Guaiacum officinale

Latin name: Guaiacum officinale

Short name: Guai

Common name: Lignum vitæ | Guaiacum | Holy-wood | Guaiac resin | Tree of life

Primary miasm: Syphilitic   Secondary miasm(s): Sycotic, Psoric

Kingdom: Plants

Family: Zygophyllaceae (resinous hardwood)

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  • Symptomatology
  • Remedy Information
  • Differentiation & Application

Guaiacum officinale is a slow-growing West Indian tree, famed in early modern physic as a sudorific for the “French disease” (syphilis) and for gout and chronic rheumatism; its hard, resinous “lignum vitæ” yields a balsamic resin rich in guaiaconic/guaiacic acids and volatile principles which, in crude doses, provoke salivation, heat, profuse foetid sweat and diarrhœa—an echo of the drug’s homœopathic sphere upon fibrous tissues, periosteum, throat, salivary glands and sweat apparatus [Hughes], [Clarke]. Hahnemann proved the resin and recorded its action upon the fibrous system (“contraction, shortening, intolerable stiffness”), periosteal surfaces and throat (quinsy), with an aggravation from warmth and a marked sensitiveness to touch and pressure [Hahnemann], [Allen]. Historically pushed as an anti-syphilitic, the wood’s reputation led to extravagant dosing; the homœopathic preparation, from the resin, concentrates a picture of fibro-tendinous contraction, gouty–rheumatic nodes, periosteal pains, tonsillitis tending to quinsy, foetid sweats, and intolerance of heat and touch [Clarke], [Boericke].

From the sixteenth century guaiacum was a favoured sudorific for syphilis and a domestic remedy for gout and rheumatism; the resin entered pharmacopœias as an expectorant and diaphoretic. Applied to paper, guaiacum served as a peroxidase test (blueing) in chemistry—not dose-guiding but illustrative of its oxidative character [Hughes], [Clarke].

Primary proving by Hahnemann (resin); data collated by Allen and confirmed clinically by Hering, Clarke and Boericke: fibrous and periosteal pains with contraction/shortening of parts; sensation that bones are too short; stiffness and anchylosis of small joints; nodes and spurs; gouty concretions; aggravation from warmth and from pressure/touch; profuse foetid sweat on least motion; tonsillitis/quinsy with burning throat, foetid breath and inability to swallow; salivation. Tags: [Proving] / [Clinical]. [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke].

  • Fibrous tissues & tendons — contracture, shortening, drawing-up; flexors prevail; limbs feel too short; see Extremities/Back. [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Boericke].
  • Periosteum & bones — nodes, spurs, tearing periosteal pains; caries tendency in long bones; see Back/Extremities/Skin. [Clarke], [Hering].
  • Small joints (wrists, fingers, ankles) — gouty–rheumatic swelling with intense sensitiveness to touch and heat; ankylosis; see Extremities. [Boericke], [Farrington].
  • Throat & tonsils — phlegmonous tonsillitis and quinsy with burning, foetid breath, thick saliva; cannot swallow; see Throat/Mouth. [Clarke], [Allen].
  • Salivary & sweat glands — salivation, and profuse, offensive sweat from least movement; see Mouth/Generalities. [Hahnemann], [Clarke].
  • Skin & cellular tissue — indurated glands, boils, sluggish abscess, fistulous tracks over bones; see Skin. [Hering], [Boger].
  • Digestive tract — biliousness with constipation; stools hard, knotty; piles from heat and sedentary life; see Rectum/Abdomen. [Clarke], [Boericke].
  • Urogenital (gouty–sycotic) — gravel/urates; arthritic–urethral alternation, “gonorrhœal rheumatism”; see Urinary/Extremities. [Farrington], [Clarke].
  • Nervous system — tearing neuritic pains along contracted tendons; oversensitiveness to touch; see Generalities. [Allen], [Hering].
  • Cold applications to joints and throat; cool, open air (throat, pains) — contrasts with heat-agg. [Clarke], [Boericke].
  • Gentle passive motion once warmed to it (stiffness eases slightly, though sweat breaks out) — see Extremities/Generalities. [Hering], [Boger].
  • Loosening clothing/bandages — cannot bear pressure; relief when parts are free. [Hahnemann], [Clarke].
  • After profuse perspiration (sometimes) pains abate, though exhaustion follows. [Allen], [Boericke].
  • Raising the limb and support under contracted tendons (local comfort). [Hering].
  • Cold drinks in burning throat (palliative); tepid gargles. [Clarke].
  • Rest in a cool room; quieting excitement. [Hughes], [Clarke].
  • After evacuation if piles and abdominal heat have been troublesome. [Clarke].
  • Heat in every form — warm rooms, warm wraps, hot applications; warmth equals torture in joint/throat states. [Hahnemann], [Clarke], [Boericke].
  • Touch and pressure — the least handling aggravates; clothing intolerable; bed-clothes feel heavy. [Hahnemann], [Allen].
  • Humidity/steam-heat — baths and moist heat set up pains and throat swelling. [Clarke], [Hughes].
  • Sudden changes to warm weather; summer heat. [Boger], [Boericke].
  • At rest after chill — stiffness fixes; first movement may tear; sweat follows least exertion. [Hering], [Farrington].
  • Night — bone/periosteal pains gnaw; quinsy swells rapidly towards midnight. [Hering], [Clarke].
  • Fatty, rich foods and alcohol — gouty swellings inflame. [Hughes], [Farrington].
  • Mercurialization — old drug-effects rekindle periosteal and throat pains; Guaiacum often suits the after-Mercury [Clarke], [Hering].

Fibrous contraction / tendons & small joints

  • Rhus toxicodendron — stiffness better warmth and continued motion; Guai.: heat worse, touch worse, sweat from least exertion. [Farrington], [Boger].
  • Bryonia — tearing, stitching pains worse motion, likes warmth, dryness; Guai.: heat intolerable, profuse sweat, contraction feel. [Clarke], [Kent].
  • Causticum — contractures with paresis and burning, better damp warmth; Guai.: no paralysis, worse heat, periosteal nodes. [Farrington].
  • Ruta — tendons/ periosteum after strain; feels bruised; less heat-agg.; Guai.: touch/heat abhorrent; “bones too short.” [Boger], [Clarke].
  • Actæa spicata — small-joint rheumatism esp. wrist, worse slight motion/touch; Guai.: adds heat-agg., sweat, contraction sense. [Farrington].

Gout / nodes / urates

  • Colchicum — exquisite hyperæsthesia, odour-aversion, worse at night, often small joints; likes warmth; Guai.: worse warmth, foetid sweat, contraction. [Clarke].
  • Ledum — gout ascends, better cold, joints pale, puffy; Guai.: better cold also, but touch-agg., throat affinity. [Boger].
  • Benzoic acid — gout with very offensive urine, cretaceous deposits; Guai.: foetid sweat, throat/quinsy and nodes prominent. [Farrington].

Periosteal pains / syphilitic–drug history

  • Kali iodatum — boring, nightly bone pains, thick discharges; loves warmth; Guai.: worse warmth, useful after Mercury. [Clarke], [Kent].
  • Mezereum — periostitis of bones, neuralgia, eruptions; likes warmth; Guai.: heat intolerant, sweat, contraction. [Boger].
  • Aurum — deep periosteal/bone pains with melancholy; Guai.: mind not profoundly melancholic; heat-agg. rules. [Kent].

Tonsillitis / quinsy

  • Belladonna — bright, throbbing, high fever, dry heat; Guai.: foetid breath, salivation, heat/touch-agg., indurative tendency. [Clarke].
  • Mercurius — salivation, foetor, night sweats—but damp warmth desired; Guai.: worse heat, hates poultices. [Hering], [Farrington].
  • Hepar sulph. — suppurative tendency, very chilly, desires warmth; Guai.: opposite thermal desire; induration with heat-intolerance. [Boericke].
  • Phytolacca — tonsils dark, shotty glands, pains to ears; less heat-hate; Guai.: marked pressure/heat aggravation. [Clarke].

Gonorrhœal rheumatism

  • Medorrhinum — erratic rheumatism with burning soles; Guai.: small-joint contracture, worse heat, better cold. [Farrington].
  • Kali bichromicum — ropy catarrh + periosteal nodes; Guai.: less ropiness, more contraction and heat-agg. [Boger].
  • Complementary: Benzoic acid — uric diathesis, offensive urine; follows Guai. in chronic gout to clear urinary side. [Farrington], [Clarke].
  • Complementary: Ruta — tendinous/ periosteal strain remains after Guai. has relieved heat-touch hypersensitiveness. [Boger].
  • Complementary: Sulphur — constitutional after-care in chronic rheumatic–gouty and syphilitic terrains. [Kent].
  • Follows well: Hepar sulph. — when quinsy has pointed; Guai. for the indurated, heat-intolerant aftermath. [Hering], [Clarke].
  • Follows well: Rhus tox. — acute stiffness stage; Guai. when heat becomes unbearable and contraction predominates. [Farrington].
  • Precedes well: Kali iodatum — lingering syphilitic periostitis after Guai.’s touch-heat phase. [Clarke].
  • Precedes well: Calcarea fluorica — nodes, spurs and exostoses when acute hyperæsthesia subsides. [Boger].
  • Related:, Rhus-t., Caust., Ruta, Colch., Led., Benzoic-ac., Kali-iod., Mez., Aur., Merc., Hepar, Phyt. (see Differentials).
  • Antidotes: Nux and Camphor for drug over-action; fresh cool air and cold applications physiologically. [Allen], [Hering].
  • Inimicals: none noted; avoid hot poulticing and damp-heat measures in clear Guaiacum cases (modal contrariety). [Clarke], [Boericke].

Guaiacum’s essence is contracted fibre in a furnace. The tissues—tendons, fascia, periosteum—shorten, stiffen, indurate; the limb “feels too short” to be extended; small joints swell and lock; periosteal nodes burn; and over all, heat is torture and touch is insupportable. The patient draws up his limbs, refuses handling, tears off the bedclothes, and craves cool air and space. This polarity—heat/pressure against coolness/freedom—threads every field: the throat is a hot, fetid quinsy that loathes poultices, endures only sips of cold; the joints are hot knots that cannot bear a glove; the bones throb at night until the window is thrown up; the skin pours foetid sweat with the least movement, relief sometimes following the drenching (Mind, Throat, Extremities, Generalities) [Hahnemann], [Clarke], [Boericke]. The miasmatic colour is syphilitic–sycotic: nodes, spurs, caries, indurated glands, sluggish suppuration, and the historic after-Mercury constitution that detests warmth and damp-heat [Hering], [Kent], [Hughes]. Psychologically, the patient is not metaphysically anxious but somatically defensive: irritable, intolerant of nearness, quick to anger when touched; tranquillised by coolness and by any alleviation of pressure. The pace is chronic with hot exacerbations at night and on warm changes of weather; the reactivity is high—small stimuli (a warm wrap, a touch) produce outsized suffering, while small antidotes (a cool current, loosening a band) give striking relief.

Differentially, the contracture places Guaiacum near Causticum and Ruta, yet the thermal keynote utterly separates it: Guaiacum is worse from heat, better from cold, whereas Causticum needs warmth and Ruta is more bruised than burned [Farrington], [Boger]. Against the classic rheumatic pair: Rhus improves with warmth and motion; Bryonia is worse from any motion yet loves warmth—Guaiacum hates it, and sweats with the least effort. In gout, Colchicum captures odour-aversion and night aggravation but often desires warmth; Ledum shares the love of cold yet lacks the fierce touch-hyperæsthesia and quinsy. In throat disease, Mercurius and Hepar rival Guaiacum in salivation and suppuration; Guaiacum stands apart by its abhorrence of warmth and poultices, its tendency to induration, and its foetid, oppressive heat (compare Belladonna’s arterial blaze without salivation). Practical bedside tests: the Cold-Compress Test on a burning joint or throat gives immediate alleviation; the Pressure Test (remove glove/loosen band) eases; the Extension Test fails—the limb cannot be straightened because the fibrous system feels too short.

Prescribing hints. Choose Guaiacum when a gouty–rheumatic patient, often with a Mercury history, presents a hot, touch-intolerant contraction of small joints/tendons, nightly periosteal pains, foetid sweat from the least effort, and/or quinsy that hates warmth. In chronic nodes and spurs, Guaiacum acts as a “cooling spearhead,” to be followed, when hyperæsthesia subsides, by Calc. fluor. for structural remodelling or by Benzoic acid for the uric terrain. In quinsy threatening abscess, think Hepar until it “points,” then Guaiacum if heat and touch remain unbearable. Regimen should mirror modalities: cool, well-ventilated rooms; avoid warm baths and poultices; cold or tepid local measures; gentle passive mobilisation under cooling; a spare diet avoiding rich wines and fats; and attention to bowels in heated, sedentary cases (Constipation/Hæmorrhoids). Dosing commonly 3x–6x or 6C in chronic rheumatism/gout; 30C–200C when the profile is crystalline (contracture + heat/touch intolerance + foetid sweat + quinsy) and vitality is good; repeat by reaction, spacing as the need for cold relief diminishes and sleep occurs without soaking sweats [Boericke], [Nash], [Dewey], [Boger].

Mini-pearls: (1) “Hot, handled, hateful of warmth”—if a rheumatic throat or joint loathes a poultice, think Guai. (2) “Bones too short”—when a flexed knee cannot be extended for contracture rather than spasm, in a heat-intolerant sufferer, Guai. (3) After-Mercury periostitis that abhors warmth: Guai. first; Kali-iod. later for deep nocturnal borings.

  • Quinsy with foetid breath, salivation; warmth/poultices intolerable; cold sips palliate; touch-agg. 6C–30C q1–3h; interpose Hepar if suppuration needs hastening. [Clarke], [Hering], [Boericke].
  • Gouty–rheumatic small-joint contracture; limbs feel too short; worse heat and touch; foetid sweat from least motion. 6x/6C b.i.d.–t.i.d.; follow with Benzoic acid for urinary–uric terrain. [Farrington], [Boericke].
  • Periosteal nodes/spurs with night-pains in a mercurialised patient 30C nocte; later Kali-iod./Calc-fl. as needed. [Clarke], [Boger].
  • Gonorrhœal rheumatism with hot, tender contractured knees/wrists; better cold, hates touch. 6C q.i.d. initially; cool local measures. [Farrington], [Clarke].

Mind

  • Irritable, cannot bear to be approached or touched; defensive temper — correlates with pressure-agg. [Hahnemann], [Clarke].
  • Aversion to warm rooms; insists on open window — thermal law. [Clarke].
  • Despondent after nights of bone pain and sweat — nocturnal aggravation. [Hering].
  • Fear of being handled during throat/joint pains — touch-avoidant. [Allen].
  • Relief of fretfulness in cool air — modality echo. [Clarke].
  • Loathes confinement of clothes/bedclothes — pressure-agg. [Hahnemann].

Head

  • Headache worse warmth of room/bed, better cool air — thermal. [Clarke].
  • Scalp sensitive to touch; combing painful — hyperæsthesia. [Hahnemann].
  • Cranial periosteal soreness at night — syphilitic terrain. [Hering].
  • Face flushed with hot throat; pillow pressure intolerable — throat link. [Clarke].
  • Heaviness after night-sweat; better cool ablution — sweat law. [Allen].
  • Teeth-zygoma stitches with warm drinks; better cold — dental echo. [Hahnemann].

Throat

  • Tonsillitis/quinsy with foetid breath, salivation, solids impossible — keynote. [Clarke], [Allen].
  • Worse warmth, worse poultices; better cold sips/cool air — decisive modalities. [Clarke], [Boericke].
  • Uvula œdematous; pain to ear; touch intolerable — classic picture. [Hering].
  • Indurated tonsils after repeated attacks — chronicity. [Clarke].
  • Thick, tenacious mucus with burning — texture. [Allen].
  • Night aggravation, rapid swelling — timing. [Hering].

Extremities

  • Limbs feel too short; contracted tendons; cannot extend — master rubric. [Hahnemann], [Allen].
  • Small-joint nodes with heat, touch-agg. — gouty. [Boericke].
  • Worse warmth, better cold applications — thermal law. [Clarke].
  • Sweat from slightest motion with weakness — perspiration key. [Hahnemann].
  • Gonorrhœal rheumatism, hot, tender joints — special field. [Farrington].
  • Periosteal night-pains; fistula over nodes — bone link. [Hering].

Back / Bones

  • Periostitis of long bones; night borings — syphilitic. [Clarke].
  • Stiff neck worse warmth of scarf; better cold cloth — cervical rubric. [Boericke].
  • Lumbago with tight hamstrings; extension impossible — contracture. [Hering].
  • Touch of spinous processes painful — pressure-agg. [Allen].
  • Warm bath aggravates bone pains — humid heat <. [Hughes].
  • Better gentle passive movement in cool room — management. [Boger].

Skin / Sweat

  • Profuse, offensive perspiration from least motion — grand keynote. [Hahnemann].
  • Indurated glands; sluggish boils; fistulous abscesses — chronic outlet. [Hering].
  • Heat makes eruptions smart; cold soothes — thermal parallel. [Clarke].
  • Night-sweat stains linen; weakness after — perspiration sequel. [Allen].
  • Warm sponging intolerable; cool sponging > — care rubric. [Clarke].
  • Old scars ache in warmth — residual irritability. [Boger].

Generalities

  • Worse heat (room, bed, poultice, drink); better cold (air, applications) — grand generals. [Clarke], [Boericke].
  • Worse touch/pressure; clothing intolerable — hyperæsthesia. [Hahnemann].
  • Profuse foetid sweat on slight exertion — characteristic. [Hahnemann], [Allen].
  • After Mercury ailments — periosteal/throat/bone states. [Clarke], [Hering].
  • Night aggravation of bone/joint pains — timing. [Hering].
  • Rich foods/wine < gout; spare diet > — regimen note. [Hughes], [Farrington].

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura (1821): proving of Guaiacum resin; touch- and heat-aggravations; contraction/shortening sensations; sweat from least motion.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): proving data and clinical confirmations—quinsy picture, foetid sweat, small-joint ankylosis, modalities.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): clinical confirmations—periosteal night-pains, fistulous abscess, gonorrhœal rheumatism, quinsy course.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): substance background; thermal/touch modalities; quinsy; after-Mercury states; gouty nodes.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870): pharmacology and historical use; sudorific anti-syphilitic; effects of warm baths; dietetic aggravations.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—small-joint gout, contraction, heat-intolerance, profuse sweat; throat indications; relationships.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): miasmatic colouring; modalities; relationships (Ruta, Calc-fl., Kali-iod.).
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): constitutional notes on syphilitic–sycotic terrains; comparisons (Rhus, Bry., Caust.).
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): differentiations—gout (Colch., Led., Benzoic-ac.); gonorrhœal rheumatism; throat comparisons (Merc., Hepar).
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics (1899): practical hints—sweat-law; cool-air management; dosing in rheumatism/gout.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): regimen (avoid heat/poultices); sequencing in quinsy and chronic rheumatism.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): vivid portraits of “bones too short,” heat-hate, touch-agg. in Guaiacum with bedside tests.

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