Niccolum metallicum

An elemental transition metal (atomic symbol Ni) widely used in coins, alloys (stainless steels), plating, and batteries. Occupational and experimental toxicology emphasise contact dermatitis (itching, erythema, vesicles where jewellery or coins touch), asthma and wheeze from nickel dust/fume, metallic taste, headache, gastric irritability, and general neuro-asthenia from over-exposure [Hughes], [Clarke]. Homeopathic preparations are made by trituration of the pure metal with lactose and further centesimal attenuation; the pathogenesis in the classical literature blends fragmentary provings with clinical and toxicologic data, yielding a remedy image centred on brain-fag headaches, asthenopia from mental/ocular strain, cervico-scapular fatigue, catarrhal–asthmatic tendencies, and nickel-eczema [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger], [Phatak]. The “student–clerk” constitution—sedentary, overworked, sensitive to reading and close mental application—is repeatedly noted [Kent], [Nash], [Tyler].

No large Hahnemannian proving exists; fragmentary provings (metal trituration) and numerous clinical confirmations were compiled by Allen, Hering, Clarke, Boericke and others. Recurrent themes: pressing/frontal–supraorbital headaches from study/reading, neuralgic brow pains radiating to nape and shoulders, eye-strain with blur and photophobia, gastric sinking improved by a light meal, asthmatic tightness in workshops, and eczema at metal-contact sites [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger]. Tags: [Proving] [Clinical] [Toxicology].

Essence: Niccolum is the desk-worker’s and student’s remedy when reading/close work provokes a pressive frontal–supraorbital headache with asthenopia, nape–interscapular fatigue, and an evening brain-buzz that defeats sleep; it also suits workshop subjects whose symptoms hinge upon warm, close air and metal dust/fumes, and those with nickel-contact eczema. The polarities are practical and striking: worse from mental exertion, artificial light, long sitting/stoop, warm rooms, moisture/sweat, and nickel contact; better from rest (especially of the eyes), darkness, distance-gazing, open, cool air (without direct draught on eyes/throat), gentle pressure on brow, neck support, light frequent food, and dry skin with avoidance of nickel [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].

The remedy’s signature links braid the case together. (1) Mechanics of strain: stop the near-focus and the band-headache melts; change the posture and the interscapular weight lifts—Head/Eyes/Back move as one. (2) Micro-environment: the same person who faints under lamps and close heat revives in cool, still air—Respiration and Generalities echo; yet direct draught on eyes/throat may tease, so nursing must be cool without draft. (3) Contact causation: the itching vesicles at earlobes/wrists/belt-line end when nickel is removed—Skin becomes a diagnostic flag and a management key. (4) Periodicity: weekly/fortnightly returns tie to schedules of work and light; a brief pre-midnight sleep or holiday interrupts the cycle. Compared with Ruta and Pic-ac., Nicc. is less catastrophic and more environmental–mechanical; compared with Nat-m., it is lamp– rather than sun-driven; compared with Graphites/Rhus-t., its eczema has a clear metal cause. The pace is subacute–chronic; reactivity is heat-, effort-, and contact-sensitive; and management marries constitutional dosing to ergonomics, lighting, ventilation, and metal avoidance.

• Cerebro-meningeal / headaches of mental strain — Pressive, band-like frontal–supraorbital headache from study or reading, radiating to nape and shoulders; periodic (“weekly” or fortnightly) recurrences; better rest, darkness, sometimes after food [Clarke], [Allen], [Boger].
• Eyes (accommodation / ciliary) — Asthenopia: blur, aching over brows, photophobia and letters run together after reading or desk work; relieved by closing eyes, dark room, or looking far [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Cervico-scapular apparatus — Stiff, aching neck and inter-scapular fatigue from long sitting and mental toil; muscular prostration with tremor in writers/clerks [Boger], [Kent].
• Respiratory tract (workshop asthma) — Wheeze, tight chest, tickling cough in metal shops or from dust/fumes; sensitive to warm, close rooms, better cool air (throat protected) [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Skin (contact allergy) — Nickel-eczema: itching, burning, papules and vesicles at earlobes, wrists, belt-line, coin-pockets; oozing, then crusting; worse perspiration and moisture, better dryness, avoidance of nickel [Clarke], [Hughes], [Phatak].
• Gastric–hepatic — Sinking, emptiness, faintness from brain-fag; metallic taste, nausea in close rooms; tendency to biliary fulness with right hypochondrial drag in the sedentary [Allen], [Clarke].
• Neuralgic pains (supraorbital–intercostal) — Stitching/aching brow–face neuralgia from eye use; intercostal neuralgia in typists; better pressure, rest, warmth, dark [Boger], [Tyler].
• General nutrition / neurasthenia — Sedentary exhaustion, irritability, sleepless study, and brain-weariness with tremulous muscles; overwork aggravates everything [Kent], [Nash].

The Niccolum temperament is that of the sedentary over-worker: keyed-up, conscientious, and easily driven past capacity by reading and close application [Kent]. As the day wears on, a dull irritability replaces accuracy; patience with noise and interruptions fails, and an aching brow-band announces that the brain and eyes have been overtaxed, which tallies with the modality worse from mental exertion [Clarke]. A sense of emptiness or sinking accompanies fatigue—partly gastric, partly nervous—and improves after light food or a brief spell in cool air, mirroring the ameliorations above [Allen]. The sufferer becomes hypochondriacal about failing work, yet is too tired to sleep when bed-time comes, turning the pillow and thinking of tasks; morning brings regret and an early return to the desk. Moral tone is dutiful rather than anxious; peevishness and a desire to be let alone in a dark, quiet room mark the evening peak [Tyler]. Consolation is unwelcome; the true balm is to stop, darken the room, and rest the eyes. When the skin is involved, the constant itch where jewellery touches heightens irritability; removing the nickel article calms both mind and itch, making a simple causation–cure lesson for the patient [Clarke]. In students, fear of examinations coincides with headache-flares, especially if night-study has been pushed and sleep curtailed; the picture shades towards Pic-ac. if brain-fag is extreme, but the eye-strain and contact-eczema draw one back to Nicc. [Boger].

Sleep is delayed by evening brain-buzz and brow-ache; he turns restlessly, rehearsing work not done [Kent]. When sleep comes late, it is light and not refreshing; the morning is dull until air and food are taken. A short sleep before midnight sometimes aborts the attack next day (Better For). Night itch at metal-contact sites breaks sleep; removing the article and drying the skin help. Noise and street-light glare disturb; quiet darkness alone soothes (cross-link Mind/Eyes). After a day outdoors, sleep is deeper—another environmental confirmation.

Dreams of writing, sums, unfinished tasks, and lost spectacles betray the occupational strain; on waking, the brow-band and neck-stiffness reassert until breakfast and air restore [Tyler]. Dreams are not terrifying but fussy and incessant; they cease in holiday weeks when reading is dropped—periodicity echoed in sleep-life.

Nicc. centres upon brain-fag with asthenopic headache, cervico-scapular fatigue, workshop-air sensitivity and nickel-eczema, in a sedentary, overworked constitution. The grand modality cluster is: worse from reading/close mental application, artificial light, long sitting/stoop, warm, close rooms, dust/fumes, moisture and perspiration, and contact with nickel; better from rest (especially of eyes and mind), darkness, looking into distance, open, cool air (without direct draught on eyes/throat), gentle pressure on brow, neck support, light food, and keeping skin dry/avoiding nickel [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger]. Periodicity (weekly/fortnightly) appears in headaches and palpitations, a malarial nuance. Cross-links are explicit: stopping reading and darkening the room eases eyes, head, and neck together; stepping into cool, still air calms head and chest; removing nickel contacts heals skin and temper; a light snack relieves gastric sinking and brow-ache. Differentiate from Ruta (eye-strain with tendon-soreness), Pic-ac. (overwhelming brain prostration), Nat-m. (sun-grief headaches), Kali-phos. (general neurasthenia without contact-eczema), Gelsemium (post-viral dullness, heavy lids rather than ocular strain), Conium (turning vertigo in the aged), and Graphites/Rhus-t. (eczema without metal causation) by the reading/lamp-worse + cool-air-better + nickel-contact-skin triad [Clarke], [Boger], [Phatak], [Tyler].

Low evening heat in close rooms, with head-fullness; sweat on scalp and nape in warm workshops; no septic curve belongs [Clarke], [Hughes]. Fever abates in fresh air or after a light perspiration; the skin-itch may revive under sweat and damp (Skin cross-link). Constitutional reaction is modest; the fever mirrors over-stimulation and air-quality.

Chill in the forenoon office from long stillness, then heat of head under lamps, ending with sweat that does not refresh; the cycle is circadian and occupational rather than infectious [Clarke]. Sweat aggravates nickel-eczema and wheeze in warm rooms; the rule is cool, dry, well-ventilated.

Headache is pressing, band-like, seated at the frontal–supraorbital ridge and extending to temples, nape, and between the shoulders, as if a cap or ring were tightened [Allen], [Clarke]. It rises with reading and close work, is worse in warm, close rooms and from glare, and improves in cool air, darkness, or with gentle pressure upon the brow, directly reflecting the modalities already set out [Boericke], [Boger]. There is often periodicity—a weekly or fortnightly return, commonly on work-days; Sunday relief disappears if the student begins Monday under artificial light, a small “mini-case” pattern repeatedly noted [Clarke]. Nausea and gastric sinking may complicate severe attacks, with transient ease after a light snack (cross-link to Stomach). The neck grows stiff and supports the head poorly; propping or a rest on the chair-back brings partial relief. Compared: Nat-m. (sun and grief; hammering), Pic-ac. (intense intellectual prostration with brow-ache and semen-like emissions), Ruta (ocular strain with aching orbits), and Kali-phos. (nerve-exhaustion): choose Nicc. when eye-use + desk-posture + periodicity + cool-air better are plain [Clarke], [Boger], [Kent].

Asthenopia is central: after reading, letters swim, the print blurs, and an aching over the brows compels closing the eyes or staring into distance [Clarke], [Boericke]. Photophobia arises out of fatigue rather than inflammation; the sight is otherwise structurally sound. Artificial lamp-light and screen-flicker precipitate the trouble; daylight at a distance and darkness relieve—this tallies exactly with better darkness and worse artificial light in the modalities. Ciliary neuralgia may shoot to the temples and occiput; the scalp can feel tight. Tears are scant; the eyes feel dry and hot, yet cold wind directly upon them aggravates, so that cool room but no draught on eyes best suits (echoing the nuanced thermal rule seen in respiratory notes). Eye-strain headaches blur into neck ache; once the visual work stops, the entire chain eases in ten to twenty minutes—a bedside time-course to confirm the remedy [Boger].

Noise intolerance appears late in the day; ordinary conversation jars, and workshop air with hammering or ventilation fans is unbearable [Clarke]. There may be a humming with the headache and a subjective fullness in the ears in warm rooms. True otitis does not belong to the remedy; the ear signs are secondary to cerebral fatigue and environmental triggers. Removing to a quiet, cool place settles the disturbance. In highly sensitive workers, nickel-fume exposure is followed by tickling cough and ear-singing that abate outdoors (cross-link to Respiration) [Hughes].

A dry anterior nose with tendency to pick; in workshops a tickling leads to sneezing; dust and heated air irritate [Clarke]. There is no corrosive coryza; the nasal field is accessory. Odours in close rooms provoke headache and nausea. Cool air clears the passages and lightens the head (modalities echoed). When eczema extends to the alae in nickel-allergic persons (spectacle frames, clips), the skin cracks and itches, better for removing the offending metal [Phatak].

Pale or sallow in the evening, drawn with mental fatigue; the supraorbital ridge is tender to touch [Clarke]. A tired frown grooves the brow; rubbing gives momentary relief (pressure-better). Occasional facial neuralgia runs from brow to zygoma on the study side; darkness and warmth of the hand soothe. When earrings are of nickel, the lobes redden and ooze with itch that excites peevishness; symptoms improve quickly once the jewellery is changed—didactic of the causation [Clarke], [Hughes].

Metallic taste after time in warm, close rooms or shops; dryness of mouth with much desk-speech or nervousness [Allen], [Clarke]. Tongue thinly coated; breath grows stale late evening with gastric sinking; a light snack refreshes. Teeth are not the focus; jaw aches with clench during brow-pain. Cool water relieves the taste, but too cold on teeth or throat may provoke cough (Respiration cross-link).

Grinding from effort to force attention; edge-teeth feel sensitive after long reading under lamp. No ulcerative or carious keynote emerges; the dental notes amplify the nervous picture rather than define the remedy. Clenching increases the temporal throbbing and is abandoned; jaw-rest helps the headache indirectly [Boger].

Tickle and scraping after shop-dust or speaking long in warm rooms; dryness and need to sip water; better in cool, still air [Clarke], [Hughes]. No marked tonsillar swelling; the fauces are simply irritable. Tight collars aggravate neck ache; loosening allows better posture and lessens headache pull (Head/Neck cross-link).

Tightness and tickle in warm, dusty rooms; wheeze in nickel-workshops, improving in the open air (Respiratory affinity) [Hughes], [Clarke]. A short, teasing cough follows throat dryness; voice tires with speaking. Palpitations are nervous and accompany brain-fag; fresh air steadies. No deep parenchymal disease is implied; management is environmental and constitutional.

Palpitation with desk-anxiety and eye strain; pulse soft, quick in warm rooms; outdoors the heaving falls away [Clarke]. Not a valvular remedy; the heart signs register neurasthenia. In a few, periodic palpitations accompany the fortnightly headache, abating with rest and dark.

Short breath, worse warm, close rooms; better cool air, worse dust/fume—especially in workshops where nickel is handled [Hughes]. Breathlessness is chiefly reflex to mental fatigue and air-quality; removing to cool, still air helps. A tickle-cough rises from a dry larynx; sips relieve. Avoid direct cold draught on the throat while seeking a cool room (nuanced thermal care echoed from Eyes/Throat).

A notable sinking, emptiness at epigastrium coincides with the brow-ache; a few mouthfuls of light food or a warm drink relieve both stomach and head (echoing Better after food) [Allen], [Clarke]. Nausea rises in close rooms and from odours; open air steadies. Appetite is capricious; heavy meals in the evening worsen the morrow’s study. Eructations are scant and do not relieve; the complaint is nervous, not flatulent. In those with desk-livers, a dull right hypochondrial drag appears and improves with walking (Abdomen cross-link).

Right hypochondrial fulness and aching from sedentary habit; better from gentle exercise and fresh air [Clarke]. Wind rises to the chest when long seated; after a walk the tension eases. Abdomen is otherwise quiet; no colic signature. Constipation is a side-note in some students who suppress calls during work; stool regularity reduces the evening head pressure (Rectum/Generalities tie).

Habitual delay of stool at the desk leads to evening weight in head and irritability; once bowels act, the brow-ache often shortens (organ linkage) [Clarke]. Rectal sphere has no sharp pathology; the advice is practical: avoid suppression and schedule breaks.

Urine ordinary; some complain of dark urine after hot shop-hours, lightening when hydrated in cool air (toxicologic echo) [Hughes]. Frequency rises with nervousness and late coffee. Relief of head-pressure sometimes follows a good urinary flow, repeating the emunctory motif found in many “brain-fag” remedies [Boger].

Desire for light, frequent food; better after a snack during headache; heavy suppers make morning worse [Allen], [Clarke]. Coffee late at night increases wakefulness and head-pulses; water sipped cool refreshes. Alcohol in workshops flushes and worsens wheeze; best avoided. Salt not special.

Sexual desire muted by fatigue; emissions after overwork increase headache the next day (compare Pic-ac.). Skin of scrotum can itch where metal (belt-buckle, trouser clasp) touches in nickel-sensitive subjects; removing the item quiets both skin and temper [Clarke]. Otherwise, genito-urinary sphere is secondary.

Clerks and students complain of pre-menstrual increase of brow-ache and asthenopia; reading under artificial light becomes intolerable; cool, dark quietness restores [Clarke]. Nickel earrings or bra hooks may elicit eczema, worse perspiration, better dryness and removal (Skin cross-link). In pregnancy, evening headaches from eye-strain yield to rest in darkness.

Nape stiffness and inter-scapular weariness are the physical counterpart of head–eye strain [Boger], [Kent]. Long sitting and stoop exaggerate; neck support or lying back eases. A weight between scapulae accompanies late-day headache; walking, stretching, and a break from reading help. Pressure along upper trapezius is tender and relieves while applied (matches pressure-better).

Forearm ache in writers/typists; tremulous hands at day’s end; fine motor fatigue improves after stopping work [Clarke]. Legs feel heavy from long sitting; walking in cool air refreshes. No special articular rheumatism belongs unless occupational; if present, it follows the warm-room worse pattern.

Key sphere in sensitive persons: itching, burning, papulo-vesicular eczema wherever nickel contacts moist skin—earlobes (earrings), wrists (watch-backs/straps), belt-line, under bra hooks, coin-pockets; worse sweat and damp, better dryness and removing the metal [Clarke], [Hughes], [Phatak]. Excoriation and crusts follow scratching; secondary infection uncommon. The eruption’s behaviour cross-links to Generalities and Modalities and is diagnostic at the bedside.

Aetiology: Eye-/desk-strain headaches

• Ruta — Asthenopia with tendon soreness and orbital ache; Nicc. adds periodicity and workshop-air sensitivity [Clarke], [Boger].
• Picric-acid — Crushing brain-fag with sexual drain; Nicc. is lighter, with strong eye and neck components [Boger], [Kent].
• Natrum muriaticum — Sun/heat headaches with emotive background; Nicc. is lamp/reading driven and cool-air ameliorated [Clarke].
• Kali phosphoricum — Nervous exhaustion with insomnia; lacks contact-eczema and asthenopia prominence [Phatak].

Mind/overwork

• Nux vomica — Irritable, spasmodic digestive strain; Nicc. quieter, desk-fatigued, with brow-band and eye signature [Kent], [Nash].
• Gelsemium — Post-viral heaviness, drowsy; Nicc. is alert-but-overwired, with reading trigger [Farrington].

Head pain locality / character

• Spigelia — Left supraorbital neuralgia sharp and stabbing; Nicc. pressive, bilateral brow, eye-use related [Boger].
• Sanguinaria — Right-sided periodic migraine, > vomiting/dark; lacks nickel-skin and eye-strain centre [Clarke].
• Iris versicolor — Migraine with sour vomiting; Nicc. has desk causation and pressure-better [Boger].

Respiratory/workshop asthma

• Arsenicum — Anxiety, midnight worse; Nicc. is air-quality and dust/fume driven, calmer mind [Clarke].
• Natrum sulphuricum — Damp-weather asthma; Nicc. heat/close-room and metal-dust aetiology [Boger].
• Antimonium tart. — Rattling torpor; Nicc. is a dry tickle with neurasthenic overlay [Boericke].

Skin/contact eczema

• Rhus toxicodendron — Vesicular, water-worse, but no metal-causation; itching > heat initially; Nicc. strictly nickel-contact, moisture-worse, dryness-better [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Graphites — Eczema with honey crusts and fissures in folds; lacks metal trigger; heavier constitutional sluggishness [Clarke].
• Anacardium orientale — Strong vesicular dermatitis from plant resin, not metal; mind very dual, unlike Nicc. [Boger].

Neck/back of desk-workers

• Cobaltum — Lumbo-gluteal and testicular aggravations, sexual weakness; Nicc. focuses nape–scapulae with eye-strain [Kent].
• Cimicifuga — Myalgic neck with hysteric element; Nicc. more mechanical, brain-fag based [Tyler].

• Complementary: Ruta — After Nicc. clears head/neck from eye-strain, tendon/overuse residua yield to Ruta [Clarke].
• Complementary: Kali-phos. — Supports nerve tone when insomnia and fretfulness persist though headaches have lessened [Phatak], [Kent].
• Complementary: Pic-ac. — For deeper brain prostration when Nicc. only touches the surface of desk-exhaustion [Boger].
• Follows well: Nux-v. — When gastric irritability from sedentary abuse has been calmed and reading-headache remains [Kent].
• Follows well: Gelsemium — After post-viral dullness lifts but asthenopia keeps the brow-pain alive [Farrington].
• Precedes well: Graphites — If eczema persists after removal of nickel contact and constitutional sluggishness remains [Clarke].
• Precedes well: Nat-s./Carb-v. — In workshop asthmatics when damp or collapse traits emerge after Nicc. aids the air-quality component [Boger], [Clarke].
• Antidotes (functional): Fresh, cool air, rest from reading, removal of nickel contact, dryness of skin; Camphor noted generally in over-action [Clarke], [Hughes].

• Study/reading headache with asthenopia: evening brow-band, letters swim, worse lamps, better darkness/cool air/pressure on brow—Nicc. before Ruta if the neck and periodicity are prominent [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].
• Desk-worker neck: nape–interscapular ache with head fatigue, worse stoop/sitting long, better neck support + walk in cool air—dose Nicc. and correct ergonomics [Kent], [Tyler].
• Nickel-eczema: earlobes/wrist/belt-line vesicles worse sweat and contact—remove nickel, keep dry, and constitutional Nicc. prevents relapse [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Workshop asthma: warm, dusty air excites tickle and wheeze, better cool air—emphasise ventilation and consider Nicc. alongside environmental control [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Potency & repetition: Functional desk-strain—6C–30C once–thrice daily for a few days, then space; clear constitutional pattern—200C single and wait; skin-contact cases—dose while removing nickel and restoring dryness [Boericke], [Kent].
• Mini-pearls:
  • “Lamp + ledger = brow-band; window + walk = relief” sums Nicc. [Clarke].
  • “Vesicles where metal meets sweat—think Nicc.” [Phatak].

Mind

• Overworked, mental exertion aggravates — desk-fatigue signature [Clarke], [Kent].
• Irritable, wants dark and quiet evenings — sensory relief [Tyler].
• Indifference from brain-fag; accuracy fails late-day — occupational note [Nash].
• Concentration impossible after reading long — modality link [Allen].
• Sleep prevented by brow-ache and work-thoughts — insomnia of effort [Kent].
• Better cool air and change of occupation — management cue [Clarke].

Head

• Headache from reading/close work — capital rubric [Allen], [Clarke].
• Frontal–supraorbital pressive pain with nape extension — locality [Boger].
• Artificial light aggravates; darkness better — photic modality [Boericke].
• Periodic (weekly/fortnightly) headaches — timing [Boger].
• Pressure on brow relieves — tactile cue [Boger].
• Warm, close rooms aggravate; cool air ameliorates — environment [Clarke].

Eyes

• Asthenopia; letters swim after reading — accommodation failure [Clarke].
• Photophobia from use, not inflammation — mechanism [Boericke].
• Better closing eyes, looking into distance — therapy [Clarke].
• Artificial light aggravates; screen-flicker intolerable — modern phrasing of classic cue [Boericke].
• Brow/temple pain from eye-use — ciliary neuralgia [Boger].
• Cool room better, draught on eyes worse — nuance [Clarke].

Neck/Back

• Nape stiffness from writing; interscapular weight — posture sign [Boger].
• Long sitting aggravates; neck support relieves — ergonomics [Kent].
• Headache with trapezial tenderness — chain symptom [Clarke].
• Better walking in open air — general relief [Clarke].
• Stooping aggravates; straightening eases — mechanics [Boger].
• Pressure along upper trapezius relieves — tactile [Boger].

Respiration

• Wheeze/tickle in warm, dusty rooms — workshop air rubric [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Better open, cool air — outdoor relief [Clarke].
• Cough from dust/fume exposure — aetiology [Hughes].
• Talking long in warm room aggravates throat tickle — voice fatigue [Clarke].
• Dry larynx; sips of water relieve — nursing [Clarke].
• Draught on throat aggravates though cool room helps — nuance [Clarke].

Skin

• Eczema from contact with metals (nickel) — causation hallmark [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Itching, worse perspiration/moisture, better dryness — modality [Phatak].
• Ears/wrists/belt-line eruption — seat of election [Clarke].
• Vesicles → oozing → crusts — course [Clarke].
• Removing nickel articles ameliorates — practical key [Clarke].
• Warm rooms aggravate itch — environment [Clarke].

Generalities

• Worse: reading, artificial light, long sitting, warm close rooms, dust/fumes, moisture/contact with nickel — master cluster [Allen], [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Better: rest of eyes/mind, darkness, distance-gazing, cool open air (no draught), pressure on brow, light food, dryness of skin — master ameliorations [Boericke], [Boger].
• Periodicity (weekly/fortnightly) — malarial hue [Boger].
• Emunctory relief (bowel/urine) shortens head pressure — observation [Boger].
• Change of occupation (manual vs. mental) relieves — management [Clarke].
• Propped posture/neck support — mechanic aid [Kent].

Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): fragmentary proving data; study-headache, gastric sinking, periodicity.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica (1879): confirmations for brow-ache, eye-strain, desk-fatigue.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): nickel-eczema (contact), workshop air-aggravations, modalities (cool air, darkness), management.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—headache from reading, asthenopia, pressure-better.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key (1915): periodicity, pressure-better, posture links; differentials with Ruta, Pic-ac., Spigelia.
Hughes, R. — Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy (1870): toxicology of nickel—dermatitis, respiratory irritation; metallic taste.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): overwork/desk constitutions; neck–head relationships; complementary strategy.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics (1899): brain-fag temperament; practical hints for students.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): bedside portrait of the desk-worker; dark quiet amelioration.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1941): concise notes—contact-eczema (metal), moisture-worse, dryness-better.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): comparisons (Gels., Ruta, Pic-ac.) in overwork states; ocular vs. motor fatigue.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): study headaches, neurasthenia grouping; regimen and sequencing.