Cyclamen
has a traditional reputation as a remedy for affections of the uterus and appendages. The
later provings have demonstrated the correctness of this. It is in many ways analogous to Pulsatilla, from which it differs mainly in having no > from open air; and in not having thirstlessness as so
frequent an accompaniment of other conditions.
It is suited to the phlegmatic temperament; blonde leucophlegmatic
subjects with chlorotic conditions; disinclined for labour and easily fatigued; special
senses enfeebled or their functions suspended. Debility, torpidity of mind and body. Dulness
of senses; flickering before the eyes; squint, especially in connection with menstrual
irregularities or fevers; after convulsions, convergent squint; left eye drawn inwards.
Amblyopia, diplopia, hemiopia. Many digestive disturbances; saliva has a salty taste, which
is communicated to all food eaten. After eating but little, satiety, aversion to food, with
nausea in palate and thirst. Desire for lemonade. Aversion to bread, butter, meat, fat,
beer, and ordinary food; craving for inedible things; for sardines. Frequent vomiting in
morning. Hiccough is very marked. Hiccough during pregnancy. Prostatic troubles, with
stitches and pressure, urging to stool and micturition. Menstruation too early, with some
relief of melancholy mood and heaviness of feet. Scanty or suppressed menstruation, with
headache and vertigo. During pregnancy: hiccough; loathing and nausea in mouth and throat;
complaints after weaning. Pressing, drawing, or tearing pains at parts where bones lie near
surface. Chilliness. Itching leaving a numb sensation. Chilblains; itching and pricking, < at night in bed. Eidherr, of Vienna, has given the best
account of this remedy (Allg. Hom. Zeit., liv. 7,
translated H. R., viii. 558). Hahnemann proved it on
males only, eliciting as leading symptoms: "Stupor, sluggish memory, vertigo, dull, pressing headache, obscured sight, dilated pupils,
drawing pains in neck and teeth; nausea, eructation, disgust for food, hiccough following
soon after dinner; stitching, pinching pains in abdomen; flatulence and pressure to urinate.
Oppression of chest, pressing pain in chest, drawing and stitching pain in back. Sawing
pressure, drawing and stitching in extremities; prostration and itching. Moroseness,
sleepiness, lassitude, troubled, heavy dreams; chilliness of whole body alternating with
heat, thirstlessness, disinclination for work or conversation, great dejection and
melancholy; at times joyous sensations with lively phantasies." The Vienna provings
corroborated these, but, including both sexes, also elicited symptoms in the female sexual
sphere: Menstruation more copious; more frequent; too early, with severe abdominal pains.
Accompanied with labour-like pains; flow excessive, black and lumpy. Recommencement of
menses after protracted cessation (clinical). Eidherr's clinical experience illustrates in a
remarkable way Cyclamen's sphere of action. His cases
include: 4 of chlorosis; 9 of retarded and scanty menstruation; 18 of complications with
vertigo and headache accompanying scanty menses; 2 of diplopia; 1 of strabismus. In numbers
of cases Cycl. developed ocular symptoms in the
patients, in 15x and 3x. In one instance a higher potency of the same remedy antidoted this
effect. He found the remedy especially suited to blonde leuco-phlegmatic subjects. (But one
of the cured was a Jewess and was presumably not a blonde.) It will be noticed that the
"sleepiness, moroseness, and lassitude," and also the vertigo noted by Hahnemann,
are prominent in many of Eidherr's cases. Josepha K., 24, blonde, pale delicate skin, pale
lips and gums, had menstruated normally till 22, when she got wet at a picnic just as
menstruation was starting. It stopped at once and did not reappear till ten months later,
after vigorous use of all kinds of domestic remedies. Now the periods were accompanied by
terrible abdominal, labour-like pains, lasting eleven hours. Menses recurred every two or
four months, always with the pains, starting from sacrum, extending along both sides of
abdomen to pelvis. They were periodical, every one, two, or five minutes, during which time
there was no flow; the blood appearing after these attacks was somewhat watery. Other
symptoms were: Eyelids slightly œdematous; pressing pain in forehead; vertigo frequently
changing into syncope; chilliness of whole body; disturbed, unrefreshing sleep interspersed
with terrible dreams; continued loathing for meat; longing for salt fish; frequent vomiting
in morning. After partial relief from Puls., Cyclamen made a complete cure. The ocular symptoms which
developed were remarkable. The vertigo and headache were untouched by Puls., but quickly subsided under Cycl.
15x. On their disappearance she saw fiery flames dancing before her eyes on awakening at
night, and in the morning she saw everything double. And she had the hallucination as if two
persons lay in her bed, and that the body of the other overlapped hers by half. Cycl. was discontinued and in two days her sight was normal. Anna
F., 20, blonde, menstruated since her tenth year. In seventeenth year suffered from
chlorosis; ever since, menstruation regular, but lasting only one-two days in a moderate
degree. Is troubled also at other times by vertigo and pressing pain in forehead and
temples, which attacks are ameliorated by footbaths with ashes. Appetite poor; little
thirst; stool regular; sleeps too long; always sleepy; is of dejected mood, morose; all
movements, as well as speech, languid; palpitation. Puls.
made no change. Cycl. 3x quickly improved headache,
vertigo, and spirits. After three days sight became obscured, and there was glimmering
before eyes. A vivacious Jewess, 16, menstruated twice regularly after the first
commencement in June, then went six weeks, and by the end of December the recurrence
entirely ceased. She lost spirits, sought seclusion, was offended by very trifles; her usual
work was distasteful to her, and she could not be prevailed upon to leave the house for a
walk. She would sleep unusually long in the morning. The hitherto blooming girl had become
pale, anæmic, with swollen eyelids; lips and gums pale; heart turbulent. She complained
chiefly of great lassitude compelling her to rest frequently on going up stairs; palpitation
without cause; she was apprehensive, had a feeling as if all the rooms were too small, and
yet would not leave the house. All pastimes rejected; was only content when she could
seclude herself and sit down and weep. During the forenoon often had pressing pains in
forehead with vertigo; appetite poor; stool sluggish. March 14th Cycl.
15x was prescribed. After several weeks the headache and vertigo had become less severe and
the attacks less frequent. April 19th the period set in, and with its flow headache and
vertigo left her completely. May 15th, menstruation recurred rather copiously, and the
patient was well. Two cases of pulmonary catarrh were cured, both had pressing headache and
vertigo and one scanty menses as well. The following case of hemicrania
was cured: Theresa F., 37, had menstruated sparingly and irregularly (often at two or three
months' intervals). For four years suffered from violent headache affecting right side of
head and face; coming every 8-14 days, spells lasting 12-36 hours. During menstruation the
attacks were extra severe. Patient was emaciated; skin, gums, and lips pale. Right eye
closed owing to cramps in eyelids; when forcibly opened a stream of hot tears gushed out;
otherwise the eye was normal. Under Cycl. 3 the symptoms
diminished, but there appeared "glittering sparks before the eyes" and these
remained after all symptoms of headache had gone. Cycl.
was given persistently, the periods became regular and rather copious and the headaches
entirely ceased. Another case (in a wet-nurse who had just weaned her baby) presented
unceasing, violent, stitching pain in temporal region extending to vertex. Throbbing
temporal arteries. Bell. diminished the pain, but
vertigo came on. Under Cycl. 3x headache and vertigo
disappeared altogether, but the patient complained of her sight
having 3 become so weak that she did not dare to walk alone. This passed off when
the medicine was discontinued and her headache did not recur. Cycl.
15x cured a boy of violent squinting. Six months before, he had a fall from a table;
convulsions followed, and after the second attack the squinting came on. Arnica was given and the convulsions did not recur, but the
squinting remained. Cycl. 15x was given, and after a few
weeks the squint entirely disappeared. (Wurmb cured a case of squint in a coachman with Cycl.) Acute rheumatism with retrocession of menses was also
cured by Eidherr. His last case was remarkable and important. Theresa P., 30, of short,
robust stature, had never been ill till ten years previously. At that time, without apparent
infection, an eruption appeared over her whole body with terrible itching. It was declared
to be itch and was driven away with Sulphur ointment. With the receding of the eruption her
eyesight waned so that she was soon unable to walk without a guide. She sees large objects
only in outline and only then if in a strong light; in closed rooms she cannot discern
anything. The pupils are dilated, but there are no other objective symptoms. She had never
menstruated. She complains of congestions of the blood about every three or four weeks,
accompanied by headache, a pressing vertigo, heaviness and frequent trembling of the lower
extremities and of a pressure towards the parts. For several months she experienced an
itching of the skin over the whole body, which becomes intolerable, especially during the
time she should have her period. There is nothing to be seen, however, on the skin. In
September Sul. 15x was given and quickly relieved the
skin symptoms; but later (in the beginning of December) she sought relief for a violent
headache and vertigo. Cycl. 3x lessened these by the
fourth day. A week later she reported both symptoms gone; but now "fiery balls danced
continually before her eyes." Cycl. 15x three times
a day. Shortly after (December 27th) the fiery balls ceased to trouble her. Early in January
the menses reappeared, with considerable abdominal pains, and the headache and vertigo had
disappeared altogether. Thereafter menses appeared regularly and copiously. From Dr.
Eidherr's account no improvement appears to have been effected in the power of vision. Dr.
George Royal (of Des Moines, Iowa) records another use of this drug. A medical man had
suffered from soreness of the heel for over three months. The soreness seemed to be in the
bone, and was < sitting or standing. Not so much
noticed on walking. Rhus, Kali bi., and Phos. ac. had done no good. Cycl.
30 cured in a week. It also cured, in three days, a case almost identically similar. The
only < here was on standing, Cycl.
has cured migraine with scintillations after the failure of Iris v.
In the case recorded the headache increased as the vision returned, the head seemed about to
burst (Kali bi.) Itching, pricking < at night in bed. Many symptoms are <
by rest, > on walking about. Sitting < menstrual flow. Drawing shoulders forward <, drawing them backward >
twinges in back. Many symptoms are < at night. Open
air <, cold water >
headache. > From moistening diseased parts and from
bathing. < From eating at night.