Psorinum

A nosode prepared from the seropurulent fluid of a scabies vesicle, potentised according to Hahnemannian principles. Symbolically and physiologically connected to the psoric miasm as defined by Hahnemann.

Introduced and utilised clinically by Hahnemann; proving symptoms gathered through both toxicological and clinical observation, extensively elaborated by Boenninghausen and later Allen, Clarke, and Hering.

Psorinum embodies the deep, chronic suppression of psora, manifesting as mental despair, physical decay, and loss of vital heat. Its essence is the collapse of reactive power, the inability of the body and mind to cleanse or restore balance. The patient is overwhelmed by chilliness, foulness, and hopelessness. Useful in deep chronic cases, where the patient appears filthy, hopeless, and lifeless, often with a history of suppressed eruptions or recurrent respiratory and digestive infections. Psorinum stimulates vital reaction when all other remedies fail to act.

• Skin – chronic eruptions, dirty, foul, itching, worse at night and from warmth
• Mind – despair, suicidal depression, hopelessness, lack of confidence
• Respiratory mucosa – asthma, fetid expectoration, recurring bronchitis
• Gastrointestinal system – chronic diarrhoea, ravenous hunger, emaciation
• Nervous system – prostration, coldness, anxiety
• All excretions – offensive, acrid, putrid, foul
• Thermoregulation – chilliness, lack of vital heat
• General vitality – debility, constitutional collapse, “never well since”

Psorinum patients live in deep despair, with a black hopelessness that permeates all their thoughts. They may feel forsaken, doomed, incurable, often expressing that they will never get well. This conviction is not always accompanied by outward emotion, but rather an internal surrender. [Kent] notes a “lack of reactive power” — both physical and mental. They are often irritable, anxious, and fearful of poverty or future ruin. Suicidal thoughts may emerge quietly. Despair is most intense at night. They are suspicious, sensitive to reprimand, and feel as though they have been treated unjustly. There is great insecurity, leading to dependence on others. A characteristic trait is lack of confidence in one’s recovery, no matter how mild the disease.

Unrefreshing. Falls asleep late due to restlessness. Wakes frequently. Anxious dreams. Sleep disturbed by itching or cold. Sleeps with hands above head. Wakes early, feeling weak and hopeless.

Frightful, vivid, anxious. Dreams of robbers, accidents, disease, or being pursued. Sometimes pleasant but exhausting. Wakes frightened or drenched in sweat. [Hering] notes dreams of dying or falling from a height.

Extreme coldness, lack of vital heat. Wears extra clothing even in summer. Offensive discharges in all forms: sweat, stool, urine, breath. Weakness, prostration, “never well since” acute illness. Reacts slowly to remedies. Symptoms suppressed, internalised. Worse at night, from cold, from exertion, after suppression of skin eruptions.

Low-grade, lingering fevers with great prostration. Chilly, especially in open air. Fever comes on at night or after exertion. Sweat offensive. Feels icy cold but desires to be wrapped up.

Extreme chilliness with desire for warm rooms and clothing. Perspires at night or on slight exertion. Sweat offensive, sour, oily. Cold sweat on face or limbs. Cannot tolerate uncovering.

Dull, heavy headache with marked coldness of the scalp. Sensation as though the brain were surcharged with blood. Scalp covered with foul, greasy eruptions, thick crusts, or offensive oozing. Itching worse at night or from scratching, which causes burning. Hair dry, lustreless, falls out in handfuls. Sensation of tightness as if a band encircled the head. [Hering] notes itching eruptions behind the ears and along the margins of the scalp.

Eyes inflamed, red, and watery. Lids swollen, scaly, crusted. Ulceration at margins. Vision blurred in the morning. Lachrymation acrid, excoriating the cheeks. Black spots or flickering lights in visual field. Agglutination in the morning. Sensitive to light; pupils may be sluggish. Styes and recurring blepharitis in psoric constitutions.

Discharge from ears offensive, purulent, and thick. Deafness from chronic catarrhal otitis media. Itching deep within the ears. Eczema of external ear, often oozing a fetid fluid. Sensitive to noise. Roaring or buzzing sounds that worsen at night.

Coryza with yellow-green discharge, offensive in odour. Chronic catarrh with crusts and scabs in nostrils. Loss of smell. Tip of nose red and raw. Epistaxis with exertion. Itching inside nose, with tendency to pick at scabs. Ulceration of nasal septum in suppressed skin cases.

Pale, sallow, and dirty appearance, often oily or greasy. Hollow cheeks. Acne or pustular eruptions on forehead and chin. Eczema on the edges of lips or nostrils. Expression dull and despairing. Twitching of muscles from nervous exhaustion.

Foul breath, worse in the morning. Gums bleeding, ulcerated, or receding. Tongue coated white, yellow, or dirty; large and flabby. Salivation excessive. Ulcers in the cheeks or under the tongue. Burning pain in palate. Sensitive teeth. Aphthous patches or thrush in infants.

Pain in decayed or loose teeth; worse at night and from cold air. Teeth feel too long. Grinding of teeth at night. Gums spongy, receding, or suppurating. Children with foul diarrhoea during dentition.

Dryness with constant need to swallow. Mucus collects and must be hawked up constantly. Tonsils enlarged, with fetid breath. Chronic sore throat worse from draught or damp. Raw sensation extending to ears. Swallowing difficult due to pain and dryness.

Oppression of chest with dyspnoea. Cough dry at night, with copious expectoration in the morning — offensive and purulent. Asthma worse in damp weather, from exertion, or lying down. Chest sore to touch. Weak feeling in chest with inclination to take deep breaths. Offensive sweat on chest.

Palpitation at night, from lying on left side or after emotional excitement. Pulse irregular, small, and weak. Anxiety in precordium with sense of impending doom. Cold sweat with weakness. Circulatory collapse during fever or infection.

Short, oppressed, anxious breathing. Suffocative fits during sleep. Worse in cold air or on exertion. Deep sighing. Breathing difficult after eating. Wheezing and rattling of mucus in chest, especially in the morning.

Ravenous hunger, even at night; must eat often or feels faint. Yet digestion is poor and slow. Nausea in the morning, with gagging. Sour eructations, bloating, and pressure in the epigastrium. Craves coffee, fat, and junk food. Aggravation from milk. Heartburn and burning in stomach with acid regurgitation. Pain like a stone in stomach after eating.

Abdomen distended with gas. Griping colic with frequent, offensive flatus. Cannot bear clothing around waist. Gurgling in intestines. Enlarged mesenteric glands in children. Tenderness in umbilical and hypogastric regions. Symptoms worse before stool or during menses.

Offensive, watery, profuse diarrhoea, especially at night or early morning. Stool is dark, thin, putrid-smelling, and excoriates the anus. Alternation with obstinate constipation. Sudden urging after eating. Itching and crawling in anus. Haemorrhoids external, large, and painful. Fissures with raw burning pain. Anal pain lingers long after stool.

Frequent urging, especially at night. Urine dark, offensive, turbid, and scanty. Burning in urethra. Involuntary urination at night. Chronic cystitis in suppressed or psoric constitutions. Enuresis in children with eczema or offensive sweat.

Craves coffee, sweets, fat, and indigestible things. Ravenous hunger or complete loss of appetite. Aversion to meat. Symptoms worse from milk or fruit. Gastric symptoms follow dietary errors.

Erections without desire; or total sexual exhaustion. Coldness of genitals. Offensive perspiration of scrotum. Gonorrhoeal discharges offensive and lingering. Seminal emissions with weakness and depression. Chronic prostatitis with foetid urethral discharge.

Chronic, offensive, excoriating leucorrhoea. Menses late, scanty, or suppressed; or too early and too profuse. Debility before and after menses. Severe itching and burning of vulva. Unhealthy ulcerations of cervix. Bearing down sensation in the uterus. Sterility in cold, psoric constitutions.

Pain in the small of the back, especially when sitting or after rising. Weakness and heaviness in the sacral region. Cold spots on back. Itching eruptions along spine. Pain worse from damp or before menses.

Cold hands and feet. Numbness or tingling. Weakness in legs, knees give way. Offensive sweat on feet. Eczema behind knees or between fingers. Cracks on heels or soles. Rheumatism in damp weather.

Key sphere of action. The skin is dirty, greasy, unhealthy, and covered with offensive, itching eruptions. Even small injuries suppurate. Vesicles ooze a foul-smelling fluid. Eczema, especially with intolerable itching, worse at night and from warmth of bed. Scratching leads to burning and bleeding. Psoriasis, tinea, scabies-like eruptions. Skin dry, scaly, or crusted. [Clarke] notes that eruptions may be suppressed or never appeared due to allopathic treatment, leading to internal disease.

• Sulphur – Both psoric; Sulphur is more intellectual, expansive, extroverted, and burning
• Calcarea carbonica – Also chilly and sweaty, but more anxious, methodical, and plodding
• Sepia – Despairing and chilly, but more irritable and better for exercise
• Carbo vegetabilis – Collapse state with coldness and offensive discharges, but less chronic skin history
• Syphilinum – Nosode with offensive discharge, but symptoms more destructive, compulsive, and periodic

• Complementary: Sulphur, Tuberculinum
• Antidotes: Coffea, Camphora
• Follows well: Sulphur, Lycopodium
• Precedes well: Calcarea, Silicea
• Inimical: None established, but may not follow well after acute suppressive allopathic treatment

• Use in chronic eczema with offensive discharge and debility
• Excellent for constitutional collapse after long illness
• Consider in chronic asthma with history of suppressed skin eruptions
• Indicated when the patient says “I will never get well”
• Useful when well-chosen remedies fail to act due to underlying miasm

Mind

• Despair of recovery
• Suicidal thoughts at night
• Lack of confidence
• Fear of poverty, future

Skin

• Eruptions, offensive, itchy, suppressed
• Eczema, chronic, night aggravation
• Scalp eruptions, greasy

Stomach

• Ravenous hunger, night
• Craves coffee, fat
• Indigestion with debility

Rectum

• Diarrhoea, foul, exhausting
• Itching, burning
• Constipation alternating

Generalities

• Coldness, extreme
• Offensive discharges
• Weakness, “never well since”

Samuel Hahnemann – Chronic Diseases: Introduced Psorinum as the main antipsoric nosode

Boenninghausen – Lesser Writings: First to extensively apply Psorinum clinically

T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia: Collated clinical and toxicological data

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Provided vivid symptomatology and deep insights

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Emphasised mental despair and miasmatic collapse

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Detailed the offensive, psoric expressions and unique modalities