Apocynum cannabinum
Remedy of dropsical conditions with sinking at pit of stomach. Edema, ascites, hydrothorax with great thirst but water is vomited. General anasarca. Weak, slow pulse. Nose bleeds in dropsical patients.
Source
Prepared from the whole fresh plant of Apocynum cannabinum (Apocynaceae) at flowering.
Available Potencies
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Keynote Symptoms
Dropsy — generalized edema (anasarca), ascites, hydrothorax. Great thirst but water is vomited or disagrees. Sinking, goneness at pit of stomach. Bloating of abdomen. Slow, weak pulse. Nosebleeds during dropsy. Urine scanty despite profuse thirst. Chronic diarrhea with dropsy.
Mind & Emotional Symptoms
Bewildered, confused. Dull. Low-spirited, nervous. Irritable.
General Symptoms
Dropsical states with weakness and digestive disturbance. Worse from cold, uncovering, lying down. Better from sitting up, warmth.
Physical Symptoms
Head
Hydrocephalus. Dull heavy headache. Chronic headache with dropsy.
Nose
Nosebleeds — fluid, dark blood — in dropsical patients. Stuffiness.
Stomach
Sinking at pit of stomach. Intense thirst but water disagrees or is vomited. Nausea, vomiting of food and bile. Distension after eating.
Abdomen
Ascites — greatly distended abdomen with fluid. Bloating. Diarrhea with dropsical symptoms. Tympanitic.
Urinary
Urine scanty, dark. Suppressed. Urinary failure with dropsy. Strangury.
Chest
Hydrothorax — fluid in pleural cavity. Dyspnoea from fluid. Chronic cough.
Extremities
General anasarca — edema of legs, hands, face. Dropsical swelling.
Skin
Dropsical, pale, waxy. Pitting edema.
Modalities
Better From
Sitting up, warmth
Worse From
Cold, uncovering, lying down, drinking water
Constitutional Type
Not strongly constitutional. Used primarily for dropsical states — renal, hepatic, or cardiac origin — with vomiting of water.
Clinical Indications
Dropsy (anasarca, ascites, hydrothorax), cardiac failure with edema, renal failure with edema, epistaxis during dropsy, vomiting of water
Comparative Materia Medica
Apis has dropsy but with thirstlessness and stinging pains. Arsenicum has dropsy with restlessness, thirst for sips, and burning. Digitalis has cardiac dropsy with slow pulse but more nausea and jaundice.
Safety Information
Not well established. Digitalis is a related cardiac glycoside remedy.
Apocynum contains cymarin, a cardiac glycoside. Toxic in crude doses — causes nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia. Historically used by Native Americans as a diuretic and heart remedy. Use potentised forms.
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