Nux Vomica

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

REGION

Cerebro-spinal axis.
NERVES.
DIGESTIVE ORGANS: STOMACH. LIVER. Bowels.
RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
Male brunettes.

WORSE

EARLY MORNING.
COLD: OPEN AIR (Dry). Drafts. Seats. Wind. UNCOVERING.
HIGH LIVING: COFFEE. Condiments. Liquor. Drugs. Debauchery. Purgatives.
Sedentary habits.
Overeating.
Mental: Exertion. Fatigue. Vexation.
Disturbed sleep.
SLIGHT CAUSES: Anger. Noise. Odors. Light. Touch. PRESSURE: of clothes, < waist.

BETTER

FREE DISCHARGES.
Naps (Kali-bi.).
Wrapping head.
Resting.
Hot drinks.
Milk.
Moist air.

VIOLENT ACTION; often irregularly fitful or inefficient. Increased reflexes. Irritable and hypersensitive, mentally and physically. Firm fibred brunette. Twistings. Jerks. Spasms; with consciousness. Tense, contracted feeling. Lightning-like pains. Neuralgia; prodromal. Sensation as of a rough body internally. Bruised soreness; OF ABDOMEN, brain, etc. INTERNAL scrapy RAWNESS; throat, larynx, etc. Takes colds. Biliousness. Faintings after vomiting, after stool, after labor pains, etc. .................... Sensitive and critical. Active, ANGRY AND IMPATIENT; can't stand pain; so mad, he cries. Zealous, nervous and excitable. Nagging. Spiteful. Irritable hypochondriasis. Sullen. Fears poverty. Violent, ugly (suicidal) impulses. Vertigo; on an empty stomach; with blank spells. Sensitive scalp. Swelled forehead.Lachrymation; on affected side. Migraine. Blood-shot eyes. Sore nostrils. Nose stopped, but runs water; on one side. Sneezing; violent; abortive; from intense crawling in (l) nostril. Coryza; fluent by day and in open air, dry at night. Epistaxis on coughing. Acute smell. Red, turgid or yelowish face, < about nose and mouth. Left angle of mouth droops. Jaws snap shut; stiff. Teeth chatter. Fetor oris. TASTE, biter -sour; bad in A.M. Itching palate; Eustachian tube. Rough, scratchy throat; putrid taste in, on coughing. Craves piquant foods or stimulants. HICCOUGH. Violent retching, < hawking. Eructations; sour. Heart-burn. Water - brash. Nausea; > if he can only vomit. VIOLENT VOMITING; bilious-sour. Food lies like a heavy knot in stomach. Gastric pains, into back; chest; > vomiting, etc. As of a band about waist; clothes oppress it. Indigestion. Liver sore; sticking; enlarged. Gall-stone colic. Bowels gripe here and there. SORE BOWELS, < COUGHING OR STEPPING. Hernia; infantile. Flatulent colic. UNEASY, fitful and FRUITLESS URGING FOR BOWELS TO ACT, > STOOL. Strains hard at stool. Inactive peristalsis. In rectum; retained flatus; as if more stool remained; spasm of. Obstipation. PILES; itching; > cool bathing. Sexual erethism. Onanism. Premature ejaculation. Menses profuse, early and prolonged or intermittent; of dark, lumpy blood. Dysmenorrhœal cramps; spread over whole body. Cough violent, throwing the patient down; paroxysmal; whooping. Painfully stiff neck; pains down (r) shoulder. Lumbar ache, as if breaking; must raise up to turn over. Acute lumbago. Crawling along spine. Shooting from toes to thighs, < after stool. Tense cramps in calves and soles. Feet feel clubby and raw. Goose-skin. Jaundice. Yawning. Sleepy in evening or sleepless from rush of ideas. Awakes too early; can't sleep again. Finally sleeps, but on waking feels miserable. Night-mare. Chill with thirst and heat without thirst. EASILY CHILLED; CAN'T UNCOVER, < motion; < drinking even during the heat. Sour sweat.

Complementary: Kali-c. Pho. Sul.

Related: Ign. Lyc.

Nux Vomica across the other classic books

Nux Vomica 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.
“Poison Nut. (Loganiaccae.) Adapted to thin, irritable, careful, zealous persons with dark hair and bilious or sanguine temperament. Disposed to be quarrelsome, spiteful, malacious ; nervous and melancholic. Debauchers of a thin, irritable, nervous disposition ; prone to indigestion and haemorrhoids (persons with light…”
Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Strychnos nux vomica, Linn. Natural order , Loganiaceæ. Common names , Poison-nut; Kuchila (Bengal); (G.), Kræhenaugen; (Fr.), Noix vomique; (also known as false angustura bark). Preparation , Tincture or trituration of the seed. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 18 , from Hahnemann, R. A. M. L., 1, fourth ed.).”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Poison-nut Is the greatest of polychrests, because the bulk of its symptoms correspond in similarity with those of the commonest and most frequent of diseases. It is frequently the first remedy, indicated after much dosing, establishing a sort of equilibrium of forces and counteracting chronic effects. Nux is…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ACHING ADHESIVE, adherent, torn, loose, etc. (Comp. Sticky) ANGER, IRRITABILITY FRETFULNESS, BAD TEMPER, ETC. (COMP. EMOTIONS) ANGINA PECTORIS APPETITE, CHANGED ASCENDING, Agg. ASSOCIATED effects. BALL. BLACK, dark, etc. BLOOD SEPSIS, etc. BLUISH, purple, livid, etc. BREAKING, broken, brittle, etc. BURNING, stinging…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Strychnos nux vomica. Poison nut. N. O. Loganiaceæ. Tincture and Trituration of imported seeds. Acne rosacea / Alcoholism / Amaurosis / Amblyopia / Anger, effects of / Apoplexy / Asthma / Bilious attack / Biliousness / Bladder, affections of / Bone, nodes on / Bra in, affections of / Breath, sour / Carriage-sickness /…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Poison Nut. Loganiaceæ. The seeds of Strychnos Nux Vomica ; a tree native to Hindostan and the East Indies. The alcoholic tincture is prepared from the finely pulverized seed. Introduced by Hahnemann and proved upon himself, his son Frederick, Stapf, Wahle and Flaeming. Later provings by Robinson, Berridge and Wilson…”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Antidote : Everywhere in this remedy we observe the striking oversensitiveness of the patient; it is brought out in all the symptoms. Irritable; oversensitive to noise, to light, to the least current of air, to his surroundings; extremely touchy in regard to his food; many kinds of food disturb, strong foods disturb…”
Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Nausea and vomiting every morning with depression of spirits. Nausea and vomiting after eating. Constant nausea. Pressure in the stomach an hour or two after eating. Pressure as from a stone in the stomach. Sleepy after dinner. Flatulent distension after eating or drinking. Cannot use the mind and pain in the stomach…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Anger, with habitual malicious, spiteful disposition. Fiery, excited temperament. Inclined to find fault and scold; morose; stubborn. Over-sensitiveness to external impressions, noise, smells; light and music are unbearable and affect him much; anxiety and restlessness in the evening. Anxiety with irritability and…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: poison nut. Is the greatest of polychrests, because the bulk of its symptoms correspond in similarity with those of the commonest and most frequent diseases (Br.). One of the best remedies with which to commence treatment of cases that have been drugged by mixtures, bitters, vegetable pills, nostrums or…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“For very particular, careful, zealous persons, inclined to get excited or angry, spiteful, malicious disposition, mental workers or those having sedentary occupations. Over-sensitiveness, easily offended; very little noise frightens, cannot bear the least even suitable medicine; faints easily from odors, etc…”

Nux Vomica in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Nux Vomica in 5,747 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (835), GENERALITIES (468), HEAD (464), MIND (459), STOMACH (334).

ABDOMEN - PAIN - cramping,griping - suppressed haemorrhoidal flow
ABDOMEN - PAIN - suppressed haemorrhoidal flow
BACK - PAIN - aching - Lumbar region - turning - must sit up to turn over in bed
BACK - PAIN - aching - turning - on - must sit up to turn over in bed
BACK - PAIN - sore - bruised - beaten - night - 3 to 4 a.m. - agg.
CHEST - WEAKNESS - Heart,sensation of,about the - tired feeling
CHILL - MORNING - menses,during,after faintness
COUGH - DRY - night - midnight - daybreak,until
COUGH - NIGHT - midnight - after - daybreak,until
COUGH - VIOLENT - morning - rising,before
EAR - ITCHING in - eustachian tubes - compels swallowing
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - sore,bruised - Bones - morning in bed
EXTREMITIES - PARALYSIS - Upper Limbs - shocks,with
EYE - PAIN - headache,during - in occiput
FACE - DISCOLORATION - bluish - lips - convulsions,during
FACE - PAIN - coffee - after abuse of
FEVER - ANTICIPATING
GENERALITIES - CONVULSIONS - bending - head backwards,from
HEAD - PAIN, - pressing - Occiput - pressure amel.
HEAD - PAIN, - stunning,stupefying - eating,after

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Practitioner guide: Nux Vomica

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