The Provings of Manihot esculenta and Ricinus communis
By Richard Pitt
Introduction
These two plant medicines belong to the Euphorbiaceae family, a well-known botanical family from which homeopathy uses a number of plants as remedies. The most well-known is perhaps Croton tiglium, but also there are many Euphorbias and also Hura brasiliensis (crepitans) and Jatropha curcas. These two new provings belong to the same family and the first part of this article is a comparison of possible common themes between the two and with the larger botanical family. In part two, a proving overview of Ricinus communis is provided with detailed affinities, symptoms and themes.
The Ricinus communis proving was carried out in 2006 in California, at the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy. There were 8 provers, 6 female and 2 male and was a single blind proving. The Manihot esculenta proving was carried out in Malawi, Africa in 2012 with local people working with us in a homeopathic project in the country..
One of the observations made when doing provings is that the proving can begin when the intention to do the proving is made and before any remedy has actually been taken. It is an example of a type of “field effect”, or to use the terminology of biologist Rupert Sheldrake, a morphogenetic field is identified and “activated” with the intention of the proving. Some of these effects may be characterized as “synchronous” events, which while having nothing to do directly with the proving, nonetheless it occurred. For example, when the Ricinus communis proving began, a number of people were arrested in the UK for apparently planning to take liquid bombs onto planes with intent to commit terrorist attacks. This led to a virtual standstill at British airports for days and since then, a strict limitation on carrying liquids onto planes.
Correspondingly, Ricinus communis is made from the seed of the plant, which contains the poison Ricin. When an oil is made from the seed, making castor oil, the poison is neutralized. However, Ricin has been used as a terrorist weapon before in the assassination of a Bulgarian dissident in London. Even though it was a one-off event and even if ricin is very toxic if inhaled, ingested or injected, it cannot be widely distributed at any one time so its use as a weapon of terror is limited. However, it is worth commenting on the synchronicity of these events and also as part of an understanding of the substance itself, which is a complementary aspect of any proving.
Cassava is an important food crop in much of Africa. Although it originates from South America, as does the potato and sweet potato, it has become the most important food energy source for much of Sub-Saharan Africa. It contains an excellent carbohydrate balance so is an important source of energy but it has very little protein so requires other protein rich foods to complement it. One important part of some forms of Cassava is the high amount of cyanide in it, requiring the root to be soaked for some days before hand, to extract the cyanide. So, common to these two plants and also other Euphorbiaceae is their toxicity. It also leads us to study the impact of the proving and what was revealed.
One of the common effects of a number of euphorbiaceae, especially Croton tiglium, Euphorbia lathyrus and officinarum, and Jatropha curcas and urens and Hippomane mancinella are their effect on digestion, with diarrhea and violent purging and also on the skin. Therefore, clinically it has been used for dysentery and cholera. In the proving of Ricinus communis, diarrhea was produced, and one prover had a sudden outbreak of diarrhea, forcing her to run to her home. The interesting thing here is that she had not even taken the remedy yet! She was going to take it when she got home. There was no other reason for her to get the diarrhea and the severity of the symptoms took her totally by surprise.
The relationship between Ricinus communis and other remedies of the same botanical family has been described in the book An Insight into Plants, vol 1, by Rajan Sankaran. While the clinical relationship between remedies of the same botanical family is a matter of some debate, it seems worthwhile to look at these ideas and to see if the proving of Ricinus confirmed any of these ideas or not. Sankaran postulates that a common theme found in the Euphorbiaceae family is that of being tied and untied, or bound and unbound. Other feelings are that of being hidebound and of constriction, tension, tightness and gripping. These common themes were revealed mainly in the remedies Croton tiglium, Mancinella, Euphorbium officinarum and Hura brasiliensis. Croton tiglium perhaps expresses these symptoms the strongest and is the remedy begun with in this study.
Another theme seen that is possibly consistent with the Euphorbiaceae remedies is that of violence and danger, a sense of impending threat. This would connect to the feeling of being tied down. In the proving, there was noticeable irritability and anger and in dreams with some destructive and violent themes. The prover who had the violent diarrhea even before taking the remedy, had unusual dreams where destruction was a feature, and a man in the dream was so dangerous he had to be tied up. When the coordinator called her to verify these dreams (two months later), she then dreamt that night that she was the devil with horns coming from her head. This was interesting given that another remedy in the same botanical family, Hippomane mancinella, has delusions that he sees a devil, or will be taken by the devil. She had not had that dream before. There were also some spaced out, light headed feelings, like vertigo, which is also similar to the mental symptoms of Mancinella. The same prover had two other dreams just before this in which the theme of destruction arose, relating to the general feeling of danger. Therefore, some tentative connections can be made here, perhaps confirming the relationship to remedies of the Euphorbiaceae family.
The concept of danger and destruction should be mentioned in relation to Ricin, the toxic component of the castor bean, which as has been mentioned, has been used as a deadly poison and potential terrorist weapon. Obviously, the theme of destruction is relevant here and studying the toxicology of Ricin leaves us to consider that danger and destruction could be a key theme in understanding the psychological pattern of people needing this remedy. Studying the toxicology of substances being proved has always been a valuable source of information in getting details of the more morbid effects of any substance. In fact, some of our best known remedies only had toxicological data and were not proven with higher potencies.
Here are some proving symptoms that relate to the theme of danger in the proving:
I was at a restaurant, sitting across from a man that was my boyfriend in the dream. I was breaking up with him. I chose a public setting to break up with him because I thought he might get violent with me. The man did become angry with me and would not accept the break up…. My boyfriend followed me into the restaurant but did not care that we were in a public place…. A customer stood up and tried to help me by holding out a butter knife to defend me with. I took the butter knife from him and told him “Don’t hurt yourself.” I imagine my boyfriend using the same knife against the man. I grabbed a fork from a nearby table. My boyfriend caught up with me and we both fought for the fork in my hand. I woke up from the dream with both of my hands clasping together, pushing against each other, just like in the dream.
#7, 09:XX:XX
Comments: here in one dream we have the theme of violence, danger and knives. At times one characteristic dream will reveal a lot about the psychological dynamics of the remedy.
A lot of dreams of corpses, war, flames.
#8, XX:XX:XX
Dreamt scenes of destruction. I took a baby in my arms and put it next to me. Feeling profound love for him.
#1, 07:XX:XX
A very complex dream where I was in some amazing construction, an amazing futuristic building. Things were not very good and there was some sort of destruction going on there too. Some uncomfortable scene about someone being sued. Kids with lice.
#1, 08:XX:XX
Dream with two men. One of them is dangerous, but I end up falling in love with him. (He was so dangerous he had to be tied up).
#1, 11:XX:XX
In conclusion, this proving only revealed a few characteristic symptoms. It should be proven again in different potencies and with a larger number of provers. However, as with many other provings where only a few characteristic symptoms are revealed, it gives a foundation to develop further knowledge of this plant and its relationship to other remedies, especially potentially remedies from the same botanical family.
Cassava
The proving of Cassava was done in the middle of Malawi. A group of 14 of us met in the building where we held a clinic and we made the remedy from scratch, taking some of the roots and leaves of a cassava plant and mixing it up in a large mortar and pestle, usually used to pound cassava and maize into powder. In fact we used maize flour as a neutral substance (our version of sac lac) as we didn’t have sac lac to use. But in a classic African style, we pounded the cassava and maize together, in rough proportion of 1/100, to a 3c potency and then continued potentizing it up to 6c. This is the potency we used, which is significant in that it is not totally beyond Avogadro's number, meaning that small amounts of raw cassava could still be found. This reflected itself in the proving.
Cassava is also known as yucca, mogo, mandioca and kamoteng kahoy. In the proving of Cassava, there were themes of danger, death, knives, killing, worry, fear, similar to the discussed themes of feeling hidebound, tied up and bound, restriction, and a sense of danger which is found in the remedies Croton tiglium, Mancinella and Ricinus communis.
As mentioned, Cassava can be very toxic. Cassava contains anti-nutrition factors and toxins. It must be properly prepared before consumption. Improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and goiters and may even cause ataxia or partial paralysis.
The so-called sweet (actually not bitter) cultivars can produce as little as 20 milligrams of cyanide (CN) per kilogram of fresh roots, whereas bitter ones may produce more than 50 times as much (1 g/kg). Cassavas grown during drought are especially high in these toxins.A dose of 40 mg of pure cassava cyanogenic glucoside is sufficient to kill a cow. It has also been linked to tropical calcific pancreatitis in humans, leading to chronic pancreatitis. Symptoms of acute cyanide intoxication appear four or more hours after ingesting raw or poorly processed cassava: vertigo, vomiting, and collapse. In some cases, death may result within one or two hours.
Chronic, low-level cyanide exposure is associated with the development of goiter and with tropical ataxic neuropathy, a nerve-damaging disorder that renders a person unsteady and uncoordinated. Severe cyanide poisoning, particularly during famines, is associated with outbreaks of a debilitating, irreversible paralytic disorder called konzo and, in some cases, death. (wikipedia).
The following key themes were found in the proving, which also corresponds to the very low level effects of the toxicity of cassava, given that we had used the 6c potency. The mild staggering and lacking control could be attributed to the physiological effect of cassava. It should be noted also that many of Hahnemann’s and other early provings were done with physiological amounts of a substance, so some degree of toxic symptoms can be found there also. Also, in substances which are toxic in physical amounts, studying accidental toxicology is an important source of information to complement proving details and to understand the pathological affinity of certain remedies.
In the proving the following symptoms were found: great hunger with weakness. Increased salivation, with sour, bitter taste. Much spitting. Sores inside and outside the mouth. Nausea and vomiting, churning in stomach, thirst, hunger, feeling about to vomit with increased saliva. Diarrhea. Pain in the feet, extending up and down, burning in the feet, staggering, not being in control, heavy legs, sensation of paralysis. Weakness felt in feet extending up the leg. Dreams of danger, knives, threats, death, killing, fighting, fear, worry. Weakness, aching of the body.
The themes of danger, of violence, knives and threats were found in the dreams of the proving, which can be a very useful source of information in provings. Interestingly, more psychological symptoms were found in the dreams than in mental symptoms.
Prover (14): Day One: I was in a big town where lots of cars were moving in the streets. I wanted to cross the road and saw a crowd of people also wanting to cross and so I stopped them and said not to cross while the cars are still moving. We had to wait until it was time for pedestrians and we all crossed but I realized I had left my son behind and I was calling him. Then I woke up feeling very worried because I had left him behind.
(13): Day One: Two people were quarreling and I supported one of them. There was a verbal fight.
(13): Day Three: I was arrested in South Africa for 6 months for overstaying my visa. Day Five: People were coming for me with knives, trying to kill me. I woke up scared.
(1): Day Five: Bad dream, as if dead people were trying to catch me. Bad dreams for the next 3 nights. Fearful dreams. One person had a mask, not sure if it was a man or woman. He/she was trying to kill me with a stick. A big snake was chasing me and I ran and jumped in a river. I was going to be killed.
(8): Day ?: Dream that a group of Europeans were building a big house for us and later they allowed us to enter the side of the house.
(6): Day 5: Dreams of a snake running through the window.
(10): Day 5: Dreaming of walking on a bridge and falling into a river.
(16): Day Five: Dream of two snakes chasing each other. I ran away, scared.
(12): I was flying and fell down among sharpened trees. A huge man who was very angry threw me against a tree. I was very scared and fearful.
There were also very characteristic digestive symptoms in the proving, which would also accord with the digestive symptoms found in other Euphorbiaceae. There was nausea, churning and feelings of great hunger. Here is a select group of digestive symptoms taken from the proving.
(14): Day One: Nausea, < eating (cassava). Aversion to normal food.
(13): Day Two: Pain in stomach like something is rolling inside.
(13) Day five: Increased hunger with fever < evening.
(5) Day One: Nausea and stomach churning and stirring. (lasted two days.) Also on on 4th and 5th day, with weakness.
(12) Day Two: Increased hunger in the morning, with headache. Day Four: 3am: Hunger and tiredness, with pains in the body, and itching of eyes, with headache. 8pm: Hungry and tired, itching of eyes, headache, abdominal pains, body pains and later sleeplessness. Day Five: 1am. Hunger with sleeplessness, tiredness. Feeling cold. Also feeling thirsty. 5am. Tired, cold, hungry and increased saliva in my mouth. Headache. Day 6: 5am: Hunger, with headache, tiredness, saliva increased, thirsty, tired. 10am: Hunger, thirst, headache. Nausea, feeling about to vomit. 2.30pm. Thirst, headache, hunger, about to vomit.
(2) Day One: Hunger and coldness. Day two. Pain in stomach with headache. Day four: loss of appetite, pain in stomach with pain in muscles and headache. Day Five: The same.
(1): Day One: Hunger and weakness of the body. Day Two. The same.
(4): Day Three: Hunger, with pains in body.
(3) Day One: Increased hunger (30 minutes after taking the medicine). < eating. Made her more hungry.
(8) Day One: Increased hunger, even after taking food < morning and evening.
(9) Day Four: Stomach/abdomen upset, vomited once. Stomach churning, stirring, with increased saliva. Felt weak. Day Five, Increased hunger, with weakness and headache.
(10): Day One: Increased hunger, with headache and sneezing.
(6): Day One: Stomach ache in evening.
(16): Day One: Hunger increased on waking in morning. Day Three: Hunger with weakness.
(15): Day Two: Stomach churning. Increased hunger in the morning, but eating does not >.
(17-30c): Day One: Stomach/abdominal pain, with headache, tiredness, dizziness and desire to vomit.
Rectum:
(4): Day Two: Diarrhea, 3 times in two hours < early morning. Weakness after.
Conclusion: Both remedies, Ricinus communis and Manihot esculenta (Cassava) showed similar provings symptoms consistent with other remedies in the Euphorbiaceae family. Further provings and clinical information can add to this body of knowledge and to understanding their use as remedies. Taking substances that have a close relationship to human use can be an important study. Cassava is a very important food for the basic survival of poor people throughout the African continent. The proving was entitled “Enough to survive, but not to thrive” as the feeling in Cassava and the experience of eating it is that while it gives you the basic energy to survive, it is not quite enough and there is a need for more. The stomach symptoms of emptiness and lack of appetite indicated this and it may be useful in African cases of stomach indigestion and “ulcers”, and where there is a lack of appetite and even malnutrition. It may be useful in cases of HIV/AIDS where there is no appetite or an inability to digest any food, leading to serious malnutrition and losing weight. The use of castor oil as a home medicine is well known, even mentioned in the bible and is used mostly as a laxative but also to aid digestion and for its antimicrobial activity and apparent affinity for liver support.
The mental symptoms consistent in both symptoms confirmed that certain Euphorbiaceae have themes of danger, knives, threats, of violence and the physical corollary of being tied up, hidebound, restricted, “hands being tied” to prevent violence gives a more complete understanding of these themes.
Therefore, both remedies may be more widely used in homeopathic medicine and will add to our body of knowledge.
PROVING OVERVIEW OF RICINUS COMMUNIS
The main areas of affinity were the Mind, Dreams, Mouth and Teeth, Stomach, Rectum, Back, and Extremities. There were many pains that were achy, sharp, shooting. Common for a few provers was a sensation of numbness, cramps, or stiffness experienced in different parts of the body.
The following categories were created for the mind section and dreams:
Spaced out and lightheaded
Anxiety
Easy going and buoyant
Depressed, hopeless, sad, inertia, sluggishness
Anger, expressive
Mental fatigue, stupor
Levitating, head taken off from body
Confusion of time (dreams)
Anxiety and frustration (dreams)
Destruction, danger, violence, not safe (dreams)
Proving symptoms
MIND
Spaced out
Feel very spaced out (not hungry so this is not usual)
#6, 01:05:20
Realized that I feel light headed and spaced out throughout the day
#6, 02:14:00
Anxiety
I am more worried ; anxious than usual
#3, 01:12:30
Anxiety and frustration. Making paper leis or wreaths and burning them with a friend. Lots of obstructions to everything I am trying to do in the dream.
#5, 03:XX:XX
Easy going, buoyant
Easy going, feel like I am going with the flow
#5, 06:XX:XX
General feeling during the past few weeks is that of a cork in water, lots going around but nothing can really swamp and sink you, buoyant feeling, just riding with things, not having the normal intensity to make something happen.
#4, 10:XX:XX
Sense of well-being, very cheerful, carefree
#2, 01-03:XX:XX
Depression
my mood kept getting worst the whole day
#1, 01:XX:XX
Mood kept worsening for the first week
#1, 01:07:XX:XX
That evening, overwhelming depression fell upon me. Intense inertia, very difficult to move or do anything. Only want to go and hide in bed. The idea of brushing my teeth before bed seems overwhelming. The inertia and exhaustion feel more mental than physical.
#5, 01:XX:XX (after she opened the vial but didn’t take the remedy)
Small tasks seem hopeless, impossible esp. if any thinking is involved
#5, 03:15:30
Feel depressed – no specific reason. The news (world news) is more horrific than usual (Israel – Lebanon) and weighs on me. Sadness.
#5, 07:XX:XX
Depressed (world situation)
#5, 09:XX:XX
Depressed/inertia
#5, 11-12:XX:XX
As I woke up I had lingering sadness, depression, sluggishness and a foggy head.
#7, 05:XX:XX
Dreamed my husband was terribly depressed. I was somewhere in Orange County at a relative’s house. He was supposed to meet me there but never showed up. I was extremely worried, fearful and concerned. I didn’t show it to anyone. I made the decision to go back home. As I was putting on my shoes I started to cry very hard. The despair was overwhelming. As I woke up I had lingering sadness, depression, sluggishness and a foggy head.
#7,05,XX:XX
Anger
Unusually angry but also unusually expressive of my anger (rather than sitting on it) and not in a bad way. Anger resolved quickly w/o lingering effects.
#5, 15:XX:XX
I am starting to get agitated with people… and letting them know it. This is out of my character that is letting them know what I am thinking of them.
#7, 03:XX:XX
I have been agitated with people. They are not measuring up to my expectation.
#7, 04:XX:XX
I became maddingly defensive with him. I felt myself losing control with defensive anger. I was aware I was losing my temper, feeling my blood pressure rise, realizing I was out of control but not having the control to stop myself. I felt this when my son was born.
#7, 05:XX:XX
Got very angry, like a tiger
#1 XX:XX:XX, (at the closing meeting).
Bursts and expressions of anger when things seemed out of control and then calm after.
#8 XX:XX:XX
Mental fatigue, stupor
Mental fatigue, unable to think straight, light headed. Feel that it is pointless to be at work, can’t get anything done.
#5, 03:16:00
Felt stuporous, felt out of it. Droopy eye and dreamy.
#5, 03:19:00
Levitating, head taking off from the body
Running errands, get back into my car and pull onto the road. As I am accelerating, I feel like the car is taking off, levitating, like a plane leaving the ground, or as if my head is taking off from my body. I don’t understand what is happening. Frightened, disoriented and disconcerted. Are we having an earthquake? I pull off to the side of the road, and feeling passes in about 30 sec and does not return.
#5, 03:17:20
DREAMS
Mercury, silver toe nails, silver ornate on shoes. Looked down at my feet and noticed toe nails were painted with silver "mercury". Had borrowed some shoes from someone and slipped them on. They were heeled shoes and specifically noticed extremely ornate silver on the sides of the shoes from the front around the edges toward the side/back. Felt like some kind of wings or something.
#6, 03:XX:XX
Anxiety and frustration. Making paper leis or wreaths and burning them with a friend. Lots of obstructions to everything I am trying to do in the dream.
#5, 03:XX:XX
Confusion of time
It seemed to be summer time, but when I entered the grocery store, New Year’s cards were being sold. Then later, I notice a house decorated extravagantly like a gingerbread house. Feeling confused why Christmas decorations are being displayed in July.
#3, 00:XX:XX
Dreams of being downtown.. meeting a woman with two daughters who are bursting with excitement. Once they finish their responsibility of laying out cakes for the morning after the Oscars, they can go sightseeing downtown. (The Oscars? Did I miss the Oscars?... aren’t they in the spring?) Once again, there is a confusion of dates/holidays/seasons in my dreams.. I am painfully aware that there is something amiss.
#3, 03:XX:XX
Raw meat, sorting. Dream of sorting raw meat , looking for impurities. Sort of pawing through to find something
#2, 00:XX:XX
Destruction, danger, violence, not safe
Dream: I was in my home with my family. We saw planes and pieces of planes falling from the sky. I saw emblems and numbers on the pieces of the planes. We panicked. We didn’t know whether to run outside or stay indoors. Planes were falling on top of homes, trees, street; there was no where safe.
#7, 08:XX:XX
I was at a restaurant, sitting across a man that was my boyfriend in the dream. I was breaking up with him. I chose a public setting to breakup with him because I thought he might get violent with me. The man did become angry with me and would not accept the break up…. My boyfriend followed me into the restaurant but did not care we were in a public place…. A customer stood up and tried to help me by holding out a butter knife to defend me with. I took the butter knife from him and told him “Don’t hurt yourself.” I imagine my boyfriend using the same knife against the man. I grabbed a fork from a near by table. My boyfriend caught up with me and we both fought for the fork in my hand. I woke up from the dream with both of my hands clasping together, pushing against each other, just like in the dream.
#7, 09:XX:XX
A lot of dreams of corpses, war, flames.
#8, XX:XX:XX
Dreamt scenes of destruction. I took a baby in my arms and put it next to me. Feeling profound love for him.
#1, 07:XX:XX
A very complex dream where I was in some amazing construction, an mazing futuristic building. Things were not very good and there was some sort of destruction going on there too. Some uncomfortable scene about someone being sued. Kids with lice.
#1, 08:XX:XX
Dream with two men. One of them is dangerous, but I end up falling in love with him. (He was so dangerous he had to be tied up).
#1, 11:XX:XX
Depression
Dreamed my husband was terribly depressed. I was somewhere in Orange County at a relatives house. He was suppose to meet me there but never showed up. I was extremely worried, fearful and concerned. I didn’t show it to anyone. I made the decision to go back home. As I was putting on my shoes I started to cry very hard. The despair was overwhelming. As I woke up I had lingering sadness, depression, sluggishness and a foggy head.
#7, 05:XX:XX
VERTIGO
Felt light , a little light headed
#2, 00:03:00
Feeling light-headed.
#5, 02:20:00
Got very dizzy and light-headed, returned intermittently all day.
#5, 03:11;30
Light headed in afternoon
#5, 09:XX:XX
Felt spaced out and light headed
#6, 02:XX:XX
EYES
Dryness and redness
Were dry and red, especially right eye
#7, 03:15:00
Eyes red and dry – old Sx
#5, 01-08:XX:XX
MOUTH and TEETH
10 PM- Bottom, right molar feels achy, like a cavity. It feels good to put pressure on my gum near the ach. I had a root canal work on that molar back in 1999, a week after my first miscarriage.
#7, 07:XX:XX
Last night, my bottom gums on the right-side became swollen and painful. It was so swollen I couldn’t close my mouth all the way. I was so sleepy, I told myself to ignore it and sleep through it.
#7, 08:XX:XX
Cold Sx with tooth sensitivity, had to schedule a surgery two weeks after the remedy
#4, (told at the meeting four weeks after taking the remedy)
Mouth sores, sensitive gums, tooth sensitivity
#5 (told at the meeting)
Afternoon and evening: Teeth on left side, upper and lower, very sensitive to sweet.
#5, 04:XX:XX
Teeth in general extra sensitive last few days, esp. left.
#5, 06:XX:XX
STOMACH
Nausea
Slight nausea developed but disappeared quickly
#3, 00:19:45
Slight nausea again
#3, 01:06:45
Bouts of nausea that would pass in minutes
#3, 03:06:00
Bouts of nausea come and go
#3, 04:XX:XX
Nausea driving in car.
#3, 06:XX:XX
RECTUM
Diarrhea
Sudden urge for stool., very loose.. three movements.
#3, 03:06:15
The loose stools continue, about three bms a day
#3, 04:XX:XX
Loose stools continue
#3, 07:XX:XX
Loose stools back.
#3, 08:15:30
In the evening I went for a walk, and I basically had to run back home because I was having an extremely bad episode of the runs (diarrhea). I do not think I had something like that even in India!
#1, 01:20:00 (had been given the remedy but not taken it yet).
Constipation is much better the whole time, better than usual, less hemorrhoids
#1, 07:XX:XX
BACK
Cervical area
Aching on the neck, right side, later at the base of the neck and down spine (similar to old sx of meningitis)
#6, 01:15:30
Dorsal
Opened my purse and got a back spasm in mid-thorax region
#6, 01:08:30
Lumbar-sacral
lower back pain set in, which is rare, and usually a foreboding of a cold.
#4, 04-05:XX:XX
Mild but lingering summer cold showed up about 2 weeks after remedy with more lower back pain.
#4, 14:XX:XX
Stiffness
Heaviness, lead feeling. Neck is very stiff, and tight, extending to the back of the head > pressure
#3, 00:21:45
Within ½ hour noticeable stiffness, confirming that yesterdays stiffness was related to the remedy.
#3, 01:06:45
EXTREMITIES
Cramps
Woke up in middle of night with bad cramp in left calf. This happened to be years ago when I was a teenager (dancing a lot). – old Sx
#6, 15:XX:XX
At night – cramps in my hands - a new Sx
#8
Numbness
Right pointer finger went numb, and the lower third segment started becoming black and blue. There was no injury to the finger.
#3, 15:XX:XX
Numbness left side arm elbow to little finger . The elbow felt frozen. By noon there was still some numbness in little finger. Finally by around 3 it was gone . I have had numbness in hands but not so severe or for so long. More intense.
#2, 15:05:00
5:30am numbness left hand and bit of arm. Lasted until mid-morning.
#2, 19:05:30
Pain
Woke 4 am pain left hip shooting down leg, quite severe, I needed to get up and in time it did leave. I have had leg symptoms before, but this was much more severe than other times and much more of a shooting pain . From hip moving down.
#2, 06:04:00
Woke 3 am pains down left side from hip to foot . Woke with it shooting splinter like , breaking and starting . Worse than before . I had to get up . It wasn’t stiff but after I walked and moved around it was better. It took about an hour to subside.
#2, 14:03:00
20 minutes after taking first dosage of the day, I felt a stinging sensation in the center of my right quads, the size of a pin for 4 to 5 seconds.
#7, 01:07:45
Stiffness
Woke very very stiff this morning… reminding me of my days of rheumatoid arthritis 15 years prior
#3, 06:06:00
SLEEP
Waking up in the middle of the night
3am – woke up in the middle of the night with bad cramp in left calf (old Sx but last happened years ago)
#6, XX:XX:XX
At 3am - Woke up in the middle of the night for no reason. Felt very tired, and couldn't understand why I woke up.
#6, 22:XX:XX
Sleeplessness
11-1 am… thoughts persistent. Wide awake till 4am.
#3, 13:XX:XX
GENERAL
Morning
Wake groggy,..
#3, 01:06:15
Woke again groggy. New Sx (I am a very energetic morning person who pops out of bed ready to start the day)
#3, 02:06:15
Awoke groggy and stiff
#3, 03:XX:XX
Stiffness
Woke very very stiff this morning… reminding me of my days of rheumatoid arthritis 15 years prior
#3, 06:06:00
Early morning stiffness. Which improves as the day goes on.
#3, 09:XX:XX
Fatigue, extreme tiredness
In the evening I got very tired
#1, 00:19:00
Mainly really I’ve been feeling very tired. Felt like I could not really catch up on my sleep.
#1, 03-05:XX:XX
Very tired and irritable.
#1, 08:XX:XX
Still very tired
#1, 09-11:XX:XX
Exhausted. Can’t think about anything but going to bed. Feeling light-headed.
#5, 02:19:00
A lot of tiredness, sleepiness
#6, (recorded at the meeting)
Periodicity
Sx appeared every other day
#8, XX:XX:XX
FOOTNOTE
Sx which provers described at the meeting on Aug 10 that were worded or stressed differently from their notes. All summaries of sensations are additional to statements from the diaries. I have included them in the appropriate categories with the name of the prover + “at the meeting”.
#6 tired achy feeling
Lightheaded – definitely
Spaced out, loses things, scattered
A lot of tiredness, sleepiness
#5 teeth and gum complaints most likely due to the fact that she stopped taking her daily supplement for oral support to be “clean” for the proving. Each time she stopped taking this supplement before her gums and teeth would aggravate.
#4 lower back aches could be attributed to his new job and a lot of physical effort involved (construction) that was not there before.
Tooth sensitivity, led to dental surgery
#8 calmer than usual
High energy, outbursts of anger (? Common for him?)
Sx appeared every other day (not consistent with other provers)
Cramps in his hands – new.
Pain in the sacrum, lower back (new or old?)
#1 got very angry, like a tiger
#4 lightheadedness too, lack of intensity
Richard Pitt
He studied and practiced homeopathy originally in the UK graduating in 1984 and then practiced for 20 years in the U.S. Since then he has lived for eight years in four African countries including five years in Kenya working on a EU funded public health project and being Education Director of the Kenya School for Integrated Medicine. He is still involved in three African projects and is the author of eight homeopathy books. He can be found at richardpitthomeopathy.com