Synonym – Juniperus Sabina. Natural order – Coniferae. Common names – Savin. Habitat – A woody evergreen shrub found mostly in the southern Alps in Austria and Switzerland. Preparation – Tincture from the fresh tips of younger branches.
GENERAL ANALYSIS
Acts chiefly upon the generative organs of women, but also affects prominently the urinary organs and the gastro-intestinal canal. The general condition produced is one of intense irritation, resulting in congestion and inflammation, which in the uterus gives rise to haemorrhages and abortion, in the urinary organs to strangury, and in the bowels to purging and bloody stools.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
Mind. Hypochondriacal mood (Nux v.). Great anxiety and apprehension (Aconite, Arsenicum). Music is intolerable (Digit.).
Head Vertigo when standing, as if she would fall; with obstruction of vision; with orgasm and heat in head. Pressive headache, especially in temporal eminences, suddenly appearing, and slowly disappearing. Circumscribed pain in temples. Painful stricture in temples. Dull, pressive frontal headache.
Nose. Dry coryza.
Face Drawing pain in right angle of jaw, in masseter muscles, worse on touch.
Mouth. Dryness in mouth (Apis, Nux moschata). Throbbing toothache in evening and at night. Tearing in roots of molars.
Throat Dryness, with drawing pain. Sensation as if he had to swallow over a foreign body. Stools hard and painful, followed by discharge of blood from anus.
Stomach Desire for acid things (Ant. tart., Cinchona, Hepar s., Phosphorus, Podophyllum, Veratrum alb.), especially lemonade. Poor appetite. Heartburn and eructations (Nux v., Lycopodium).
Abdomen. Griping, twisting, labor-like pains in the abdomen to the groins; with sensation as if vomiting would come on without nausea.
Stool Blood and mucus, or diarrhoeic stools. Stools hard and painful, followed by discharge of blood from anus.
Urinary Organs Frequent, violent urging to urinate, with copious emission (Apis, Apocynum, Argentum met.). Retention of urine; discharge by drops, with burning (Belladonna, Cantharis; Can. sat.). Burning pain in vesical region.
Male Organs. Burning sore pain in glans, and in figwarts.
Female Organs. Menses too profuse, too early, and last too long (Belladonna, Calcarea c., Kali carb., Nux v.). Passes clots of blood after rising. Almost insatiable desire for coition with corresponding gratification. Contractive pain in region of uterus. Haemorrhage from the uterus in paroxysms; worse from motion; blood dark (Kali nit.) and clotted (Croc.); red, profuse; from loss of tone in uterus (Caulophyllum); after abortion or parturition; with pain from back to pubis. Miscarriage, especially at third month (Secale). Leucorrhoea, thick, yellow, foetid; after suppressed menses (Pulsatilla).
Respiratory Organs. Crawling and tickling in larynx, excited cough and a slimy expectoration. Dry, hacking cough and tickling in the trachea. Haemoptysis (Aconite, Cinchona, Ferrum, Hamamelis) Tensive, pressive pain in sternum, not affected by respiration. Stitches in left nipple. Intermittent stitches in clavicle.
Neck and Back. Drawing pains and dragging in small of back, extending into the pubic region. Pain in back obliging him to bend inward. Paralytic pain in back.
Limbs. Drawing, tearing pains, especially at night; most in wrist- joints and toes; with red, shiny swelling; worse from motion and touch. Middle of anterior surface of thighs feel bruised and painful. Stitches in elbows; in heels, extending outward.
Generalities. Great weakness and weariness in all the limbs; with despondency. Heaviness and indolence of the body, obliging him to lie down. Throbbing in all the blood vessels. Symptoms cease in open air, return on entering the house.
Sleep. Restless, disturbed sleep.
Compare Arnica, Belladonna, Calcarea c., Croc., Coccul., Ipecac., Millef., Pulsatilla, Rhus tox., Ruta., Sulphur, Tril.
Antidote. Camph., Pulsatilla
THERAPEUTICS.
The chief use of Sabina is in uterine haemorrhages and menorrhagia, with the symptoms above described. Said to be especially useful in women of gouty diathesis. Dysmenorrhoea, with characteristic pain from back to pubis. Threatening miscarriage, with haemorrhage and pain from back to pubic region. Leucorrhoea after menorrhagia or suppressed menses; during pregnancy; acrid, much biting and itching, thick, yellow, foetid. Chlorosis, with tendency to haemorrhages; also hysteria. Useful in arthritic affections, better in open air, worse from warmth. Arthritic nodes. Facial neuralgia, better in open air.
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).