A tincture is prepared from the fresh root of the black-snake root, Cimicifuga racemosa, Ell. (Actaea-racem., L.).
General Action
It seems to exert a marked action on the spinal nerves especially at the upper part, symptoms of meningeal irritation and inflammation, neuritis, neuralgia, muscular spasms and tremors, etc. Clinically it has been found to control a large variety of troubles of the uterus and ovaries, neuralgias and even inflammations.
Allies.- Aconite., Ranunculus., Paeonia., Clematis., China., Gelsemium, Silicea.
Generalities
Tremors over whole body (Arg-n., Gelsemium, Stramonium). Nervous shuddering through upper and back part of body. Jerking after going to bed, obliging change of position, beginning in side on which he was lying as a perceptible twitching in l. food. Continual stretching and yawning. Bruised feeling (Arnica, Silicea). Soreness of whole body, with stiffness, as after hard labor. Lameness in morning, with many unenviable feelings. Feeling as after a “Spree.” General feeling of intoxication. Peculiar tingling in muscles, then aching in limbs, from above downward. Feeling of illness; (>) by supper; with weakness and trembling, believes the condition to be put one remove from mania-a-potu.
Restlessness; in forenoon; in afternoon; at night; latter part of the night; nervous, in afternoon, with indisposition to fix the attention on any subject; in all parts, hardly amounting to pain, (<) r. side. Nervous all day, full of work and doing it fast. Sensation as from severe muscular exertion, (<) small of back. Desire to lie down and close the eyes. Weakness; in morning, with trembling; caused by great discharge of clear urine; with trembling, sinking feeling and nausea; nervous, in afternoon. Aggravation on l. side; A. by motion.
Clinical Reflex neuralgias in various parts of the body, especially in women, dependent on ovarian and uterine troubles. Muscular rheumatism affecting the fleshy parts of the muscles, (<) motion, but great restlessness. Chorea, especially in muscles of l. side.
Mind
A soft of delirium, with inclination to run over the subject on which he was reading. Symptoms as in delirium tremens. Grieved, troubled and sighing, next day tremulous joy, playfulness and clear intellect. Miserable dejected feeling; in afternoon, and Dullness. Anxiety.
Clinical Delirium, with excessive restlessness, twitching of tendons, starting up suddenly. Delirium, wild imaginings of rats, etc. (Stramonium), with crazy feeling about head, talking continually, changing the subject and moving about. Puerperal mania, she is very suspicious, talking of a great variety of thighs, constantly changing the subject, sometimes sees vermin, speech is often dis- connected. Insanity in the form of melancholia, is very apprehensive, talks of becoming crazy, she is suspicious or talks incessantly, constantly changing the subject. Delirium tremens, is frightened, trembles, cannot remain in one place. Puerperal melancholia, with sleeplessness, sighing and moaning all the while. The two marked characteristics of the delirium or insanity of this drug are the mental and physical restlessness, the patient cannot remain in one place, and when talking constantly changes the subject.
Head
Pain; in morning on getting up; in forenoon and part of the afternoon, especially in occiput (Gelsemium, Silicea) extending to vertex; at 10 A.M., (<) forehead, extending over vertex to occiput; in evening; on waking, with vertigo, flushed face, dilated pupils and rapid pulse; indoors, especially in occiput, (<) after noon and evening, (>) 9 P.M. after walking in open air; always (>) in open air; partly (>) by throwing head backward; with heat in head and face; with sleepiness and coldness, then warmth; paroxysmal, in forehead, occiput, vertex, etc. (>) open air; heavy, at 9 A.M., (<) l. temple. Heaviness. Dullness; as after a “spree,” and of eyelids, with heaviness, as from a cold. Fulness; in brain. Feeling as if too large; brain feels too large for the cranium. Vertigo; with fulness and aching in vertex and impaired vision; with half-intoxicated feeling.
Forehead. – Pressure outward and upward in upper part of cerebrum as if there were not room enough. Shooting over l.eye. Boring over l. superciliary ridge. Pain; over eyes; over r. eye; over l. eye, (>) open air; deep in; before breakfast; in afternoon; waking at 2 A.M., extending to temples, with coldness of forehead; at 6 A.M. extending over vertex to occiput, with heaviness; at 10 P.M., and between eyeball and orbital plate of frontal bone, with dryness in pharynx; in front part of head and in eyes; with heat in face and sweat; occasional, over r. eye; intermittent, in l. side after hearty dinner, also after sleep, (<) when walking in open air; over l. eye, extending along base of brain to occiput.
Temple. – Cutting in r. Pain in l.; pain as if head would burst; pain in r., extending in burning lines to forehead, afterwards with fulness, drowsiness and heat. Occasional compression.
Vertex. – Tearing in centre. Pain in afternoon and evening; paroxysmal, (<) morning, and in occiput; and soreness, finally passing to forehead, lasting all night and preventing sleep. Fulness in evening; F. in upper part of brain, and Dullness.
Shooting about sides of head. Pain in l. side. Fulness in l. side. Soreness in occiput caused by the pain through the whole brain, (<) motion. Pain in occiput.
Clinical In general the headaches affect the base of the occiput or the headaches begin at that point, frequently they are extremely violent and shoot up to vertex or down spine, and bending the head forward seems to pull upon the spine; sometimes it seems as if a bolt would be driven from the neck to the vertex with every beat of the heart; sometimes the whole neck is very lame from distress on moving the head. These headaches of Cimicifuga may be neuralgic, associated in women with uterine disturbances, or they may be associated with symptoms of inflammation of the meninges of the brain and spine. Neuralgic headaches, feeling as if the top of the head would fly off.
Eyes
Congestion during the headache. Aching; at 10 A.M.; extending to vertex, as if nerves were excited to too much action. Swollen feeling. Heaviness as from a cold. Pupils dilated. Pain in balls (Ran-b., r.); in forenoon; in evening on going up-stairs; in r. at night in bed; in centre and between ball and orbital plate of frontal bone, (<) morning; occasional; at night, extending from r. through to r. side of occiput, slightly affecting ear. Lids inflamed; and stinging. Swelling of r. lid, and heat in it. Pain in r. lid in afternoon on closing it. Vision dim; distorted; V. of black specks. Increase of myopia.
Clinical Ciliary neuralgia, eyeballs feel enlarged and the pain shoots into the head, sometimes associated with photophobia and extreme asthenopia.
Ears and Nose
Pain in ears. Stitch to outside of r. wing of nose. Stinging in nose in evening. Sneezing. Dry, stuffed condition of nose, then open, moist condition and sensitiveness to cold air as if the base of the brain were bare and every inhalation brought cold air in contact with it. Roaring in ears. Coryza, with sore throat and gradual extension of the disease to the bronchial mucous membrane, and hacking cough; fluent C., with tickling in nares, exciting sneezing; profuse, greenish, sanguineous C.
Face
Redness; and of eyes. Pain; more in lower jaw, articulation of jaw and in lower teeth. Feeling of lateral expansion and pressure outward in malar-bones and forehead at 10 A.M. Upper lip swollen and inflamed, skin cracked and came off. Ulcer on inner surface of lower lip. Lips dry; and sore. Pain in l. jaw; in r. upper jaw and in teeth.
Clinical Facial neuralgia, either of rheumatic origin or associated with uterine disturbances, pain (>) at night, reappears next day.
Mouth
Thick mucus on teeth. Uneasiness in teeth in afternoon, a desire to chew or pick at time. Swelling of back part of tongue; and of fauces. Redness and inflammation of palate and uvula. Dryness; in morning. Salivation. Thick saliva, sticking to mouth and throat. Offensive breath. Taste unpleasant; bitter.
Throat
Thick, viscid mucus. Roughness and scraping; R., with dryness and thirst. Rawness; with difficulty in swallowing, hoarseness, which is (<) towards night. Soreness; on swallowing; on swallowing and on pressure, (<) on l. side, with dryness; in evening on swallowing, with full sensation high up in throat. Fulness of pharynx; with inclination to swallow; of throat and vertex, with stiffness of neck. Sensation as far as top of sternum as if partly filled. Constriction of pharynx, with increased mucus. Dryness of pharynx; at 4 P.M., at night and inclination to swallow. Empty aching along oesophagus in afternoon.
Stomach
Appetite lost. Repugnance to food at supper. Desire for tobacco lessened. Thirst, but no desire to drink. Eructations; violent. Nausea; in women, with vomiting and much gastric irritation; with general tremors; with weak, trembling feeling; then freer expectoration, relaxation of surface, nervous tremors and vertigo. Violent retching. Violent retching. Vomiting.
Born in 1837in Westminster, Vermont. . He was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy
Dr. Allen compiled the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica over the course of 10 years.
In 1881 Allen published A Critical Revision of the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica.