Allium Cepa

Red Onion

by William Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory

Head

Catarrhal headache, mostly in forehead; worse in warm room towards evening. Thread-like pains in face. Headache ceases during menses; returns when flow disappears.

Eyes

Red. Much burning and smarting lachrymation. Sensitive to light . Eyes suffused and watery; profuse, bland lachrymation, better in open air. Burning in eyelids.

Ears

Earache, shooting in eustachian tube.

Nose

Sneezing, especially when entering a warm room. Copious, watery and extremely acrid discharge . Feeling of a lump at root of nose. Hay-fever ( Sabad; Sil; Psor ). Fluent coryza with headache, cough, and hoarseness. Polypus.

Stomach

Canine hunger. Pain in pyloric region. Thirst. Belching. Nausea.

Abdomen

Rumbling, offensive flatus. Pains in left hypogastrium. Colic sitting, moving about.

Rectum

Diarrhœa with very offensive flatus. Stitches in rectum; itching and rhagades in anus. Glowing heat in rectum.

Urinary

Sensation of weakness in bladder and urethra. Increased secretion of urine with coryza. Urine red with much pressure and burning in urethra.

Respiratory

Hoarseness. Hacking cough on inspiring cold air. Tickling in larynx. Sensation as if larynx is split or torn. Oppressed breathing from pressure in middle of chest. Constricted feeling in region of epiglottis. Pain extending to ear.

Extremities

Lame joints. Ulcers on heel. Painful affections of fingers about nails neuralgia of stump. Bad effects from getting feet wet. Limbs, especially arms, feel sore and tired.

Sleep

Yawning with headache and drowsiness. Gaping in deep sleep. Dreams. Wakes at 2 am.

Modalities

Worse , in the evening, in warm room. Better , in open air, and in cold room.

Relationship

Compare: Gels; Euph; Kali hyd; Aconite; Ipecac .

Complementary: Phosphor; Thuja; Puls .

Antidotes: Arn; Cham; Verat .

Dose

Third potency.

Allium Cepa across the other classic books

Allium Cepa appears in 12 of the 13 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.
“Onion (Liliaccae) Acute catarrhal inflammation of mucous membranes, with increased secretion. Catarrhal dull headache, with coryza; in open air; moving about. Neuralgic pains like a long thread; in face, head, neck, chest. Traumatic chronic neuritis; neuralgia of stump after amputation; burning and stinging pains…”
Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Allium cepa, Willd. Nat. order , Liliaceæ. Common names , Onion; (Germ.) Zwiebel; (Fr.) Oignon. Preparation , Tincture from the red onion. Authorities. To mandragora we may join the excessive use of garlic, onions, and leeks, because all physicians consider them very injurious, as occasioning deeply corrupted…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ACRIDITY, excoriations, etc. FINE PAINS, needle, splinter, thread or hair-like, etc. LARYNX AND TRACHEA SEASON, Spring SIDE, left to right”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“MUCOUS MEMBRANES: NOSE. EYES. Larynx. Bowels. Nerves. Left to right. WARM ROOM. Wet feet. Singing. Damp. N.E. Winds. Spring. Cool, open air. Bathing. Motion. Acute colds, catarrhs or neuralgias. Shooting pains; as fine as a thread. .................... Forehead aches; into eyes and face; > free coryza or menses…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Cepa. Common Red Onion. N. O. Liliaceæ. Tincture of the onion; or of whole fresh plant gathered from July to August. Anus, fissure of / Ascites / Catarrh / Cold / Coryza / Cough / Diarrhœa / Facial paralysis / Feet, easily galled / Hay-fever / Hernia / Influenza / Laryngitis / Panaritium / Pneumonia / Trauma / Whitlow…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Common Onion. Liliaceæ. In use as a medicine since time immemorial. Among the Egyptians it was hung up in noxious corners, carried about with one, taken for the consequences of bad water, used for the sting of insects, animal poisons, even the bite of the mad dog ; it was applied as an irritant and to mature…”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“General features : Allium cepa is used principally for " colds." There are various phases of these " colds," in the nose, in the throat, in the larynx, in the bronchial tubes. The patient and all the phases of his " cold," his coryza, his Ia laryngitis, his cough, all his complaints, are aggravated by warmth, are…”
Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Pulse full and accelerated. Heat, with rumbling in the abdomen, coryza and thirst. Soreness of the lower extremities. Breathing oppressed from pressure in the middle of the chest, worse in the evening. Cough when inhaling cold air. Pressure and other pains in the region of the bladder. Sensation of weakness in the…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Melancholy. Fear that the pains would become unbearable. Dulness. Dull head-ache, with coryza; worse in the evening; better in the open air; but aggravated when returning to a warm room. Flow of (mild) tears. Redness of the eyes, with itching, burning and stinging, with inclination to rub them. Swelling around the…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: red onion. HEADACHE, BETTER IN THE OPEN AIR (Apis, Ars., Bell., Coff., Ferr., Lyc., Puls.); GETS WORSE ON RETURNING TO A WARM ROOM (Apis, Carb-V., Kali-S., Phos., Plat., Puls., Seneg., Sep., Sulph.) (G.). HEADACHE, WITH CORYZA (Calc-S., Dulc., Euphr., Gels., Graph., Hep.) (C.). Headache ceases during…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Coryza with frequent sneezing and profuse acrid discharge, corroding upper lip and nose. Lachrymation also profuse but bland. (Euph. reverse.) Cold extends to the bronchi, with profuse secretion of mucus; coughing and much rattling (Chelidon.). Modalities: in open air (the coryza). Anyone who has cut up raw onions for…”

Allium Cepa in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Allium Cepa in 682 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (68), NOSE (64), HEAD (59), ABDOMEN (53), STOMACH (42).

EYE - TEARS, - bland
NOSE - CORYZA - peaches,from the odor of
NOSE - CORYZA - wind,caused by cold,dry - N.E.,after
NOSE - DISCHARGE, - excoriating - bland discharge from eyes,with
NOSE - DISCHARGE, - excoriating - left nostril,from
COUGH - HACKING - air - cold agg.
LARYNX TRACHEA - PAIN, - larynx - coughing,on - torn loose,as if something were being
EYE - PAIN - burning,smarting,biting - rub,must
LARYNX TRACHEA - PAIN, - cutting,larynx - coughing,on
NOSE - CORYZA - flowers
NOSE - CORYZA - annual (hay fever) - August,in
NOSE - CORYZA - discharge,with (fluent) - warm room
LARYNX TRACHEA - PAIN, - tearing,larynx - coughing,on
LARYNX TRACHEA - SUPPORTS larynx on coughing
LARYNX TRACHEA - PAIN, - larynx - coughing,on - grasps the larynx
NOSE - CORYZA - warm room
RECTUM - FLATUS - morning
NOSE - CORYZA - discharge,with (fluent) - evening
HEAD - PAIN, - closing eyes, - on
URINE - CUTICLE,forming on the surface of the includes Fatty - iridescent

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