# Strychninum Phosphoricum ## Remedy Classification - **Type:** Homeopathic Remedy - **Miasm:** Emotional Miasm - **Temperament:** Neutral - **Aggravation Time:** Morning ## Keynote Indications Liquor Strychnie is responsible for many of the poisonings, the powdered c rystals, either pure or mixed in pills or rat-poison, for others. Strychnia itself is very sparingly soluble in cold water (1 in 5760). A homeopathic proving of Stry. was made by Henry Robinson on two provers, a man and a woman. The man took 900 drops in twenty-three days, the woman 445 drops in fifty-three days. These have furnished the most distinctive symptoms. Extreme nervous excitability. Visions of an ugly face. Fits of laughing with light. Idiotic-like chuckle. Confusion of ideas, stupor and weariness were some of the mental symptoms. Swimming sensation in the head and giddiness involuntary. Stimulates the motor centers and the reflex action of the spinal cord. Stimulates the central nervous system, mental activities, special senses rendered more acute. All reflexes are made more active. Spasmodic rigidity. Spasms of muscles, cramps from an undue reflex excitability of the cord, spasms of the bladder, etc. Stiffness in muscles and face and neck. Athetosis. Tetanus with violent jerking, twitching and trembling. Tetanic convulsions with opisthotonos. The muscles relax between paroxysms, worse slightest touch, sound, odor. Influences more directly the spinal cord and is less appropriate in visceral derangements than Nux -v. Explosive nervousness. The pains and sensations come suddenly and return at intervals. Darting, pinching lancinating, fulgurating, electric pains. Spine is cold. Gushing sweat from head and chest. Drowsiness, with headache. Frontal headaches, momentary dartings like electric shocks. Re spiration increased. Inability to take deep breath, fixation of chest walls. Sudden palpitations. The direct “tonic” action of Stry. was shown in one of Robinson’s provers, who had “unusually good appetite, she enjoys her food amazingly.” Stry. is an antidote to chloral, used in asphyxia from gas and chloroform and early stages of opium poisoning. ## Modalities (Aggravations / Ameliorations) Better from lying on back. Worse morning, after meals. Worse touch, noise, motion, exertion, walking. ## Symptoms by System ### Head - Over irritability. - Restless. - Full and bursting headache with heat in eyes. - Vertigo with roaring in ears. - Jerking of head forwards. - Scalp sore. - Itching of scalp and nape. - Over irritability. - Restless. - Full and bursting headache with heat in eyes. - Vertigo with roaring in ears. - Jerking of head forwards. - Scalp sore. - Itching of scalp and nape. ### Eyes - Hot, painful, protruding, staring. - Pupils dilated. - Spasmodic contraction of ocular muscles, twitching and trembling of lids. - Sparks before eyes. ### Ears - Hearing very acute, burning, itching and roaring in ears. ### Face - Pale, anxious, livid. - Jaws stiffened, lower jaw spasmodically closed. ### Throat - Dry, contracted, feeling of a lump. - Swallowing impossible. - Burning along and spasms of esophagus. - Violent itching in roof of mouth. - COMMENTS - Innumerable poisonings with strychnine are on record, the s ymptoms being convulsions of a tetanic nature, in the fatal cases ending in asphyxia. - The spasms are intermittent and the least touch or movement is sufficient to induce an attack. - Lying on the back is the only tolerable position. - “Lying on her back, body rigid, jaws set, arms and hands flexed, the thumbs nearly touching across the chest and the whole muscular system convulsed with shortjerky spasms. - Which would continue for about a minute and then remit, the muscles remain ing contracted and as hard as woo d during the intervals between the paroxysms.” The convulsions generally take the form of opisthotonos, cries, terror, hippocratic countenance and frothing at the mouth are common occurrences. - Meyhoffer experimented with Stry. - on himself and two other persons, one of whom was a woman of lymphatic temperament. - “It always brought on electric shocks, occurring whenever the prover was touched or whenever any one lightly shook the bed on which he or she was lying. - This happened to all, only the woman (lymphatic and feeble) needed a stronger dose.” Any touch on any part of the body caused a voluptuous sensation. - Gamper of St. - Petersburg experimented with Stry -n. - on healthy young hospital assis tants and found that it increased the amount of gastric juice secreted, the general acidity and the quantity of free acid in the secretion. - It hastened the absorption from the stomach and strengthened mechanical movements. - The effects continued some time after the administration was stopped. - Marked action on the rectum and genitourinary organs (Ign. - and Nux-v.). - The male prover had his left testicle and cord swollen and an abscess of the scrotum developed and discharged. - “Gurgling noise in rectum with electric darts” is a symptom of one prover. - Many pains center about the lips and eyes. - Pains and chills occur in the occiput and nape and run down whole length of spine. - Stiffness is a leading note of Stry. - and Cooper gave “rheumatism with stiff joints” as an indication. - Itching of the whole body and “violent itching in roof of mouth.” Jerkings, twitch- ings and shocks in all parts. - Increased activity of the spinal senses. - Dread of touch, shrinks from drafts. - Clarke found Cooper’s suggestion that many cases of persistent cough recurring after influenza are met by Stry. - to be co rrect. - The influenza cough has in it a strong spasmodic and asthmatic element, whether dry or not, and this seems to give one point of correspondence. - C. - W. - Lawson related the case of a medical man who took continuously for two years, Stry. - hydrochlor., 5 to 10 minims, thrice daily with a little sal volatile. - He was at first benefited, but afterwards experienced a desire to take deep insoirations. - “He felt that to do so would overcome the inhibitory power over the lung, probably the action of the diaphragm.” One morning after a dose of Stry., he was taking such an inspiration and from that moment experienced the sensations complained of an inability to take a deep breath. - Fixation of chest walls compelled him to stoop, weakness on exertion, great confusion of thought and memory, occasional clay-colored feces, usually greater in amount than ordinary. - After six months, the apex beat descended to the 6th interspace and headache and drowsiness became marked. - He traveled for six months without benefit. - All attem pts to act on the heart with drugs increased the headache. - Lawson then found the heart dilated, wide sub -costal angle, chest em physematous, moving en mass. - After a full year of treatment with Hyos. - tincture at bedtime, which proved strikingly beneficial, drowsiness ceased entirely and improvement in all other respects followed. - Hale mentioned the following uses of Stry. - and its salts as observed by him and others. - Stry. - 6c. - in the tetanic spasms of cerebrospinal meningitis. - Amaurosis from atony of retina. - Diplopia and night-blindness. - Stry-s., and in one case when all other Stry. - preparations had failed, Stry -val. - cured facial neuralgia and neuralgic headache. - Spasms of esophagus in an hysterical woman. - Stry -val. - 2x. - cured brain exhaustion of women in whom high nervous weakness exists. - Stry. - 12c or 30c for chorea, when the convulsions do not cease during sleep. ### Chest - Spasm of muscles about larynx. - Sharp, contractive pains in muscles of chest. - Excessive dyspnea. - Persistent cough, recurring after influenza. ### Stomach & Abdomen - Constant retching. - Violent vomiting. - Nausea of pregnancy. - Temperature - Cold chills down spine. - Perspiration in a stream down head and chest. - Lower limbs cold. - Sharp pain in abdominal muscles, griping pain in bowels. ### Urinary & Genital - Desire for sex increased (Plat.). - Any touch on body excites a voluptuous sensation. ### Extremities - Cramp-like pains. - Rheumatism with stiff joints. - Limbs stiff. - Violent jerking, twitching and trembling. - Tetanic convulsions and opisthotonos, spa sms provoked by slightest touch and attempt to move. - Shocks in the muscles. ### Neck & Back - Rigidity of cervical muscles. - Sharp pain in nape and down spine. - Back stiff, violent jerks in spinal column. - Icy sensation down spine. ### Skin - Itching of whole body, especially nose. - Icy sensation down the spine. ### Generalities - Feeling as if head and face were enlarged, after affects of debauches (Nux-v.). - As if an iron cap were on head. - Paralyzed feeling in left half of head and face. - Scalp sore, as if hair had been pulled. - As if nerves suddenly pulled out of teeth. - As of a lump in throat. - As if water dripped off right elbow, at intervals and off right shoulder. - As if chopped in half at waist, at night.