Oleander

Information
Substance information
An evergreen apocynaceous shrub rich in cardiac glycosides (notably oleandrin, neriifolin), long notorious for poisonings of humans and animals. Toxicology parallels Digitalis—nausea, vomiting, bradyarrhythmia, heart-block, syncope—and dermal irritancy from sap [Hughes], [Clarke]. The tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves (and young shoots); the homeopathic pathogenesis combines early provings, toxic reports, and clinical confirmations, yielding a profile that spans: scalp eruptions of children (thick crusts, matting of hair, pediculi), intertriginous excoriations from friction, oversensitiveness to the least noise, vertigo on looking down, digestive faintness, and cardiac weakness with slow, irregular pulse [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].
Proving
Primary proving material stems from Hahnemann with additions by Hartlaub & Trinks; Allen, Hering and Clarke collate provings with toxic and clinical data [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Recurrent marks: great sensitiveness to noise, vertigo looking down, confusion of reading/writing, hunger or sinking soon after eating, diarrhoea on fruit or milk, soft, excoriating stools, scalp “milk-crust” with pediculi and matting of hair, excoriation from friction of garments, palpitation with slow irregular pulse, faintness on rising, and sleep broken by slightest stir [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger]. Tags: [Proving] [Toxicology] [Clinical].
Essence
Essence: Olnd. belongs to the over-sensitive surface—skin and senses—where friction, washing, and wind inflame raw, excoriating eruptions (especially milk-crust and intertrigo), while the nervous system is so touchy that the least noise startles and unsettles heart and sleep. The vestibular axis contributes a precise keynote—vertigo on looking down—linking Mind, Head, and Generalities; the cardiac sphere is a digitaloid echo: slow, irregular pulse, palpitation from slight motion, faintness on rising, yet without the stark fear and collapse of Digitalis [Hughes], [Clarke], [Boericke]. The gut–skin loop is practical: fruit, milk, and new wine bring acidity and excoriating stools, which, with napery friction, perpetuate perineal soreness; simplifying diet and keeping dry are therefore part of the cure [Allen], [Clarke].
Core polarities: Worse from friction (clothes, walking), washing/bathing, wind on the part, least noise, looking down, fruit/milk, rising/slight exertion, and heat with moisture; better from dry warmth, quiet, recumbency, loose soft clothing, careful drying after washing, small simple meals, and steadying the gaze level. The pace is subacute–chronic, with daytime fretfulness, evening itch, light, broken sleep, and morning rawness of lids and scalp. The kingdom signature (Apocynaceae glycosides) lends the heart tint; the miasmatic weave—psoric itch–burn, sycotic oozing and crust, syphilitic fissuring in neglected cases—accounts for depth. Clinically, Oleander excels where sensorial and cutaneous keynotes coexist: the infant with milk-crust who wakes at the least noise; the walker with groin/scrotal chafe that burns after scratching; the nervous young mother whose lids are raw and wind-sensitive and who reels looking down the stair while palpitation follows a mere knock at the door. Management must mirror the remedy: silence, soft garments, dry, warm care, diet simplification, and gentle, minimal washing—then the dose finds a receptive field.
Affinity
- Skin—scalp & intertrigo — Thick crusts, ichor, matted hair, lice; raw, bleeding excoriations at neck, groins, scrotum, thighs, from friction of linen or walking; itching that burns after scratching [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Special senses / nerves — Oversensitive to noise; startles at the faintest sound; confusion in reading/writing—letters run, misplaces words [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Kent].
- Vestibular — Vertigo looking down from heights or into a chasm; sways, must hold fast; motion sickness-like nausea [Clarke], [Boger].
- Heart—conduction & tone — Slow, irregular pulse, palpitation from slight motion, faintness on rising, precordial anxiety—a mild digitaloid sphere (compare Digitalis) [Hughes], [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Stomach–bowel — Sinking at epigastrium soon after eating; diarrhoea from fruit or milk with excoriation of parts; colicky flatus [Allen], [Clarke].
- Eyes/eyelids — Scrofulous ophthalmia; lids agglutinated in morning, margins raw, tears acrid; worse washing, wind [Hering], [Clarke].
- Peripheral skin–mucosa — Chafing wherever skin rubs: children, walkers, corpulent persons; heat–moisture aggravates [Boger], [Phatak].
Modalities
Better for
- Dry warmth; gentle drying after washing — Eases chafing and scalp soreness; heat steadies the heart (weakness) [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Scratching lightly, then keeping cool and dry — First gives itch relief though burning may follow; dryness prevents renewal [Hering].
- Hair carefully separated; oiling & soft cap — Matting and tenderness lessen; pediculi controlled (nursing tip) [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Rest; lying quietly — Palpitation and faintness subside; noise avoidance calms the sensorium [Boger], [Kent].
- Eating small, simple food — Abates sinking soon after meals and prevents fruit-provoked stools [Allen], [Clarke].
- Closing eyes when looking down — Checks vertigo on stairs/heights; holding a rail avails (practical bedside note) [Clarke].
- Loose, soft clothing — Removes friction and excoriation at folds [Boger], [Phatak].
- Fresh air without wind on parts — Clears head; avoids wind-aggravation on lids and skin [Clarke].
Worse for
- Friction of clothes/linen; walking; heat + moisture — Intertrigo and excoriations blaze at neck, scrotum, thighs [Hering], [Boger].
- Least noise; sudden sounds — Startles, palpitation, irritability; sleep broken at once [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Kent].
- Looking down (stairs, precipices) — Vertigo, swaying, nausea [Clarke], [Boger].
- Washing; bathing (especially scalp, eyes) — Lids stick, skin smarting; eruptions ooze after washing [Hering], [Clarke].
- Fruit, milk, new wine — Diarrhoea, rumbling, excoriating stools [Allen], [Clarke].
- After eating (soon) — Sinking and faint sensation at epigastrium [Allen].
- Rising from bed; slight exertion — Palpitation, giddiness, weak pulse [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Wind on the part — Eyes smart, skin burns, itching renewed [Hering], [Clarke].
Symptoms
Mind
The Oleander temperament is oversensitive to external impressions, especially noise, which startles and shakes the composure out of all proportion to the stimulus; a dropped spoon may set the heart racing and the skin itching, a keynote that tallies with worse from noise in the modalities [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Kent]. Mentally distractible and confused, the patient misreads and miswrites—letters transpose, words are skipped; in study there is a swim of print and sudden aversion to effort [Hahnemann], [Clarke]. Cheer is intermittent; irritability and a plaintive weariness appear after slight exertion or a broken night from itching and palpitations. There is apprehension on heights or stairs from vertigo on looking down, and a timid habit of holding by the rail; this fear is physical rather than moral and passes when the eyes are levelled (cross-link to Head/Vestibular) [Clarke]. Children are fretful, scratch the head constantly, and cry out at the slightest noise; the mother reports they wake at once if the door clicks, confirming the heightened sensorium (Sleep cross-link) [Hering]. Work is shunned not from obstinacy but from weakness and sinking at the pit; a little food cheers and clears for a short spell (Stomach link) [Allen]. After vexation or noise the skin soon burns where clothes rub, mirroring the remedy’s skin–nerve tie. Consolation is borne but fails to help; practical measures—quiet, loose clothing, dry warmth—win gratitude. Compared with Ambra (bashful, music aggravates) and Theridion (noise shoots to teeth and causes nausea), Olnd. is simpler, bodily, and cutaneous in its sensitivity [Kent], [Clarke].
Sleep
Light, broken sleep; the least noise wakes fully; the child sleeps only while the house is still—footfalls, a latch, the fire’s tick rouse him [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Hering]. Itching and burning at friction points annoy at first, then drowsiness returns until another noise or scrape restarts the cycle. Dreams of falling recur in those with vertigo on looking down; starting in sleep follows a sound. Palpitation at the moment of dropping off is common in the sensitive; lying quiet, warm, and dry deepens sleep. After a quiet night the day’s noise and washing at once reclaim the symptoms.
Dreams
Dreams of stairs, edges, slipping, and of being pursued by a sound; on waking quickly there is a moment of giddiness and grasping for the bed-rail—an echo of the vestibular keynote [Clarke]. Children cry out and scratch the head in sleep, then wake at the slightest noise.
Generalities
Nerium oleander unites a cutaneous constitution—milk-crust, intertrigo, excoriation from friction, burning after scratching, washing/wind worse—with a sensor–vestibular oversensitivity—least noise startles; vertigo on looking down—and a mild digitaloid heart weakness—slow, irregular pulse, palpitation from slight exertion, faintness on rising [Hahnemann], [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes], [Boger]. The master polarity is: worse from friction (clothes, walking), washing and wind on part, least noise, looking down, fruit/milk/new wine, rising or slight exertion, heat with moisture; better from dry warmth, quiet, rest/recumbency, loose, soft clothing, careful drying after washing, small simple meals, closing eyes/holding rail when looking down. Cross-links are explicit: a startle quickens heart and sharpens itch; washing rekindles skin and lids; friction inflames groin/scrotum and neck; fruit/milk excoriate mouth, rectum and chafe the perineum; controlling noise and wind deepens sleep and steadies stomach. Differentiate from Graphites (sticky oozing, fissures, constipated, less noise-oversensitive), Mezereum (thick white crusts with neuralgia; washing less a keynote), Viola tricolor (milk-crust of infants with urinous odour), Sulphur (general heat, itch, ragged skin but not friction-specific), Petroleum (winter fissures and chapping), Theridion (noise → nausea, seasickness; less cutaneous), and Digitalis (grave cardiac failure, fear to move; no skin–friction theme) [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger], [Kent], [Phatak], [Tyler].
Fever
Slight evening heat after friction-excited itching; sweat under clothing irritates and renews burning; no septic curve belongs [Clarke], [Boericke]. Heat of room increases palpitation and restlessness. Chills from wind on wet skin after washing are frequent, with fresh smarting.
Chill / Heat / Sweat
Chill from a current of air over wet or washed parts; heat of skin in warm rooms; sweat in folds with chafe [Hering], [Clarke]. Relief comes from dry warmth and loose dress. Night-sweats slight; aggravation is local rather than systemic.
Head
Vertigo on looking down is classic: at a window, on a stair, or over water, the patient sways and must steady himself; the head seems drawn forward and the stomach turns [Clarke], [Boger]. A light, frontal tightness accompanies efforts to read; letters blur with the cutaneous-ocular strain of the remedy. The scalp is exquisitely sensitive, itching, and burns after scratching; touch finds raw, oozing spots under crusts, matching the milk-crust terrain (Skin cross-link) [Hering]. Headache follows washing or exposure to wind on the scalp and is relieved by dry warmth. Children with crusted scalp are dull, somnolent by day from broken nights, and rub the head until it bleeds; yet the slightest noise wakes them fully and irritably (Sleep/Mind ties) [Hering], [Clarke]. Compare Mezereum (thick white crusts with gluey exudation and neuralgia beneath) and Viola tricolor (milk-crust with urinous smell): choose Olnd. when friction, noise, and washing are the mischiefs [Clarke], [Boericke].
Eyes
The lids stick together in the morning; margins are sore and raw; tears smart and excoriating; light is not so intolerable as wind and washing, which instantly renew burning [Hering], [Clarke]. Children rub eyes and scalp together, making both worse; a soft cap and gentle drying give relief (Better For echoed). Reading blurs with every sound in the room; once quiet, the letters steady (Mind cross-link). Slight swelling of lids appears after bathing; the patient is better from dry warmth. Compared: Graphites (blepharitis with fissures and oozing behind ears), Pulsatilla (bland discharges, open air >), Sulphur (hot itching eyes): Olnd. sits between, where skin and lids are raw and wind/washing are the sharp aggravations [Clarke], [Boger].
Ears
No fixed otitis, yet noise is bitterly felt; the ear acts as sensor trigger more than diseased organ [Hahnemann], [Kent]. Sudden sounds startle the heart; a low room hum is disliked. Skin behind the ears may crack and ooze, paralleling the scalp (Skin). Children scratch the mastoid margins and cry if the cap brushes them. Quiet abates all.
Nose
Nostrils sore from acrid tears and scalp discharge; sneezing jars the head and provokes vertigo when looking down. Odours of soap after washing may renew smarting. Dry scurf at wings of nose coexists with ear fissures in scrofulous children, bridging to Graphites in the differential [Clarke].
Face
Pale, easily flushed by a startle or after scratching; angles of mouth may fissure from saliva or fruit-induced diarrhoea (Stomach/Rectum tie). Cheeks itch under the hat-band; friction produces raw patches that sting under wind. Facial pulse felt after slight noise (heart–nerve link) [Clarke].
Mouth
Taste flat in mornings; mouth excoriated by fruit/wine; children bite at the teat and cry from raw lips [Allen], [Clarke]. Tongue thinly coated; edges sore if milk disagrees. The mouth mirrors the cutaneous irritability to washing/wind and the diet aggravations (fruit, milk). Saliva slightly increased during nausea; gums are not profoundly spongy as in the acids.
Teeth
Grinding in fretful children with scalp itch; teeth sensitive to a draught of cold air after washing. No deep caries signature; dental notes are secondary to nerve–skin irritability.
Throat
Tickling with tendency to hawking after washing or wind; corners of mouth fissure; swallowing fruit stings. Throat shares the raw mucous theme and improves with simple warm food and quiet [Clarke]. No membranous picture.
Chest
Palpitation from slight motion, startle, or noise; slow, irregular pulse with anxiety; a sense that the heart will slacken if he exerts, yet unlike Digitalis the fear is simpler and passes with rest [Hughes], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Soreness under left breast where clothing rubs; respiration shallow during faintness. Open air helps if no wind strikes the chest.
Heart
Pulse slow, sometimes intermitting; weakness on rising with giddiness, and a desire to lie still [Clarke], [Boericke]. The digitaloid line is mild but definite: palpitations aggravated by slight exertion, noise, and emotion, relieved by quiet and recumbency [Hughes]. Compare Digitalis (blue face, dread of motion lest heart stop), Adonis, Convallaria (valvular failure with dyspnoea): choose Olnd. when skin and noise sensitivity co-exist.
Respiration
Short breath after startle; yawning relieves faintness. A cough may begin after washing or exposure to wind on chest; tickling at larynx with rawness of fauces. No deep bronchitis belongs; respiratory signs are reflex to skin/nerve excitability.
Stomach
A marked sinking or faint emptiness soon after eating, craving a little more though the stomach cannot bear much [Allen], [Clarke]. Fruit, milk, and new wine provoke acidity and loose excoriating stools; warm, simple food sits best (Modalities echoed). Nausea accompanies looking down or startle; a quiet, steady posture calms both stomach and head. Eructations small and sour; waterbrash in morning. Compare Iodium (ravenous hunger after eating but emaciates), China (flatulent distension, not the skin–noise nexus), Anacardium (hunger relieved by eating with mental confusion of identity): Olnd. pairs sinking with cutaneous and noise signs [Allen], [Clarke], [Boger].
Abdomen
Rumbling and colicky flatus after fruit or milk; umbilical griping resolves after stool; skin about groins reddens and chafes with walking (friction). Tight waist-bands irritate, not from portal stasis (Nit-m-c.) but from skin sensitivity. Warmth and dryness ease.
Rectum
Soft stools that excoriate the anus and perineum; in children, frequent small sour stools redden the buttocks; friction of napery worsens soreness [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Fruit and milk are frequent aetiologies (Food/Drink link). Tenesmus slight; the complaint is of rawness and smarting after stool. Ointments soothe if area is kept dry—a nursing truth matching Better: dry warmth, loose clothing.
Urinary
Urging increased by nervous startle; small quantities; urethral meatus sore in excoriating children. Urine otherwise normal; in faint spells, urine seems hot and scant until rest restores pulse (Heart link). No calculus or catarrh keynote belongs.
Food and Drink
Fruit, milk, new wine disagree, bringing acidity and excoriating stool; warm, simple fare steadies; small, frequent eating suits the sinking stomach [Allen], [Clarke]. Cold drinks after washing chill and renew smarting; tepid drinks are tolerated. No craving for spices; salt stings cracked lips.
Male
Intertrigo and excoriation of scrotum and inner thighs from walking or warm weather; burning after scratching; relief by dryness and loose garments [Clarke], [Boger], [Phatak]. Sexual desire indifferent; palpitations after coitus in nervously weak subjects (Heart link).
Female
Excoriation beneath breasts and in groins; nipple and areolar rawness in nursing; infant’s scalp often equally crusted—mother–child pairing points to Olnd. [Hering], [Clarke]. Menses may bring greater noise sensitivity and palpitation on rising; leucorrhoea acrid, making inner thighs sore from friction. Vertigo on looking down in late pregnancy/stairs confirms vestibular note.
Back
Neck raw at collar-line, excoriated; dorsal skin chafes with sitting in warm rooms; sweat irritates. The spine proper is not a seat of pains; the complaint is cutaneous. Gentle rubbing (no friction) comforts briefly; real relief follows loose clothing and dryness [Boger], [Phatak].
Extremities
Inner thighs and popliteal folds chafe; walkers feel burning lines where skin touches; wind and washing renew smarting. Hands tremble after a startle or rising; legs weak when looking down from a height (vestibular reflex). Child rubs legs together in sleep and cries if the coverlet touches raw places (Sleep/Skin cross-link).
Skin
Keynote field. Milk-crust of scalp: thick, sometimes offensive crusts, ichor, matted hair, pediculi; burning after scratching, washing aggravates; dry warmth and soft cap relieve [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Intertrigo and excoriation at neck, axillae, groins, scrotum, between thighs—from friction, heat, moisture; clothes feel intolerable; wind on parts smart [Boger], [Phatak]. Eruptions crack and ooze; crusts reform if washed too oft. Compared with Graphites (gluey exudation, fissures, behind ears), Mezereum (thick crusts with neuralgia), Viola tricolor (milk-crust infants), Petroleum (winter fissures): choose Olnd. when friction + noise + washing define the case.
Differential Diagnosis
Skin—scalp milk-crust & excoriation
- Mezereum — Thick white crusts with neuralgic pain beneath; Olnd. has friction/washing/wind aggravations and noise oversensitivity [Clarke], [Boger].
- Viola tricolor — Infant milk-crust with urinous odour, less noise sensitivity; Olnd. adds intertrigo and vertigo on looking down [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Graphites — Sticky gluey exudation, fissures behind ears, constipation; Olnd. more burning after scratching, washing/wind worse, fruit/milk gut link [Clarke], [Phatak].
- Sulphur — Hot itching, unkempt skin; lacks the friction-specific chafe and noise irritability of Olnd. [Kent].
- Petroleum — Winter fissures, deep cracks; Olnd. is heat–moisture chafe with scalp crusts [Boger].
Vestibular / sensor triggers
- Theridion — Noise causes nausea/vertigo; Olnd. noise shocks heart/skin; looking down is a keynote [Kent], [Clarke].
- Conium — Vertigo on turning and lying; Olnd. on looking down from heights [Boger].
- Gelsemium — Vertigo with weakness, drooping; less skin and noise themes [Farrington].
Cardiac (digitaloid zone)
- Digitalis — Fear to move, sinking, cyanosis; Olnd. milder, with skin and noise signature [Hughes], [Clarke].
- Adonis vernalis / Convallaria — Valvular dyspnoea and dropsy; Olnd. for palpitations of the sensitive with raw skin [Boericke].
Bowel / diet
- Arsenicum — Fruit diarrhoea with anxiety, burning > heat; Olnd. adds scalp milk-crust, friction chafe, noise oversensitivity [Clarke].
- Mag-c./Puls. — Milk troubles but different mental and skin frames; Olnd. local rawness and washing/wind aggravations [Boger], [Clarke].
Remedy Relationships
- Complementary: Graphites — For lingering fissures behind ears and sticky exudation after Olnd. quiets friction chafe [Clarke].
- Complementary: Viola tricolor — In infants when milk-crust is obstinate though noise/friction have been calmed [Boericke].
- Complementary: Sulphur — To rouse chronic cutaneous reactivity when relapse cycles persist; follows after acute chafe is settled [Kent].
- Follows well: Mezereum — After neuralgic scalp pains subside but washing/wind still rekindle crusted rawness [Clarke].
- Follows well: Pulsatilla — When bland ocular discharges have improved but lids remain raw and wind-sensitive [Clarke].
- Precedes well: Digitalis — If true cardiac failure declares after Olnd. covers only the palpitative sensitivity [Hughes].
- Related: Theridion — Sensor noise-vertigo kin; select by skin vs nausea emphasis [Kent].
- Antidotes (functional): Quiet, dry warmth, loose clothing, dietary simplification; Camphor generally noted for medicinal over-action [Clarke], [Hughes].
Clinical Tips
- Milk-crust with noise-sensitivity: crusted scalp, burning after scratching, lids agglutinated a.m., child wakes at slightest noise—Olnd. before Viola tricolor/Graphites [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Intertrigo walkers’ groin/scrotum: friction and sweat chafe; wind/washing renew; prescribe Olnd. plus loose linen, drying powders [Boger], [Phatak].
- Vertigo looking down + palpitations from startle: uses banisters; slow irregular pulse—small doses settle the sensor–heart axis [Clarke], [Hughes].
- Dietary pearl: if fruit/milk excoriate stools and perineum, simplify to warm, bland fare during treatment; reintroduce later [Allen], [Clarke].
- Potency & repetition: Cutaneous–sensor cases respond to 6C–30C once or twice daily for short runs, then space; constitutional oversensitivity with heart tint, 200C single and wait; avoid frequent washing during the early reaction to prevent relapses [Boericke], [Kent].
- Nursing: Dry warmth after minimal washing, soft cap for scalp, silence at bed-time; keep wind off raw parts—simple measures that often decide success [Clarke], [Hering].
Rubrics
Mind
- Oversensitive to noise; least noise startles — Sensor keynote tied to palpitation and sleeplessness [Hahnemann], [Kent].
- Confusion in reading/writing; misplaces words — Cognitive fatigue under sensory load [Hahnemann], [Allen].
- Irritability from trifles; aversion to work from weakness — Practical mood picture [Clarke].
- Anxiety on heights; fear when looking down — Vestibular dread (physical) [Clarke].
- Sleep disturbed by slightest sound — Sensor → sleep link [Hering].
- Better in quiet — Environmental prescription [Boger].
Head / Vestibular
- Vertigo on looking down — Signature rubric (stairs, precipices) [Clarke], [Boger].
- Swaying on edges; must hold fast — Behavioural correlate [Clarke].
- Headache after washing/scalp wet — Cutaneous trigger [Hering].
- Scalp itching, burning after scratching — Milk-crust terrain [Hering], [Boericke].
- Scalp sensitive to touch and wind — Surface hyperaesthesia [Clarke].
- Hair matted; pediculi — Nursing clue [Hering].
Eyes
- Lids agglutinated in morning — Sticky margins [Hering].
- Lid margins sore, raw; tears excoriate — Cutaneous–mucosal link [Clarke].
- Worse washing; worse wind — External trigger [Hering].
- Reading disturbed by noise — Sensor coupling [Kent].
- Photophobia slight; wind-aggravation prominent — Distinction vs. Puls. [Clarke].
- Blepharitis scrofulosa (children) — Paediatric application [Hering].
Skin
- Intertrigo; excoriation from friction — Central cutaneous keynote [Boger], [Phatak].
- Milk-crust of scalp; thick crusts, ichor — Classic infant scalp [Hering], [Clarke].
- Burning after scratching — Symptom quality [Hering].
- Worse washing; worse wind on part — External modalities [Clarke].
- Chafing neck, groins, scrotum, thighs — Seats of election [Boericke].
- Clothes intolerable on raw skin — Practical sign [Clarke].
Heart / General circulation
- Pulse slow, irregular; weakness on rising — Digitaloid zone [Clarke], [Boericke].
- Palpitation from least exertion or noise — Sensor–heart reflex [Hughes], [Kent].
- Anxiety at precordia; must lie quietly — Rest amelioration [Clarke].
- Faintness on rising — Orthostatic weakness [Boericke].
- Better rest; worse slightest motion — Modal chain [Clarke].
- Startle aggravates heart symptoms — Key reflex [Kent].
Stomach / Rectum
- Sinking at epigastrium soon after eating — Digestive keynote [Allen].
- Fruit/milk aggravate; diarrhoea with excoriation — Diet–skin loop [Allen], [Clarke].
- Excoriation of anus/perineum — Externalisation of gut acidity [Hering].
- Small, frequent stools, sour in children — Paediatric pointer [Allen].
- Aversion to cold drinks after washing — Trigger nuance [Clarke].
- Better small, warm meals — Nursing rubric [Clarke].
Generalities
- Worse friction; worse washing; worse wind on part — Master external modalities [Clarke], [Hering].
- Worse least noise; startles easily — Sensor master rubric [Hahnemann], [Kent].
- Worse looking down — Vestibular master [Clarke].
- Better dry warmth; better quiet; better loose clothing — Management triad [Boger].
- Heat + moisture aggravate — Intertrigo terrain [Boger], [Phatak].
- Children scrofulous; eruptions with pediculi — Constitutional note [Hering], [Clarke].
References
Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura / Chronic Diseases (1821–34): primary proving threads—noise-oversensitivity, reading/writing confusion, gastric sinking.
Hering — The Guiding Symptoms (1879): scalp milk-crust; burning after scratching; lids agglutinated; children wake at least noise.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): fruit/milk diarrhoea with excoriation; sinking after eating; sensor and vestibular notes.
Clarke, J. H. — Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): looking-down vertigo; friction/washing/wind modalities; cardiac tint and nursing measures.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—intertrigo, scalp crusts, slow irregular pulse, startle from noise.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key (1915): external modalities (friction, washing, wind); seats of election (neck, groins, scrotum, thighs); differentials.
Hughes, R. — Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy (1870): cardiotoxic glycosides (oleandrin); digitaloid comparisons; toxic parallels.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): sensor oversensitivity (noise); remedy comparisons (Theridion, Digitalis).
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1941): concise rubrics—intertrigo, heat–moisture aggravation, loose clothing better.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): bedside portrait—children with crusted scalp; startle and sleep.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): vestibular comparisons (Conium, Gels.); diet links in diarrhoea.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): scalp and intertrigo therapeutics; sequencing with Graph., Viola, Sulph.