Platina

A rare, dense, silver-white precious metal discovered in South America, known for its high resistance to corrosion and lustrous beauty. In homeopathy, it is prepared by trituration of the pure metal.

First proved by Dr. Stapf and others under Hahnemann’s supervision; published in Materia Medica Pura

Platina metallicum is the remedy of inflated identity, sexual tension, and isolated grandeur. It typifies the cold, untouchable, emotionally detached figure who suffers internally from enormous pressure—social, sexual, or moral. The physical symptoms reflect this compression and separation—tight bands, numbness, spasms, and induration. Ideal for women with deep pride, sexual conflict, and concealed pain. The Platina patient can become trapped in their own elevation, suffering from the pressure of maintaining superiority while secretly craving intimacy.

• Mind and Emotions – egotism, superiority, alienation
• Female genital organs – hyperesthesia, spasms, painful menses
• Nervous system – numbness, coldness, trembling, spasms
• Face and jaw – neuralgia
• Digestive tract – constriction and spasm
• Extremities – cramps, trembling, coldness
• Sexual system – exaggerated or perverse desire

The Platina mind is the epitome of exaggerated self-importance. A lofty, distant arrogance pervades, marked by contempt for others, even loved ones. This remedy often expresses a disconnection from normal emotional experience, as if others are far beneath the patient’s level of consciousness. [Kent] describes Platina’s emotional isolation as cold, haughty, and royal. Delusions of grandeur are prominent—believing themselves of noble birth, divinely chosen, or superior in intellect, beauty, or morality. Melancholy with an unusual blend of sexual obsession and religious delusion may occur. Extreme indecision, sudden mood swings, and aversion to company appear alongside violent impulses and disgust. Fear of going insane is often present, especially in women with suppressed menses or sexual repression. There is a profound tendency toward sexualised thinking, with alternating guilt and contempt.

Disturbed by sexual dreams, sadness, or restlessness. Sleeplessness after midnight. Deep sighing or talking in sleep. Vivid dreams of domination, sex, or grandeur. Awakes with tremors or headaches.

Sexual, regal, or contemptuous dreams. Dreams of superiority, kingship, or power. May dream of humiliating others or being worshipped. Nightmares of being pursued or violated.

Marked alternation of numbness and hypersensitivity. Spasmodic and hysterical complaints, often with sexual or emotional origin. Affections appear left-sided. Symptoms worsen at rest and in evening. Strong polarities: haughty yet insecure; cold yet burning; aloof yet hypersexual. Best suited to women of sensitive, refined nature with intense inner conflict.

Flushes of heat with faintness. Chilly in open air, yet cannot tolerate warmth. Fever with trembling, palpitations, and restlessness. Heat alternates with coldness. Face flushed with pale extremities.

Alternating coldness and burning heat. Chilliness in back or lower limbs. Heat in face or chest. Sweat scanty, cold on limbs, sometimes offensive. Profuse sweat during anxiety.

Vertigo with faintness, particularly when walking or standing, accompanied by nausea. Head feels empty, or enlarged—headache as if the brain were expanded. Pressing or cramping pain in temples and forehead, worse during menses. Pain may be one-sided or appear to squeeze from all sides. [Hering] notes neuralgic headaches with numbness of the face or lips. A sense of constriction, as if a tight band were across the forehead, is characteristic. Hair may fall with mental stress or uterine pathology.

Photophobia, with spasmodic closing of eyelids. Pain around or behind the eyes, as if crushed or bruised. Flickering before vision, or bright flashes. Diplopia or dimness may occur during headache or vertigo. Pupils sluggish. Lachrymation, sometimes corrosive. Eyes may appear brilliant, haughty, or cold.

Hyperacusis—over-sensitivity to sound. Roaring or humming in ears, often with vertigo. Sensation of stoppage. Ears may feel swollen, or burning. Neuralgic pain in and around ears, worse at night or with menses.

Numbness or tingling in the nose, especially at the tip. Obstruction without discharge. Smell may be diminished. Occasional catarrhal congestion with fullness in the root of the nose.

Pale, cold, proud expression. Neuralgia of the zygomatic arch or cheekbones, particularly left-sided, with numbness and coldness. [Clarke] notes “a drawing, cramping pain, as if the bones would be crushed.” Twitching and spasmodic movement of facial muscles. Lips numb, dry, or cracked. Distinctive alternation between coldness and burning in the cheeks.

Dryness and burning of the tongue. Numbness of lips, tongue, and gums. Sensation as if the tongue were too large or stiff. Bitter or metallic taste. [Hering] mentions clenching of teeth during spasms. Painful sensitivity in the palate or upper gums.

Pain in molars, pressing or tearing, worse at night or from cold air. Teeth feel long or loose. Often associated with facial neuralgia. Grinding of teeth during sleep or emotional excitement. Spasmodic jaw contractions.

Dryness, burning, and constriction in the throat, with difficulty swallowing solids. Choking sensation, especially during strong emotion or menses. Sensation as if the throat were too narrow. Painful pressure in the pharynx. [Allen] notes hysterical globus—“a ball rising in the throat.”

Constricted feeling, worse with emotion or tight clothing. Palpitations violent, irregular, and felt through the chest. Pain may extend down the left arm. Oppression as if chest were being pressed inward. Deep sighing, desire for full inspiration. Breasts painful or hypersensitive during menses or sexual excitation.

Palpitations from even slight excitement. Pulse irregular, frequent. Sharp pains in region of heart. Faintness and anxiety during palpitations. Sensation as if heart would stop. [Hering] connects palpitations to uterine irritation.

Sighing respiration, or shortness of breath with oppression. Breathing interrupted by spasms or emotional conflict. Chest feels tight, as if bound. Worse when lying flat or after emotional strain.

Pressure in the stomach, as if from a heavy stone. Appetite low or capricious, with frequent nausea. Sensation of emptiness not relieved by eating. Food seems to lie like a weight. Nausea worse from sexual or emotional conflict. Craving for delicacies or sweets; aversion to meat. Spasmodic contractions and eructations. Flatulence and bloating with mental symptoms.

Constriction, cramping, and colic-like pain, especially before and during menses. Sensation of tight band or knotting inside. Pain relieved by pressure or bending double. Hypersensitive abdomen; even tight clothing is intolerable. Gurgling and flatus. [Hahnemann] describes “paroxysms of cutting pain shooting to the groin and spine.”

Constipation from spasm—urge without ability to expel. Stools may be small, hard balls, passed with effort. Constriction of the rectum, sometimes described as “locked.” Sensation as if anus were closed or paralysed. Sometimes alternating with diarrhoea in nervous women.

Pressure on bladder with frequent urge, yet scanty output. Urination painful or spasmodic. Burning after urinating. Suppressed urination linked to hysteria or sexual suppression. [Clarke] records numbness extending into urethra.

Craves meat, sweets, and delicacies. Aversion to bread or dry food. Appetite increased or absent depending on emotional state. Thirst for cold drinks. Nausea after overeating or sexual frustration.

Genitalia cold or numb. Erections weak, or entirely absent, often due to mental inhibition or superiority complex. Excessive or perverse desires in some constitutions, with subsequent guilt or contempt. Prostate pain or testicular neuralgia. Symptoms alternate with suppressed emotion.

Principal sphere of Platina. Hyperesthesia of genitalia with intolerable sensitivity to touch—even slight contact may cause spasms or anger. Menses too early, too profuse, too long, often with dark clots. Pain is cramping, bearing-down, and extends from groin to back or thighs. Ovarian neuralgia, especially left-sided. Hysteria with laughter, weeping, or contempt. Leucorrhoea thick, yellow, and excoriating. Suppressed menses lead to numbness, twitching, and mental aberration. Extreme sexual excitement or complete aversion.

Stiffness and cramping between scapulae. Spasms or numbness in the lumbar and sacral spine. Drawing pain from sacrum to thighs. Weakness in back before menses or during sexual abstinence. Coldness along spine. Constriction across shoulder blades.

Tingling, numbness, and crawling in hands and feet. Fingers may tremble, cramp, or become cold and blue. Jerking of limbs, worse at night. Feet feel as if wrapped in cloth. Sensation as if legs were heavy or paralysed. Restless limbs during menstruation.

Cold, dry, and numb. Skin may be insensitive in one place, hypersensitive in another. Hysterical areas of anaesthesia. Crawling or burning as from nettles. Red, inflamed patches with stinging pain. [Allen] notes eruptions on genitals during suppressed sexual desire.

• Pulsatilla – Both have emotional, changeable moods, but Pulsatilla is yielding and timid; Platina is cold and proud
• Sepia – Indifference and aversion to family, but Sepia lacks Platina’s grandeur and hypersensitivity
• Ignatia – Also hysterical, but more contradictory, grief-based, and tearful
• Lachesis – Talkative and jealous, but more passionate and expressive; Platina is more repressive
• Staphisagria – Suppressed sexuality and indignation, but lacks Platina’s aloofness and regal delusion

• Complementary: Belladonna, Palladium
• Antidotes: Pulsatilla, Camphora
• Follows well: Sepia, Nux vomica
• Precedes well: Lachesis, Staphisagria

• Excellent for neuralgia of the face with numbness, especially left-sided
• Consider in menstrual disorders with pride, sexual repression, or emotional coldness
• Key in hysterical or spasmodic conditions with great emotional suppression
• Use when physical constriction mirrors psychological detachment or superiority complex
• Particularly effective for hypersensitive genitalia, especially with emotional isolation

Mind

• Delusions, grandeur
• Contemptuous behaviour
• Haughty, proud, reserved
• Fear of insanity
• Sexual thoughts, excessive

Female

• Vulva, hypersensitive
• Menses, profuse, dark
• Ovarian pain, left-sided
• Sexual desire, increased or suppressed

Face

• Neuralgia, zygoma
• Numbness, alternating with pain
• Cramping pain in jaw

Extremities

• Numbness, legs
• Trembling, spasmodic motion
• Coldness, hands and feet

Generalities

• Spasms, hysteria
• Numbness alternating with sensitivity
• Worse evening, rest, sexual suppression

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: First proving, detailing mental and uterine symptoms

James Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Focused on pride, delusions, sexual pathology

William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clear outlines of Platina’s sexual and neuralgic uses

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Expanded symptom descriptions and modalities

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Noted key peculiarities: alternating numbness, facial neuralgia, hysteria