Picricum acidum 200c

Picricum acidum

Pic-ac.
The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
[Erma Bombeck]
Signs
Picric Acid. Picronitric acid. Carbazotic acid. Trinitrophenol.
SUBSTANCE Pale yellow, odourless, intensely bitter crystals, melting at 122o C and exploding above 300o C. One gram dissolves in 78 ml water and in 15 ml boiling water. Incompatible with oxidizable substances, albumin, gelatine, concrete, plaster, ammonia, alkaloids, and metals [particularly copper, lead, mercury, and zinc]. When picric acid is less than 30% solution in water or it is not hydrated it is extremely shock sensitive and will explode on movement. Because picric acid is very sensitive to heat, it has to be kept in a cool place. It explodes when rapidly heated. [Picric acid is a close relative of trinitrotoluene, or TNT, the high explosive.]
USES Used in the manufacture of explosives, matches, and coloured glass; in the leather industry; in electric batteries; for etching copper; as a textile mordant; as a reagent. At the beginning of the 20th century it was employed as a dressing for burns, but its use was abandoned because its absorption through skin and wound surfaces resulted in renal damage.
TOXICOLOGY Ingestion of 1 or 2 grams of picric acid in man causes severe poisoning, resulting in blood abnormalities and liver and kidney damage. Ingestion of small amounts causes gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea; vertigo and headache; tremors and convulsions. In addition, it may cause acute hepatitis and unconsciousness. Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause local or generalized allergic reactions, and possible destruction or ulceration. Prolonged or repeated exposure results in yellow staining of the skin and conjunctiva and 'yellow vision'.
PROVINGS •• [1] Couch - 7 [male] provers, c. 1874; method: single or repeated doses of 30c, 25c, 15c, 10c, 5c, or 2c, or 1c, for periods ranging from 3-14 days.
•• [2] Jones - 5 provers [4 males, 1 female], c. 1878; method: repeated and/or increasing daily doses of 1x or 2x for periods ranging from 9-14 days.
•• [3] T.F. Allen - 2 provers [1 male, 1 female]; method: repeated doses of 30c.
The female prover in Allen's proving - an unmarried woman aged 26 - produced the symptom "While enjoying the society of gentlemen, the idea of marriage seemed unendurable."
Affinity
Nerves [brain; occiput; spinal cord; lumbar region]. Kidneys. Sexual organs. * Left side. Right side.
Modalities
Worse: Exertion; mental or physical. Seminal losses. Heat. Study. Wet weather. Sexual excitement. Motion.
Better: Rest. Cold; air; water. Bandaging. In sun.
Main symptoms
M BRAIN FAG.
And Indifference and lack of will power.
And Aversion to talk, think, or perform any mental exertion.
M Lacks will power to undertake anything.
M EXAMINATION FUNK; after prolonged mental strain and anxiety.
M Nervous feeling.
One prover, who had been taking 10 to 40-drop doses of 1x dil. generally four times a day for 16 days, noticed on the 16th day "a peculiar nervous symptom which I never have, except when a fever is leaving me. I felt as if I was about to be crushed by the bedclothes; arms, face, tongue, and forepart of brain seemed to reach to the clouds when I was going to sleep." [Allen]
Sankaran presents a highly inventive reading of the latter delusion:
• "The forehead is for thinking, the hand is for writing and the tongue is for speaking. These are the three organs of intellectual activity and they feel stretched to the limit, extended right up to the clouds. Thus the main feeling of Picricum acidum is: 'I feel that my intellectual capacity and organs used to express it are stretched far beyond their limits. So now I need to rest and bring them back to health.' ... Now he needs to shut up, cut off and take rest. To help him do this, he gets increased sexual thoughts; the opposite to the intellectual activity." [Sankaran]
G Ailments from MENTAL work:
Sleeplessness; burning between scapulae; burning in spine.
Vertigo; fullness of head; pain in vertex; pressing headache; diarrhoea.
G Weariness from mental exertion.
G Debility from jaundice.
G Progressive pernicious anaemia; pale, lemon coloured face.
G Sensitive to HEAT.
Sensation as if blood stagnated.
G > COLD AIR [> head and bodily condition].
G BURNING pains.
[along spine, in legs, in many parts]
G HEAVINESS.
[occiput, down spine, in lower limbs]
G < PHYSICAL EXERTION. G INTENSE SEXUAL EXCITEMENT. [Occurred in 6 male provers.] • "Awoke in the night with violent erections, which cold water relieved; returned to bed, and before an hour had elapsed, was again awakened by violent erections, applied cold water, and slept the remainder of the night [I will here remark that I had been suffering for several months with loss of sexual vigour and entire absence of venereal desire, not having had any erections for several months, but now it is the reverse, altogether too much of a good thing]." • "For two weeks following, the drug caused marked increase of sexual desire. After a second dose, most remarkable and intense sexual excitement, which is not allowed to be gratified by any indulgence. Amorous excitement, impelling the mind to dwell on and revel in imaginary sexual pleasure. Almost constant priapism, night and day, for seven days, impelling to amorous ecstasies and mental analysis of the physiological and psychological aspect of venery." [Allen] P Headache from mental exertion in school children. And DILATED PUPILS. P Headaches of students, teachers, professionals and overworked businessmen • "Headaches 'up to bursting' begin in the occiput and extend forward to the eyes; they are relieved by tightly binding the head and are worse from movement, from any effort, from dazzling light, from summer heat, in warm rooms, better in the fresh air and lying down." [Leeser] P Headache. And Great nervous weakness. From GRIEF and depressing emotions. • "Often overlooked in these conditions." [Kent] P Headache. And Sour eructations. P Small boils and pustules in external auditory canal. Furuncle[s] in nostril[s]. Crops of furuncles on face; pustular and painful, burning when touched. Rubrics Mind Amorous [1]. Confusion from mental exertion [2]. Delusions, arms, face, tongue and forepart of brain seem to reach to the clouds, on falling asleep [1/1], he were crushed by the bedclothes [1/1], parts of body were enlarged [1]. Dulness, unable to think long [3]. Lewdness [2]. Inclination to sit still [2]. Sexual thoughts intrude and crowd around each other [1]. Lacks willpower to undertake anything [2]. Vertigo On entering a dark room [1]. Head Fulness, vertex, on stooping [1/1]. Pain, > binding head [1], from looking fixedly at anything [1], > wrapping up head [1]. Feels smaller [1].
Vision
Colours before the eyes, yellow [1*].
Face
Eruptions, crops of boils [1*]. Tingling lips [2].
Stomach
Sour eructations during headache [1/1].
Rectum
Diarrhoea after mental exertion [2].
Back
Pain, lumbar region, > passing flatus [2]; sacral region, > passing flatus [2/1]; burning, dorsal region between scapulae, from mental exertion [2]; stitching, lumbar region, when bending forward while sitting [1/1].
Sleep
Sleeplessness after mental exertion [2]. Waking, at night after 3 a.m. [2].
Dreams
Being pregnant [1].
* Repertory additions.
Food
Aversion: [1]: Breakfast.
Desire: [1]: Cold drinks; cold food.
Worse: [1]: Alcohol [= dulness].
Better: [1]: Cold drinks.