Synonym. Artemesia Cina. Natural order, Compositae. Common name. Wormseed. Habitat. A plant native of Persia. Asia Minor and other parts of the east. Preparation. Tincture from the dried unexpanded flowers.
GENERAL ANALYSIS
Acts upon the intestinal canal, producing irritation and giving rise to a train of symptoms closely resembling those which indicate chronic irritation, inflammation, and the presence of intestinal worms. It also acts upon the brain and other organs, but this action is secondary to the primary irritation of the bowels. Santonin, the active principle of Cina, is often used in its stead, its characteristic action being the same, though possibly somewhat more uniform and intense.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind Delirium and crying out. Child cries piteously if taken hold of or carried (Reverse, Chamomilla); lachrymose and complaining. Ill- humored (Bryonia, Chamomilla); cannot be quieted; averse to being caressed and rejects everything offered (Chamomilla). Child does not want to be touched (Antim crud.). Earnest and sensitive, offended at the slightest joke.
Head Vertigo; on rising from bed, better lying down, with blackness before the eyes; faintness and tottering. Headache in the morning, with affection of the eyes. Stupefying headache, especially in the forehead, afterward in occiput. When walking in open air. Drawing from left frontal eminence to root of nose, causing confusion of head. Intermittent pressure, as from a heavy weight on middle of vertex. Slow stitch, extending from above upper orbital margin deep into the brain.
Eyes Pupils dilated (Bell, Hyoscyamus, Opium, Stramonium) On rising from the bed, black before the eyes, with dizziness in head, and faintness; totters to and fro;relieved by lying down(Dulcamara). Pulsation of superciliary, a kind of convulsions.
Ears Dull stitches below the mastoid process. Cramp-like jerking in the external ear, like earache. Dullness of hearing.
Nose Violent sneezing (Aconite, Gelsemium, Sanguinaria) Boring in the nose with the fingers (Arum, Selenium).
Face Pale, with sickly look about the eyes (Arsenicum); pale and cold 9Camph., Veratrum alb.). White and bluish about the mouth. Pain, as if the malar bones were pressed together with pincers; worse from external pressure.
Mouth Grinding of teeth at night (Arsenicum, Cicuta, Helleborus) Whitish sore place on margin of tongue, very painful to touch.
Throat Dryness of the throat. Frequent motion, as though swallowing something. Inability to swallow, especially fluids (Belladonna).
Stomach Great hunger soon after eating (Lycopodium). Desires many indifferent things. Thirst (Aconite, Arsenicum, Bryonia, Rhus tox.). Violent vomiting, only mucus (Antim crud.). Gnawing sensation in the stomach, as from hunger (Ignatia).
Abdomen Painful twisting about the navel (Coloc.). Pinching or cramp- like pressure transversely across epigastric region after a meal. Abdomen hard and distended (Arsenicum, Calcarea c., Coloc.).
Stool and Anus Itching of the anus (Alumina, Arsenicum, Graphites, Sulphur). Watery diarrhoea (Aconite, Arsenicum, Cinchona, Podophyllum).
Urinary Organs Frequent urging with passage of much urine (Apis). Urine becomes turbid immediately (Chelidonium, Coloc.).
Respiratory Organs Short, interrupted breathing. Hacking cough in morning after rising; from irritation, as of dust. Hoarse, gagging cough in evening. Mucus hangs in larynx in the morning, soon collecting again after expectoration. Respiration short, with omission of some inspirations. Violent periodically recurring paroxysms of whooping cough (Drosera);excited by sensation, as if down were in the throat, or by adherent mucus in the larynx.
Back and Neck Drawing, tearing pain down along the whole spine. Tearing, jerking pains in middle of spine. Bruised pain in small of back. Fatiguing pains in loins, as if he had stood a long time.
Generalities Twitching of the limbs (Calcarea c., Ignatia). Jerkings and distortions of the limbs (Cicuta) Trembling of the body, with shivering sensation, while yawning.
Epilepsy, with rigidity and full consciousness. Convulsions; child becomes suddenly stiff; there is a gurgling noise, as though water were poured out of a bottle, from the throat to abdomen. Dull twinges, sometimes like a pinching, at others like a pressure, or a blow, or a jerk, or again like an itching of various places, but especially at the posterior portion of the crest of the ilium, on the hip; the places are painful on pressure, as if sore or bruised. Child restless, uneasy, pale, and weak; wants to be carried.
Sleep Tossing about in sleep, with cries and lamentations (Aconite).
Fever Chill daily at same hour, then heat without thirst (ign.). Chill with shivering and shaking, even near warm stove, with hot cheeks, no thirst. Heat most severe over head and face (Aconite, Belladonna). Burning heat of face, glowing redness of cheeks; thirst for cold drinks (Belladonna). Fever daily at same hour (Cact.). Cold sweat on forehead, nose and hands (Veratrum alb.).
Compare Absinth., Arnica, Arsenicum, Belladonna, Calcareac., Chamomilla, Chenop., Cinchona, Ferrum, Ignatia, Nux v., Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Spigelia
Antidotes Camph., Caps., Cinchona, Ipecac., Pip. nigr.
Cina Antidotes Caps., Cinchona, Mercurius
THERAPEUTICS.
Cina is mostly useful for children with worm affections; both round and thread worms (Not pin worms); face pale; white about the mouth; boring nose with finger; grinding teeth at night; great hunger; restless sleep, fever, etc. Strabismus from worms. Asthenopia from defective accommodation. Convulsions, chorea, etc., particularly when resulting from intestinal irritation, especially from worms. Often useful in whooping cough; spasmodic gagging cough, brought on by irritations from dust. Capillary bronchitis in children. Diarrhoea. Eneuresis. Cina is often useful for remittent fever simulating worm fever. Intermittent fever in children; paroxysms at same hour every day; no thirst either during chill or fever.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).