COLOCYNTHIS

Colocynthis

(Bitter Cucumber)

Coloc.
Colocynthis is often used during the transitional season when cold air contrasts with a strong sun. It primarily affects the abdomen and head, causing severe neuralgias. It is ideal for irritable, easily angered individuals, women with heavy menstruation, sedentary lifestyles, and those prone to obesity. Neuralgic pains are usually relieved by pressure. Symptoms include muscle cramps, twitching, constriction, and contractions. After orifice surgeries, cystospasm may occur, with a urinous odor in sweat. The most distinctive symptom is agonizing abdominal pain causing the patient to bend double, with sensations of cutting, twisting, grinding, and contracting, as if clamped with iron bands.

Mind: Extremely irritable and easily angered, especially when questioned. Feels mortified by offenses and reacts with indignant anger.

Head: Vertigo when turning the head left. Lateral cutting headaches with nausea and vomiting. Headaches improve with pressure and heat but worsen with stooping, lying on the back, and moving eyelids.

Eyes: Sharp, boring pain, relieved by pressure. Feels as if the eyes will fall out when stooping. Gouty eye conditions, such as cataracts, and severe eyeball pain preceding glaucoma.

Face: Tearing, shooting pains, especially on the left side, with swelling and soreness. Neuralgia with chilliness; teeth feel too long, and sounds re-echo in ears. Stomach pain often coincides with tooth or head pain.

Stomach: Very bitter taste, rough tongue feeling scalded, and intense hunger. Stomach feels as if something is stuck, with a drawing pain.

Abdomen: Agonizing, cutting pain causing the patient to bend double and press the abdomen. Feels like grinding stones and bursting. Intestines feel bruised, with colic and calf cramps. Cutting pain, especially after anger, with general agitation and chills. Pain below the navel, dysenteric stools triggered by food or drink, jelly-like stools, musty odor, and abdominal distention.

Urinary: Intense burning along the urethra during stool, vesical catarrh with egg-white-like discharge, small quantities with frequent urging, itching at the orifice, red hard crystals in the vessel, tenesmus of the bladder, dysuria with pain spreading all over the abdomen.

Female: Boring pain in the ovary, needs to bend double with great restlessness, small cystic tumors in ovaries or broad ligaments, desires abdominal support with pressure, bearing down cramps causing her to bend double.

Extremities: Muscle contractions, limbs drawn together, pain in the right deltoid, cramp-like hip pains, spontaneous hip joint luxation, stiffness of joints, shortened tendons, sciatic pain on the left side relieved by pressure and heat but worsened by gentle touch, pain down the right thigh, muscles and tendons feel too short, numbness with pain, pain in the left knee joint.

Modalities: Symptoms worsen with anger and indignation but improve with doubling up, hard pressure, warmth, and lying with the head bent forward.

Relationship: Antidotes include Coffea, Staphysagria, and Chamomilla. Colocynthis is the best antidote for lead poisoning. Compare with Lobelia erinus, Dipodium punctatum, Dioscorea, Chamomilla, Cocculus, Mercurius, Plumbum, and Magnesia phosphorica.

Dose: Sixth to thirtieth potency.