Asa Foetida (Assafoetida).

Mind and Disposition.

Hysterical restlessness and anxiety.

Head.

The pains in the head cease, or change from touch.

Eyes.

Sensation of dryness in the eyes.

Ears.

Hardness of hearing, with discharge of pus from the oars.

Nose.

[5] Ozaena, discharge of very offensive matter from the nose.

Face.

Sensation of numbness in the bones of the face.

Mouth and Throat.

Sensation of dryness in the mouth and throat.

Sensation of a ball rising in the throat.

Abdomen.

Pulsation in the pit of the stomach.

[10] Sensation of fulness in the stomach.

Stool and Anus.

Diarrhoea, very offensive, with pain in the abdomen and discharge of fetid flatus.

Urine.

Urine brown, and of pungent smell.

Spasm in the bladder during and after urination.

Respiratory Organs.

Spasmodic dyspnoea, as if the lungs could not be sufficiently expanded.

[15] Stitches in the chat from within outwards.

Extremities.

Twitching of the muscles of the arms and legs.

Ulcer on the tibia.

Swelling and caries of the bones of the feet.

Stitches and pulsation in the big toe.

Generalities.

[20] Sense of rigor.

Body heavy and bloated.

Hysterical attacks.

Twitching and jerking in the muscles.

Dull stitches (periodically) from within outwards, changed or relieved is touch.

[25] Pains in the inside of the joints and limbs.

St. Vitus' dance.

Sleep.

Much against his habit, he is much inclined to sleep.

Fever.

Pulse small, rapid, and unequal.

Heat in the face after dinner, with anxiety or drowsiness, without thirst.

Skin.

[30] Ulcers, very painful to contact, especially in the circumference, gangrenous.

Inflammation and caries of the bones, with thin, fetid pus.

Conditions.

Bad effects, from the abuse of mercury, especially in syphilis.

Moot pains are accompanied by numbness in the affected parts.

Many symptoms appear while sitting, and are relieved in the open air.

ASA FŒTIDA

REGION:
NERVES.
Mind.
Gullet.
Digestive tract.
Periosteum: Ears. Nose. Tibia.
Left side.

WORSE:
Night.
In room.
Rest.
Eating.
Suppression.
Mercury.
Noise.
Sitting.
Warm wraps.

BETTER:
Motion in open air.
Pressure.

Full, stout aspect, but intolerably nervous and OVERSENSITIVE. Fits of violent, hard throbbing, pressure, sharp sticking, etc. Clavus. Easy relapses. Bone aches. Pains extend outward, are associated with numbness and change place or are > by touch. Boring. Blueness. Foul, thin acrid secretions. .................... Magnifies her symptoms. Craves sympathy. Fickleness. Fainting. Hysteria. Clutches throat. Occipital ache > stool. Eyelids stick to ball. Numb about eyes. Ozœna. Puffy, purple face, as if heated. Greasy taste. Everything presses toward throat. Globus. Spasm of gullet and stomach. Rancid or explosive belching. Regurgitations. Flatulence; sudden; pushing upward, hysterical. Wind colic. Reverse peristalsis. Bowels seem knotted. Foul, dark watery diarrhœa. Spasmodic tightness of chest. Heart seems full, distended. Reflex heart symptoms, of nervous origin. Dark red swelling. Eruption of air vesicles. Bluish ulcers; with high sensitive edges. Foul, burrowing pus. Caries.

REMEDY RELATION

Related: Aur. Lach. Sumb. Val.

Asafoetida

[Asaf.]

Mind.-- Very excitable and sensitive disposition with indifference to everything. Hypochondriacal and hysterical restlessness and anxiety. Vacillating mood, and inconstancy.

Head.-- Congestion to, with throbbing. Fleeting stitching in forehead, sides or temples, which jerk outward thro' head. Pressure as of a dull instrument or plug in side and temples. Outward pressure, with pressing over eyes as if sleepy. Stupefying tension, most in left side. Worse: Afternoon and evening, rest, in room, after lying down, sitting bent. Better: Walking in open air: raising up, touch.

Eyes.-- Burning in balls, also extending from within outward. Dry feeling in.

Ears.-- Difficult hearing with suppuration of.

Nose.-- Pressure in, as if it would burst. (Ham'.) Sense of numbness in bridge of. Offensive, purulent discharge from.

Face.-- Sense of tensive numbness in bones of. Pressive numb feeling in chin.

Mouth.-- Dryness and burning in, and in pharynx. Sensation of a body ascending into throat.

Stomach.-- Pressure in, after eating. Feeling of fullness in region of. Pulsation in pit of. Disordered, after fat food.

Hypochondria: Pressure or sticking pains from within outward in liver.

Eructations: Acrid, rancid, as after fat food.

Abdomen.-- Sticking pain from within outward in sides of.

Flatulence: Pinching flatulent colic. Much stinking flatus.

Stool.-- Ineffectual urging to. Foul smelling diarrhoea with bellyache and discharge of stinking flatus.

Urine.-- Brown acrid smelling. Spasm of bladder during and after urination.

Respiration.-- Compression of chest with rapid breathing and a small pulse. Spasmodic tightness of chest, as if lungs could not be sufficiently expanded.

Chest.-- Pressure, with difficult respiration. Throbbing in. Sticking from within outward in. Palpitation.

Back.-- Sticking in scapulae, muscles of back and loins.

Upper Extremities.-- Twitching of muscles of arms and hands.

Lower Extremities.-- Twitching of muscles of legs and feet. Swollen ankles. Sticking and throbbing in great toe.

Generalities.-- Jumping and quivering of muscles in many parts (Phel.) Continued dull sticking pains from within outward. Lancinating pains and lancinating burning pains. Intermittent pains. Puffiness and heaviness of body. Chorea. Hysterical attacks. Most of the pains are associated parts. Great sensitiveness to touch. The pains are ameliorated or change place from touch, but on the other hand are not affected by a change of position (sang.)

Bones.-- Painful osteitis. Softening and curvature of (rachitis). Interstitial distension of. Caries with thin, ichorous, fetid pus.

Skin.-- Hot, dark - red swelling of single parts. External inflammations with inclination to suppuration. Gangrenous ulcers with unhealthy pus and painful areolae.

Sleep.-- Unusually great desire for.

Fever.-- Pulse: Small, but greatly accelerated and irregular. Chill: Coldness and dry skin. In afternoon, shouldering running over body, especially over back.

Heat: Of face after dinner, with anxiety and sleepiness, but without thirst. Sweat: Entirely wanting, only seldom a somewhat cold moisture on skin.

Relationship.-- Allied Remedies: Arg-n., Aur., Caust., CHIN., Men., MERC., Nit-ac., Phos-ac., Plat., Puls. Sep.

Asafoetida

(Gum of the Stinkasand)

Pharmacy

Asaf. Asafoetida. Gum of the Stinkasand. Ferula asafoetida. Narthex Asafoetida. Scorodosma foetida. N. 0. Umbelliferae. Tincture of the gum resin, obtained by incision from the living root. Historical dose: Tincture and all potencies.

Clinical

• Asthma.
• Belching.
• Bone diseases.
• Breast-feeding.
• Chorea.
• Decay of bones.
• Diarrhea.
• Dyspepsia.
• Fainting, easily.
• Flatulence.
• Globus hystericus.
• Headaches.
• Heart disorders.
• Hypersensitiveness.
• Hysteria.
• Iritis.
• Mercury poisoning.
• Neuralgias.
• Obesity.
• Orbital neuralgia.
• Ozaena.
• Syphilis.
• Tympanitis.
• Ulcers.
• Whitlow.

Herbal

The fetid smell of Asafoetida may be regarded as one of its "herbal signatures."

Homeopathic

Fetid discharge from the nose, bones affected. Offensive discharges. Watery stools of most disgusting odor, profuse and greenish, fetid flatus. Belchings smelling like garlic. Flatulent hysteria. Characteristic sensitiveness to touch.

Flatulence and spasmodic contractions of stomach and esophagus with reverse peristalsis, everything comes up, nothing goes down. Excessive abdominal distention and sensation as if everything in the abdomen would burst through the mouth. After belching of wind, strong rancid taste in mouth. Sinking sensation at epigastrium, worse 11 a.m. Hysteria from suddenly suppressed discharges.

Deficient milk with oversensitiveness after confinement. Decay of bones, especially in the syphilitic organism, with extreme sensitiveness and terrible throbbing, nightly pains. Glands all over the body are hot and throb. Pain, as if a nail or plug driven in.

Mind

Dissatisfied with oneself. Irritable, complains of her troubles. Irritability during menses, alternating with indifference. Changing moods, fits of joy with bursts of laughter. Fickle, cannot persevere in anything. Wants now one thing, then another. Great excitability and sensitiveness, yet with complete indifference to everything. Ill-humor. Apprehensive. Fear arising from abdomen. Fear from stomach. Apprehension of dying. Fears paralysis or softening of brain.

Hysterical and hypochondriacal. Magnifies her symptoms. Craves sympathy. Hysteria from suddenly suppressed discharges. Hysteria with much trouble about throat or esophagus, clutches throat. Walks hither and thither.

Oversensitiveness, mental and physical. Faints from emotional excitement or disturbance. Faintness from noise or from being in crowded streets. Fainting during pain. Faints when he thinks that he has taken medicine. Faints almost without cause in a closed room.

Abdomen

Great distention. Flatulence, sudden, pushing upwards. Aatuent colic with abdominal pulsations. Hysterical flatulence. Bowels seem knotted. Flatus passing upwards, none downwards. Heat in spleen and abdomen.

Bones

Periosteum painful, swollen, enlarged. Decay of bones and deep ulcerations. Ulcers affecting bones, thin, ichorous pus. Fits of hard, violent throbbing. Pains are pressive, sharp, stitching, extending outwards, associated with numbness. Pains change place and are better by touch. Aching, boring in bones. Darting pain and decay in bones.

Breasts

Breasts turgid with milk, when not pregnant. Deficient milk with oversensitiveness. Galactagogue, insensitive, hysterical women.

Causations

Ill effects of checked skin eruptions or suppressed discharges. Neuralgia of stump after operations. Nervous disorders from suppressed skin eruptions. Most pains are accompanied by numbness in the affected parts.

Chest

Spasmodic tightness, as if lungs could not be fully expanded. Palpitation more like a tremor.

Constitutions

Suited to nervous and hysterical people, phlegmatic, scrofulous and syphilitic who have taken much Mercury. Though the patient is of full habit and stout aspect, yet he is intolerably nervous and oversensitive. Clumsy children. Obesity.

Ears

Offensive otorrhea with boring pains in mastoid bone. Mastoid disease with pain in temporal region with pushing out sensation. Offensive, purulent discharge. Hardness of hearing.

Eyes

Orbital neuralgia, better pressure and from rest. Iritis and intra-ocular inflammations with boring, throbbing pains at night. Stitches under left frontal eminences. Boring pains in and around eyes. Syphilitic iritis. Superficial corneal ulcer with digging pains, worse at night. Eyelids stick to balls. Numbness about eyes, ulceration of cornea. Syphilitic iritis.

Face

Puffy, purple as if heated. Small tubercles in the cheek. Swelling of the lower lip. Numbness of bones.

Female

Menses too early, too scanty, last for a short time. Irritability during menses, alternating with indifference.

Bearing down in the genital, especially while riding in a carriage. Labor-like pains in uterine region, with culling and bearing down. Leucorrhea, profuse, greenish, thin offensive. Swelling and inflammation of genitals. Excited sexual desire. Uterine ulcer, sensitive and painful. Miscarriages.

Food

Ravenous hunger. Disgust for all food. Aversion to beer. Beer tastes slimy. Desire for strong, cooling food. Desire for wine. Fat food causes indigestion. Heat in face after eating. Diarrhea after eating. Want of thirst. Fever without thirst.

Head

Headaches in occipital region, better stool. Irritable, complains of her troubles. Sensitive. Pressive pain from within outward. Boring pain above eyebrows.

Heart

Palpitations more like a tremor. Heart seems full, distended. Reflex heart symptoms of nervous origin.

Kidneys

Urine brown and of pungent odor. Spasms in bladder during and after urination.

Limbs

Pain and tenderness in tibia intolerable, worse at night. Cannot work on account of backache. Cold swelling around ankles. Convulsive tremor, better by holding.

Lungs

Asthmatic attacks at least once in a day, worse bodily exertion, sex, satisfying meals. Spasms of the glottis, alternating with contraction of fingers and toes.

Male

Needle-like stitches in penis. Fainting after seminal emissions.

Modalities

Many symptoms appear while sitting and are better in open air. Touch relieves pain in head, on touch pains cease or change place. Scratching relieves itching. Worse at night. Worse left side. Worse during rest. Worse warm applications, warm wraps. Worse after suppressions. Worse mercury. Worse noise. Worse sitting. Worse after eating or drinking.

Mouth

Greasy, rancid taste. Constant chewing with frothy saliva from mouth. Chorea.

Nose

Offensive discharge from the nose. Syphilitic ozaena with very offensive purulent discharge. Decay of nasal bones (Aur.). Tension over nasal bones with numbness.

Perspiration

Cold, moist skin. Cold sweat on limbs. Sweats during vertigo. Sweats with drowsiness.

Rectum

Distended, griping with hunger. Obstinate constipation. Pain in perineum, as if something dull pressed out. Diarrhea, extremely offensive with meteorism and regurgitation of food. Diarrhea, stools dark, watery with disgusting odor. Only mucus is passed.

Skin

Suppressed skin symptoms produce nervous disorders. Itching, better scratching, ulcers painful on edges. Eruptions of vesicles. Bluish ulcers with highly sensitive edges. Itching better scratching. Old scars turn purple and ulcerate. Foul burrowing pus.

Stomach

Explosive belchings smelling like garlic and rancid in taste. Violent gastralgia, culling and burning in stomach and region of diaphragm. Great difficulty in bringing up flatus. Flatulence and regurgitation of liquids. Sensation of emptiness and weakness with distention and beating in the stomach and abdomen. Forcible eructation of gas. Gurgling and rolling of flatus, which escapes afterwards with loud and difficult eructation. Pulsation in the pit of stomach, perceptible to the hand or even visible.

Temperature

Chills run over body. Chills with coldness and dryness of skin. Chills every day between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Coldness and trembling. Chill alternating with heat. Chills during faintness. Heat of face after dinner. Fever with anxiety and sleepiness. Fever without thirst. Heat in toes. Heat of face, with cold hands and feet, and chills of back.

Throat

Sensation as if peristaltic motion were reversed and esophagus were driven from stomach to throat. Sensation as if a ball rises in throat. Globus hystericus. Everything presses towards throat. Spasms of gullet and stomach.

Vertigo

Vertigo with violent pressing in head. Vertigo with vanishing of sight. Vertigo with sweat on forehead and limbs.

Comments

Asafoetida has hiccough-like contractions of diaphragm. Griping pain below navel while standing. Heat in spleen and abdomen. Stitches in right hypochondrium towards the diaphragm.

Affects the left side generally, left side of abdomen, left hypochondrium, left side of neck and nape, left arm, left leg. Hysterical restlessness and anxiety. Eyes inflamed, dry sensation, better in open air.

Characteristic bruised, sore and sensitive bones of the orbits. Iritis after abuse of mercury (Merc. has less sensitiveness). Decay of bones, bone diseases. Multiple nodes on the roof of mouth, discolored, bone deeply involved.

Periosteal disorders ending in ulcerations, which are so sensitive that no dressing is tolerated. Pressing pains in various parts, especially pressure from within outwards, worse in room, better in open air.

Used for foul flatulence where it is a social, cultural problem. Lingering odor. Regurgitation and bad-smelling and bad-tasting burps. Belchings, the taste stays in their mouth for hours or even days. Used in tincture for giardia and parasites with the symptom of foul smelling flatus.

Relations

Antidotes: China. Merc. Antidoted by: Puls., Caust., Camph., Chin., Merc., Valer. Compare: (1) Aur., Chin., Lach., Merc., Sumb., Valer. (2) Compare family relations: Arn., Cic., Con. (3) Similar to: Arg-n., better open air, Aur. - bone diseases, iritis, Castor., Chin., Caust., Crot-t. (whooping cough), Hep. sensitiveness round ulcers, faints from pains,

(4) Mosch., Mang. and Kali-i. (5) nodes: Mang., bluish, Kali-i., pink, pain unbearable. Asaf. the nodes are multiple and discolored.

(6) Ign., Merc., Phos., Puls., Thuj., Valer.

Complementary: Caust., Puls.

References

Boericke, Clarke.