Allium Cepa

Coryza with frequent sneezing and profuse acrid discharge, corroding upper lip and nose. Lachrymation also profuse but bland. (Euph. reverse.)

Cold extends to the bronchi, with profuse secretion of mucus; coughing and much rattling (Chelidon.).

Modalities: < in the evening, and in warm room, > in open air (the coryza).

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Anyone who has cut up raw onions for cooking knows what is the effect upon the eyes and nose—irritation, which causes violent sneezing and lachrymation. Then, if the homœopathic law of cure is true, it ought to be a good remedy for coryza, and so it is; but, like every other remedy, it cures its own peculiar and characteristic form of the disease.

It has constant and frequent sneezing, with profuse acrid discharge, which burns and corrodes the nose and upper lip, and it is worse in the evening and indoors and better in open air. It has also profuse lachrymation, with burning, biting and smarting of the eyes, but the discharge is bland; that is, it does not make the eyes sore afterwards. There may or may not be headache; if there is it is, like the coryza, worse in warm room or evening and better in open air. I have found it particularly useful in children when the profuse coryza or cold extended downward to the bronchi, with a like profuse secretion in the bronchial tubes, with much coughing and rattling of mucus. Before Cepa came into homœopathic use we used to give Euphrasia when there was profuse coryza and lachrymation. The difference between the two remedies is, that with Cepa the nasal discharge is acrid and the lachrymal bland, while exactly the reverse is true of Euphrasia. The action of the remedy seems to be primarily in the nose with the one and in the eyes with the other, and thus we must learn to differentiate between all remedies.