Arsenicum album
Great remedy for burning pains relieved by heat, with extreme restlessness, anxiety, and prostration. Fastidious, anxious, chilly, thirsty for small frequent sips. Periodicity and midnight aggravation.
Source
Prepared from arsenious trioxide (As2O3), triturated and potentised.
Available Potencies
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Keynote Symptoms
Burning pains paradoxically relieved by warmth and hot applications. Extreme restlessness with prostration. Great anxiety, especially about health and death, with midnight aggravation. Thirst for small sips at frequent intervals. Fastidious, neat, tidy. Periodicity of symptoms.
Mind & Emotional Symptoms
Extreme anguish, restlessness, and fear of death. Thinks it is useless to take medicine, is incurable. Fastidious, everything must be in order. Anxious, insecure, clinging. Fear of being alone. Miserly, selfish. Oversensitive, critical, fault-finding. Suicidal but afraid of death.
General Symptoms
Burning pains relieved by heat. Restlessness with weakness and exhaustion. Periodicity — every other day, annually. Worse after midnight (1-2 AM), from cold in any form, from spoiled food, from exertion. Better from heat, warm drinks, head elevated. Discharges thin, acrid, excoriating. Emaciation.
Physical Symptoms
Head
Headache relieved by cold, but scalp is sensitive. Hemicrania with restlessness, burning. Hair falls out.
Eyes
Burning, with acrid lachrymation. Oedema around eyes. Intense photophobia. Ulceration of cornea.
Nose
Thin, watery, excoriating discharge. Sneezing without relief. Stuffiness. Acrid coryza with rawness of nostrils.
Face
Pale, waxy, cadaverous, sunken, anxious expression. Tearing, needle-like pains. Lips black, livid. Swelling, especially upper lip.
Mouth
Dry, burning. Ulcers with burning pain. Aphthae. Tongue dry, white, clean. Thirst for sips.
Throat
Swollen, burning, constricted. Unable to swallow. Burning relieved by warm drinks.
Stomach
Cannot bear the sight or smell of food. Nausea, retching, vomiting after eating or drinking. Burning pain better from warm drinks and milk. Craves milk, warm food, coffee, acids. Thirst for small sips frequently.
Abdomen
Gnawing, burning pains. Liver and spleen enlarged. Ascites. Colic relieved by heat.
Rectum
Diarrhea from spoiled food, cold drinks, fruit, ice cream. Small, dark, offensive, burning, excoriating. Dysentery with great prostration and burning.
Respiratory
Asthma worse midnight, lying down, worse from cold air. Wheezing. Cannot lie down for fear of suffocation. Burning in chest. Darting pain through upper third of right lung.
Chest
Palpitation, pain, dyspnoea. Angina pectoris with pain in neck and occiput. Cough alternating dry and loose.
Skin
Dry, rough, scaly. Burning itching, worse from scratching. Ulcers with offensive discharge, burning pains. Psoriasis, eczema. Gangrenous ulcers. Anthrax.
Fever / Chill / Perspiration
Periodical fever: chill-heat-sweat in sequence. Paroxysms at 1-2 AM. Great internal burning heat with external coldness. Cold clammy sweat. Septic fevers.
Modalities
Better From
Heat, warm drinks, warm applications, head elevated, company, motion
Worse From
After midnight (1-2 AM), cold in any form, cold food/drink, spoiled food, exertion, seashore, right side
Constitutional Type
Fastidious, anxious, chilly, lean individuals. Pale, waxy complexion. Restless, insecure. Perfectionist, critical. Often lean despite good appetite.
Clinical Indications
Gastroenteritis, food poisoning, asthma, anxiety, OCD, eczema, psoriasis, allergic rhinitis, insomnia, peptic ulcer, diarrhea, debility
Comparative Materia Medica
Nux vomica also has midnight aggravation but is more irritable, less anxious, and symptoms from overindulgence. Phosphorus has burning pains but craves cold drinks and is less restless. Carbo vegetabilis has coldness and collapse but desires fanning.
Safety Information
Camphor, China, Ferrum, Graphites, Hepar sulph, Ipecac, Nux vomica, Sambucus, Tabacum, Veratrum album. Coffee, milk, and charcoal as material antidotes.
Arsenic trioxide is a well-known poison causing GI irritation, multi-organ failure, and death. Chronic exposure causes peripheral neuropathy, skin changes, and cancer. Only use potentised forms (6C and above).
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