CARBO ANIMALIS - Animal Charcoal - Made from charred ox-hide. (impure).Contains Calc. phos.- The essential features
-GEORGE VITHOULKAS
Trituration.
The Carbo animalis patient is a burnt-out individual lacking self-confidence, without stamina, and with a lot of fears, anxieties and delusions. He has almost all of the characteristics of someone who has lost the ability to fend for himself, and so is burning himself out fast and furiously.
Anybody can ask him for whatever they want and take it from him; Carbo animalis has no power to resist, to say, "No, I am very tired now; I cannot do that." He no longer notices the needs of his own body, but only pays attention to the demands of others and feels obliged to fulfill them even at the cost of his own further exhaustion. He does not perceive the danger signals his body is sending him.
A Carbo animalis person feels weak and prostrated. He simultaneously feels that he does not count, is nothing at all, is a non-entity, lacks an ego. He believes that others do not take him seriously, though others actually feel that he is a very sweet person, very kind, very giving, and one who will give in to their demands
In my experience, the Carbo animalis symptomatology has two main different stages. In the initial stage we have an individual who is always mentally tired and desires to be alone - a sad and reflective person who avoids any conversation. He feels so tired, and at the same time has so many feelings of inferiority and incompetence, that he does not want to meet anybody or confront any challenges. He does, however, complete his work and duties with efficiency. At this stage there are many feelings, fears and anxieties that disappear in the second stage.
They feel their whole organism is vulnerable and they feel so incompetent, that many times the remedy is often confused with Baryta carbonica. Carbo animalis, though, presents other symptoms to differentiate it from both Anacardium and Bar-c. who also lack self-confidence.
The feeling of homesickness is particularly prominent in this remedy. In the repertory we find it in bold letters, and rightly so. Very characteristic of Carbo animalis is a strong emotional attachment to the family, which is the only place he feels secure, and he always returns to this safe place, his home. In Carbo animalis people there is such a yearning for the childhood love of their parents that was experienced while at home and eventually lost in the challenges of life, that they return again and again to these feelings with an almost irresistible desire to return home. The homesickness of Carbo animalis is so acute that it is painful. They return again and again to the original family home where they first felt secure and loved; they return, like wounded birds, from the atrocities and hardness of life. It is not so much these atrocities as the peculiar unhealthy state of the Carbo animalis mind that is responsible for this home-sickness.
The feeling they have when they want to go home is an unhealthy one, a painful yearning, and though they know it is detrimental and brings them pain, they cannot resist it. The Carbo animalis patient, more than any of the other remedies, has real home-sickness, the real desire to go back home. This feeling will usually be at its worst in the morning and ameliorate in the evening. 'Feels as though abandoned and full of homesickness in the morning' (Hahnemann). Other remedies like Capsicum will return back to their past and relive with great vivacity their experiences - so strongly that they feel they may die - but they do not yearn specifically for their home.
In order to comprehend the action of the remedy we must take several other elements into consideration: Carbo animalis affects the mind deeply, and makes it sluggish, slow and passive, a mind that refuses to move, is unable to take decisions. The mind is confused and can only function in a minimal way. The patient feels as if his mind has stopped functioning; had stopped reflecting at a certain point in his life, and since then works at only a tenth of its capacity. Carbo animalis patients complain about this stoppage of the mind, that within one month can make them feel that they have grown old and intellectually impotent. They often identify the specific point in time when they began to notice the deterioration. The mind under stress, grief, drugging, etc. has stopped functioning. Before, they had great ideas and a lot of vivacity, and suddenly they lost everything: their energy, their clarity of mind, their capacity for reflection. A job that would take a healthy individual an hour will take Carbo animalis three hours to accomplish. This is due not only to confusion but also to the fact that they lack self-confidence, and cannot be certain if they have done something correctly.
The confused feeling in the head is often most prominent in the morning: the patient might not even know if he is asleep or awake; he may constantly feel as if in a waking dream. It may be coupled with a mournful feeling of isolation, of being forsaken, with a great tendency to weep. 'Discouraged and sad; everything seems so sad and lonely that she wants to weep.' Aside from feeling homesick, there may also be a grievous or vexatious 'dwelling' on the past. 'Grievous thoughts that he cannot get rid of, and vexed by present as well as past things, even to weeping.' A strange symptom might be added here, viz., a sensation as if objects have been 'altered.' 'The objects in the street seem altered to him, for instance farther apart and brighter than usual, as in an empty, abandoned town.' We not only see melancholy in Carbo animalis, but also angry and irritable moods: 'Angry immediately on waking.' 'Takes everything in bad part.' He does not want to talk or to do anything; the one thing he wants to do is to 'go home.' Such moods are accompanied by great lassitude, so much so that he is hardly able to talk, and by much yawning and stretching. (In women, this state comes on easily after the menses have set in.)
There are many fears and anxieties; Carbo animalis patients are easily frightened and feel very apprehensive. In the evening, especially in the dark, they may experience a ghastly dread, even to the point of shuddering and weeping; and before sleep horrible faces crowd around them in their imagination. Closing the eyes makes everything worse and the patient is often too scared to do so. A proving symptom says, for example: 'Before falling asleep, fear of suffocation, when lying, on closing the eyes, which only disappears on sitting up and opening the eyes, thus preventing sleep all night ...'
It is striking that states of fear and anxiety most often occur at night: a strong fear of the dark is characteristic. Such states make the patient extremely restless and nervous; he will toss about and finally be driven out of bed. Sitting up or standing up often brings some relief. The anxiety states may be coupled with flushes of heat or ebullition of blood. 'At night, anxiety and ebullition of blood, so severe that she has to sit up.' 'Heat in head with anxiety, evening in bed; has to stand up which relieves.'
Another fear is of impending evil. It may appear after a very exhausting ejaculation that depletes the patient mentally as well as physically. The patient can have a fear of suddenly falling off the chair, a fear of fainting or of 'having a fit' (as the Repertory puts it). Other fears are: of impending disease; of crowds; of insanity.
In the second stage, the original fears and anxieties disappear and are replaced by a deep state of indifference and fatigue. In this state, the Carbo animalis patient does not care whether he lives or dies, yet he continues with his everyday duties as if nothing were wrong; he doesn't want others to know.
The patient feels a deep-seated indescribable anxiety, as if he were guilty of something. This wakes him up after only three or four hours of sleep, and he cannot go back to sleep for another two or three. He is, however, so tired that he cannot get up or do any work, even though he knows that he'll be awake for a while. If he stays in bed, he eventually falls asleep, for another half-hour up to an hour, and then wakes in the morning feeling very tired. He remains fatigued the whole day and then goes to bed early due to exhaustion. He then falls asleep immediately, but after two or three hours, occasionally four, he once again wakes up, feels very tired and yet is unable to go back to sleep.
They are easily irritated due to exhaustion and can break out in shouting at those close to them for trivial reasons. An obstinate trait shows up; their opinions become unchangeable and they are impossible to please, yet they tolerate utter nonsense from strangers and try to accommodate others. Regardless of what is requested, they cannot refuse to help others, regardless of what their body is telling them.
For instance, they won't go to rest or to sleep when their body 'claims its rights'. The reason for this is that they do not believe that lying down will provide them with rest. They actually drive themselves on by mustering extra energy from reserves all the time. Their fatigue, exhaustion and indifference are such that their natural inclination would be to sit down and do nothing, but their conscience does not allow them to do so. Carbo animalis people, therefore, avoid people and parties. What others experience as great enjoyment, such as going to a bar or a disco, is torture for them. They behave like old people who just want to be left alone and quiet; who feel better that way. Whether they live or die is immaterial to them, as life is such an effort. They have a strong desire to weep, yet at this stage they often can no longer do so. On occasion their mood may improve a little in the evening.
In this second stage, due to their exhaustion, they accomplish very little, which is why they are constantly in a hurry. They feel they can never do or accomplish all the work that they should be doing. If they feel sad or tired they prefer not to show it, and do not want to be comforted or consoled; they feel that others may be doing it out of pity or duty, and do not like it. One has to approach them with sincere love and interest; only then might they be able to accept consolation. Hopelessness and thoughts of death are frequently present, yet these people no longer fear death.
The mental capacities are very much affected. Concentration and reflection are difficult and only managed due to an effort of will, once again depleting their reserves. The confusion and dullness of the mind in the morning is more pronounced than ever. Sometimes a nosebleed follows such confused states, and after that the patient feels a little better. There are even sudden feelings of stupefaction in the head, when sitting or when moving the head or walking. The senses of sight and hearing and all thinking activity cease for a period of time, or, alternately, the occiput feels markedly dull. Motion in cold damp air aggravates these states, but resting in a warm room relieves them.
The memory is disturbed, and Carbo animalis forgets words while speaking, including the word he just said. He lacks the ability to express his thoughts; feels incapable of writing a letter. The general lassitude and weakness can be heard in his speech, which has become laborious, slow, and very soft. The patient sounds as if he were drunk.
Trituration.
The Carbo animalis patient is a burnt-out individual lacking self-confidence, without stamina, and with a lot of fears, anxieties and delusions. He has almost all of the characteristics of someone who has lost the ability to fend for himself, and so is burning himself out fast and furiously.
Anybody can ask him for whatever they want and take it from him; Carbo animalis has no power to resist, to say, "No, I am very tired now; I cannot do that." He no longer notices the needs of his own body, but only pays attention to the demands of others and feels obliged to fulfill them even at the cost of his own further exhaustion. He does not perceive the danger signals his body is sending him.
A Carbo animalis person feels weak and prostrated. He simultaneously feels that he does not count, is nothing at all, is a non-entity, lacks an ego. He believes that others do not take him seriously, though others actually feel that he is a very sweet person, very kind, very giving, and one who will give in to their demands
In my experience, the Carbo animalis symptomatology has two main different stages. In the initial stage we have an individual who is always mentally tired and desires to be alone - a sad and reflective person who avoids any conversation. He feels so tired, and at the same time has so many feelings of inferiority and incompetence, that he does not want to meet anybody or confront any challenges. He does, however, complete his work and duties with efficiency. At this stage there are many feelings, fears and anxieties that disappear in the second stage.
They feel their whole organism is vulnerable and they feel so incompetent, that many times the remedy is often confused with Baryta carbonica. Carbo animalis, though, presents other symptoms to differentiate it from both Anacardium and Bar-c. who also lack self-confidence.
The feeling of homesickness is particularly prominent in this remedy. In the repertory we find it in bold letters, and rightly so. Very characteristic of Carbo animalis is a strong emotional attachment to the family, which is the only place he feels secure, and he always returns to this safe place, his home. In Carbo animalis people there is such a yearning for the childhood love of their parents that was experienced while at home and eventually lost in the challenges of life, that they return again and again to these feelings with an almost irresistible desire to return home. The homesickness of Carbo animalis is so acute that it is painful. They return again and again to the original family home where they first felt secure and loved; they return, like wounded birds, from the atrocities and hardness of life. It is not so much these atrocities as the peculiar unhealthy state of the Carbo animalis mind that is responsible for this home-sickness.
The feeling they have when they want to go home is an unhealthy one, a painful yearning, and though they know it is detrimental and brings them pain, they cannot resist it. The Carbo animalis patient, more than any of the other remedies, has real home-sickness, the real desire to go back home. This feeling will usually be at its worst in the morning and ameliorate in the evening. 'Feels as though abandoned and full of homesickness in the morning' (Hahnemann). Other remedies like Capsicum will return back to their past and relive with great vivacity their experiences - so strongly that they feel they may die - but they do not yearn specifically for their home.
In order to comprehend the action of the remedy we must take several other elements into consideration: Carbo animalis affects the mind deeply, and makes it sluggish, slow and passive, a mind that refuses to move, is unable to take decisions. The mind is confused and can only function in a minimal way. The patient feels as if his mind has stopped functioning; had stopped reflecting at a certain point in his life, and since then works at only a tenth of its capacity. Carbo animalis patients complain about this stoppage of the mind, that within one month can make them feel that they have grown old and intellectually impotent. They often identify the specific point in time when they began to notice the deterioration. The mind under stress, grief, drugging, etc. has stopped functioning. Before, they had great ideas and a lot of vivacity, and suddenly they lost everything: their energy, their clarity of mind, their capacity for reflection. A job that would take a healthy individual an hour will take Carbo animalis three hours to accomplish. This is due not only to confusion but also to the fact that they lack self-confidence, and cannot be certain if they have done something correctly.
The confused feeling in the head is often most prominent in the morning: the patient might not even know if he is asleep or awake; he may constantly feel as if in a waking dream. It may be coupled with a mournful feeling of isolation, of being forsaken, with a great tendency to weep. 'Discouraged and sad; everything seems so sad and lonely that she wants to weep.' Aside from feeling homesick, there may also be a grievous or vexatious 'dwelling' on the past. 'Grievous thoughts that he cannot get rid of, and vexed by present as well as past things, even to weeping.' A strange symptom might be added here, viz., a sensation as if objects have been 'altered.' 'The objects in the street seem altered to him, for instance farther apart and brighter than usual, as in an empty, abandoned town.' We not only see melancholy in Carbo animalis, but also angry and irritable moods: 'Angry immediately on waking.' 'Takes everything in bad part.' He does not want to talk or to do anything; the one thing he wants to do is to 'go home.' Such moods are accompanied by great lassitude, so much so that he is hardly able to talk, and by much yawning and stretching. (In women, this state comes on easily after the menses have set in.)
There are many fears and anxieties; Carbo animalis patients are easily frightened and feel very apprehensive. In the evening, especially in the dark, they may experience a ghastly dread, even to the point of shuddering and weeping; and before sleep horrible faces crowd around them in their imagination. Closing the eyes makes everything worse and the patient is often too scared to do so. A proving symptom says, for example: 'Before falling asleep, fear of suffocation, when lying, on closing the eyes, which only disappears on sitting up and opening the eyes, thus preventing sleep all night ...'
It is striking that states of fear and anxiety most often occur at night: a strong fear of the dark is characteristic. Such states make the patient extremely restless and nervous; he will toss about and finally be driven out of bed. Sitting up or standing up often brings some relief. The anxiety states may be coupled with flushes of heat or ebullition of blood. 'At night, anxiety and ebullition of blood, so severe that she has to sit up.' 'Heat in head with anxiety, evening in bed; has to stand up which relieves.'
Another fear is of impending evil. It may appear after a very exhausting ejaculation that depletes the patient mentally as well as physically. The patient can have a fear of suddenly falling off the chair, a fear of fainting or of 'having a fit' (as the Repertory puts it). Other fears are: of impending disease; of crowds; of insanity.
In the second stage, the original fears and anxieties disappear and are replaced by a deep state of indifference and fatigue. In this state, the Carbo animalis patient does not care whether he lives or dies, yet he continues with his everyday duties as if nothing were wrong; he doesn't want others to know.
The patient feels a deep-seated indescribable anxiety, as if he were guilty of something. This wakes him up after only three or four hours of sleep, and he cannot go back to sleep for another two or three. He is, however, so tired that he cannot get up or do any work, even though he knows that he'll be awake for a while. If he stays in bed, he eventually falls asleep, for another half-hour up to an hour, and then wakes in the morning feeling very tired. He remains fatigued the whole day and then goes to bed early due to exhaustion. He then falls asleep immediately, but after two or three hours, occasionally four, he once again wakes up, feels very tired and yet is unable to go back to sleep.
They are easily irritated due to exhaustion and can break out in shouting at those close to them for trivial reasons. An obstinate trait shows up; their opinions become unchangeable and they are impossible to please, yet they tolerate utter nonsense from strangers and try to accommodate others. Regardless of what is requested, they cannot refuse to help others, regardless of what their body is telling them.
For instance, they won't go to rest or to sleep when their body 'claims its rights'. The reason for this is that they do not believe that lying down will provide them with rest. They actually drive themselves on by mustering extra energy from reserves all the time. Their fatigue, exhaustion and indifference are such that their natural inclination would be to sit down and do nothing, but their conscience does not allow them to do so. Carbo animalis people, therefore, avoid people and parties. What others experience as great enjoyment, such as going to a bar or a disco, is torture for them. They behave like old people who just want to be left alone and quiet; who feel better that way. Whether they live or die is immaterial to them, as life is such an effort. They have a strong desire to weep, yet at this stage they often can no longer do so. On occasion their mood may improve a little in the evening.
In this second stage, due to their exhaustion, they accomplish very little, which is why they are constantly in a hurry. They feel they can never do or accomplish all the work that they should be doing. If they feel sad or tired they prefer not to show it, and do not want to be comforted or consoled; they feel that others may be doing it out of pity or duty, and do not like it. One has to approach them with sincere love and interest; only then might they be able to accept consolation. Hopelessness and thoughts of death are frequently present, yet these people no longer fear death.
The mental capacities are very much affected. Concentration and reflection are difficult and only managed due to an effort of will, once again depleting their reserves. The confusion and dullness of the mind in the morning is more pronounced than ever. Sometimes a nosebleed follows such confused states, and after that the patient feels a little better. There are even sudden feelings of stupefaction in the head, when sitting or when moving the head or walking. The senses of sight and hearing and all thinking activity cease for a period of time, or, alternately, the occiput feels markedly dull. Motion in cold damp air aggravates these states, but resting in a warm room relieves them.
The memory is disturbed, and Carbo animalis forgets words while speaking, including the word he just said. He lacks the ability to express his thoughts; feels incapable of writing a letter. The general lassitude and weakness can be heard in his speech, which has become laborious, slow, and very soft. The patient sounds as if he were drunk.
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