ASTERIAS RUBENS [Aster]:

-Tarkas P. and Ajit Kulkarni.

Starfish

Region

Neuro-circulation

1. Circulation : cranial arteries heart

2. Nerves Glands; mammary Female organs Skin L.side

Worse

Heat (malaise)

Cold, wet weather

Night

Motion

Metal poisoning (Aluminium, Lead, Zinc)

Contradiction

Supper

Coffee.Spices

Better

Warmth (itching)

Cold bath (some pains)

Open air

Working off

Discharges : tears diarrhea leucorrhea menses

Congestions. Ulcerations. Neuralgias

Convulsions. Toxemia. Malignancy

Unequal circulation ` congestions` toxemia Congestion in cranial organs. Pulsations; throbbing pains. A good normalizer of circulation (like Glon.). "Irritation of venous parts (congestion) not reaching to true inflammation". Toxemic. Constipation (Jug-c. of incomplete metabolism).

Nervous disturbances; N. agitation. Neuralgias (Pass.). Incoordination; muscles out of gear; gait unsteady (also from weakness of legs).

Convulsions; (<) at beginning of supper; if contraindicated. Epilepsy: Before: sudden attacks of vertiginous shocks in head; twitching all over; burning in head. After : distress in epigastrium; anxiety in upper abdomen; prostration / debility. "Attacks relieve the cerebral congestion and constipation." Hence, all the four: congestion, constipation, convulsions, neuralgias (stemming from neuro-circulatory disorder) here form one complex whole. Hystero-epilepsy: full of hallucinations (e.g. as if away from home, in the midst of strangers, hears voices etc.), very amorous, emotional. Chorea : after emotions, fright; jerking of limbs after supper; (>) nights; quiet only when hands are in pockets.

Shocks / jerks in : brain, uterus, limbs (after supper), heart (jerking palpitation). Pulsations in : brain, carotid artery, r. parotid, uterus, chest (Fago.). Strumming (=buzzing ? resonance? thrilling? ) in arms.

Pains : Drawing backward pains in : eyes, abdominal walls, umbilicus (like Plb. which is antidotal, to Ast.), mammae, chest. Pulling in: tongue, abdomen, breast (l.), back. Lancinating (not burning) in cancer; (<) night. Numbness, in legs with vertigo; stiff N. of hands with coldness (of arm). Glands : Nodes and indurations in mammae (These and colic (>) flow of menses). Axillary glands swollen, hard and knotted, (<) damp weather. Cervical (?). Glandular injuries (Con.). Cancer. Cancers of: mammae, even ulcerative, nipples retracted; tongue : hard, leathery appearance; lancinating pains (not burning). Noteworthy symptoms: Desires cold bath, cold washing to face; cold drinks. Malaise etc. better after dinner, but worse after supper. Scrofulous and sycotic constitutions, flabby lymphatic persons, red faced (Caps.),of irritable temperament. "A powerful remedy of great potentialities" (Choudhury). Remember again this quartet : Congestion, Constipation, Convulsion, Cancer. Select Particulars Mind : Easily excitable; nervous agitation, irritation and tension; with restless anxiety and / or tearfulness (Pul.); nervous at periods; (<) after mental exertion (Scut.); (>) in open air, shedding tears; with (at times) sexual excitement (even nymphomania) or simple mirthfulness. Sensitive to emotions, esp. contradiction; likes flattery. Delicacy of moral perceptions."A species of moral intoxication" (T.F. Allen). Fear of: apoplexy (at night), fainting, cancer(Carc.), of misfortune, of bad news. Hallucinations. Melancholy and mental dullness with cerebral excitement and vivacity.

Flabby mentally too (like Caps., unlike Scut.). Antipathy to everything, it causes, heat with great desire to plunge in cold water. A dull, stupid expression.

Head : Congestion, precursor of apoplectic stroke; rush of blood to head (sanguinous apoplexy), or a mild apoplexy (A. minor), sans paralysis (Fago., Glon.); with: constipation, excitement, sleeplessness, burning in head, red face; insensibility or contraction of muscles of leg (earlier stage of, and opposite to, Op. but cp. Pass.), heat; bursting pain, soreness Bapt.) in temples from missing habitual tea; throbbings; pains (<) morning and evening (Sep.), (>) during bulk of day, by cold applic.Occipital pain after breakfast (lightning-like), preceded by compressible, rapid pulse. Toxic headaches (like Ascl-c.,Jug- c.).

Sudden vertiginous shocks in head (electric-like) during sleep; vertigo, with numbness.

Eyes : Bloodshot. Photophobia. Winking.

Ears : Lightning- like stitches in the meatus. Noises : rushing water, flowing river, reports, waves (rippling). Deafness; r.

Nose : Awakes in morning with sneezing and coryza; after constipation.

Face : Red with apoplexy; pale with convulsions, earthy with anorexia (in mammary cancer). Flushes of heat in, alternating with colic (which causes creeping chills). Pimples on side of nose, chin and mouth.

Mouth and Throat : Pressing stitches in upper teeth. Copious saliva. Tongue : drawing / pulling pains; lancinating pains; swellings.

Dryness and heat in throat; pressing irritation. Choking (<) morning on waking. Sore throat. Stomach : Desires strong tea, strong spices, strong cheese, liquors, cold drinks. Averse to meat. Worse after: spicy foods, sweetened drinks, acid-drinks (like cider, fruit juices), cold drinks, coffee.Many loud eructations in morning, followed by lassitude, (>) eating. After supper: great coldness or heat of skin, malaise (which was (>) after dinner), flatulence, jerking of limbs, even convulsions.

Epigastric tenderness / distress. Dull or constrictive pain in precordium. Anxiety in upper abdomen. Ulcer.

Abdomen : Obstructed flatulence, great immobile flatulence after every meal, esp. supper, with colic and precordial distress (see Heart). Colic (see Face),menstrual, flatulent. Unilateral drawing backward pain (<) after eating, with paroxysmal dizziness, constipation, heat in temples after stool; pulling in of abdominal walls (Plb.),alternating with bulging. Dragging / pressing downward in lower abdomen. Rectum : Constipation; ineffectual urging; obstinate, no stool for days together; stool like olives.Loose motions (brown, watery, forcible) (>) symptoms (Zinc.). Hemorrhoids.

Urinary : Heat in urethra while or after urinating. Urine copious (scanty, Asc-c.). Bladder painful when empty.

Male : Strong desire. Erections in morning or in sleep.

Female : Sexual desire excited, even to nymphomania, (<) touch on parts. Unusual moistness (orgasm or leucorrhea) which relieves. Menstrual function disturbed. Dysmenorrhea, (>) flow (Lach.).

Uterus : Severe general pain as if something protruded behind it. Crushing pain.Twitching- jerking in womb. Consciousness of womb (Murx.). Bearing down in pelvic region impeding movement; sensation as if menses were coming on. Pain from r. side womb to (r. or l.) mammae. Anguish in womb.

Mammae : Piercing pain, ext. to scapula. Pain in l. breast, ext. down ulnar side of l. arm to fingers or little finger, (<) motion; feels as if drawn inward. Lancinating (cancer). Nipple retracted; torn and inflamed after bite by child. Great sensitiveness of the nipples; cannot tolerate brassiers. Chest : Waving / undulatory throbbing in, at night, causing anxious feeling. Whole of l. chest painful, ext. to l. arm (see Mammae).Stitches on both sides of sternum, (>) throwing shoulders backward, (<) motion. Br. asthma (<) eating, laughing, weeping. Circulation : Pulsation (like Fago.); in: head, r. parotid, carotid artery, uterus, chest. Nightly undulating beatings (in the chest) cause anxiety. Heart : Pain in l. chest; in precordia; under sternum; ext. to l. little finger with its numbness (Cact.); with anxiety at heart; suggestive of cardiac neurosis, pleurodynia, obstructed flatulence, acidity or herpes zoster. Palpitation; vehement. Pulse : jerky, compressible, rapid, strong. Locomotor : Drawing / pulling pain in back, or sacrum. Restless limbs, even in sleep, (<) in warm room, covering. Numbness. Neuralgia of l. arm. Cold l. arm. Gait unsteady, muscles do not obey the will (Hell.); cannot stand or walk with eyes closed (Alum.). One leg (r.) feels longer. Pain in l. hip. Gouty pain in toes. Skin : Dry, harsh, leathery, looks earthy; inelastic. Chronic skin affections. Metabolic skins (like Carc., Jug-c., X- ray.). Menstrual skins.Eczema (Fago.).Psoriasis. Dispostion to pimples at adolescence.Acne punctata, red areola and black tip. Millary or furfuraceous eruptions between breasts.Itching spots;(>) heat. Weeping vesicular and herpetiform eruptions.

Herpes zoster, esp. on l. chest and arm; its neuralgia (drawing inward or lancinating). Old, scrofulous ulcers with stinking ichorous discharge, sensitive edges. Old cicatrices become painful (Thios.).

Thermic : Great coldness, after supper. Cold l. hand. Great desire for washing or plunging in cold water. Heat followed by chill / coldness; or alternating. Heat in : head, eyes, ears, face, throat, stomach, rectum, urethra, (womb), feet, toes, skin (after supper).

Fever : preceded by frequent, compressible pulse, cerebral congestion, fear of apoplexy; begins with heat in head; with violent beating in l. carotid with hard and rapid pulse.

Cold in the head, and fever preceded by constipation (Bry.), with bursting pain in the head (mini apoplexy).

Relations : Antidotes :Alum., Ip., Plb., Zinc. These and Ast. might be mutual antidotes.

Nux-v. is similar but it originates in venous or spinal disorder and is incompatible with both Ast. and Zinc.

Fago. is a specialized, sthenic, nerve-free Cur., while Ast. is a reshuffling of, and an arterial, Cur. Both Ast. and Fago. are therefore collateral to Cur.

Torula (constipation with headache, obstructed flatulence, cold hands, Ast., I.); but Tor. has anaphylactic states from proteins and enzymes. Laur. (neuro-circulation) but depressive.

Compare : Lil-tig., Murex and Sep. in gynaecopathy. Lophopytum and Hed. in congestions. Carbo-ani., Con. and Sil. in Ca mammae.

Compare also : Ascl-c., Con., Cur., Fago., Ign., Jug-c., Lach., Lap-a.

Follows well : Bell., Calc., Carb-an., Con., Sil., Sul.