Equisetum hyemale

Scouring-rush

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

Historical reference for practitioners and students.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.

(EQUISETUM)

Principal action on the bladder. A remedy for enuresis and dysuria.

Urinary

Severe, dull pain and feeling of fullness in bladder, not relieved by urinating. Frequent urging with severe pain at the close of urination . Urine flows only drop by drop. Sharp, burning , cutting pain in urethra while urinating.

Incontinence in children, with dreams or night-mares when passing urine. Incontinence in old women, also with involuntary stools. Retention and dysuria during pregnancy and after delivery. Much mucus in urine. Albuminuria. Involuntary urination.

Kidney

Deep pain in region of right kidney, extending to lower abdomen, with urgent desire to micturate. Right lumbar region painful.

Modalities

Worse , right side; movement, pressure, touch, sitting down; better , in afternoon from lying down.

Relationship

Compare: Hydrangea; Ferr phos; Apis; Canth; Linaria; Chimaph . Equisitum contains silica in appreciable quantity.

Dose

Tincture, to sixth potency. A decoction, teaspoonful doses, or the tincture in hot water, is found useful to allay irritability of urinary tract, calculus, dysuria, etc; also for pleuritic effusion and dropsy.

Equisetum hyemale across the other classic books

Equisetum hyemale appears in 10 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.
“Scouring Rush. (Equisetaceae.) Sever dull pain in the bladder, as from distension, not > after urinating. Frequent and intolerable urging to urinate, with severe pain at close of urination (Berb., Sars., Thuja). Constant desire to urinate; large quantity of clear, watery urine, without > (scanty, a few drops, Apis…”
Allen TF — A compiled symptom record drawing on proving reports and other named observations.
“Equisetum hyemale, Linn. Natural order , Equisetaceæ. Common name , Scouring Rush. Preparation , Tincture of whole plant. Authorities. Provings of Hugh M. Smith, M.D., Thesis, N. Y. Hom. Med. Coll., 1876. Very irritable and easily fatigued (fourth day), 1b. Confusion and Vertigo. Heavy and confused feeling in head at…”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“GENITO-URINARY TRACT. At close of urination. Pressure. Aching, full, tender bladder. Cystitis. Prickling, burning, or cutting in urethra. Dysuria. NOCTURNAL ENURESIS; with irritable bladder. Dribbling urine. Mucus in urine. Complementary: Sil. Related: Canth.”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“hyemale. Scouring Rush. A rush growing in damp soil in Europe and America. N. O. Equisetaceæ. Tincture of fresh plant chopped and pounded to a pulp. Cystitis / Dropsy / Enuresis / General paralysis / Gleet / Gonorrhœa / Gravel / Hæmaturia / Urine, retention of The chief effects of Equisetum are found in the urinary…”
Hale — The introduction story — early pathogenetic and clinical evidence for medicines new to Hale's generation.
“(Scouring Rush.) Description. — This rush is sometimes called Horsetail. It is common to the northern and western parts of the United States, growing in wet grounds or river banks: maturing in June and July. The plant abounds in Silex, which it absorbs from the soil. The whole plant is medicinal. Officinal…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Scouring Rush. Equisetaceæ. A rush, growing in damp soil in Europe and North America. The tincture is prepared from the fresh plant, chopped and pounded to a pulp. A popular remedy for dropsy, suppression of urine, gravel, hæmaturia, gonorrhœa and gleet. Proved by Smith, De Korth, and Chapin. See Allen's Encyclopædia…”
Hughes & Dake — The source evidence — provings and poisonings retained with their experimental context.
“EQUISETUM. Equisetum hyemale, L. Scouring rush , rough horsetail. Nat. Ord., Equisetacee. I. Provings.- 1 . a. Dr. HUGH M. SMITH took, August 24th, 26th, and 30th, repeated doses of 30th dil. He experienced on first 2 d. frequent sharp stitches in temples, with sense of constriction there and across forehead; and p.m…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: scouring bush. Dull pain in the region of the right kidney, with urgent desire to urinate (C). Burning in the urethra when urinating (Canth., Merc., Sulph.) (N.). CYSTIC IRRITATION WITH TENESMUS (Apis, Bell., Canth., Dulc., Ferr-P., Merc-C., Nux-V., Puls., Sep., Thuj.) (Bl.). Pain in the bladder, as if…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“This remedy is sometimes successful in cases which are not relieved by Cantharis. There is as much inclination to urinate as with Cantharis, and there is pain in the bladder, as if too full of urine, which must be voided in order to get relief from both pain and pressure, but urinating does not satisfy and he must…”

Equisetum hyemale in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Equisetum hyemale in 121 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in BLADDER (28), BACK (18), URINE (13), SLEEP (9), URETHRA (9).

BLADDER - URINATION - dysuria - painful,child cries before urine starts - urination,after,agg.
BLADDER - URINATION - involuntary - night (incontinence in bed) - tangible cause except habit,when there is no
BLADDER - PAIN - pressing,pressure in - urination, - after
BLADDER - PAIN - sore,tender
BLADDER - FULLNESS,sensation of
BLADDER - INFLAMMATION
BLADDER - PAIN
URINE - SEDIMENT - mucous
BLADDER - URINATION - involuntary - night (incontinence in bed)
BLADDER - URGING to urinate (morbid desire) - constant
URINE - COLOR, - dark
URINE - SCANTY
BLADDER - URGING to urinate (morbid desire) - frequent - desire increases as the quantity of urine diminishes
BLADDER - URGING to urinate (morbid desire) - forenoon - 10 a.m.
MALE GENITALIA - PAIN - sore,burised - Testes - extending up spermatic cord
BLADDER - PARALYSIS - old people,in
URETHRA - PAIN - biting - urination, - after
BLADDER - RETENTION of urine - confinement,after
URETHRA - PAIN - biting - urination, - during
BLADDER - PAIN - aching

Search all 7 classical repertories

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