Aethusa cynapium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Illustration_Aethusa_cynapium0.jpg

Aethusa is prepared from a very common weed of Europe known as the Fools Parsley.

• BRAIN.• Nerves.• Digestion.• Occiput.• Neck.• Glands.• Liver.

Aethusa cynapium is a strong poison, having narcotic properties as well as paralyzing effects.

Along with Silica, it was one of the most important remedies for vomiting of milk in infants.

It produces a deathly nausea and sickness, with violent vomiting.

In the case of a child the vomit consists of curdled milk, which is often green but can also be white or yellow.

After vomiting, the child falls back exhausted and goes to sleep.

The Aethusa will often have thin, slimy, yellow and or green diarrhea preceded by cramps.

Intolerance of milk. cannot bear milk in any form; it is vomited in large curds as soon as taken; then weakness causes drowsiness.

Epileptic spasms, with clenched thumbs, red face, eyes turned downwards, pupils fixed and dilated; foam at the mouth, jaws locked; pulse small, hard, quick.

Hippocratic face with linea nasalis and blue pallor around mouth.

The Aethusa individual remains separate from others -- a man apart. Inside he experiences very deep, intense emotions, yet he does not communicate these emotions to other people.

He may be moved to tears, but tears do not come. He may feel friendly, but he appears aloof.

Because of these feelings the Aethusa patient will, at a certain point, decide to stop communicating with other people.

The emotional injury or disappointment which provokes this withdrawal may be very mild. This is actually a strong characteristic of Aethusa which runs through the remedy.

We do not find in Aethusa a prolonged history of many bitter disappointments and griefs which can account for such introversion or withdrawal.

In some cases we see a slow-growing disillusionment, a sense that no one has fully understood or responded to the patient's intense emotions.

Some patients may experience a sense of alienation. They feel that no real outlet exists for their emotions, that no other person could truly understand the strong feelings they have inside.

The Aethusa person becomes a loner. It is not a matter of his being unable to communicate; in fact, during the interview he may be quite communicative.

Aethusa should not be confused with certain other closed personality types, such as Ignatia and Natrum muriaticum.

Nat-m. and Ign. are highly refined, oversensitive, almost hysterical people in whom hurts and griefs produce a type of emotional cramping or hardening.

Aethusa is not hypersensitive, not so refined, not hysterical. He has intense feelings which are more robust, more primal -- like a child's emotions.

Such intense emotions must find expression and the Aethusa person seems drawn to animals.

The Aethusa person who does not want to communicate with other human beings may have extraordinary communication with animals.

The Aethusa person may love animals more than he loves any human being. The patient actually may say, "I am not interested in the love of human beings, only the love of animals."

In some cases he may even collect dozens of animals; he becomes an animal protector. The attachment can be so extreme that the patient may even consider bequeathing his estate to his animals.

Aethusa is mentioned in the rubric "delusions of animals.” Such delusions suggest that even when the logical mind is no longer operative, there remains a deep subconscious connection with animals.

After treatment with Aethusa these animal collectors begin to give away their animals; their degree of attachment returns to a normal level.

An alternative path for the release of the emotional energy may be found in Aethusa’s extreme preoccupation with social work.

If the strong feelings remain withheld, the emotions can overload the subconscious mind. This overloading sets the stage for much of the pathology of Aethusa.

As the subconscious mind overflows, we may often see the patient begin to talk to himself.

It is a "pouring out" -- symbolically, a verbal equivalent of the vomiting and diarrhea of this remedy.

The Aethusa person is aggravated by the dark. The darkness seems to permeate his being producing a heavy sensation in his chest.

He fears suffocation in the dark and, as a consequence, is forced to turn on a light and open a window.

He also fears death; this fear in Aethusa is especially peculiar and striking in that it tends to occur just at the moment when the patient is falling asleep, startling him to wakefulness.

In the Repertory Aethusa is the only remedy listed under the rubric "Fear of sleep -- fears to close his eyes lest he should never wake," a very characteristic fear of this remedy.

A corollary to this fear is a fear of surgery; the patient fears that he will not awaken from the anesthesia -- an expression of the combination of the fear of suffocation and the fear to go to sleep.

When he finally does drop off to sleep, the sleep is restless and often interrupted by frequent startings; he talks in his sleep and may even be prone to somnambulism.

Even though he does not express it, the Aethusa patient may feel a very strong attachment to his family. He may dread the thought of a family member dying.

However, despite such a strong attachment to his relatives, direct emotional contact between himself and his family is almost non-existent.

In a similar way, the patient may be unable to tolerate other situations which may stimulate his emotions. He may say, for instance, "I cannot go into a doctor's office when there are many sick people

The emotions in Aethusa find other outlets, outlets in the physical body, most notably through vomiting or diarrhea.

The vomiting and diarrhea of Aethusa possess an extreme intensity, bordering on violence.

The violence with which food, especially milk, that was recently ingested is forcibly ejected can be tremendous.

The Aethusa patient quickly deteriorates to an almost deathly state, so serious is the vomiting.

When the emotions remain controlled and without outlets for a considerable time, irritability may arise, and can become intense rage.

In Aethusa sexual activity has disappeared from their lives gradually in the same way that "communication" with other human beings has gradually subsided.

Rather than suffering an immediate big reaction to their disillusionment, these patients seem to become resigned to a life devoid of sex in consequence of a series of small but cumulative disappointments.

Usually however, there is a strong sexual desire, but, just as there is a withholding of other forms of communication, there can also be a withholding of sexual feelings.

The Aethusa patient seems to be too serious. He will give you the impression of one who seriously meditates all the time.

The Aethusa face is an old wise face with deep furrows.

Aethusa dulls the mind and makes it feel empty and incapable of perceiving, retaining and processing information.

It seems to them that is an utter impossibility to prepare for an examination because they are unable to read anything; unable to think or to fix their attention.

They feel a kind of stupefaction as if a barrier were erected between their organs of sense and the external objects. This state arises especially after having become overtaxed from mental exertion.

Aethusa children may resemble Calcarea phosphorica as both remedies can present headaches coupled with inability to focus the mind and learn.

The mind of Aethusa becomes weak and seems to have abandoned all efforts to operate effectively in much the same way that the emotions and sexual desire have been relinquished with no resistance.

Aethusa can be indicated when the student tells you that he cannot continue studying despite the fact that he has not overexerted himself tremendously.

There is a peculiar anxiety and restlessness that sets in as the mind seems to be giving up; then a form of sleeplessness ensues with the peculiar fear that he may not wake up if he goes to sleep.

His irritability is aggravated especially when walking outside in the open air; when indoors, he feels better.