Snake Medicines In Homoeopathy - homeopathy360

Snake Medicines In Homoeopathy

Authors: Dr. Pramod Kumar Singh1, Dr. Geeta Sharma2, Dr. Junaid Ahmed2 ,Dr. Priya Bhardwaj3 , Dr. Bhupendra Arya4

1.Professor & HOD of Pharmacy, Dr. M.P.K. Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research Center, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

2.MD Scholar, Department of Pharmacy, Dr. M.P.K. Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research Center, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

3.MD Scholar, Department of Repertory, Dr. M.P.K. Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research Center, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

4.MD Scholar, Department of Practice of medicine, Dr. M.P.K. Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research Center, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Abstract- Snakes belongs to class Reptilia of chordate phylum, There are more than 2,600 species of snakes in the world, of these about 216 species are found in India of which 52 are poisonous. Which have few common characterstic symptoms like; Anxiety, loquacity, suspicious, religious insanity,fastidious,hydrophobia, hematuria, irritability. Although all snake medicines have many similarities, they also have individual features which help us in selecting the specific medicine.

Keywords- Homoeopathy, Snake medicine, Ophidia.

Introduction : snakes are belongs to class of  Reptilia, phylum: chordate and Clade : Ophidia .

Ophidia  which is anemormous order of snakes or serpents and there are about more than 2600 species of snakes ,out of which 216 species are found in India , from  216  about 52 are poisonous. Serpents are symbol of medicine because of early leader of greek medicine, Aesculepius is still cherished in medical circle, his staff are surrounded by a serpent. In story of paradise the snake is wrapped around the tree of life but also to life’s healing force  in the staff of Aesculepius. Warm parts of world are living area of  most of the snakes.

Greek mythology

The snake is one of the most ancient and most grandiose mythological characters. The snakes have been playing greater role in medical history and Hindu philosophy since ages.

The early leader of Greek medicine, Aesculapius is still

cherished in medical circles- his staff, encircled by a serpent. So serpent continues to be the symbol of medicine.

The snake force involves us in life and living not theoretically, nearly but by deeply. It is a force, which is wrapped around the tree of life in the story of paradise but also to life’s healing forces in the staff of Aesculapius.

Snakes are a fascinating part of nature. Their colour, movement and secretive habits make them seen more mysterious than

other animals

Snakes are basically of two type:

  1. Non – poisonous: Most of the snakes are in this category and they are harmless.
  2. Poisonous:  Very less number of snakes are poisonous  and in tropical countries like Africa, India, Brazil, Burma, Shri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia the poisonous snakes are found and cause medical problem.

Example : Name of some poisonous snakes are- Cobra, Viper, Krait, Coral Snakes and Sea snakes.

General features of Snakes:

Snakes grow fastest in the first two year of their life and they are never stop growing.

Snakes always need new skin once in a while like children always grow out of clothes and shoes.

The snakes becomes dull and lazy before shedding or sloughing their skin and they are quick, alert and look bright after shedding of their skin.

Medicine are prepared from snake poison or snake venom.

Snake venom contain:

  1. Fibrinolysins
  2. Proteolysins
  3. Neurotoxins
  4. Cholinesterase (predominant in Elapid viper)
  5. Hemolysins(predominant in viper venom)
  6. Thromboplastin(predominant in viper venom)
  7. Agglutinins
  8. Cardiotoxin
  9. Coagulase hyaluronidase (helps venom to spread rapidly)

N.B.

Neurotoxic: Venom  of  Elapid which consist of cobra, king cobra, krait etc.

Vasculotoxic :Venom of  Viper

Myotoxic: Venom of Sea snake.

Snakes in Homoeopathy:

  1. Bothrops lanciolatus- Yellow viper
  2. Crotalus horridus- Rattle snake
  3. Crotalus cascavella- Brazilian snake
  4. Cenchris contortrix- Copperhead snake
  5. Elaps corrallinus – Coral snake
  6. Hydrophis cyanocinuctus- Sea snake
  7. Lachesis trigonocephalus –Surukuku snake
  8. Naja tripudians- Cobra venom
  9. Toxicophis – Moccasin snake
  10. Vipera berus-German viper

General features of snake medicine-

Mental Symptoms of snakes medicine:

  1. Great loquacity
  2. Anxiety
  3. Suspicious
  4. Great fear of death and disease
  5. Religious insanity
  6. Delirium
  7. Fastidious
  8. Irritable and quarrelsome
  9. Competitiveness and attractiveness
  10.  Desires solitude
  11.  Misanthropy, secretive & quarrelsome
  12.  Hydrophobia
  13.  Activeness

Physical Symptoms of snakes medicines:

  1. Loss of vital fluid
  2.  Bad effects of poison
  3.  Disappointed love
  4. Vexation
  5. Suppressed menses
  6.  Oozing from any orifice of body & offensive, feotid smell.
  7. Hypersensitiveness of nostrils , lips
  8. Trembling of tongue
  9. Debility , prostration
  10.  Yellow staining skin

Modalities:

Aggravation: Morning, when asleep, noise, tight clothing.

Amelioration: when awake, from discharges.

Doctrine of signature:  is the relation between the external physical characters of drug substances and the signs and symptoms of the medicines produced during  pathogenetic trial on healthy human beings.

Snakes character  Symptoms in Patient
1.Extremely sensitive to heat,so lives in deep burrow where it is cooler 1. Patients worse in warmth,hot drink, in sun, in summer
2.Sensitive to touch and vibrations 2. < by touch & slight sound
3.Stools of snakes are black & offensive 3. discharges are dark & offensive
4.Ferocious & poisonous when hungry 4. <  by fasting, >after eating
5.They are poisonous and mind is poisoned , it means there is jealousy and suspicion 5. characteristic symptoms are suspicion and jealousy

                   Bothrops lanceolatus 

  • Broken down, haemorrhagic constitutions
  • Septic states
  • Great lassitude & sluggishness
  • Haemorrhage from every orifice of the body
  • Black spot
  • Hemiplegia with aphasia
  • Inability to articulate without any affection of tongue
  • Pain in right big toe
  • Day blindness can hardly see her way after sunrise
  • Epigastric distress, black vomiting
  • Tympanitis & bloody stools

Crotalus Horridus

  • Weeping mood
  • Clouded perception and memory impatient
  • Loquacious
  • Vertigo with weakness & trembling
  • Pain right side & on right eye
  • Headache with pain in heart on lying on left side
  • Eyes sensitive to light, especially lamp light
  • Yellow color of eyes, illusion, blue color
  • Epistaxis, blood black & stringy
  • Tongue red & small, feels swollen, fiery red, dry in center
  • Moldy smell of breath
  • Tongue when protruding goes to right
  • Intolerance of clothing around stomach

                   Crotalus Cascavella-  

  • Magnetic state, she hears nothing & again sees the spectre of death as gigantic black skeleton
  • Attempt to throw herself out of window.
  • Fancies her eyes are falling out
  • Fright at night about indefinite things.
  • Face red yellow crawling sensation in face – Difficult to move lips
  • Tongue Scarlet red, pain in tongue extending to abdomen
  • Great desire for snow  without either water or wine
  • Epigastrium sensitive, cannot bear clothing
  • Abdomen feeling as if a peg were sticking in middle of liver
  • Involuntary emission during sleep
  • Trembling
  • Dreams of corpses and ghosts

                     Cenchris contortrix   

  • Mental and physical restlessness
  • Dysponoea
  • Thirst for small quantities of water
  • Necessity for having clothing loose
  • Marked alteration of mood
  • Swelling around eyes, aching & itching in eyes
  • Dreams horrible & vivid
  • Lascivious
  • Worse, pressure, lying down, night

                         Elaps corallines

  • Depressed
  • Imagines he hears someone talking, dread to be left alone, fear of rain
  • Aversion to light, letters run together when reading, burning in lids
  • Cerumen black & hard difficult hearing
  • Chronic nasal catarrh with  fetid odour
  • Coldness in chest after drinking, stomach feels cold, sensation as if food turned like a corkscrew on swallowing
  • Fainting caused by stooping
  • Right sided paralysis
  • Desire for sweetened butter milk
  • Dysmenorrhoea with black blood discharge
  • Dreams about dead persons
  • Worse eating fruits, cold drinks, wet weather

                     Lachesis 

  • Haemorrhagic tendency marked
  • Delirium tremens with much trembling and confusion
  • Cannot bear anything tight anywhere
  • Loquacity
  • Religious insanity
  • Dreams of snakes
  • Tongue swollen burns, trembles, red, dry and cracked at tip
  • Worse left side
  • Climacteric troubles, palpitation, flashes of heat
  • Intense excitement of sexual organs
  • Craving for alcohol, oysters. Any food cause distress
  • Diphtheritic paralysis
  • Face pale, Trifacial neuralgia
  • Tooth ache pain extends to ears
  • Sciatica right side, better lying down

                      Naja tripudians 

  • Produce a typical bulbar paralysis
  • Cause no haemorrhage but only oedema
  • Its action settles around the heart
  • Organs seem to ne drawn together
  • Very susceptible to cold
  • Broods constantly over imaginary troubles
  • Suicidal insanity, Dread to be left alone
  • Fear of rain
  • Grasping at throat, with sense of choking
  • Dragging and anxiety in praecordia, feeling of weight on heart
  • Angina pains extending to nape of neck
  • Worse, from use of stimulants, better from walking or riding in open air

                    Vipera berus

  • Paraplegia of the lower extrimities extending upwards
  • Special action on kidneys and induces haematuria
  • Inflammation of veins with great swelling
  • Tongue dry, brown, black , speech difficult
  • Severe cramps in lower extrimities
  • Patient is obliged to keep the extrimities elevated.

                        Toxicophis 

  • Symptoms of pain and fever recurred annually at exactly the same period for many years with decreasing intensity each year
  • Right leg become painful and swelled rapidly
  • For several years the pain was confined to the knee of the bitten limb, in a few years it left the knee and seized the hip, and finally attacked the shoulder
  • Skin dry

References:

  1. Group study in Homoeopathic Materia Medica by Dr. J. D. Patil
  2. Dictionary of practical Materia Medica –J.H. Clarke
  3.  Lecture on Homoeopathic Materia Medica- Dr. J.T. Kent
  4. Homoepathic Materia Medica- William Boericke

About the author

BHUPENDRA ARYA

Dr.Bhupendra arya,MD Scholar,
Department of practice of medicine , Dr. M.P.K.Homoeopathic Medical College , a constituent college of Homoeopathy University , jaipur