CONIUM MACULATUM

Conium Maculatum

(Poison Hemlock)

Con.

An old remedy made famous by Plato’s account of Socrates’ death. It causes ascending paralysis, leading to death by respiratory failure, and treats symptoms like difficult gait (locomotor ataxia), trembling (chorea), sudden weakness while walking, and painful leg stiffness. These conditions often occur in old age, marked by weakness, lethargy, local congestions, and sluggishness. Con. is effective for debility, hypochondriasis, urinary problems, weak memory, and sexual debility, especially in menopause, old maids, and bachelors. It also addresses tumor growths, feelings of being bruised, morning debility, body and mind weakness, trembling, and palpitations. It has applications in cancerous conditions, arteriosclerosis, sternum caries, and enlarged glands, acting on the glandular system similarly to scrofulous and cancerous conditions. It serves as a tonic after the flu and treats insomnia in multiple neuritis.

Mind: Excitement leads to mental depression, timidity, aversion to society, and fear of being alone. There’s no interest in business or study, with weak memory and difficulty sustaining mental effort.

Head: Vertigo when lying down, turning over, turning the head, or moving the eyes; worse with head shaking, noise, or conversation, especially to the left. Stupefying headache with nausea and vomiting (migraine), foreign body sensation under the skull, scorched feeling on top, and tightness as if temples were compressed. Bruised, semilateral pains and dull occipital pain in the morning.

Eyes: Photophobia, excessive tearing, corneal pustules, dim vision (cataract), worse in artificial light. Sweating on closing the eyes, ocular muscle paralysis (ptosis), and intense photophobia from slight abrasions.

Ears: Defective hearing and blood-colored discharge (otorrhea).

Nose: Prone to bleeding and soreness, with polypus formation.

Stomach: Soreness around the tongue root, severe nausea, acrid heartburn, and acid eructations, worse in bed. Painful stomach spasms, ameliorated by eating but aggravated hours later, with acidity, burning, and a painful spot at the sternum (gastric ulcer).

Abdomen: Severe liver pain, chronic jaundice, and right hypochondrium pain (hepatomegaly), with sensitive, bruised, swollen, knife-like pains, and tightness (peritonitis).

Stool: Frequent urging, hard stool with tenesmus, tremulous weakness after stool, heat, and burning in the rectum.

Urinary: Difficulty voiding urine, interrupted flow, dribbling in old men.

Male: Increased desire but decreased power, sexual nervousness, weak erections, hard and enlarged testicles (orchitis).

Female: Dysmenorrhea with pain drawing down the thighs, lax and shrunken mammae, painful to touch (mastitis), breast stitches, delayed and scanty menses, breast pain before and during menses, rash, itching around the pudenda, sterility, indurated os and cervix, enlarged ovaries with lancinating pains, and leucorrhea after urination.

Respiratory: Dry, continuous cough, worse in the evening and at night, with itching in the chest and throat, aggravated by lying down, talking, laughing, and during pregnancy. Shortness of breath with minimal exertion, chest constriction, and pain.

Back: Dorsal pain between shoulders, effects of bruises and shocks to the spine, coccygodynia, and dull aching in the lumbar and sacral regions.

Extremities: Heavy, weary, paralyzed, trembling limbs, unsteady hands, numb fingers and toes, muscular weakness in lower extremities, and hand perspiration. Pain relief by elevating feet.

Skin: Painful axillary glands, numbness down the arm, induration after contusions, yellow skin and nails, enlarged glands, piercing pains, chronic ulcers with fetid discharge, and sweating upon sleeping or closing the eyes.

Modalities: Worse lying down, turning, or rising in bed; celibacy; before and during menses; cold; exertion. Better while fasting, in the dark, letting limbs hang down, with motion and pressure.

Relationship: Compare with Scirrhinum-Cancer nosode, Bar-c., Hydr., Iod., Kali-p., Hyos., Cur.

Dose: Best in higher potencies given infrequently, especially for growths and paretic states. Otherwise, sixth to thirtieth.