The diarrhoeas of psora are often induced by overeating. The patient is always hungry and eats beyond his capacity and upsets his digestive powers. This overeating often produces a colic and watery diarrhoea, usually in the morning. These diarrhoeas fit the symptomatology of such remedies as *Aloe, *Podophyllum, and *Sulphur, among others.
In the tubercular diathesis there is also the morning worse of the diarrhoea, and the tubercular condition shows its psoric parentage by the worse from cold.
Psora has a spasmodic offensive and painless diarrhoea which usually better the suffering, but it is not a persistent diarrhoea; it comes on from emissions or from preparations for an unusual event; after taking cold; worse by cold; worse hot drinks or heat in general.
There is a stubborn, marked, persistent constipation, with small, hard, difficult stools and no desire for stool; or there may be alternation of the constipation and diarrhoea. With the constipation there are frequently accompanying troubles in other parts of the organism, or seemingly unrelated symptoms which are actually concomitants.
Psora is not only the mother of all diseases, but it is the psoric element which gives the valuable concomitant symptoms and furnishes the modalities and sensations which are a true expression of their sufferings. The psoric patients suffer considerably, probably much more than in the other stigmata, and with less apparent cause.
In children afflicted with this underlying condition we find retention of the urine whenever the body gets chilled, and this condition arises in old people also. An opposite indication of the psoric stigma is the involuntary urination when sneezing, coughing or laughing. There is smarting and burning on urination, but not from pathological causes.
Many symptoms of this stigma are reflected in the sexual sphere, especially in women. In other words, these are functional disturbances closely related to the emotions, and dysmenorrhoea, amenorrhoea, and many other conditions result. Hahnemann tells us that grief or sorrow, such as that caused by an unhappy marriage, will produce more serious and distressing symptoms in the psoric patient than the most unfavourable surroundings or real hard- ships. It can be seen that there would be a marked reaction on the functions which are so closely related to the nervous system.
The psoric skin is dry, rough, dirty or unhealthy appearing. In fact, the classic psoric remedy is *Sulphur, although it is not to be thought that *Sulphur will cure all cases nor is it limited in its range of applicability to psoric conditions; but if there is any one remedy which we may limit by saying that it is the picture of a stigma, we may truly say that psora and *Sulphur are so like each other, in many instances, that each typifies the other. In appearance, the psoric patients are the “great unwashed”; bathing is unwelcome and worse the roughness of the skin and the irritability.
In all psoric conditions, itching is a persistent symptom. There is very little suppuration; there may be a few vesicles or a papular manifestation. Psoric eruptions are not noticeable by their colour, but by the roughness of the skin. Unless there is marked inflammation they are the same colour as the skin. With the dry skin, there is a decided tendency for fine, thin scales; the eruptions dry down and scale off.
Erysipelatous manifestations are a combination of psora and sycosis.
If there is any syphilitic taint in combination with the psoric base, the patients are very apt to be susceptible to impetigo, for this is the soil in which impetigo flourishes; without these united taints a patient will not become infected with impetigo.
The psoric patient has the symptom of coldness associated with even slight ailments; with headaches there is a deadly coldness that is almost worse than the headache itself, and this is much worse by continued effort and better by lying down where it is warm and quiet.
Modern medicine tells us that migraine has as its under lying cause emotional disturbances. In other words this is a verification of Hahnemann’s teaching on the disturbances roused in the psoric patient by grief, sorrow or other harrowing emotions.
It kills the psoric patient to stand still; he must walk instead of standing even if he is on his feet but a brief time He may stand if he can lean against anything sufficiently to take the weight off his feet. This is not because of structural changes; it is because of his natural desire to rest, with his characteristic restlessness. Weakness of the ankle joints is a sure indication of the presence of a syphilitic taint in combination with the psoric stigma.
