Capsicum Annuum
Capsicum · Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 12,965 chars · source ↗
General
Capsicum.
Capsicum annuum. Cayenne Pepper. (South America and West Indies.) N. O. Solanaceae. Tincture of the dried pods.
Clinical
Amaurosis. Asthma. Brain, irritation of. Delirium tremens.
Cough. Diarrhoea. Diphtheria. Dysentery.
Ear affections. Glandular swellings. Haemorrhoids. Headache.
Heartburn. Hernia. Home-sickness. Intermittents.
Lungs, affections of. Measles. Mouth, ulcers in. Neuralgia.
Nose, affections of. Obesity. Oesophagus, stricture of. Paralysis.
Pleuro-pneumonia. Pregnancy, disorders of. Rectum, diseases of. Rheumatic gout.
Rheumatism. Sciatica. Scrofula. Seasickness.
Stomatitis. Throat, sore. Tongue, paralysis of. Trachea, tickling in.
Urine, disorders of. Whooping-cough. Yellow fever.
Characteristics
Capsicum should be studied in connection with the other great members of the Solanum family, Belladonna, Stramonium, Hyoscyamus, Dulcamara, Solanum Carolinense, Solanum nigrum, Solanum tuberosum (Potato), and Lycopersicum esculentum (Tomato). It acts with great intensity on the mucous membranes, and also on the bones: affections of bones in general; pains in bones of face; inflammation of petrous bone. Capsicum corresponds especially to persons of light hair and blue eyes; also to persons of lax fibre and muscles; obesity; lazy, fat, unclean persons who dread the open air; clumsy children; awkward persons; haemorrhoidal troubles.
Lack of reaction and bodily irritability. Symptoms generally appear on left side. As with Dulcamara, there is extreme sensitiveness to cold and damp which < most symptoms. The well-known burning effects of red pepper is a leading indication for its use Burning pains" wherever occurring demand that Capsicum should have the first consideration, if there are no other determining symptoms in favour of another remedy.
The burning of Caps. is < from cold water. Redness of the skin, and even a scarlet eruption like Belladonna. Very characteristic is a cough with fetid breath, or bad taste. Cough causing splitting pain in head.
Chill at 10.30 a.m., beginning between shoulders and running down back. A case of poisoning in a worker in a capsicum-plaister factory brought out: severe chill with shaking; and it ended in an intense coryza. Caps. 30 brought speedy relief in a case of tympanites following laparotomy, the concomitant symptoms being: cold nose and extremities, and cyanosis. Caps. is a notable fever remedy.
The patient is thirsty—but drinking causes shuddering. Absence of thirst during heat. Burning, pungent pains, < by application of cold water, are very marked. Burning, pungent sensation in face < by slightest draught of cold air; burning in throat; burning blisters in roof of mouth (diphtheria or gangrene); constriction of throat, spasmodic closure, pain when not swallowing; burning in rectum, tenesmus, haemorrhage; burning on urination; burning in bladder.
Caps. is among the remedies of the front rank in stomatitis in inflammation of the middle ear, with involvement of mastoid cells in the sore throat of smokers and drinkers, with inflammation, burning, relaxed uvula, sometimes dry, sometimes with tough mucus difficult to dislodge. Local burning and general chilliness distinguish Caps. in a vast number of cases. Caps. is indicated where there is lack of reaction in persons of lax fibre. The mental state shows home-sickness.
"Home-sickness, with red cheeks and sleeplessness; with hot feeling in fauces." (With a few doses of Caps. I cured completely an Australian girl, of florid complexion, who had come to London to study, and who was quite incapacitated by home-sickness.) There is awkwardness, fearfulness, obstinacy. Alternating states; laughs and weeps by turns; is now jocose and sings, but becomes angry from slightest cause. Delirium: it has been given with great success in delirium tremens, mostly in drachm doses of the tincture, given in milk.
> From heat is the most important modality. Patients who cannot get to sleep without a hot bottle at their back. Rest < some forms of headache and > others. Motion = headache as if skull would split; as if bruised; asthma; chilliness; stiff joints to crack.
Ascending = asthma. < By touch. Shuns open air; dreads uncovering; dreads air, especially a draught. Spirits become lower as body becomes cooler.
Sensation as if cayenne pepper were sprinkled on parts. Violent pains in various places; now here now there. Sensation as if parts would go to sleep. I had one patient on whom Caps. acted well in summer, but not in winter.
Equal parts of tincture of Caps. and glycerine make an excellent liniment for external use in many cases of chronic rheumatism and neuralgia.
Relations
Antidoted by: Calad., Camph., Cina, Chi., Sul. ac., or vapour of burning sulphur. It antidotes: Effects of Alcohol, Coffee, Opium, Quinine. Compatible: Bell., Lyc., Puls., Sil. Compare: Arn., Bell.
(headache, &c.); Bry. (headache from cough); Canth.
(burning pains, throat symptoms, dysentery, urinary symptoms); Pso. (lack of reaction; despair of recovery; Caps. in persons of lax fibre);
Lach. (thirst before chill; continues into chill; drinking <; also Elaps); Nat. m., Carb. v. and Menyanth. (intermittents;
Nat. m. is the "chronic" of Caps.); Carb. an. and Nit. ac. (inflammation behind ears, Aur. and Nit. ac. preferable in abscess; Sil. in chronic suppuration);
Phos. ac. (home-sickness; Caps. has red face); Ars., Alum., Carb. v., Lyc. have burning pains > by heat.
Merc., Nit. ac., Sul. have passage of blood from bowels. Crot. t. (after drinking urging to stool); Helleb.
(colic with spasm of bladder); Plat. (burning, pungent pain in face, < slightest draught of air, warm or cold). Compare also Solanaceae.
Mind
Tendency to take alarm
Discontent
Opinionativeness
Strong disposition to take everything in bad part, to fly into a rage, even on account of harmless jests, and to utter reproaches
Capricious and exceedingly changeable humour
Dulness of all the senses
Want of reflection and awkwardness
Nostalgia, with redness of the cheeks and sleeplessness
Disposition to jest, and to utter witticisms, but gets angry at least trifle.
Head
Bewilderment of the head
Intoxication, as if from spirituous liquors
Headache, as if the cranium were going to burst, on walking, or moving the head or coughing
Attack of semi-lateral headache, pressive and shooting, with nausea, vomiting, and loss of memory, aggravated by movement of the eyes
Shooting, or acute, drawing pains, esp. in the sides of the head
Pain of pressive severing in the brain, as if from fulness
Pulsative headache;
(better in motion)
Gnawing itching in the scalp, with pain in the roots of the hair after scratching.
Eyes
Pressure in the eyes, as if from a foreign body introduced into them
Inflammation of the eyes, with redness, burning pain, and lachrymation
Eyes prominent
Confusion of sight, esp. in the morning, as if something were swimming on the cornea, mitigated for an instant by rubbing
Objects appear black when brought before the eyes
Sight entirely extinct, as if from amaurosis.
Ears
Acute drawing pains in the ears
Itching and pressure in the bottom of the auditory tube
Painful swelling on the bone behind the ear;
< by touch
Tearing behind l. ear
Diminution of hearing after previous burning and stinging in the ear.
Nose
Epistaxis, esp. in bed, in the morning
Painful pimples under the nostrils
Dry coryza, with tingling and tickling in the nostrils.
Face
Redness of the face (without heat), often alternately with paleness
Many small red spots on the face
Corroding, itching tetter on the forehead
Pains in the face, in the bones, where they are aggravated by the touch, or in the nerves where they are aggravated during sleep
Dull pressure on the cheek-bone
Swelling of the lips
Ulcerated eruptions, and fissures in the lips.
Teeth
Pains in the teeth, as if they were set on edge, or elongated
Pullings in the teeth, and in the gums
Swelling of the gums.
Mouth
Burning vesicles in the mouth and on the tongue.—Viscid saliva in the mouth.
Throat
Sore throat with painful deglutition and pulling sensation in the pharynx
Inflammation, with dark redness and burning of the throat
Cramp-like contraction of the throat
Uvula elongated, with sensation as if it were pressing on something hard.
Appetite
Unnaturally increased appetite, alternated with aversion to food
Aqueous and insipid taste
Sour taste in the mouth, and also a taste of broth
Want of appetite
Desire for coffee, with inclination to vomit before or after taking it
Pyrosis
Nausea, felt generally in the epigastrium, with pressure on the part.
Stomach
Pain in the stomach, which is inflated
Sensation of cold in the stomach
Burning pain in the stomach, and in the epigastrium, esp. just after a meal
Shootings in the epigastrium, on breathing rapidly and deeply, on speaking, and on the part being touched.
Abdomen
Abdomen inflated, almost to bursting, with pressive tension, and suspension of respiration
Painless rumbling in the abdomen
Colic about umbilicus, with mucous stools
Draggings and movements in the abdomen
Strong pulsations in the abdomen
Flatulent colic
Protrusion, flatulent hernia in the inguinal ring.
Stool And Anus
Tenesmus
Small dysenteric evacuations, with discharge of slimy and sanguineous matter, preceded by flatulent colic
Nocturnal diarrhoea, with burning pains in the anus
Blind haemorrhoids, with pain during evacuation
Haemorrhoidal tumours, with burning (bleeding).
Urinary Organs
Tenesmus of the bladder
Frequent, urgent and almost useless efforts to make water
Burning pains on making water
Cramp-like and incisive contractions in the neck of the bladder
Incisive and shooting pains in the urethra, when not urinating
Purulent running from the urethra, as in gonorrhoea
Flow of blood from the urethra, which is painful to the touch.
Male Sexual Organs
Impotence and coldness of the genital parts
Purulent discharge from the urethra
Dwindling of the testes
Violent erections in the morning
Trembling of the whole body, during amorous caresses.
Female Sexual Organs
Disordered menstruation, with a pushing or sticking sensation in l. ovarian region.
Respiratory Organs
Hoarseness
Cough, more violent in the evening and at night, with pains in other parts of the body, esp. in the head and in the bladder, as if they were going to burst, or with pressure in the throat and ears, as if an abscess were about to open in them
Cough, after taking coffee
Cough, with fetid breath, and disagreeable taste in the mouth.
Chest
Want to breathe deeply
Deep breathing, almost like a sigh
Oppressed respiration, sometimes as if proceeding from the stomach, or from fulness of the chest
Asthma, with redness of the face, eructation and sensation as if the chest were extended
Constrictive pain in the chest
Shootings in the chest on breathing
Pulsative pain in the chest, which suspends respiration, and which is increased by movement.
Neck And Back
Stiffness of the neck.—Acute drawing pains in the back.
Limbs
Rheumatic pain in limbs
Tension in the knees and stiffness in the calves of the legs on walking
Stiffness of the arms and legs, with tingling as when they are asleep
Shooting-tearing from hip to knee and foot, esp. when coughing
Caries of r. hip; l. leg atrophied, violent pains in atrophied leg
Cold sweat on upper part of legs.
Generalities
Aching pains Drawing pains in the limbs excited by movement Pain, as from dislocation, and stiffness in the joints, with cracking, esp. at the beginning of a walk Phlegmatic temperament, and relaxed fibres
Cramps in the body, with stiffness in the arms and legs, with numbness and sensation of tingling Repugnance to movement The symptoms show themselves chiefly in the evening and at night, and are aggravated by the open air, by contact, and by cold, as well as on beginning to move, and after drinking or eating Great sensibility to fresh air, and to a current of air
Symptoms generally appear on l. side; suited for light-haired people; tendency to get fat; laxness of the muscles.; bloatedness of the skin Affections of the bones in general; pains in bones of the face.
Sleep
Sleeplessness, without apparent cause
Sleeplessness after midnight
Sensation as if falling from a height during sleep
Sleep full of dreams.
Fever
Pulse irregular, and often intermitting
Febrile shivering and cold over the whole body, with ill-humour increasing with the cold, or else with anxiety, dizziness and dulness of the head
Shivering, commencing at the back; between shoulders
Cold and shivering whenever drink is taken
Fever with predominance of cold, and with thirst, burning heat, and affections of the mucous membranes
Shiverings, with much thirst, afterwards heat, (without or) with thirst and perspiration
On the upper part of the legs cold perspiration.