POLYCHRESTS

ARG-NIT
ARSENICUM
AURUM
BRYONIA
CALC-CARB
CAUSTICUM
CHINA
IGNATIA
KALI-CARB
LACHESIS
LILIUM-TIG
LYCOPODIUM
MERCURIUS
NAT-MUR
NUX-VOM
PHOSPHOROUS
PLATINA
PULSATILLA
RHUS-TOX
SEPIA
SILICA
STAPHYSAGRIA
SULPHUR
THUJA
VERATRUM

One of the largest polycrests, Arsenicum can be used in disorders of virtually every organ system as well as in many serious mental and emotional conditions. Vithoulkas uses the term,"Insecurity" to describe the essence of this remedy, by which he means that the patient has an often overwhelming sense of vulnerability and fear for his well-being and material security. Starting from this terrible feeling of insecurity, most of the mental symptoms can be understood.
<<Anxiety.>> In the early phases, the most marked emotional symptoms are irritability, criticism and discontent. The patient is proper and conservative, often involved in a large, secure church community. As the insecurity becomes more extensive, the patient develops anxiety and frightening panic attacks with trembling and restlessness and great desire for company and reassurance. The patient's anxiety is most often focused on health issues. He fears death to his very core. Arsenicum can cure deep phobic disorders, such as advanced cases of agoraphobia.
<<Dependency.>> Arsenicum needs a strong support network. The patient cultivates strong, protective friends. He is dependent on his family and therefore very anxious about their well-being. Arsenicum patients are also very dependent upon their physicians and account for a large percentage of the anxious phone calls a homeopath receives.
<<Avarice.>> The patient develops avarice and fear of poverty. He feels that financial security could ward off health risks and almost death itself. He saves anything which may have a conceivable use - paper bags, rubber bands, etc. - all carefully stored and labeled - against future need.
<<Compulsiveness.>> Arsenicum is our most fastidious remedy. The patient may literally sweep the floor behind a guest as he enters the house, reflecting the desire to control the environment. He needs control at all times in order to feel more secure. He is an obsessive planner. Arsenicum can be compulsive and even ritualistic.
<<Despair.>> Finally the patient develops a despair of recovery with marked depression and even severe suicidal states. He feels unable to struggle with the anxiety and fear any longer.
<<Children.>> The Arsenicum child tends to be proper and very concerned about the opinion of others. He is often anxious and overly responsible. The great insecurity causes anxiety and caution in any dangerous situation - even driving in a car. The child pays abnormal attention to his parent's responsibilities, for example he double checks the mother about directions to their destination. He also has great concern for the parent's health. He fears that if something happens to his parent, his own security will be threatened. The child's anxiety prompts truly compulsive school work which may even extend to obsessive behavior.
<<Physical.>> The special focus of pathology in Arsenicum is in the gastrointestinal tract including the liver, stomach and intestines. This remedy also has significant effect on the respiratory tract, mucous membranes, the heart, and in the treatment of malignancy.

Mind.
<<Anxious, proper, tense and worried patients.>>
TREMENDOUS ANXIETY, OFTEN WITH GREAT RESTLESSNESS.
PANIC ATTACK, ESPECIALLY AFTER MIDNIGHT, OR FROM 12 TO 2 AM.
ANXIETY ABOUT HEALTH.
GREAT RESTLESSNESS, PACING OR FIDGETINESS.
CONSTANTLY CALLS THE DOCTOR AND IS REASSURED ONLY WITH DIFFICULTY.
<<Despair of recovery.>>
<<Fear of death.>>
<<Fear of disease: Cancer.>> Heart disease. Multiple sclerosis. Germs.
<<Fears: Robbers. Poverty.>> Evil. Vomiting. Insanity. Agoraphobia.
<<Fear when alone, desire for company.>>
<<Anxiety for the well-being of family members or close friends who provide the security base.>>
<<Selfishness. Extreme stinginess. Saves everything.>>
FASTIDIOUS.
<<Perfectionist.>>
<<Compulsive disorders.>>
DESIRE TO REMAIN IN CONTROL AT ALL TIMES. CAREFUL PLANNING.
<<Depression, even to the point of suicide.>>
<<Suicidal impulse>>, often has the fantasy of hurting himself with a knife (to slash himself). Fear of committing suicide.
Impulse to kill. Fear of killing someone.
Compulsive hand-washing. Ritualistic behavior.
ANOREXIA NERVOSA.

General.
<<Chilly and generally aggravated by cold.>>
<<Desires heat;>> <<can hardly ever be too warm.>>
<<General and local amelioration by heat.>>
<<Restless.>> Goes from room to room, bed to chair to sofa.
<<Periodicity>>, daily recurrence, 14 day cycles, or any periodic complaint or rhythm.
GENERAL AGGRAVATION AT MIDNIGHT OR FROM 12 AM TO 1 OR 2 AM.
PAINS ARE USUALLY BURNING IN NATURE (AND YET BETTER FROM HEAT).
<<Offensiveness>>; putrid discharges.
<<Prostration>> and exhaustion which may alternate with restlessness.
Acrid, excoriating discharges.
Generally right-sided complaints.
Tendency to malignancy.
General aggravation at the sea.
Hemorrhagic tendency.
Chronic Arsenicum patients rarely develop fevers in their acute illness.
Considered mainly anti-syphilitic though it covers all miasms.
Acute Disorders.
<<Fever from 12 to 2 or 3 AM>> or PM.
ACUTES WITH GREAT RESTLESSNESS, ANXIETY, CHILLINESS AND THIRST FOR SMALL QUANTITIES OFTEN.
Fever and delirium. Delirium tremons.
Burning pharyngitis, ameliorated by warm drinks.
Acute gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhea, sometimes simultaneously (Verat).
Influenza with the typical acute picture.
Acute asthmatic crisis with anxiety, restlessness and thirst.

Head.
<<During acute ailments, the head complaints are ameliorated by cold,>> (for example, headache during influenza, etc.) and the head feels hot but the body remains chilly (Bell, Arn).
<<In chronic conditions of the head the pains are often burning and ameliorated by heat.>>
<<Swelling about the eyes, and often below the lower lids>>.
Headaches, often periodically with daily, weekly, or bimonthly cycles.
Restless tossing of the head from side to side.
Iritis, with severe photophobia.
Conjunctivitis.
Corneal ulceration.
Burning eyes and acrid lacrimation. Burning lid margins.

Nose.
RIGHT-SIDED CORYZA.
Hay fever.
Watery acrid nasal discharge, which drips forward but leaves the nose completely obstructed.

Mouth.
<<Tongue discolored white.>>
Aphthae, often burning.

Throat.
Pharyngitis, often burning pains which are better warm drinks.
Ulceration of the throat extending to whole gastrointestinal tract, with marked burning.
Ulceration of throat may be deep and rapidly spreading. The pain is burning and prevents eating.

Stomach.
<<Gastritis. Peptic ulcers. Gastric malignancy.>>
<<Peptic ulcers and gastritis with extreme burning.>>
<<Burning in the esophagus or stomach, with desire to sip on water>> (though liquids are poorly tolerated and often immediately vomited).
STOMACH PAINS AMELIORATED BY DRINKING MILK.
Stomach pains may be ameliorated by warm drinks and aggravated from cold drinks or food.
Stomach pain 2 AM (Med, Lyc, Kali-C).
Vomiting of cold food or ice cream (mainly when there is organic pathology).
Vomiting and deathly nausea.
FOOD POISONING.
Hematemesis.
Thirstless, especially in chronic patients.
Craving cold drinks.
Craving warm liquids, especially in the early stages of acutes.
THIRSTY FOR SMALL SIPS FREQUENTLY.
<<Anorexia.>>
Desires: <<Fat,>> even lard or olive oil. <<Sour>>, especially <<lemon>>. Bread. <<Alcohol>>, especially wine and whiskey. Warm food.
Aversion: Farinaceous. Beans and peas.

Abdomen.
<<Diarrhea often with acrid, offensive, watery stools.>>
<<Diarrhea, worse from cold drinks, worse from ice cream, worse from fruit.>>
Colitis of any variety.
Corrosive or mucus filled or bloody stool.
Hepatitis and end-stage liver disease or cirrhosis.
Burning hemorrhoids, relieved by heat.
Ascites.
Colic.

Urinary and Sexual Organs.
<<Malignancy>> of testes, ovaries, uterus, breasts.
<<Herpes.>>
Right ovarian pains.
Acrid and offensive leukorrhea.
Nephritis. Renal failure. Anasarca.
Paralysis of the bladder in elderly people.
Urinary incontinence.

Chest.
<<Asthma, worse at 12 AM to 2 AM.>>
<<Asthma, better by sitting upright.>>
Dyspnea, worse lying, better sitting upright or bent forward.
Sensation as if the lungs were full of smoke or dust.
Angina pectoris.
Cardiac inflammation from suppressed eruption.
Atrial fibrillation.
Congestive heart failure with irregular rhythm, cyanosis, dyspnea ameliorated from sitting, restlessness, anxiousness, weakness and coldness.
Cough worse cold or open air, worse drinking, especially cold drinks, worse at 1 or 2 AM.
Bronchitis. Pneumonia. Pleurisy. Pleural effusion. Emphysema.
Malignancy of the breast.

Extremities.
<<Coldness of the extremities. Reynaud's syndrome.>>
Tremor, especially with anxiety.
Ulceration, of the legs, feet, and finger-tips; burning ulcers.
Black discoloration of the nails.
Gangrene.

Sleep.
<<Insomnia, especially wakes from midnight to 1 AM.>>
Anxious dreams or says he feels anxious even in his sleep.
Restless sleep.

Skin.
<<Eczema with dry skin and intense burning and itching.>>
Itching worse by scratching.
Psoriasis.
Ulcerations of skin.
Intense itching of skin without eruption (Alum, Mez, Sulph).

Clinical.
Allergy. Anemia. Angina. Anorexia nervosa. Anxiety. Aphthae. Arrhythmia. Ascites. Asthma. Bronchitis. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cirrhosis. Colds. Colitis. Compulsive disorder. Congestive heart failure. Cough. Cystitis. Depression. Eczema. Environmental Illness. Esophagitis. Fever. Food poisoning. Gangrene. Gastritis. Gastroenteritis. Glossitis. Headache. Hemorrhoid. Hepatitis. Herpes. Hodgkin's. Inflammatory bowel disease. Influenza. Insomnia. Iritis. Keratitis. Leukemia. Lymphoma. Malaria. Malignancy. Nephritis. Ovarian cysts. Panic. Peptic ulcer. Pharyngitis. Phobic disorder. Pleurisy. Pneumonia. Psoriasis. Raynaud's syndrome. Sepsis. Shingles. Skin ulcers. Systemic Lupus. Upper respiratory infection. Urinary retention. Vaginitis.

Relationship.
Complementary.
Sulph. Phos. Nat-S. Thuj. Carb-V.
Comparisons.
Phos - Anxiety about health and death, anxiety for others, desires company, chilly, thirsty, gastric or respiratory illness, hemorrhage, craves fat, alcohol, and milk.
Hep - Chilly and better by heat, anxious, critical, pharyngitis, craves fat and sour, cough.
Acon - Anxiety, restlessness, fear of death, fever with flushed face, thirsty for cold drinks.
Nux-V - Chilly, perfectionist, fastidious, gastrointestinal complaints, craves fat, Raynaud's syndrome.
Rhus-T - Restless, chilly, thirst for sips, eczema, angina pectoris, desire for milk.
Nit-Ac - Anxiety health, death, disease, irritable, chilly, gastrointestinal complaints, craves fat, ulcerations.
Bism. Lyc. Verat. Kali-Ar. Chin. Cann-I. Agar. Graph.