Cannabis Indica
Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 11,900 chars · source ↗
General
Cannabis Indica.
East Indian Cannabis sativa (Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are botanically identical; the difference in their properties is solely due to the difference of soil and climate in which they are grown). Hashish. Bhang. Ganja. N. O. Cannabinaceae. Tincture of young leaves and twigs.
Clinical
Catalepsy. Chordee. Clairvoyance. Delirium tremens. Delusions. Epilepsy. Gonorrhoea. Headache. Mania. Menorrhagia. Paralysis. Prostatitis. Satyriasis. Stammering. Uraemia. Urinary disorders.
Characteristics
The use of Cannabis ind. in the East as an intoxicant gives the leading note of its sphere of action. It produces a state of exaltation with sublime visions, delusions, and hallucinations in great variety. Time seems interminable, space illimitable. Imagines himself in a room of which the walls gradually close in upon him.
Double consciousness. Fixed ideas. Apprehensive of approaching death; of becoming insane. Great agitation; anxiety; nervousness.
Horror of darkness. Incoherent talking. Uncontrollable laughter. Inability to fix his thoughts on one subject.
Forgets what he intends to write or speak. Can. ind. produces a sensation of levitation. Sensation as if in a dream. Vertigo on rising, with stunning pain in back part of head.
(Can. ind. removed for me a vertigo in which the patient felt as if the house were falling in ruins about her.) Shocks through brain on regaining consciousness. Guided by this symptom, I removed with this remedy a "noise like a crash or explosion during sleep." Sensation as of brain boiling over and lifting cranial arch like a lid; opening and shutting sensation. Weight at occiput, from which pains start up sides of head to temples and vertex. Headache with flatulence; lasts till flatus can be passed up or down; throbbing of occiput.
Scalp sore feeling; crawling on vertex; sensation as though skin tightly stretched over bones of face. Clairvoyance and clairaudience; extreme sensitiveness to noise. Grinds teeth whilst asleep. Stammering and stuttering.
There is a sensation in anus as if sitting on a ball; as if anus and part of urethra were filled by a hard, round body. The urinary and generative organs are very strongly affected. There is constant dull pain in region of right kidney. Pains in kidneys when laughing.
Urine loaded with slimy mucus after exposure to damp and cold. Frequent micturition with burning pain, in evening. Dribbling. Urging and straining, but cannot pass a drop.
Burning, scalding, or stinging in urethra before, during, and after urination. Increased sexual desire, satyriasis, priapism. Erections: while riding, walking, or sitting still, not caused by amorous thoughts; violent; painful. Gonorrhoea; without pain; with light-headedness; very profuse yellowish-white discharge.
Feeling as if discharge in urethra. Chordee. Very profuse, painful, dark menstruation, but without clots. Palpitation, awakens from sleep.
Stitches in heart, with oppression, > deep breathing. Warmth of spine extending to head. Backache < during catamenia, which occur every two weeks and are scanty. Paralysis of lower limbs and right arm.
Nash relates the case of a lady suffering from cardiac dropsy, who, when relieved of the latter, suddenly lost the power of speech. In answer to a question she could begin a sentence, but could not finish it, as she could not remember what she wished to say. She was very impatient about it; would cry, but could not finish the sentence, though she could signify assent if any one did finish it for her. Can. ind. cured rapidly. [In one case of over-dose the observer experienced a modification of this: Absolute forgetfulness of the thought, speech, or acts of the previous moment; startled by hearing the echo of the last words of a sentence he has just spoken.
Having suggested a walk to a companion and meeting him at the street door, wondered why they were there. Afterwards he could remember everything. < Lying down quietly: then thought succeeded thought only to be immediately blotted out: no inclination to sleep. > Walking about out of doors.] Can. i., like Bell., has: Wants to sleep but cannot.
Very sleepy. During sleep: starting; talking; grinding teeth; nightmare. In paralysis there is tingling of the affected parts. The sensitiveness to noise is extreme; can hear a whisper in adjoining room and is irritated thereby.
In some subjects a perfect condition of catalepsy is produced.
Relations
Can. sat. In extreme sensitiveness to noise: Nit. ac. (to jarring and rumbling of waggon in street); Coff.
(to all sounds); Borax (slightest noise, fall of door latch, rumpling of paper, rustling of silk). Asar. (to scratching of linen or-silk, or even the thought of it).
Levitation (Asar., Calc., Coccul., Phos. ac., Sil., Sticta, Sul., Thu.). As if in a dream (Ambr., Anac., Calc., Con., Cup., Med., Rhe., Stram., Val., Ver., Zn.—the sensation of time being interminable distinguishes Can. i. from the others). Horror of darkness (Am. m., Bar. c., Calc., Carb. an., Phos., Stram., Stro., Val.). Noise like a crash or explosion in head (Alo.).
Mind
Exaltation of spirit, with excessive loquacity
Full of fun and mischief, and laughs immoderately
Hallucinations and imaginations innumerable
Anguish, accompanied by great oppression: > in the open air
Constant fear of becoming insane
Exaggeration of duration of time and extent of space; seconds seem ages, a few rods an immense distance
Horror of darkness
Fear of approaching death
Inability to recall any thought or event, on account of different thoughts crowding on his brain
Sudden loss of speech; begins a sentence but cannot finish it
Stammering and stuttering
Exaltation of spirits, with excessive loquacity
Very absentminded
Every few minutes he would lose himself, and then wake up, as it were, to those around him
Constantly theorising
Clairvoyance
Delirium tremens; trembling; hallucinations; tendency to become furious; nausea; unquenchable thirst
Laughs at merest trifle
Sudden loss of memory.
Head
Vertigo on rising, with stunning pain in back part of head
Sensation as if the room were falling in pieces about her
Frequent involuntary shaking of the head
Heavy pressure on the brain, forcing him to stoop
Violent shocks pass through the brain;
(noise like a crash or explosion during sleep)
Dull, drawing pain in forehead, esp. over the eyes
Throbbing, aching pain in forehead
Jerking in r. side of forehead, toward the interior and back part of head
A sensation of the brain boiling over and lifting the cranial arch like the lid of a tea-kettle
Opening and shutting sensation at vertex
Aching in both temples, most severe in r
Dull stitching in the r. temple
Pain in the whole r. side of the head
Head feels heavy, loses consciousness and falls
Dull, heavy, throbbing pain, with sensation as from a blow, on back of head and neck
Heavy weight at back of head, pains shoot up to temples and vertex; pain at midday forces her to cry
Headache accompanied by flatulence, continuing until he can pass flatulence up or down; throbbing of occiput
Migraine.
Eyes
Fixed gaze
Eyes bright and shiny
Visual clairvoyance
Jerking in extreme corner of the eye and eyelid
Injection of vessels of conjunctiva of both eyes
Letters run together when reading
Twinkling, trembling, and glimmering before the eyes.
Ears
Hearing very acute
Aching in both ears
Throbbing and fulness in both ears
Ringing and buzzing in the ears
Noise in the ears, like boiling water
Periodical singing in the ears during a dreamy spell, ceasing when he came to himself.
Face
Countenance dejected and careworn
Wearied, exhausted appearance
Drowsy, stupid look
Skin of face, esp. of forehead and chin, feels as if drawn tight.
Mouth
Lips feel as if glued together
Gritting and grinding of the teeth while sleeping
Dryness of the mouth and lips
White, thick, frothy, and sticky saliva
Every article of food is extremely palatable
Stammering and stuttering.
Throat
The throat is parched, accompanied by intense thirst for cold water.
Stomach
Ravenous hunger
Pain in the cardiac orifice, relieved by pressure
Suffocative feeling while eating.
Abdomen
Flatulence on rising in morning (with headache); rumbling in bowels at night
Abdomen feels swollen;
> by belching.
Stool And Anus
Sensation in the anus as if he were sitting on a ball; as if the anus and part of the urethra were filled up by a hard, round body.—Painless yellow diarrhoea.
Urinary Organs
Pain in the kidneys when laughing
Burning, aching, or sharp stitches in the kidneys
A white glairy mucus may be squeezed from the urethra
Burning and scalding, or stinging pain in the urethra before, during, and after urination
Urging to urinate, but cannot pass a drop
Profuse, colourless urine
Has to wait some time before the urine flows
Has to force out the last few drops with the hand
The urine dribbles out after the stream ceases.
Male Sexual Organs
Sexual desire excessively increased
Satyriasis; priapism
Erections not caused by amorous thoughts
Violent painful erections
Penis relaxed and shrunken
Itching in the glans penis
Sharp pricking, like needles, in urethra, so severe as to send a thrill to cheeks and hands.
Female Sexual Organs
Very profuse menstruation; painful, dark but without clots
Spasmodic uterine colic, pains returning like labour pains; great agitation and sleeplessness
Threatened miscarriage in 8th month; burning on micturition with purulent discharge.
Respiratory Organs
Rough cough, with scraping immediately under the sternum.—It requires a great effort to take a deep inspiration.
Chest
Oppression of chest, with deep, laboured breathing
He feels as if suffocated, and has to be fanned
Stitches extending from both nipples through chest.
Heart And Pulse
Palpitation of the heart, awaking from sleep
Pressing pain in the heart, with dyspnoea the whole night.
Piercing pain in the heart
Sensation as if drops were falling from the heart
Stitches in the heart, accompanied by great oppression; the latter relieved by deep breathing
Pulse very slow (as low as 46).
Neck And Back
Pain across the shoulders and spine; must stoop, cannot walk erect
Chin suddenly drawn down to sternum, lasting three days
Warmth in spine extending to head
Backache, < during menses, which occur every two weeks and are scanty.
Upper Limbs
Agreeable thrilling through the arms and hands
Paralysis of the r. arm
Coldness of r. hand, with stiffness and numbness of r. thumb.
Lower Limbs
Entire paralysis of the lower extremities
Weariness in limbs, and stiffness and aching in knees; almost paralysis
Agreeable thrilling from the knees down, with a sensation as if a bird's claws were clasping the knees
On attempting to walk, intensely violent pain as if treading on spikes, which penetrated the soles, and ran upward through the limbs to the hips; worse in r. limb, and accompanied by drawing pains in both calves
Shooting pains in the joints of the toes of l. foot; worse in great toe; aching and stitching pain in ball of l. great toe.
Generalities
Great desire to lie down in the daytime.—Thoroughly exhausted after a short walk.—Felt so weak that he could scarcely speak, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Sleep
Excessive sleepiness; sound sleep, with melancholy dreams
Starting of the limbs while sleeping, causing him to awake
Voluptuous dreams, with erections and profuse seminal emissions
Talks during sleep
Gritting teeth during sleep
Dreams prophetic; vexatious; of dead bodies, of danger, and of perils to be encountered
Nightmare every night as soon as he falls asleep.
Fever
Loss of animal heat
General chilliness
Coldness of the face, nose, and hands after dinner
Profuse sticky sweat, standing out in drops on his forehead.