Psorinum Psor 200C

Psorinum Psor

The man who is a pessimist before forty-eight knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

-VERMEULEN Frans.
[Mark Twain]
Signs
Scabies vesicle.
SCABIES Scabies has long been commonly referred to as "the itch" in man and "mange" or "scab" in animals. "It is caused by the itch mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The impregnated female mite tunnels into the stratum corneum and deposits her eggs along the burrow. The larvae hatch within a few days and congregate around the hair follicles. Lesions are thought to result from hypersensitivity to the parasites. Scabies is transmitted readily, often through an entire household, by skin-to-skin contact with an infected individual; e.g. , when people sleep together. It is rarely spread by clothing or bedding. However, extensive cleaning or fumigating is unwarranted, since the mite does not live long off the human body."1 The itchy rash usually begins about 4 weeks after infestation occurs. Several of the varieties of mites which normally inhabit animals [such as dogs, horses, swine, sheep, etc.] may temporarily transfer and parasitize man but this exchange is usually short-lived. Dermatologists estimate that more than 300 million cases of scabies occur worldwide every year. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, studies of families have shown that children under two years of age are most at risk, followed by mothers and older female siblings and then by other family members who have frequent, close physical contact. Soldiers and male prisoners, however, are extremely susceptible due to their living conditions. The condition has nothing to do with washing or cleanliness.
HISTORY "Scabies was described in man as early as the twelfth century by a Moslem physician [Avenzoar] but it was not separated from the general group of eczemas until 1687. Since that time, it has rated very highly in practically every study made to compare the cause and incidences of dermatoses. Although the incidence has varied at different times in history, war-time peaks and peace-time abatements have been apparent."2
MITES Mites and ticks constitute the subclass Acarina, which is part of the arthropod class Arachnida. Mites and ticks are close relatives of spiders and scorpions. There are about 20,000 recognized mite species, which are placed in nearly 1600 genera and 325 families. Mites are found in virtually every imaginable habitat in all parts of the world; they may be aquatic or terrestrial, predators, scavengers or plant feeders, parasitic or non-parasitic. Some prefer dry, others humid environments. Some mites are intermediate hosts of diseases transmissible to humans, animals, and plants. Mites are tiny creatures, the smallest being about 0.1 mm in length and the largest being about 6 mm.
SARCOPTES Sarcoptes scabiei is a pearl-grey or pinkish mite. With a length of 0.35 mm the female is barely visible to the naked eye; males measure 0.5 mm. The body is unsegmented and there are four pairs of very short legs which end in claws and sucker-like structures or tarsi. The skin surface is covered in scaly areas with occasional small spines or points. Venomous salivary glands open into the buccal cavity. Attracted to warmth and odour, the mite is drawn to a host. Both the male and female parasites are relatively short-lived; the male dies after mating and the female after laying her eggs. The male sometimes lives outside the burrows, under the epidermis, but the female spends her lifetime in the tunnel she digs out after attaching herself to the skin of the host with the aid of the suckers on the tarsi. Here she lays her eggs every two or three days for a period of approximately eight weeks. After hatching, the larvae leave the burrow to live temporarily on the healthy skin at the surface, where they grow and pass through several moults. After about nine days, the larvae change into eight-legged nymphs which live in the crusts on the skin, particularly around the hair follicles, and some twelve days later the nymphs moult into pubescent males and females. During the sixth week of their existence a final moult follows. Females develop a new orifice through which their eggs pass and then force themselves into the skin to produce the characteristic burrows along which they proceed to lay their eggs. 3 Mites also tend to hide in, or on, the skin under rings, bracelets or watch bands or under the nails. When separated from their host, mites die within four days.
SYMPTOMS "Marked pruritus is most intense when the patient is in bed [often severe enough to keep sufferers awake all night]. The characteristic initial lesions are burrows seen as fine wavy dark lines a few millimetres to 1 cm long with a minute papule at the open end. The inflammatory lesions occur predominantly on the finger webs, the flexor surface of the wrists, about the elbows and axillary folds, about the areolae of the breasts in females and on the genitals in males, along the beltline, and on the lower buttocks. There may also be numerous non-specific [uninfected] papules and excoriations over the trunk and extremities. The face is not involved in adults but may be in infants. Patients who have neurological disorders or various forms of immuno-deficiency may have nonpruritic scaling due to infections with myriad mites [particularly on the palms and soles and on the scalp in children]. Burrows may be difficult to find [particularly when the disease has persisted for several weeks] because they are obscured by scratching or secondary lesions [e.g., urticaria, scratch dermatitis, eczema, or superimposed bacterial infection]."4 An English study of the distribution of mites in nearly 900 adult male patients revealed that 63% were found on the hands and wrists, followed by the extensor aspect of the elbows [11%], the feet [9%], genitalia [9%], buttocks [4%], axillae [2%], and only 2% on the remaining parts of the body. Scabies mites, released on the bodies of volunteers and forced to burrow in uncharacteristic areas, emerge and make their way to their favourite locations. In neglected cases of long standing, the number of parasites reaches enormous proportions and there are widespread lesions with much crusting; this condition is called 'Norwegian scabies' and occurs mostly among the elderly and in AIDS patients.
PROVINGS •• [1] Hahnemann - 2 provers; method: single dose of 30c.
•• [2] Gross - 4 provers; method: single dose of 30c.
Hahnemann's proving - by Schreter and Rhost - was conducted with the 30th potency derived from 'sero-purulent matter contained in the scabies vesicle'. According to Gibson, its origin was "obviously a mixed bag bacteriologically speaking" and "as the scabies vesicle also contained the acarus, the product might be classified as an insect remedy." Known as Psoricum in Hahnemann's time, it was renamed Psorinum by Hering in 1831. Hering made his own Psorinum: "When in Surinam, I examined a strong, healthy looking negro with the itch, a tailor by trade. I looked for the acarus but could not find it. I know that the bug accompanies the disease, but it may be a product caused by disease, and there may be itch without the acarus. I took the pus and poured alcohol over it. It coagulated. I put some of it on a watch glass where crystals formed. I swallowed the potentized preparation. If I ever was sick in my life it was then. The effect was shocking. We homoeopaths are called pariahs, but we are a hundred years ahead of the times. I dislike making experiments upon patients, but myself I am willing to prove any substance, when in health."5
Another product was used for the second proving - by Gross and three others - namely the product of 'psora sicca', the epidermoid efflorescence of pityriasis.
[1] Merck Manual. [2-3] Frazier, Insect Allergy. [4] Merck Manual. [5] Knerr, Life of Hering.
Affinity
SKIN [FOLDS of; sebaceous glands]. EARS. BOWELS. Respiration.
Modalities
Worse: COLD [open air; washing]. Weather [stormy; changing; winter]. Heat [of bed; exertion; wool; hot sunshine]. SUPPRESSIONS. Yearly. Contact of his own limbs. Periodical. Coffee.
Better: Lying with head low, with arms spread wide or quietly. Eating. Nosebleed. Hard pressure. Warm room. Profuse sweating.
Main symptoms
M DESPAIR; HOPELESSNESS.
PESSIMISTIC [born loser, helplessly under the sway of the ups and downs of life].
One prover, Schreter, testifies four times of the optimism he felt - "cheerful, lively, enjoys everything" and "pictures the future in the brightest colours" - once of an alternation between liveliness and depression, and five times of melancholy and a 'despairing mood' - "Very melancholy and despairing; he wishes to die in spite of his good luck."
• "Only disagreeable things affect him, agreeable impressions he passes by without noticing them [from smelling 28th potency]." [Allen]
M TREMENDOUS ANXIETY.
Forebodings.
M LACK OF:
energy, love, money, willpower, hope, knowledge,
ambition, reaction, healing power, life impulse, etc.
M FORSAKEN FEELING.
M Confusion as to his identity, as if head were separated from body.
G Ailments from SUPPRESSED ERUPTIONS.
[e.g. bronchitis, asthma, epilepsy, diarrhoea, paralysis]
G Debility [and profuse perspiration] remaining after acute diseases.
G "The great unwashable."
[Sulph. the "great unwashed"].
G VERY CHILLY.
Frequent colds.
< Change of weather. G CONSTANT hunger. Waking from sleep from hunger. < When hungry. Attacks [esp. headaches] PRECEDED [or attended] by canine hunger. > EATING.
G < Cold and heat. < Summer. < Exposure to sun. G < APPROACH of a STORM - thunderstorm. < During. G FOUL discharges. [stools, sweat, foot sweat, odour of body, otorrhoea] • "A young girl, dying very rapidly of phthisis, came to out-patients years ago; so offensive - breath a nightmare - that one was unable, almost, to breathe near her: sputum green and horribly fetid. Psorinum was prescribed, and we hurriedly got doors and windows open and a big draught to blow away her memory. Next time she appeared, there was nothing unpleasant to notice, the odour was gone. What happened to her later, one cannot relate, she only appeared a few times and was seen no more. ... One of the great characteristics of Psorinum, - its insufferable mal-odour, never to be forgotten - only to be compared to that of rotten eggs [and any one who has broken a rotten egg will realize how, having hurled it as far away as possible, one is impelled to flee in the opposite direction!]." [Tyler] P Sensitive to DRAFTS about head. Wants head covered, even in summer. P Face: Acne. From fats, sugar, coffee, meat. < During menses. [Clarke] Rubrics Mind Avarice from anxiety about future [1]. Full of cares at night [2]. Cheerful when constipated [2; Calc.]. Delusions, he had no body [1/1], head is separated from body [1], left half of head were stupefied [1/1], he will become insane [1], he is poor [1], being sick [1]. Fear, of business failure [2], of corpses [1/1], of evil forebodings [1/1], of being neglected [1; Puls.], of poverty [2]. Gestures, wringing the hands [2]. Restlessness, children, at night, but in the morning fresh and lively [2/1]; before storm [2]. Persistent thoughts, ideas of thoughts which first appeared in his dreams [2/1]. Tormenting everyone with his complaints [2]. Vision Slow accommodation [2]. Colours, black spots before headache [2]; blue stars during headache [2/1]. Dim, before headache [2], during headache [2]. Sparks, during vertigo [1]. Trembling of objects [2]. Nose Coryza, > lying [1; Merc.], > warm room [1]. Odours, of blood [1].
Stomach
Appetite, ravenous, at night, during pregnancy [1; Par.].
Stool
Odour, offensive, night only [2]; offensive, sticking to the patient [1].
Respiration
Difficult, > lying on back with arms outstretched [2].
Chest
Pain, heart, > lying on back [2; Cact.].
Limbs
Perspiration, palms of hands, at night [2/1].
Sleep
Disturbed by hunger [2]. Waking from hunger [2].
Dreams
Continuation of dreams after waking [1]. Excrements, stool [1].
Generals
Feels unusually well and then < [3]. Food Aversion: [2]: Pork; tomatoes. [1]: Alcohol; cooked food; tobacco; warm food. Desire: [2]: Alcohol; charcoal. [1]: Beer; cold drinks; delicacies; sour; sweets. Worse: [2]: Fruit; milk; sour fruit. [1]: Coffee; eggs; farinaceous; fats; flatulent food; frozen food; honey; peaches; pears; potatoes; vegetables. Better: [1]: Roasted food [> nausea].