Conium Maculatum

Introduction of Conium mac:

Common name: 

Poison hemlock  [2]

Synonyms:

Poison hemlock [2]

Family / Group / Class / Order:

Umbelliferae [2]

Habit and habitat / Description:

Native to Europe and North Africa [3]

Name of prover:

Dr Samuel Hahnemann [2]

Introduction and history:

An ancient remedy Conium mac, rendered classical by Plato’s graphic description of this poison which was given to Greek philosopher Socrates for causing his death. The ascending paralysis it produces, ending in death by failure of respiration, shows the ultimate tendency of many symptoms produced in the provings. [2]

Doctrine of signature:

Hollow Stem: The stem of Conium is notably hollow between the nodes. [4]

Interpretation: Hollowness could be linked to weakness, emptiness, or conditions affecting hollow organs or passages in the body. It might also symbolize the feeling of emptiness or debility associated with the remedy picture. [4]

Parts used:

The tincture is prepared from the whole plant. [2]

Preparation:

Homeopathic Conium Maculatum is prepared from the fresh Poison Hemlock plant, gathered around flowering time, to make an alcohol-based Mother Tincture (Ø). This tincture is then potentized through standardized processes of serial dilution and vigorous shaking (succussion) to create various homeopathic potencies (like X or C scales). [5]

Physical make up of Conium mac:

Conium mac Older people, feeble men, old maids and bachelors. [2]

Temperament of Conium mac:

Melancholic +3, Phlegmatic +2, Nervous +1 [6]

Diathesis of Conium mac:

Cancerous [2]

Relation with heat & cold of Conium mac:

Hot [2]

Miasm of Conium mac:

Psora in the background [2]

Clinical conditions of Conium mac:

• Complaints after night-watching; debauch, cramps in calves. Diarrhoea with flatulence and rumbling.
• Head and face very warm; face pale, sunken. He thinks his own nose a shapeless mass.
• Cramps in calves; drawing in fingers.
• Objects appear larger. [2]

Sites of action / Pharmacodynamics:

• Conium mac mainly acts on the cerebrospinal
  nervous system, glandular system, brain, mammae, female sexual organs, etc. [2]

Causation (Causes / Ailments from):

Grief, ill-effects of contusions, blow, overwork, shock to spine, sexual excess, sexual abstinence, overstraining, etc. [2]

Physiological action:

Irritates the cerebrospinal system, especially affecting the motor tract of the spinal cord and the glandular system.

Acts upon the brain. According to Dr Harley, it acts especially upon the motor centre within the cranium, and of these the corpora striata is the chief affected part.

It’s chief action is that of a paralyzer of cranial motor centres, and of the peripheral motor nerves.

It has a profound effect upon the glandular system, as shown by the wasting away of mammae. [2]

Characteristic Mental Symptoms of Conium mac:

• Difficult understanding, slow grasp.
• Discouraged. Tired of life. Broken down woman.
• Unable to sustain mental effort. Indifference.
• Weak memory. No inclination towards study or business.
• Timid, depressed, fears being alone.
• Aversion to society. Sad. Superstitious. Trifles seem important.
• Conium mac patients Thinks that animals are jumping on his bed.
• Dread of strangers or company during menses.
• Cannot think after using eyes; cares for little things; makes useless
  purchases. [2]
• General aversion to being with people, and yet afraid of being alone.
• Mental operations are slow and difficult; stupidity; difficulty in understanding what is read. Loss of memory.
• Averse to people, yet dislikes to be alone.
• General mental weakness; inability to get the mind fixed on his business or to stand any prolonged mental effort.[8]

Guiding Symptoms of Conium mac

Generalities:

• Trembling, especially of the arms.
• Convulsions, with danger of suffocation. Great weakness and loss of power, even to paralysis.
• Sudden giving-way of muscles when walking.
• Takes cold easily.
• Easily overstrained.
• Relaxation of all the muscles in the legs, and difficulty in walking; cannot control movements, must lie down. [8]

Head:

• Headache in the morning, as if head were too full and would burst.
• A general feeling of heaviness.
• Vertigo in the morning on rising, or on walking.
• Paroxysms of tearing pains in the head, with nausea.
• Sensation of a large foreign body in the right half of the brain.
• One side of the head feels numb and cold.
• Brain seems very sensitive to noise. [8]

Eye:

• Cataract from contusion.
• Partial or complete paralysis of ocular muscles; could scarcely raise lids, they seemed pressed down with a heavy weight.
• Sees rainbow-coloured objects. [9]

Ears :

• Tearing, sticking pains in the ears and about them.
• The ears feel stopped, with more or less roaring in the ears.
• An unusual accumulation of blood-red wax in the ears.
• At times the hearing becomes painfully acute. [8]

Nose:

• Smell acute.
• Easy bleeding, picks nose constantly.
• Polypus.
• Frequent sneezing.
• Obstinate obstruction of nose. [10]

Face:

• Heat of the face. Face puffy, pale blue.
• Tearing pains through the face, especially at night. [8]

Mouth:

• Drawing pains in the hollow teeth, (<) cold food.
• Speech difficult.
• Articulation imperfect. Bitter taste.
• Tongue swollen, stiff or painful. [8]

Throat:

• As if a round body were ascending from stomach (globus).
• Food goes down the wrong way and stops while swallowing.
• Paresis of oesophagus.
• Constant inclination to swallow as from a lump in the throat worse walking in open air.
• Tonsils enlarged. [10]

Stomach:

• Acrid heartburn and acrid eructations worse on going to bed. Distention of stomach after taking milk.
• Pain in stomach better eating but worse few hours. [10]

Abdomen:

• Tremulous feeling in the abdomen. Cutting pains.
• Sticking pain in the region of the liver, or under the ribs both sides, (<) motion; (<) at night when lying down and on inspiration.
• Tearing pains in the hepatic region. Constriction of the hypochondria as from a band. [8]

Rectum & Anus:

• Heat in the lower part of the rectum; also during stool.
• Sticking pains in the anus when not at stool.
• Diarrhoea watery, frequent, with many empty eructations and copious urine.
• Evacuations of undigested food, with colic. Useful for the diarrhoea of pregnant people. [8]

Stool:

• In obstinate constipation, especially if it sometimes alternates with diarrhoea, the stool followed by tremulous weakness.
• Evacuations of undigested food, with colic.
• Useful for the diarrhoea of pregnant people. [8]

Urinary Organ:

• Difficulty in passing urine, intermittent flow. [2]

Sexual Organ:

MALE:

• Desire increased; power decreased. Sexual nervousness, with feeble erection.
• EFFECTS OF SUPPRESSED SEXUAL APPETITE.
• Testicles hard and enlarged.

FEMALE:

• Dysmenorrhoea, with drawing-down thighs.
• Mammae lax and shrunken, HARD, painful to touch.
• STITCHES IN NIPPLES.
• Wants to press breast hard with hand.
• Menses delayed and scanty; parts sensitive.
• BREASTS ENLARGE AND BECOME PAINFUL before and during menses.
• Rash before menses.
• Itching around pudenda.
• Unready conception.
• Induration of os and cervix.
• Ovaritis; ovary enlarged, indurated; lancinating pain. [9]

Respiratory System:

• Dry cough, almost continuous, hacking; worse, evening and at night; CAUSED BY DRY SPOT IN LARYNX WITH ITCHING in chest and throat, WHEN LYING DOWN, talking or laughing, and during pregnancy.
• Expectoration only after long coughing.
• Want of breath on taking the least exercise; oppressed breathing, constriction of chest; pains in chest. [9]

Heart & Pulse:

• Palpitation after drinking; after stool; intermittent. [8]

Neck & Back:

• In Conium mac Pain as from a sprain on the left side. Pain beneath the scapulae.
• Sticking pains in the small of the back when standing, with drawing pains through the lumbar vertebrae.
• Clinical. Cervical glands enlarged and very hard.
• At times with stinging pains. [8]

Extremities:

• Trembling of all the extremities. Heaviness and weariness. Paralyzed feeling; difficulty in using the limbs, hands unsteady; the legs tremble when attempting to use them.
• Numbness of the fingers and toes, looking as if dead.
• Piercing and tearing pains in the extremities and joints. [8]

Skin:

• Stinging and itching in the skin. Eruption like a nettlerash, especially after violent motion.
• Pale yellow spots, sometimes petechiae. [8]

Sleep:

• With all his efforts he could not keep off SLEEP.
• Always feels worse after going to bed, must sit up, or walk about.

Fever:

• Sweat day and night, as soon as one sleeps, or even when closing eyes.
• Night and morning sweat with offensive smell; bad odor without sweat [8]

Important characteristic features of Conium mac

Keynotes / Redline:

• Acts on the glandular system, engorging and indurating it, altering its structure like scrofulous and cancerous conditions.
• Atrophy of glands
• Cancerous affections
• Cancerous affections
• Scirrhus
• Ulcers of glands
• Injuries, blows, falls and bruises of glands and soft parts
• Lack of physical irritability
  Itching and tickling of glands
  Lassitude tendency
  Mucous secretions corrosive and purulent
• Numbness of parts suffering externally
• Direction of pain outwards
  Cutting, constricting pains externally. [7]

Guiding:

• Vertigo: When lying down or turning in bed, moving the head slightly. Must
  keep head at one place.
• Debility: Debility of old people caused by a fall or blow
• Cough: Spasmodic paroxysms caused by a dry spot in the larynx.
• Menses: Suppressed, feeble, scanty, of short duration and too late. Menses
  stop by putting hands in cold water or by taking cold.
• Perspiration: Day and night, sweating as soon as one sleeps or after closing
  the eyes
• Cravings: Craving for salt, coffee and sour things
• Palpitation: Palpitation, worse by exertion, by drinking and at the time of
  stool.
• Sensation: Sensation as if a band or something tight was around the parts. [2]

PQRS:

• Sweat During Sleep: Sweats as soon as one falls asleep, or even when just closing the eyes. [9]
• Photophobia (Aversion to Light) without Inflammation: Intense aversion to light, but without any visible inflammation or redness of the eyes. [9]
• Urinary Issues: Interrupted flow of urine – it starts, stops, and starts again. This is a very characteristic symptom, especially in older men with prostate issues. Difficulty in voiding urine. [9]
• Sexual Sphere: Ill effects of suppressed sexual desire or sexual excesses. In males, there can be weak erections, premature ejaculation, or impotence despite having desire. In females, menses may be suppressed by putting hands in cold water, or there can be induration of ovaries or breasts. [9]
• Induration of Glands: Swelling and stony hardness of glands, such as mammary glands, testicles, ovaries, or lymph nodes. These indurations can be painful or painless and may follow injuries or contusions. This is particularly noted for scirrhous (hard, cancerous) tendencies. [9]
• Vertigo: Vertigo that is characteristically worse when turning over in bed, or even when just turning the eyes. Lying down often aggravates the vertigo, with a sensation as if the bed were turning in a circle. This is a very strong guiding symptom for Conium. [9]

Confirmatory:

• Vertigo, Especially on Lying Down, Turning Over in Bed, or Turning the Head Sideways
• Stony Hardness and Induration of Glands
• Gradually Ascending Paralysis or Debility
• Ill Effects of Suppressed Sexual Desire or from Celibacy/Widowhood [9]

Nucleus symptoms:

• It corresponds to the debility, hypochondriasis, urinary troubles, weakened memory, sexual debility found in old people.
• Troubles at the change of life, old maids and bachelors. [7]

Therapeutic Value of Conium mac:

• Asthma, Bladder disorders, Bronchitis, Cancer of breast, Cataract, Chorea, Debility, Diphtheria, Dysmenorrhoea, Eye disorders, Jaundice, Ovarian disorders, Peritonitis, Prostate disorders, Ptosis, Scrofula, Stomach disorders, Tuberculosis, Tumours, Ulcers, Vertigo, Vision disorders, etc. [2]

Modality of Conium mac:

Aggravation: 

• From seeing moving objects, alcohol, raising arms after exertion, bodily or mental injury, by celibacy or sexual abuse, turning in bed, from pressure of tight clothing, jar, night, standing, before and during menses, hot and dry air,
  etc. [2]

Amelioration:

• While fasting, in the dark, from letting limbs hang down, by motion and pressure, stooping and walking, better in sun, on sitting down. [2]

Complimentary:

• Bay-c, Phos, Silicea, Lyco [9]

Follows Well:

• Psor in tumours of mammae with the fear of malignancy.[2]

Inimical:

• Psor. [7]

Antidoted By:

• Coff, Dulc, Nit-ac, Nit-s-d.[7]

It Antidotes:

• Merc, Nit-ac, Sulph. [7]

Comparison

Dose:

• 1-4 small pellets (globules) placed under the tongue to dissolve.
  1-2 drops of a liquid potency, often diluted in a small amount of water. [9]

Potency:

• Mother tincture (Q) for some external applications
• 30C, 200C, 1M, 10M, CM [9]

Duration of Action:

• 30-50 Days. [7]

Reference 

1. Boericke, W. (1927). Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory.
2. Textbook of homoeopathic materia medica by Dr. J. D. Patil
3. Clarke, J.H. A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (Volume 1).
4. Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal.
5. Vermeulen, Frans. Prisma: The Arcana of Materia Medica Illuminated or his Synoptic Materia Medica series.
6. German Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB – Homöopathisches Arzneibuch)
7. Zomeo Ultimate Pro Lan
8. A Primer Of Materia Medica By T. F. Allen.
9. Thousand Remedies By Boericke.
10. Concise Materia Medica Of Hom. Remedies By S.R. Phatak

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