Letra Homeopatica

Understanding Tarentula hispanica

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

Besides the fact that there are in Tarentula both mirth and sadness, it’s easy to say what the sad feelings are – they are the first ones to appear in the proving. Tarentula at first is sad, annoyed, and depressed. But for only a while, then her symptoms of dancing, singing and joy will start to appear.

(Sadness, grief, melancholy, and moral depression, are not only almost constant symptoms of the sting of Tarantula, but they have been also present, in a striking manner, during the different provings of this medicine), [13].

The indifference, the disgust for everything, and sadness produced by this medicine were present, particularly from morning until 3 P.M., with a marked aggravation after the middle of the day. From 3 P.M., until evening, the gay disposition returned again), [13].

Should we consider the strong euphoric reaction that this patient assumes her possibility of reaction against this overwhelming sadness? Many symptoms of sadness and grief are present in the proving. Tarentula will soon find out that she will feel much better through dancing and singing. This patient will probably use it as a resource against her moral condition through out all her life.

So, we can expect from our patient someone very fond of parties, night clubs, someone that had been dancing and singing, someone who loves music, rock concerts, public feasts (such as carnival), but especially music that can allowed her to dance and sing.

Music cheers up, amuses, and relieves; the prover perspires, and experiences a general bruised feeling which disappeared with one dose of Zincum 200th.

Singing until becoming hoarse and exhausted.

Great excitement caused by music; one hour after it, general and copious perspiration,.

Another two strong modalities will soon be at hand for the Tarentula patient, being the first one her amelioration from eating.

Sadness, dejection, and discouragement; ceasing during the evening, when eating, [13].

The second one is Tarentula’s love for sex.

Change of temper, in a good-natured man, to the point of becoming intolerable; under the influence of sexual excitement he showed a better disposition and mood, [13].

As we could see, it’s not just a simple sexual excitement, but this patient feels better in his mental condition through sex. So, then now we can add some of those many symptoms of Tarentula’s sexuality.

Kent: There is uncontrollable sexual desire and he seems in a state of mind wherein he has no desire to control himself and his sexual passions; lasciviousness almost to insanity.

Excitement of the sexual appetite,

Constant sexual excitement, which nothing can control; sufferings of the prostate, debilitating sweats, unconquerable sadness, and stupidity; erotism,

Constant sexual excitement in a virtuous man, followed by hypochondriasis and unhappy mood,

Loss of memory, accompanied with good nature; changeable mind, tears, singing, and irresoluteness. (In a woman, twenty-six years old, who complained of violent sexual appetite),

Extreme sexual excitement; menses too early and profuse; pains and spasms of uterus; pruritus vulvæ; leucorrhœa.

Violent nymphomania; could not suppress lascivious inclination; < from sexual intercourse; has suffered since her twentieth year; woman, æt. 45.

So, we’ve got someone that, to subside her depressive and sad feelings, is now dancing, singing, eating and having sex. But the fact is that Tarentula in not just simply dancing or having sex. There’s a lot of intensity in what Tarentula is doing. She is way further of what should be considered a normal happiness, singing, dancing and having sex. To the point of those human attitudes will turn themselves into symptoms.

Why is that happening?

Kent: There is uncontrollable sexual desire and he seems in a state of mind wherein he has no desire to control himself and his sexual passions; lasciviousness almost to insanity.

Let’s return to Tarentula’s childhood. The symptoms present in Hering’s MM are very elucidative.

(…) since childhood has wanted sand, cuttlefish, ashes, etc., highly spiced food, cigarettes; > during warm weather, when outdoors; < during cold.

Hysteria of two months' standing in a girl æt. 11, particularly characterized by attacks of spasmus glottidis, occurring about every five minutes, and accompanied by a whistling tone.

Nervous crisis, more intense with women and girls,

So, this is probably our Tarentula child: Afraid of strangers, sad and melancholic, eating (probably hidden) ashes and sand, with a strong tendency to neurological diseases, mostly chorea. Let’s hear something very important about Sydenham’s chorea:

“While Chorea is known for its cause of involuntary movements, the psychological symptoms precede this acquired chorea and may be relapsing and remitting. They include: emotional liability, obsessive-compulsive behavior, cognitive defects, personality change, or attention deficit and hyperactivity. However, the hereditary and acquired types of Chorea are generally having the same effects on their victims”.

Teachers will complaint to those children’s mothers that the Tarentula child cannot stay sited during the classes, that the child is restless and could not learn. These children will be put on medicines (like metilfenidate) to give them some focus for learning. A psychologist will be asked to help and finally a diagnostic of hyperactivity will seal the child’s fate. This child now is diagnosed and considered to have problems.

The child had been smoking and eating spiced food, altogether with ashes and sand, being on amphetamines to help her to focus and being considered a problem child by the schoolteachers and by her friends.

Child can retain its seat with difficulty, arms tossed from side to side, legs cannot be controlled; walking impossible; (…)

Kent: Anxiety and restlessness are words that prevail through all the conditions in it. It is much like Ars. The anxiety is felt sometimes in the mind, sometimes in the whole body, sometimes in the limbs and in the stomach. Great restlessness could not keep quiet anywhere or in any position; felt that he must keep in motion though walking aggravated all symptoms.

Now let’s summon up another group of symptoms: Tarentula has become an aggressive child, an aggressive teenager and at last, as an adult, he is becoming very violent to everyone else.

Kent: Fox-like cunning* and destructiveness. Frequently imagines that she has been insulted.

Sudden foxlike destructive efforts, requiring utmost vigilance to prevent damage; followed by laughter and apologies.

Great taciturnity and irritability; desire to strike himself and others.

Paroxysms of insanity; restlessness of legs; threatening words of destruction and death.

(…) finally violent, (…) furious; sings loud and continuously, with laughter; no sleep for five days; (…) suddenly springs from bed destroying whatever she could get hold of, this was done so quickly that she could not be prevented.

Great irritability, rage, fury, loss of reason, desire to strike himself and those who prevent it. Skin smarts after scratching. (Relieved by Rhus tox.),

Cross, tendency to get angry and to speak abruptly; is obliged to move the limbs, with tearing and pressing pains in the stomach, and in the left side of the chest; great thirst, with necessity of introducing his fingers into the mouth.

Some other point: Where Tarentula is? How is his world, seeing through his eyes?

She is persecuted, pursued by deathly poisonous animals and insects. She is afraid that she could be impeded to finish something already started. Fear of an impended calamity is over him. He must move away from that place. That’s Tarentula’s environment, that’s the world where she is into.

Visions of monsters or animals, that frightened him.

Vision of different things not present, as faces, insects, ghosts, etc. The colors, red, yellow, and green, and particularly black, produce heavy mist before the eyes.

Dreams (…) of great dangers, of poisonous animals, etc.

Kent: She has many insane ideas; one is that she wants to hide because she imagines that she will be assaulted.

From the first there was an indescribable melancholy, anguish, and restlessness; peevishness, the attendants could do nothing to suit me; great haste in whatever I under took, from a constant fear that something would happen to prevent my finishing it; I would start up suddenly, and hastily change my position, through fear that something would fall on me; when walking I would stop short or suddenly throw my head to one side, through fear of striking it against some imaginary object which appeared to be suspended a few inches above my head. Great fear of an imaginary impending calamity. Great desire to be alone, with fear of being alone, even during daylight. Frightful visions as soon as the eyes were closed, with inability to sleep,.

Great disorder of motion, convulsive form; necessity for continual motion; fright, terror, fear of speedy death, with vertigo and precordial anguish, with intolerance of pressure and touch, and periodicity. θ Hysteria

And in the end…

Let’s combine all the elements of the remedy:

First, we got a restless and afraid child, trying to run away from his own fears. What he sees around, the world that is about to fall over him is a world full of poisonous insects, furious animals, death is eminent, and the people would not let him finish what he had started before. He will be impeded to do what he wants to achieve. Tarentula is most certain that some misfortune had fallen on him and we can assume that this misfortune is the reality around. Could we imagine someone like him? Surrounded by this strange and dangerous world, afraid, trying to flee from all those threads or impeded by someone to accomplish what he wanted before? It’s easy now to understand why he is so restless, why he cannot keep himself seated or reading or paying attention to a lecture or a movie.

Singing and dancing are his first alternative possibilities to alleviate his sufferings; those are the consolation he had found early in his life. As are eating and having sex. He will become someone with an over excitability regarding music, dancing and having sex. Tarentula will move from someone who loves music and dancing to the point when all those activities will turn themselves into (singing and dancing) excesses, the same happening with his/her sexual life; it will turn into a life of sexual excesses.

Happiness in his life belongs only to his dreams. When Tarentula wakes, his own personal reality shows itself as it always does.

Pleasant and delightful dreams, with a feeling of happiness; when waking up, crossness, which lasts several hours,

The Tarentula patient will alternate the two states: an extreme sadness in the morning substituted by a cheerful evening. (let’s not forget that dancing, music, eating, and sex are most related to the evenings…)

Changeable mood, passing suddenly from sadness to gayety; from fixed ideas to uneasiness of mind,.

Alternated sorrow and gayety, with return of strength. The good effect of music continues, followed by a copious perspiration,

Indolence and muscular weakness; yawning and stretching; dark, sad thoughts, increasing until afternoon, when, after an agreeable emotion, they changed into an excessive joy, which lasted all the evening,

Ennui, alternating with mirth.

So, why he is so sad at the very beginning of his life? What had changed the spirit and mood to this person?

Sadness, lamentation, as if a misfortune had befallen him; with necessity of changing position and moving,

Sadness, silent, with heaviness on the head, and sleepiness; yawning with muscular debility and dullness; bad taste in the mouth and coated tongue,

(The indifference, the disgust for everything, and sadness produced by this medicine were present, particularly from morning until 3 P.M., (…)

We are resting the full comprehension on the remedy based in only one symptom: when closely analyzed, it shows someone with no way out:

Dreams that several bulls ran after him, and he was obliged to jump into the water and got drowned; wakes up frightened and shaking, with headache,

As we can see, as Tarentula tries to flee from the bulls, the result is that he is getting himself drowned. He has no way out. But, from what he is trying to run? What a bull is? A bull is an ox that was not castrated. It’s an animal that has preserved its sexual instinct, its violence, and its strength.

Tarentula has a quest: or he faces (and conquers) the bulls that are coming towards him to attack him, or he gets drowned. We can extend this symptom to Tarentula’s “internal bull” and to all a bull means.

Here are some meanings and symbolic approaches of “the bull”, from an article written by Jeremy F. Kreutz, - The bull in mythology as symbol for the psychopath? (2011)

1. a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.

2. Archaic . a man hired to do violence.

3. Obsolete . a pimp; procurer.

4. Obsolete . good friend; good fellow.

5. to act the bully toward; intimidate; domineer.

To bully: To use one's strength against someone who is weaker either by strength, power, energy in general, that could be financial as well as criminal.

The Minotaur (Greek for "Bull of Minos"), whom the Greeks imagined as a man with the head of a bull at the center of the labyrinth, was fabled to be born of the Queen and a bull, bringing the king to build the labyrinth to hide his family's shame. Living in solitude made the boy wild and ferocious, unable to be tamed or beaten.

The Minotaur, appears briefly in Dante's Inferno, Canto 12,11-15, where, picking their way among boulders dislodged on the slope and preparing to enter into the Seventh Circle, Dante and Virgil, his guide, encounter the beast first among those damned for their violent natures, the "men of blood"

Bulls in mythology are for the most part associated with evil. They are ferocious and wild.

The Canaanite (and later Carthaginian) deity Moloch was often depicted as a bull, and became a bull demon in Abrahamic traditions. Like some other gods and demons found in the Bible, Moloch appears as part of medieval demonology, as a Prince of Hell. This Moloch finds particular pleasure in making mothers weep; he specializes in stealing their children. The savage, like ourselves, feels the oppression of his impotence before the powers of Nature; but having in himself nothing that he respects more than Power, he is willing to prostrate himself before his gods, without inquiring whether they are worthy of his worship. Pathetic and very terrible is the long history of cruelty and torture, of degradation and human sacrifice, endured in the hope of placating the jealous gods: surely, the trembling believer thinks, when what is most precious has been freely given, their lust for blood must be appeased, and more will not be required. The religion of Moloch — as such creeds may be generically called — is in essence the cringing submission of the slave, who dare not, even in his heart, allow the thought that his master deserves no adulation. Since the independence of ideals is not yet acknowledged, Power may be freely worshipped, and receive an unlimited respect, despite its wanton infliction of pain.

Gods send a bull to earth to create chaos and havoc:

Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi. Ishtar asks her father Anu to send Gugalanna the "Bull of Heaven" to avenge her. (…) The bull of heaven is led to Uruk by Ishtar, and causes widespread devastation. It dries up the reed beds and marshes, than dramatically lowers the level of the Euphrates river. It opens up huge pits in the ground that swallow 300 men.

In later literature the bull has characteristics of the psychopath.

To bully: To use one's strength against someone who is weaker either by strength, power and energy; in general, that could be financial as well as criminal.

So, at the beginning of his life, did the Tarentula patient start a conflict against his own animal instinctive strength?

Did he become afraid of his own aggressive taint, his possibility to fight, hunt and dominate the others beings?

The Minotaur was unable to be tamed. He has been dammed due to his violent nature. Is this what Tarentula become afraid of?

And: if the bull reaches him and “kill” his conscience, should he become a violent and aggressive person? A psychopath? Does Tarentula recognizes from the very beginning his ferocious nature?

Does he have to fight, using his “bull” nature, against what he sees in front of his eyes?

Or, like the proving symptoms are suggesting, he become so much afraid because Tarentula flew away from his own instincts? Without any access to our own possibilities of defending ourselves, Tarentula is now defenseless, restless, attack prone.

Probably Tarentula’s quest is to stop running away and face his own ferocity and strength, and so integrating his instinctive part into himself.

So, we will have a patient full of fears, threads, nightmares with robbers, monsters and venous insects, restless, unable to study or to watch a movie, always running from everything that is possible to hurt him; and he will tell you that one day he had found out that music, sex and dancing are palliatives for his internal pains and delusions.

Is he afraid of himself? Of what he can probably do to the others?

Tarentula Groups

Symptoms from Hering, Allen & Kent

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

Humor

Joking, playing and laughing

Fits of nervous laughter.

Desire to joke, to play and to laugh; extreme gayety.

Great excitement caused by music; one hour after it, general and copious perspiration, [13].

Fourteen days after taking the medicine, the happy mood reached the borders of mania; the disposition to joke and laugh was extreme, [13].

Joy and strong emotion, with trembling, when seeing beloved friends or persons, [13]. [20.]

The fourth day of taking the medicine, the moral troubles were relieved; gayety and disposition to laugh, [13].

Very good disposition the whole day, [13].

Happy mood and gayety in the street, disappearing on coming indoors and replaced by a deep sadness, [13].

Better disposition and mood soon after taking the medicine; little inclination to be angry, [13].

Desire to joke, to play, and to laugh; extreme gayety, [13].

Lively and satisfied; disposition to joke, [13].

Singing until becoming hoarse and exhausted, [13].

The musical air called "Tarantella," charms and pleases the person; he keeps time with his head, trunk, and limbs, [13].

Music cheers up, amuses, and relieves; the prover perspires, and experiences a general bruised feeling which disappeared with one dose of Zincum 200th, [13].

The patient laughs, dances, runs, and gesticulates, without noticing he is an object of astonishment, [12].

Fits of nervous laughing, [13].

Laughter, followed by crying, with trembling of the limbs, [13].

Laughter that nothing can stop, followed by screams, [13].

Stupid laughing, followed by hiccough and spasms, [13].

Pleasant and delightful dreams, with a feeling of happiness; when waking up, crossness, which lasts several hours, [13].

Anxiety and restlessness

Sadness, grief and crying

Consciousness of unnatural state of mind, hence despondency, sadness, moral depression, disgust for everything.

Sad dreams, with a disagreeable impression and weeping, [13].

Crying and yawning, with a feeling of weakness at the pit of the stomach, [13].

Crying spells without cause, [13].

Crying and moaning by the least contradiction; consoling words aggravate, [13].

Crying and moaning during the night, and getting up from bed, with severe headache, and oppression in the cardiac region, [13].

Excessive grief, accompanied in the afternoon by thoughts of death, [13].

Grief without any cause, [13].

Deep grief and affliction, with general trouble, nausea, and dizziness, compelling to lie down, [13].

Profound grief and anxiety; general trouble, uneasiness, and nausea, with dizziness, compelling to lie down, [13].

Sadness, dejection, and discouragement; ceasing during the evening, when eating, [13]. Sad, cross, and need of lying down, [13].

Sadness, lamentation, as if a misfortune had befallen him; with necessity of changing position and moving, [13].

Sadness, silent, with heaviness on the head, and sleepiness; yawning with muscular debility and dullness; bad taste in the mouth and coated tongue, [13].

(The indifference, the disgust for everything, and sadness produced by this medicine were present, particularly from morning until 3 P.M., with a marked aggravation after the middle of the day. From 3 P.M., until evening, the gay disposition returned again), [13]. (Sadness, grief, melancholy, and moral depression, are not only almost constant symptoms of the sting of Tarantula, but they have been also present, in a striking manner, during the different proving of this medicine), [13].

Not satisfied, desire of crying, in the afternoon, as if there was a very deep grief, [13]. Profound melancholy; sadness, with tears. (Relieved by Pulsat. 1000th). Then follows a ravenous appetite, longing for articles which were not relished before, [13].

Constant irregular movements of right arm and leg; is unable to walk or feed herself; speech difficult, tongue heavy; frequent epistaxis; starting during sleep which is light; great thirst; constipation; good appetite; changeable mood; any observation or steady look was enough to make her cry; dragged leg when trying to walk, steadily getting worse. θ Chorea.

Desire of lying down without any light, and without being spoken to, [13].

The patient presently becomes gloomy and morose, then falls into a state of moping, which can scarcely be dispelled, [11].

Cross and intolerable

Irritable and cross at the least contraction, [13].

Great irritability, rage, fury, loss of reason, desire to strike himself and those who prevent it. Skin smarts after scratching. (Relieved by Rhus tox.), [13].

Cross, with a good appetite, [13].

Change of temper, in a good-natured man, to the point of becoming intolerable; under the influence of sexual excitement he showed a better disposition and mood, [13].

Ennui, crossness, easily made angry, contrary to his habit and disposition, [13].

Great agitation, [10].

Great taciturnity and irritability; desire to strike himself and others, [13].

Dullness; the patient does not wish to answer the questions asked, [13].

Changeable Mood

Changeable mood, passing suddenly from sadness to gayety; from fixed ideas to uneasiness of mind, [13].

Alternated sorrow and gayety, with return of strength. The good effect of music continues, followed by a copious perspiration, [13].

Ennui, alternating with mirth, [13].

Pleasant dreams of amusements and games, followed by gloomy ones, until 3 A.M., then wakens with giddiness and headache; cannot remember the dreams, [13].

For several months spasms of an extraordinary character, increasing in intensity and frequency; attacks preceded by spells of gaping and irregular breathing, then muscular contortions of all kinds, fixed look; followed by wild shrieks, long-continued coma, occasionally hysterical outbursts of laughing or crying; paroxysms most severe at menses.

With Oneself

Kent: Depraved imaginations prevail through all the proving. Loss of all shame. Desire to run about, to dance and jump up and down. Great fantastic dancing. Sometimes, music ameliorates all the symptoms and it other times it aggravates them. He becomes violently excited from music. Her motions are ludicrous and she is even lascivious in her conduct. Tarentula patients feign all sorts of sickness, especially fainting. They not only imagine themselves sick, but they pretend to be sick when they are not. Constantly, complaining and threatening; threatens her nurse and her attendants; she strikes her head with her hands; she strikes her body; strikes her attendants and her best friends. Violence is a strong feature of the remedy. Violence with anger. Tears his clothing.

Great taciturnity and irritability; desire to strike himself and others.

Suddenly sprang away from her attendants and swept ornaments from mantelpiece; said she was sorry, but could not help it; very mischievous and destructive, amusing and cheerful; at times pain in left ovary.

Attacks of hystero-mania appearing daily about same hour, beginning with great nervous irritability, despondency and quarrelsome mood; sudden transition from this state to one of great exaltation, hits and abuses every one, destroys whatever she can lay hold of, tears her clothing, sings and laughs; mocks aged people with their old age, if restrained becomes violent; attacks end in a comatose sleep, during which she answers questions correctly; after waking remembers but little of what has occurred; during first part of attack pulse is slow, artery greatly contracted; during second stage pulse frequent and full; thirstlessness and loss of appetite; pressure and confusion of head. 

While in a highly nervous state from too close application to musical studies, was operated upon to remove lens of eye by absorption; this was followed by great nervous depression and prostration, with occasional symptoms of mental aberration; was then treated several months for a retroverted and inflamed uterus, without mental improvement; severe pain through right eye extending to occiput and nose; restlessness; cold feet; mahogany-colored and large papular eruption upon face, particularly large in region of malar bone; sleepless and nervous and very troublesome; retroversion, with swollen uterus; finally violent, soils bed with feces and urine; furious; sings loud and continuously, with laughter; no sleep for five days; thirst; suddenly springs from bed destroying whatever she could get hold of, this was done so quickly that she could not be prevented. θ Insanity.

Misfortune

Lamentation, with oppressive pain in the heart, as if a misfortune had befallen her. The inferior extremities are cold, with cramps, [13].

Weeping, with oppression and pain in the heart, as from a misfortune; cold and cramps in the lower extremities, [13].

Worried and greatly vexed, with much weeping, as if one could not realize something earnestly desired, [13].

Fear

Kent: She has many insane ideas, one is that she wants to hide because she imagines that she will be assaulted.

Fear of getting "typhus fever," [13].

Grief

Suffers on account of deep grief; severe convulsions at 8.30, exactly, lasting about two hours; they are preceded by an intense chill all over, beginning with short chills on back and extremities, lasting about half an hour, and followed immediately by convulsions, with severe involuntary muscular contractions, beginning in upper or lower extremities and extending to whole body; consciousness retained during paroxysms, but lost power of co-ordination. θ Intermittent nervous affection.

With the Others

Kent: Fox-like cunning* and destructiveness. Frequently imagines that she has been insulted.

*astúcia

Sudden foxlike destructive efforts, requiring utmost vigilance to prevent damage; followed by laughter and apologies.

Great taciturnity and irritability; desire to strike himself and others.

Paroxysms of insanity; restlessness of legs; threatening words of destruction and death.

Paroxysm of insanity; she presses her head and pulls her hair; rests about six minutes, and then she begins again, with restlessness, complaining, and threatening; strikes her head with her hands, scratches herself, does not answer when questioned; threatening manners and speech; restlessness of the legs; strikes her body, continues threatening; deep anguish, her clothes annoy her; continual restlessness, threatening words of destruction and death; she believes she is insulted; general trembling; pain in abdomen, relieved by pressure with her hands; she seems to listen, and answers with words and gesticulations; a mocking laughter, and joy expressed in her countenance. She comes out of this attack with a severe headache, eyes staring and wide open; she sees small figures hovering before her eyes, and moves her hands, [13].

Unfortunate Love

Insanity on account of an unfortunate love, [13].

Uterine symptoms in a young lady of twenty-eight years; excessive, immoderate laughter; nervous movements, followed by insanity (under the influence of an unfortunate love), [13].

Hallucinations, sees strangers in the room, [13].

With the environment

Music

Kent: Great excitement from music; she sings until she falls with exhaustion.

Great excitement caused by music; one hour after it, copious and general perspiration.

Singing until hoarse and exhausted.

Animals, monsters

Visions of monsters or animals, that frightened him, [13].

Vision of different things not present, as faces, insects, ghosts, etc. The colors, red, yellow, and green, and particularly black, produce heavy mist before the eyes.

Dreams (…) of great dangers, of poisonous animals, etc., [13].

Dreams that several bulls ran after him, and he was obliged to jump into the water and got drowned; wakes up frightened and shaking, with headache, [13].

Indifference. In the evening indifference about what is going on around; no attention paid to conversation, even if it be most interesting; cannot think about what has been said, [13].

Work

Impatience, restlessness, and cross; strong desire to go to business, [13].

Weakness of memory; indolence for intellectual labor, [13].

Dreams of his business, (…)., [13].

Male Sexuality

Kent: There is uncontrollable sexual desire and he seems in a state of mind wherein he has no desire to control himself and his sexual passions; lasciviousness almost to insanity.

Increased sexual appetite, though moderate, [13].

Sexual excitement, and continued seminal emissions on account of onanism, followed by imbecility, stupid laughter, and progressive wasting away, [13].

Excitement of the sexual appetite, [13].

Constant sexual excitement, which nothing can control; sufferings of the prostate, debilitating sweats, unconquerable sadness, and stupidity; erotism, [13].

Constant sexual excitement in a virtuous man, followed by hypochondriasis and unhappy mood, [13].

Lasciviousness in a man thirty-five years old, reaching almost to insanity, [13].

Lasciviousness in a man forty years old; constant sexual excitement at the sight of obscene objects; onanism, followed by prostatic sufferings, [13].

Erections, with sexual appetite, [13].

Erection when awake, without erotism, only ceasing when violently exercising the whole body, [13].

Erection without erotism, [13].

Extreme sexual excitement, lasciviousness, almost to insanity.

Onanism, followed by prostatic ailments and hypochondriasis.

Seminal emissions after onanism; imbecility, stupid laughter, progressive wasting.

Erections, disappearing easily when moving or fixing the attention on any other object, [13].

Difficult coition, with little pleasure, [13].

Difficult coition, followed by fatigue and cough, [13].

Incomplete erection, with dizziness and formication, [13].

Female Sexuality

Mental chorea; hyperemia and hyperesthesia of female sexual organs.

Ludicrous and lascivious hysteria in a woman of twenty-nine years; the patient had to be restrained by force, [13].

Loss of memory, accompanied with good nature; changeable mind, tears, singing, and irresoluteness. (In a woman, twenty-six years old, who complained of violent sexual appetite), [13].

Extreme sexual excitement; menses too early and profuse; pains and spasms of uterus; pruritus vulvæ; leucorrhœa.

Violent nymphomania; could not suppress lascivious inclination; < from sexual intercourse; has suffered since her twentieth year; woman, æt. 45.

Nymphomania; reflex chorea; hyperemia and hyperesthesia of sexual organs.

Sexual desire in a woman, who had a shining callosity on her left index finger, with heat and shooting pains in it, aggravated by pressure; dry cough, happy mood, and poor memory. After two days of taking the medicine (Tarantula), the callosity detached itself, but the cough and the sexual appetite lasted for eight days longer, [13].

Sexual appetite (in a woman of twenty-six years), with some dry cough by spells; facility to express herself, but hesitation, incertitude, and changeable in her actions and ideas. The sexual appetite lasted in this woman forty-five days, and was not influenced by menstruation. During all this time there was poor memory, quarrelsome and changeable temper, and her look was at times vivid and passionate, [13]. [The sexual desire was so manifest in this woman that when playing or dancing with gentlemen, she hugged them before everybody. The just remarks on her conduct made her irritable; she cried, was angry, and finished by promising not to do it again; however, she did not keep her promise long. During this period the catamenia were scanty and pale, with severe pains in the teeth and buttocks. At times she experienced the desire to take things which did not belong to her. A circumstance worth mentioning, was that the "Tarantella" played on the violin and guitar did not produce any effect on her, but as soon as she took in her arms a little girl, she commenced to cry until the child was taken away, this never took place with her before. These experiments were repeated several times, always with the same results.]

Sensation of motion in uterus, like a fetus; singing, like a tea-kettle in left ear; obstinate constipation; stoppage of urine, which is high-colored, with red sediment, pain in region of kidneys; palpitation; sensation of something crawling up legs, under skin, from feet till it reaches uterus, causing great sexual desire, intense pruritus and rubbing, which it is impossible to resist, makes her almost crazy. θ Pruritus vulvæ.

Uterine symptoms, resulting in unconsciousness of existence, with stupid laughter, staring look, and immobility, [13].

Hysteric pains, with much borborygmus and sensitiveness of the uterus, lasting three days, and ending with the expulsion of gases, [13].

A few days after getting out of bed after fourth confinement, violent convulsions of whole body during rest, necessity of moving and walking up and down room; on attempting to sit or lie down, violent shaking of head and limbs, with bruised pains all over and dizziness, compelling her to get up again and walk room; was unable to sleep for nine days, dreading convulsions every time she attempted to sit down; want of appetite, great anxiety and malaise fear of death; cervix uteri engorged, with granulations extending to vagina, mucous membrane of which was highly injected. 

After a fall down stairs complains of pain in lower part of abdomen and hips; very sensitive to manipulation, some hardness and swelling in hypogastric region and in uterus, which was seat of burning, crampy pains, < by every movement; sanguineous leucorrhœa, constant desire to pass water, which was clear but difficult to void, falling drop by drop, with burning pain; precordial anguish, sadness, weeping and fear of death (Conium improved, Tarentula cured). θ Uterine neuralgia.

Childhood

Nervous crisis, more intense with women and girls, [13].

Feigned paroxysms: a girl simulating fainting and insensibility, looks sideways to watch the effect produced on those around her, [13].

Excessive gayety (in a young girl, fifteen years old, nervo-lymphatic temperament*, who commenced to menstruate). Laughing at the slightest cause, [13].

The nervo-lymphatic temperament is characterized as the temperament of children and females. The lungs and heart are small and power of endurance moderate. Yet, with a good share of excitability, the form will be well rounded and handsome and the head well developed – but the skin will be characterized by softness and paleness”.

Practical Phrenology, Silas Jones.

A boy, æt. 14, looks thoughtful and melancholy, shuns his companions and stays most of the time in most retired part of house; lost his appetite, in a few days was taken with chorea; head drawn downward, afraid to look at strangers, idiotic expression of face, great loss of flesh, dirty and ashy color of skin, impetigo around lips, choreic movements of head, movements of right arm alternating with those of head; all movements ceased in bed; involuntary micturition.

Child can retain its seat with difficulty, arms tossed from side to side, legs cannot be controlled; walking impossible; head turned violently from side to side; eyes rotated and eyelids almost in constant motion; frequent hideous grimaces; violent contortions of trunk; every effort to take food causes involuntary movements of tongue, causing her to drop from mouth two-thirds of what she has taken; movements not so violent at night, but cannot sleep more than a few movements at a time. θ Chorea.

Strong bearing-down pelvic pains for nearly a week previous to catamenia; severe backache extending to hypogastric region; wearying fidgetiness of legs, pains felt more from knees to feet, compelling patient to move about, > by riding horseback; pains < as menses approach, severest at greatest flow, violent enough to produce convulsive movements; chorea like restlessness, twitching and trembling of muscles, which worked painfully from side to side; draws herself together, legs close to abdomen and head bent forward, hands clutching at bedclothes, immediately afterward seizing something else; motion of inferior extremities almost incessant; hands and feet cold and moist; pains and spasms kept pace with menstrual flow, increasing or decreasing with it; menses usually regular except for last four months, when they were delayed, owing to a slight sanguineous inter menstrual discharge, lasting two days and generally appearing at fifteenth day, which was painless ; flow nearly right in quantity, light-colored and with small dark clots when patient was recumbent, darker and more profuse when rising to chamber; on first day usually a slight frontal headache, increasing second day to a violent, throbbing pain, < from light and motion ; during headache exacerbation, a remission of pelvic pains, latter reappearing soon with original force, but not remaining so long; on third day a brief relief, followed by a return of old pains, lasting a shorter time; meantime urinary tenesmus, nausea, and bad taste in mouth ; occasionally globus hystericus and dry hacking cough; with convalescence great weakness and shooting, grasping pains at heart with occasional interruption of its rhythm, and with increased action; preceding and following menses, yellowish leucorrhœa; in morning, hawking up brown mucus, often tinged with blood; breathing short, painful; occasionally, at long intervals, a sudden waking from dreamless sleep, under a feeling of suffocation; violent palpitation and acute pains through heart, compelling upright position; pulse regular, quick, irritable; right heart-ventricle slightly dilated; infraclavicular pain in right side of chest, penetrating to back, so as to catch breath; since childhood has wanted sand, cuttlefish***, ashes, etc., highly spiced food, cigarettes; > during warm weather, when outdoors; < during cold. θ Dysmenorrhœa.

***Lula, Sepia.

 Hysteria of two months' standing in a girl æt. 11, particularly characterized by attacks of spasmus glottidis, occurring about every five minutes, and accompanied by a whistling tone.

Intellectual

Complete loss of memory.

Little intelligence and poor memory, [13].

Absence of mind, yawning and moaning, followed by cough, [13].

Afterwards he remembered hardly anything that had happened to him, [9].

Complete loss of memory; she does not understand the questions addressed to her; she does not know the persons whom she sees every day; cannot say her prayers. Afterwards she is cheerful, followed by deep sorrow; feels like crying, sobbing, palpitation of the heart, oppression at the chest, headache, burning heat, and general perspiration, [13].

Neurological

Hysteria, with bitter belching and repeated yawning, > by lying down and by music; restlessness of hands and legs; constant motion, cannot remain in one place; heat in epigastrium.

Nervous excitement; hysteria and mania; restlessness and dreaming.

Dementia, with individuals inclined to sadness, and of a gloomy disposition, [13].

Hysteria, [13].

Severe attack of hysteria, lasting half an hour; increased by moaning; relieved by sighing, [13].

Hysteria, with bitter belching. Repeated yawning, which lasted from a quarter to half an hour, [13].

Beginning of insanity; they sing, dance, and cry, without fever, [13]

Somnambulism; frequent desire to urinate; clear urine; quantity lessened until secretion ceased; much excited at night; convulsions, a kind of St. Vitus' dance, with inclination to bite and tear everything that comes near him; when fit ceases, falls asleep, on awaking is unconscious of what has happened; has not voided urine since fifteen days; exalted state of mind; could not speak, but could write; falls every day into a somnambulistic kind of sleep, the exact time of which he states every morning; this state continued several months.

Trembling of body; all limbs agitated; convulsive hysteria and chorea, with excessive hyperesthesia.

Spasmodic, hysterical symptoms from uterine irritation.

Chorea of superior extremities without any appreciable cause; head thrown with violence in different direction; nervous contractions in muscles of face; right leg thrown about with such violence, could hardly keep from falling.

Head, right arm and hand affected, head drawn downward, involuntary micturition.

Falling down unconsciously without any warning, general rigidity, grinding of teeth, bites her tongue, squinting of eyes which remain open during attack, fit lasting two or three minutes, followed by dejection and dizziness for twenty-four hours; attacks occurring every eight, fifteen or twenty days. θ Epilepsy.

Dizziness before fit; great precordial anguish.

For five years peculiar fits, which begin with a sensation as of a cloud before left eye, gradually increasing to complete blindness on that side; then follows a numbness of left arm and right leg, gradually increasing.

Until former becomes powerless; after this, drowsiness, followed by a deep sleep, from which he awakes with a throbbing frontal headache and blindness in left eye, these two symptoms gradually disappear together; urine normal; fundus oculi normal; longest interval between attacks was five months; of late, attacks have been coming every week. θ Epileptoid.

During attack squinting of eyes which remain open; after dizziness and dejection for twenty-four hours. θ Epilepsy.

Paralysis agitans caused by great mental distress, commencing with pain in arms and a continual itching and trembling in left leg, with inability to remain in bed; had to walk floor; trembling extended to head and tongue; appetite lost; sleepless nights.

Intelligence and memory diminished; trembling; pricking, and peculiar sensation in phalanges of hands and feet, unable to perform any fine work; motility and sensibility unaltered, neither paralysis, anesthesia nor hyperesthesia; head trembled just as left foot and arm, and a slight tremor could be perceived on tongue when she opened her mouth; could only sleep for a few minutes, pains woke her in spite of her sleepiness; no appetite; chronic constipation, since menopause acne in face; a slight hyperemia of retina, excess of uric acid in urine. θ Paralysis agitans.

Generals

Great restlessness and agitation, particularly of inferior extremities; has to change position; need of constantly moving hands, feet and head.

Trembling of body; limbs agitated. St. Vitus' dance.

Great restlessness could not keep quiet anywhere or in any position; felt that he must keep in motion though walking aggravated all symptoms.

In constant motion; can better run than walk; speech impeded; feels best in bed. θ Chorea**.

**Chorea (or choreia, occasionally) is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term chorea is derived from the Greek word χορεία (=dance; see choreia), as the quick movements of the feet or hands are comparable to dancing.

Chorea is characterized by brief, semi-directed, irregular movements that are not repetitive or rhythmic, but appear to flow from one muscle to the next.

These 'dance-like' movements of chorea often occur with athetosis, which adds twisting and writhing movements. Walking may become difficult, and include odd postures and leg movements.

Unlike ataxia, which affects the quality of voluntary movements, or Parkinsonism, which is a hindrance of voluntary movements, the movements of chorea and ballism occur on their own, without conscious effort. Thus, chorea is said to be a hyperkineticmovement disorder.

When chorea is serious, slight movements will become thrashing motions; this form of severe chorea is referred to as ballism or ballismus

Chorea can occur in a variety of conditions and disorders.

Chorea is a primary feature of Huntington's disease, a progressive neurological disorder.

Twenty percent (20%) of children and adolescents with rheumatic fever develop Sydenham's chorea as a complication.

Chorea gravidarum is rare type of chorea which is a complication of pregnancy.

Huntington’s Disease

This is a type of chorea that is inherited, meaning the phenotype is displayed in generation after generation. Generally, the choreic movements accompanied by the mental disorder do not skip a generation, making it a dominant trait. Huntington's Disease includes the generic traits of chorea such as the progressive tremors which affect the head and limbs, and increasing mental deterioration. However, this disease can also consist of just some of these traits and to varying degrees. It has also been observed that chorea differs in families depending on their specific backgrounds, which can be expected based on its heritability. Huntington’s chorea usually accompanies other diseases depending on the family line. Other diagnoses such as epilepsy, infantile convulsions, meningeal inflammations, hydrocephaly, mental handicap, and tics occurring mostly in small families are joined with chorea. This information leads doctors and scientists to believe that the families that are susceptible to inheriting chorea are also more likely to have nervous or mental troubles.[1]

Sydenham's Chorea

Sydenham’s Chorea is an acquired version of Chorea. This type is increasingly rare and it may be partially due to penicillin, improved social conditions, and/or a natural reduction in the virus it has stemmed from. While Chorea is known for its cause of involuntary movements, the psychological symptoms precede this acquired chorea and may be relapsing and remitting. They include: emotional liability, obsessive-compulsive behavior, cognitive defects, personality change, or attention deficit and hyperactivity. However, the hereditary and acquired types of Chorea are generally have the same effects on their victims.[2]

Chorea Gravidarum

This type of Chorea simply refers to choreic symptoms that occur during a women’s pregnancy. In 1900, an average 1 in 300 cases were recorded. Most cases are a reappearance of Sydenham's chorea in the primary hormonal period of the pregnancy but it can also be caused by the use of oral contraceptives. A history of acute rheumatic fever is also a very likely cause of Gravidarum Chorea. Some women experience Chorea during their following pregnancies and several cases have been described in which attacks occurred in three, four and even five pregnancies. If left untreated, the disease resolves in 30% of patients before delivery but, in the other 70%, it persists. The symptoms then progressively disappear in the next few days following the delivery.[2]

(Source: Wikipedia)

Estudos

TARENTULA HISP.