Cocculus indicus

Latin name: Cocculus indicus

Short name: Cocc

Common name: Cocculus | Indian Cockle | Fish Berry | Anamirta cocculus | Levant Nut

Primary miasm: Sycotic Secondary miasm(s): Psoric

Kingdom: Plants

Family: Menispermaceae

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Symptomatology
Remedy Information
Differentiation & Application

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Mind

The mental picture of Cocculus revolves around exhaustion from overcare, sleep loss, and emotional depletion. The patient feels as if time moves too slowly or they are outside their body. The mind becomes clouded, dull, confused, especially after long periods of nursing the sick, grieving, or sleepless nights [Clarke]. There is a profound irritability—they are sensitive to noise, contradiction, and mental exertion. Even small tasks seem overwhelming. Emotions are dulled, as if they are watching life from afar. A peculiar emptiness pervades their thoughts. Often indicated in caregivers, mothers, nurses, or students who burn out mentally and physically. Time feels disjointed or dragging, and memory becomes fragile. Despair, mental sluggishness, and a sensation of being “too weak to think” prevail. Noise and conversation are unbearable, and they may respond with irritability or withdrawal.

Sleep

Profound sleep disturbance, especially from worry, nursing, or mental strain. Sleepless from thoughts circling in the mind. Sleep is unrefreshing; wakes still exhausted. Yawning without relief. Drowsy but cannot sleep. Dreams may be distressing or emotionally charged.

Dreams

Vivid, anxious dreams—often about falling, losing control, or failing responsibilities. Dreams of sickness, loss, or endless tasks. May awaken with palpitations or trembling.

Generalities

Cocculus typifies functional weakness of the nervous system. It suits caregivers, nurses, students, or mothers—those who sacrifice sleep and emotional well-being for others. Classic in motion sickness, nausea, and neuromuscular fatigue. Paralysis may be local or general. Better lying quietly; worse from the slightest motion or thought. Time and perception feel distorted. Left-sided affections are common. General aggravation from loss of sleep, grief, or anticipation.

Fever

Chilliness with gastric symptoms. Flushes of heat alternate with coldness. May develop mild fever from exhaustion or travel. Often feels too cold despite warm weather.

Chill Heat Sweat

Cold sensation internally; shivers down back. Alternating chills and heat in early stages of exhaustion or travel fatigue. Sweat cold or clammy, especially during faintness or vertigo.

Head

Marked vertigo that worsens with the least motion, especially of the head or eyes. There is a feeling as though the brain were rolling about inside the skull. Occipital heaviness, as if the head were too heavy to lift. Pain begins in the nape of the neck, radiating to the forehead, often accompanied by nausea. Headaches appear after mental effort, grief, or sleeplessness. The scalp may feel tender to touch. The brain feels empty, hollow, or bruised. Pain is aggravated by noise, reading, or riding in vehicles. Often a remedy for motion-induced headache with gastric disturbance.

Eyes

Extreme sensitivity to light and motion, with twitching of lids and blurred vision. Cannot watch moving objects without vertigo or nausea. Eyelids feel heavy, tremble, or twitch. Staring aggravates dizziness. Diplopia or blurred vision during motion sickness. Eyes feel dry or burning, especially after sleep loss.

Ears

Buzzing, ringing, or roaring in the ears, especially with vertigo. Hearing may feel dull, or sounds echo strangely. Hypersensitive to sudden noise. A sense of pressure or fullness, especially when lying down or during dizziness.

Nose

Little local pathology, but may be congested during vertigo or motion sickness. Nasal dryness or itching possible. Offensive odours can provoke nausea or faintness.

Face

Pale, sallow, drawn expression of fatigue. In women, flushed cheeks may alternate with pallor. Twitching of facial muscles or eyelids. Cheeks feel numb or heavy. Trigeminal neuralgia with gastric complaints. Sweat may be visible on the upper lip during nausea.

Mouth

Dryness with bitter, metallic, or offensive taste, especially in the morning. Speech may be slow, confused, or slurred after exertion. Tingling of the tongue. Mucosa pale or coated white.

Teeth

Sensitive teeth; grinding at night. Pain radiates to ears or head. Worse from cold air. Not a prominent focus, but dental sensitivity may accompany neuralgic symptoms.

Throat

Dryness and rawness, especially after loss of sleep or in nervous states. A lump-in-the-throat sensation during anxiety. Swallowing may aggravate nausea. Throat feels constricted during dizziness or faintness.

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The dried seed of Anamirta cocculus, a climbing plant native to Southeast Asia. The active chemical is picrotoxin—a toxic, bitter crystalline compound with stimulant and convulsant effects.

Used traditionally in India as a fish poison (stupefying fish), and in folk medicine for lice and parasites. In toxicology, picrotoxin is studied for its stimulant effect on the medulla and spinal cord.

Proved by Hahnemann and others; published in Materia Medica Pura and expanded upon by Hering, Allen, and Clarke.

Nervous system – especially the cerebrospinal axis: vertigo, faintness, motion sickness, paralysis
Digestive system – nausea, vomiting, gastric sensitivity
Female reproductive system – menstrual suppression, dysmenorrhoea, weakness from care
Mind – sleep-deprived, anxious, care-worn, overstrained individuals
Muscles – fatigue, trembling, paralysis from mental and emotional strain

Warmth, especially of the room and bed
Lying quietly, head supported
Rest, sleep, being left undisturbed
Closing eyes, especially when dizzy
Warm food and drinks, gentle pressure

Motion, especially riding in vehicles, boats, or turning in bed
Watching moving objects (e.g. TV, waves, passing scenery)
Loss of sleep, night watching, mental overexertion
Anxiety, emotional tension, overcaring for loved ones
Menstruation, during or just before
Open air, cold, or drafts
Eating, even the thought or smell of food may provoke nausea

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Gelsemium – Also drowsy and heavy, but Gels. is more passive and flushed; Coccul. has more nausea, vertigo, and motion sensitivity
Nux vomica – Sleepless and overworked, but Nux is irritable, driven, and chilly, with more gastric spasm
Sepia – Also burnt-out, especially in women, but colder emotionally and aggravated by consolation
Ignatia – Acute grief, emotional reactivity; Coccul. is more exhausted and paralysed by care
Tabacum – Also motion sickness with cold sweat and nausea, but more violent symptoms and desire for fresh air

Complementary: Lycopodium, Staphysagria
Antidotes: Camphor, Nux vomica
Inimical: Coffea
Follows well: Ignatia, Gelsemium
Precedes well: Sepia, Calc. carb.

Cocculus is the remedy of overcare and collapse. The patient gives so much—emotionally, mentally, and physically—that their system begins to falter. It is especially suited to those who lose themselves in service to others: nurses, parents, students, carers, all united by one feature—utter depletion. Their nervous system becomes oversensitive, their digestion fails, and time itself seems warped. Cocculus brings balance back by calming the nerves, quieting the mind, and restoring the inner rhythm of life.

One of the best remedies for motion sickness, seasickness, and nausea from riding
Indispensable for caregivers, mothers, or nurses suffering after loss of sleep
Use in postpartum weakness, especially with dizziness or bladder issues
Often indicated in morning sickness, especially with aversion to motion
Low to medium potencies (6C–30C) for acute complaints; 200C or higher for deep constitutional states

Mind

Time, distortion of
Overcare, from nursing
Sadness with exhaustion
Noise aggravates
Confusion from loss of sleep

Head / Vertigo

Vertigo, motion agg.
Headache, occiput
Brain feels loose
Turning in bed agg.

Stomach

Nausea, motion agg.
Seasickness
Aversion to food
Vomiting, from thought of food

Female Genitalia

Menses, suppressed
Dysmenorrhoea with faintness
Leucorrhoea from fatigue
Labour pains ineffective

Extremities

Paralysis, trembling
Numbness
Weakness, limbs
Jerking in sleep

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving, particularly focused on vertigo and nausea

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Provided psychological insight into time distortion and overcare

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Elaborated on motion sickness and postpartum states

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Practical indications for nausea, weakness, and travel-related disorders

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Detailed chronic exhaustion, vertigo, and functional nerve disorders

Allen’s Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Supplemented characteristic symptom descriptions

Cocculus indicus

Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

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