighed before a remedy is differentiated.
“SEPIAE SUCCUS. THE juice of the cuttle-fish; a blackish fluid contained in the abdomen of the animal, and from which the animal has the power of projecting the juice into the surrounding water. For medicinal purposes the juice is carefully dried, divested of its membranous envelope, and prepared by trituration…”
Farrington — The differential diagnosis — remedy families narrowed through direct clinical comparison.
“SEPIA. Belonging to the Mollusca is an animal called the Sepia, or cuttlefish. A hard calcareous substance belonging to the cuttle-fish is, you all know, used for the feeding of birds. The animal itself possesses a little sac or pouch which contains a dark brown, almost black fluid. When pursued by larger fish, it…”
Guernsey — The leading characteristics — a compact bridge from repertory result to remedy study.
“Mental.--Great indifference to all surroundings; comprehension difficult; affections of the intellect. Nose.--Smelling too sensitive; too feeble, yellow saddle across the bridge of the nose. Skin.--Skin yellow, like jaundice; chapping of the skin, or cracks may extend deeply into the tissues, and this is aggravated by…”
Hahnemann (CD) — The antipsoric proving record — Hahnemann's later materia medica in its chronic-disease setting.
“SEPIA SUCCUS. This brownish black juice (before me used only for drawing) is found in a sac in the abdomen of the large sea animal, called cuttlefish. This the animal occasionally squirts out, to darken the water around it, probably in order to secure its prey, or to conceal itself from its enemies. The juice-bladder…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Cuttle Fish. Mollusca. Introduced by Hahnemann. The cuttle fish is an inhabitant of the European seas, particularly the Mediterranean. Its ink bag contains a blackish-brown excretory liquor with which it darkens the water when it wishes to escape its enemies or catch its prey. The triturations and tincture are made…”
Hughes & Dake — The source evidence — provings and poisonings retained with their experimental context.
“SEPIA. The dark brown paint secreted by the cuttlc-fisb, Stpia officiiuUh. 1. Provings. — I. Hahkemann, C/ir«/i;f Z)/«aj«, part v of original -^ vol, of translation. Contains 1657 symptoms, of which 160 ar^^ from five fellow-observers. 2. a. I have myself observed certain effects of S. I used the 3"::^ trit…”
Kent — The mental and general picture — how Kent organizes the remedy’s historical symptom portrait.
“Sepia is suited to tall, slim women with narrow pelvis and lax fibers and muscles; such a woman is not well built as a woman. A woman who has the hips of a well-built man is not built for child bearing, she cannot perform the functions of a woman without becoming relaxed in the pelvic organs and tissues. Such a build…”
Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Stiffness of the joints (hands, feet and knees). Stinging pain in the limbs. Painful sensitiveness of all parts of the body. Great sensitiveness to cold air. After getting wet, afterwards fainting spells and finally coryza. Coryza of a profuse character. At night palpitation of the heart and pulsation through the…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Sadness with weeping. Great indifference, even to one's family. Restlessness, fidgety. Great excitability in company. Dread of being alone. Is easily offended and inclined to be vehement. Sadness about one's health and her domestic affairs. Anxiety, with flushes of heat. Aversion to one's occupation. Heavy flow of…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: cuttle fish. Adapted to women with dark hair, rigid fibre, but mild and easy disposition, particularly during pregnancy, childbed, or while nursing (N.). Want of animal heat (Sil.). The symptoms are relieved from violent exertions, but reappear most violently when sitting quietly in the forenoon and…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Bearing down pains, must sit close and cross her legs to keep something from coming down out of the vagina. Sense of fulness in the pelvic organs, and pressure down into the anus, as if a ball or weight; oozing of moisture. Flushes of heat and perspiration at the climacteric. Painful sense of emptiness or goneness at…”

Sepia officinalis in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Sepia officinalis in 6,425 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (1020), HEAD (604), GENERALITIES (499), MIND (396), SKIN (301).

ABDOMEN - HEAVINESS,as from a load,etc. - rising,on
ABDOMEN - PAIN - Hypogastrium - evening - amel.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - Hypogastrium - supper,after,amel.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - dragging,bearing down - morning - 9 a.m.to 6 p.m.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - pressing - Hypogastrium - morning - 9 a.m.to 6 p.m.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - pressing - Hypogastrium - night - 9 p.m.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - pressing - morning - 9 a.m.
ABDOMEN - PAIN - stitching (Sticking,etc.) - Liver - extending - to, - right shoulder
BACK - PAIN - struck with a hammer - as if
BACK - PAIN - struck with a hammer - as if; pressing against something hard amel.
BLADDER - PAIN - menses,during
CHEST - PAIN - sticking in short ribs
COUGH - CONSTANT - night - waking
EXTREMITIES - COLDNESS - Foot - morning - breakfast,after - during headache
EXTREMITIES - HEAT - Hand - coldness - of feet,during - or hot feet and cold hands
EYE - PAIN - burning,smarting,biting - cold - wind
EYE - PAIN - sand,as from - right
EYE - PAIN - sore,bruised,tender - evening - walk,after a
EYE - TUMORS on lids - tarsal tumors - repeated styes,after
FACE - DISCOLORATION - yellow - saddle across cheeks

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