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

In our texts the summations of Silica often start by likening the need for this remedy with the need for internal "grit". The patient is often refined, delicate, sensitive and yielding. Generally speaking the emotional level is fairly well-balanced in Silica patients except for problems with self-esteem. The self-confidence of the patient is often very poor.
The patient may complain of some mental dullness and a feeling of inefficiency. He feels uncertain of his abilities and doubts all of his work. This feeling causes him to dwell compulsively on small details, trying to compensate for his weakness ("Conscientious about trifles"). This conscientiousness results for some patients in a severe anxiety state. The patient is almost paralyzed by irresolution and insecurity about his perceptions or performance and may wish to give up his work altogether.
<<Children>>
Silica children can be over-sensitive and actually irritable and obstinate. The child is demanding at these early ages but as he grows older he takes on the more typical refinement and yielding nature. By the age of 6 or 7 years, the child is quite proper, well-behaved and serious. He may be very shy in the office, refusing to answer any questions. Instead, he whispers his responses to the mother who must then relay the information to the prescriber. The Silica child often suffers repeated infections, such as colds, otitis media, or pharyngitis. Often the stamina is very poor. The features are fine and delicate, the hair is often quite thin, the skin is pale, and the head may be overly large.
<<Physical>>
Physically Silica patients suffer from low stamina quite commonly. The defensive resistance is low which allows for frequent infections, especially of the upper respiratory tract, the sinuses, or the ears. Even the skin and mucous membranes can have poor resistance which allows for abscess formation and low-grade smouldering infections of the skin, the gums, the rectum and other areas.
The other central aspect of the physical conditions of Silica revolve around the metabolism. The bones, nails, and teeth are often weak and defective. In any condition of defective growth or maintenance of these hardened tissues, Silica can be considered.

Mind.
<<Yielding, refined, delicate patients.>> Quiet and self-contained.
THE PATIENT WILL ADMIT TO HAVING CONVICTIONS WHICH HE DOES NOT ARGUE, even seeming to acquiesce to another's viewpoint though internally keeping his own view.
<<Anxious conscientiousness over small details.>>
<<Anxiety from noise.>> Anxious and depressed.
<<Stage-fright.>> Performance anxiety. Test phobia.
Mental dullness. Dreads or is aggravated by mental exertion.
Weak memory. Mental deterioration. Dementia.
Fear of pointed objects or pins.
<<Obstinate>> children who "weep when reprimanded."
Shy children who will not answer the prescriber directly but instead whisper to the mother who must relay the information.
Psychic capacity; clairvoyant.
Fixed ideas.

General.
<<Appearance>>.
1) Infants may show signs of emaciation with enlarged bellies. Often the head is enlarged out of proportion to the body.
2) Adults are often thin, small-boned, and delicate-featured. The skin tends to be pale and the hair coloring light or blonde.
<<Chilly and aggravation from cold weather.>>
General aggravation from warm, stuffy rooms during acutes.
<<General aggravation from drafts or from uncovering>>, even one limb.
GENERAL AGGRAVATION FROM SUPPRESSED SWEAT, MOST OFTEN OF THE FEET.
<<Weakness and fatigue. Collapse.>>
<<Delayed development in children.>>
<<Failure to thrive in infants,>> cannot assimilate nutrition and
lose weight.
<<Frequent colds and flus.>>
<<Glands become enlarged and hard and may suppurate.>>
<<Defects of bone, spine, hair, nails, teeth, from poor metabolism of minerals.>>
<<Sour perspiration.>>
General aggravation from the new or full moon.
General aggravation after vaccination (convulsion, otitis media, etc.).
Chills before menses.
Hard fibrous tumors or growths anywhere in body.
General aggravation from coition.

Head.
<<Sweats on the scalp, especially during sleep.>>
<<Acne which leaves small pits in the face.>>
Headaches and migraines, often begin in the occiput and radiate to the forehead or right side of the head.
Headaches worse from cold and drafts, worse from mental exertion, worse menses, worse uncovering head.
Headache better lying with eyes closed and in the dark, better from warming or wrapping the head.
Sinus headaches.
Hair loss and premature balding.
Wears a hat even in moderate weather (Psor).

Eyes.
INFECTION OF TEAR DUCT OR BLOCKED TEAR DUCT OF NEWBORNS.
Styes.

Mouth.
DENTAL ABSCESSES, FISTULAS AND INFECTIONS OF THE GUM.
Difficult or slow dentition, teeth decay or break easily. Toothache.
Sensation of a hair on the tongue (Kali-Bi).

Throat.
Pharyngitis with pain like a splinter.
<<Acute or chronic pharyngitis; recurring pharyngitis and tonsillitis.>>
<<Enlarged cervical glands>> which may be hard and painful.

Ear.
<<Meniere's syndrome with marked vertigo associated with chronic sinus problems.>>
ACUTE AND CHRONIC OTITIS MEDIA AND SEROUS OTITIS; long smouldering cases of otitis and otorrhea, often with hearing loss.

Nose.
<<Sinusitis>>, frontal or maxillary, with thick post-nasal discharge.
Nasal polyps.
CHRONIC, DRY NASAL OBSTRUCTION.

Gastro-intestinal.
CONSTIPATION WITH NO URGING; "BASHFUL STOOL" WHICH SEEMS TO RECEDE AFTER NEARLY EXTRUDING.
Hard stool with straining.
Constipation with the sensation that more stool is still in the rectum.
Constipation in children.
Constipation before or during menses.
Craves: Sweets. Eggs. Rarely milk.
Averse: <<Fat>>. Meat. Salt. <<Milk>>. Warm food.
INFANTS UNABLE TO TOLERATE EVEN MOTHER'S MILK AND WILL FREQUENTLY VOMIT THE MILK (Aeth).
Cramps and diarrhea from milk.
Rectal abscess. Rectal fissure and fistula.

Urinary and Sexual Organs.
BARTHOLIN'S CYSTS.
Vaginitis with foul-smelling discharge.
Eruptions about the genitalia.
AFTER PAINS, WORSE WHILE NURSING.
Prostatitis.
Enlarged inguinal glands.
Sexual desire low to normal.
Menses delayed or suppressed. Amenorrhea.

Chest.
<<Mastitis>> of nursing women. Breast abscess. Breast nodules.
Cough, worse cold drinks, better warm drinks.
Bronchitis lasts all winter.
Asthma, especially in children, worse exertion and cold.
Has a reputation as both a good and potentially dangerous remedy in tuberculosis and empyema.

Back.
<<Scoliosis.>>
<<Spinal curvatures, calcification and defects.>>
Coccygodynia.

Extremities.
FOOT-SWEAT, OFTEN OFFENSIVE AND PROFUSE, MORE PROMINENT IN CHILDREN THAN ADULTS. THE SWEAT CAN BE CORROSIVE, CAUSING EXCORIATION OF FEET AND HOLES IN THE SOCKS.
Arthritis, may be deformative, worse cold and cold, damp weather.
BUNIONS.
INGROWN TOENAILS (Calc, Mag-Aust).
<<Crippled nails, fragile nails, white spots on nails.>>
Fungal infections of nails and between toes. Paronychia.
Cracks of the skin, especially hands and feet.

Skin.
ABSCESS formation anywhere on the body.
May help to promote expulsion of foreign bodies through the skin.
Ringworm. Impetigo.
Vitiligo (Sep, Ars-S-F)
Skin unhealthy, every wound becomes infected.
Skin tumors, cysts, keloids, warts.

Clinical.
Abscess. Acne. Anxiety. Arthritis. Asthma. Bartholin cysts. Blocked tearducts. Bronchitis. Bunion. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Colds. Connective tissue disease. Constipation. Fissures. Fistula. Headache. Ingrown nails. Meniere's syndrome. Night sweats. Otitis media. Pharyngitis. Psoriasis. Scoliosis. Serous otitis. Sinusitis. Styes. Tinea. Tonsillitis. Upper respiratory infection. Uterine fibroids. Vertigo. Vitiligo.

Relationship.
Complementary.
Puls. Fl-Ac. Calc. Thuj. Sanic.
Inimical.
Merc.
Comparisons.
Staph - Refined, yielding, self-contained patients, can be averse to milk, abscesses and styes.
Calc - Chilly, worse cold, damp, mental fatigue and generalized weakness, nail problems, abscess, chronic or frequently recurring infections, head-sweat at night in sleep, worse from full moon, craves eggs, problems of metabolism, spinal curvature, arthritis, cold feet, foot-sweat, bunions, constipation, etc.
Hep - Chilly, worse from uncovering, frequent infections and unhealthy skin, abscess formation, splinter pains in throat, fatigue.
Sanic. Merc. Puls. Nat-C. Kali-C. Nit-Ac. Carb-An.