SARSAPARILLA OFFICINALIS

HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA by William BOERICKE, M.D. Presented by Médi-T

Remedy Origin / Source
Natural

Clinical Applications

Complementary: Merc; Sep .

Related Remedies
Berb Lycop Nat m Petrol Sassafras Saururus-Lizard's tail--(Irritation of kidneys, bladder, prostate and urinary passages. Painful and difficult micturition cystitis with strangury). Cucurbita citrellus-Water-melon. Infusion of the seed acts promptly in painful urination with constriction and backache, relieves pain and stimulates flow Antidote: Bell.

Key Symptoms & Indications

  • Renal colic; marasmus and periosteal pains due to venereal disease. Eruptions following hot weather and vaccinations; boils, and eczema. Urinary symptoms well marked.

Mental & Emotional Symptoms

Despondent, sensitive, easily offended, ill humored and taciturn.

Physical Symptoms

Head

Pains cause depression . Shooting pain from above right temporal region. Pains from occiput to eyes . Words reverberate in ear to the root of nose. Periosteal pains due to venereal disease. Influenza. Scalp sensitive. Eruptions on face and upper lip . Moist eruption on scalp. Crusta lactea beginning in face.

Mouth

Tongue white; aphthæ; salivation ; metallic taste; no thirst. Fetid breath.

Abdomen

Rumbling and fermentation. Colic and backache at same time . Much flatus; cholera infantum.

Urinary

Urine scanty, slimy, flaky, sandy, bloody . Gravel. Renal colic. Severe pain at conclusion of urination . Urine dribbles while sitting . Bladder distended and tender. Child screams before and while passing urine . Sand on diaper. Renal colic and dysuria in infants. Pain from right kidney downward . Tenesmus of bladder; urine passes in thin, feeble stream. Pain at meatus.

Male

Bloody, seminal emissions. Intolerable stench on genitals. Herpetic eruption on genitals. Itching on scrotum and perineum. Syphilis; squamous eruption and bone pains.

Female

Nipples small, withered, retracted . Before menstruation, itching and humid eruption of forehead . Menses late and scanty. Moist eruption in right groin before menses.

Skin

Emaciated, shriveled, lies in folds ( Abrot; Sanic ), dry, flabby. Herpetic eruptions; ulcers. Rash from exposure to open air; dry, itching; comes on in spring ; becomes crusty. Rhagades; skin cracked on hands and feet. Skin hard, indurated. Summer cutaneous affections.

Extremities

Paralytic, tearing pains. Trembling of hands and feet. Burning on sides of fingers and toes. Onychia, ulceration around ends of fingers, cutting sensation under nails. Rheumatism, bone pains; worse at night. Deep rhagades on fingers and toes; burn under nails. Tetter on hands; ulceration around ends of fingers ( Psorin ). Cutting sensation under nails ( Petrol ). Rheumatic pains after gonorrhœa.

Modalities (Better / Worse)

Worse (Aggravation)

, dampness at night, after urinating, when yawning, in spring, before menses

Better (Amelioration)

No specific amelioration factors listed.

Mentions in Classic Materia Medicas

Explore detailed descriptions for this remedy across famous historical textbooks:

SARSAPARILLA OFFICINALIS

Smilax (SARSAPARILLA)

Renal colic; marasmus and periosteal pains due to venereal disease. Eruptions following hot weather and vaccinations; boils, and eczema. Urinary symptoms well marked.

Mind

Despondent, sensitive, easily offended, ill humored and taciturn.

Head

Pains cause depression. Shooting pain from above right temporal region. Pains from occiput to eyes. Words reverberate in ear to the root of nose. Periosteal pains due to venereal disease. Influenza. Scalp sensitive. Eruptions on face and upper lip. Moist eruption on scalp. Crusta lactea beginning in face.

Mouth

Tongue white; aphthæ; salivation; metallic taste; no thirst. Fetid breath.

Abdomen

Rumbling and fermentation. Colic and backache at same time. Much flatus; cholera infantum.

Urinary

Urine scanty, slimy, flaky, sandy, bloody. Gravel. Renal colic. Severe pain at conclusion of urination. Urine dribbles while sitting. Bladder distended and tender. Child screams before and while passing urine. Sand on diaper. Renal colic and dysuria in infants. Pain from right kidney downward. Tenesmus of bladder; urine passes in thin, feeble stream. Pain at meatus.

Male

Bloody, seminal emissions. Intolerable stench on genitals. Herpetic eruption on genitals. Itching on scrotum and perineum. Syphilis; squamous eruption and bone pains.

Female

Nipples small, withered, retracted. Before menstruation, itching and humid eruption of forehead. Menses late and scanty. Moist eruption in right groin before menses.

Skin

Emaciated, shriveled, lies in folds (Abrot; Sanic), dry, flabby. Herpetic eruptions; ulcers. Rash from exposure to open air; dry, itching; comes on in spring; becomes crusty. Rhagades; skin cracked on hands and feet. Skin hard, indurated. Summer cutaneous affections.

Extremities

Paralytic, tearing pains. Trembling of hands and feet. Burning on sides of fingers and toes. Onychia, ulceration around ends of fingers, cutting sensation under nails. Rheumatism, bone pains; worse at night. Deep rhagades on fingers and toes; burn under nails. Tetter on hands; ulceration around ends of fingers (Psorin). Cutting sensation under nails (Petrol). Rheumatic pains after gonorrhœa.

Modalities

Worse, dampness at night, after urinating, when yawning, in spring, before menses.

Relationship

Complementary: Merc; Sep.

Compare: Berb; Lycop; Nat m; Petrol; Sassafras; Saururus-Lizard's tail--(Irritation of kidneys, bladder, prostate and urinary passages. Painful and difficult micturition; cystitis with strangury). Cucurbita citrellus-Water-melon. Infusion of the seed acts promptly in painful urination with constriction and backache, relieves pain and stimulates flow

Antidote: Bell.

Dose

First to sixth potency.

Sarsaparilla.

Wild Liquorice. The rhizome of several species of Smilax. (The Officinal Sarsæ radix is imported from Jamaica.) N. O. Smilaceæ (by some classed as a sub-order of the Liliaceæ). Triturations and tincture of the dried rhizome.
Clinical

Asthma. Bladder, affections of. Bones, affections of. Breast, scirrhus of. Bright's disease. Calculi. Climaxis. Constipation. Dysmenia. Dyspepsia. Dysuria. Enuresis. Eruptions. Eyes, affections of. Faintness. Glands, enlarged. Gonorrhœa. Gout. Gravel. Hands, chapped. Headache. Hernia. Herpes; of prepuce. Hiccough. Intermittents. Marasmus. Masturbation, effects of. Melancholia. Mercury, abuse of. Mycosis. Nipples, retracted. Plica polonica. Renal colic. Rhagades. Rheumatism; gonorrhœal. Seborrhœa. Spermatic cords, swelling of. Spermatorrhœa. Strangury. Syphilis. Ulcers. Warts.

Characteristics

The dried root or rhizome of Sarsaparilla, as imported, is of the thickness of a goose quill, many feet in length, reddish brown, scentless, mucilaginous in taste, feebly bitterish, faintly acrid. According to Milne it is "diaphoretic, tonic, alterative. . . . It is given in scrofula and secondary syphilis; and the concomitants of these diseases, such as ulcers, cutaneous eruptions, nodes, indurated glands, caries, necroses, articular swellings, and rheumatism, often improve under a protracted course of it." Some, he adds, "think it a kind of restorative after an exhausting course of Mercury." This well summarises the ancient reputation of Sars. as a "blood purifier," which Hahnemann's proving has amplified and put on a fixed scientific basis. Sars. meets the sycotic as well as the psoric (scrofulous) and syphilitic constitution; and it is "restorative" after over-dosing with Merc. because it is a homœopathic antidote to Merc. The chief localities of the action of Sars. are: The urinary organs; genitals; rectum; skin and bones; right lower extremity; right lower side; inner semilateral head. In the urinary sphere there are symptoms which are very severe and also peculiar: There is great pain at end of micturition, just as the urine ceases to flow; inability to pass water freely except in the standing position, when sitting it only dribbles; excessive pain in urethra which may run back into abdomen; passage of gravel which looks like grey sand. Many cases of renal colic and dysuria in infants with passage of sand have been cured with Sars. Gonorrhœa and the effect of suppressed gonorrhœa have also been cured with it; herpes preputialis; spermatorrhœa, with swollen cords. In the female generative sphere it has many symptoms of painful and disordered menstruation. A peculiar symptom is "moist eruption in right groin before menses." There are moist eruptions also on scrotum and thighs of the male, and offensive odours about genitals in both sexes. The semen may be bloody. In all cases if the other symptoms are associated with the peculiar urinary symptoms of Sars., this will be a strong corroborative indication. The skin is severely affected by Sars. One of its popular uses is for "clearing the complexion." When it succeeds it is by virtue of its homœopathicity, for I have seen a very extensive crop of blotches produced by it in a young lady. Sars. produces herpetic eruptions in all parts, and tettery eruptions, moist and dry. Rhagades. Itch-like eruptions prone to appear in spring. Itching eruption on forehead during menses. It causes great emaciation, causing the skin to be shrivelled and lie in folds. It is suited to children with faces like old people and enlarged abdomens; to dark-haired persons of lithic or sycotic diathesis. Farrington gives these indications: (1) Sycotic eruption, little spots scarcely raised above the skin, often scaling a little, but looking like the roseola of syphilis and itching intolerably, < in spring. (2) Moist eruption on scalp, the pus from which causes inflammation of any part it touches. (3) Sycotic headache, beginning at back of head, coming forward and settling at root of nose, with swelling of nose. (4) Moist eruption about genitals or between scrotum and thighs.Sars. has many symptoms relative to the female breast, and scirrhus of the breast has been cured with it. The nipples are soft, unexcitable; they are retracted and cannot be made to come out. Retraction of the nipples is a suspicious sign even when there is no appearance of tumour; and Sars. should be helpful in patients of cancerous history when this condition is present. This shrivelling of the nipples is part of the shrivelling, withering, wrinkling, and hanging in folds which characterises the skin generally. Burnett (H. W., xv. 62) records the case of Miss X., 32, whom he found ill in bed and in great pain. There was vomiting of bitter matter, diarrhœa, and fainting, the initial stage of a painful period. Conjunctivæ yellow, and apparently a sharp upset of the liver. Card. m. Ø removed the pains and vomiting; Chel. 1 relieved tenderness of the liver which remained. The patient had had painful menses for twenty years, that is, continuously from the commencement, except one year when at school at Tunbridge Wells. She used to begin, generally early in the morning, with bitter vomiting; diarrhœa and fainting fits, with exceedingly cold perspiration; the pain in back, thighs, and hypogastrium she described as dreadful. She had to lie down the first day, the second day the pain continued still very bad, and went off on the third. The left nipple was considerably retracted, arising from a fall when patient was a little child, and in addition to the above-named symptoms she had severe pain in left breast extending down left arm, and the breast was so tender that she would often hold her hand in front of it to ward off any contact. Twenty-four powders, each containing Sars 30 gtt. i., were ordered, one at bedtime. The next flow was painless; but the breast was as painful as ever. Twelve doses of Sul. 30 were given in as many days, and then Sars. 30 again. The painful menstruation remained cured, but the breast was unchanged. Twenty-four powders were now ordered, the first, twelfth, and eighteenth containing each ten globules of Sars. 100, the rest unmedicated. Patient reported: The first two or three weeks she thought she had taken a severe cold, as she had such a peculiar pain between the shoulders as if the flesh were taken hold of and twisted round. After a few days it got better, and "there has been scarcely any pain in the part since." The retraction of the nipple seemed to Burnett a little less. With the same remedy Skinner (ibid.) cured many cases of retraction or flattening of the nipple in nursing women. On two occasions with high potencies of Sars. he enabled a lady to nurse her child when it was utterly hopeless without the simillimum. Peculiar Sensations are: As if in a dream. As of a great weight in head. Buzzing as if a large bell had been struck in head. As if he had been hit with a hammer on top of head. As if something pressing on head. As if gauze spread over left eye. As if a grain of sand in eye. As of a needle pricking point of nose. Face as if bruised. Jaw as if being broken. As if he had eaten nothing. [Sars. has the "sinking" sensation of the great antipsorics.] As if diarrhœa would come on. As if bowels were pressed out. As if bound down to bed by a sort of suction. As if breath were stopped by a spasm. Breast-bone as if bruised. As if chest were too short. As if tips of fingers ulcerated, or as if salt were put on a wound. Limbs as if paralysed. There is general sensitiveness. Pains shoot in different directions. Anxiety accompanies the pains of Sars.; and the pains = depression. The symptoms are < by touch, pressure, tight clothes, scratching. Scratching = itching to begin in another place = eruption on forehead to become humid. Rest >, motion <. Lying down < asthmatic breathing. Sitting <. Standing > (difficult micturition). Stooping = pains from occiput to forehead. Walking <. < Going up (or down) stairs. Many symptoms are < on moving. < In spring. Warmth >. Warm diet <. Cold diet >. Warm room < vertigo. Entering cold air from warm room = rash. Cold air > pain in molars. Cold, wet weather <. Washing <. Chilliness <. Seminal emission < dim sight. Bread <. Yawning <.

Relations

Antidoted by: Bell., Merc. It antidotes: Merc. Compatible: Cep., Hep., Pho., Rhus, Sep., Sul. Complementary: Merc., Sep. Compare: In sycosis; warts, Thuj., Nit. ac. Herpes, Nat. m., Petr. "Gone" feeling, Sep. Emaciation, Abrot., Iod., Nat., Sanic. Dry, flabby skin, Bar. c., Op. Pain at end of urination, Berb., Equis., Med., Thuj. Urine passed without sensation (unknown to patient), Caust. Sand on diaper; child screams before and whilst urinating, Brx., Lyc. Excruciating pains from right kidney downwards, Lyc., Ocim. Nipples withered, unexcitable, Sil. Itching eruption on forehead during menses, Eug. j., Sang., Pso. Bloody emissions, Led. Merc., < Going up or down stairs; > on level, Can. s. (Brx. < going down stairs). Faintness during or connected with stool, Ap., Nx. m., Pul., Spi., Ver. (with scanty stool, Crot. t., Dulc., Ox. ac., Pet., Sul.). Swelling of spermatic cords from unrequited sexual excitement, Mag. mur. Antidotes to Merc., Bell., Camph., Carb. v., Chi., Dulc., Electric., Hep., Hyo. (loss of voice), Lach., Lyc., Op., Mez., Nit. ac., Sep., Sil., Sul. Stench on genitals, Merc., Sanic. (Sanic. of fish brine), Plica polonica; right side; distension after eating a little, Lyc. > Cold diet, Pho. > Loosening cravat, Lach. Flickering before eyes with headache, Ir. v., K. bi.

1. Mind

Anxiety, with trembling of the feet.The mental depression is caused by the pains; anxiety also occurs after seminal emissions.Thinking about the food he has eaten = nausea.Despondency, gloominess, amounting to despair.Moroseness and ill-humour, with inclination to work, but unfitness for exertion.Irascibility and susceptibility.Fickleness (changeable disposition).Impatient; thinks she cannot bear the headache; child cannot bear the itching.

2. Head

Vertigo after gazing fixedly on an object for some time.Vertigo, with nausea and sour risings.Heaviness in head.Dull, stupid feeling, cannot keep mind fixed on study.Staggers, falls forward in open air.Headache with nausea and sour vomiting.Lancinating or pressive headache, or else pressive and lancinating at same time.Pressing and stitching pains in l. side of head.Semilateral spasmodic pains in head, as if head were squeezed in a vice, with cloudiness of eyes or flickering, necessity to lie down, and vibration in brain at every word that is uttered.Inner semilateral head, either side; old neuralgic headaches.Neuralgic headache, r. side, throbbing, stitching, starting from occiput.(Headache which = jerking of head to one side and screaming.Griggs.).Sensation as of tight band around head and forehead, which is very painful; as if the hat were too tight, has to remove it often and involuntarily, but without relief.Sound in the head as if a bell were striking, when talking.Throbbing pains in head.Noise and buzzing in head.Pressive and incisive, or pressive, lancinating drawing and tearing pains in exterior of head, < by touch and by walking.Seborrhœa cured by decoction (R. T. C.).Sensibility of scalp.Falling off of hair.Plica polonica.

3. Eyes

Pains in eyes, caused by daylight.Aching in eyes, esp. in evening when reading by candle-light.Shootings in eyes.Burning sensation in eyes and lids.Stinging in eyes on closing lids, violent pain when closed eyes are pressed on.Quivering of r. upper lid.Itch-like eruption on lids.Agglutination of lids in morning.Red stripe from cornea to outer canthus.Internal canthi blue and swollen.Cloudiness before eyes, like a fog; < after emissions.A red colour is reflected from white paper in evening.Flickering before eyes with headache.Halo round candle.

4. Ears

Shootings in ears.Shooting pains from l. ear to root of nose.Contraction and pressure in ears.Burning, itching scabs on lobes of ear.Tinkling and ringing in ears.

5. Nose

Epistaxis.Scabious eruption upon, under, and in nose.Dry coryza and obstruction of nose.Very thick mucus in nose.Base of nose and eyes swollen.R. nostril stopped up and scabby.Pain in nose, inflamed spots on septum.

6. Face

Face yellow, wrinkled, old-looking.Pimples.Facial eruption.Itching eruption on forehead, with burning sensation, and oozing after having scratched.Rough, pale-red spots on forehead.Thick scabs on the face (like milk crust).Rigidity and tension in masseters and maxillary joints.Herpes on upper lip.Purulent and itching vesicles on chin.

7. Teeth

Toothache, with drawing tearings, from a cold current of air or from cold drinks.Upper teeth sensitive, set on edge.Tearing in gums.Gums swollen, with pain as from excoriation.

8. Mouth

Dryness of mouth.Aphthæ on tongue and palate.Offensive breath.

9. Throat

Sore throat (r. side), with shooting pain during deglutition.Spasmodic pressure at throat, like strangulation, with obstructed respiration; must loosen cravat.Dryness and roughness in throat, esp. in morning.Accumulation of viscid mucus in throat.Trichotomous ulcers after suppression of plica polonica.

10. Appetite

Want of appetite.Bitter, or acid and clammy, or else sweetish, metallic, and herbaceous taste.Bread has a bitter taste.Insipidity of food.After a meal sensation of emptiness in stomach, as while fasting, or else disgust when merely thinking of what has been eaten.After eating stomach has no sensation, feels as if he had eaten nothing.After eating a little, distended as if he had eaten much.< From warm diet, > from cold.Drinking water = vomiting.Thirst, esp. for water, also in morning.

11. Stomach

Risings and regurgitations, esp. during and after a meal, generally bitter or sour.Belching; with diarrhœa.Hiccough 6 p.m.Frequent or continued nausea, with fruitless inclination to vomit.Sour vomitings.Constrictive pains in stomach.Aching at pit of stomach.Heat and burning sensation in stomach, esp. after eating bread.

12. Abdomen

Contusive pain in the l. hypochondrium.Shootings in the l. hypochondrium.Great sensibility of the abdomen to external pressure.Constrictive and spasmodic pains in the intestines.Cutting pains, esp. in the umbilical region.Shootings in sides of abdomen, esp. in l. side.Severe tension in r. groin.Pinching in l. groin.Hernia.Soreness in bend of r. groin on appearance of menses.Sensation of coldness, or heat and burning sensation in abdomen.Sensation of emptiness and borborygmi in abdomen.Rumbling and fermenting in abdomen; expulsion of much fetid flatus.Inertia of intestines.

13. Stool and Anus

Hard, retarded, and scanty fæces, often with urgent want to evacuate.Painful, difficult evacuations, with contractive pains in the abdomen and violent downward pressure.Obstinate constipation, with frequent want to urinate.Pitchy, sticky, adhesive stools.Blood with Stool.Loose, acrid, corrosive evacuations, with pains in abdomen.Fainting during an evacuation.Pain as from excoriation, and burning itching in anus.Wakened in night with sore pain in anus, which changes into a (burning) itching which lasts all day.

14. Urinary Organs

Diminished secretion of urine.Frequent discharge of pale, copious urine.Tenesmus, with pressure on bladder, and discharge of a white and turbid matter, mixed with mucus.Frequent and ineffectual want to urinate, or with scanty emission.Frequent urination with hard stool.Burning while urine passes with discharge of elongated flakes.Frequent and profuse emission of pale urine, day and night, often without any sensation in urinary organs.Turbid urine, like clay water.Fiery, scanty, red urine.Thread-like flakes in urine.Blood in urine towards the end of an emission (after which the pain, when urinating, abates).Urine charged with gravel or small pebbles.(Nephritic calculi.).Where the patient has gravel, and there is considerable deposit in the urine which looks like grey sand; also pus in urine.Great pain just as the urine ceases to flow; excessive pain in urethra which may run back into abdomen.The infant cries before and during micturition, passes large quantities of sand.Can pass urine only when standing; when he sits it dribbles.Burning sensation in urethra during every urination.(Burning in urethra with incontinence of urine, < in daytime, < when urine is high-coloured, and < after drinking beer.Much scalding up urethra while urinating, urine high-coloured with lithates, enuresis day and night.R. T. C.).Cramps in bladder, with contractive pain.Stones in the bladder.Discharge of pus from the urethra, as in gonorrhœa.Jerking sensation along male urethra.Pain at meatus urinarius with women.

15. Male Sexual Organs

Fetid exhalation from genital organs.Inflammation and redness of glans.(Blennorrhœa).Herpes on the prepuce.Desire for coition, with frequent and painful pollutions.Bloody pollutions; spermatic cords swollen, sexual excitement makes them ache and sensitive.Swelling of cords from unrequited sexual excitement.Bad effects from gonorrhœa suppressed by Mercury.Old dry sycotic warts remaining after mercurial treatment for gouty pains.

16. Female Sexual Organs

Catamenia retarded, scanty, and acrid; very copious, even to hæmorrhage (in an old maid).During menses, want to urinate, excoriation between thighs, pinchings in abdomen, and squeezing, as if by a claw, in loins and pit of stomach.Dysmenorrhœa, began in morning, with bitter vomiting, diarrhœa, and fainting fits, with exceedingly cold sweats; l. breast so tender held her hand in front of it to avoid contact.Mucous leucorrhœa.Leucorrhœa: on walking; pain at meatus urinarius after urinating.Climaxis: asthma < lying down; back pains < by pressure.Suppuration of breasts.Nipples retracted; shrivelled, insensitive, not irritable.

17. Respiratory Organs

Violent cough from a tickling sensation of ulceration in gullet, or from a roughness in throat.Short and obstructed respiration.Violent dyspnœa and choking from a sensation of constriction in throat, and which forces the removal of all clothing from throat and chest.

18. Chest

Spasmodic oppression of chest.Frequent recurrence of deep respiration.Sensation as if a foreign body had stopped in the back on taking a full inspiration.Pressure on chest, often with shortness of breath.Pressive pain on sternum, < by touching it.Shooting in sides of chest, which often forces patient to bend double.Tensive pain in exterior of chest, as from contraction, on rising up.

19. Heart

Palpitation of the heart.

20. Neck and Back

Painful pressure and tension in back and nape of neck, with lancinations on least movement of trunk or head.Lancinations between shoulder-blades and in muscles of neck.Stitches in back through into chest on least motion.Swelling on one side of neck, painful to touch.Contusive pain in loins, esp. while stooping, and afterwards.Pains from small of back down spermatic cords; < at night and from motion; after emissions.Tingling in loins.Tensive pain from loins to hips on least movement.

21. Limbs

Paralytic tearing in all joints and limbs, often accompanied by trembling of hands and feet, painful tearings in head, and pinchings in abdomen.Rigidity and immobility of limbs.Lassitude in the hands and feet.

22. Upper Limbs

Tearings and pressive shootings in arms, forearms, and joints of hands and fingers (principally on motion).Sweating of hands.Herpes on hands.Numbness of fingers.Pain in tips of fingers (bruised and sore), as from subcutaneous ulceration.Purulent vesicles on fingers.Deep rhagades in skin of fingers (with burning pains).

23. Lower Limbs

Affections of any kind in general, appearing in r. lower extremity; r. lower side (H. N. G.).Pressive tearing and shooting in thighs, knees, and legs.Lassitude in thighs and knee-joints.Swelling and stiffness of knees, with shootings.Red, herpetic spots on calves.Rigidity of legs, as from contraction.Cramps in legs and calves of the legs.Drawing tearing in r. big toe.Painful pressive throbbing and throbbing-shooting inner side r. sole, later on whole sole when sitting.Painful sensibility of soles.Tension and swelling of feet, with heat and redness.Coldness of feet, esp. before going to bed.

24. Generalities

Shooting, tearing, pressive pains.Darting, pricking sensation in bones.Paralytic tearing in all joints and limbs, often accompanied by trembling of hands and feet, painful tearings in head and pinchings in abdomen.Arthritic pains (after taking cold in the water; from suppressed gonorrhœa), with diminished secretion of urine.Rigidity and immobility of the limbs.Hot and dense swellings.Great lassitude, esp. in lower limbs.Lassitude in the hands and feet.Emaciation.The pains cause depression of spirits.

25. Skin

Itching, sometimes over whole body, esp. in evening, in bed, and in morning when rising.Red and dry pimples, which itch only when body is warm.Miliary eruption on going into fresh air from a warm room.Nettle-rash.Fine rash on skin of forehead.Exanthema like milk crust.Purulent vesicles.Ulcers after abuse of Mercury.Skin slow to heal.Herpes on almost all parts of body (esp. on prepuce).Warts.Many little warts.(Horses lose hair with eruptions.).Shrivelled skin.Great emaciation, the skin becomes shrivelled or it lies in folds.Deep, burning, painful rhagades (on fingers).

26. Sleep

Complaints concomitant to yawning.< When yawning.Sleep early in evening.Nocturnal sleeplessness and frequent waking.Frightful dreams with frequent starts.

27. Fever

Shiverings night and day.Chilliness predominating, day and night).Coldness, even near the fire, over whole body, except face and chest, but principally in feet.Rigor, mostly in forenoon, running from feet upwards.Heat in the evening, with ebullition of blood, palpitation of heart, and perspiration (only) on forehead.

Sarsaparilla officinalis

Sarsaparilla officinalis

Generalities

• This remedy was used as restorative and blood purifier after exhausting course of mercury.

• It meets syphilitic, sycotic and psoric constitutions.

• Its chief centre of action is on the genito-urinary organs; skin; bones; right lower extremity.

• It is suited to thin; frail; shrivelled, old looking persons, esp. children with enlarged abdomen.

• Marasmus; emaciation.

• Parts feel screwed together.

• Nightly bone pains.

• Pains shoot in different directions and are accompanied by depression and anxiety.

• As if salt were put upon the wound.

• Lithic diathesis, itching eruptions; following hot weather and vaccinations.

• Very sore gouty nodes.

- Rheumatism.

• Clears the complexion.

Worse

• At the close of urination.

- Spring.

• Cold, wet.

• Mercury.

• Night.

• Suppressed gonorrhoea.

• Yawning.

• Motion.

• Going up and down stairs.

Better

• Uncovering neck and chest.

• Standing.

Mind

• Depression and anxiety from pain.

• Thinking about the food he has been eating causes nausea.

• Easily offended.

• Taciturn.

• Despondent, gloomy, without any cause.

Head

• Pains from occiput to eyes, or to root of nose.

• As if a ball was striking in head when talking.

• As of a painful tight band around the head, removes the hat involuntarily without amel..

Eyes

• Foggy vision agg. seminal emission.

• Itch like eruptions on eyelids.

Ears

• Words reverberate in.

Nose

• Stoppage for years.

• Swelling at the root of nose.

Face

• Eruptions on face and upper lips; agg. during menses.

• Yellow, wrinkled, old looking.

Mouth

• Aphthae; salivation.

• Offensive breath.

• Pain in jaw agg. bending head back.

Stomach

• After a meal, sensation of emptiness, as while fasting or else nausea or disgust when thinking of what has been eaten.

• Drinking water causes vomiting.

Abdomen

• Colic and backache at the same time, with diarrhoea.

• Rumbling with sensation of emptiness.

• Sand in stools.

• Moist eruptions and soreness in groins before menses.

• Cholera infantum.

• Obstinate constipation with frequent want to urinate.

Urinary

• Painful urination, extorts screams agg. at the close of urination.

• Can pass urine only when standing; during the day but at night urine flows freely in bed; it dribbles while sitting.

• Urging to urinate before menses.

• Passes drops of blood or white acrid material at the close of urination.

• Sand on diaper.

• Air passes from bladder during urination.

• Crusty urinary sediment.

- Pain in urethra going back to abdomen.

• Jerking along the urethra.

• Renal colic (R).

• Pus in urine.

Male

• Genitals moist and offensive.

• Semen bloody.

• Spermatic cord, painful after emission; swollen after unrequited sexual excitement.

• Herpes preputialis.

• Jerking along urethra.

• Itching on scrotum and perineum.

Female

• Nipples retracted or cracked, small and shrivelled.

• Menses, late and scanty.

• Dysmenorrhoea, characterized by retracted nipples, or sore breast.

Neck and back

• Emaciation of neck.

• Pain from small of back down the spermatic cord; after emission.

• Backache with colic.

Extremities

• Cutting under nails.

• Deep cracks on fingers and toes agg. sides.

• Ulcerated finger tips.

• Affections of any kind in general, in right lower extremity.

Skin

• Emaciated, shrivelled, lies in folds; blotchy, hard.

• Itching scaly spots.

• Irritating pus.

• Copper coloured eruptions.

• Ecchymoses, in old age.

• Oedema.

• New skin cracks and burns.

Sleep

• Yawning; complaints concomitant to yawning.

Complementary

• Mcrc; Sep.

Fever

• Chill starts from region of bladder, to back.

Related

• Calc; Petr.

Sarsaparilla

Urinary Organs:

Severe pain at the conclusion of urinating.

Urinary Organs:

Urine dribbles while sitting, standing it passes freely.

Urinary Organs:

Can only pass urine when standing.

Urinary Organs:

Painful urination; child cries before urine starts.

Generalities:

Great emaciation; the skin shrivels and lies in folds.

Sarsaparilla

Generalities

: Sarsaparilla is suitable in low forms of chronic disease, especially in complex states resulting from mixed miasms; especially in cases of sycosis and syphilis; cases made complex by Mercury, sycosis syphilis, and psora. Weakness stamps itself on the whole economy, as in Merc., Lach. and other remedies.

Weakness

: The tissues become flabby, refuse to heal when injured, ulcerate from slight causes. After an injury an open sore remains and is indolent or becomes phagedenic and spreads like. Ars., Lach and Merc. cor.

Weakness over the whole body; a paralytic feeling. In the mental sphere it manifests itself in a dazed state, he is unable to comprehend, the mind is slow, it is a weakness bordering on imbecility, which in the end it may reach. Weakness of the mind and the tissues.

All the organs are slowed down, weak, sluggish, become congested. Weakness and dilatation of the veins, tendency to form varices in the limbs, varicose ulcers, hemorrhoids, varicose veins of the face and body.

The face is often red and discolored in patches. When the circulation is feeble the parts turn blue, over the shin bones; on the backs of the feet, toes; blue spots like approaching senile gangrene, Useful in old age when black and blue spots appear on the backs of the hands and elsewhere.

Moist, itching, scurfy, and scabby eruptions. The skin of the backs and the palms of the hands becomes thick and indurated with a bran like scurf resembling psoriasis, intermingling with blue spots.

This remedy has many features as to cold and heat. The use of heat internally aggravates all complaints, but there is an external coldness relieved by heat; taking warm food and drink aggravates; wants cold food, but heat applied externally is grateful.

Secalealso produces great weakness of tissue, with venous stasis ulceration and gangrene. But the two remedies, though similar in appearance, differ in regard to heat and cold.

The stomach is in a most miserable condition. Flatulence, continuous nausea, eructations and vomiting of sour food. Always complaining of fermentation and uneasiness of the stomach as if he had overeaten or as if the food had spoiled; digestion is slow and feeble.

Organs become tumid and congested. The throat, tongue, and mouth look as if about to ulcerate; purple spots look as if they would break down, but remain intact for weeks and months.

Oedema of tissues, of lower extremities, pitting on pressure dropsical conditions; Bright's disease. Suitable in old syphilitics whose complaints have been suppressed by Mercury; mind and body in a state of prostration; paralytic weakness of the lower extremities, no endurance; the heart palpitates on exertion; suffocation on the least exertion; always tired; ulcers here and there on the body; the skin is flabby and full of distress at night. Bone-pains worse at night. Sars. antidotes the Merc. and establishes reaction.

Children

: Marasmus of children from hereditary syphilis; emaciation about the neck; dry, purple, copper-like eruptions; no assimilation.

The child is always passing sand in its diaper, yellowish, or whitish like chalk; the child screams when it is about to urinate, because it remembers how painful the passing of urine is. Sometimes at the close of urination it gives forth an unearthly yell. This symptom is found in old broken down constitutions, a clutch in the bladder just as it shuts down causes him to carry out; pain at the end of urination.

Old debauches, enfeebled by wine and women, with weak heart, lungs, brain, and bladder, emaciated and shrivelled. Prematurely old, a man of forty looks to be eighty, feet swollen, totters about on a staff. Nux will palliate in early periods of breakdown, but the time comes when he is weak in body and mind and must have such remedies as Sars., Lach., Secale, etc.

Children emaciated; face looks like old people; big belly; dry, flabby skin; mushy passages. Eruptions appear in the Spring. All the venous remedies are braced up by Winter and go down in the Spring, as Lach., Secale and Hamam.

Urinary

: Catarrh of the bladder and kidneys.

Involuntary urination of children at night in bed, in feeble children. There is a spasmodic condition of the sphincter when sitting to urinate, which makes the act impossible in that position, but when he stands up the urine flows freely.

This is especially important when the symptom occurs in women, because they have great difficulty in urinating while standing. Copious urine at night; he floods the bed, but during the day be can pass it only when standing.

It is fifteen years since I reported the following case and the man has remained well ever since:

"A man, aet. 52, addicted to whiskey for years, had a copious flow of blood from the bowels some four months ago; the exertion of walking a few blocks causes suffocation; after the loss of blood, feet began to swell, both limbs to middle of thigh very oedematous, has had two or three nondescript chills; a few months ago, sudden paralytic weakness of left arm and leg, passed off in three hours leaving a numbness in left hand and a tearing pain in left side of face and head; no appetite; bloody discharge with stools; feels as if in a dream all the time; loss of memory; face covered with varicose veins and very red; general venous stasis; feeling on the top of the head as if struck with a hammer; must pass urine several times in a night; urine thick and cloudy after standing; but clear when first passed; has bad much worry from financial troubles; cannot pass urine, when sitting at stool, but flows freely when he is standing, albumen in the urine."

When Sars. can take such a man, 52 years old, and restore him to health it is worth considering.

"Jerking sensation along the male urethra."

"Each time she makes water, air passes out of the urethra with a gurgling noise."

This symptom is common in catarrh of the bladder; it is caused by fermentation of the mucus and consequent formation of gas.

"Frequent ineffectual urging to urinate with diminished secretion,"

This medicine has many times dissolved a stone in the bladder; it so changes the character of the urine that it is no, longer possible for the stone to build up, and it grows smaller by the continual dissolving off from the surface.

I have seen the high colored, bloody, and mucous urine cleared up after the administration of Sars., but on standing, the sand would appear. When the urine again becomes cloudy, it is time for another dose. The urine holds in solution, that is, actually dissolves the substance of the stone.

Some years ago there was an old man upon whom a surgeon was expected to operate. They had sounded his bladder and said that he had a stone, but he came to the conclusion that he would not permit the operation. In spite of their warnings he sent for me and I took charge of his case. His symptoms called for Sars. The enormous amount of sand he passed in the next year was wonderful. It mitigated the catarrh and kept the bladder comfortable. At the end of a year, after a night of great suffering, he passed a stone the size of a pea. He passed several small stones after that and then returned to health.

A young man passed so much crusty deposit that I ordered him to use one commode and let it settle, pouring off the urine. At the end of a month there was a layer a sixteenth of an inch thick. This patient under Sars. had no stone. The sand continued to pass, but was held in solution and deposited only on cooling. In the course of time it disappeared. He was of a gouty nature and this was relieved.

Sars. has gouty nodes with extreme soreness. After the remedy has been given, there is a deposit of sand in the urine, which shows the good action of the remedy and should not be stopped.

"Obstinate constipation with violent urging to urinate; urging top stool with contraction of the intestines; excessive pressure from above downward, as if the bowels were pressing out; during stool, violent tearing, cutting, in the rectum.

Stool small, with much bearing down."

"Old, dry, sycotic warts remaining after Mercurial treatment for gouty pains."

Sarsaparilla.

Wild Liquorice. (Smilaceae)

For dark-haired persons, lithic or sycotic diathesis. Great emaciation: skin becomes shriveled or lies in folds (Abrot., Iod., Nat. m., Sanic.). Headache and periosteal pains generally from mercury, syphilis or suppressed gonorrhoea. In children; face like old people; enlarged abdomen; dry, flabby skin (Bar. c., Op.). Herpetic eruptions on all parts of body; ulcers, after abuse of mercury, in syphillis. Rash from exposure to open air; dry, itch-like eruptions, prone to appear in spring; become crusty. Severe, almost unbearable pain at conclusion of urination (Berb., Equis., Med., Thuja). Passage of gravel or small calculi; renal colic; stone in bladder; bloody urine. Urine: bright and clear but irritating; scanty, slimy, flaky, sandy, copious, passed without sensation (Caust.); deposits white sand. Painful distention and tenderness in bladder; urine dribbles while sitting, standing, passes freely; air passes from urethra. Sand in urine or on diaper; child screams before and while passing it (Bor., Lyc.). Gonorrhoea checked by cold, wet weather, or mercury, followed by rheumatism. Neuralgia or renal colic; excruciating pains from right kidney downwards (Lyc.). Intolerable stench on genital organs; fluid pollutions; bloody seminal emission (Led., Mer.). Retraction of nipples; nipples are small, withered, unexcitable (Sil.). Rheumatism, bone pains after mercury or checked gonorrhoea; pains < at night, in damp weather or after taking cold in water. Itching eruption on forehead during menses (Eug. j., Sang., Psor.). Rhagades: skin cracked on hands and feet; pain and burning particularly on sides of fingers and toes; skin hard, indurated.

Relations

. - Complementary: Merc., Sep., either of which follows well. Compare: Berb., Lyc., Nat. m., Phos. Frequently called for after abuse of Mercury.

Sarsaparilla.

Mind and Disposition.

Changeable disposition.

Morose, with inclination to work.

The mental depression is caused by the pains.

Head.

Giddiness ; when looking long at an object ; or with nausea and sour vomiting.

[5] Headache, with nausea and sour vomiting.

Stinging or pressing stinging or pulsating headache.

Sound in the head as if a bell were striking, when talking.

Sensitiveness of the scalp ; falling off of the hair.

Eyes.

Stitches in the eyes.

[10] The eyes pain from the light of day.

The internal corners of the eye have a blue color and are bloated.

The white paper looks red in the evening.

Obscuration before the eyes as from a fog.

Ears.

Burning, itching scab on the lobe of the ear.

Nose.

[15] Scabby eruption on and under the nose.

Face.

Eruption on the face like milk-crust.

Itching eruption on the forehead, with burning, and becoming, humid on scratching.

Stiffness and tension in the muscles and articulation of the jaw.

Herpes on the upper lip.

Mouth and Throat.

[20] Sensitiveness of the upper front teeth.

Tearing in the teeth from cold air and cold drink.

Spasmodic contraction of the throat with dyspnoea.

Aphthae on the tongue and on the roof of the mouth.

Dryness and roughness in the throat in the morning.

Stomach and Abdomen.

[25] Want of appetite, the thought of food causes him disgust.

Bitter eructations during and after eating.

Burning in the stomach, especially after eating bread.

After eating, the stomach has no sensation, feels as if he had eaten nothing.

Sensation of emptiness and rumbling in the abdomen.

[30] Burning (or sensation of coldness) in the abdomen.

Stool and Anus.

Difficult and painful stool, with fainting attacks.

Stool retarded, hard and insufficient.

Urinary Organs.

Frequent, inefficient urging to urinate.

Diminished secretion of urine.

[35] Tenesmus of the bladder, with discharge of white, acrid pus and mucus.

Painful constriction of the bladder.

Frequent, profuse discharge of pale urine, without any sensation in the urethra.

Burning in the urethra during every micturition.

Urine, red fiery ; turbid, containing long flakes.

[40] At the end of micturition some blood passes.

Stones in the bladder.

Sand (pale) in the urine (the infant cries before and during micturition, passes large quantities of sand).

Sexual Organs.

Men. Intolerable stench on the genital organs.

Herpes on the prepuce.

[45] Painful seminal emissions at night.

Bad effects from gonorrhoea suppressed by mercury.

Women. Menstruation too late, too scanty and acrid.

During menstruation urging to urinate ; soreness of the inside of the thighs.

Respiratory Organs.

Great shortness of breathing, compelling one to loosen the neck-cloth and vest to enable him to breathe.

[50] Dyspnoea as from a spasm.

Back.

Stitches in the back from the least motion.

Extremities.

Upper. Stitches in the joints of the arms, hands and fingers, principally on motion.

Deep rhagades on the fingers, with burning pains.

The tips of the fingers feel bruised and sore.

[55] Lower. Stitches in the legs, especially from motion.

Weakness in the thighs and knees.

Red spots on the calves.

Icy coldness of the feet.

Generalities.

Arthritic pains, after taking cold in the water, from suppressed gonorrhoea, with decreased secretion of urine.

[60] The limbs are immovable, as if paralyzed.

Trembling of the hands and feet.

Great emaciation, the skin becomes shrivelled or it lies in folds.

Fever.

Pulse accelerated (in the evening).

Chilliness predominating (day and night).

[65] Frequent shuddering, mostly in the forenoon, running from the feet upwards.

Heat in the evening, with ebullitions and palpitation of the heart.

Perspiration during the heat in the evening only on the forehead.

Sleep.

Sleeplessness at night ; awakens frequently.

Skin.

Dry, red pimples, only itching when exposed to the heat.

[70] Rash as soon as he goes from the warm room into the cold air.

Urticaria.

Herpes.

Warts.

Rhagades, deep, burning.

Ulcers, after the abuse of mercury.

Shrivelled skin.

Conditions.

[75] During the chilliness the sensations are worse, and an amelioration occurs as soon as he becomes warm.

Bad effects from the abuse of mercury.

SARSAPARILLA

REGION:
Genito-urinary organs.
Skin.
Right side; lower.

WORSE:
At close of micturition.
Spring.
Cold wet.
Mercury.
Night.
Suppressed gonorrhœa.
Yawning.

BETTER:
Uncovering neck or chest.
Standing.

Thin frail, shrivelled and old looking. Marasmus. Tendency to gravel and itching eruptions. Parts feel screwed together. Nightly bone pains. Rheumatism. Very sore, gouty nodes. Sycosis. .................... Pain depresses him. Pain from occiput to eyes or root of nose, which is swelled. Painful urination, extorts screams, > standing; < before menses; passes drops of blood or white, acrid material at close. Urine dribbles while sitting. Renal colic (r). Gassy urine. Crusty urinary sediment. Sand in the stools. Moist, foul genitals. Bloody semen. Retracted or cracked nipples. Backache with colic. Deep cracks on fingers and toes, < sides. Cutting under nails. Ulcerated finger-tips. Blotchy, hard or shrivelled skin, < about neck. Itching, scaly spots. Irritating pus. Chill starts from region of bladder; to back.

 

REMEDY RELATION

Antidotes: Bell. Merc.
Complementary: Sep.
Related: Calc-c. Petr.

Clinical Tips & Practitioner Insights

"ARSENICUM seems especially adapted to loss of vision dependent upon the use of tobacco, and has proven clinically to be of the first value in retro-bulbar neuritis."

By Dr. Norton, M.D. Retro-bulbar Neuritis

"ARSENIC ALB. is very efficacious in the 30th potency, given every half an hour, for 4 to 6 doses, for the usual colds due to change of temperature."

By Dr. Marjorie Blackie, M.D. Common cold

"ARSENIC is one of the most valuable agents which we possess in the treatment of chlorosis and anaemia, especially adapted to those cases in which iron does not agree or fails to effect."

By Dr. Bartholow Chlorosis &amp; Anaemia

"Peptic ulcer: ARSENICUM deserves to be classed in foremost rank."

By Dr. Boehr Peptic Ulcer

"For acute gastritis you cannot have a better drug than ARSENICUM."

By Dr. Hughes, L.R.C.P. Acute Gastritis

"Use ARSENICUM ALBUM high to relieve the mental distress (fear) of the dying."

By Dr. R.A.F.Jack Fear

"ARSENICUM ALBUM gives quiet and ease to the last moments of life when given in high potency."

By Dr. Boericke, M.D. Collapse - Near death

"Our experience certainly is that ARSENICUM far excels all other drugs in the treatment of idiopathic neuralgia. Such a neuralgia you often meet as a consequence of malaria or influenza but more frequently as a symptom of pure debility."

By Dr. Hughes, L.R.C.P. Idiopathic Neuralgia

"In simple, uncomplicated cases of chorea, ARSENICUM is only by far the best remedy."

By Dr. Ringer Chorea

"ARSENICUM is our most important diuretic. It is suitable in all forms of dropsy, more particularly in dropsy depending upon heart disease and oedema of the lungs. After giving ARSENICUM, a copious diuresis will sometimes set in with astonishing rapidity, after which the dropsical swelling speedily disappears. The result is most doubtful if we have only ascites to contend against, and in as much as the medicine shows its good effects in a few days itself after a few doses have been taken, it is useless to continue it for a longer period in the vain hope of eliciting good effects from it by persisting in its use."

By Dr. Bahr Dropsy

"When peptic ulcer is at pyloric end, ARSENICUM is the drug."

By Dr. Pope Peptic Ulcer

"In various advanced septic cases with persistent vomiting (and possibly diarrhoea) ARSENICUM ALBUM possesses considerable virtue. I have known it to work almost miraculously in several desperate cases of this kind."

By Dr. H.L.Northrop, M.D..,F.A.C.S., Sepsis

"As a prophylactic, ARSENIC or CEPA may be given for sometime before the expected time for the hay fever."

By Dr. Custis, M.D. Hay Fever

"In psoriasis, the first influence of ARSENIC is to make the eruption redder and more inflamed. This fact, if not known, would lead to the suspension of the medicine just when it commenced to do good; at the same time, it is unnecessary to give it in doses sufficiently large to do this."

By Dr. Ringer Psoriasis

"ARSENIC ALB. is very valuable for the weak heart which is irritable; rapid action on slightest provocation."

By Dr. H.C.Allen, M.D. Palpitation

"Angina pectoris better by standing"

By Dr. Balbir Singh (Rare Collection with Rare Medicines) Angina Pectoris

"Aphthae under the lips"

By Dr. Balbir Singh (Rare Collection with Rare Medicines) Aphthae

"AIDS"

By Dr. Balbir Singh (Rare Collection with Rare Medicines) AIDS

"Aphthae, in measles"

By Dr. Balbir Singh (Rare Collection with Rare Medicines) Aphthae, Measles

"Hair falling in patches"

By Dr. Balbir Singh (Rare Collection with Rare Medicines) Alopecia

"Gangrene better by warmth"

By Dr. Sunirmal Sarkar Gangrene

Remedy Profile

  • Type Remedy
  • Common Name HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA by William BOERICKE, M.D. Presented by Médi-T
  • Origin Source Natural
Dosage & Potency

First to sixth potency.

Pharmacy Availability

This remedy is currently available in our online shop.

Rs. 340.00
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