Nature of Sepia succus Sickness

[Abstract: This article includes the clinical understanding of the study of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, on the light of the teaching of our Organon of Medicine & Homoeopathic Philosophy that, whatever it maybe the name of the disease or the pathology; Homoeopaths needs to perceive, what is curable in disease and what is curative in medicine; they’re the clinically verified signs & symptoms of a remedy, the power, the essence, the image, the very nature of the sickness, those are only to be counter as stronger & similar in manifestations but different in kind for restoring the sick to health homoeopathically, are also expressed in this article.]

Keywords: Sepia-history & authority-dynamic actions-prescribe-clinically verified-curative symptoms.

Abbreviation: P= Psora, Syco = Sycosis, Syph = Syphilis, Tuber = Tubercular state, H = Hahnemann, < = aggravation, > = amelioration.

Introduction: ^[1]

• Sepia is a sickly, lean, thin, anaemic lady with great weakness and relaxation of muscles, internal organs especially of pelvis.
• Sepia is extremely sad, weeping, crying without reason; very indifferent to her child & husband.
• Sepia is extremely chilly, < by laundry works, < in damp watery atmosphere.
• Venous enlargement, stasis with sensation of fullness in abdomen, hepatic, rectal and pelvic region.
• Mental & pelvic symptoms with bearing down sensation or actual prolapsed of pelvic organs are chief guide to Sepia.
• Sepia is a deep acting Anti-sycotic medicine; needs when case become complicated due to misuse of Homoeopathic medicines.

Miasmatic Cleavage: Sepia P^+++(H),  Syco⁺⁺⁺,  Syph⁺,  Tuber⁺⁺

Thermal reaction: CHILLY⁺⁺⁺

Description of the Cuttlefish: ^[2]  The Cuttle-shells are oblong ovoid and lenticular about 10 to 25 cm. long 4-8cm. wide and 1.5-3 cm. in maximum thickness.

• They are biconvex or sometimes Plano-convex, the greater convexity being on the outer-side.
• The outermost layer is calcareous and white, about 0.1 mm. wide and about 0.5 mm. apart.
• Beneath this a yellowish chitinous layer about 0.2-0.4 mm. thick and within that a thin calcareous layer about 0.1 mm. thick.
• The shell is practically in-odorous and the taste is earthy and slightly saline.
• The three outer layers project as a thin margin about 3 mm. wide, becoming wing-like below where the inner layers taper off rapidly to a hard rounded point.

Parts used: Inky juice found in bag-like structure in the abdomen of the Cuttlefish.

Family: Sepiadae.

Habitat: A large mollusce commonly found coast of Great Britten, Adriatic Seas, and Indian Ocean and other seas of Europe and Mediterranean.

Other Uses: Powder of Cuttlefish bone is used in tooth powder, when it is sometimes termed, ‘white coral powder’.  Powder has also been given internally as an antacid and for spruce and dysentery.

Proving of Cuttlefish: ^[3] It acts upon the vital force as well as upon the organic substances, the circulation become disturbed, flushes of heat and ebullition, end in sweat, weak, faint feeling, any motion exertion followed by hot spells, free sweats; in nervous system causing restlessness, anxiety.

• These disturbance influence the nervous system of animal life, and upon the vasomotor nerves, arise headaches, various local congestion; followed by relaxation of tissues and nervous weakness; joints feel weak, viscera drag downward, as all-gone sensation.
• Venous congestion and vasomotor weakness increase; prolapsed uterus, portal stasis, heavy liver, blood-vessels become full sluggish; great weakness, faintness, trembling, heavy limbs, as if paralyzed; stiffness especially after sleep.
• Muscles are weak; rectum becomes paralyzed urination, bowel become sluggish.

Doctrine of Signature: The Cuttle-ink is essentially melanine; content of sulphur and calcium salt. Sepia and Sulphur are nearer and Natrum mur. Phosphorus also enters in Cuttlefish juice so near in symptomatology.

Empirical Application: ^[4] Hippocrates prescribed Sepia in the diseases of women.

• He regarded it as an astringent, contrary to the opinion of Plinius, who looked upon it as a diuretic and purgative.
• He said, 1st, to recently confined women who had retained their placenta.
• 2nd, to those whose lochia did not appear or remained suppressed.
• Dioscordes, Soranus, Plinius and Marcellus, used either the flesh, the eggs, or even the only bone which constitutes the skeleton of this animal, for leucorrhoea, gonorrhea, catarrh of the bladder, gravel, spasms of the bladder, boldness, freckles, and certain kinds of tatters, in other words for the very diseases for which we employ the juice of Sepia.

History & Authority: ^[5] The Sepia are in Molluscae, of the seas, with heads and feet, without any outer shells, of variable sizes, and provided with pouches that contain a blackish-brown liquid with which they disturb the water for the purpose of escaping, from an enemy or catching prey.

• Fleshing of the animals said for a delicacy in Greece, parts of Italy, not much in France; it is generally tough and indigestible. 
• Cuttlefish ink has long been used as a pigment in artists’ paints.
• Medicinally, it was used in ancient times to treat Gonorrhoea and kidney stones.
• Roman physician, Dioscordes (A.D. 40-90) used the ink from Cuttlefish for hair loss.

CFS Hahnemann published it in 1834. He proved it after observing that an artist friend who licked his sepia-soaked paint brush frequently developed an obscure illness which was caused by the ink.

• The artist was in habit of wetting his brush, containing India ink, with his saliva.
• Failing to cure Hahnemann suggest the ink may be cause.
• The artist modified his custom by covering the lips with a thin layer of sponge moistened with water, the mouth being protected by an impervious though pliable shield, and his obscure illness shortly passed away.
• Hahnemann then instituted proving with the Sepia succus.

KEY POINTS: ^[6]

1. Sadness, weeping, indifferent.
2. Relaxation of uterus due to excessive bleeding, excessive sexual abuse, or bearing of many Child. 
3. All-gone empty feeling in abdomen and fullness in rectum.
4. Relief by physical labour; aversion to bath.

Sadness, weeping, indifferent: ^[7]

• Mainly female, as well as male are also needed.
• Disappointed began after marriage; dreams of her future become ‘ideal wife and ideal mother’, but unable to reach or mature herself as an ideal …  due to her physical weakness; and develop irregular menses, uterine pain, dyspepsia; finally lost her emotion and became indifferent.
• Fearful, fear to be alone; but aversion to crowd.
• Weeping but not explain why she is weeping.
• Changeable mood or mentality; quarrel when meet the family members, but when alone unable to stay.

Relaxation of uterus due to excessive bleeding, excessive sexual abuse, or many children bearing: ^[8]

• Lean, thin, male like pelvis of the women.
• Abortion recurrent, or after delivery uterus become so damage that prolapse of uterus, even when sitting, standing, laughing, sneezing may develop.   
• Natural growth of development to a woman is in her ‘Motherhood’, but Sepia patient can’t become an ‘ideal mother or an ideal wife’ before her child or husband; she try but can’t.
• Excessive menstrual bleeding, sexual excess, excessive breast feeding, breakdown her health and damage her child bearing power; prolapse of rectum may develop.
• Menarche delay (Cal.phos., Lyco., Nat. mur., Puls.).
• Just before onset of menses tongue always become dirty and become clean after menses.
• Insanity at menopause (Lach., Puls.).
• Aversion to sex; sexual acts are painful; passes of winds from uterus.
• Liver disorder, jaundice, anaemia, patient become pale; brown spots on her face.
• Abdomen enlarges like pregnant mother (In child Sulph.).

All-gone empty feeling in abdomen & fullness in rectum: ^[9]

• Due to empty all-gone feeling in abdomen, Sepia patient taking foods more & more and ultimately lost her digestive power and become suffering from acidity, dyspepsia, vomiting; abdominal pain even immediately after food.
• Ball like sensation not only in anus, but in throat, in head, in abdomen, in uterus especially in hysterical women (Lach., LYC, SABA, SULPH).
• Abdomen looking large and appetites are also more than enough.
• Constipation: stool hard, as like balls; pain in rectum during and long after stool; feelings of weight or ball in anus, not > after stool; instate urge of stool passes winds or mucous only (Alo.).
• Alternate diarrhea and constipation.
• Intolerance of milk causes diarrhea and < piles complaints.
• Prolapse of rectum during stool.
• Warts on anus.

Relief by physical labour; aversion to bath: ^[10]

• Headache, cough, breathing difficulties, dropsy is < in rest and > by motion, in general.
• Headache or cough not always < at rest but > by physical labours.
• Headache; one sided, < after Sun-rise, from reading.  
• Backache < in rest, Sepia patient lie-down on bed with hard support on back; > by motion and also > by belching.
• Very chilly, aversion to take bath (Psor.).
• Mucous discharges; after taking meal sudden vomiting of mucous; instate urge of stool only mucous come out.
• Breathing difficulties < on motion especially in after-noon; cough < by lying on pressure on left side.
• Stiffness of whole body when wake-up from sleep and gradually become normal from motion.
• Old sciatica, disappear during pregnancy; other times stay as heel pain only.
• Burning sensations and pains are ascending.
• Fontanels and sutures are open in children, with milk intolerance.
• Palms and soles are warm to touch.
• Smelling of cooking foods nauseates; salty taste in all foods; aversion to salt.
• Abdominal pain < after taking foods and < after vomiting also.
• Car-sickness, vomiting, faint.
• Vertigo during sleep.
• Legs become cold when fever coming with chill.
• Intolerance of sea bathing.

Sepia as a Patient: ^[11]

• Stool, urine, sweat and all other discharges are corrosive & very offensive.
• Urine: white milky, bloody, involuntary, with burning; bed-wetting, at first night immediately after going to sleep in child, very offensive urine. In aged women involuntary urine from slight coughing, laughing etc.
• Diarrhoea, in children during dentition period.
• Loss of smell and test.
• Chilly; ill after washing clothes in water; the very posture of washing women damages the uterus.
• Intolerance of tight bands about neck or waist (Lach.).
• Intolerance of milk.
• Craving for bitter, sour, chill.
• Thirst-less patient (Puls.: thirst-less, fearful, weeping, changeable moods, hot patient).
• Relation: Inimical with PULS, Lach.
• Tuberculosis after suppress of Gonorrhea; cancer of rectum.
• Malaria; thirsty during chill, thirst gradually less at heat, totally lost at sweat stage.
• Skin disease < during March-April.
• Ring-worm, warts.

Bibliography:

1) Bandhyapadhya N, Oushadh pariyachay; HPCO, Calcutta, 12^th edition ^{[1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}

2) Mondal, Dr. T.C., Tex Book of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, Volume-II; Books and Allied (P) Ltd., 83/1, Beliaghata Main Road, Kolkata-700010,1st Published: January 2010 ^{(2, 3, 4, 5)} 

Author: Dr. Goutam Das _{M. D. (Homoeopathy)}

Prof. Dept. of Organon of Medicine, MHMC&H, Basna, Mehsana, (Gujarat)

Assist by: Dr. Annu Patel _B.H.M.S.