Camphora

Camphor is a crystalline ketone obtained from the wood of the camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora), native to East Asia. It has a penetrating, pungent odour and strong physiological effects on the nervous and vascular systems.

Widely used in traditional and allopathic medicine for respiratory ailments, muscle rubs, insect repellents, and antiseptics; also in religious rituals and embalming.

First proved by Hahnemann and detailed in Materia Medica Pura. Most symptoms arise from toxicological sources, and its use in collapse states stems from its powerful physiological action.

• Nervous system – sudden collapse, chill, prostration, convulsions
• Vascular system – spasms, coldness, cyanosis
• Skin and senses – numbness, insensibility, collapse
• Lungs and respiration – spasm, asthmatic suffocation
• Mind – delirium, fear, sudden violence or indifference
• Stomach – nausea, coldness, spasmodic vomiting
• Urinary system – suppression of urine in shock
• Extremities – cramping, coldness, weakness

• Open air
• Heat (when used externally)
• Cold applications (in some neuralgic pain)
• Rubbing or friction
• Lying down (in cases of faintness)

• Cold air, slightest draught
• Touch – extreme sensitivity
• Mental excitement
• Motion – aggravates spasms
• Suppression of discharges
• Night and early morning
• Sudden shock, fear, or emotional disturbance

• Carbo vegetabilis – Also icy cold, with collapse, but more flatulence, desire for fanning, and offensive discharges
• Veratrum album – Collapse with cold sweat and diarrhoea, but more violent purging and craving for cold drinks
• Arsenicum album – Cold, anxious, restless, but more organised and gradual collapse
• China officinalis – Prostration from fluid loss, but with bloating and periodicity
• Opium – Collapse with unconsciousness, but more congestive than spasmodic

• Complementary: Carbo veg., Veratrum alb.
• Antidotes: Opium, Nux vomica
• Follows well: Aconite in shock, Cuprum in cramps
• Inimical: Most other strong remedies—must use alone in early collapse

Camphora is a remedy of extremes: icy coldness, rapid collapse, and nervous violence alternating with stupor. Its essential theme is the immediate suspension of reaction, whether emotional, circulatory, or secretory. Useful in first stages of acute collapse, whether from cholera, fright, or suppression. It is the blank slate—the erased blackboard—before the remedy picture fully forms. Without Camphor, the patient may not rally enough to exhibit curative symptoms.

• Useful in the very beginning of acute illness when no reaction occurs
• Cholera collapse: cold, blue, faint, purging absent
• Sunstroke or shock with fainting, rigid limbs
• Prevents suppression of skin eruptions during illness
• Aids reaction when well-chosen remedy fails to act

Generalities

• Collapse, sudden
• Coldness, extreme
• Suppression of eruptions
• Fainting, with icy sweat

Mind

• Delirium, alternating with apathy
• Fear of death
• Sudden impulses

Chest / Respiration

• Suffocation, spasmodic
• Oppression, icy feeling
• Dyspnoea, worse motion

Extremities

• Cold, blue, spasmodic
• Twitching, cramps
• Trembling

Skin

• Cold, clammy sweat
• Suppressed eruptions
• Icy to touch

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving and collapse indications

T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia: Provided toxicological and clinical detail

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Detailed coldness, mind, and acute collapse symptoms

William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Practical tips in collapse, shock, and suppression

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Emphasised Camphora’s use in blocked reaction and emergency states