Carbo vegetabilis
The 'corpse reviver' — a great collapse remedy. Icy coldness with desire to be fanned. Air hunger. Sluggish, torpid venous system. Excessive flatulence. Patient nearly lifeless yet wants windows open and to be fanned.
Source
Prepared from wood charcoal (birch or beech wood), triturated and potentised.
Available Potencies
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Keynote Symptoms
Collapse with icy coldness yet wants to be fanned. Air hunger — must have more air. Blueness of skin. Excessive flatulence, upper abdomen greatly distended. Sluggish, torpid venous circulation. Haemorrhage with cold breath. Complaints from loss of vital fluids.
Mind & Emotional Symptoms
Sluggish, lazy, aversion to mental and physical effort. Indifferent, apathetic. Sudden loss of memory. Fear of darkness. Anxiety at twilight. Mentally foggy.
General Symptoms
Vital force nearly exhausted. Cold breath, cold tongue, cold knees, cold nose. Desire to be fanned vigorously. Blue skin, mottled. Stagnation of venous blood. Flatulence distending upper abdomen. Worse from warmth, evening, night, rich/fatty food, butter, wine. Better from fanning, eructation, cool air.
Physical Symptoms
Head
Heavy, constricted. Hair falls out. Headache from overeating. Head feels hot though cold to touch.
Face
Pale, greenish, cold, covered with cold sweat. Hippocratic face. Puffy, cyanotic.
Mouth
Gums bleed easily, retracted, spongy. Tongue coated, cold. Blood oozes from gums.
Throat
Rawness, scraping. Hoarseness, worse evenings. Aphonia from damp evening air.
Stomach
Distension of upper abdomen with flatulence. Eructations rancid, sour. Slow digestion. Even simplest food disagrees. Waterbrash. Heaviness, fullness, sleepiness after eating.
Abdomen
Enormously distended. Rumbling, rolling of flatus. Colic from flatulence. Better passing flatus.
Rectum
Offensive, involuntary, cadaverous-smelling stool. Burning. Moisture at anus. Flatus hot, moist, offensive.
Respiratory
Cough with burning in chest. Whooping cough with vomiting. Dyspnoea and air hunger. Must be fanned. Rattling of mucus. Spasmodic cough with gagging and bluish face.
Chest
Burning. Rawness. Weak feeling. Palpitation.
Extremities
Cold from knees down. Legs heavy, stiff. Cramps in soles. Limbs go to sleep easily.
Skin
Blue, cold, mottled, marbled. Ecchymoses. Varicose veins. Decubitus ulcers. Itching worse warmth of bed.
Fever / Chill / Perspiration
Chill with thirst. Cold sweat. Hectic fever. Internal burning with external coldness.
Modalities
Better From
Being fanned, cool air, eructation, elevation of feet, loosening clothing
Worse From
Warmth, evening, night, open air (but wants to be fanned), rich/fatty food, butter, coffee, wine, milk, damp warm weather
Constitutional Type
Sluggish, lazy, torpid individuals. Venous stasis, cyanosis. Elderly with weakness and flatulence. Those who have never recovered from a previous illness.
Clinical Indications
Collapse, shock, flatulence, dyspepsia, asthma, varicose veins, haemorrhage, hoarseness, debility after acute illness, whooping cough
Comparative Materia Medica
Antimonium tartaricum also has respiratory distress and cyanosis but more rattling. China officinalis shares debility from fluid loss but without the air hunger. Lycopodium has similar flatulence but more in lower abdomen and is more anxious.
Safety Information
Arsenicum album, Camphora, Coffea, Lachesis, Mercurius.
Charcoal is inert and non-toxic. Used medicinally as an adsorbent for poisoning. No toxicity from any potency.
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