Nux vomica

(Poison Nut)

IDENTIFYING FEATURES

MIND
⵼ Achievers (want to be the best), ambitious (ruled by their goals), ardent
(Carc, Med, Sulph). Fanatic (zealous); cannot relax, studies all the time.
⵼ Children who are very careful, meticulous, particular; become easily
annoyed in the presence of disorder.
⵼ Children who cannot bear noise (e.g. loud music).
⵼ Independent children who would like to do everything on their own from a
very early age.
⵼ Time-bound, hate to wait, extremely punctual in their routine.
⵼ Children who are always busy with some kind of activity (Hyos, Iod, Lach,
Op, Sulph, Tarent, Verat).
⵼ Children who are disposed to anger, spite, or deception (Hahnemann).
⵼ Children who are disposed to reproach their younger siblings (they love
dominating people below them).
⵼ Children who do not want their personal belongings to be touched by
anybody, as they fear their things will not be kept properly after they are
used (Rubric: Rest, cannot, when things are not in proper place).
⵼ Children whose tolerance is reduced for even minor illness.
⵼ Envious children who cannot bear to see other children performing better
than them academically (Hyos, Lach).
⵼ Infants who are easily startled.
⵼ Perfectionism.

PHYSICAL
⵼ Adapted to academic oriented, studious children who develop stomach and
abdominal complaints from too much studying in school and at home,
and lack of physical exercise.
⵼ Children become addicted to excessive consumption of stimulants like
tea, coffee, and fast foods (spicy and fried) at a very young age.
⵼ Children who cannot tolerate cold in any form (air, baths, climate, draft,
drinks, temperature, weather, wind, etc.).
⵼ Umbilical hernia from constipation or crying.
⵼ Useful in cases where too much of medication has been given to the child,
either in the form of cough syrups, antihistaminic, laxatives, antibiotics, etc.
A

493
⵼ Children usually awake with a fit of sneezing.
⵼ Children who are born with digestive disorders and are never well since
then.
⵼ Children who have exerted themselves for a very long time in order to
prepare for their examinations, cutting down heavily on sleeping hours
(Cocc, Nit-ac).
⵼ Colicky pain in breastfed children when the mother consumes excessive
stimulants (tea, coffee, alcohol, spicy or pungent foods).
⵼ Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis (Merc).
⵼ Extremely sensitive to odors.
⵼ Perspiration on the upper lips.
⵼ Retention of urine in newborn, better by hot water bath.
⵼ Thin, spare, with rigid fiber, dark hair and complexion.

Other important symptoms
MIND

• Ailments from disappointed ambition, e.g., not being selected in to lead
  his class, or losing in academic or sports competition.
• Hate to be disturbed when doing something.
• Sensitive to noise and to music; aggravate him greatly.
• Tendency to frown all the time.
• Abusive.
• Awkward from bashfulness; drops things.
• Capricious.
• Complaining during sleep (censorious nature).
• Everything and everyone is wrong; only he is right.
• Get very irritable when too many questions are asked regarding themselves
  (hates people who are inquisitive).
• Late in learning to write.
• Makes a lot of gestures with arms when talking (Arg-n, Lach, Sep).
• Makes many mistakes when speaking, writing, or differentiating objects.
• Moaning from pain and during fever.
• Nice with strangers (loves to impress outsiders); rude and abusive with
  family members.
• Poor in studies, especially in calculations.
• Precocious children.
• Vanity.
  A

494

• Very disobedient, mischievous, obstinate, sly, defiant children with
  behavioral problems; violent temper with destructive tendencies (tears,
  breaks, kicks, bites, shrieks, spits, strikes, etc.) from slightest contradiction
  or when obliged to answer, with a red face.
• Very greedy, selfish, and quarrelsome children who love to fight with,
  mock, and ridicule other kids in school.
• Weeping after anger (easy and early repentance).

HEAD

• Head is very sensitive to draft of air.
• Headache from loss of sleep or excessive study during the night.
• Perspiration from the forehead while eating spicy and pungent food.
• Headaches after overeating, during dentition, from anger, exposure to cold
  air, fright, from jar, noise, or sound of footsteps, suppressed perspiration;
  better by wrapping up head or applying hot applications.
  Examination findings:
• Cerebral hemorrhage.
• Child desires to lean his head on something, lie down, or hold the head
  during headache.
• Hydrocephalus.
• Unable to raise or hold up his head (cerebral palsy).

EYES

• Lachrymation with coryza.
• Useful in cases of acute conjunctivitis in infants (Arg-n, Puls).
• Pain in the eyes in the morning on waking or when using them; better by
  cold applications.
• Photophobia during rage and with headache.
  Examination findings:
• Atrophy of optic nerve.
• Bloodshot eyes with a wild look in them.
• Dilated pupils with fever.
• Hypermetropia.
• Nystagmus; pendulum-like movements from side to side.
• Periodic c onvergent s trabismus.
• Ptosis, especially of the left upper lid.
• Spasms of the lids.

EARS

• Impaired hearing after catching a cold (Cham, Puls).
  A

495

• Ear affections, especially on the right side.
• Earache from exposure to wind, in a warm room, or when swallowing.

NOSE

• Acute sense of smell with intense sensitivity to odor of flowers; prolonged
  paroxysms of sneezing.
• Copious, excoriating coryza during the daytime; dry nose at night.
• Catarrh extending to the frontal sinuses.
• Constantly picking his nose due to itching inside the nostrils.
• Coryza on eating; with excessive sleepiness.
• Snuffles in newborns, especially at night and in a warm room.
• Violent paroxysmal sneezing on waking in the morning and from
  uncovering, with free-flowing watery coryza.
  Examination findings:
• Crusts and scabs inside the nostrils.
• Sharp and pointed nose.

FACE

• Acne on the forehead from gastric troubles, especially when
  constipated, and after taking cheese.
  Examination findings:
• Cracks on the lower lip, especially in the center; constantly picking his
  lips.
• Dark circles around the eye.
• Left angle of the mouth drops (left-sided lower motor VII nerve palsy).
• One side pale and cold, the other red and hot.
• Perspiration on the upper lip.
• Redness of face with fever.
• Swollen submaxillary glands.
• Trembling l ips.
• Wrinkled f orehead.

MOUTH

• Desire to clench the teeth tightly all the time.
• Offensive odor and bad taste in the mouth on waking in the morning
  (Puls).
• Difficult dentition.
• Pain in the tooth after filling its cavity.
• Teeth are sensitive to cold water (Calc).

A

496
Examination findings:

• Tongue is dry and cracked, especially at the sides, and has a thick, yellow
  coat on the posterior surface (Merc-i-r).
• Ulcerative stomatitis; mouth is full of aphthae that prevent the infant
  from nursing.
• Profuse salivation after eating, and at night.
• Spongy, scorbutic gums, which bleed easily.
• Stammering.

THROAT

• Choking when going off to sleep (Bell, Lach); needs to keep clearing his
  throat or swallow to feel better.
• Needs the throat to be covered well all the time (Hep, Kali-c, Sil).
• Pain in the throat extending to the ears on swallowing, or on coughing;
  better by taking warm drinks.
• Sore throat with coryza.
  Examination findings:
• Edematous swelling of the uvula and tonsils.
• Prominent and swollen veins on the neck.
• Torticollis; neck is drawn to the left side (Lyc, Phos).

STOMACH

• Bilious, fetid, bitter, or sour vomiting, with nausea and colicky
  abdominal pains, after anger, from overeating, and during fever; better
  by drinking warm fluids.
• Intense sensitivity of abdomen to touch, even to pressure of clothes.
• Violent, convulsive hiccoughs while vomiting or after eating or drinking.
• Cramps in the stomach with urging for stool immediately after eating (Aloe)
  (Giardiasis or amoebic infections); better by doubling over.
• Hungry, but averse to food.
• Ravenous appetite with diarrhea, dysentery, or cough.
• Retching and vomiting immediately after drinking or coughing, or a few
  hours after eating.
• Slowness of digestion with easy indigestion after fat, milk, or sour food.
• Warm food and drinks ameliorate.
• Aversions: Bread, coffee, food, lemons, meat, and water.
• Desires: Bitter food, black pepper, fat, indigestible things, lime, pepper,
  pork, pencil lead, spices, stimulants, and sweets.

A

497
ABDOMEN

• Colic in nursing infants due to stimulants taken by the mother.
• Cramping, spasmodic pains in the abdomen with constipation, 2-3 hours
  after eating, or after anger in nurslings; worse from touch, better after
  passing stools, doubling over, and by local application of warmth.
• Gurgling in the abdomen in the morning.
• Jaundice in the newborn due to suppressed anger in the mother during
  pregnancy (Cham).
• Tympanitic distention of the abdomen after eating or drinking.
  Examination findings:
• Left-sided inguinal hernia in children with great tenderness, suggesting
  possible strangulation.
• Umbilical hernia.
• Ascites.
• Intussusception.
• Liver is hard and tender on palpation.
• Paralytic i leus.
• Peritonitis.
• Splenic e nlargement.
• Tabes mesenterica.

RECTUM

• Diarrhea after anger (Coloc, Gels) or fright (Gels).
• Obstinate constipation in newborns.
• Tenesmus and burning pains in the abdomen, better after stool.
• Constant, ineffectual urging for stool during colic.
• Diarrhea alternating with constipation.
• Diarrhea in infants after nursing, or from the slightest change in diet.
• Passes a lot of offensive flatus during stool (Giardiasis) and when coughing.
• Passes stools involuntarily when passing flatus.
• Stools: Black, large, hard, dry, and very offensive, with streaks of bloody
  mucus.
  Examination findings:
• Excoriation of the rectum due to acrid stools.
• Fissure.
• Large, strangulated, blind, or profusely bleeding hemorrhoids.
• Moisture with itching around the anus.
• Polyps.
• Prolapse of rectum during stool.
  A

498

• Stools: Cyst of amoeba, Giardia lambia, pinworms, roundworms, and
  segments of tapeworm.

URINARY

• Spasmodic stricture of the urethra causing painful retention of the
  urine in newborns.
• Dysuria, with painful spasms of the bladder; infants tend to cry and shriek
  before urinating.
• Spasmodic nocturnal enuresis.
  Examination findings:
• Dirty yellowish or reddish sediment on the diaper.
• Pyelonephritis (due to congenital pyeloureteric angle stricture).
• Urine: Albumin ++, glucose ++, pus cells ++, and RBC +

MALE

• Orchitis after mumps.
  Examination findings:
• Hydrocele.
• Paraphimosis.

FEMALE

• Leucorrhea in young girls; constant, bland, and offensive, staining the linen
  yellow.

LARYNX AND TRACHEA

• Periodical loss of voice or hoarseness.
• Rattling of mucus in the larynx and trachea, especially in the morning,
  which is ejected with difficulty.
• Rawness of the larynx from coughing and on inspiring cold air.

RESPIRATION

• Asthma in winter.
• Allergy to dust or mite, which causes bronchospasm.
• Breathing is difficult or impeded on coughing and from flatulence.
• Respiration impeded in neonates after midnight.
  Examination findings:
• Hot breath.
• Rattling of mucus in the chest.
• Stridulous or stertorous breathing, with puffing expiration.

A

499
COUGH

• Constant, dry, exhausting cough with fever or when eating.
• Coughs on going from open air into a warm room, better by taking warm
  drinks.
• Dry, incessant coughing fits in nurslings from anger.
• Paroxysmal, dry, hard, coughing fits after lying down at night, better by
  lying on the side.
• Violent cough throws the child down.
  Examination findings:
• Holds his head when coughing.

CHEST

• Chilliness in the chest; must keep it covered warm at all times.
• Pneumonia in infants (Ant-t, Ip).
  Examination findings:
• Offensive perspiration from the axilla, leaving reddish stains on the clothes
  (Carb-v, Lach).

BACK

• Backache after vexation, and from draft of air (Verat); worse from
  turning in bed; must sit up first and then turn over; better by warm
  applications (Rhus-t).
• Perspiration from the nape of the neck.
• Stiffness of the cervical region during coryza.
  Examination findings:
• Spasmodic drawing of the cervical region, drawing the head back.
• Opisthotonos.
• Spinal meningitis.

EXTREMITIES

• Awkwardness of the extremities; drops things, stumbles or knocks against
  things, or falls when walking.
• Easy dislocation of the ankle joint (Nat-c, Ruta).
• Knees knock together when walking, causing him to stumble and fall.
• Perspires, especially on the palms.
• Sore, painful corns.
  Examination findings:
• Blue, cyanotic hands and fingernails.
• Bluish-black echymotic spots on the leg.
• Drags his feet while walking.
  A

500

• Genu valgum or genu varum.
• Veins on the hands are swollen.

SLEEP

• Very light sleeper; disturbed from the slightest sound.
• During sleep: Grinding of teeth, jerking of limbs, moaning, open mouth,
  salivation, starting as from fright, talking, tossing about, and weeping.
• Falls asleep when trying to sit and read (Gels), especially in the evening.
• Falls sleep very late in the night, and finds it very difficult to wake up in the
  morning.
• Insomnia in children during full moon.
• Short sleep satisfies him.
• Sleepiness with headache and after eating.
• Sleeps on the back, with hands flat under the occiput or over the head, and
  the lower limbs spread apart.

FEVER

• Ailments from: Anger, autumn, during dentition, gastric upset, overstudy,
  and walking in open air.
• Aversion to uncovering in any stage of fever, with a desire for warmth, but
  it does not ameliorate.
• Chill:
• Violent, shaking chills, with icy coldness of the body and bluish face,
  hands, and nails.
• Chill with irregular periodicity in children prone to recurrent malaria.
• Convulsions occur during this stage of fever, with trembling of the body
  or alternating flexion and extension of the extremities.
• Worse after drinking, from motion, from slightest draft of air, in the
  morning, and when in the open air.
• Heat:
• Acuteness of hearing, back pain, dryness and pain in the larynx with a
  dry paroxysmal cough, extreme thirst, pain in the eyes, profuse
  salivation and scanty, reddish-brown urine, passed with ineffectual
  urging.
• Unilateral dry burning heat of the body or just the forehead is very hot
  to touch, with icy coldness of the hands.
• Child becomes taciturn and is very sleepy during the heat stage.
• Worse at night.
• Heat stage alternates with the chill stage.
• Irregular paroxysms of fever, increasing in severity.
  A

501
SKIN

• Urticaria in the evening and night.
  Examination findings:
• Gooseflesh ( Hell).
• Nevi.

CONVULSIONS

• Ailments from: After a feed, anger, colic, dentition, excitement, fever,
  hemorrhage, injury, light, masturbation, motion, noise, sight of stranger,
  while passing stools, and worms.
• Before convulsions: Eructations.
• During convulsions:
• Convulsive clenching or contraction of tendons of hands and feet,
  diplopia, dyspnea, involuntary urination, perspiration, rage, red or
  bluish facial discoloration, shrieking, and weeping.
• Child is conscious during the epileptic attack.
• Child lies with the limbs abducted.
• Convulsions in newborns are worse from bright light, draft of air, and
  touch.
• Convulsive movements are better by holding the child tightly and by
  forcible extension of body.
• Head is drawn backward or the child falls backwards or on the side.
• The lower limbs are alternately flexed and extended.
• After convulsions: Sleeplessness or deep sleep.

GENERAL

• Ailments from abuse of purgatives or quinine (and all other anti-malarial
  drugs); change of weather; dry, cold weather; hemorrhages;
  masturbation; and suppressed coryza or eruptions.
• Collapse with icy cold skin.
• Cyanosis.
• Debilitating perspiration with an offensive, sour odor, staining the linen red,
  from the slightest provocation.
• Dropsy from liver disease (biliary atresia leading to cirrhosis).
• Emaciation in infants, despite ravenous appetite.
• Faintness in a crowded room, from odors, after diarrhea, from anger.
• Intolerance of clothing.
• Right-sided complaints.