Pulsatilla

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

REGION

MIND.
VEINS.
MUCOUS MEMBRANES: TONGUE. STOMACH. BOWELS. FEMALE AND GENITO-URINARY ORGANS.
Respiration.
One side.
Right heart.

WORSE

WARMTH: AIR. ROOM. Clothes. BED.
Getting feet wet.
SUPPRESSIONS.
EVENING.
REST.
BEGINNING MOTION.
LYING; one side (L).
EATING: RICH FOOD. Long after. FATS. Ices. Eggs.
PUBERTY.
PREGNANCY.
Before menses.
Iron.
Quinine.

BETTER

COLD; FRESH, OPEN AIR.
Uncovering.
ERECT POSTURE.
Gentle motion.
Continued motion.
After a good cry.

CHANGEFUL. SHIFTING SYMPTOMS; rising to a certain pitch, then suddenly ceasing; going to part lain on; unilateral. THIRSTLESS, SHORT OF BREATH AND CHILLY; with digestive or menstrual disorders. SUPPRESSIONS; otorrhœa, menses, lochia, milk, etc. Metastases. Alternations. Phlegmasia. Venosity. Hæmorrhage; passive; vicarious. Anæmia. PROFUSE, BLAND, THICK, YELLOW-GREEN DISCHARGES; bitter mucus. Jerking, tearing or ulcerative pain. Numbness; part lain on; hands, feet, etc. Pale, chilly blondes. .................... MILD, TIMID, EMOTIONAL. WEEPY. Discouraged. Whining. Easily offended. Craves sympathy. Can't lie with head low. Headache start in vertex. Occipital ache, < coughing. Profuse sweat on scalp. Eyes; fill with tears (acrid) or seem covered; < wind; sticky lids; colds affect the; ophthalmia, gonorrhœal. Blepharitis. Styes. Blind attacks; < menses. Nightly earache. Foul discharge or bad odor before nose. Coryza; stopped on lying or in room. Anosmia. Pale face. Peeling cracked lips. Licks lips. Crack in center of lower lip. Bad breath. Drawing toothache, > cold. Taste bad; in A.M.; bloody; greasy. Slimy mouth or dry, without thirst. Tongue feels scalded. Alternate sides of throat or neck. Food leaves an after-taste or lodges in throat. Averse to water or fats. Craves acids or what disagrees. Sudden loathing, < eating. Heart-burn. Nausea. Epigastrium; cutting; pulsation. HEAVY OR DERANGED STOMACH. Abdomen; as of a heavy stone; aching; numb; pains into groins. Stools; changeable; green mucus, < after midnight; bilious. Piles, < lying. Urination; involuntary on lying; followed by blood. Heavy pressure on or cramp in bladder. Sensation as of a stone rolling in bladder. Nocturnal enuresis. Burning down l. spermatic cord. Enlarged prostate. Orchitis; gonorrhœal. Bloody emissions. Feels like menstruating. MENSES DARK; LATE, at puberty; SCANTY, < bathing; irregular; vicarious; absent. Dysmenorrhœa. Weak labor pains. Bearing down, < lying. After pains. Retained placenta. Leucorrhœa; milky; acrid. AIR HUNGER; < lying on l. side; as if from abdomen; if heated. Loose morning, then dry evening cough; from tickling in epigastrium; must sit up. Expectoration thick; purulent (Cetrar.), slimy, sweet, salt, etc. Asthma from suppressions. Cough; dry hacking; expectorates bitter or salty as it loosens up. Chest oppressed; as by a load. Sore stitch beneath clavicles. Palpitation. Mammæ; milk in virgin; sore, aching lump (r); scanty milk. Swelled joints; backs of feet. Numb elbows. Lower limbs; pains down, alternate sides; heavy legs. Sticking in tibia, < lying, > cool air and motion. Acute periostitis. Cold sweat on legs. Foul foot-sweat. Swelled glands. Veins full; varicose; painful. Ulcers, with hard, glistening areolæ; varicose. Skin itches on being heated. Measles. Day sleepiness. Lies with hands over head. Disturbed dreams. Awakes confused or tired. Chilly, yet averse to heat; IN A WARM ROOM; with the pain; on lying down at night. One hand cold. Partial sweat.

Complementary: Ars. Kali-bi. Sep. Sil. Zin.

Related: Ap. Cimi. Grap. Ham. Kali-bi. Nat-s.

Pulsatilla across the other classic books

Pulsatilla 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.
“Anemone. (Ranunculaceae) Adapted to persons of indecisive, slow, phelgmatic temperament; sandy hair, blue eyes, pale face, easily moved to laughter or tears; affectionate, mild, gentle, timid, yielding disposition - the woman's remedy. Weeps easily : almost impossible to detail her ailments without weeping (weeps when…”
Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Anemone pratensis, Linn. (Pulsatilla pratensis, Mill.), officinal "Herba Pulsatillæ nigricantis." Natural order , Ranunculaceæ. Common names , Wiesen Küchenschelle. Preparation , Tincture of the whole fresh plant. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 11 , from Hahmemann, R. A. M. L., 2, 273).”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Wind Flower (PULSATILLA) The weather-cock among remedies. The disposition and mental state are the chief guiding symptoms to the selection of Pulsatilla. It is pre-eminently a female remedy, especially for mild, gentle, yielding disposition. Sad, crying readily; weeps when talking; changeable , contradictory. The…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ADHESIVE, adherent, torn, loose, etc. (Comp. Sticky) AIR OPEN, AMEL.:- IN ROOM, AGG., AIR HUNGER, ETC. ALIVE, sensations (Comp. Formication) ALTERNATING EFFECTS, sides, states, etc.(Comp. Periodicity, Wandering, Waves). APPETITE, CHANGED ASCENDING, Agg. ASSOCIATED EFFECTS. BALL. BATHING, cold applications, etc., Amel…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“nigricans. Anemone pratensis. Pulsatilla pratensis. Pasque Flower. (Sunny, sandy pastures in Central and Northern Europe and parts of South of England.) N. O. Ranunculaceæ. Tincture of entire fresh plant when in flower (it flowers in spring and again in autumn). Acne / Amaurosis / Amenorrhœa / Anæmia / Appetite…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Meadow Anemone. Ranunculaceæ. This plant is found growing in sunny sandy soil and pasture grounds in central and northern Europe. The tincture is prepared from the fresh plant. Introduced and proved by Hahnemann and his provers, Fr. H., Hornburg, Michler, Rückert, Stapf, etc. CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Mental disturbance …”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“It is said to be a very good medicine for women , for blondes, especially for tearful blondes . It is one of the polychrests and one of the medicines most frequently used, as well as often abused. The Pulsatilla patient is an interesting one, found in any household where there are plenty of young girls. She is…”
Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Especially adapted to females, with blue eyes, very affectionate, easily excited to tears and and of a very yielding disposition. The forms of her symptoms are very changeable; she is very well one hour, and very miserable the next. She is timid and fearful, extremely mild and gentle, and sometimes silent and…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Mild, bashful, yielding disposition, with inclination to weep. Peevishness, which increases to tears, with chilliness thirstlessness. Gloomy, melancholy, full of cares. Mistrust; anthropophobia. Anguish about the heart, even to desire for suicide. Tremulous anguish, as if death were near. Covetousness. Vertigo, as if…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: wind flower. The weather-cock among the remedies (Br.). Especially adapted to females, with blue eyes, very affectionate, easily excited to tears (Sep.) and of a very yielding disposition (Bt.). One of the best remedies with which to begin the treatment of a chronic case (Calc., Nux-V., Sulph.) (A.)…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Mild, gentle, yielding disposition; sad and despondent, weeps easily, sandy hair, blue eyes, pale face, muscles soft and flabby. Changeable remedy, pains travel from one joint to another; hemorrhages flow and stop and flow again, no two stools alike, no two chills alike, no head nor tail to the case—mixed. Bad taste…”

Pulsatilla in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Pulsatilla in 6,094 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (891), GENERALITIES (493), MIND (454), HEAD (444), STOMACH (324).

ABDOMEN - CONSTRICTION - extending to - bladder
ABDOMEN - HEAVINESS,as from a load,etc. - menses - before
ABDOMEN - PAIN - dragging,bearing down - spermatic cords,through
BACK - PAIN - Sacral region - motion - gentle - amel.
BACK - PAIN - chill - during - extending to occiput and vertex
BACK - PAIN - constricting - cervical region - Lumbar region - takes away the breath
BACK - PAIN - drawing - extending - occiput and vertex - during chill
BACK - PAIN - extending to - occiput - to - and vertex during chill - to
BLADDER - URINATION - interrupted (intermittent) - spurts,in swelled prostate,with each spurt cutting pain
CHEST - ANXIETY in - lying, - on left side,while
CHEST - FULLNESS - Heart - evening
CHEST - INFLAMMATION - Lungs - menses suppressed
CHEST - PULSATION - night - interrupting sleep
COUGH - EXHAUSTING - night - sleep,disturbing
EXTREMITIES - NUMBNESS - Leg - menses,during
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - warm room agg.
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - boring - Foot - heel - evening
EXTREMITIES - TENSION - suddenly,increases gradually and ceases
EYE - ITCHING - air open,amel.
FACE - INFLAMMATION - parotid gland - metastasis to - mammae

Search all 7 classical repertories

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