Cannabis Indica

Introduction of Cannabis Indica

Common name: 

Indian hemp.[1]

Synonyms

Hashish, East Indian Cannabis indica, Bhang, Hemp[2]

Family / Group / Class / Order

Vegetable kingdom

Habit and habitat / Description

East India

Name of prover

Dr Samuel Hahnemann

Introduction and history

The use of Cannabis indica in the east as an
intoxicant gives the leading note of its sphere of action. Dr Nash relates the case
of a lady suffering from cardiac dropsy who, when relieved of the latter, suddenly lost power of speech.

Parts used

It is prepared from the tincture of young leaves.

Preparation

HOMEO., The mother tincture is prepared from the dry herb tops imported from India. Dilutions from the tincture. U. S.P., Fluid extractum Cannabis Indicae, Tinctura Cannabis Indicae.

Constitution of Cannabis Indica

Temperament

Irritable

Diathesis

Nervous

Relation with heat & cold

Chilly

Miasm

Sycosis

Clinical conditions of Cannabis Indica

Catalepsy. Chordee. Clairvoyance. Delirium tremens. Delusions. Epilepsy. Gonorrhoea. Headache. Mania. Menorrhagia. Paralysis. Prostatitis. Satyriasis. Stammering. Uremia. Urinary disorders.[3]

Sites of action / Pharmacodynamics

It acts mainly on the mind,
gastrointestinal tract, locomotor system, female sexual organs, heart, kidneys, eyes, lungs, mouth, rectum, throat, central nervous system.

Causation (Causes / Ailments from)

Liquor and tobacco habbit, drinking excess of coffee.

Physiological action

This agent is a vaso – motor and cerebro – spinal stimulant, increasing the arterial tension, the intellectual and motor activity.

Depression:

It depresses sensation, and while it has the power of starting uterine contraction, in does increase the energy of the uterine fibre.

Intoxication:

Physiological doses give rise to a form of intoxication, during which the ideas come so rapidly that the victim believes that time is passing slowly and minutes appear to be hours or days, a short distance appearing to be a long way.

Duality:

He has a sensation of a double consciousness. Sight and hearing are more acute, the pupils dilated. Later anaesthesia appears, the reflexes are lowered, and sleep and coma are present in proportion to the dose. Its after effects are headache, vertigo, dullness, forgetfulness and mental confusion.

Patho-physiological changes / Pathogenesis

1. It produces a state of exaltation with sublime visions, delusions and
hallucinations in a great variety.
2. Cannabis indica has a great soothing influence in many nervous disorders
like epilepsy, mania, dementia and irritable reflexes.
3. It is adapted to diseases of dunkards, and to urinary
diseases.

4. The characteristics of the intoxication it produces seem to be an exaggeration
of all perceptions and conceptions, aphrodisia and tendency to catalepsy

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (psychology) of Cannabis Indica

1. Forgetfulness. Patient is very forgetful. He forgets his last words and
ideas. He begins a sentence, forgets what he intends to speak; inability to
recall any thought or event on account of other thoughts crowding his brain.
2. He is constantly theorizing.
3. He laughs immoderately at every trifling word spoken to him.
4. Full of fun and mischief, then perhaps moaning and crying.
5. There is great apprehension of approaching death.
6. Delirium tremens; excessive loquacity, exaggeration of time and
distance. Time seems too long for him, a few seconds seem ages. Distance
seems immense, a few rods seem miles.
7. Sensation as if the calvarium was opening and shutting.

Guiding Symptoms of Cannabis Indica

Generalities

Convulsions. Weakness from a short walk; could hardly speak, soon followed by a deep sleep.[4]

Head

Violent headache; with hallucinations. *Vertex seems to open and shut, worse noise. Head seems separated from the body. Involuntary shaking of the head. Shocks through brain.[5]

Eye

Fixed gaze. Letters run together while reading. Weak vision. Sees objects outside of visual field. Opacity of cornea (*Cann. *sat.).

Ears

Noise like boiling water.

Face

Skin of the face seems tight. Dejected and careworn. Lips glued together. Chin drawn to sternum.

Mouth

*Grinding of teeth in sleep. Saliva; white, thick, frothy. Stammering and stuttering. Every article of food is extremely palatable. Aversion to meat of which she was fond (*Cann. *sat.).

Throat

The throat is parched, accompanied by intense thirst for cold water.

Stomach

Ravenous hunger. Pain in the cardiac orifice, relieved by pressure. Suffocative feeling while eating.

Abdomen

As if something alive in abdomen. Sensation in anus as if sitting on a ball. Throbbing here and there.

Stool

Sensation in the anus as if he were sitting on a ball, as if the anus and part of the urethra were filled up by a hard, round body. Painless yellow diarrhoea.

Urinary Organ

Pain in kidney; while laughing. Must strain to urinate: has to wait for sometime before the urine flows; dribbles after flow ceases. ***SCANTY BURNING URINE PASSED DROP BY DROP; with pain going backwards (to bladder). Acute stage of gonorrhoea,–urethra sensitive; walks with legs apart (*Cann. *sat.). Nephritic colic. Irritable carbuncle.

Sexual Organ

Swelled prepuce. Sexual desire increased. Priapism. Erections without amorous thoughts.Profuse menses; with violent uterine colic; with dysuria. Sexual desire increased in sterile women or with dysmenorrhoea. Threatened abortion; from too frequent sexual intercourse, or complicated with gonorrhoea. (*Cann. *sat.). Infantile leucorrhoea (*Cann. *sat.).

Respiratory System

Humid asthma. Difficulty in breathing with palpitation better standing up (*Cann. *Sat.). Cannot control voice. Suffocative attacks.

Heart & Pulse

Palpitation wakes him. Pulse slow. Sensation as if drops were falling from the heart (*Cann. *Sat.).

Neck & Back

Pain across shoulder and spine, must stoop; cannot walk erect. Torticollis, chin drawn to the sternum.

Extremities

Pain in the limbs worse deep breathing. Entire paralysis of lower limbs. Contraction of fingers, after sprain (*Cann. *Sat.). Feels very exhausted after a short walk. As if bird’s claws were clasping the knees. Dislocation of patella on going upstairs (*Cann. *Sat.).

Skin

Dreams; erotic, of the dead. Sleepy but cannot sleep.

Sleep

Excessive sleepiness, sound sleep, with melancholy dreams. Starting of the limbs while sleeping, causing him to awake. Voluptuous dreams, with erection and profuse seminal emission. Talks during sleeps. Gritting teeth during sleep. Dreams prophetic, vexatious, of dead bodies, of danger, and of perils to be encountered. Nightmare every night as soon as he falls asleep.

Fever

Loss of animal heat. General chilliness. Coldness of the face, nose, and hands after dinner. Profuse sticky sweat, standing out in drops on his forehead.

Important characteristic features

Keynotes / Redline

Time perception grossly distorted (e.g., seconds seem like ages).
Space perception grossly distorted (e.g., distances seem immense).
Mind flooded with rapid ideas, causing forgetfulness mid-sentence.
Emotions exaggerated and uncontrolled, particularly immoderate laughter.

Guiding

Seconds drag out endlessly / Time passes with extreme slowness.
Vast exaggeration of space and distance perceived visually.
Specific, intense fear of losing one’s mind or impending doom.
Inability to complete sentences due to racing thoughts or sudden forgetting.
Uncontrollable laughter fits, often triggered by trivial matters.

PQRS

Sensation as if the top of the head is opening and closing.
Feeling of duality, as though someone else is speaking, or things are unreal.
Moments where time seems to completely stand still or cease.
Vivid auditory experiences (music, voices) especially when closing eyes.
Sudden attacks of intense, uncontrollable, often causeless laughter.

Nucleus symptoms

-It produces a condition of INTENSE EXALTATION, in which all perceptions and conceptions, all sensations and emotions are exaggerated to the utmost degree.

-This remedy has great soothing influence in many nervous disorders, like epilepsy, mania, dementia, delirium tremens, and irritable reflexes.

-It is adapted to diseases of drunkards, and to urinary diseases
Right-sided affection predominantly

Therapeutic Value of Cannabis Indica

Catalepsy, Chordee, Clairvoyance, Delirium tremens, Delusions, Epilepsy, Gonorrhoea, Headache, Mania, Menorrhagia, Paralysis,
Prostatitis, Satyriasis, Stammering, Urinary diseases

Modality of Cannabis Indica

Aggravation

From coffee, liquor and tobacco, lying on the right side, mornings

Amelioration

From walking about outdoors, from fresh air, cold water, rest.

Remedy Relationship of Cannabis Indica

Comparison

Bell, Hyos, Stram.

Dose

Tincture or low potencies

Potency

30C

Duration of Action

1 day

Terminologies of Cannabis Indica

Main words

Sphere of Action:

Meaning: Refers to the primary area(s) of the body or mind where a remedy exerts its most significant effects. The text explicitly states Cannabis Indica affects the "***MIND and ***EMOTIONS" most markedly.

Distortion of Perception (Time & Space):

Meaning: A specific type of symptom where the senses relating to time and distance are altered. This is a hallmark symptom emphasized in the texts ("Sense of proportion; or sense of time and space is lost," "Time seems too long; seconds seem ages; a few rods an immense distance," "Distance seems immense").

Named Mental States / Conditions:

Meaning: Specific pathological states or syndromes whose symptoms are covered within the remedy’s Materia Medica picture. Examples listed include "Mania," "Delirium tremens," and "Catalepsy." Homeopathy views these as symptom complexes that the remedy can potentially address if the overall picture matches.

Alternating / Contrasting States:

Meaning: A characteristic where the patient rapidly swings between opposite emotional or mental states. The text mentions "Laughs and weeps" and being "Full of fun and mischief, then perhaps moaning and crying."

Peculiar Sensations:

Meaning: Unusual, distinctive, or specific physical feelings reported by patients or provers, which are valuable prescribing symptoms. Examples include the "Trickling sensation as if hot water were poured over him or as if drops of cold water were falling" and "Tingling of the affected part," or "chronic vertigo as of floating off."

Depersonalization / Loss of Identity:

Meaning: A mental state symptom where the person feels disconnected from themselves, their thoughts, or reality. Described as "Thinks everything is unreal," "When he speaks it seems as though someone else is speaking," or "Cannot realize her identity."

Restlessness:

Meaning: An inability to stay still, either mentally or physically. Mentioned in the context of Mania: "Mania, must constantly move."

Emotional Lability / Rapid Change of Mood:

Meaning: Quick and often extreme shifts in emotional states. Described as "Emotional excitement; rapid change of mood."

Fixed Ideas:

Meaning: Obsessive or persistent thoughts that dominate the mind, often irrational. Listed as "Fixed ideas."

Theorizing (Constant):

Meaning: A characteristic mental activity pattern where the mind is constantly engaged in developing theories or abstract speculations. Mentioned as "Constantly theorizing."

Other terminologies

Materia Medica:

Meaning: A collection of information detailing the symptoms and characteristics of homeopathic remedies. It describes what effects substances produce when tested on healthy people (provings) and what symptoms they can potentially cure in the sick. Entries for Cannabis Indica describe its profound effects on the mind and perception.

Proving:

Meaning: The systematic process of administering a potential remedy substance to healthy volunteers (provers) and meticulously recording all the physical, mental, and emotional changes (symptoms) they experience. The symptoms gathered from provings form the basis of the Materia Medica entry for that remedy.

Remedy:

Meaning: The substance (like Cannabis Indica), prepared according to homeopathic pharmaceutical methods (potentization), used to treat a patient based on symptom similarity.

Potency/Potentization:

Meaning: The specific process of serial dilution and succussion (vigorous shaking) used to prepare homeopathic remedies. The resulting strength is called the potency.

Reference of Cannabis Indica

[1] A Manual Of Materia Medica, Therapeutics And Pharmacology By Blackwood, Alexander Leslie

[2] Gems textbook of homoeopathic materia medica by Dr.Patil 

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

[4] A Primer Of Materia Medica By T. F. Allen.

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

Also Search As

[1] Using Online Search Engines (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc.):

This is often the starting point. Use specific search terms. Combine the remedy name with keywords related to homeopathy and the type of information you need.
Examples:
"Cannabis Indica" homeopathy article
"Cannabis Indica" Materia Medica
homeopathic proving "Cannabis Indica"
"Cannabis Indica" mind symptoms homeopathy
"Cannabis Indica" case study homeopathy
Boericke "Cannabis Indica" (to find entries in Boericke’s Materia Medica)
Kent "Cannabis Indica" (to find entries in Kent’s works)
"Cannabis Ind" homeopathy (using the common abbreviation)

[2] Searching Specific Homeopathic Websites & Databases:

Many websites are dedicated to homeopathy and contain extensive Materia Medica collections, articles, and case studies.  
Look for:
Online Materia Medicas: Websites that compile information from classical authors (like Boericke, Kent, Clarke, Allen, Phatak). Search within these sites specifically for Cannabis Indica.
Homeopathic Journals: Websites of journals like the "American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine," "Homeopathy" (Thieme), "Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy," etc., may have searchable archives (some might require subscription).
Educational Portals: Websites like Hpathy.com, Interhomeopathy.org, and others often feature articles, discussions, and remedy profiles. Use their internal search functions.
Organizational Websites: Websites of national or international homeopathic organizations sometimes host articles or links to resources.

[3] Using Online Academic Databases:

Databases like PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) sometimes index homeopathic research papers and articles, especially those published in recognized journals.
Use search terms like "Cannabis Indica" AND homeopathy. Be aware that the volume of classical homeopathic articles might be less here compared to clinical research studies.

[4]Checking Online Homeopathic Book Retailers/Publishers:

Websites of homeopathic book publishers (like B. Jain Publishers in India) or large retailers may allow you to search book contents or provide excerpts and articles related to remedies like Cannabis Indica. Amazon’s "Look Inside" feature can sometimes be helpful for specific books.

[5] Visiting Libraries:

Specialized Libraries: Homeopathic colleges or institutions often have libraries with extensive collections of journals, historical texts, and Materia Medicas.  
University Libraries: Libraries with medical or health sciences sections might have relevant books or access to databases containing homeopathic literature.