Rumex

A perennial of the Polygonaceae, naturalised widely in Europe and North America. The root contains anthraquinone derivatives (overlapping with Rheum spp.), tannins and iron; in herbal practice it has been used as a mild laxative, alterative, cholagogue, and astringent, which coheres with homoeopathic notes on bowel looseness and skin reactivity [Hughes], [Clarke]. Eclectic-era and modern ethnopharmacologic descriptions similarly record astringent, laxative, diuretic and tonic uses for R. crispus—background that rationalises its action on mucosae and skin and the morning diarrhoea sometimes seen in provings and clinics. [Toxicology]

Historically used as a “blood purifier”, gentle laxative, iron-bearing tonic, and as an astringent topical for minor skin eruptions; roots were also taken as decoctions/syrups in eclectic practice [Hughes], [Clarke]. Contemporary herbal monographs echo these roles (laxative–alterative; hepatic drainage).

Provings and clinical accumulations appear in Hering, Allen and Clarke; Kent and Nash expand the clinical image. Constants: exquisite hyperaesthesia of the larynx/trachea with tickling in the suprasternal fossa (throat-pit) provoking a dry, teasing cough, worse from the least cold air, from deep inspiration, speaking, or pressure on the trachea, so that patients cover the mouth/head under the bedclothes to warm the inspired air; hoarseness; rawness; morning diarrhoea (5–10 a.m.); and intense itching of skin on undressing/exposure to cold air [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash], [Lippe]. [Proving] [Clinical]

• Larynx and trachea (primary): Tickling in the throat-pit extending down to the tracheal bifurcation; least cold air or deep inspiration, touch/pressure on the trachea, and talking instantly excite dry, hacking, fatiguing cough; > covering mouth/head, warm room. Cross-ref. Throat, Respiration, Sleep, Modalities. [Hering], [Boericke], [Clarke], [Nash], [Kent]
• Bronchi/chest wall: Rawness behind sternum; stitching or smarting pains (often left); cough < lying left side; pulsations felt through chest with tickling. Cross-ref. Chest, Heart. [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Skin: Intense itching, especially on undressing and on exposure to cold air; > warmth; urticaria/prurigo/lichen noted. Cross-ref. Skin, Modalities. [Boericke], [Nash], [Allen]
• Bowels (enteric morning looseness): Early-morning diarrhoea, pasty or brownish, offensive, driving from bed 5–10 a.m.; urging sudden; often painless. Cross-ref. Abdomen, Rectum. [Allen], [Nash]
• Voice/phonation: Hoarseness; voice uncertain after exposure; speaking provokes cough, so patients avoid speech. Cross-ref. Mouth, Throat, Respiration. [Allen], [Kent], [Boericke]
• Bladder/pelvic floor (reflex): Involuntary spurting of urine with cough, particularly in women and elderly—mechanical, not renal. Cross-ref. Urinary. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Lymphatic tissue: Lymphatic enlargement (nodes/glands) noted with skin and mucous reactivity. Cross-ref. Skin, Generalities. [Boericke]

• Covering mouth and head; breathing warm air under bedclothes stops cough. [Boericke], [Nash]
• Warm room, wraps, and warm drinks; avoiding cool draughts. [Clarke], [Allen]
• Holding breath or breathing very shallowly for a few moments to abort a paroxysm. [Kent], [Clarke]
• Sitting up (less tracheal tickle than recumbency), especially if left-side lying aggravates. [Clarke]
• Warmth to skin (hot bath/blankets) for itch. [Allen], [Boericke]
• After the first loose stool on some mornings (bowel pressure relieved)—often short-lived. [Allen]
• Silence/minimal talking during irritable laryngeal phases. [Hering]

• Inspiring the least cold air; going from warm room to cold air or any change of temperature. [Boericke], [Nash], [Clarke]
• Pressure/touch on the trachea or throat-pit; buttoned collars. [Hering], [Boericke]
• Talking, reading aloud, laughing—instant tickle-cough. [Hering], [Clarke]
• Lying down (especially left side), on first retiring, and towards midnight; cough prevents sleep. [Clarke], [Hering]
• Undressing/uncovering; cold air on the skin—itch/cough both flare. [Allen], [Nash]
• Tea (Clarke notes susceptibility); cold drinks; fruit air; milk in some. [Clarke], [Allen]
• Early morning (5–10 a.m.)—sudden urging to stool; offensive, brownish diarrhoea. [Allen], [Nash]

• Dry, tickling cough from throat-pit; cold air–triggered
  • Hepar — Croupy, painful, great chilliness, wants wrapping; cough often loose by morning. Rumex is purely tickling-dry, from pit, and instantly < cold air; the blanket is used to warm inspired air, not for constitutional chill. [Clarke], [Kent]
  • Spongia — Dry, barking, sawing laryngeal tone; less pit-tickle; warm drinks >, but cold air not so pathognomonic as in Rumex. [Kent], [Clarke]
  • Drosera — Whooping, spasmodic, after midnight, retching; tickle not confined to pit; Rumex has marked air-temperature trigger. [Clarke]
  • Phosphorus — Tickling cough with chest weakness, thirst for cold, hoarseness; not stopped by covering mouth as in Rumex. [Clarke], [Kent]
  • Causticum — Rawness, voice fatigue, urinary spurting with cough overlaps; but the pit-tickle / cold-air signature belongs to Rumex. [Clarke]
  • Aconite — First hours of cold, dry wind exposure, feverish anxiety; Rumex later when reflex tickle is established. [Kent], [Clarke]
• Morning diarrhoea (5–10 a.m.)
  • Sulphur — Early-morning drive from bed, burning, constitutional heat; Rumex is more regional and tied to air sensitivity. [Allen], [Clarke]
  • Aloe — Urgency with jelly-like mucus, gurgling; less respiratory cross-link. [Allen]
  • Podophyllum — Profuse, gushing, painless morning stool; Rumex has pasty/brown, offensive, and a concomitant airway itch/cough. [Allen], [Nash]
  • Natrum sulph. — Morning looseness in damp weather; Rumex guided by cold-air tickle and undressing itch. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Skin itching, cold-air/undressing <
  • Dulcamara — Damp-cold urticaria; weather change key; Rumex is air-on-skin immediate. [Clarke]
  • Psorinum — Itch < warmth of bed, dirty skin; Rumex > warmth and < uncovering. [Allen]
  • Urtica urens — Urticaria from shellfish/cold bathing; Rumex is not food-linked but air-linked. [Clarke]

• Complementary: Sulph.—constitutionally supports chronic Rumex cases with morning diarrhoea and itch, once acute laryngeal hypersensitivity has been checked. [Kent], [Allen]
• Complementary: Caust.—when urine spurts with cough persists after Rumex has calmed laryngeal tickle. [Clarke]
• Follows well: Acon. or Bell.—after first inflammatory chill has passed and the case settles into reflex pit-tickle with cold-air <. [Kent]
• Precedes well: Phos. or Kali-bi.—if weakness of chest or tough mucus develop after the Rumex phase. [Clarke]
• Compare (skin): Nash emphasises Rumex itch on undressing as a bedside discriminator against Psor. and Dulc..

Rumex is the archetype of cold-air cough—a reflex tickle housed precisely in the suprasternal fossa that ignites on the least cool air, on deep inspiration, on speaking or touching the trachea, and is switched off by warming the inspired air with coverings. The paroxysm is dry, teasing, fatiguing, with scant mucus; the patient breathes shallowly or holds the breath to dodge it, and dares not speak lest the tickle start anew. This is not the sawing bark of Spongia, nor the anxious first-chill of Aconite, nor the whooping violence of Drosera; it is a hair-trigger laryngeal hyperaesthesia that obeys thermics more than inflammation. The skin and bowels echo the same neural tone: itching on undressing/exposure to cold air and early-morning diarrhoea (5–10 a.m.)—minor, but remarkably recurrent confirmations in practice [Boericke], [Nash], [Allen]. Cough often keeps one from sleep on lying down; the patient learns to bury the head and mouth or to sip tepid fluid, and to avoid tea/cold draughts at night [Clarke]. Micro-differentials sharpen selection: Caust. shares urine spurting with cough, but lacks the pathognomonic pit-tickle + cover-the-mouth relief; Phos. shares tickling and hoarseness, but wants cold drinks and shows systemic weakness; Hepar wants to be wrapped for chilliness and is far more suppurative; Drosera grips after midnight in spasms; Spong. is barking and dry without the cold-air hair-trigger; Ipec. has spasm with nausea rather than pit-tickle. In short: when a patient says, “The least bit of cold air makes me cough from here (pointing to the throat-pit)—I have to cover my mouth to stop it,” Rumex is at hand [Hering], [Boericke], [Clarke], [Nash], [Kent].

• Dry, teasing cough from tickle in the throat-pit; worse on inspiring cold air; stops by covering mouth/head: Rumex 6C–30C every 2–4 hours acutely; teach thermal control (muffle mouth, avoid temperature changes), tepid sips, no tea at night. [Boericke], [Clarke], [Nash]
• Bedtime/first-lying cough, < left side: Give Rumex at retiring and again if wakened; instruct left-side avoidance and head-cover for a night or two. [Clarke]
• Itch on undressing, cold-air < (urticaria/prurigo tendency): Rumex 6x–6C nightly a few days; keep skin warm on changing; compare Dulc./Psor. if weather- or warmth-driven instead. [Boericke], [Nash]
• Early-morning diarrhoea (5–10 a.m.) with Rumex airway: Short course 6C–30C on waking; if diarrhoea remains the chief issue, review Sulph., Aloe, Podoph. [Allen], [Nash]

Mind

• MIND — LOW-SPIRITED — with cough — exertion; mental — aversion to. — Defensive mood while avoiding triggers. [Lippe]

Throat / Larynx / Voice

• THROAT — TICKLING — suprasternal fossa (throat-pit) — cough; excites. — Central Rumex generator. [Hering], [Clarke]
• LARYNX — RAWNESS — cough, during — trachea; in. — Raw, scraped feeling as paroxysm runs. [Clarke]
• LARYNX — TOUCH — trachea; pressure on — cough; excites. — Buttoned collar test. [Hering]
• VOICE — HOARSENESS — exposure to cold air — after. — Phonation flags when larynx is chilled. [Allen]

Cough / Respiration

• COUGH — DRY — teasing — tickling in pit of throat, from. — Signature. [Nash], [Boericke]
• COUGH — COLD AIR — inspiration of — aggravates — least draft. — Hair-trigger to air. [Nash], [Clarke]
• COUGH — LYING — on left side — aggravates. — Positional nuance. [Clarke]
• COUGH — TALKING — aggravates; LAUGHING — aggravates. — Phonation sparks tickle. [Hering]
• COUGH — COVERING HEAD/MOUTH — ameliorates. — Warmed air “switches off” fits. [Boericke]
• COUGH — CHANGE of temperature — aggravates (warm ↔ cold). — Doorway/bedclothes transitions. [Clarke]

Chest / Heart

• CHEST — PAIN — stitching — left — cough — with. — Left-stitch accompaniment. [Clarke]
• CHEST — RAWNESS — sternum — behind — cough — with. — Rumex chest feel. [Clarke]
• GENERALS — PULSATION — felt through body — cough — during. — Whole-body pulsings of a fit. [Clarke]

Skin

• SKIN — ITCHING — undressing — on — aggravates; COLD AIR — exposure to — aggravates; WARMTH — ameliorates. — Rumex dermatologic triad. [Allen], [Nash], [Boericke]
• URTICARIA — exposure to cold air — after. — Air-trigger hives. [Clarke]

Stool / Rectum

• STOOL — MORNING — 5–10 a.m. — driving out of bed — offensive; pasty/brownish. — Clock-specific looseness. [Allen], [Nash]

Urinary

• URINATION — INVOLUNTARY — cough — with. — Reflex leak clue. [Allen], [Clarke]

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): laryngo-tracheal hyperaesthesia; pressure-on-trachea/talk/deep-inspiration <; paroxysm character.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): early-morning diarrhoea 5–10 a.m.; skin itch < cold air/undressing; hoarseness; urinary spurting with cough.
Clarke — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): suprasternal tickle; < least cool air, < lying (left); chest stitches/pulsations; notes on tea; differentials.
Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1901): “covering head and mouth stops cough”; skin itching; lymphatic enlargement.
Nash — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1898): violent, incessant dry cough < inspiring cold air; brownish morning diarrhoea; itch on undressing.
Lippe, A. von — Keynotes and Red Line Symptoms (late 19th c.): mental low spirits; lid dryness; ear itching; evening-night coryza; Rumex regional picture.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): Rumex as a precise catarrhal remedy; breathing/holding-breath tactics; comparisons.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870s): drug background; overlap with anthraquinone-bearing docks; rationale for bowel/skin signatures.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (late 19th c.): respiratory differentials (Hepar, Spong., Drosera, Phos.); practical hints.
Tyler, M. L. — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): bedside confirmations of the cover-the-mouth habit and doorway-triggered coughing.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modality grid (cold air <, covering >); skin/respiratory linkages (supportive).
(Optionally) A modern ethnopharmacology review of R. crispus was consulted for historical non-homeopathic context; no clinical symptoms taken from it.