Cina

Introduction of Cina

Common name: 

Worm seed[1]

Synonyms

Artemesia maritima, Wormseed

Family / Group / Class / Order

Vegetable kingdom

Habit and habitat / Description

It is indigenous to the deserts of Russia, Turkistan,
west Pakistan, in temperate regions and western Himalayas. It is an evergreen
perennial shrub with many slender, erect, flowering stems upto one metre high.
The bracts enclose 3-5 florets, which are oblong, pale brownish-green in colour,odourous with a bitter taste. After exposure to light, flowers become brownishgreen. They somewhat resemble seeds and appear in September.

Name of prover

Dr Hahnemann in 1829

Introduction and history

It is a very well known remedy for worms,
especially in children. Cina is very useful in diseases of children and has
become a household remedy with us. Although homeopathy does not believe in specificity, this is a drug which is a near specific for worm affections in children.
The name Cina comes from one of its common name ‘cynae’. Cina also known
as the Wormseed.
This medicine was introduced in Europe by the Crusaders as an antihelminthic,
but was not used so much after the discovery and isolation of the proximate
principle santonin.

Parts used

Mother tincture is prepared from the seeds.
Higher potencies are prepared from the mother tincture.

Active principles

The active principle of this
drug is ‘santoninum’ which powerfully affects the abdominal ganglia. It also
contains ‘artemisine’ and volatile oil consisting chiefly of ‘cineol’

Constitution of Cina

Physical make up

Especially suited to persons or children with dark hair and
complexion, pale face, sickly body, whitish or bluisih appearance around the mouth, with dark ring around the eyes. One cheek red and the other pale.[2]

Temperament

Irritable

Diathesis

Choleric 2[3]

Relation with heat & cold

Neither hot nor chilly[4]

Miasm

Psora

Clinical conditions of Cina

Abdomen, distended. Anaemia. Anus, irritation of. Asthenopia. Asthma. Bronchitis. Borborygmi. Chorea. Colic. Convulsions. Cough. Dentition. Diarrhoea. Enuresis. Eyes, affection of. Hydrocephaloid. Intermittent fever. Leucorrhoea. Neuralgia. Remittent fever. Scarlatina. Sight, affections of. Spasms. Strabismus. Twitchings. Urine, milky. Whooping-cough. Worms.[5]

Sites of action / Pharmacodynamics

Brain, nervous system, mind,
abdomen, stomach, thermic centre, urinary bladder, respiratory system, etc.

Causation (Causes / Ailments from)

Masturbation, worms, yawning, overeating, sweets; by eating chalk, charcoal, stone, coal, etc.

Patho-physiological changes / Pathogenesis

1. Powerfully affects the abdominal ganglia as a reflex of which there is
convulsive twitching and jerking of the limbs and spasms.
2. It acts on the gastrointestinal tract, causing irritation and inflammation.
3. Due to some inexplicable action it promotes the expulsion and death of
worms.
4. It acts on eyes and produces xanthopsia (yellow vision).

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (psychology) of Cina

1. Child is ill-humoured, very cross, does not want to be touched or carried.
2. Desires many things, but rejects everything when offered.
3. Abnormal consciousness, as if having committed some evil deed.
4. Mentally, the patient is highly irritable and peevish.
5. Pitiful weeping when awake.
6. Frightened, jumps out of bed, sees imaginary objects.
7. Talks hurriedly, anxious in the evening and before midnight.
8. Not satisfied by anything uneasy and distressed all the time.

Guiding Symptoms of Cina

Generalities

*Cina is the source of the alkaloid Santonin. ***NERVOUS mental and bodily symptoms which are produced by this drug may be due to the presence of round worms or reflex from *abdominal irritation, and affections of the *digestive tract*. It is a children’s remedy; children who are big, fat, rosy and scrofulous; they stiffen out; when *looked at, *during cough or when they become *cross. Child is restless, tosses about. Twitching. Spasms; due to worms; unilateral. In spasms, children throw arms from side to side. Whole body is painfully sore to motion and touch; bruised soreness. Children are hungry and greater the hunger greater the emaciation. Complaints concomitant to yawning, which comes on whenever someone yawns. Sour smell of body esp. children. Shocks as from pain. Patient will jump suddenly as though he felt pain. Trembling; with shivering, when yawning. Convulsions, with consciousness. Paraplegia, with unnatural hunger. Chorea.

Head

Ache, alternating with pain in abdomen better stooping. Pain in head when reading or staring. Child leans his head sideways all the time. Turning the head from one side to other. Women must let hair down during headache. Children cannot have the hair combed. Headache, before and after epileptic attack.

Eye

*Pupils dilated. Pulsation in super-ciliary muscles. Eyebrows twitch when staring at any object, he sees as through gauze better wiping eyes. Fatigue of eyes. Vision; yellow, blue, violet or green. Squint; from worms. *Dark ring around the eyes. Weak sight, from masturbation.

Nose

Itching; ***PICKS AND BORES AT NOSE, till it bleeds; wants to rub it. Sneezing, with whooping cough. Nostrils drawn in.

Face

Pale, with sickly look; during cough. ***BLUISH WHITE ABOUT the mouth. Face alternately pale and cold or red and hot. Choreic movements of the face and hands.

Mouth

***GRINDS THE TEETH; at night, *during sleep. Chews and swallows in sleep. Clean tongue.

Throat

Difficult swallowing of liquids; noisy swallowing. Clucking noise from throat to stomach; after coughing, or convulsions. Constant motion of swallowing, involuntary.

Stomach

*Hunger; *voracious; *after eating, after vomiting; with gnawing feeling in stomach; alternating with loss of appetite; before chill or follows sweat; in paraplegia. Desires many and different things; craving for sweets, for bread. Vomiting with a clean tongue. Vomiting and diarrhoea immediately after eating and esp. drinking. Aversion to mother’s milk.

Abdomen

Twisting pain about the navel better pressure. Distended and hard. Cutting, pinching pain from worms. Stools, white, watery. Itching at anus. Unpleasant warm feeling.

Rectum & Anus

Stool with maw-worms (short, thick worms). Loose evacuations of the consistence of pap. Discharge of ascarides, and of other worms by the anus. Itching of the anus. Diarrhoea of bile, and of stercoraceous matter. Loose, involuntary, whitish evacuations.

Stool

Urinary Organ

Bed wetting worse every full moon. Urine; turbid, WHITE; MILKY; or turn milky on standing.

Sexual Organ

Bad effects on onanism; weakness of sight.Uterine haemorrhage before puberty. Child refuses breast. Menses; too early and profuse.

Respiratory System

Regularly recurrent choking cough, with sneezing. Violent cough bringing tears and sternal pains; feels as if something is torn off. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child keeps still and does not talk or move because of the fear of cough. Sternum as if lying too close to back. Cough ends in spasm. Suffocative attacks. Expectoration difficult.

Neck & Back

Extremities

Tosses arms from side to side (children). Sudden inward jerking of fingers of right hand . Stretches out feet spasmodically (children) . Twitching and jerking in limbs. Left foot in constant spasmodic motion. Paraplegia; sudden, with unnatural hunger.

Sleep

Restless. Gets on hands and knees or on abdomen in sleep. Night terrors of children. *Cries out, screams, wakes frightened. Screams and talks in sleep.

Fever

With pale cold face and warm hands. Much fever; clean tongue during fever. Cold sweat on forehead, nose and hands. Hungry before chill and after sweat.

Important characteristic features

Keynotes / Redline

1. Child very cross and ugly, does not want to be touched or carried or caressed, wants to be rocked.

2. Desires many things but rejects everything offered.

3. Dark rings around eyes; white and bluish around mouth, one cheek red and the other pale.

4. White mucus like pieces like popped corn, preceded by pinching colic.

5. Urine turns milky on standing, immediately white.

6. Child gets on hands and knees on sleep, on abdomen, child flops over on its belly, sleep better that way, wakes when turns over.

7. Yellow vision.

Guiding

-A children’s remedy for big, fat, rosy, scrofulous children.

-C.N.S.-Convulsions-from being scolded or disciplined.

-epileptiform, lying on back, violent screams and motion of hands and feet.

-child becomes suddenly stiff, there is a gurgling noise as through water were poured out of a bottle [Cup-m, Laur, Hydr-ac] from throat to abdomen.

-Spasms-due to worms, unilateral, children throw arms from side to side.

PQRS

Aversion to Touch/Approach with Violent Reaction
Wants Carrying/Rocking Without Relief
Sudden Stiffness of the Body
Convulsions Triggered by Touch or Discipline
Urine Turns Milky White

-Nose-Wants to rub the nose, pick at it, rubs nose on pillow or on the shoulder of the nurse [Mar-v.]
-Bores nose until it bleeds.

-Twisting pain about navel [Spigelia] > pressure.

-Respiratory system-Cough-with sneezing, spasmodic, gagging in the morning, periodic, returning every spring and fall.

-Child gets on hands and knees in sleep or on abdomen, child flops over on its belly, sleeps better that way, wakes when turns over.

Confirmatory

1. Wormy child who is boring and pricking his nose most of the time.

2. Grinds the teeth when asleep.

3. Frequently swallowing, as if something came up in the throat, or choking, and coughing from the same cause.

4. Alternating canine hunger and no appetite at all.

Nucleus symptoms

-Symptoms reflex from worms.

-Irritation and sensitiveness; child, ugly, does not want to be touched or caressed or carried, wants to be rocked.

-Sickly aspect – Dark rings around eyes. While and bluish around mouth; one cheek red, one cheek pale.

-Jerkiness, spasms, rigidity.

-Abnormal hunger, hungry even after eating, before or during intermittent fever.

-Alternating symptoms-Headache<-> Pain in abdomen > stooping

-Hunger <-> Loss of appetite.

Therapeutic Value

Abdominal trouble, Affections of the eye, Anaemia,
Asthma, Boring of nose, Chorea, Colic, Convulsions, Dentition, Diarrhoea,
Enuresis, Fever, Grinding of teeth, Hydrocephalus, Irritation, Leucorrhoea,
Milky urine, Spasms, Twitching, Whooping cough, Worms.

Modality of Cina

Aggravation

Night, before midnight, after taking sweets, overeating, after anger, in open air, from touch, yawning, cold air, summer, sun.

Amelioration

Being carried, lying on the abdomen, on mother’s shoulder,
turning the head from side to side, rubbing eyes

Remedy Relationship of Cina

Follows Well

Calc, Chin, Ing, Nux-v, Plat, Puls, Rhus-t, Sil

It Antidotes

Arn, Camph, Chin, Caps

Comparison

Ant-c, Ant-t, Cham, Kreos, Bry, Staph, Sil, etc

Dose

30th to 200th

Potency

3x, 6x, 12x, 30x, 100, 200, 1000.

Duration of Action

14-20 Days

Terminologies of Cina

Materia Medica:

Meaning: This is a Latin term literally meaning "medical material". In homeopathy, it refers to a collection of detailed information about substances used as remedies. Each entry describes the symptoms that a substance produced during ‘provings’ (tests on healthy people) and the specific symptoms it is known to cure in patients. The texts you provided are excerpts from different Materia Medicas (Phatak, Clarke, Murphy).

Miasm (specifically Psoric Miasm):

Meaning: Introduced by Hahnemann, miasms are considered fundamental, inherited, or acquired chronic disease predispositions that underlie acute illnesses and shape a person’s overall susceptibility to disease. The Psoric Miasm (or Psora) is seen as the primary and most fundamental miasm, often associated with symptoms of hypersensitivity, itching, skin eruptions (that may have been suppressed), anxiety, and functional disturbances rather than deep tissue destruction. Sankaran relates Cina to the Psoric miasm.

Rubric:

Meaning: A rubric is a standardized description of a single symptom used in a homeopathic Repertory (an index of symptoms). The texts list symptoms that correspond to rubrics, such as:

"Touched, aversion to being"

"Caressed, aversion to being"

"Indifference to caresses"

"Striking in children" These specific phrases help homeopaths find the most relevant remedy in the Repertory based on the patient’s exact expression.

Capriciousness:

Meaning: This term describes a specific mental/emotional symptom where the patient, often a child, desires many things but quickly rejects them once offered. They don’t seem to know what they want and are difficult to please. It’s highlighted as a key feature of Cina in the texts.

Allied (Remedies):

Meaning: This refers to remedies that share many similar symptoms or have a known relationship (e.g., complementary, following well after another). The text mentions Cina is "closely allied to Chamomilla," indicating they share similar core feelings (according to Sankaran) and symptom patterns, though they react differently.

Humour (Lachrymose and plaintive):

Meaning: In older homeopathic literature (like Clarke’s), "humour" refers to a person’s mood, temperament, or disposition. "Lachrymose and plaintive humour" means a tendency towards tearfulness and mournful complaining.

Inquietude:

Meaning: This term, often found in older texts, simply means restlessness or uneasiness, both mental and physical.

Aversion:

Meaning: This denotes a strong dislike, disgust, or desire to avoid something specific. It’s stronger than mere indifference. In the context of Cina, key aversions mentioned are "aversion to being touched" and "aversion to being caressed". Aversions (to certain foods, company, actions, etc.) are important individualizing symptoms in homeopathy.

Irritability:

Meaning: While a common word, "irritability" is a cornerstone symptom in many homeopathic remedy pictures, including Cina. It signifies being easily annoyed, angered, or agitated, often disproportionately to the cause. The texts describe Cina’s irritability manifesting as being "cross," "petulant," having "temper-tantrums," and "striking."

Sensitive / Oversensitive:

Meaning: In homeopathy, this refers to being easily affected, either emotionally (like being "offended at the slightest joke" as mentioned for Cina) or physically (e.g., sensitive to noise, light, pain, touch). It highlights a state of heightened reactivity.

Starting (from sleep):

Meaning: This describes a specific type of sleep disturbance where the person wakes suddenly, often jerking or crying out, frequently in a state of fright ("Starting from sleep," "Frightened easily on waking"). This is a characteristic nervous system symptom noted in the Cina picture.

Lachrymose:

Meaning: This term describes a tendency to cry easily or be tearful. The text mentions a "Lachrymose and plaintive humour," indicating a disposition marked by weeping and mournful complaining.

Boring (into orifices):

Meaning: This refers to a specific, characteristic physical action noted in patients needing Cina, particularly children. It describes the compulsive behavior of digging or drilling with fingers into body openings, especially the nose ("bore his fingers into the orifices") and sometimes the anus or ears, usually due to intense itching associated with worms.

Reference

[1] Allen’s keynotes

[2] Materia medica by Dr.Dubey

[3] Zomeo

[4] Gems textbook of materia medica by Dr.Patil

[5] Dictionary Of Practical Materia Medica (All 3 Vol.) By Clarke J. H.

[6] Concise Materia Medica Of Hom. Remedies By S.R. Phatak

Also Search As of Cina

1.General Search Engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo):

Use specific keywords like: "Cina homeopathy", "Cina materia medica", "homeopathic remedy Cina symptoms", "Cina children irritability homeopathy", "Cina worms homeopathy", "Artemisia cina homeopathy article".
Combine terms for more focused results, e.g., "Cina maritima" AND homeopathy AND colic.
Use quotation marks " " around phrases like "Cina maritima" or "materia medica" for exact matches.

2.Dedicated Homeopathic Websites & Databases:

Many websites compile classical and modern homeopathic information, including articles, Materia Medica entries, and case studies. Use their internal search functions.
Examples:
Hpathy.com: Contains numerous articles and Materia Medica sections.
Interhomeopathy.org: Features articles, cases, and theoretical discussions.
HomeoInt (homeoint.org): An excellent resource for classical Materia Medica texts online.
Vithoulkas.com: Offers an online Materia Medica and articles (as seen in search results).

3.Academic and Research Databases:

These are useful for finding scientific studies, clinical reports, or literature reviews, although homeopathic research can be sparse compared to conventional medicine.
Examples:
PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov): Search using terms like "Cina maritima" AND homeopathy, potentially adding keywords like efficacy, worms, nematodes, in vitro. Search results show studies on Artemisia cina related to parasite control, sometimes using homeopathic dilutions.
Google Scholar (scholar.google.com): Similar search strategy as PubMed.
Be specific with search terms to filter out non-homeopathic articles about the plant Artemisia cina.

4.Homeopathic Journals:

Look for articles in specialized homeopathic journals. Many have online archives accessible via their websites or academic databases.
Examples:
Homeopathy (Published by Thieme)
American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine (AJHM)
Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy (IJRH) (As seen in search results)
Homoeopathic Links (As seen in search results)
Search within the journal archives for "Cina".

5.Classical Homeopathic Books (Materia Medica):

The most fundamental resources are the classical Materia Medica books. Many are available online in digital archives or as e-books.
Examples: Kent’s Lectures, Boericke’s Materia Medica, Allen’s Keynotes, Clarke’s Dictionary, Hering’s Guiding Symptoms, Phatak’s Materia Medica, Murphy’s Nature’s Materia Medica.
Look up "Cina" in the index or relevant chapter. Online versions often allow direct searching. Digital libraries like Archive.org may host older editions.

6.Homeopathic Software and Apps:

Professional homeopathic software (e.g., RadarOpus, MacRepertory/ReferenceWorks) contains vast searchable libraries of Materia Medica and journal articles. Simpler Materia Medica apps are also available for mobile devices.