Ictodes Foetida

by John Henry Clarke — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica

Ictodes Fœtida.

Pothos fœtidus. Symplocarpus fœtidus. Skunk-weed. Skunk Cabbage. N. O. Orontiaceæ (Calliaceæ, Orontoidæ, allied to Araceæ). Tincture of whole fresh plant-including root.

Clinical

Asthma / Catarrh / Cough / Dropsy / Herpes / Hysteria / Rheumatism

Characteristics

The Treasury of Botany thus epitomises the traditional uses of this plant in medicine: "The roots in cases of asthma; the leaves as an application to ulcers. The seeds are also considered to be anti-spasmodic, and useful in coughs." Hering and others proved it, and largely confirmed its popular reputation, as also its clinical relationship to the Arum family. Burning sensations from fauces down throat; enlarged glands of throat; swelling of nose and sneezing; spasmodic cough and skin affections are common to Ictod. and the Arums. Motion <. All complaints > in open air. Asthma is < or caused by dust.

Relations

Compare: Arum t., Asaf., Meph.

1. Mind

Cross; impetuous; inclined to contradict. Absence of mind and inattention; enters sick-room without knocking, does not listen to patient.

2. Head

Vertigo and dimness of sight. Headache in single places, lasting a short while, then changing place; dulness; pressing in temples, now more in one, then more in the other, with violent pulsation of arteries. Drawing in forehead in two lines from protuberances to glabella, where it draws outward as from a magnet.

5. Nose

The nose is swollen as far as the nasal bones extend, red like a saddle, sore to touch, < l. side. Cartilage cold and bloodless, with red spots on cheeks and small pimples on l. side of face. Violent sneezing, with pains in palate, fauces, and œsophagus to stomach, hurting for a while after in cardiac end of stomach.

6. Face

Swollen submaxillary glands.

7. Teeth and Gums

Scurvy.

8. Mouth

Numbness of tongue, cannot touch teeth with it. Papillæ elevated. Tongue red and sore on tip and edges.

9. Throat

Burning from fauces downwards through chest. Œsophagus painful on sneezing.

10. Appetite

Inclined to smoke, but it does not taste good.

11. Stomach

Nausea and vomiting. With every firm step, pain in pit of stomach as from something breaking loose.

12. Abdomen

Expansion and tension in abdomen. Pain in abdomen here and there in single spots. When walking, sensation as if the entrails were hanging loose and flabby without any pain.

14. Urinary Organs

Great urging; urine darker.

15. Male Sexual Organs

Titillation, voluptuous but painful, around corona glandis.

16. Female Sexual Organs

Amenorrhœa.

17. Respiratory Organs

Spasmodic asthma. Sudden anxiety, with dyspnœa and sweat, followed by stool and relief of that and other complaints. Inclined to take a deep breath: with hollowness of chest; with constriction in fauces and chest. Asthma, < or caused by dust. Heaves in horses from dusty hay. Spasmodic cough. Senile catarrh.

18. Chest

Pain in chest and in axillæ; seems to have a connection with burning in œsophagus. Pressing pain in sternum.

23. Lower Limbs

Aching along r. crista tibiæ.

24. Generalities

Hysterics. Epilepsy. Erratic and spasmodic pains.

25. Skin

Herpes and cutaneous affections.

Ictodes Foetida across the other classic books

Ictodes Foetida appears in 5 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.
“Symplocarpus fœtidus, Salisb. (Ictodes fœtidus, Bigelow; Phothos fœtidus). Natural order , Araceæ. Common name , Skunk-cabbage. Preparation , Tincture of the root. Authorities. Vertigo, 1. Headache, 1. Headache here and there, of short duration, 2. Drawing from both sides of the forehead to the glabella, very violent…”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Skunk-cabbage-Ictodes (POTHOS FOETIDUS) For asthmatic complaints; worse from inhaling any dust. Hysteria . Erratic spasmodic pains. "Will-o'-the-wisp" like character of its subjective symptoms and its physometric property are special features (Samuel Jones). Inflation and tension in the abdomen . Millar's asthma…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Skunk Cabbage. Araceæ. Experiment by Bigelow, Amer. Med. Botany, vol. 2, p. 48. Symptoms in Jahr's Symptomatology are from provings by C. Hering and others. Cross ; impetuous ; inclined to contradict. Absence of mind and inattention ; enters sick room without knocking, does not listen to patient. Vertigo and dimness…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Above the nasal bone, swollen and red, forming a saddle, painful to the touch, especially on the left side of the nose; the cartilaginous part is cold and bloodless, with red spots on the cheeks; on the left side of the face small pimples. Sensation of numbness of the tongue, cannot touch the teeth with it. Papillæ…”

Ictodes Foetida in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Ictodes Foetida in 44 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in MOUTH (9), NOSE (9), RESPIRATION (6), CHEST (3), HEAD (3).

MALE GENITALIA - ITCHING - painful
MOUTH - PAIN - Palate,in - sneezing,on
NOSE - DISCOLORATION, - redness - saddle (red)
NOSE - SWELLING of - red,like a saddle
RESPIRATION - ASTHMATIC - dust,from inhaling
RESPIRATION - ASTHMATIC - stool amel.
RESPIRATION - DIFFICULT - stool, - amel.
RESPIRATION - DIFFICULT - stool, - before
THROAT - PAIN - Oesophagus - extending to stomach - on sneezing
THROAT - PAIN - sneezing,on
MIND - ANGUISH - stool - before
HEAD - PAIN, - Forehead,in - eyes, - between
NOSE - CATARRH - old age,of
NOSE - PAIN in - sore,bruised,externally - inside - Left
MOUTH - PAIN - sore - Tongue - sides
NOSE - SWELLING of - bones
MIND - CONTRADICT,disposition to
MOUTH - PAIN - sore - Tongue - tip
NOSE - PAIN in - sore,bruised,externally - touch
HEAD - PAIN, - Forehead,in - eyes, - behind

Search all 7 classical repertories

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