Senega

A North American perennial of the Polygalaceae; the root is rich in saponins (historically “senegin”), long used by Indigenous peoples and early eclectic physicians as an expectorant and stimulant to mucous surfaces. Crude-drug effects include increased bronchial secretion, tingling/burning in throat, nausea, and with excess oppression of chest and cough; these lines forecast the homeopathic sphere: tenacious bronchial catarrh, laryngitis of speakers/singers, emphysematous cough of the aged, and hydrothorax with rattling yet hard-to-raise mucus [Hughes], [Clarke], [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke]. Tincture from the dried root.

Primary data derive from early provers collated by Hering and Allen with substantial clinical confirmations in catarrhal and pleuro-pulmonic states. Constant features: dry tickling then racking cough with much rattling, expectoration scant and tough until long effort loosens it, pressing/burning behind sternum, laryngeal hyperaesthesia with hoarseness/aphonia, must expand chest as if it were too narrow, stitching intercostal pains, dyspnoea on ascending, and a striking usefulness in old people with emphysema or post-influenza residue [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash]. [Proving] [Clinical]

A mucus-obstacle remedy for the larynx–trachea–bronchial tree, in which rattling is loud but little comes until long efforts pry loose a tough, viscid mass; then a wash of relief travels from sternum to voice. The patient lives by mechanics: keep out of cold air, sit upright, expand slowly, sip warmth, and be silent until the morning clearance is done. The leading sensations—chest too narrow, burning rawness behind the sternum, tickle on first lying down—anchor the picture. It is a favourite of teachers, preachers, and singers, whose aphonia is mucus-led; and of elderly emphysematous patients who fear stairs not from panic but because the airway is glued. When comparing, ask: does effort eventually succeed, and is relief proportional to the quantity raised? If yes, Seneg. stands before Ant-t., where power fails; before Ipec., where nausea rules; before Kali-bi., where stringiness localises; and alongside Stann. when voice fatigue remains. In pleural histories, its traditional aid to absorption tips the balance when the chest is heavy yet mucous. The remedy’s practice is mundane but golden: humidity, warmth, posture, economy of voice, and steady doses until the airways are free [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes], [Nash].

• Larynx and voice: Hoarseness to aphonia in speakers/singers; tickling in larynx excites cough; voice fails on reading aloud; rawness and burning relieved after free expectoration. Cross-ref. Throat, Respiration, Sleep. [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Trachea/bronchi (primary): Tough, sticking mucus with much rattling but difficult to raise; patient must hawk often; after effort, relief and freer breathing. Cross-ref. Chest, Cough, Modalities. [Allen], [Boericke], [Nash]
• Lungs/alveoli (aged/emphysematous): Dyspnoea on slight exertion, ascending or talking; sense of chest too narrow, must expand; post-pleuritic adhesions and hydrothorax noted. Cross-ref. Respiration, Generalities. [Clarke], [Hughes]
• Pleura/thoracic walls: Stitching intercostal pains, soreness of chest walls from coughing; pressure and warmth soothe. Cross-ref. Chest, Back. [Hering], [Clarke]
• Eyes (mucous surfaces): Smarting, burning, lachrymation; ciliary irritation and aching on eye-movement in catarrhal states. Cross-ref. Eyes, Head. [Allen], [Hering]
• Naso-pharynx: Dryness then gluey secretion posteriorly; constant urge to clear throat; post-nasal catarrh in cold weather. Cross-ref. Nose, Throat. [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Serous cavities/absorption: Traditional note for promoting resolution of lingering effusions (pleural). Cross-ref. Chest, Generalities. [Hughes], [Clarke]

The Senega patient is weary, irritable, and disposed to anxiety about the chest, dreading stairs or conversation because both provoke breathlessness and cough, an attitude that mirrors worse ascending/talking already noted [Hering], [Clarke]. Mental dulness follows a long night of racking paroxysms; there is a fretful intolerance of cold air and of being hurried. The fear is mechanical rather than panicky: they feel the chest too narrow and believe that only by expanding slowly can they avoid an attack—behaviour that cross-links to Generalities. Voice-workers grow despondent when the voice fails on reading aloud; they anticipate professional mishap and so self-impose silence, which proves better until expectoration is freer [Boericke]. Sleep loss makes the temper brittle. Relief of mood commonly follows the first good expectoration in the morning; with the chest lighter, the mind steadies—a periphery-to-psyche sequence seen in many catarrhal remedies. Compared with Phosphorus, whose anxiety rises with a sense of internal weakness and burning, Seneg. is practical and airway-centred; compared with Spongia, it is less fearful and more occupied with raising mucus than with a purely dry bark.

Sleep is broken by paroxysms on first lying down and again after midnight while the mucus is yet unraised; patient sleeps briefly after each effort when a little is expectorated and wakes to begin again. Lying flat provokes; propped upright and well humidified air help; towards early morning, after the first free expectoration, a longer restorative sleep occurs [Clarke], [Hering]. Dreaming of suffocation or climbing stairs reflects the day’s trials. Voice-workers dread morning duties if the night has yielded little mucus, and this anticipatory anxiety itself can trigger cough when they first speak on waking—explicitly echoing worse talking.

Of mounting stairs and failing breath; of speaking to a crowd and losing the voice; of smoke or fog choking—iconography of the chest and larynx, often ceasing when the morning expectoration is free.

Seneg. centres on laryngo-bronchial catarrh with tough, scant, difficult expectoration despite much rattling, and a mechanical sense of chest narrowness that compels upright posture and expansion. The patient is worse from cold air, ascending, talking/reading aloud, dry heated rooms, and on first lying down; better after expectoration, with warm moist air, warm drinks, pressure/warmth to the chest, and upright slow expansion [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Choose it in old people with emphysema or hydrothorax residues, in singers/teachers with aphonia from laryngeal catarrh, and in post-influenza chests glued with mucus. Differentiate Antimonium tart. (rattling with inability to raise, cyanosis), Ipec. (spasm with nausea, little tenacity), Kali bich. (distinct stringy plugs and sinus involvement), Stannum (great exhaustion with cough, voice weak), Phosphorus (burning and constitutional weakness, thirst for cold), and Sanguinaria (circumscribed right-sided burning, periodicity of cough).

Low fever accompanies acute catarrh with flushed face during paroxysms; no specific remittent curve. Heat of head with chill of the surface on exposure to cold air is common; temperature steadies as secretions loosen.

Chill from the least draft, then heat in chest with burning behind sternum; sweat after exertion is moderate and brings little relief unless coupled with expectoration—the latter is the true turning-key of the case.

Frontal heaviness and vertex pressure come with each coughing-bout; head feels bruised and hot after prolonged hawking. There is dizziness on ascending or after a fit of coughing, relieved by sitting upright and expanding the chest, showing how cerebral distress follows respiratory inefficiency [Clarke]. The scalp may be sensitive; temples throb during paroxysms. Catarrh of the frontal sinuses with posterior drip belongs to the same mucous trend and contributes to the morning cough. Headache commonly abates once the viscid phlegm is loosened, linking the region to Better after expectoration.

Smarting, burning, and lachrymation occur during cough or in cold winds; lids feel heavy as if stuck. Some report aching on turning the eyes, a ciliary irritability that worsens in heated rooms and eases in moist warmth [Allen]. Photophobia may attend the frontal catarrh; reading aloud fatigues the eyes and larynx together, which again ties to worse reading/talking and the voice-worker profile.

Ringing or a sense of stopped ears during a coughing fit is occasional; hearing is not a central sphere. The feeling usually clears as the chest clears, a benign pressure effect from paroxysms rather than otic disease.

Dryness at first with tickling and sneezing in cold air, then gluey post-nasal mucus that insists on hawking [Clarke]. The posterior drip provokes night and early-morning coughs; blowing gives scant relief. The nasal phase is most active in cold, windy weather and in furnace-heated rooms, cross-linking to worse cold air and worse dry heat.

Flushed during coughing; pallid after long efforts; lips dry and cracked in winter catarrh. The expression is anxious when a bout is impending and relaxes after a good raising of mucus. Soreness of zygomatic arches from muscular strain during paroxysms may be felt.

Mouth and fauces feel raw and burning; saliva increased during bouts; taste flat or metallic after much hawking. The tongue is often coated in morning bronchitics; warm sips soothe the throat, confirming better warm drinks. Teeth and jaws ache from clenching at the paroxysm height.

No characteristic dental lesions; transient toothache may be excited by cold air on going out, disappearing indoors—a small echo of the thermal sensitivity.

The centre above the chest: larynx raw, tickling, sensitive to cold air and to use of voice; reading aloud or attempting long sentences starts cough at once [Hering], [Boericke]. There is burning behind the manubrium, with a feeling as if the trachea were too narrow; pressure or the hand to the chest is gratefully used. Tenacious stringy mucus hangs in the fauces and is hard to dislodge until persistent hawking succeeds, after which voice and breathing are freer—a direct link to Better after expectoration.

A hallmark: much rattling yet little comes until long-continued efforts produce a copious, thick, sometimes foamy expectoration; then a sense of expansion and relief ensue [Allen], [Boericke]. There is burning and soreness behind the sternum, as if the inside were raw; stitching intercostal pains catch the breath on moving or coughing. The chest feels too narrow and the patient instinctively throws the shoulders back to make room for air—behaviour directly linked to Better by slow expansion/upright. Hydrothorax or post-pleuritic adhesions with oppressed breathing are classical clinical notes when the mucus-signature is also present [Clarke], [Hughes].

Palpitations on ascending or during a long paroxysm; action irregular until the fit subsides; not a primary myocardium remedy. The sense of precordial weight lifts with freer breathing.

Short on ascending, talking, reading aloud, cold air, and on first lying down at night; easier after expectorating or in a warm moist atmosphere [Hering], [Clarke]. Old people with emphysema describe an inability to start the breath until they have “opened the chest,” a vivid cross-link to the Generalities and Modalities already stated. Compare Ant-t. (rattling with suffocation, little ability to raise; cyanosis), Ipec. (spasmodic with nausea, scant rattle), Kali-bi. (tough, stringy plugs in sinuses/chest), Stann. (exhausting cough; voice weakness), Phosph. (burning chest, weakness, thirst for cold).

Nausea may accompany violent coughing; appetite poor after night paroxysms. Warm foods and broths are accepted better than cold in winter bronchitis; cold drinks aggravate laryngeal tickle. Vomiting of mucus in whooping-cough states is occasionally noted and brings temporary ease.

Abdominal walls ache from prolonged coughing; splenic stitch on coughing may occur, pairing with intercostal pains. Flatulence and a sense of sinking at the pit of stomach appear after hard efforts, settling once respiration is easier.

Constipation alternating with loose stools in catarrhal winters; straining aggravates intercostal stitches; haemorrhoids irritated by paroxysms—secondary and not selecting.

Urine may be scant during febrile catarrh and freer as the chest improves; increased flow after warm drinks accompanies general relief—incidental, not keynote.

Craves warm drinks; cold drinks excite laryngeal tickle and cough; hunger is small in the morning before the chest has been cleared. Milk may thicken mucus in some, who then fare better on broths.

Sexual desire depressed during long catarrhs; nocturnal emissions after sleepless coughs are incidental. Not a selecting sphere.

Voice failure and laryngeal catarrh in teachers and singers are prominent indications; later-life chronic bronchitis with emphysema and exertional dyspnoea responds when the Senega expectoration pattern is present. Pregnancy coughs with tough mucus may need Seneg. if cold air and talking invariably start the fit.

Dorsal and inter-scapular aching from coughing; tenderness at costo-vertebral angles in pleuritic histories; warmth and support help. Lumbosacral strain after a week of paroxysms is common in the elderly.

General weariness and trembling after bouts; calves cramp at night in winter bronchitis; oedema ankles in emphysematous elders may accompany chest oppression—consider the pleuro-pulmonic context rather than a primary limb action.

Dryness in heated rooms; sweat with exertion then chill on slight exposure that rekindles laryngeal tickle—thermal lability consistent with worse cold air and worse dry heat.

• Tough bronchial mucus with rattling but difficult expectoration
  • Antimonium tart. — Great oppression and cyanosis, child drowsy, almost no power to raise; Seneg. still can raise after effort and feels compelled to expand chest. [Hering], [Boericke]
  • Ipecacuanha — Paroxysmal cough with nausea and gagging, little rattling; Seneg. less nausea, more tenacity. [Clarke]
  • Kali bichromicum — Stringy, ropy plugs; sinus ulceration; more localized, plug-like expectoration than Seneg.’s general tenacity. [Clarke], [Allen]
  • Stannum — Exhausting cough, voice weakness, soreness in chest; sputum easier once it starts; Seneg. has greater tenacity and cold-air sensitivity. [Hering], [Nash]
  • Phosphorus — Burning in chest, weakness, thirst for cold; less “must expand chest” feeling; expectoration often freer once inflammation sets. [Clarke]
  • Sanguinaria — Burning, right-sided pains, hot flush, periodic headaches; sputum not specially tenacious. [Farrington]
• Aphonia/voice fatigue of speakers and singers
  • Arum triphyllum — Raw, excoriated mouth/nose; incessant picking; voice harsh; less tough chest mucus. [Hering]
  • Causticum — Vocal cord paresis, morning hoarseness, better damp weather; Seneg. is mucus-driven aphonia. [Boericke]
  • Phosphorus — Hoarseness with burning and weakness; likes cold drinks which often worse Seneg. throats. [Clarke]
• Emphysema/old people’s cough; hydrothorax residues
  • Lobelia inflata — Marked air hunger, faintness, nausea; less mucus tenacity. [Hering]
  • Arsenicum — Great restlessness, burning, night asthma, anxiety disproportionate; Seneg. is more mechanical, mucus-led. [Nash]
  • Apis — Serous effusions with stinging and oedema; less cough-tenacity picture. [Clarke]

• Complementary: Stannum—when exhaustion and voice weakness persist after Seneg. has loosened mucus. [Hering], [Nash]
• Complementary: Phosphorus—where burning weakness remains in post-influenza chests after mucus phase. [Clarke]
• Follows well: Ipec. or Acon. at the very onset; Seneg. when tenacity becomes the main obstacle. [Boericke]
• Precedes well: Kali-bi. in cases that resolve into stringy plugs in sinuses/bronchi. [Clarke]
• Compare (absorption/pleural): Bryonia (sharp pleuritic stitches, dry serous states), Sulphur for chronic catarrhal constitutions. [Farrington], [Clarke]
• Antidotes/Avoid: Cold air, dusty speaking rooms; recommend humidified warmth and voice rest while dosing. [Clarke], [Boericke]

• Post-influenza or winter bronchitis with tough, scant expectoration and loud rattling: Seneg. 6C–30C every 3–4 hours, reduce as expectoration frees; insist on steam/humidified air, warm drinks, voice rest. [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Aphonia of speakers/singers from laryngeal catarrh: Seneg. 6x–6C t.i.d. for a few days; silence, moist warmth, and avoid cold draughts; follow with Stann. if exhaustion persists. [Hering], [Nash]
• Emphysema of the aged with “chest too narrow,” dyspnoea on ascending, and tenacious phlegm: Seneg. 6C–30C once or twice daily; pair with breathing drills (slow expansion) and humidified environment. [Clarke], [Hughes]
• Pleuritic/pleuro-pulmonic residues (hydrothorax tendencies) with catarrh: Seneg. as an absorptive adjunct when the mucus-signature matches; compare Bry./Apis if serous signs dominate. [Hughes], [Clarke]

Throat / Larynx / Voice

• THROAT — TICKLING — larynx — talking — aggravates. — Speech promptly excites cough.
• LARYNX — RAWNESS — burning — behind sternum — cough with. — Central chest–larynx axis.
• VOICE — APHONIA — readers; speakers; singers — catarrhal. — Mucus-led voice loss.

Cough / Respiration / Chest

• COUGH — RATTling — expectoration — difficult — though mucus seems abundant. — Loud rales, scant yield.
• COUGH — LYING DOWN — first on — aggravates; NIGHT — aggravates. — Bedtime bouts before clearance.
• COUGH — COLD AIR — inspiration — aggravates; DRAUGHT — from. — Thermal hair-trigger.
• EXPECTORATION — TOUGH — viscid — hard to raise — better when loosened. — Relief proportional to quantity.
• CHEST — NARROW; sensation — must expand — shoulders thrown back. — “Too tight” chest.
• CHEST — PAIN — stitching — intercostal — coughing — during. — Costal catch of paroxysms.
• RESPIRATION — ASCENDING — aggravates — stairs; on. — Effort dyspnoea, elderly.

Nose / Post-nasal

• NOSE — CATARRH — posterior — thick, tenacious — hawking — necessity for. — Gluey drip fuels cough.
• NOSE — AIR — cold — aggravates — coryza and cough. — Weather link.

Eyes

• EYES — SMARTING — burning — cold wind — aggravates. — Exposed mucosae irritable.
• PAIN — EYES — motion — of eyes — aggravates. — Ciliary ache in catarrhal states.

Generalities / Modalities

• GENERALITIES — COLD AIR — aggravates; WARMTH — moist — ameliorates. — Humidity and heat soothe.
• GENERALITIES — TALKING — aggravates — reading aloud — aggravates. — Voice-use costs breath.
• GENERALITIES — PRESSURE — chest — ameliorates. — Hand or binder comforts soreness.

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): laryngeal tickle; tough mucus; must expand chest; modalities.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): cough/expectorant picture; intercostal stitches; aphonia; sleep and morning relief.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): emphysema of the aged; hydrothorax residues; voice-worker indications; thermal and voice-use modalities.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1901): rattling with difficult expectoration; cold-air <; warm drinks >; speakers/singers.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870s): saponin expectorant action; absorption of effusions; clinical rationale.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1907): contrasts with Ant-t., Ipec., Stann.; elderly bronchitis notes.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (late 19th c.): comparisons—Sanguinaria, Bryonia, Phosphorus in chest states.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modality grid—cold air <, exertion <; after expectoration >.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): catarrhal remedy comparisons and mechanical breathing habits.
Tyler, M. L. — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): practical portraits—teachers and singers; humidified warmth.
Dunham, C. — Lectures on Materia Medica (1870s): pleuro-pulmonic convalescence; economy of effort.
Phatak, S. R. — Concise Materia Medica (1977): keynotes—tenacious expectoration; chest too narrow; cold air <; warm drinks >.