Coccus Cacti

by C.M. Boger — A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica

REGION

MUCOUS MEMBRANES: FAUCES. Throat. Larynx. Chest. Genito-urinary.
Left side.

WORSE

IRRITATING FAUCES.
Periodically.
Heat.
Lying.
Awaking.
Cold exposure.

BETTER

Washing in cold water.
Catarrh

. Spasms. Hæmorrhage. Uric acid. Gouty-rheumatic. STRINGY DISCHARGES, EXPECTORATION, hanging from mouth, urine, feeling in throat, black menses, etc. Sensitive, fauces, vulva, skin, etc. Intolerable internal tickle. Pulsations; in glans; as of a fluid forcing its way. Dark blood. .................... Sad; on waking at 2-3 A.M. Hawking, brushing teeth, etc., excites cough, retching or vomiting. Profuse post-nasal discharge. Constricted throat. Violent kidney pain, with dysuria. Nephritic colic. Irritated bladder. Sticking along ureters. Urging to urinate; > bloody clots from vagina. Urine scanty, thick, heavy, sour; sediment; sandy, dark red, brown or white; bloody mucus. Nephritis. REGULAR PAROXYSMS OF VIOLENT TICKLING, RACKING COUGH, ENDING IN VOMITING OR RAISING MUCH CLEAR, ROPY MUCUS (Kali-bi.); with a purple, red face and internal heat; periodically; with kidney symptoms; slowly increasing, then gradually declining; > cold air or drinks. Whooping cough. Soreness or stitches in apices of lungs. Coldness in back. Burning; as of pepper in nostrils, at tip of tongue, etc. (Lach.).

Related: Ap. Berb. Lach. Pho.

Coccus Cacti across the other classic books

Coccus Cacti appears in 9 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 TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Coccus cacti, Linn. Class , Insecta; Nat. order , Hemiptera; Common name , Cochineal. Preparation , Tincture and triturations. Authorities. ( 1 to 28, Austrian provings, Oest. Zeit. f. Hom ., 4, 500)”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Cochineal The clinical application of the symptoms of this remedy, place it among the medicines for spasmodic and whooping coughs, and catarrhal conditions of the bladder; spasmodic pains in kidneys, with visceral tenesmus. Anuria, anasarca, ascites. Early morning or afternoon sadness. Suboccipital soreness; worse…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ALBUMINOUS, glairy discharges (Comp. Gelatinous) COUGH. DRINKING, Amel. FORCED, thru a narrow opening, as if LUMPY EFFECTS, discharges, etc. STICKY, stringy, etc.(Comp. Adhesive.)”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Cochineal. N. O. Hemiptera. An insect infesting cactus plants. The dried bodies of the female insects are used for making a tincture or trituration. They also constitute a well-known dye. ( Coccus Cacti has sometimes been confounded with Coccinella septempunctata , both insects being known as "Cochenille" in French.)…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Cochineal. Hemiptera. This insect is found wild in Mexico and Central America, inhabiting different species of cactus and allied genera of plants. It is also cultivated to some extent in Texas and New Mexico. The female insect is the one used in medicine and commerce. They are collected and killed either by immersing…”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“There is a little remedy and will be a relief after the study of so many difficult ones. With fuller proving it will doubtless show itself a deep-acting constitutional remedy. Although it has cured some deep-seated chronic troubles, it has been used chiefly in acute affections. This is only because of the scantiness…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Ill-humored, irritable. Giddiness; the head feels dull, as if he had drank too much, with a white-coated tongue. Congestion of blood to the head when entering a warm room; better in the open air. Sensation as if a foreign body were lodged between the eyelid and the eye. Sensation as if the edges of the eyelids were…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“We now leave the spider family, but as we are dealing with small fry of the insect order we will notice the Coccus cacti, a small bug or insect which infests the plants of the cactus species of Mexico and Central America. It has made its best record in curing affections of the respiratory organs. Whooping cough with…”

Coccus Cacti in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Coccus Cacti in 1,378 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (179), COUGH (133), HEAD (113), STOMACH (91), ABDOMEN (78).

COUGH - NIGHT - midnight - before - 11.30 p.m.
COUGH - PAROXYSMAL - night - midnight - before - 11.30 p.m.
COUGH - TICKLING - larynx,in,from - 11.30 p.m.
LARYNX TRACHEA - TICKLING in the air passages - night - midnight,after - 11.30 p.m.
ABDOMEN - DISTENSION - night - midnight
COUGH - SPASMODIC - night - midnight - before - 10.30 p.m.
COUGH - TICKLING - larynx,in,from - afternoon - 2 p.m.
LARYNX TRACHEA - TICKLING in the air passages - afternoon - 2 p.m.
COUGH - SPASMODIC - lying agg.
LARYNX TRACHEA - MUCUS inthe air passages - Larynx - cough,after each paroxysmal
EXPECTORATION - COPIOUS - paroxysmal cough,after each
COUGH - PAROXYSMAL - followed by copious mucus
COUGH - CHOKING
COUGH - AIR, - open - amel.
URETHRA - ITCHING - meatus
LARYNX TRACHEA - CATARRH - Larynx
COUGH - WARM, - room
EXPECTORATION - WHITE - albuminous
COUGH - HACKING - tickling in larynx,from
COUGH - WAKING,on

Search all 7 classical repertories

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Cina Cinnb Cist Clem Cocc Coff Colch Coll

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