Ipecacuanha
The great nausea remedy — constant, persistent, unrelieved nausea accompanying all complaints. Clean tongue despite nausea. Haemorrhage of bright red blood with nausea. Rattling cough with clean tongue. Nothing relieves the nausea.
Source
Prepared from the dried root of Carapichea ipecacuanha (Rubiaceae).
Available Potencies
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Keynote Symptoms
Persistent nausea not relieved by vomiting accompanies nearly all complaints. Clean tongue despite intense nausea. Haemorrhage of bright red blood with nausea. Rattling, suffocative cough with nausea and clean tongue. Cutting pains around the navel. Gripping colic.
Mind & Emotional Symptoms
Irritable, contemptuous. Morose. Full of desires but doesn't know for what. Impatient. Screaming and howling in children.
General Symptoms
Nausea as the constant concomitant. Haemorrhage. Worse from warmth, damp, overating, veal, pork, rich food, lying down. Better from open air, rest, pressure, closing eyes.
Physical Symptoms
Head
Headache as if bruised, all through the bones. Bones of skull feel crushed.
Face
Pale, blue rings around eyes, drawn, sick expression. One cheek hot, one cold.
Mouth
Tongue usually clean despite nausea. Salivation. Gripping in the stomach.
Stomach
Constant nausea, not relieved by vomiting. Loathes all food. Stomach feels relaxed, as if hanging down.
Abdomen
Cutting pain from left to right around navel. Gripping. Amoebic dysentery. Colic.
Rectum
Green, slimy stool. Dysentery with nausea. Autumnal dysentery. Fermented, foamy stools.
Female Genitalia
Uterine haemorrhage profuse, bright red, with nausea. Nausea of pregnancy. Menses too early, too profuse.
Respiratory
Suffocative cough with rattling in chest, but no expectoration. Nausea with cough. Child stiffens and turns blue. Whooping cough with nosebleed. Asthma with nausea.
Chest
Constriction, rattling. Feels full of mucus but cannot expectorate.
Fever / Chill / Perspiration
Intermittent fever with nausea. Short chill, long heat. Thirstless during heat.
Modalities
Better From
Open air, rest, pressure, closing eyes, cold drinks
Worse From
Warmth, damp, overeating, rich food, lying down, motion, winter, dry weather
Constitutional Type
Not strongly constitutional. Indicated in anyone with persistent nausea accompanying other symptoms.
Clinical Indications
Nausea and vomiting, morning sickness, haemorrhage, asthma, whooping cough, dysentery, bronchitis with rattling
Comparative Materia Medica
Antimonium tartaricum also has rattling but more prostration, drowsiness, and thick white tongue. Arsenicum has nausea with restlessness and thirst for sips. Tabacum has nausea with deathly pallor and cold sweat, better in open air.
Safety Information
Arnica, Arsenicum, China, Nux vomica, Tabacum.
Ipecac root contains emetine, which is an emetic and cardiac toxin in large doses. Used medically to induce vomiting (now discouraged). Potentised forms are safe.
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