Eupatorium perfoliatum

Mind

The Eupatorium mind is depressed and dull, often in sync with the profound physical suffering. There is a sensation of being overwhelmed by the intensity of pain and fatigue. Patients feel indifferent, silent, and prefer to lie quietly, though rest offers no true relief. [Hering] describes a sense of hopelessness during fever, accompanied by torpor and dread of movement. Anxiety may arise before the chill and vanish after sweating begins. Some exhibit irritability or aversion to conversation during acute attacks, particularly when nausea and aching coincide. The mental state is one of melancholy passivity brought on by systemic collapse.

Sleep

Restless and disturbed during fever. Dreams are vivid and anxious. Sleep may be impossible due to aching bones or cough. Sleeplessness precedes the chill and continues through the fever.

Dreams

Feverish, anxious dreams. Themes of falling, suffering, or being crushed. Sleep feels unrefreshing and light.

Generalities

Marked periodicity in symptoms. Pains as if bones are broken. Complaints often appear before or during fever, and resolve with sweat. Worse motion, better lying still. Suited to malarial or influenzal states, especially with severe bone and muscle pain.

Fever

Fever comes in three stages: chill, heat, and sweat.

• Chill: Starts in the back or extremities, usually in the morning (7–9 a.m.), with thirst and nausea.
• Heat: Intense, dry, with bone pains, restlessness, and severe headache.
• Sweat: Profuse, offensive, often relieves symptoms.
  There is a strong periodicity—fevers return daily or every other day. [Hale] linked it to malarial and intermittent fevers.

Chill Heat Sweat

• Chill: Violent, with nausea, retching, backache.
• Heat: Burning, with throbbing headache and thirst.
• Sweat: Profuse, drenching, especially on forehead and chest, bringing partial relief.
  Symptoms are often worse before chill, better after sweat.

Head

Intense aching in the occiput and forehead, worse during chill or fever. The headache is dull, bursting, or pressive, and often described as “throbbing” and deep-seated. The sensation of a tight band around the head may be present. Pain is worse from movement and light, better lying with head elevated. The scalp feels sore to the touch. [Boericke] notes a characteristic occipital headache during chill with nausea. Headaches are closely tied to the cyclical nature of the febrile state and often coincide with aching in the limbs.

Eyes

Eyes are red, sore, and sensitive to light during fever. Eyeballs feel bruised and painful, particularly on movement. Lids may be heavy, drooping, or difficult to keep open. A dull aching pain behind the eyes may radiate toward the temples or base of skull. Lachrymation is occasionally present. The appearance is one of fatigue and systemic illness, often with glazed or sunken eyes.

Ears

Ringing or roaring in the ears during febrile states. Hearing may feel muffled during intense chills. Eustachian congestion secondary to general catarrhal conditions may be noted, but not a primary sphere of action.

Nose

Coryza with fluent, bland discharge may precede or follow the febrile cycle. Some patients experience sneezing before the onset of chill. Congestion and fullness of the nasal bridge may accompany frontal headache. Discharge is non-irritating. Nosebleeds may occur during the fever stage.

Face

Face is flushed, hot, and heavy during fever. A sallow, yellowish hue may develop, especially in malarial cases. Facial expression is drawn, reflecting suffering. Sweat may collect on the forehead and upper lip. During chill, the face is often pale and sunken.

Mouth

Tongue coated white or yellow, with dryness and bitter taste. Mouth may feel sticky or pasty. During chill and fever, intense thirst for cold drinks is a keynote. The taste is bitter, especially after vomiting. Some experience a metallic taste before chill. Salivation is minimal.

Teeth

No significant keynotes. Occasionally, dental pain during febrile states due to neuralgic referral.

Throat

Soreness, rawness, or burning in the throat, especially at the onset of catarrhal fevers. A dry, hacking cough may irritate the throat. Swallowing aggravates the raw sensation. There may be a sensation of tightness across the throat and upper chest. Mucus accumulation is scanty but irritating.

Chest

Dry cough with great soreness in the chest, as if bruised. Pain is felt with every cough, and the cough is worse from motion or exposure to cold. Rattling, loose cough in the morning, with scanty expectoration. Cough precedes the chill, especially during influenza. [Clarke] observed cough with stitching pain through the lungs. Respiration is painful, and the chest feels heavy and raw. The bronchial mucosa is congested and inflamed.

Heart

Palpitations during fever or chill. Pulse is full, bounding, and sometimes irregular. Heaviness in the precordial region noted in some malarial fevers. The circulatory burden of the febrile process is reflected in the strong, throbbing pulse.

Respiration

Dyspnoea with tightness in the chest, especially during chill and fever. Breathing may be shallow and painful. Sensation of constriction in the thorax. Great desire for fresh air during the febrile paroxysm.

Stomach

Marked nausea before or during the chill, often followed by bilious vomiting. Vomiting is bitter, greenish, or yellow, and may relieve the nausea. Appetite is lost. Thirst is excessive, especially for cold water, but drinking may provoke nausea. A sinking sensation in the stomach accompanies the fever. [Hale] describes vomiting of bile as almost diagnostic. Pressure or dull ache may be felt in the epigastrium.

Abdomen

Abdominal discomfort with fullness and tenderness in the right hypochondrium (liver region). There may be stitching pains in the side or dull dragging in the loins. Spleen and liver are enlarged, especially in recurring fevers. Pain often felt in the lower abdomen during chill or fever, especially in malarial types. A dragging sensation may accompany lumbar and sacral soreness.

Rectum

Constipation or sluggish stool, occasionally alternating with diarrhoea during febrile episodes. Stools may be yellow, offensive, or bilious. Diarrhoea may come on after chill or during sweating stage. Haemorrhoids may become painful during fever due to congestion.

Urinary

Scanty, dark urine during chill and fever. May have a reddish or brick-dust sediment. Burning in the urethra or dull aching in the bladder during febrile states. Frequent urging may accompany sweating stage. Urine often relieves headache or nausea when passed.

Food

Craving for cold drinks during chill and heat. Aversion to food. Vomiting may follow ingestion of food or drink. Some desire ice or sour things.

Male

Occasional soreness in the testicles during fever. No prominent sexual sphere.

Female

No strong gynaecological indications, but may support when chills and fever are aggravated around menstruation. Flu-like conditions that precede menses may point to Eupatorium.

Back

Intense aching in the back, particularly in the lumbar region and sacrum, as if the bones were broken. Pain is deep, sore, and bruised, and worse for motion or pressure. [Hering] identified this as a key symptom. This back pain often appears before or during chill, and may be accompanied by chills running up and down the spine.

Extremities

Severe bone pains, described as if the limbs were “broken” or beaten. Arms, legs, wrists, ankles—all feel sore and bruised, worse for movement or touch. Joints are stiff and painful. Chills seem to penetrate the bones. Pain in long bones—especially tibia and humerus—is intense and characteristic. [Kent] notes this as a striking keynote. The patient lies still, moaning with pain, afraid to move.

Skin

Skin is hot and dry during the fever stage, followed by copious perspiration that may offer relief. Rash is not typical, though in some influenzal states, skin may appear sallow or moist. Chillblains and alternating chills may suggest suppressed skin function.