Understanding Arnica montana

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

The Arnica patient wakes up in the morning once again facing his daily sufferings; it happens to be there since the beginning. It’s not a bad mood or any kind of sadness. It’s life itself that comes to the Arnica patient in a very hard way. 

Falling asleep, lying on one side, he has pleasant dreams, but awakes with a violent pain in shoulder joint and arms; hands fall asleep. 

The fact is: the Arnica patient is born painfully sensitive to everything. 

Excessive sensitiveness of the mind; extreme disposition to agreeable as well as disagreeable emotions, without weakness or excessive sensitiveness of the body; (on one occasion this excessive sensitiveness of the mind was observed before that of the body; I have also seen these two kinds of sensitiveness occurring in alternation or simultaneously).

Mental emotions exerted an influence in bringing on chronic attacks of headache.

In sick: Naturally very sensitive, his keen sensitiveness of mind became greatly exaggerated.

Susceptibility to every shock, movement or exertion and to reading and reflection. θ Megrim.

Excessive sensitiveness of mind. θ Prolapsus uteri.

Again, it’s a painful sensitiveness and this sensitivity brings, therefore, an extreme state of moroseness and irritation.

Uncommonly peevish; everything is disagreeable to her.

Hypochondriac peevishness; he is not disposed to do anything.

She is extremely peevish; all her former cheerfulness and amiable manners have gone 

Peevishness; he would like to quarrel with everybody,

There’s no peace for him, everything hurts and aches but pain only brings a strong irritability and a desire to criticize, it brings up a “raving madness” altogether with a desire of being alone with no communication with anyone else.

She is extremely morose and irritable; she does not speak a word,

Moroseness; one first desires all sorts of things, and afterwards repels them,

sullen insolence and imperiousness.

Raving madness, in which patient is conscious of his condition.

There’s nothing that can be done to suit the Arnica patient. Nothing could make her happy, joyous, in good terms with her family and with her own life.

He is contradictory; nothing can be done to suit him.

Excessive irritation of the temples; she easily laughed when there was no occasion for it; when something disagreeable was told her she got angry, and broke forth in loud howling,.

Surviving herself

To face this painful sensitiveness, associated with physical consequences, she needs to build her strategies for survival. There is this symptom:

Mental emotions exerted an influence in bringing on chronic attacks of headache.

Suddenly aroused by his night-bell, and turning out of bed, brought on headache next day. θ Chronic cephalalgia.

Emotions or even the sound of a bell during the night can unleash physical sufferings. As in the acute situations, when Arnica doesn’t want to be touched, in her daily life she needs to protect herself against all stimuli that come from the world. Arnica needs to avoid from being touched by the world: Noises, colors, odors, sounds, bells – anything that means a impact against her already shaken up senses.

Kent says: He wants to be left alone, does not want to be bothered, does not want to be talked to. "Fears being struck by those coming towards him."

This was mentioned by Kent when he came to see a patient suffering from an acute form of a chronic condition. But we can generalize that impression; we can assume that this is only an increase of his dormant daily sufferings, nothing that just came out from nowhere. We can assume that this is Arnica’s general condition. Happening with Kent’s patient, due to an acute situation, his sufferings had become unbearable, and he is not holding things inside anymore. “Please, be away from me, don’t touch me!”

Arnica is sensitive to all stimuli coming from the world. Maybe she is positively sensitive and –could we say – also vulnerable to the harmonic sensations coming towards her. Could she be someone touched by art, by harmony, by anything that represents peace and quietness? A strong sexual desire is described in the proving and is probably her way to be in touch to someone else; to love someone and express and experience this love through sex.

Violent, continued erections after waking, without any desire for an embrace, or without any am

Violent sexual desire, and continued erections (in a weak old man).

Several pollutions in one night, with voluptuous dreams.

How the world shows itself to Arnica?

 Fearful dreams of large black dogs and cats, immediately after falling asleep in the evening,.

Dreams about frightful objects, of the lightning having struck, graves, etc.,.

Dreams: vivid; frightful, of graves, black dogs, struck by lightning, etc.; unrefreshing, anxious, with talking. θ Typhus.

Anxious dreams about visions which he had seen in previous dreams.

Frightfulness,.

Unexpected trifles frighten and cause him to start. 

Apprehension of future evils, 

Full of nightmare, dreadful dreams, dreams of muddy water, robbers, etc.

Horrors in the night. He frequently rouses up in the night, grasps at the heart, has the appearance of great horror, fears some dreadful thing will happen. 

A horror in the night when there is nothing to come upon the patient; a horrible congestion, which affects especially the cerebellum and upper part of the spinal cord.

It seems that Arnica is a protagonist of a horror show; surrounded by graves, lightning, black cats and dogs. Frightened at every step, afraid of “future evils”; afraid of “unexpected” situations that will frightened her. Death is unavoidable, she predicts her own death, dreaming that her friends are coming only to say farewell to her.

What internal resources do Arnica disposes to face her world? She was born in a frightful reality, scared at every step, at every moment. 

Awoke six or seven times, each time from dreaming that he was dying, his bed surrounded by friends, to take their last leave.

Mind clear like that of a clairvoyant; quiet countenance, pale as chalk, thinks her death unavoidable.

Kent: A sudden fear of death comes on at this time, rousing him up in the night; he grasps at the heart, and thinks he is going to die suddenly. He is full of dreadful anguish, but finally he comes to himself, lies down and goes off into a sleep of terror, jumps up again with the fear of sudden death and says: "Send for a doctor at once."

And in the end…

She didn’t make it, she has been defeated, she was barely able to work, she never had a social live, she couldn’t bear her family, her children, everything was such a huge effort for her to support, to tolerate. She didn’t endure life the way it was offered to her. It was far too much hurtful.

 Suffering from criticism from those around her and evaluating her own achievements, Arnica will conclude at the end that she has failed.

She hadn’t accomplished the goals society a long time ago had established for her. She will become “hopeless and indifferent”, bringing along the same taints of imperiousness, irritation and intolerance she always had. She will shout at every trifle, she wants no one near her, she doesn’t want “to be touched”.

Sensation of being good for nothing.

She dreams the whole night that she is overwhelmed with reproaches; on waking she was scarcely able to realize that all this had been a mere dream,.

 When half asleep he dreams for several hours; the dreamer shows much irresolution,.

"Hopelessness; indifference."

Her achievements will happens only in her reveries, when she imagined being able to do things that, in fact, she could never did.

He is easily absorbed by reveries while awake.

He sits absorbed in a reverie, although he thinks, properly speaking, of nothing,.