Cimicifuga

[Shannon Nelson]

We had an odd episode last night. My ten-year-old son (here's the
short version), having been a bit "under the weather" all week,
suddenly woke in the night with head and eye pain so intense as to have
him screaming and sobbing. (Right-sided, sometimes in occiput, "like
nails sticking out of my head"; sometimes in eye "like a nail poking
into it", sometimes all over the right side, and "feels like it's deep
inside my brain." This while he's moaning and shrieking, sobbing,
clutching his head.) Now he's never been the stoic type (smile), but
also not given to hysterics of this sort (except a year ago when he had
similarly intense tho qualitatively different Belladonna headaches).

He'd had a fight with friends the day before that left him very angry,
hurt, indignant, so (guided 90% by my repping of his sxs) I thought I'd
try coloc. (This after several other remedies that didn't do much.)
And strangely, it seemed to work well--only then I saw that I'd given
him cimicifuga instead. So now I'm really confused... What does
cimicifuga have to do either with a ten-year-old boy, or with a
possible flu-type thing? (Someone told me today that one of the "bugs"
currently going around our area sometimes begins with a bad headache,
but that's all I know about it.) Please don't tell me that "intention"
outweighed "grabbing the wrong bottle"...

The mentals I'm reading of cimic do seem to suit his current chronic
picture in a general sort of way--can easily get gloomy, irritable,
negative, like a "black cloud"; everything's wrong, everyone's mean to
him; but I thought cimic was more of a hormonal and "female" remedy--am
I falling victim to "little knowledge" and prejudice, or maybe the
whole thing was a fluke...
Shannon
(tired, relieved, and confused!)
%-P

[Robyn]

Shannon wrote:

................... then I saw that I'd given
him cimicifuga instead. So now I'm really confused... What does
cimicifuga have to do either with a ten-year-old boy, or with a
possible flu-type thing? (Someone told me today that one of the "bugs"
currently going around our area sometimes begins with a bad headache,
but that's all I know about it.) Please don't tell me that "intention"
outweighed "grabbing the wrong bottle"...

The mentals I'm reading of cimic do seem to suit his current chronic
picture in a general sort of way--can easily get gloomy, irritable,
negative, like a "black cloud"; everything's wrong, everyone's mean to
him; but I thought cimic was more of a hormonal and "female" remedy--am
I falling victim to "little knowledge" and prejudice, or maybe the
whole thing was a fluke...
Shannon
(tired, relieved, and confused!)
%-P
******Hi Shannon
If this helps you at all, Banerji lists Cimic 30 for acute headaches at vertex with pain in
eyeballs.

Another thing, acute extreme pain headaches will often be 'fixed' by Aconite as low as you can
go --- one dose --- 1x if you can get it.

My son had basilar artery migraines when 15 yrs old -- leading to blood curdling screams -- quite
unsettling to the parents standing by watching --- Aconite is specific to the basilar artery, and it
worked --- however, I think at the time I used 1M.
Best

Robyn

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[Shannon Nelson]

Thanks Robyn,
Can you tell me what a "basilar artery migraine" looks like? (How did
your son describe his pain, for instance?) I'll remember about
Aconite; I have to admit that had not crossed my mind at all. (6x may
be the lowest I know where to get, tho I do have 1M.) And nice to know
cimic has *something* to do with that sort of thing (tho his was
eyeball and occiput...), not necessarily in menopausal women!

And yeah, it surely *was* unsettling!!!! Even tho I knew he "probably"
didn't have meningitis or anything fatal... blech!
Shannon

[Joy Lucas]

Sounds like Cimic but did it cure? Cimic has that wild feeling in the
brain with shooting and throbbing pains and a sai a blow had been
driven upwards from occiput to vertex. I would also have been looking
at the usual belladonna that he seems to react well to and also Coffea
(nails driven into head) and also Gymnocladus which also has the nails
sensation but accompanied by fever and sore throat. What other rx did
you give? Best wishes, Joy
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.blogspot.com
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[Robyn]

Thanks Robyn,
Can you tell me what a "basilar artery migraine" looks like? (How did
your son describe his pain, for instance?) I'll remember about
Aconite; I have to admit that had not crossed my mind at all. (6x may
be the lowest I know where to get, tho I do have 1M.) And nice to know
cimic has *something* to do with that sort of thing (tho his was
eyeball and occiput...), not necessarily in menopausal women!

And yeah, it surely *was* unsettling!!!! Even tho I knew he "probably"
didn't have meningitis or anything fatal... blech!
Shannon

--------------------------------------

Following are the symptoms which precede the pain

a.. dizziness and/or vertigo
a.. unsteadiness, difficulty walking, or loss of balance
a.. double vision
a.. partial blindness or blindness in both visual fields
a.. slurred speech and/or inability to speak (expressive aphasia)
a.. loss of feeling, tingling, or numbness of face and/or extremities
a.. weakness, paralysis, and/or "clumsiness" of extremities
a.. difficulty swallowing/inability to swallow and/or drooling
My son had all of them, with total blindness in both eyes.
After all of the above, he would collapse and appeared to be out to it.
Then he would open his eyes real wide and just scream in excrutiating pain with a look of terror on
his face. The first time it happened I just about fainted in shock --- he was having blood taken at
the time, as he had been complaining of difficulty swallowing and a stiff neck --- which i wanted to
check was not meningeal.

He said it felt like someone was thrusting a dagger into a spot just above his eyebrow.
His carotids would be pulsating so violently at this stage, a sign I guess that the ischemia had
resolved, I could see them quite plainly.

The look of panic on his face was devastating.

He had 5 of these attacks within about 2.5 days. He was hospitalised and almost every doctor on duty
saw him and not one was able to find the diagnosis --- it took speaking to a neurologist the next
day, that his symptoms were classic basilar artery migraine.

The only thing that remotely helped through any of this was oxygen.

After the 5 attacks 3 of which happened in the hospital, i went to my homoeopath who prescribed
Aconite for when the attacks occurred and tub 1M as an intercurrent inbetween attacks. This I did,
and the effect was that the Aconite aborted the attacks -- I gave it at first sign of the pre-pain
(aura) symptoms --- and each time the symptoms were less and less --- after maybe 3 doses/events
with Tub inbetween he no longer had theses symptoms but did have a few regular style migraines quite
mild though. And now since 16yrs til now 21 has been totally clear of any migraines.

Here is a link with some info:
http://www.s-2000.com/bam/bam_basics.html

This is a quite rare condition --- and your son's does not really sound like it.

Best

Robyn
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[Shannon Nelson]

Thanks Robyn,
Can you tell me what a "basilar artery migraine" looks like? (How did
your son describe his pain, for instance?) I'll remember about
Aconite; I have to admit that had not crossed my mind at all. (6x may
be the lowest I know where to get, tho I do have 1M.)

And yeah, it surely *was* unsettling!!!! Even tho I knew he "probably"
didn't have meningitis or anything fatal, yikes, well... yeah,
unsettling!
Shannon

[Shannon Nelson]

My first stop was Bell 30c. It helped, but after only about ten
minutes he said the pain was getting worse again. I gave another dose
and he went to sleep--so far so good... (It was late already.) But a
few hours later he woke up yelling and sobbing, in a panic. I'm not
certain that Bell. 200 wasn't the most appropriate next step (last year
30c wasn't enough to get him thru the night, was 200 was), but for
whatever reason I can't really define, I found myself unconvinced.
What did I try... I remember silica and rhus-t--I don't think of those
as full of stabbing and shooting, but they came up in repping and
seemed plausible in other ways, plus I was limited by what I had on
hand. (I really wasn't at my finest, as I'm sure you can imagine!) I
think cimic (which was supposed to be coloc) was the next stop.

Here's what I repped--
Face discoloration pale (past several days, but especially that evening)
Head pain, occiput, protuberance
combination of rubrics re dusky coloring under his eyes
head pain paroxysmal
Head pain extending to eyes, right (only cortico and sang)
Head pain occiput extending to eyes, right (arund, lyc, sang, sanic)
Head pain piercing, penetrating
head pain warm applications amel (somwhat)

Coloc is pretty well covered; sanguinaria looks good too (but I don't
have it anyway).

Did it cure? Well, the pain went away a few minutes after cimic 30c,
and in the morning he was okay. Not *better* than before, but about
the same. (He's definitely ready for a new chronic remedy.) So it
*seems* that it was effective for the acute episode, but not more.
I'll look at your other ideas.

Thanks,
Shannon