====== PICRICUM ACIDUM ====== {{anchor:s1}}Picric Acid. {{anchor:s2}}(Picricum Acidum.) {{anchor:s3}}Picric Acid. {{anchor:s4}}HC6 H2 (NO2)3 O. {{anchor:s5}}Discovered by Hausman in 1788. {{anchor:s6}}Crystallizes in bright yellow needles or scales. {{anchor:s7}}Provings by Couch, N. Y. J. of Hom., 1874, vol. 2, p. 149; T. F. Allen, Linsley and S. A. Jones, Allen's Encyclopaedia, vol. 7, p. 519. ====== CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. ====== {{anchor:s9}}- Brain fag, Allen, Organon, vol. 3, p. 94; Headache, Hale, B. J. H., vol. 36, p. 389; Otitis, Houghton, T. W. H. Con., 1876, p. 649; Boils in meatus auditorius, Houghton, B. J. H., vol. 34, p. 356, from Hom. Times, Nov. 1875, N. E. M. G., vol. 11, p. 188; Enuresis, Martin, Trans. H. M. S. Pa., 1883, p. 59; Satyriasis, Allen Hah. Mo., vol. 13; p. 202; Spermatorrhea, Allen, Times Ret., 1875, p. 89, from N. Y. J. H., 1874, p. 412; Posterior spinal sclerosis, Lilienthal, N. A. J. H., vol. 24, p. 64; Debility, Morgan, Hah. Mo., vol. 19, p. 101; Nervous disorder, Jones, Hom. Times, vol. 6, p. 70. ====== MIND. [1] ====== {{anchor:s11}}Great indifference, lack of will-power.\\ {{anchor:s12}}Cannot collect thoughts; quickly prostrated from using mind.\\ {{anchor:s13}}Disinclination for mental and physical work; desire to sit still without taking any interest in surroundings.\\ {{anchor:s14}}Mental prostration after least intellectual work; any attempt to study brings on brain symptoms anew, and develops burning along spine, with great weakness of legs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints.\\ {{anchor:s15}}Brain fag. ====== SENSORIUM. [2] ====== {{anchor:s17}}Vertigo and nausea, with intense pain in frontal region and vertex; could not sit up; agg. from raising head.\\ {{anchor:s18}}Vertigo agg. from stooping, walking, going upstairs. ====== INNER HEAD. [3] ====== {{anchor:s20}}Dull headache in forehead or occiput, may extend down spine; agg. from slightest attempt at using mind.\\ {{anchor:s21}}Severe pains in neck and occiput going up to supraorbital notch or foramen, then extending into eyes.\\ {{anchor:s22}}Headaches, with dull throbbing, heavy feeling or sharp pains; agg. from study or movement of eyes; amel. from rest, open air and binding head tightly.\\ {{anchor:s23}}Any attempt at using mind brings on headache and causes burning along spine.\\ {{anchor:s24}}After every severe mental effort, intense throbbing headache, agg. at base of brain; often with congestion of spine, increase of sexual excitement and violent erections.\\ {{anchor:s25}}Headache of students and overworked business men, or when grief or other depressing emotions have resulted in nervous exhaustion with passive congestion; seat of pain is in occipito-cervical region.\\ {{anchor:s26}}Brain fag in a school-teacher; so tired after her labors can scarcely reach home; headache completely incapacitating her for work, begins in morning on waking, increases as day advances, always amel. by sleep at night; chiefly affects forehead, extending gradually to vertex and involving entire cerebrum, with constant vertigo, agg. from motion, mental exertion, especially schoolwork and going up-stairs; at times intense throbbing, at others dull pressing; always amel. by quiet; pain in eyes agg. moving them; with the headache sense of terrible prostration, she feels so tired; feels amel. in open air, but too tired and exhausted to walk; after walking a few yards thinks she will never reach next block, it seems so far away; sometimes unrefreshing sleep.\\ {{anchor:s27}}Brain fag of literary or business people; slightest excitement or mental exertion, or any overwork, brings on headache.\\ {{anchor:s28}}Congestion of head with nosebleed.\\ {{anchor:s29}}Cerebro-spinal congestion. ====== SIGHT AND EYES. [5] ====== {{anchor:s31}}Sparks before eyes.\\ {{anchor:s32}}Sight dim, confused.\\ {{anchor:s33}}Has to bring objects close to eyes to see them; everything blurred as from looking through fog.\\ {{anchor:s34}}Pupils dilated.\\ {{anchor:s35}}Dryness of eyes; tingling and smarting, agg. by constant use and by lamplight; acrid, thick matter in corners in morning.\\ {{anchor:s36}}Feeling of sand in eyes, smarting pain, acrid tears.\\ {{anchor:s37}}On waking and for an hour, feeling of sticks in eyes.\\ {{anchor:s38}}Pressure over eyes agg. from studying and motion, amel. sitting still.\\ {{anchor:s39}}Severe pain over right eye, sharp, vibrating, intermittent.\\ {{anchor:s40}}Conjunctivae yellow.\\ {{anchor:s41}}Eyes smart and burn.\\ {{anchor:s42}}Thick matter forms in canthi.\\ {{anchor:s43}}Eye symptoms agg. from artificial light. ====== HEARING AND EARS. [6] ====== {{anchor:s45}}Otitis externa circumscripta, furuncle in ear; burning sensation in external ear; pain behind right ear, running down side of neck.\\ {{anchor:s46}}Furuncular or circumscribed inflammation of meatus; chronic or subacute forms; debilitated cases with redness and localized tenderness of meatus. {{anchor:s47}}~ Otitis.\\ {{anchor:s48}}Furuncles in external auditory canal. ====== SMELL AND NOSE. [7] ====== {{anchor:s50}}Nose full of mucus; can breathe only with mouth open. ====== UPPER FACE. [8] ====== {{anchor:s52}}Papules on face, which turn into small boils. ====== TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE. [11] ====== {{anchor:s54}}Sour, bitter taste in mouth.\\ {{anchor:s55}}Bitter taste with thirst. ====== INNER MOUTH. [12] ====== {{anchor:s57}}Saliva frothy; stringy. ====== PALATE AND THROAT. [13] ====== {{anchor:s59}}Thick white mucus on tonsils.\\ {{anchor:s60}}Throat feels rough and scraped; amel. from eating, agg. from empty swallowing and after sleep.\\ {{anchor:s61}}On swallowing throat feels sore, as if it would split. ====== HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING. [16] ====== {{anchor:s63}}Wants to belch but has not the power.\\ {{anchor:s64}}Sour eructations with frontal headache.\\ {{anchor:s65}}Nausea, agg. in morning and on attempting to rise and move about.\\ {{anchor:s66}}Nausea, agg. {{anchor:s67}}5 A. M. and when attempting to rise. ====== SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH. [17] ====== {{anchor:s69}}Pressure and weight about stomach. ====== HYPOCHONDRIA. [18] ====== {{anchor:s71}}Tendency to jaundice.\\ {{anchor:s72}}Liver full of fat granules. ====== ABDOMEN AND LOINS. [19] ====== {{anchor:s74}}Rumbling of flatus in abdomen. ====== STOOLS AND RECTUM. [20] ====== {{anchor:s76}}Stools: thin, yellow, sometimes oily, with much burning and smarting at anus; prostration and ineffectual urging to stool; yellowish-grey (like gruel).\\ {{anchor:s77}}During stool: burning, smarting and cutting at anus.\\ {{anchor:s78}}After stool: great prostration; burning and smarting at anus.\\ {{anchor:s79}}Diarrhea in persons exhausted by mental overwork. ====== URINARY ORGANS. [21] ====== {{anchor:s81}}Kidneys congested.\\ {{anchor:s82}}Urine of abnormally high specific gravity and containing sugar; albuminous.\\ {{anchor:s83}}Urine rich in phosphates and uric acid, and poor in sulphates and urates.\\ {{anchor:s84}}Albumen and sugar in urine.\\ {{anchor:s85}}Urine red as blood.\\ {{anchor:s86}}Dribbling after urinating. ====== MALE SEXUAL ORGANS. [22] ====== {{anchor:s88}}Great sexual desire, with emissions; emissions every other night.\\ {{anchor:s89}}Violent erections all night; profuse seminal emissions.\\ {{anchor:s90}}Terrible erections, with restless sleep.\\ {{anchor:s91}}Overexcitement of sexual organs from irritation of cerebellum, in both sexes.\\ {{anchor:s92}}Priapism, associated with spinal disease; erections violent, penis distended almost to bursting.\\ {{anchor:s93}}Satyriasis of three years' standing.\\ {{anchor:s94}}Impotence or weakness with irritability; penis relaxed and shrunken; coldness of genitals.\\ {{anchor:s95}}Spermatorrhea. ====== PREGNANCY. PARTURITION. LACTATION. [24] ====== {{anchor:s99}}In diseases of nipples; (locally) inflammatory symptoms cease and skin becomes tougher. ====== NECK AND BACK. [31] ====== {{anchor:s101}}Heaviness in small of back.\\ {{anchor:s102}}Burning along spine and very great weakness of legs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints; agg. from study.\\ {{anchor:s103}}Tired aching feeling and some burning in back and legs; in women.\\ {{anchor:s104}}Heat in lower part of spine; aching and dragging in lumbar region, agg. from motion.\\ {{anchor:s105}}Tired, aching in lumbar region on awaking.\\ {{anchor:s106}}Urine intense red; violent, long-lasting, painful priapism; anesthesia of legs, with a feeling as if enclosed in an elastic stocking; chest feels as if encircled in a tight band; pricking, as if from needles, in legs and feet; agg. from least motion. {{anchor:s107}}~ Myelitis.\\ {{anchor:s108}}Tonic and clonic spasms; keeps legs wide apart when standing; looks steadily at objects, as if unable to make them out; limbs too weak to support body. {{anchor:s109}}~ Myelitis.\\ {{anchor:s110}}After doing much fine work, especially at night, gradual failing of eyesight, blur before eyes; hands became very tired, even when doing but little, and was unable to manage them skillfully; this tired sensation was noticed first of all in hands; sat in a chair and desired to remain very still; on attempting to walk pressed hand upon loin and slid feet along ground, as in a paretic condition, soon becoming exhausted; constipation; could not read a line without becoming much exhausted; played-out feeling of whole body; no will or power at all; chilliness down back, in immediate region of spine, during damp weather; paretic condition of lower extremities; dull and heavy headache in occiput; bodily exhaustion with mental clearness; sleepless at night from exhausted feeling; as soon as he falls asleep priapisms and seminal emissions, with or without sensual dreams; semen ejaculated too quickly during coition. {{anchor:s111}}~ Posterior spinal sclerosis.\\ {{anchor:s112}}Completed the cure of a case of spinal exhaustion following acute disease. ====== LOWER LIMBS. [33] ====== {{anchor:s114}}Great weakness and heaviness of lower limbs and back, with soreness of muscles and joints.\\ {{anchor:s115}}Great weakness of legs, especially left, which trembles; heavy, like lead; lifted from floor with difficulty.\\ {{anchor:s116}}Great weakness in region of hips.\\ {{anchor:s117}}Numbness and crawling in legs, with trembling and pricking as if from needles.\\ {{anchor:s118}}Heaviness of feet, with dull frontal headache.\\ {{anchor:s119}}Great coldness of feet. ====== LIMBS IN GENERAL. [34] ====== {{anchor:s121}}Great heaviness in arms and legs, especially legs, on exertion.\\ {{anchor:s122}}Extremities cold. ====== REST. POSITION. MOTION. [35] ====== {{anchor:s126}}Rest: headaches amel.; pressure over eyes.\\ {{anchor:s127}}Lying down: headache better.\\ {{anchor:s128}}Raising head: vertigo worse.\\ {{anchor:s129}}Could not sit up: vertigo.\\ {{anchor:s130}}Stooping: vertigo worse.\\ {{anchor:s131}}Motion: vertigo agg.; pressure over eyes agg.; nausea agg.; aching and dragging in lumbar region; pricking in legs worse.\\ {{anchor:s132}}Walking: vertigo agg.; up hill, readily winded.\\ {{anchor:s133}}Going up-stairs: vertigo worse. ====== NERVES. [36] ====== {{anchor:s135}}Tired feeling: on least exertion; all over body; with heaviness; excessive languor; no desire to talk or do anything; indifferent to everything; is obliged to lie down; it seems difficult to move limbs; great muscular debility; readily winded by walking up hill; inclined to day-sleepiness; poor appetite; general sense of torpidity.\\ {{anchor:s136}}Generally "run down," owing to anxiety, loss of sleep, etc.; left lower first and second molars had been recently filled and the gum between, in contact with the metal, became sore and painful; inflammation extended to third molar, which was painfully loose, and also to upper jaw and auditory meatus; a furunculoid swelling, as from lymphatic extension, appeared on the lower wall of latter, with soreness going from teeth to ear, on pressing jaws together; dull pain in back of neck and head, due to astigmatism, returned in spite of glasses; sexual system irritable but weak; despondent yet enduring mood, with sensitive feelings.\\ {{anchor:s137}}Great prostration; ears transparent; face, neck, lips and hands of a deathlike whiteness; three to five attacks of vomiting, coming on suddenly and without warning, ejected matter being of bright-yellow color and very bitter; easily prostrated, slightest exertion obliging him to quit; often the prostration caused by some little outdoor work in morning compels him to keep his bed the remainder of the day; sometimes feels like dropping down where he is, as if he were unable to reach house; mouth badly ulcerated; tongue smooth, cracked, having appearance of alligator's hide; mouth very dry; dry feeling commencing in throat and working upward, causing him to drink often, but little at a time; cannot double tongue; a feeling as if tongue would crack were it not moistened; sensation as of a lump back of thyroid cartilage; very troublesome when swallowing; appetite poor; no desire for any particular kind of food, eats what is set before him; what he eats tastes well and seems to digest well; retires about 10 P. M. almost prostrate, but in a short time it passes away, and he quickly goes to sleep; awakens a number of times in night to moisten tongue, but readily goes to sleep again; when he awakens in morning feels quite strong, but this soon passes away and he dreads the day; constipated eight months; evacuation once in four or five days; stool hard as a rock, sometimes bloody; great straining, with pain during and after, easing up after a little; head feels badly all through, but pain is on right side, extending from forehead back and in top of orbit of eye; amel. in a cool room or lying down; inclined to be drowsy; sometimes feels as if he could sleep all day; when walking up-stairs or up a hill has a sensation as if stairs or ground were coming up to meet him; vertigo on rising from bed, chair or stooping position and immediately after work; unable to retain urine, it was hot, almost scalding, but soon passed off, leaving him weak; no erections; scrotum lengthened, hanging down almost to knees; penis retracted.\\ {{anchor:s138}}After a severe mental shock from a death, languor, exhaustion, feels so tired, wants to lie down and sleep all the time, which she would do if not aroused.\\ {{anchor:s139}}Neurasthenia.\\ {{anchor:s140}}Weariness progressing from a slight feeling of fatigue on motion to complete paralysis.\\ {{anchor:s141}}Paralysis from softening of cord.\\ {{anchor:s142}}Tingling of lips, formication about head and crawling, as of ants over surface. ====== SLEEP. [37] ====== {{anchor:s144}}Sleep restless and disturbed by erections. ====== TIME. [38] ====== {{anchor:s146}}Morning: thick matter in corners of eyes; nausea agg.; out-door work easily prostrates.\\ {{anchor:s147}}At 5 A. M.: nausea worse.\\ {{anchor:s148}}Night: sleeplessness. ====== TEMPERATURE AND WEATHER. [39] ====== {{anchor:s150}}Open air: headache amel.; work in, prostrates.\\ {{anchor:s151}}Cool room: headache better.\\ {{anchor:s152}}Pains agg. wet weather. {{anchor:s153}}~ Locomotor ataxia.\\ {{anchor:s154}}Amelioration from cold air and water. ====== FEVER. [40] ====== {{anchor:s156}}Chilliness followed by clammy sweat.\\ {{anchor:s157}}Useful in typhoid conditions. ====== ATTACKS, PERIODICITY. [41] ====== {{anchor:s159}}Every other night: emissions.\\ {{anchor:s160}}Every four or five days: evacuations.\\ {{anchor:s161}}Three years: satyriasis. ====== LOCALITY AND DIRECTION. [42] ====== {{anchor:s163}}Right: severe pain over eye; pain behind ear.\\ {{anchor:s164}}Left: leg trembles. ====== SENSATIONS. [43] ====== {{anchor:s166}}As of sand in eyes; as of sticks in eyes; as if throat would split; legs as if enclosed in an elastic stocking; chest as if encircled in a tight band; pricking as if from needles in legs; as of a lump back of thyroid cartilage; as if stairs or ground were coming up to meet him; as of ants crawling over surface.\\ {{anchor:s167}}Pain: in eyes; behind right ear; running down side of neck.\\ {{anchor:s168}}Intense pain: in frontal region and vertex.\\ {{anchor:s169}}Severe pain: in neck and occiput to supraorbital notch or foramen, thence into eyes; over right eye.\\ {{anchor:s170}}Cutting: at anus.\\ {{anchor:s171}}Dull, throbbing, heavy, sharp pains: in head.\\ {{anchor:s172}}Aching: in back.\\ {{anchor:s173}}Dull pain: in head; in back of neck.\\ {{anchor:s174}}Smarting pain: in eyes; at anus.\\ {{anchor:s175}}Burning: along spine; of eyes; in external ear; at anus.\\ {{anchor:s176}}Heat: in lower part of spine.\\ {{anchor:s177}}Soreness of muscles and joints; of throat; from teeth to ear.\\ {{anchor:s178}}Pressure: over eyes; about stomach.\\ {{anchor:s179}}Heaviness: in small of back; in legs.\\ {{anchor:s180}}Dryness: of eyes; of throat.\\ {{anchor:s181}}Numbness: in legs.\\ {{anchor:s182}}Played-out feeling: of whole body.\\ {{anchor:s183}}Weakness: of legs and back; in region of hips.\\ {{anchor:s184}}Coldness: of genitals; down back; of feet.\\ {{anchor:s185}}Crawling: in legs. ====== TISSUES. [44] ====== {{anchor:s187}}Restorative of a wasted and worn-out system.\\ {{anchor:s188}}Progressive pernicious anemia.\\ {{anchor:s189}}Cortex cerebri cerebellum, medulla oblongata and spinal cord were found reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, dark brown in color and loaded with shining, greasy particles. ====== TOUCH. PASSIVE MOTION. INJURIES. [45] ====== {{anchor:s193}}Binding head tightly; headache amel. ====== SKIN. [46] ====== {{anchor:s195}}Small furuncles in any part of body, particularly in ears. ====== STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION. [47] ====== {{anchor:s197}}Man, aet. about 30; enuresis.\\ {{anchor:s198}}Man, aet. 35, lithographer, marked hydrogenoid constitution, father of two children; posterior spinal sclerosis.\\ {{anchor:s199}}Man, aet. 62, weight 140 lbs.; nervous disorder.\\ {{anchor:s200}}Woman, principal of school; brain fag. ====== RELATIONS. [48] ====== {{anchor:s202}}Compare: Arg. nitr. (headache and backache); Gelsem. (brain fag, occipital headache in sexual neurasthenia); Phos. ac. (tired feeling, exhaustion from sexual excesses); Phosphor. (effects of mental application); Petrol. (occipital headache); Oxal. ac. (softening of spinal cord); Sulphur (congestion of lumbar spine); Alumina (spinal pains); Silica (nervous exhaustion, sensitive spine). ---- ====== DOCUMENT DESCRIPTOR ====== ^ Source: | [[en:mm:hering:start|The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica]] Vol. 08, 1889 | ^ Description: | Clinical materia medica of [[en:rem:r210|Picricum acidum]] | ^ Remedies: | [[en:rem:r210|Picricum acidum]] | ^ Author: | Hering, C.; Raue, C.G.; Knerr, C.B.; Mohr, C. | ^ Year: | 1889 | ^ Editing: | errors only; interlinks; formatting | ^ Attribution: | Legatum Homeopathicum |}