A tincture is made of the dried fruit (deprived of its rind and seed) of Cucumis colocynthis, L. (Citrullus colo Shrader).
General Action
A violent hydragogue cathartic, producing also terrible colic. It also causes violent pains in nearly all the nerves of the body, almost always relieved by pressure.
Allies. Bryonia, Magnesia, Cuprum, Diosc., Berberis, Pulsatilla
Generalities
Increased secretion of mucus. Inclination to painful cramp in muscles of all parts (Cuprum). Spasms. Sticking in various parts; with drawings, itching, burning, biting; tearing S. lengthwise in whole body, head, back abdomen and limbs. Pressure in different parts, (<) posterior joint of r. middle finger and r. great toe. Anguish. Pains frequently repeated at 5 P.M. Pains jump from one part to another (Puls); and change quickly from one kind to another; wandering P. (<) sitting. Paroxysmal pressure and drawing in posterior joint of r. great toe, in ankles, knees and bones of l. pelvis, (<) walking. Drawing pain on outside of r. thigh, with pain in l. upper molars. Drawing in posterior joint of l. thumb, r. great toe, in r. knee and on l. side of neck, (<) turning head; in l. trochanter in forenoon, then drawing pressing in l. metatarsus, then drawing in teeth; after rising quickly changing its location, in legs, ankles, shoulders, forehead, muscles of thighs, in wrists and knees; sticking, now here, now there, in morning after waking. Sensation of general contusion, (<) walking, with tired feeling. Internal oppression towards evening.
Sensitiveness to damp weather. Pulsation in whole body, (<) in back and l. side of chest; in whole body when lying still. Discomfort in evening, (<) in lower limbs, with weakness; D., he demands much. Uneasiness in afternoon, (<) digestive organs. Lazy, gloomy, listless, almost pusillanimous. Weakness; in afternoon; at 5 P.M., with shivering, thirst and rapid pulse; in evening; in evening before sleep and waking next morning, (>) moving about; in evening, when walking;on going out; when at rest; from slight exertion in walking, with sweat which made his limbs weak, but if he stood still the air, though not raw, struck through him like a cold creeping; from watery diarrhoea, with pallor; general W., with bruised sensation in small of back. Faintness; (>) holding hands before eyes; with external coldness.
Some pains appear only when walking, for example the painful drawing in muscles of calves and thighs, preventing motion. Symptoms appear in groups, (<) evening and rest. Aggravation when sitting; symptoms more severe in evening than in morning. Amelioration when sitting; when walking, but symptoms are always felt in evening after considerable exertion and are connected with weariness in lower limbs; A from black coffee after dinner.
Clinical It is a valuable neuralgic remedy, not simply for colic but for neuralgic pains in various parts of the body; the pains are usually sharp cutting or boring, nearly always (>) pressure (Bryonia).
Mind
He could not find his way about the room and it was difficult to get rid of the idea that he was not in his own room. Anxiety. Disinclination to talk. Morose, offended at everything. Irritable he asks for many things. Impatient. Despondent. Absent-minded. Confused by the beer drunk in the evening. Could not pursue any train of thought. Not inclined to search after and grasp objects of interest. Indolent in morning, woke late and disliked to get up. Memory weak.
Head
Tearing digging through brain, (<) moving upper lid. Tearing in brain, (<) morning lids, becoming a pressure outward in forehead. Aching; in morning in bed; daily from 8 A.M. till afternoon, with pains in knees and foot, then soft stool; in evening; (<) bending forward, with pain in eyes (Bryonia).; (<) stooping or turning head, (<) forehead, with incapacity for mental exertion; (<) after beer; as from a draught of air, (>) walking in open air; paroxysmal, here and there; as from pressure in region of middle of linea semi- circularis. Tearing drawing pressing in different parts especially boring behind r. ear and on r. side of head. Drawing when walking, with boring. Sensitiveness as if compressed, (<) bending forward, (>) open air, (<) sinciput and temples, with pain in eyeballs.
Heaviness. Dullness in morning, (<) in frontal region, returning in forenoon when walking; D., with vertigo and colic. Stupefied feeling after dinner Confusion; in afternoon, with pressure in orbits; after eating,; dinner, (>) towards evening; with Dullness, as after a debauch; with heaviness and feeling as if catarrh were coming on. Intoxicated feeling after a bottle of Bavarian beer. Vertigo; in evening; when walking rapidly after breakfast; suddenly in evening on sitting down, with darkness before eyes; intimations of V. and nausea; almost giddy after dinner.
Forehead – Sudden sticking towards nose; sticking externally in morning after rising; S. above r. eye, with itching of scalp. Tearing; r. side; l. side; in evening; in different parts in morning. Boring; r. side; r. side, with drawing; l. side; above nose; in day and evening, with tearing; tearing, during a walk; B., and above eyes, with pressure. Boring-burning pain on r. side. Pain; in l. side; in nervous frontals sinister; and in eyeballs; in forenoon when walking; (<) stooping and lying on back; along sagittal suture, (<) moving or shaking head and on stooping; at 1 P.M. in the arch which defines the lateral and superior boundaries of l. sinus, sometimes vibrating; and at root of nose, as before catarrh; throbbing P., (>) sitting up and moving head, but confusion of head all the forenoon. Drawing pain; in l. side. Drawing; in r. Heaviness in sinciput, with stupefaction; H. in forehead towards evening, with pressure; in l. side on waking after midnight, while lying on r. side. Confusion; r. side; in sinciput.
Temples – Boring sticking in r., (>) touch. Tearing; in r.; in r. and above it; in r., with pressure. Boring; in r.; in l. at 2 P.M.; in l. as from a plug, in evening. Digging in l. Screwing. Pain; early; in l. in afternoon, (>) sitting, (<) standing and walking, but especially when urinating; in r., (<) stepping, with gloomy mood; first (<), then (>) open air; tensive, in r. Pressing and drawing pain in r. Pressing in l., with throbbing, becoming cutting, with similar sensation about l. shoulder-joint; P. towards nose, with dryness of latter. Vertigo on suddenly turning head, as if arising in l. temple, it seems as if he would fall, with tottering of knees.
Pinching in upper part of brain. Tearing in r. side of vertex. Pain in vertex and l. eye, as of a nervous pressure. Tearing in l. side of head; towards forehead. Boring in different parts of r. side. One-sided drawing pain. Confusion of l. side, with pressing burning pain in l. orbit, temple, nose, dorsum of nose and upper teeth, it seems as if eye and nose were swelling; C. in r. side, (<) temple. Boring in r. side of occiput. Pressure in lateral occipital protuberances; in occiput, (<) inferior lateral protuberances, with tension. Boring in skull, (<) r. side. Roots of hair painful. Burning pain in skin above eyes. Drawing in scalp. Vertex sore as if the hair were pulled upward, (>) towards evening; with drawing pain in occiput. Itching; on l. side, with crawling. Biting burning on l. side of scalp.
Clinical Violent neuralgic headaches, cutting or boring, (>) firm pressure.
Eyes
Smarting, with pain in balls. Dryness in evening. Sticking as with knives in r. ball, extending to root of nose. Cutting in r. ball. Pain in balls, (<) stooping; P. in ball, extending upward and outward, in evening, (<) rubbing, with hardness; as from a pressure downward upon balls. Burning pain in r. ball. Itching of r. ball. Sticking in l. conjunctiva palpebrarum, then inflammation, then ulceration. Twitching of r. upper. Stye on l. Burning cutting in r. lower lid during rest. Smarting of lids. Pressing in r. lid. Burning of r. upper lid; sticking, on edge of l. upper lid; biting, beneath upper lid; prickling, in r. inner canthus. L. lid lay thick and heavy upon ball, which felt squeezed anteriorly and superiorly. Heaviness of lids without sleepiness. Sticking in l. orbit, with drawing and aching. Pressing in orbits towards root of nose. Vision obscured; of r. eye in morning. Flickering before r. eye in the shape of a circle, with rays, at 10 A.M., after writing. A bright white light at side of and below r, eye, (>) turning eyes rapidly sideways.
Clinical It has been found useful as a palliative of the pain of glaucoma and iritis, the pain extending into head, (>) pressure.
Ears
Itching sticking extending from Eustachian tube to tympanum, (>) boring in with finger. Cutting sticking in lower fossa of r. external, (>) boring in with finger. Boring in r.; behind r. Twinges in r. Pressure behind l. Drawing above r.; behind l.; painful behind l. Crawling within, (>) boring in with the finger. Obstruction before l. Ringing; in r. Roaring, (<) l., with throbbing; R., with every sound; rhythmical, in l., with obstruction, the R. changing to ringing.
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.