Syphilinum

A nosode prepared from the serous fluid of a syphilitic chancre or a syphilitic ulcer, dynamised to a potentised homeopathic remedy. It embodies the chronic, destructive, and degenerative miasm of syphilis.

Introduced clinically by Swan and later extensively used by Kent, Allen, and Clarke; proving information gathered primarily through clinical usage and observation rather than traditional provings.

Syphilinum resonates with the core theme of destruction—not merely physical decay, but spiritual disintegration. It is a remedy of deep pathology, inherited or acquired, where degeneration replaces inflammation, and hopelessness overrides fear. The person feels unclean, broken, or cursed—bearing the karmic weight of generations. Time loses rhythm—symptoms are periodic, worse at night, devouring vitality silently and slowly. It suits those for whom life itself seems inherently flawed, and whose illness mirrors a hidden wound of the soul.

• Bones – caries, necrosis, night pain
• Skin – ulceration, eruptions, oozing, destruction
• Nervous system – neuralgia, tremors, tabes dorsalis
• Throat – chronic ulceration, offensive discharge
• Eyes – deep-seated pain, ulcers of cornea
• Genitals – syphilitic sores, discharge, inherited miasm
• Mouth and Teeth – ulceration, decay, congenital deformity
• Children – congenital defects, inherited miasmatic burden
• Mental sphere – despair, compulsions, suicidal tendencies

Profound despair, destructiveness, and a sense of doom permeate the mental state of Syphilinum. Hopelessness dominates—patients often feel cursed or incurable. Suicidal thoughts arise without cause or with sudden intensity [Kent]. Memory is weak, thoughts disordered. Compulsive behaviours: washing hands, checking things. Obsessive guilt, religious despair, or morbid introspection. Apathy alternates with rage. Children are wild, destructive, obstinate. Deep inherited sense of shame, fear of punishment, and mental confusion. Some patients feel detached from themselves or the world—almost a dissociative state.

Sleeplessness from pain or restlessness. Nightmares, wakes in fright. Sleep unrefreshing. Sleep better after 5 a.m. Severe insomnia in children or the aged.

Frightful dreams of death, corpses, murder. Nightmares about pursuit or punishment. Dreams vivid, recurring. Dreams of falling or losing one’s way.

Symptoms worse at night. Complaints begin from suppressed eruptions, discharges, or grief. Patient feels broken, incurable. Left-sided complaints. Ulcers, bone pains, degenerative diseases. Rapid decay of tissues. Sudden exhaustion. Coldness of body parts. Inherited syphilitic states. Best suited to deep-seated, destructive, periodic or intractable diseases.

Low-grade fevers. Nightly rise. Sweat profuse, offensive. Chilly in early evening. Bone pains during fever. Aggravation from warmth of bed. “Night fever with sweat and sorrow.”

Chill in evening, worse in damp. Heat at night, flushes. Sweat offensive, sour, or greasy. Sweat may not relieve.

Headaches from occiput to forehead, worse at night. Boring, digging pain in skull bones. Sensation of brain being bruised. Headache alternating with neuralgia or eruptions. Skull feels too small. In children: fontanelles slow to close, bone defects. Head sweats profusely during sleep. Tendency to hair falling in patches.

Ulcers of the cornea, iritis, and loss of vision at night. Deep-seated eye pain, worse at night. Photophobia. Pustules on the sclera. Strabismus in infants. Lacrimation acrid. Blurred vision with eye strain. Trembling of eyelids. Pain radiating from eyes to temples. Used in syphilitic or inherited eye diseases [Clarke].

Deafness from bone destruction or chronic discharge. Fetid otorrhoea. Boring pain in temporal bones. Tinnitus with high-pitched ringing. Ears feel blocked or full. Ear complaints may alternate with throat or skin eruptions.

Ulceration of septum. Fetid nasal discharge. Nose collapsed from destruction of cartilage (especially in congenital cases). Epistaxis at night. Sense of smell lost. Nasal bridge sunken. Dry scabs inside nose.

Facial bones feel sore, with night bone pains. Expression haggard, aged. Acne, boils, or ulcers around mouth and nose. Crusty eruptions on cheeks. Children with old, suffering appearance. Mouth corners cracked and ulcerated.

Ulcers on tongue, cheeks, soft palate—painless but destructive. Tongue thickly coated or indented. Mouth hot, dry, with fetid breath. Teeth decaying rapidly. Gums swollen, bleed easily. Tip of tongue may be deeply cracked or fissured. Speech may become thick or impaired.

Hutchinson teeth: Notched, deformed, especially upper incisors—keynote in children. Premature decay. Pain worse at night or from warmth. Looseness of teeth. Gums recede, expose roots. Teething difficult in syphilitic children.

Ulceration of soft palate and tonsils. Rawness, burning, and difficulty swallowing. Discharge offensive. Throat symptoms may be painless despite severity. Sensation of splinter or lump. Used in chronic sore throat of luetic origin.

Oppression with short breath. Pains in sternum and ribs, especially at night. Cough dry or hacking, worse at night. Green, offensive expectoration. Pains darting through chest. Emaciation of chest muscles. Syphilitic phthisis.

Palpitation with anxiety. Night heart symptoms. Sharp pain in precordial region. Used in luetic aortitis or endocarditis with degeneration. Rapid, weak pulse. Cyanosis in advanced cases.

Difficult breathing worse at night or in damp weather. Sensation of suffocation. Breath offensive. Laryngitis with hoarseness or ulceration. Tubercular or syphilitic origin of respiratory troubles.

Craving for alcohol. Nausea worse at night. Cannot digest starchy foods. Vomiting with headache or neuralgia. Burning pain in stomach. Aversion to meat or hot food. Foul eructations.

Enlarged mesenteric glands. Pain in hypogastrium extending to groins. Periodic abdominal pains with burning or colic. Distension with rumbling. Diarrhoea alternates with constipation.

Syphilitic fissures and ulcers. Burning, tenesmus, discharge of blood-streaked mucus. Itching worse at night. Constipation with ineffectual urging. Sudden, involuntary stool.

Dark, offensive urine with strong ammoniacal odour. Tenesmus before or after urination. Frequent urging. Dribbling. Albuminuria. Ulceration of urethra in chronic syphilitic cases.

Craving for alcohol, sweets. Aversion to meat. Desire for strong-flavoured food. Worse from starchy foods. Better from sour.

Chronic gonorrhoea. Chancres, ulcers on glans. Painful erections. Syphilitic history. Offensive seminal discharges. Loss of libido with mental depression. Testes swollen or indurated.

Leucorrhoea offensive, green, or yellow. Chronic pelvic inflammation. Ulceration of cervix. Menstruation too early and profuse or absent entirely. Syphilitic eruptions on vulva. Recurrent miscarriages (especially 3rd month). History of infertility.

Boring, tearing pains in spinal column, especially lumbar and sacral regions. Spine curved or weak. Coldness between scapulae. Pain worse from rest or damp. Used in tabes dorsalis, Pott’s disease.

Wandering rheumatic pains worse at night. Bone pains, especially in long bones. Numbness of hands or feet. Fingers tremble. Ulcers on legs that ooze and crust. Brittle nails. Joints swollen, stiff, or deformed. Pain in shin bones, boring, worse 2–4 a.m.

Syphilitic eruptions: copper-coloured, moist, ulcerating. Crusty eruptions that bleed on scratching. Psoriasis, eczema, or lupus with nightly itching. Warts, condylomata. Skin ulcers with bluish margin. Hair falls in patches. Suppuration tendency.

• Mercurius – Also covers ulceration, bone pains, night aggravation; but more salivation, trembling, and acute tendencies
• Psorinum – Foulness, despair, filthy discharges; more chilly, hopeless
• Tuberculinum – Destructive, but more restless, romantic, and mentally active
• Medorrhinum – Wild, passionate, erratic; more sexual, compulsive, impulsive
• Arsenicum album – Deep-seated despair and anxiety; more burning pains and restlessness

• Complementary: Mercurius, Kali iod., Nitric acid
• Antidotes: Mercurius, Hepar sulph.
• Follows well: After Merc., Nitric acid, Aurum
• Precedes well: Deep constitutional remedies in inherited miasmatic cases
• Inimical: Psorinum (caution in alternating nosodes)

• Useful when symptoms are worse at night, periodic, or destructive
• Consider when well-indicated remedies fail due to miasmatic block
• Indicated in cases with history of syphilis or inherited luetic traits
• Often used in bone pain, ulcers, neuralgia, and tabes dorsalis
• Acts best in high potency, given infrequently
• Watch for initial aggravation—use as intercurrent remedy with caution

Mind

• Despair of recovery
• Suicidal disposition
• Compulsive washing
• Religious mania

Bones

• Pain, boring, night
• Caries, ulceration
• Pain in shin bones, < 2–4 a.m.

Skin

• Ulcers, syphilitic
• Eruptions, copper-coloured
• Hair loss in patches

Sleep

• Sleeplessness, night pain
• Dreams, frightful
• Night sweats

Mouth

• Ulcers, painless
• Teeth, decayed, notched

Generalities

• Night aggravation
• Left-sided complaints
• Ulceration, destructive

• James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Detailed mental symptoms and miasmatic interpretation
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clinical applications and keynotes for ulcers, bone pain, and syphilitic inheritance
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Classical indications for eye, bone, and neuralgic cases
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Descriptions of night aggravations, ulcers, and general modalities
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Compiled early clinical observations and usage of Syphilinum