Werkboek Klassieke Homeopathie

By Valerie Sadovsky, RSHom(NA), CCH

Remedy chart

Anacardium belongs to the Anacardiaceæ family, which also includes Anacardium occidentale, Mangifera indica, Rhus glabra, Rhus radicans, Rhus toxicodendron and Rhus venenata. The kernel of the Marking Nut is covered with two shells with very caustic oil in between. The oil and its fumes cause severe irritation and blistering of mucous membranes and the skin. It depresses the nervous system, producing symptoms of cerebral weakness and general nerve prostration.

ESSENCE:

AMBIVALENT. They have two distinct sides to their personality: they oscillate between aggressive and dependent behavior. They feel, at the same time, both strong and weak, dependent and independent, passive and aggressive. Unbearable inner conflict leads to contradictory tendencies: tend to be emotionally dependent on others, yet remain closed, refusing to reveal much of themselves; want to feel close to others, but are naturally suspicious; worship authority, yet fear it; fearful of aggression, yet can be highly aggressive. (Zaren). Often the patient will present with only the inferiority complex and low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness (Staph.)

MENTAL SYMPTOMS:

- LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE … TRY TO PROVE THEMSELVES (the weaker they feel, the more they compensate by acting aggressive) … WEAKNESS OF WILL (to compensate go into authoritarian occupations: police, military, etc.) … antagonism with themselves = STUCK, common to all Anacardiaceæ (conflicted feelings about many things (e.g. "I need to get out of the relationship, but I can’t"); cannot make decisions; constantly hesitating; always on the lookout for smth better; always sorry they didn’t take the other option)

- HATRED … UNFEELING, hard-hearted (ana-cardium = "without a heart") … anger from contradiction … easily offended … irresistible desire to swear from slight causes (Nit-ac, Hyos, Nux-v)

- FEELING OF SEPARATION (from the world, family, reality, morality, etc.) … struggle of TWO WILLS: one bad, one good (angel & devil) … everything feels UNREAL, as in a dream … feeling of DIVISION (being doubled; half of the body dead)

- SUDDEN LOSS OF MEMORY … very forgetful … weakness of memory … examination funk

- Fastidious; can't rest when things are not in proper place.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS:

- Chilly … excessively feels the cold … very sensitive to drafts

- Symptoms go from right to left (Lyco.)

- Symptoms DISAPPEAR WHILE EATING, and come back 2-3 hours after eating.

- Perversion or diminution of senses (smell filth; hear voices; objects seem too far)

- Constant thirst

- Nervous exhaustion from over-study

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS:

Head: gastric and nervous HAs … HA from strong smells … occipital headache accompanied by a contractive stiffness of neck (Rhus-t) … pressing pain, as from a plug in forehead, occiput, temples or vertex, < coughing, deep breathing, mental exertion, > during a meal

Heart: sharp double stitches (one stitch is quickly followed by a second, and then there is a long interval)

GI: ulcer and gastritis with pains, > by eating … weak digestion with fullness and distention … eating relieves dyspepsia … empty feeling in stomach as the stomach gets empty … eat and drink hastily … ineffectual desire for stool produced by a sense of a plug in rectum, which he is trying to get rid of

Extremities: legs become fidgety when sitting still for a long time … contraction of joints … injured or strained tendons … paralytic weakness; knees feel paralyzed or bandaged … dry hands … warts on palms … paroxysmal, rhythmically pressing pain in a thigh, as if someone is beating with a hammer

Skin: eczema with excessive itching, > very hot water … poison oak/ivy (Morrison says it’s the main antidote)

Female: morning sickness of pregnancy, > better while eating, but returns soon after

Sleep: spells of sleeplessness lasting for several nights

PRIME INDICATIONS:

1. Lack of self-confidence wants to prove himself.

2. Unfeeling, hatred, cursing, malicious, etc.

3. Sensation of plug or band.

4. Better eating.

5. Itching eczema, > water as hot as could be borne.

DELUSIONS:

Separated from the world ... of being double …is under super-human control … sees devils ... half of the body dead

FEARS:

Of failure, esp. EXAMS, in … of someone behind him (Med.) ... of being pursued … insanity … of PARALYSIS (= stuck)

ETIOLOGIES:

Checked eruptions … EXAMS … abuse … humiliation

AFFINITIES:

MIND … nervous system … stomach … skin … palms … muscles ... joints

MODALITIES:

<: MENTAL EXERTION … stepping hard … emotions (anger, fright, worry, etc.) … RUBBING (Rhus is > for rubbing) … fasting … drafts … motion

>: EATING … during digestion … hot water

SENSATIONS:

Of a PLUG in inner parts (Nux-v, Ign., Sulph., Sep. – in rectum) … as if constricted by a HOOP or BAND around parts … DULL PRESSURE … NUMBNESS EXTERNALLY; in affected parts

PAINS:

PRESSING

NOTES:

- The role of the concentration camp warden has often been mentioned as the kind of 'job' that would give the opportunity to an Anacardium patient to act out his dark side.

- May be indicated in mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, paranoia, mania, etc. with its guiding symptoms: having two wills, one urging him to do what the other forbids; irresistible desire to curse and swear with illusions, delusions, hallucinations; sudden loss of memory.

- May be indicated for patients to whom Stram, Hyos., Nux-v., Can - ind., Agar., Staph., Nit.acid have been prescribed without any results (Links 1991, Chegas).

- The apparently shy, sensitive young man who killed his father. At court the lawyer pleads: "It is not this person who killed his father, it was a completely different person in himself who did it". This is typical of Anac.

DIFFERENTIALS:

Indigestion: With Nux indigestion is < 2 or 3 hours after eating and is > when the digestion is over, with Anac. it is > while eating and < when the digestion is completed. Anac. is almost always better after eating, Nux is always worse after eating.

Two wills: Lach. and Bell.: "The patient thinks that he is under the control of some superhuman power. "

Cursing: Nit-ac will curse when it has become nihilistic because of a miserable life. He will curse the doctors who are not curing him, as well as God who is letting him suffer. But he does not have the evilness of Anac. Hyos. curses in a dirty way using mostly sexual and dirty words.

Staphysagria: Staph. also has low self-esteem, internalized anger, and emotional vulnerability, but it is prone to outbursts of rage, not to cruelty.

SOURCES:

Gibson, Studies of Remedies

Morrison, Desktop Guide

Murphy, Homeopathic Remedy Guide (RW)

Vermeulen, Prisma

Links 1991 (RW) - !!!

Roger notes

Anacardium

This is a remedy that we may be overusing also, because we never used it at all and then we heard the essence from George, and then we started using it for inferiority and we have so many people that complain of inferiority. I mean that’s what I keep complaining to my prescribers about this tremendous sense of inferiority and everybody says, "If you were so inferior, why are you doing all of this stuff?" We all feel inferior inside. We all feel insecure. That’s part of it. That’s why we have Kirkegaard, but Anacardium is a real pathological inferiority. The two ways it goes is cruelty on the one hand, and inferiority on the other hand. You usually won’t see the two together, although they may alternate back and forth. Usually, you will see a preponderance of one of those two extremes. So, there are people that initially in early life are fairly aggressive. They are strong people, not terribly sensitive people, and they have a particular onset causative factor. That is people that get in a situation where somebody tells them, "No, you are no good." Now they have a tendency to feel this insecurity inside, even though they tend to be slightly aggressive at the same time. In this kind of person, somebody says, "No, you’re no good." Or, they get in a situation where the husband says to the wife, "No, you’re no good. You’re nothing. You’re worthless." They are critical, very critical all the time. Or, it comes up especially in school. People that are studying in school and the professors - they flunk a test or the professor is saying, "No, you’ll never make it through this course." They get into this thing as soon as you say that, because they feel this inferiority inside, they can’t let it go. They are a tenacious people. They keep going. They keep working. They keep struggling to prove, "Yes, I can do it. Yes I can." It’s like they are trying to compensate for this feeling of inferiority inside. The same thing will happen in an argument. They may make a statement, you know, "Oh, Reagen has destroyed the economy," and someone else says, "No, he didn’t. The economy is doing great. Everything is coming up." Obviously this other person knows a lot more about the economy, knows everything. They’ve got the right point, but they will keep arguing. It’s a foolish resistance. They can’t back down, because they feel so inferior it’s like if they admit it, then they are admitting their inferiority. So, they keep pushing, trying to prove that they are better and eventually comes a breakdown. Now, the breakdown usually starts in this way. This is the keynote - they start getting this irrestible desire for cursing, swearing. The other remedy in capitals for swearing is Nitric Acid. Also, in Hyoscyamus this is very important and Nux swears a lot. This can happen even in children, and the parents say, "Where did this kid learn these words?" "Where do they come up with those things?" Because it is vile.

Memory card

Anacardium Orientale

1. Persons of sedentary habits suffering from brain-fag; nervous, hysterical women especially during pregnancy.

2. Mentals: Patients distressed by sudden loss of memory; lacks self-confidence; fears inability to "get through" (Arg. Nit., Lyc.); paradoxical temper laughs at serious matters, serious over laughable things; great suspicion. Dual personality, as of two wills acting in opposition. Irresistible desire to curse and swear (Lac. Can., Lil. Tig., Nitr. Ac.).

3. Weakness of all the senses.

4. Neuralgic pains, dull, penetrating or pressing as from a. blunt instrument or plug.

5. Sense of constriction as of a hoop round the part (Cact.).

6. Gastric symptoms > while eating.

7. Ineffectual urging to stool.

8. Complaints prone to go from right to left.

9. Skin eruptions with excessive itching, similar to Rhus Tox.

10. Patient generally chilly; < damp; mental exertion; all symptoms > while eating except cough.