Understanding Medorrhinum

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D. F.F.Hom. (Lon.) et al.

There is a symptom in the MM that embodies the general aspect of Med.:

Usually depressed; easily tired; disinclined to any exertion, and yet often unable to keep still; forgetful; unable to think connectedly; mind wanders from subject, even in reading; cannot think at all if hurried.

This definition of the Med. patient will be detailed from now on through many symptoms from the proving and we believe it will be quite enough, if we keep ourselves in the limits of the pathogenesis.

Med. is well known in our books and imagery as an irresponsible fellow, always fleeing away from any work or any given task. It is present in our repertories in the rubrics “lack of responsibility” or “aversion to duty”. We know that our Med. patient is not very much fond of taken a job, fulfill a promise established in his early years or be the head of a family. But then comes the question: Why?

Let’s see first how it appears this “responsibility” subject in Med.:

Always wakens tired in the morning; hates to do anything that must be done, even nice things; gets nervous and excited about riding and driving as soon as the time is fixed.

There is no cause for such feelings, as she is not obliged to do anything when disinclined; is so situated that nothing need cause her trouble.

Dullness of memory and desire to procrastinate, because business seemed so lasting, or as if it never could be accomplished.

Indisposed to work or make mental effort; desire for rest and dread of change; noise, confusion, disorderliness of surroundings distressing; depression and much anxiety, especially after sleep; irritable if the room is not light enough to make everything distinct; craving for stimulants, but cannot endure the effects, for they cause a wild, crazy feeling in brain after the first sleep; same effect from using eyes.

As we can see, Med. can’t endure any sort of work. It’s not because he doesn’t want to do it. His general state, his mental and intellectual functions and abilities are far off from good. He is “always tired in the morning” and so he “hates to do anything that must be done”.

He came to the point that he rejects working “even when it’s not necessary”. He can’t even thing about it.

“Desire for rest and dread of change” is the general mental state of Med. That’s his general condition, this is what we will find when the patient is in the need of Med.

Another important aspect of this remedy: Many symptoms, clinical aspects,< the delays in many children developments or even many clinical occurrences are all attributed to a paternal venereal disease. Several cases describing how the patients got so much better after the findings in their father’s history are all over the Materia Medica of Med.

Kent: This remedy has cured many cases of marasmus in infants that had inherited sycosis from a parent.

Children of a sycotic father are especially subject to attacks of vomiting and diarrhea, and emaciation. They resist to well selected chronic remedies or are only palliated by well selected remedies. After Med. high they thrive, and remedies act.

Then comes another question:

Can we attribute all this sufferings, in every and each child, to his father’s bad management of a venereal disease? A gonorrheal infection during his father early years? The testimony given by the homeopaths says yes, - that those children all got better after high potencies of Med.- even when the symptoms didn’t agree, the prescription was based only from their parent’s history.

But how those early conceptions fit in our modern theories? I wrote an article about Sycosis stating that one of the possibilities of existence of the miasma was that a gene from the hepatitis B virus could be inserted in the DNA of the mother or father and then promoting this abnormal change in the health and in the constitution of their son. But there’s much to be researched and confirmed, if we follow that path in the Medical Science.

But we’ve got some important facts, clinical facts.

So, with due respect to our predecessors’ experiences, we have being told that Med. can help children or adults with a venereal history from their parents. We also know that well chosed remedies are about to fail when there is a venereal “taint” in those subjects and that “taint” could be removed through the use of Med. in high potencies.

But then comes another question: Is someone out there, not contaminated by his own parents’ venereal disease, that needs Med.?

If so, which symptoms of the proving should we use in the study of who is the Med. patient?

From that point on, we decided that those symptoms coming from his altered perception of the surrounding reality and of himself should be used first. And what are those symptoms?

We can detect a few groups, being the first one his sensation of being a sinner heading to hell. Med. is quite sure that there is an impending evil coming towards him. Med. fought against the devil, against the “adversary”.

Slept well but woke at an early hour with a frightened sensation as if something; dreadful had happened; the weight on the head was heavy and great heat in it; could not rest in bed; felt as if she must do something to rid her mind of this tearful torture; for two hours was in this state of mind; she struggled against it; fought with what seemed to be the adversary; scolded herself for her weakness; all to no purpose, and grew weak with the effort; she cannot describe the mental agony she endured. 

It fears it has committed the unpardonable sin, and cares little for the result, because of the seething, restless, uneasy, unbalanced nerves.

It is also introspective, self-accusative, remorseful.

Now we know why he is always anticipating the events, and what are the facts that Med. is anticipating:

Always a feeling of impending danger but knows not what.

Everything startles her, news coming to her seems to touch her heart before she hears it. 

The Medorrhinum patient develops a peculiar sensitivity especially in relation to occurrences affecting itself.

Is always anticipating; feels most matters sensitively before they occur and generally correctly.

He is not a foreteller, or someone entrusted with the gift of predict the future. He is in fact anticipating the arrival of the devil to pick him up.

It feels the evil coming to it, and the bad news before it arrives, of course it is selfish, and it is easily hurt by a harsh word.

Thinks some one is behind her, hears whispering; sees faces that peer at her from behind bed and furniture. 

Persons come in, look at her, whisper, and say "come."

One night saw large people in room; large rats running; felt a delicate hand smoothing her head from front to back. 

Woke at night and saw a woman of pleasant face, dressed in grey, standing by bedside, wiping a tumbler; she backed from me miles away, becoming very small.

As we had seen before, killing himself or believing that he is sick and there’s no recovery, all belonged to the same nature, the same leit motif. He is unpardonable and destined to hell. His sins will follow him and are the major cause of his debacle. The general aspect of the depressed Med. patient should be as it was described by this symptom:

Spirits in the depths, weighed down with heavy, solid gloom, > by torrents of tears.

Cannot speak without crying.

Constant state of anguish. 

The impatience, excitement, wild feelings; the unreal, dazed condition; the gloom and fear in the dark; the difficulty of speaking without tears, are marked evidence of functional derangement of the nervous system.

Anticipates death.

Feeling as if he had committed the unpardonable sin and was going to hell.

And at the end, Med. subsides his own despairs and fears. He is ready to die.

The outcome of this impression is stated in the symptoms:

Is sure that she is worse, knows she is not going to live, cannot see any improvement, even when it is pointed out; has no fear of death, speaks calmly about it, and gives directions as to the disposition of her affairs.

Tendency to suicide, gets up in night and takes his pistol, but his wife prevents him.

It is always anticipating, fearing evil will happen, loss of reason or suicide.

A group of symptoms present at the “sensations as if” will show us a deeper sensation belonging to Med. imaginary. He is dig from the inside by vermin, insects bearing claws, all of them scratching his organs.

Sensation as of a worm crawling in r. ear, as if it commenced boring in anterior wall of auditory canal; as of a centipede crawling in left nostril; sensation in liver as if caused by icy cold insects with claws; creeping chills in region of r. kidney, as if caused by icy cold insects with claws; as of creeping things throughout body;

There is also a maniac version of Med. For him life as we know doesn’t exist, reality is only a dream. Is he the fanatical, the religious fellow threaded at the gates Hell? Is he the Oracle that predicts the arrival of Satan in the Earth, to take us all? Is she the prodigious child, the one that have already fully read the Bible and is now making prophecies about the end of the world? Is Med. gathering around her a huge number of followers?

Is the Med. patient to belonging to the wards of an asylum? 

Wild and desperate feeling, as of incipient insanity.

Sensation as if all life was unreal, like a dream. 

Strange exhilaration of spirits.

Unusually active, going as if on wings.

The impatience, excitement, wild feelings; the unreal, dazed condition. 

 

 

Groups in Medorrhinum

Berridge, Kent, Hering & Henry Allen

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D. F.F.Hom. (Lon.)

 

Humor

Strange exhilaration of spirits.

Unusually active, going as if on wings.

Alternation

Alternation of happiness and gloominess. 

Cross through day, exhilarated at night, wants to play. 

Irritated at little things.

Very impatient. 

The impatience, excitement, wild feelings; the unreal, dazed condition; the gloom and fear in the dark; the difficulty of speaking without tears, are marked evidence of functional derangement of the nervous system.

Wild and desperate feeling, as of incipient insanity.

Nerve trembling, with worry. 

Depressed

Usually depressed; easily tired; disinclined to any exertion, and yet often unable to keep still; forgetful; unable to think connectedly; mind wanders from subject, even in reading; cannot think at all if hurried.

Spirits in the depths, weighed down with heavy, solid gloom, > by torrents of tears.

Cannot speak without crying.

Constant state of anguish. 

Restless

Wakeful; slept towards morning. 

Great restlessness at night, sleepy but could not sleep.

Becomes wide awake at 6 P. M. and continues so till 12, with entire passivity of brain and cessation of thought; slight restlessness. 

Is in a great hurry; when doing anything is in such a hurry that she gets fatigued. 

With Himself/Herself

Death

Is sure that she is worse, knows she is not going to live, cannot see any improvement, even when it is pointed out; has no fear of death, speaks calmly about it, and gives directions as to the disposition of her affairs.

Tendency to suicide, gets up in night and takes his pistol, but his wife prevents him.

Fears he is going to die.

Anticipates death.

Evil

It feels the evil coming to it, and the bad news before it arrives, of course it is selfish, and it is easily hurt by a harsh word.

It is always anticipating, fearing evil will happen, loss of reason or suicide.

Slept well but woke at an early hour with a frightened sensation as if something; dreadful had happened; the weight on the head was heavy and great heat in it; could not rest in bed; felt as if she must do something to rid her mind of this tearful torture; for two hours was in this state of mind; she struggled against it; fought with what seemed to be the adversary; scolded herself for her weakness; all to no purpose, and grew weak with the effort; she cannot describe the mental agony she endured. 

Everything startles her, news coming to her seems to touch her heart before she hears it.

Feels as if she would have nightmare.

Sin

Feeling as if he had committed the unpardonable sin and was going to hell.

Feeling of desperation; did not care if he went to heaven or hell.

It fears it has committed the unpardonable sin, and cares little for the result, because of the seething, restless, uneasy, unbalanced nerves.

It is also introspective, self-accusative, remorseful.

Sensitivity and anticipation

A word or look of seeming harshness puts her in despondency for hours.

Medorrhinum develops a peculiar sensitivity especially in relation to occurrences affecting itself.

Is always anticipating; feels most matters sensitively before they occur and generally correctly.

Always a feeling of impending danger but knows not what.

Everything startles her, news coming to her seems to touch her heart before she hears it. 

Great selfishness.

Sensation as if she would go crazy; 

Dreams: horrid; painful; exhausting; that she is drinking.

Sensation as if

Sensation as of a worm crawling in r. ear, as if it commenced boring in anterior wall of auditory canal; as of a centipede crawling in left nostril; sensation in liver as if caused by icy cold insects with claws; creeping chills in region of r. kidney, as if caused by icy cold insects with claws; as of creeping things throughout body;

With the Others

Ghosts, dead people and spirits

Thinks someone is behind her, hears whispering; sees faces that peer at her from behind bed and furniture.

Persons come in, look at her, whisper, and say "come."

One night saw large people in room; large rats running; felt a delicate hand smoothing her head from front to back. 

Such restless nights and terrible dreams of ghosts and dead people, she dreads night to come.

Woke at night and saw a woman of pleasant face, dressed in grey, standing by bedside, wiping a tumbler; she backed from me miles away, becoming very small.

Starts at slightest sound.

Such restless nights and terrible dreams of ghosts and dead people, she dreads night to come.

A word or look of seeming harshness puts her in despondency for hours.

With the Environment

Sensation as if all life was unreal, like a dream.

Time

Time moves too slowly.

Time moves slowly to it, therefore it is hurried.

Time moves so slowly that things done an hour ago appear to have occurred a year since; asked the time of day, and in five minutes insisted that half an hour had elapsed and could not believe it had not till she had seen the watch.

Sleep with wearing dreams of walking; waking with impression that she had slept for hours, although it was only thirty minutes.

Dazed feeling; a far off sensation, as though things done today occurred a week ago.

One night saw large people in room; large rats running; felt a delicate hand smoothing her head from front to back.

Fear of the dark. 

Work

Always wakens tired in the morning; hates to do anything that must be done, even nice things; gets nervous and excited about riding and driving as soon as the time is fixed.

There is no cause for such feelings, as she is not obliged to do anything when disinclined; is so situated that nothing need cause her trouble.

Dullness of memory and desire to procrastinate because business seemed so lasting, or as if it never could be accomplished.

Indisposed to work or make mental effort; desire for rest and dread of change; noise, confusion, disorderliness of surroundings distressing; depression and much anxiety, especially after sleep; irritable if the room is not light enough to make everything distinct; craving for stimulants, but cannot endure the effects, for they cause a wild, crazy feeling in brain after the first sleep; same effect from using eyes.

Reading and writing make her nervous and enrage her.

Childhood

Kent: This remedy has cured many cases of marasmus in infants that had inherited sycosis from a parent.

Children of a sycotic father are especially subject to attacks of vomiting and diarrhoea, and emaciation. They resist to well selected chronic remedies or are only palliated by well selected remedies. After Med. high they thrive, and remedies act.

Male Sexuality

Nocturnal emission, followed by great weakness and miserable feeling all day. Emissions during sleep: watery, causing no stiffness of linen; transparent, consistence of gum arabic mucilage, too thick to pour, and voided with difficulty; thick, with threads of white, opaque substance.

Impotence. 

Intense and frequent erections day and night.

Female Sexuality

Great sexual desire after menses in a single woman. 

Intellectual

Great weakness of memory.

Dullness of memory and desire to procrastinate, because business seemed so long lasting, or as if it never could be accomplished. θ Gonorrhœa. 

Entirely forgot what she had read, even previous line. 

Forgetfulness of names, later of words and initial letters.

Cannot remember names; has to ask name of her most intimate friend; forgets her own. 

In conversation he would occasionally stop, and on resuming make remark that he could not think what word he wanted to use.

Loses constantly the thread of her talk.

Seems to herself to make wrong statements, because she does not know what to say next, begins all right but does not know how to finish; weight on vertex, which seems to affect mind.

Cannot spell right; wonders how the word " how " is spelled. 

Reads a letter and thinks the words look queer and are spelled wrong.

Could not read or use mind at all from pain in head.

Difficulty in concentrating his thoughts or mind on abstract subjects.

Forgetful, cannot remember the least thing any length of time; writes everything down of any importance; cannot trust herself to remember it; great irritability and disgust with life.

Momentary loss of thought, caused by sensation of tightness in brain.

Loses constantly the thread of her talk.

In conversation he would occasionally stop, and on resuming make remark that he could not think what word he wanted to use. θ Gonorrhœa.

 

Seems to herself to make wrong statements, because she does not know what to say next, begins all right but does not know how to finish; weight on vertex, which seems to affect mind. 

Great difficulty in stating her symptoms, loses herself and has to be asked over again. 

Dread of saying the wrong thing when she has headache. 

We find a dazed condition from the loss of the thread of thought, which annoys and causes a dread of saying the wrong thing, and a difficulty in stating symptoms.

Difficulty in concentrating his thoughts or mind on abstract subjects.

Could not read or use mind at all from pain in head.

Medorrhinum is forgetful of names, words, etc., but instead of forgetting occurrences, during certain periods of time, like Syphilinum, it forgets what it is reading, even to the last line read; it cannot concentrate its attention; thinks words spelled wrong and have no meaning, etc.

Kent: Forgetful of facts, figures and names; of what he has read.

Makes mistakes in writing, of spelling, and words. Time move too slowly; everybody moves too slowly. He is in a constant hurry, in such a hurry that he gets out of breath. She is in such a hurry that she feels faint. Confusion of mind, dazed; fear of sensation; loses the idea when speaking. Great difficulty in stating her symptoms, loses herself and must be asked over again.

Sensations as if

Of falling; 

as if intoxicated; as if occiput was enlarged; head as if tightening; as of a tight band across forehead; as if front half of brain would come through forehead; as if skin was drawn tight; 

as of three points of tension in head, as if large cords were drawn to each; as if intensive pains would break; as if head had been struck ; as if occipital protuberances were enlarged; 

as if eyes were pulling out of head; as if she stared at everything; as if eyes protruded; as of sand under lids; as of sticks in eyes, lids and inner canthi; as of a cool wind blowing in eyes; 

as if upper lid had a cartilage in it; as if a tube went through head; as if parchment was drawn over ear; as if mucous membrane of nose was hypertrophied; as of a paper of pins in pit of stomach that seemed to force themselves through flesh; as if a sac was distended in left ovary and if pressed would burst; choking as if epiglottis was closed; as if lining of larynx and pharynx was torn off; as if lining membrane* was a loose fold of tissue; 

*membrane mucosa

mouth as if burnt; throat as if scraped.

as if heart palpitated in pit of stomach; as if a lump in stomach; cramps in stomach as from wind; 

as of a heavy weight in lower abdomen; as of a tumor in r. side of abdomen. 

pressure as of a hard, biconvex body in abdomen; as if there was a large lump on posterior surface of sphincter ani;

beating as of a pulse in abdomen. 

as of passage of calculus in ureter; after urinating, a feeling as if something more remained in urethra; 

pain in left groin as if leg pushed something; left ovary as if enlarged; as if she must press ovary ; cutting as if with knives in pelvic region ; pain as if menses were coming on; 

larynx as if ulcerated; as of a lump in larynx; as if thorax was too full; as if larynx would be torn to pieces; as if bronchial tubes were enlarged; 

chest as if painfully contracted; lung as if beaten or bruised; as if her breath was fanning a blistered sore in lung; 

as if there was a cavity extending from side to side in chest, filled with burning air, which dilated in puffs in all directions; 

pain in r. shoulder as though it came from left straight through; 

left lung as if collapsed or paralyzed; as if lung was drawn up in hand and let loose ; left lung as if drawn toward r. side as if something had grown to sore spot in front of chest and was drawing back; heart as if large; as of a cavity where heart ought to be ; pain as if radiating in different parts of left side of chest ; as if heart was swollen ; as of an abscess on left chest ; between pectoralis major and minor ; as of an enlarged gland in r. side of neck, under upper part of sterno-cleido-mastoid ; 

pains in shoulders as if bones would be crushed; as of water dropping out of a bottle in lumbar region ; pricking in left little finger as if asleep; l. hand as if swollen; as if a boil was coming on back of hand ; left leg as if paralyzed ; 

as if she would faint ; 

as if she would have nightmare. 

as if contents of lower part of chest and abdomen seemed to press upon each other; as of a foreign substance in r. eye, then in left;

as if blood was boiling hot in veins; as if she had taken a severe cold; sore all over as if bruised as if all bones were out of joint.