PULSATILLA


PULSATILLA homeopathic remedy signs and symptoms from the Key to the Homeopathic Materia Medica by Alfred Pulford. Find the common uses of PULSATILLA…


IDENTIFICATION

      Changeable and as fickle as the wind, extremely touchy and weepy.

ESSENTIAL

      Mild, yielding, sad and irritable; irresistible desire for open air; heat and heat of room unbearable and intolerable. Pains wander; the more severe they are the more chilly one becomes. Thirstless; mouth dry; breath offensive. Aversion to fat, loathes it, reverse of Nux vomica, to fat and rich food, and to meat. Discharges all thick and bland; mostly yellow or yellowish green. Desires cold place and cold drinks. Aggravation warm room, except hearing; on beginning to move, like Rhus; evening, especially around 5; and lying on left side, like Phosphorus Amelioration slow motion, like Ferrum; cool place and drinks; and lying on painful side, like Bryonia

COMMENT.

Mind

      Anxiety, as if in hot air; desire to be carried slowly, reverse of Arsenicum; consolation amelioration, reverse of Natr-m.; delusion that a man is wrapped in her bedclothes with her, or of a naked man in her bed; mania, after suppressed menses; remorse, evening; sad, when thinking of business; transient unconsciousness, afternoon in warm room; weeping when disturbed at work, or, when interrupted. (L): Delirious, sleepy; fear, in twilight; moans, during heat; sad, in warm room; unconscious in warm or crowded room; weeping while nursing child, or, weeping amelioration open air. Irritability alternates with pleasantness. Seeks consolation, reverse of Natr-m.; Ignatia hides her grief. Desires: cold water; motion, if in pain; sympathy, reverse of Natr-m., makes her troubles known, reverse of Ignatia Child peevish, pale, chilly, satisfied with nothing. Aversion to marriage is especially marked in Pulsatilla Easily led and persuaded. Touchy and easily slighted, or fears she will be slighted. Aggravation evening; stomach morning. Pulsatilla cries when telling her symptoms; Sepia when asked her symptoms.

Vertigo

      Transient unconsciousness. Morning; compelled to lie down; from lifting a weight; during menses, or if suppressed; objects seem to be far off. (L): A.m.; frequent accompaniment. On looking up; Sulph., down. From affection of eyes, nausea on lying down, aggravation motion of eyes, amelioration cold room and riding in open air. Especially when atmospheric pressure is low.

Head

      Constriction of forehead when looking intently; pain 5 to 10 evening or, from letting feet hang down, or, in sides 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; stunning, stupefying pain, evening amelioration cold, with chilliness; pulsating in Head, menses suppressed. (L): Head heavy, on stooping; pain after ice cream, or, on standing, amelioration walking slowly, or, in forehead on standing, over eyes, pulsating; pressing, pulsating in forehead, amelioration open air, during menses. One sided head aches, aggravation stooping forward, amelioration tight bandage, as if brain would burst and eyes fall out of Head, and one sided complaints are peculiar to Pulsatilla

Eyes

      Inflamed, during suppressed menses; itching, amelioration open air and cold applications; vision dim, while walking fast, or, when warm from overexertion, or, at night, during menses, or, foggy, amelioration, rubbing Eyes. (L): Discharge, inner canthi, morning; dry, in warm room; fistula suppurates, discharges pus on pressure; inflamed, from Mercurius, amelioration open air; styes on upper lid; vision lost, during menses. Invaluable in ophthalmia; when Arg-n. fails. Dim vision, morning, after waking, and afternoon after a nap, as if something adhered to cornea that could be wiped off, but cannot be removed until symptoms wear off of their own accord. Cold water amelioration Eyes of Pulsatilla, but aggravation Eyes of Sulph. Things get black before Eyes in young girls before menses. A great remedy for the early stages of paralysis of optic nerve.

Ears

      As if distended, on blowing nose; rushing noise as of water, after 4 p.m.; pain, after suppressed ague; bursting pain, on sneezing; hearing impaired, amelioration warm room. (L): Discharge, after measles, yellowish green; rushing noise synchronous with the pulse; wax black, hardened; hearing impaired, after a cold or measles. Pain amelioration cold applications. Especially useful in nondescript Ears aches of children of mild yielding disposition; if cross; Chamomilla

Nose

      Abscess at root; dry coryza in strong light. (L): Catarrh, amelioration by open air; coryza in open air; discharge of yellow pus; odor putrid; sneezes in warm room; ulcers on wings. Epistaxis, amelioration open air. A sheet – anchor in old catarrhs with loss of smell, thick yellow discharge, amelioration open air; nervous, timid, yielding, Nose stuffs up at night, flows copiously morning. Coryza, discharge bland; Cepa from eyes, excoriating from nose the reverse of Euphr. Loss of smell and taste evening, Natr-m. morning.

Face

      Bluish, before menses; mumps shift to mammae; pain amelioration lying with head low; drawing pain, tighter and tighter, then suddenly lets loose; tearing pain, amelioration cold applications, aggravation hat, to neck; offensive sweat. (L): Erratic erysipelas; inflamed parotid glands shift to testes; pain on becoming warm from walking; sweat, during heat.

Mouth

      Cottonlike mucus; salivation, before menses: taste nauseous from smoking, or putrid to meat, or sweetish to milk. (L): Dry tongue, thirstless; offensive odor, a, m.; saliva cottonlike; taste clammy, claylike; sticky aftertaste. Mouth dry, constantly spitting. Lips dry, licks them constantly. Pulsatilla seldom causes bitter taste in Mouth, and then only in the morning or evening.

Teeth

      Pain at beginning and end of menses; jerking as if nerves were put on a stretch and then let loose; stitching pain with suppressed menses. Pain, after abuse of quinine, or, as if nerves were stretched; gnawing pain, evening.

Throat

      Tenacious mucus, nights. (L): Choking on swallowing solids; dry morning, on waking.

Stomach

      Foul eructations, after pork, or, tasting like spoiled meat, or, sour 1 to 3 hours after eating, or, like rancid tallow; waterbrash during menses; nausea after mortification; pressing pain, after fat food; vomits mucus before chill. (L): Indigestion from ice cream; nausea from rich food, or, from ice cream or pork, and during suppressed menses; pain after fat and rich food. Avoid pancakes. Hiccup, after cold drinks. Chill peevish, pale, chilly, satisfied with nothing. Desires ice cream, pastry and things that make one sick; the ice cream causes headache and congestion to Stomach, but amelioration the Phosphorus patient. Stomach aggravation morning; mind aggravation evening. Craves highly spiced sausage, though averse to pork, also craves batter cakes with maple syrup even though one knows the Stomach will not retain them. Stomach, throat and mouth aggravation morning. Gone sense, especially in tea drinkers.

Abdomen

      Constriction, to bladder; pain during chill, menses suppressed; cutting pain, evening, aggravation sitting still; dragging pain, through spermatic cord. (L): Cold, after eating; empty sense, amelioration pressure; pain to genitals and testes, or, as from a stone. Walls tender to touch, on sitting or coughing, but especially after stool. Pain amelioration heat, an exception. Cramping in back and Abdomen, every time child nurses: if cross, Chamomilla, if mild: Pulsatilla Nausea in chest and hypogastrium; with uterine pains: Rhus.

Rectum

      Diarrhoea, amelioration cold place; burning pain while lying; pinching in perineum. (L): Diarrhoea, after rich food, amelioration open air, or from opium, pastry or abuse of quinine, aggravation warm room. Diarrhoea, stools green as grass, like Ipecac., or watery and occurring at night are more frequently found under Pulsatilla than any other drug. Violent painful piles, aggravation lying down; Am-c., amelioration lying flat on back; Paeonia lies in bed holding nates far apart with hands.

Stool

      Changeable; flat.

Urinary

      Pain in bladder, to thighs; painful retention of urine with urging, while lying on back; swelling in region of neck of bladder; urging to urinate frequent while passing flatus; urination difficult, menses suppressed, drawing pain in abdomen; urine interrupted, in spurts, prostate swollen, with each spurt cutting pain; contraction of urethra, and haemorrhage, from suppressed gonorrhoea; sandy sediment in urine adheres, like Sepia (L): Frequent urging to urinate with suppressed menses; urine involuntary while sitting; pressing pain in prostate, after urination; discharge yellowish, thick with priapism. During pregnancy, first drug to be studied. Cannot lie on back without desire to urinate. Will lose urine if one does not keep one’s mind on it constantly; Zincum met., if one does not keep one’s feet in constant motion. Mild, gentle, florid, plethoric, warm blooded little girls who kick the covers off at night and have nocturnal eneuresis; white, yellow, sallow, sickly girls, who lose their urine in the first sleep call for Sepia While Rhus has no difficulty in holding the urine while moving about at work, Bryonia loses the urine on moving. Thick yellow greenish gonorrhoeal discharge with no other symptoms, or no other symptoms contra indicating it. Most commonly indicated in the gonorrhoea of females.

Genitalia

      Continued erections a.m.; formication in glans after urination; sore, bruised pain in testes while sitting; fullness of vagina, during menses; inflamed ovaries, after wet feet; menses changeable in appearance; bearing down pain in uterus, aggravation lying, amelioration waking in open air; labor sluggish. (L): Left teste inflamed; pain in testes, while sitting; swelling of left teste from mumps; creamlike leucorrhoea; masturbation of females; menses during day only; painful menses from wet feet; pain in uterus compelling her to cry out; uterus sore and tender, during coition. Prostate enlarged, faeces small and flat. The aggravation of Pulsatilla is during the menses; of Sepia, before. IN women who received Pulsatilla, having heavy, bland thick discharge, it will often bring on the menses, while Sepia in the same condition will cure the catarrh without disturbing the menses. In older women where the menses are accustomed to appear at full moon. Cold settles in testes. stands high for weak labor pains. Menstruation that has been painful since puberty, in plethoric girls, or who have been swimming and who have suffered ever since; on the other hand, if a girl is scrawny and sensitive to cold and has taken a bath at the time the first period should occur, or have got the feet wet, and the flow partially suppressed, or has come on with an inflammation, a state of undevelopment is established, a stenosis, horrible menstrual colic, bearing down pains as if everything would come out or escape into the world, doubling the patient up, amelioration heat, aggravation cold, Calc-c. is the remedy. Pulsatilla is a great developer of girls at puberty. Enormously swollen testes in boys from mumps. Most frequently indicated drug in gonorrhoea with thick yellow, or thick yellowish green discharge, sensitive to heat, and amelioration walking in open air; or, where no other symptoms contra indicate it, and the discharge is thick yellow or green; in gonorrhoea of females the most often indicated drug.

Larynx

      Constriction, a eating; burning in Larynx at night, and in air passages, amelioration cold air. Hoarseness comes and goes.

Respiratory

      Breathing impeded while lying on left side. (L): Asthmatic breathing, evening, and from suppressed eruptions; difficult breathing from suppressed menses; loud breathing, during sleep. Chokes and suffocates in warm bed at night; cannot breathe in warm room, wants windows open.

Cough

      From constriction of larynx, while eating; exhausting, at night, disturbing sleep. (L): Constant, evening, on exertion; exhausting at night; on becoming heated. Said to prevent whooping Cough. Loose cough is more liable to be amenable to Pulsatilla than dry.

Chest

      Anxiety, lying on left side; congestion to heart at night; inflamed lungs from suppressed menses; milk in breasts of girls at puberty; wandering pains in breasts while nursing; palpitation on seeing a woman. (L): Anxiety evening, or night; haemorrhage from suppressed menses; milk in non-pregnant women; pain amelioration bending forward; bruised pain below clavicles. Apices of lungs sore. Milk in breasts of girls at puberty, in boys: Mercurius Catarrhal phthisis of chlorotic girls, and of great value in spinal curvature. Milk in breasts during menses.

Back

      Coldness in lumbar region after stool, and in sacral region during menses; drawing pain, during chill and stool, to vertex and occiput; shivering in lumbar region, after stool, also stiffness in cervical region. Cold, as from cold water spurted on Back, and in sacral region with chilliness; constriction as from a tight band in lumbar region. Of great value in spinal curvature. Cramping pain in Back and abdomen, every time child nurses: if cross: Chamomilla, if mild: Pulsatilla

Limbs

      Coldness of one side at night, heat of the other side; heavy after sexual excesses; itching of backs of feet, morning, in bed; legs numb during menses, on rising from a seat; sciatica aggravation warm room; boring pain in heel, evening; burning pain on top to ankle; tension increases gradually, ceases suddenly; feet tremble during suppressed menses. (L): Inflamed chilblains, and on hands, itch; boring pain in heel; burning pain in backs of feet; swelling of lower Limbs from abuse of China; painful varices of legs and feet, sting. Numbness, especially about elbow. One hand hot, the other cold; feet: Lycopodium and Chelidonium; or one hand and foot cold and red, the other hot. Chilliness unbearable when hot; Agaricus, when cold. Varicose veins blue, sore and sting. Soles of feet burn and itch when getting warm in bed.

Sleep

      Dreams of black animals, or, anxious after mortification, or, of beasts; sleepy during labor pains. (L): Confused dreams; sleep with arms over head or on abdomen; overpowering sleep, afternoon; sleepless evening, from heat, or from activity of mind, same ideas always repeated; yawns before menses. Dreams of cats. Restless sleep, or even sleeplessness, evening, sound sleep when time to get up, from which one wakens languid and unrefreshed.

Chill

      On entering cold air from warm room; one sided, numb, cold. (L): Afternoon, following heat; evening on lying down; with pain; before midnight; chilly evening Natr-m., forenoon; aggravation warm food. Hands and feet numb; whole body numb: Ced.

Heat

      2 p.m., followed by chill at 4 evening; burning intolerable at night, in bed; no two paroxysms alike; chill absent 2 evening; dry, distended veins and burning hands that seek cool places; long chill, little heat and no thirst (See Ipecac.) Morning, in bed; afternoon, after lying down; evening, on entering room; changing paroxysms after abuse of quinine. In some forms there may be thirst, an exception. The intermittent that Pulsatilla excites has thirst only after the heat; Ignatia, only during the chill. Three characteristics: chilly, aggravation heat, and thirstless.

Sweat

      All night, with loquacity; during stupid slumber. (L): Morning, after heat; night, during sleep. Copious, one side, usually left.

Skin

      Moles; ulcers bite, burn round and about, painful, areola swollen and tense. Mistreated measles. As a preventive of measles: 3 times daily. Feverish, hot, temperature of body normal. Flannels irritate, like Sulph. As of a hot coal above ulcer.

General

      Aggravation every other evening, or night; distended blood vessels evening; pain in parts recently laid on; stretching before urination; weak morning; on lying; aggravation evening till midnight, on beginning to move, rapid motion, lying on left or painful side, fat, getting wet, especially feet. (L): Aggravation twilight; faint in close crowded room; aggravation bread and butter, buckwheat cakes, frozen food; pancakes and pastry; painful varicose veins that sting. Amelioration cool, except abdomen and teeth. Weaker the longer one lies, morning. Pains here and there as from internal ulcers are peculiar to Pulsatilla It is the peculiarity of Puls, that the symptoms in different parts of the body, as well as those that properly belong to respiration cause dyspnoea. The symptoms of Pulsatilla alternate as to time of day in which they occur and in which they cease; the principal time for them is in the evening and succeeding hours until midnight; symptoms are seldom noticed about 4 p.m. and still more seldom in the morning. Most of the pains are accompanied by chilliness or chill; the stitching pains are usually accompanied by burning. There is no remedy like Pulsatilla to antidote Sulph. when Sulph. has been used every Spring to “cleanse the blood.” Thick green yellow bland discharges are most characteristic of Pulsatilla Pulsatilla changes location but not the disease; Abrotanum changes both. Remember the “greens,” Arg-n. and Pulsatilla After iron tonics. Feverish, thirstless, chilly. where the symptoms are always changing and there is neither head nor tail to them. Pains come suddenly and leave gradually. As if in a hot atmosphere.

Alfred Pulford
Alfred Pulford, M.D., M.H.S., F.A.C.T.S. 1863-1948 – American Homeopath and author who carried out provings of new remedies. Author of Key to the Homeopathic Materia Medica, Repertoroy of the Symptoms of Rheumatism, Sciatica etc., Homeopathic Materia Medica of Graphic Drug Pictures.