Causticum

A chemical preparation created by Hahnemann himself: made by distilling a mixture of slaked lime (Calcium hydroxide) and bisulphate of potash (Potassium bisulphate), capturing the volatile alkaloid-like distillate. Not a naturally occurring substance.

First prepared and proved by Samuel Hahnemann and described in his Materia Medica Pura. Additional proving data from Hering, Allen, and Clarke.

Causticum is the remedy of idealism marred by sorrow. These are individuals whose conscience burns in response to suffering and injustice, but who have no outlet for their immense inner turmoil. Their nervous system becomes the battlefield where their ideals and reality clash—leading to paralysis, tremors, aphonia, and incontinence. They bear burdens silently, until the system collapses. Causticum restores the vital spark in those who have sacrificed their voice, their cause, or their grief in silence.

• Nerves – Especially motor nerves, voluntary paralysis, facial palsy, ptosis
• Mucous membranes – rawness, hoarseness, chronic inflammation
• Throat and Larynx – aphonia, phlegm, loss of voice from overuse
• Bladder – loss of control, incontinence, retention
• Joints – contractures, stiffness, rheumatism
• Mind – idealism, grief, injustice sensitivity, deep emotional repression

Causticum individuals are marked by a deep sense of justice, idealism, and compassion, often to their own detriment. Their inner world is shaped by the suffering of others—they feel intensely for the oppressed, the vulnerable, the downtrodden [Kent]. A central theme is injustice—they cannot bear to witness it, and its repression leads to internal breakdown. Children are highly sensitive, serious beyond their years, often prematurely mature, melancholic, or prone to deep sadness. They may cry from hearing tragic stories or witnessing cruelty. Adults often appear stoic, dutiful, and deeply committed to causes, but they suppress grief and emotional pain, leading to nervous and physical disorders. There may be stammering, forgetfulness, or emotional blunting from long-term suppression. They are fearful—especially of the dark, ghosts, or something happening to loved ones—but brave when defending others. The mind can become confused, dulled, especially from grief. A sense of doom or a feeling that something terrible is about to happen is common.

Disturbed by anxious thoughts. Nightmares, especially about injustice, falling, or pursuit. Jerking during sleep. Talking or groaning in sleep. Wakes tired and unrefreshed. Sleep is restless, with vivid, emotionally charged dreams.

Dreams of fire, robbery, death, or injustice. Repeats the same dream. May dream of events long past. Dreams of helping others or failing to save someone. Disturbing or frustrating dreams that provoke fear or sadness upon waking.

Burning, rawness, and paralysis are keynotes. Paralysis may be partial, affecting face, bladder, or limbs. Suppressed eruptions, grief, or voice strain lead to physical illness. Better for cloudy weather, worse from dry wind. Tendency to develop warts, tics, incontinence, and speech disorders. Fatigue from long-term idealism or emotional suppression.

Fever with dry, burning skin and internal chilliness. Heat alternates with chills. Tends to linger after exposure or overexertion. Night sweats may be offensive.

Chilly but wants cold drinks. Cold air aggravates. Sweats on exertion or during sleep. Sweat may smell sour or acrid. Localised sweating in small of back, chest, or hands.

Chronic headaches with tension in the occiput or vertex, often described as dull or pressing. Headaches worse from cold wind, reading, or suppression of menses. Trembling or jerking of the head and neck from weakness or paralysis. Hair may fall out in patches, especially after grief or long illness. Scalp itches, especially at night. Sensation as if the brain were loose or moving. Face and head may tremble during emotional stress.

Drooping of eyelids (ptosis) from weakness of levator muscles. Eyestrain from reading or poor light. Burning, gritty sensation with dryness and blurred vision. May see sparks, flickering, or black spots. Involuntary closing of the eyes while reading or writing. Photophobia with tearing. Paralysis of ocular muscles or twitching from nervous exhaustion. Vision may improve after rest but is disturbed by mental strain.

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)—high-pitched or buzzing. Hearing dull or impaired, especially after suppressed discharges. Earache in children with sharp shooting pains. Chronic catarrhal deafness with thick mucus or blocked sensation. Sensation of wind or air rushing through ears. Hypersensitive to noise or startled easily.

Raw, burning soreness inside nostrils. Constant need to blow the nose but nothing comes out. Discharges yellow, gluey, or bloody. Coryza with hoarseness and rough voice. Loss of smell in chronic cases. Sneezing attacks in cold air. Chronic postnasal catarrh from mucous membrane paralysis.

Paralysis of facial muscles, especially left-sided Bell’s palsy. Face appears asymmetrical, with drooping mouth or eyelid. Expression serious, suffering. Facial tics or spasms in chronic neurotic states. Skin of the face may be dry, itchy, or covered in small warts. Neuralgia on one side, with tearing pain worse in cold air.

Stammering speech, especially after fright or grief. Dryness of mouth, with burning, as if scalded. Taste lost or altered. Painful ulcers or rawness in the cheeks. Tongue may tremble when protruded or feels paralysed. Speech is indistinct or hesitant. Mouth corners cracked and sore.

Teeth feel elongated, sensitive to cold or chewing. Decay may be rapid despite good hygiene. Pain worse at night and from cold air. Grinding of teeth during sleep in children. Gums may bleed easily or recede. Swelling of submaxillary glands.

Constant desire to clear the throat due to mucus that cannot be hawked up or swallowed. Rawness, scraping sensation, worse from dry air and better from cold drinks. Loss of voice (aphonia) from overuse or exposure to cold, often in teachers or singers. Hoarseness more marked in the morning or after speaking. Uvula elongated or inflamed. Throat feels constricted.

Voice hoarse, sometimes entirely lost. Chronic laryngitis, especially in singers or public speakers. Raw, burning pain in chest from mucus or coughing. Cough deep, hollow, worse from talking or exposure. Bronchial catarrh with tough mucus. Pain under sternum or stitching in chest walls. Cannot tolerate cold air on chest.

Palpitations worse from excitement or grief. Pulse irregular or weak. Sensation of trembling or fluttering in chest. May feel as though the heart would stop, especially at night. Chest constriction or dull heaviness. Suited to degenerative cardiac states or valvular insufficiency.

Hoarseness and loss of voice are keynote. Deep, dry cough with scanty expectoration. Cough worse from speaking, singing, or dry air. Sensation of mucus deep in chest but difficult to raise. Breathing laboured during sleep. Asthma with anxiety or oppression at night.

Empty, sinking sensation in the stomach, worse in the morning. Aversion to sweets, fatty foods, or milk. Burning pain, like heartburn, worse from cold drinks. Nausea that rises from the stomach to the throat. Belching with a sour or rancid taste. Discomfort after eating, especially from eating hastily or when anxious. Craves smoked meats or salty foods.

Colicky pains that come and go, worse before stool or menses. Abdomen bloated, sensitive to touch. Tightness across epigastrium, with heaviness or dragging. Constipation alternates with diarrhoea. Liver feels enlarged, sore, or heavy. Sensation of something moving or alive in abdomen (a common symptom in hysteria or suppressed grief).

Involuntary stool, especially when passing flatus or coughing. Stool difficult to pass, often from partial paralysis of the rectum. Constipation with frequent, ineffectual urging. Sensation as if anus is closed or obstructed. Haemorrhoids, burning and raw, especially when standing. Moist eruptions or warts around the anus.

Marked symptom: involuntary urination, especially from sneezing, laughing, coughing, or blowing the nose. Retention of urine with paralytic weakness of bladder. May have to wait a long time before urine starts to flow. Urine passed slowly, sometimes drop by drop. Burning in urethra. Urging to urinate may be sudden and urgent.

Craves: smoked meats, salt, cold drinks, sour things
Aversion: sweet things, fatty foods, milk
Worse from: fatty food, sweets, dry food
Better from: cold drinks, warm bland food

Sexual desire reduced or entirely absent, often from emotional repression or grief. Erections weak or absent. Seminal emissions during sleep or with little stimulation. Prostate may be enlarged. Genitals may feel numb or heavy. Urinary symptoms may overlap.

Menses late, scanty, or suppressed. Dysmenorrhoea with tearing pains down thighs. Incontinence during pregnancy, sneezing, or exertion. Leucorrhoea profuse, yellowish, and acrid. Genitals feel dry, with burning or itching. Loss of sexual desire. Labour pains weak or ineffectual; postpartum paralysis of bladder.

Stiffness of neck and shoulders. Pain in lumbar spine, especially after exertion or in elderly. Spasms in the back, especially from emotion or shock. Burning between shoulder blades. Cannot straighten up easily after stooping. Cold spots or formication along spine.

Paralysis, especially of hands, arms, or one side. Trembling, weakness, and cramps in limbs. Contraction of tendons or muscles, leading to stiffness. Cannot raise arm, or hand drops things. Warts on fingers or knuckles. Cold, numb extremities. Sciatica with tearing pain, better for warmth.

Warts, especially on fingers, face, or anus. Burns that fail to heal or develop into ulcers. Skin dry, chapped, with rawness and bleeding. Old scars that become sore. Itching worse in dry air. Eruptions suppressed cause internal illness. Sensation of burning or rawness without visible lesion.

• Gelsemium – Also features paralysis and weakness, but more drowsy and passive; Caust. is fiery and justice-driven
• Staphisagria – Suppressed emotion and sensitivity to injustice, but more internally raging and passive-aggressive
• Ignatia – Acute grief and nervous symptoms; Caust. is chronic, with raw, paralytic aspects
• Phosphorus – Sensitive and empathic, but more open and affectionate than the melancholic Caust.
• Rhus tox – Similar rheumatism and stiffness, but Rhus is restless and better from continued motion; Caust. often worse from it

• Complementary: Phosphorus, Petroselinum
• Antidotes: Coffea, Nux-v., Phos.
• Inimical: Phosphoric acid
• Follows well: Sulphur, Staphisagria
• Precedes well: Lycopodium, Sepia

• Indispensable in Bell’s palsy, facial paralysis, and ptosis
• Excellent for aphonia in teachers, singers, and public speakers
• Often needed in bladder paralysis, incontinence, or postpartum urine retention
• Look for warty growths and neurologic weakness after emotional trauma
• Low to medium potencies (6C–30C) in paralysis and bladder issues
• 200C or higher in deep constitutional prescribing

Mind

• Sensitive to injustice
• Weeps from sympathy
• Fear of dark
• Confusion from grief
• Idealism, intense

Nerves / Paralysis

• Paralysis, facial
• Paralysis, bladder
• Ptosis
• Trembling, limbs

Throat / Voice

• Aphonia, chronic
• Hoarseness, from overuse
• Mucus, cannot be raised

Bladder / Urine

• Incontinence, from coughing
• Retention, postpartum
• Urine, slow stream

Extremities

• Weakness, hands
• Trembling
• Contractures
• Warts, hands

Skin

• Warts, face
• Rawness, burns
• Eruptions, suppressed

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving, with detailed notes on paralysis and raw sensations

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Provided the moral and psychological themes of idealism and suppression

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Expanded on neurologic affections and speech disorders

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Summarised practical applications in bladder and vocal complaints

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Contributed insight into keynotes, such as aphonia, facial paralysis, and chronic hoarseness

Allen’s Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Supplemented physical and emotional symptoms