The main idea permeating Causticum is GRADUAL PARALYSIS following an initial phase of excessive hypersensitivity and over-reactivity. This concept runs through all levels of Causticum's existence - mental, emotional and physical. In general, the primary target of Causticum pathology is the central and peripheral nervous system.
From this essence, it is easy to imagine the type of people who tend to eventually acquire Causticum symptomatology; sensitive people, who are easily excitable, quick to react; they absorb all impressions from the environment, responding with hyperactivity and over-reaction, particularly in those functions governed by the nervous system.
Causticum people possess a strong sense of social justice, which manifests in particular as intolerance to any kind of authority. It is interesting in this regard to contrast Causticum with Staphysagria, which are complementary to one another, Staph. accepts authority to an extreme degree; he will not be able to confront anybody, even to stand up for his own rights. Causticum is exactly the opposite. He will not tolerate anything that oppresses either himself or others. Even in the early stages prior to development of florid pathology, one can detect the Causticum tendency in a person by this excessive sensitivity to oppressive influences, combined with excessive excitability of the central nervous system. Once the person's health has declined to a more pathological degree, this tendency becomes exaggerated to the point where the patient would perhaps best be described as anarchistic. Such people are easily and deeply hurt, because injustice and oppressions can be found in almost every circumstance of life. They are anarchists of the idealistic kind; very sincere and earnest, and therefore vulnerable.
When such people have been through many disappointments, griefs and vexations, the initial state of over-reactivity becomes turned inward. Whereas the patient was extroverted, revolutionary activist, these energies become focused inward.
It is as if they are cramping him inside. They cause him to withdraw, and the resulting pathology gradually weakens the mental, emotional, and physical levels. At first, he wants to destroy the outside world because it is not what it should be. With time, however, he finds himself bound up by diminished nervous system reflexes, hardened and shortened tendons, and a general state of inflexibility.
The main characteristics of Causticum throughout this process is that of GRADUALITY. It is not a state which come son suddenly. It takes a long time for the initial over-reactivity to invert itself into the state of cramped paralysis of function.
As a general rule, the nervous system, muscles, and connective tissue manifest symptoms first. Causticum is a prominent remedy to consider inpatients suffering from locomotor ataxia, myopathy, multiple sclerosis, or myasthenia of gradual onset, a very characteristic feature of Causticum is paralysis of LOCAL organs. There may be facial paralysis, paralysis or dysfunction of the oesophagus, uncontrolled drooping of the upper eyelids, stammering from dysfunction of the tongue , biting of the cheeks while talking or chewing dysfunction of bladder sphincter muscles, and paralysis of the extremities.
The nervous system vulnerability also manifests in another way. If a Causticum patient suppresses a skin eruption with a strong ointment such as zinc or cortisone, the suppression progresses directly into the nervous system, and often into deeper mental or emotional states.
Gradually, the inversion of hyper-activity into hypo-active states reaches into the mental/emotional planes. More and more he has forebodings that something terrible is going to happen to him or to his relatives. Slowly, he develops other fears as well; fear of the dark, fear of being alone especially at night, and a fear of dogs.
While he was healthy, the Causticum patient's mental faculties were very acute. Whereas he once was very intellectual person; philosophising, analyzing things deeply and with great capacity - he starts feeling that he is losing his mental power and slowly sliding into a state of imbecility. This is not an animated kind of insanity, of course; it is a passive state; His mental faculties become completely paralysed in the final stage.
Again it needs to be emphasised that this is a gradual decline. At first, the patient begins to notice a lessening of mental powers, then comes the foreboding that something bad is going to happen to him or others, next other fears begin to manifest, and finally the degeneration into passive imbecility.
It is well known that Causticum is a highly sympathetic remedy. This sympathy may not be prominent in the early stages of stimulation but the prescriber can detect the tendency underneath. The excessive concern for injustices in the world, and intolerance to authority, are the early signs which MANIFEST LATER as extreme sympathy for the pain of others. For example, I recall a woman in labour who could not tolerate the cries and screams of other women in labour. Despite the fact that the ward was very hot, she had to close the doors and windows tight in order to avoid hearing the suffering of the other women.
On the physical level, Causticum has a variety of quite characteristic symptoms to guide or confirm a prescription. The most characteristic modality is AGGRAVATION BY DRY COLD WEATHER. Exposure to dry cold air can immediately affect the nervous system, especially peripherally. Paralysis may date from exposure to cold, affecting facial muscles, vocal cords (complete aphonia, especially in the morning). Peculiarly enough, there is an amelioration of rheumatic pains in wet weather - even in cold an amelioration of rheumatic pains are strikingly aggravated BATHING in cold water, while DRINKING cold water ameliorates gastritis pains and especially the cough (ALTHOUGH NOT AS DRAMATICALLY AST HE AMELIORATION FROM COLD DRINKS IN THE Spongia cough). The pains of Causticum are quite characteristic. In the paralytic state, there are characteristic electric-like shooting pains in the affected area. Alumina and Arg. nit. are more commonly indicated for these kinds of pains, but Causticum should not be forgotten. Of, course, there are all kinds of cramping pains and muscle twitching in Causticum. There are convulsions, chorea, torticollis, and a peculiar kind of nervous restlessness of the legs especially while lying in bed.
Another type of Causticum pain is a feeling of RAWNESS, "like an open wound". This is most characteristic during bronchitis. The patient suffers from a powerful cough accompanied by a raw pain in the chest, causing him to hold his chest while coughing. Causticum has a desire for salt and an aversion to sweets. This is one of the very few remedies that displays this combination. It also has a peculiar desire for smoked meat (along with Tuberculinum, Kreosotum, and Calc. phos.).
The most characteristic skin symptoms, found in Causticum are warts, particularly warts on the face and on the fingers near the nails. Causticum should always be considered for such warts, along with Thuja and Lac caninum. Fissures of the intertriginous areas and anus are also well known in Causticum. Typical Causticum eruptions are found around the nose, inside and outside the wings of the nose, and on the tip of the nose, (if there is an eruption on the tip of the nose, Aethusa should also be remembered).
Causticum is one remedy not to forget in hay fever when there is itching inside or outside the wings of the nose, there is sneezing upon waking in the morning, a viscid catarrh drips from the postnasal membranes. In hay fever, one of the most characteristic symptoms of Causticum is obstruction of the nose while lying, down, especially at night.
Because the mucous is very viscid, the patient gets the feeling that it ha stuck low in the trachea and cannot be brought up even by continuous coughing. this is similar to Medorrhinum, which, however, has the sensation of the mucous being stuck higher up in the trachea.
The Causticum cough is typically a hollow, deep cough of great force. It is, therefore, not surprising, that it is usually accompanied by loss of urine. In CAUSTICUM, LOSS OF URINE WILL BE FOUND WITH ANY pressure on the urinary bladder, whether from sneezing, laughing or coughing.
When the nerve supply to the bladder is paralysed, there may be either retention of urine or involuntary loss of urine. If the muscles of expulsion are affected, urine is retained sometimes resulting in extensive stretching of the bladder wall. Kent provides a memorable description of this circumstance; "A woman who is too greatly embarrassed to pass through a crowd of observing men to the closet at the end of a railroad car, at the end of the journey finds that she is unable to pass the urine. Retention of urine from straining the muscles of the bladder. If the patient is chilled at the time, the remedy may be Rhus. Rhus and Causticum are the two great remedies for paralytic weakness of muscles from being overstrained, or from being overstrained and chilled.
On the other hand, there may be a loss of sensation in the urethra, causing the patient to lose urine involuntarily without being aware of it. This is why Causticum is one of the leading remedies in childhood enuresis.
As the whole organism gradually declines into a paralytic state, there may be a decrease of sexual urge and pleasure. Causticum is one of the main remedies for frigidity in women - along with others, or course, like Sepia, Graphites, Natrum mur. etc.
In summary, Causticum is characterised by gradual changes, beginning with an initial hyper-reactivity, sensitivity to injustice and authority, and anarchism; this progresses to paralysis of the neuromuscular system, fears and forebodings and finally decline into passive imbecility. The primary traget of pathology is the nervous system, which shows paralysis accompanied by initial phases of cramping and twitching, and electric shock-like pains in the affected part. Characteristic confirmatory symptoms include aggravation from dry cold, desire for salt and smoked meat, aversion to sweets, warts on the face and fingers, retention or loss of urine, and a deep hollow cough with viscid mucous low in the trachea.
From this essence, it is easy to imagine the type of people who tend to eventually acquire Causticum symptomatology; sensitive people, who are easily excitable, quick to react; they absorb all impressions from the environment, responding with hyperactivity and over-reaction, particularly in those functions governed by the nervous system.
Causticum people possess a strong sense of social justice, which manifests in particular as intolerance to any kind of authority. It is interesting in this regard to contrast Causticum with Staphysagria, which are complementary to one another, Staph. accepts authority to an extreme degree; he will not be able to confront anybody, even to stand up for his own rights. Causticum is exactly the opposite. He will not tolerate anything that oppresses either himself or others. Even in the early stages prior to development of florid pathology, one can detect the Causticum tendency in a person by this excessive sensitivity to oppressive influences, combined with excessive excitability of the central nervous system. Once the person's health has declined to a more pathological degree, this tendency becomes exaggerated to the point where the patient would perhaps best be described as anarchistic. Such people are easily and deeply hurt, because injustice and oppressions can be found in almost every circumstance of life. They are anarchists of the idealistic kind; very sincere and earnest, and therefore vulnerable.
When such people have been through many disappointments, griefs and vexations, the initial state of over-reactivity becomes turned inward. Whereas the patient was extroverted, revolutionary activist, these energies become focused inward.
It is as if they are cramping him inside. They cause him to withdraw, and the resulting pathology gradually weakens the mental, emotional, and physical levels. At first, he wants to destroy the outside world because it is not what it should be. With time, however, he finds himself bound up by diminished nervous system reflexes, hardened and shortened tendons, and a general state of inflexibility.
The main characteristics of Causticum throughout this process is that of GRADUALITY. It is not a state which come son suddenly. It takes a long time for the initial over-reactivity to invert itself into the state of cramped paralysis of function.
As a general rule, the nervous system, muscles, and connective tissue manifest symptoms first. Causticum is a prominent remedy to consider inpatients suffering from locomotor ataxia, myopathy, multiple sclerosis, or myasthenia of gradual onset, a very characteristic feature of Causticum is paralysis of LOCAL organs. There may be facial paralysis, paralysis or dysfunction of the oesophagus, uncontrolled drooping of the upper eyelids, stammering from dysfunction of the tongue , biting of the cheeks while talking or chewing dysfunction of bladder sphincter muscles, and paralysis of the extremities.
The nervous system vulnerability also manifests in another way. If a Causticum patient suppresses a skin eruption with a strong ointment such as zinc or cortisone, the suppression progresses directly into the nervous system, and often into deeper mental or emotional states.
Gradually, the inversion of hyper-activity into hypo-active states reaches into the mental/emotional planes. More and more he has forebodings that something terrible is going to happen to him or to his relatives. Slowly, he develops other fears as well; fear of the dark, fear of being alone especially at night, and a fear of dogs.
While he was healthy, the Causticum patient's mental faculties were very acute. Whereas he once was very intellectual person; philosophising, analyzing things deeply and with great capacity - he starts feeling that he is losing his mental power and slowly sliding into a state of imbecility. This is not an animated kind of insanity, of course; it is a passive state; His mental faculties become completely paralysed in the final stage.
Again it needs to be emphasised that this is a gradual decline. At first, the patient begins to notice a lessening of mental powers, then comes the foreboding that something bad is going to happen to him or others, next other fears begin to manifest, and finally the degeneration into passive imbecility.
It is well known that Causticum is a highly sympathetic remedy. This sympathy may not be prominent in the early stages of stimulation but the prescriber can detect the tendency underneath. The excessive concern for injustices in the world, and intolerance to authority, are the early signs which MANIFEST LATER as extreme sympathy for the pain of others. For example, I recall a woman in labour who could not tolerate the cries and screams of other women in labour. Despite the fact that the ward was very hot, she had to close the doors and windows tight in order to avoid hearing the suffering of the other women.
On the physical level, Causticum has a variety of quite characteristic symptoms to guide or confirm a prescription. The most characteristic modality is AGGRAVATION BY DRY COLD WEATHER. Exposure to dry cold air can immediately affect the nervous system, especially peripherally. Paralysis may date from exposure to cold, affecting facial muscles, vocal cords (complete aphonia, especially in the morning). Peculiarly enough, there is an amelioration of rheumatic pains in wet weather - even in cold an amelioration of rheumatic pains are strikingly aggravated BATHING in cold water, while DRINKING cold water ameliorates gastritis pains and especially the cough (ALTHOUGH NOT AS DRAMATICALLY AST HE AMELIORATION FROM COLD DRINKS IN THE Spongia cough). The pains of Causticum are quite characteristic. In the paralytic state, there are characteristic electric-like shooting pains in the affected area. Alumina and Arg. nit. are more commonly indicated for these kinds of pains, but Causticum should not be forgotten. Of, course, there are all kinds of cramping pains and muscle twitching in Causticum. There are convulsions, chorea, torticollis, and a peculiar kind of nervous restlessness of the legs especially while lying in bed.
Another type of Causticum pain is a feeling of RAWNESS, "like an open wound". This is most characteristic during bronchitis. The patient suffers from a powerful cough accompanied by a raw pain in the chest, causing him to hold his chest while coughing. Causticum has a desire for salt and an aversion to sweets. This is one of the very few remedies that displays this combination. It also has a peculiar desire for smoked meat (along with Tuberculinum, Kreosotum, and Calc. phos.).
The most characteristic skin symptoms, found in Causticum are warts, particularly warts on the face and on the fingers near the nails. Causticum should always be considered for such warts, along with Thuja and Lac caninum. Fissures of the intertriginous areas and anus are also well known in Causticum. Typical Causticum eruptions are found around the nose, inside and outside the wings of the nose, and on the tip of the nose, (if there is an eruption on the tip of the nose, Aethusa should also be remembered).
Causticum is one remedy not to forget in hay fever when there is itching inside or outside the wings of the nose, there is sneezing upon waking in the morning, a viscid catarrh drips from the postnasal membranes. In hay fever, one of the most characteristic symptoms of Causticum is obstruction of the nose while lying, down, especially at night.
Because the mucous is very viscid, the patient gets the feeling that it ha stuck low in the trachea and cannot be brought up even by continuous coughing. this is similar to Medorrhinum, which, however, has the sensation of the mucous being stuck higher up in the trachea.
The Causticum cough is typically a hollow, deep cough of great force. It is, therefore, not surprising, that it is usually accompanied by loss of urine. In CAUSTICUM, LOSS OF URINE WILL BE FOUND WITH ANY pressure on the urinary bladder, whether from sneezing, laughing or coughing.
When the nerve supply to the bladder is paralysed, there may be either retention of urine or involuntary loss of urine. If the muscles of expulsion are affected, urine is retained sometimes resulting in extensive stretching of the bladder wall. Kent provides a memorable description of this circumstance; "A woman who is too greatly embarrassed to pass through a crowd of observing men to the closet at the end of a railroad car, at the end of the journey finds that she is unable to pass the urine. Retention of urine from straining the muscles of the bladder. If the patient is chilled at the time, the remedy may be Rhus. Rhus and Causticum are the two great remedies for paralytic weakness of muscles from being overstrained, or from being overstrained and chilled.
On the other hand, there may be a loss of sensation in the urethra, causing the patient to lose urine involuntarily without being aware of it. This is why Causticum is one of the leading remedies in childhood enuresis.
As the whole organism gradually declines into a paralytic state, there may be a decrease of sexual urge and pleasure. Causticum is one of the main remedies for frigidity in women - along with others, or course, like Sepia, Graphites, Natrum mur. etc.
In summary, Causticum is characterised by gradual changes, beginning with an initial hyper-reactivity, sensitivity to injustice and authority, and anarchism; this progresses to paralysis of the neuromuscular system, fears and forebodings and finally decline into passive imbecility. The primary traget of pathology is the nervous system, which shows paralysis accompanied by initial phases of cramping and twitching, and electric shock-like pains in the affected part. Characteristic confirmatory symptoms include aggravation from dry cold, desire for salt and smoked meat, aversion to sweets, warts on the face and fingers, retention or loss of urine, and a deep hollow cough with viscid mucous low in the trachea.
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