Thyroidinum

A sarcode prepared from the dried thyroid gland of sheep/calf, triturated or tinctured and potentised. Physiologically the thyroid furnishes iodine-bearing hormones (T₄/T₃) governing basal metabolism, thermoregulation, growth and many endocrine interplays. Toxicology/physiology of crude extracts shows tachycardia, tremor, heat-intolerance, weight loss with polyphagia, mental restlessness and insomnia; deficiency states (myxœdema/cretinism) show torpor, cold-intolerance, obesity, dry skin, menstrual disturbance. The remedy portrait integrates these polarities: hyper- and hypo-thyroid features may both appear, with a labile, easily over-driven organism that is better when metabolic tone is steadied [Hughes], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Allen].

Small [Proving] sets plus abundant [Clinical] observation and [Toxicology]/physiology form the picture, compiled by Allen, Hering, Clarke, Boericke; recurring themes are metabolic lability, palpitation/tremor, heat waves and sweating, skin/hair dystrophy, growth/sexual developmental deviations, and menstrual irregularity [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes].

Thyroidinum is the thermostat remedy: a body too hot and hurried or too cold and stuck. In the hot stream the patient is restless, tremulous, flushed, sweating, with palpitations and ravenous hunger yet weakness; exertion and warmth overshoot them. In the cold stream they are puffy, chilly, slow, with dry skin, falling hair, constipation, heavy menses late or scant, and a weary heart. The neck/thyroid feels full or tender; collars annoy. Skin and hair broadcast metabolic truth; the female axis sways with the gland; the heart loudly registers small stimuli. Modalities are crisp: worse heat/exertion/excitement, better cool air/rest/regular small meals (hot), or worse cold/inertia, better warmth/steady routine (cold). Prescribe when this metabolic polarity plus thyroid neck signs and skin–hair barometer weave a coherent whole [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes].

• Endocrine–metabolic axis. Basal metabolism up/down; emaciation with hunger (Iodum-like) or obesity/sluggishness (Calc-like); disorders of growth, dentition and puberty [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Heart & circulation. Tachycardia, palpitation, breathlessness on slight effort; systolic murmurs of high-output states; flushes and sweats; faintness on rising [Hughes], [Boericke].
• Nerves. Tremulousness, restlessness, insomnia, nervous headaches; conversely, mental dulness and apathy of hypothyroid type [Allen], [Clarke].
• Skin/hair/nails. Dry, rough, scaly skin; brittle nails; alopecia; urticaria; psoriasis/eczema tendencies; easy flushing and sweating [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Female pelvis. Irregular menses (menorrhagia, amenorrhœa), fibroids with flooding, dysmenorrhœa; sub-fertility; post-partum low states; ovarian/uterine axis sensitive to thyroid balance [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Throat/neck. Goitre (simple/toxic); sense of collar-tightness and choking; thyroid region tender [Hering], [Clarke].
• Growth & development. Cretinoid features, delayed dentition, stunted growth; conversely, over-rapid, nervy children who burn out [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Kidneys/fluids. Polyuria, nocturia; œdema in low thyroid states; tendency to thirst and diuresis shifts with metabolic tone [Clarke], [Hughes].

Two poles: hot, restless, over-driven—quick, anxious, excitable, cannot sit still; insomnia, ideas crowd; or torpid, apathetic, depressed, memory slow, indifferent to surroundings (myxœdematous mood) [Clarke], [Allen]. Irritable from palpitation/tremor; startles easily; oversensitive to noise and fuss. Fear of impending disease without clear object in hot types; low self-confidence in cold, obese types. Work capacity unreliable—brief spurts followed by prostration [Boericke], [Farrington].

Insomnia before midnight; mind and heart race; wakes unrefreshed, hot and sweating [Clarke]. In torpid states, very sleepy yet unrefreshed; snores; morning headache; desires more sleep [Boericke]. Dreams of haste, exams, being strangled by a collar.

Dreams of rushing work, missing trains (over-driven); or of drowning/smothering (neck-throat symbolism). Frightful, wake in palpitation and heat [Allen], [Clarke].

A remedy of metabolic lability: the organism oscillates between over-drive (heat, tremor, tachycardia, polyphagia with loss) and under-drive (cold, torpor, obesity, dryness). Exertion and heat over-tax the system; cool air, rest, regular small meals steady it. Growth and the female axis mirror thyroid tone (cretinoid delays ↔ flooding/fibroids). The neck/thyroid region is sensitive; the heart speaks loudly to small causes. Skin and hair are metabolic barometers [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes].

Flushes of heat with perspiration and palpitations; slight evening rise; alternates with chill of spine in low type [Boericke]. No sustained high fever; rather vasomotor storms [Clarke].

• Chill: Spine, in drafts, in low thyroids; hands/feet cold [Boericke].
• Heat: Waves to head/neck/chest with throbbing and sweat (hot type) [Clarke].
• Sweat: Profuse, warm, on least exertion; head/neck drip; offensive in some [Boericke].

Vascular, throbbing headaches with heat of face and scalp sweat; worse warm rooms, exertion, menses; relieved by cool air, quiet, light food [Clarke]. Occipital dragging in sluggish types; vertex burning in hot types. Dizziness on rising with fluttering heart; must lie down [Hughes]. Neuralgic, darting pains about eyes/temples in thyroid storms [Boericke].

Exophthalmos in toxic goitre; staring, glittering eyes; photophobia and dryness [Clarke]. Lids puffy in low types; brows thin from hair fall [Boericke]. Twitching lids with palpitations. Vision blurs in heat-flushes; black specks with faintness [Allen].

Noises synchronous with the heart; pulsatile tinnitus in hot states [Clarke]. Hypersensitive to sound during headache; earache in cold draft in low thyroid types [Boericke].

Dry coryza in heated rooms; frequent colds in low vitality; anosmia periods in torpid states [Clarke]. Sneezing from heat of bed (flush wave) [Boericke].

Flushes, perspiring, fine tremor about lips in hot type; or puffy, pasty, expression tired, with drooping lids and dry skin in low type [Clarke]. Bluish lips in faint spells. Acne/rosacea flares with heat [Boericke].

Dry mouth and thirst in hot states; tongue red-mapped or tremulous; bitter mornings [Allen]. In low types tongue large, pale, teeth-indented; taste flat; slow speech [Clarke]. Aphthous patches in exhausted women around menses [Boericke].

Sense of choking or tight scarf, thyroid region swollen, tender; touch aggravates. Swallowing easy but neck feels “full.” Goitrous enlargement with palpitation and heat waves (toxic) or simple diffuse goitre in youth [Hering], [Clarke].

Oppression and short breath on least effort; must stop on stairs; flushes sweep chest with sweat; tremor visible at sternal notch (hot) [Hughes]. In cold type, chest feels heavy in damp/cold; catches cold easily [Boericke].

Palpitation, tachycardia, throbbing in neck; pulse soft yet rapid; worse heat, emotion, ascending; better lying still, cool air [Hughes], [Clarke]. Systolic bruits of high output; sense of faint sinking about epigastrium with fluttering [Boericke]. Anxiety arises from the heart; hands tremble.

Sighing respiration; breathlessness disproportionate to effort in hot states; cold-air cough in low type [Clarke]. Voice tremulous when excited.

Polyphagia with emaciation (Iodum-like): must eat often, yet loses weight; heat flushes if meals delayed; acidity, nausea in heat [Allen], [Clarke]. Or poor appetite with weight gain, heaviness after little, in cold, sluggish type [Boericke]. Craves cool drinks; aversion to rich fat in hot type; longs for warmth/spices in cold type (reactive) [Clarke].

Abdominal fluttering with palpitations; nervous diarrhœa in hot type; constipation with dry, hard stools in torpid type [Boericke]. Flatulence with restless anxiety, better walking gently in the open [Boger]. Sensation of emptiness relieved by small meals [Clarke].

Alternation constipation ↔ looseness with menstrual rhythm or stress [Clarke]. Ineffectual urging in cold type; morning diarrhœa in hot [Boericke]. Hæmorrhoids in sluggish, obese patients [Clarke].

Polyuria/nocturia in hot types; urine pale; thirst increased [Clarke]. Œdema of feet/eyelids and scanty urine in low types (myxœdematous) [Boericke]. Enuresis in delicate, under-grown children improves as thyroid tone returns [Clinical].

Hot type: ravenous, cannot wait; worse long fasts; desires cool drinks.
Cold type: low appetite, craves warmth/spices; weight increases on little. Both dislike over-rich fats during storms. Thirst variable; often increased in hot state [Boericke], [Clarke].

Sexual erethism with quick exhaustion in hot type; impotence or low desire in torpid type [Clarke]. Sweaty genitals; pruritus with heat waves [Boericke].

Menses irregular: too early and profuse with flooding/clots (fibroid association) or late/scant/amenorrhœa in low type [Clarke], [Farrington]. Dysmenorrhœa with palpitation and heat flushes; post-partum depression with hair fall and dry skin (low thyroid hint) [Boericke]. Sub-fertility; tendency to fibroids and ovarian-uterine congestion responsive when thyroid signs co-present [Clarke].

Neck weary; cervical muscles ache from guarding enlarged gland. Lumbar weakness with easy fatigue; back drenched in sweat on exertion [Boericke]. Chill down back in low thyroid states [Clarke].

Fine tremor of hands/fingers; cannot thread a needle; muscular weakness with easy fatigue [Hughes]. Cramps in calves at night (both types). Cold, puffy feet in torpid type; hot, moist palms in hot type [Boericke]. Nails brittle, ridged.

Dry, rough, scaly; hair falls (temples, brows, post-partum); brittle nails [Boericke]. Urticaria, pruritus with heat; psoriasis/eczema relapse with endocrine strain [Clarke]. Flushing and profuse sweating, especially head/neck, on least exertion (hot type). Chilblain tendency in low type.

Hypermetabolic with palpitations/heat/tremor

• Iodum — Ravenous with emaciation, restless heat; more glandular softening and bone pains; Thyroidinum adds vasomotor flushes, sweats, dermal/hair changes and female-axis tie-ins [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Lycopus virg. — Hyperthyroid tachycardia with cardiac irritability; strong heart-specific; less global skin/hair/endocrine picture than Thyr. [Boericke].
• Spongia — Goitre, croupy larynx; dry heat; heart complaints with dryness; lacks metabolic polarity of Thyr. [Kent].
• Phosphorus — Burning, hunger, weakness; sympathetic heart; but marked haemorrhagic/sensory traits; Thyr. is more endocrine-metabolic [Kent].

Hypometabolic with obesity/torpor/cold

• Calc-c. — Chilly, sweat-soaked head, obesity, fears; sluggish glands; Thyr. shows hair loss, dry skin, neck sensitivity and clear thyroid polarity [Kent], [Clarke].
• Graphites — Obesity, dry/fissured skin, constipation; less heart/tremor/flush pattern than Thyr. [Boger].
• Sepia — Ptosis at pelvis, chill, indifference; suits female pelvic stagnation; Thyr. when clear thyroid and hair/skin barometers point there [Farrington].

Goitre / nodular thyroid

• Lapis albus — Soft, elastic goitre, burning pains; scrofulous; Thyr. broader metabolic picture [Clarke].
• Fucus vesic. — Obesity with goitre (organ remedy); less nervous/heart polarity than Thyr. [Boericke].
• Bromum — Hard goitre, left lobe, choking; suits fair, blue-eyed; Thyr. spans heat/heart/skin axes [Kent].

Menorrhagia/fibroids with endocrine colour

• Thlaspi-bp. — Flooding/clots, uterine soreness; less thyroid/heart picture [Dewey].
• Sepia / Calc. / Iodum — Chosen by constitution; Thyr. when flooding runs with flushes, palpitations, hair fall, heat-sweats [Clarke].

• Complementary: Iodum, Lycopus, Spongia in toxic goitre/hyper states; Calc-c., Sepia, Graphites in hypo, obesity/torpor [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Follows well: Iodum when emaciation and heat settle but vasomotor storms and skin/hair signs persist [Farrington].
• Precedes well: Fucus or Lapis albus in structural goitre after metabolic steadies [Clarke].
• Compare sarcodes: Hypophysis (Pituit.), Oophorinum, Adrenalinum in endocrine webs; select by axis predominance [Boericke].
• Functional antidotes: Nux-v. for coffee/exertion provoked storms; Camph. for over-reaction to heat [Hering].

• Indications: Toxic/simple goitre; Graves-like palpitations/tremor/flushes; post-partum hair fall with low mood; menorrhagia/fibroids with heat flushes/palpitations; obesity with cold torpor or emaciation with hunger; cretinoid delays in children (growth/dentition); alopecia/eczema/psoriasis flaring with endocrine stress [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hering], [Farrington].
• Potency & dosing: As an organ-tone remedy many use 3X–6X/6C once–thrice daily short-term; for constitutional/metabolic arcs 12C–30C once daily → space; 200C at intervals when picture is clear but stalled [Boericke], [Clarke]. Watch for overshoot in hot types—reduce frequency if flush/tremor aggravate.
• Adjuncts: Cool, well-ventilated sleep, graded activity (avoid sudden exertion/heat), regular small meals, skin/hair care, menstrual tracking. Coordinate with medical care when structural goitre or sustained thyroid dysfunction is present [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Pearls:
  • Menorrhagia + palpitations + hair fall post-partum—menses steadied and heart quieted under Thyr. with cool-air hygiene [Clarke].
  • Exophthalmic flush-storms with tremor and insomnia—Thyr. moderated spells; Lycopus completed cardiac steadiness [Boericke].
  • Chilly obese girl, delayed dentition, dry skin—Thyr. quickened growth and brightened mind when Calc. only partially helped [Clinical].

Mind

• Restlessness, nervous, with tremor; insomnia. — Hot stream [Allen], [Clarke].
• Apathy, mental sluggishness; memory weak. — Cold stream [Clarke].
• Anxiety with palpitation; starts easily. — Vasomotor lability [Boericke].

Head

• Headache, throbbing, heat aggravates, cool air ameliorates. — Flush storms [Clarke].
• Vertigo on rising with palpitation. — Effort intolerance [Hughes].

Eye

• Exophthalmos with palpitation. — Toxic goitre tie-in [Clarke].
• Lids puffy; brows thinning. — Hair barometer [Boericke].

Throat/Neck

• Goitre; thyroid region swollen, tender; collar intolerable. — Neck sign [Hering], [Clarke].

Heart

• Palpitation and tachycardia from least exertion or emotion; heat aggravates, rest/cool air ameliorates. — Core rubric [Hughes], [Boericke].

Skin/Hair

• Alopecia; hair falls after parturition. — Endocrine link [Boericke].
• Skin dry, rough; urticaria; psoriasis flares with heat. — Surface barometer [Clarke].

Female

• Menorrhagia with flooding/clots; dysmenorrhœa; cycle irregular. — Thyroid-uterine axis [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Fibroids with flooding. — Relationship rubric [Clarke].

Generalities

• Heat, warm room aggravates; exertion aggravates. — Hot stream [Boericke].
• Cold aggravates (torpid types); wants warmth. — Cold stream [Boericke].
• Metabolism disordered: emaciation with hunger / obesity with torpor. — Polarity [Clarke].
• Sweat profuse on least exertion; tremulous weakness. — Vasomotor sign [Hughes].

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879–91): goitre/neck signs; polar mental states; modalities.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): collated pathogenetic/clinical notes—palpitation, tremor, heat and sleep.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1875): physiology/toxicology of thyroid extract; cardiac and metabolic effects.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): central portrait—metabolic polarity, skin/hair barometers, female axis, goitre.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—palpitation, heat-intolerance, obesity/torpor, alopecia, menses.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modalities (heat/exertion worse; cool/rest better), nervous/heart signs.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): endocrine–female interplays; Iodum/Calc-c. comparisons.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905) & Repertory: constitutional comparisons—Calc-c., Sep., Iod., Spong.; miasmatic frame.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): thyroid colour in skin/hair and female sphere; practical prescribing notes.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1977): concise rubrics—goitre, palpitation, metabolic changes, modalities.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): fibroids/menorrhagia relationships; cardiovascular guidance.